Knowledges that 'travel': Indigenous-Western expertise and the 'nature' of wildlife management in the Alaskan boreal forest
Dates
Year
2007
Citation
Watson, Annette, 2007, Knowledges that 'travel': Indigenous-Western expertise and the 'nature' of wildlife management in the Alaskan boreal forest: University of Minnesota.
Summary
In partnership with the community of Huslia, Alaska, I analyzed both the practices of wildlife biology and Koyukon traditional management practices for two species whose distributions include the Koyukuk-Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge Complex: moose (Alces alces gigas ) and greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis ). Both species are important for subsistence and sport hunting, but their ranges and migrations necessitate different scales and structures of management. Moose require state-wide cooperation, while geese also require national and international scales of management. Using ethnographies of scientific practice, observation, and semi-structured interviews, I explain how different groups of humans (subsistence [...]
Summary
In partnership with the community of Huslia, Alaska, I analyzed both the practices of wildlife biology and Koyukon traditional management practices for two species whose distributions include the Koyukuk-Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge Complex: moose (Alces alces gigas ) and greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis ). Both species are important for subsistence and sport hunting, but their ranges and migrations necessitate different scales and structures of management. Moose require state-wide cooperation, while geese also require national and international scales of management. Using ethnographies of scientific practice, observation, and semi-structured interviews, I explain how different groups of humans (subsistence hunters, wildlife biologists, and non-local hunters) conceptualize how they ecologically interact with non-humans. Then I articulate what the effects of these environmental ethics are upon the local ecology, upon knowledge production--and how the differences in ethical preferences become reflected in management choices and policy debates. In this way I describe how knowledge of non-humans are being constructed in action and how it 'travels,' how management happens--but how it misunderstands the 'posthumanist' philosophy that is foundational to IK.
