Tracing the historical agency of wild animals in the archives: Methodology and multidisciplinarity in posthumanist political ecology

• Published in: Geoforum Vol. 135; pp. 71 - 81
• Main Author: Neumann, Roderick P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Animal agency; Animal cognition; Animal cultures; Ethology; Historical methodology; Human—wildlife interactions; Political ecology; Posthumanism; Yosemite National Park; Ethology; Human—wildlife interactions; Political ecology; Animal agency; Historical methodology; Posthumanism; Animal cultures; Animal cognition; Yosemite National Park
• ISSN: 0016-7185; 1872-9398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.07.009

•Greater engagement with animal cultures in behavioral ecology can enhance political ecology.•Reading along and against the archival grain is critical to tracing animals’ historical agency.•Behavioral ecologists’ findings of animal cultures suggest purposefulness in wild animal agency.•National parks are important sites for investigating the historical agency of wild animals. This article contributes toward advancing methodological innovation in posthumanist political ecology by addressing the challenge of tracing the historical wild animal agency in the archives. The methodological innovation that I propose integrates behavioral ecologists’ findings of animal cognition and cultures, the historical records of wildlife ecologists, and the techniques of reading along and against the archival grain. I illustrate this methodological approach using the case of Yosemite National Park from 1915 to 1945 to trace the historical agency of black bears (Ursus americanus) in processes of multispecies placemaking in Yosemite Valley. I collected evidence for this illustration from several archives of the U.S. National Park Service and Yosemite National Park. A secondary purpose of this illustration is to demonstrate that national parks and protected areas are particularly rich and productive sites for investigating the historical agency of wild animals. I conclude that political ecologists can productively use this methodological approach to move wild animals from the category of passive objects of history to that of knowing, purposeful subjects with historical agency.