Viral Ethnography: Metaphors for Writing Life
Celia Lowe asks what it means to “write life” beyond the human as viral ethnography.
birds
The Sons of Salim Ali: Avian Care in the Western Ghats of South India
Ursula Münster shows us in her essay on silenced and silent practices of avian care in a postcolonial conservation landscape of South India, that care is never innocent, it plays out within established hierarchies and power relations, and it can reinforce long traditions of imperialism and exclusion.
Making Worlds with Crows: Philosophy in the Field
Thom van Dooren draws on his current research on people’s shifting relationships with crows around the world to outline some of the core questions and approaches of “field philosophy.”
Caring, Hating, and Domesticating: Bird Protection and Cats in Imperial Germany
Caring for one set of species at the cost of another is the subject of Amir Zelinger’s article about bird conservation and its implications for the life of cats in Imperial Germany.
When Species Fall Apart
Jean Langford discusses what happens “when species fall apart” in the relationships of care at primate and parrot sanctuaries. Care involves an improvised orchestration of social life—through spatial arrangements and regulation of movement—to facilitate often nonnormative, intraspecies, and cross-species intimacies.
The Marion Lake Story: Defeating the Mighty Phragmite
This film chronicles the struggle of a community in New York state to save a lake from an invasive weed and restore it to a habitat for migrating birds, and other flaura and fauna.
"Knechtsand: A Site of Memory in Flux"
This article reflects on the Knechtsand, a sandbank in the estuary of the Weser, that served as a bombing range for the British and American air forces stationed in England in 1952. It examines the locals’ protests historically and uncovers strands of tradition that are hugely significant for our understanding of the Wadden Sea and the expanding conservation regime.
"Modernisation with Local Characteristics: Development Efforts and the Environment on the Zoige Grass and Wetlands, 1949-2005"
This study is an overview of the state-led development projects and local efforts to ‘improve’ local conditions on the Zoige grass and wetlands on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau since 1949 and their impact on the regional ecological and social environment. It focuses on historical state-led development projects, as well as more recent efforts to raise environmental awareness of the importance of Chinese wetlands.
The Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon
The passenger pigeon, once one of the most abundant birds in the world, is pushed to extinction in 1914 by deforestation and the commercial consumption of its meat.
Regions:
Killing Cats in Garmisch
Arcadia, 2015, no. 12