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Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes

How We Imagine Wildlife

Barbara Jones

Our relationship with wildlife and wild spaces is shifting from a dominion over nature to one that strives for coexistence; yet this coexistence is typically fragmented and, with many wildlife species, relies on tautologies that reinforce unnatural metaphors and stories that keep us outside of nature. To assist in identifying common ground amidst competing users of our shared landscapes, Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes: How We Imagine Wildlife considers how the language we use can challenge our ability to coexist with wild nature. When we say a bison is livestock we diminish its wildness, while a beaver as a pest marginalizes it to exist outside of our Anthropogenic landscapes or to not exist at all. Since language forms meaning, Jones argues how by relying on unnatural discourse to relate to the natural world, coexistence can become much more difficult to achieve.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 224 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-66691-480-1 • Hardback • May 2025 • $110.00 • (£85.00)
Subjects: Social Science / General, Social Science / Environment, Social Science / Anthropology / General, Science / Life Sciences / Ecology

Barbara K. Jones spends her time teaching anthropology and researching human perceptions of nature.

Chapter 1: Narratives as Discourse

Chapter 2: Reconsidering the Boundaries that Wildlife Stories have Built

Chapter 3: American Bison: Why is it our national mammal?

Chapter 4: Caribou: When being called a reindeer must really matter

Chapter 5: Gray Wolf and Grizzly Bear: Little Red Riding Hood and the Teddy Bear

Chapter 6: American Beaver: Made Beaver

Chapter 7: The Question of Social Carrying Capacity

“Language is often an overlooked point of leverage in wildlife struggles. In Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes, Barbara Jones shows how terms like ‘invasive’ or ‘nuisance wildlife’ can preclude conversation. In contrast, she notes, advocates actively reclaiming the narrative with terms like ‘ecosystem services’ and ‘restoration’ can effectively reshape the outcome.”


— Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.


“Today’s wildlife face unprecedented challenges as humanity changes the way, where, and how they can live at ever faster rates. Barbara Jones's Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes: How We Imagine Wildlife offers fact-based stories of these wildlife difficulties and sometimes not-so happy endings to reveal not only their causes, but how, as our human dominance perspective changes, and the chance for a mutual way forward exists for all living things.”


— Gregg Servheen, retired wildlife biologist and natural resource manager


"Jones skillfully combines multi-sited ethnography with a history of past and current perspectives on human-wildlife interactions in her call to reimagine how we perceive human relationships with wildlife and their ecosystems before its too late. Un-Natural Discourse will prove prescient for how future human societies will merge with the lives of their non-human neighbors."


— Anthony Balzano, Sussex County Community College


Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes

How We Imagine Wildlife

Cover Image
Hardback
Summary
Summary
  • Our relationship with wildlife and wild spaces is shifting from a dominion over nature to one that strives for coexistence; yet this coexistence is typically fragmented and, with many wildlife species, relies on tautologies that reinforce unnatural metaphors and stories that keep us outside of nature. To assist in identifying common ground amidst competing users of our shared landscapes, Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes: How We Imagine Wildlife considers how the language we use can challenge our ability to coexist with wild nature. When we say a bison is livestock we diminish its wildness, while a beaver as a pest marginalizes it to exist outside of our Anthropogenic landscapes or to not exist at all. Since language forms meaning, Jones argues how by relying on unnatural discourse to relate to the natural world, coexistence can become much more difficult to achieve.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 224 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-1-66691-480-1 • Hardback • May 2025 • $110.00 • (£85.00)
    Subjects: Social Science / General, Social Science / Environment, Social Science / Anthropology / General, Science / Life Sciences / Ecology
Author
Author
  • Barbara K. Jones spends her time teaching anthropology and researching human perceptions of nature.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1: Narratives as Discourse

    Chapter 2: Reconsidering the Boundaries that Wildlife Stories have Built

    Chapter 3: American Bison: Why is it our national mammal?

    Chapter 4: Caribou: When being called a reindeer must really matter

    Chapter 5: Gray Wolf and Grizzly Bear: Little Red Riding Hood and the Teddy Bear

    Chapter 6: American Beaver: Made Beaver

    Chapter 7: The Question of Social Carrying Capacity

Reviews
Reviews
  • “Language is often an overlooked point of leverage in wildlife struggles. In Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes, Barbara Jones shows how terms like ‘invasive’ or ‘nuisance wildlife’ can preclude conversation. In contrast, she notes, advocates actively reclaiming the narrative with terms like ‘ecosystem services’ and ‘restoration’ can effectively reshape the outcome.”


    — Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.


    “Today’s wildlife face unprecedented challenges as humanity changes the way, where, and how they can live at ever faster rates. Barbara Jones's Un-Natural Discourse in the Age of Anthropogenic Landscapes: How We Imagine Wildlife offers fact-based stories of these wildlife difficulties and sometimes not-so happy endings to reveal not only their causes, but how, as our human dominance perspective changes, and the chance for a mutual way forward exists for all living things.”


    — Gregg Servheen, retired wildlife biologist and natural resource manager


    "Jones skillfully combines multi-sited ethnography with a history of past and current perspectives on human-wildlife interactions in her call to reimagine how we perceive human relationships with wildlife and their ecosystems before its too late. Un-Natural Discourse will prove prescient for how future human societies will merge with the lives of their non-human neighbors."


    — Anthony Balzano, Sussex County Community College


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