Field Debrief: Putting a Finger on the Trouble: Multispecies Fieldwork on Live Wildlife Capture Economies in the Maya Forest
Presented by Rosemary-Claire Collard, Department of Geography, UBC.
March 13, 2012 12:30pm
Liu Institute for Global Issues, 3rd Floor Boardroom
Poaching for the global live wildlife trade is a key threat to biodiversity in the Maya forest region, which straddles southern Mexico, northern Guatemala and northwestern Belize. This field debrief reviews three months of fieldwork in the region, during which time I observed, participated, and conducted interviews in several keys sites, including biosphere reserves, markets, a wildlife rehabilitation centre, and universities. My objective was to begin to understand not only live wildlife trade, “a hard trade to put a finger on,” as an interviewee remarked, but also “the trouble”, by which I mean, following Haraway, the uneven relationships between humans and other animals. The specific “trouble” with which the research and my larger dissertation project are concerned is the transformation of live, wild animals into commodities, or “undead things” to use Haraway’s language again, that can circulate worldwide and be bought, sold and owned. The debrief suggests potential methodological strategies for addressing the key, specific issues and challenges at work in multispecies, multisite fieldwork on largely illegal activities.
Please RSVP here if you plan to attend – attendance is free