This dissertation was made by a million moments and countless hours of focus. It was worked throu... more This dissertation was made by a million moments and countless hours of focus. It was worked through conversations, classes, and conferences, feedback and mentoring sessions, proposals written and revised. It was built up by many seasons in the field along the Delaware Bay, a site that has become a home. It required all manner of personal sacrifices, including time away from family and friends. It was achieved by persisting and not giving up; even as many years passed, friends left, babies were born, a pandemic hit, people grew old and some died, confidence wavered, and faith waned. It was continued by the love and support of others who held me up and spurred me on. To come to the last of these moments, finally-to look back and acknowledge all that went into this project, is to appreciate the enormity of this collective accomplishment, its many costs, and rewards. This dissertation is firstly for and about shorebirds and those that protect them across time, space, and scale. I am so grateful for the participant observation and shorebird stewarding experiences I had in Avalon and on the Delaware Bay, kindly hosted by the NJ DEP, CWF NJ, WSHRN, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, and the New Jersey Audubon. I especially thank Larry Niles, Mandy Dey, Joanna Burger, Larissa Smith, David Mizrahi, and Dianne Daly for the opportunity to work beside them, for their support of my human dimensions research, direction in research design, helpful feedback on early drafts, and sharing of their experiences. My favorite moments of this research were with them and the birds in the field, and I remain inspired by their life commitment to securing safe passage for shorebirds. iv I owe the biggest debt and endless thanks to my ever patient and supportive academic advisor, Richard A. Schroeder. Words could never fully express the admiration, love, and gratitude I have for him-as a teacher, writer, humorist, performer, academic, faculty member, co-Instructor, and friend. Aware that many PhD students curse and are frustrated by their Advisors, I feel truly blessed to have worked with him. Being his TA for the Conservation course brought my teaching to a higher level of excellence; sitting in the front row, I learned from his example what it means to be a Master Professor, commanding the room, and stewarding over the semester with skill, poise, grace, compassion, and integrity. Rick gave me permission to be a critical scholar and encouraged me to think in new directions. For years, he has suffered the unenviable task of bringing my overexuberance back down to Earth and under wraps. His mentorship took the form of many gifts: including long, well-composed email responses, AAG coorganizing, opportunities for additional work, countless handwritten comments on papers and drafts, recommendation letters, morale boosting, and staying on with me to the end (even after he changed schools). My writing and thinking have been greatly improved by his sharp critical reading skills, brilliant ideas for revision, cautions, and highest standards of composition excellence. I hate to think of what my writing will be in the future without having his perspective. But I am grateful to have internalized his voice to the significant extent that I have-it is a gift to think "Rick would hate this." I could go on for pages more, thanking him for all the other ways that he has helped me, but I know he would hate that. In short then, my respect for Rick and the deep appreciation I have for his investment in me got me through this process: because he believed and invested in
Joining efforts to “decolonize geography”, we offer ‘animality/coloniality’ as a heuristic device... more Joining efforts to “decolonize geography”, we offer ‘animality/coloniality’ as a heuristic device for analyzing asymmetrical power relations between humans and nonhumanity. The case of COVID-19 is used to demonstrate the complexity, problems, and dangers of defining and deploying the category of ‘animal’. By illustrating how competing ideas of animality are worked through each other in understandings of and responses to zoonotic viruses, we suggest that delinking animality/coloniality should begin with an embrace of the ‘alien’ Other as a pathogenic constituency. While the perennial Animal question remains an important driver of new research in animal geographies, we caution that it should be taken up with reflexive, critical attention to one’s political purpose and situated location within (colonial) knowledge production.
Mary Louise Pratt used the term “contact zones” to describe those spaces where “cultures, meet, c... more Mary Louise Pratt used the term “contact zones” to describe those spaces where “cultures, meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today”. Building on three sessions at the 2017 American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting, this special section features articles which apply Pratt’s concepts to environmental research. We argue that these articles demonstrate a “more-than-human ‘contact’ approach” to (1) better account for nonhuman agency by multiplying perspectives, (2) intervene in cases of violence and injustice, and (3) decolonize knowledge/production. Included are empirical case studies which describe encounters with the nonhuman; these include a postcolonial reading of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, a feminist science study of migratory shorebird conservation on New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore, and political ecologies of...
This article applies Mary Louise Pratt’s “contact” perspective within a multispecies ethnography ... more This article applies Mary Louise Pratt’s “contact” perspective within a multispecies ethnography of conservation encounters on the Delaware Bay. Using critical insights from decolonial feminist science studies, environmental geography, and critical animal studies, the article deconstructs technoscientific environmental knowledge production within a more-than-human contact zone. The tools, technologies, and “conspicuous innocence” of hands-on shorebird conservation research practices are described. Re-inscribing nonhuman agency and colonial histories of place, it argues that certain elements of conservation research may be fairly read as “violent” expressions of “animality/coloniality” and “anti-conquest.” It concludes by offering some harm reduction strategies for improving conservation and critical environment studies.
of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Ramapo College of New Jersey in Partial Fulfillment... more of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Ramapo College of New Jersey in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies. By Jenny R. Isaacs May 2012 Chair: Dr. Eric Wiener Major Department: School of Theoretical and Applied Sciences The secret of Sustainability is the promotion of local stewardship. Stewardship is an invaluable element to Sustainability because it is both an ethical foundation and a call to action. Stewardship prompts us to ask such questions as “Are we living sustainably? Are we hurting the planet and other species? How can we tell?” Science and data gathering flow naturally from stewardship to answer these questions; but once data is gathered and analyzed, it must flow back into stewardship for it to inform sustainable decisions and actions. A Stewardship Model of Conservation may be visualized as a continuous loop where Stewardship is the start and end point with Science in the middle; such a representation...
This dissertation was made by a million moments and countless hours of focus. It was worked throu... more This dissertation was made by a million moments and countless hours of focus. It was worked through conversations, classes, and conferences, feedback and mentoring sessions, proposals written and revised. It was built up by many seasons in the field along the Delaware Bay, a site that has become a home. It required all manner of personal sacrifices, including time away from family and friends. It was achieved by persisting and not giving up; even as many years passed, friends left, babies were born, a pandemic hit, people grew old and some died, confidence wavered, and faith waned. It was continued by the love and support of others who held me up and spurred me on. To come to the last of these moments, finally-to look back and acknowledge all that went into this project, is to appreciate the enormity of this collective accomplishment, its many costs, and rewards. This dissertation is firstly for and about shorebirds and those that protect them across time, space, and scale. I am so grateful for the participant observation and shorebird stewarding experiences I had in Avalon and on the Delaware Bay, kindly hosted by the NJ DEP, CWF NJ, WSHRN, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, and the New Jersey Audubon. I especially thank Larry Niles, Mandy Dey, Joanna Burger, Larissa Smith, David Mizrahi, and Dianne Daly for the opportunity to work beside them, for their support of my human dimensions research, direction in research design, helpful feedback on early drafts, and sharing of their experiences. My favorite moments of this research were with them and the birds in the field, and I remain inspired by their life commitment to securing safe passage for shorebirds. iv I owe the biggest debt and endless thanks to my ever patient and supportive academic advisor, Richard A. Schroeder. Words could never fully express the admiration, love, and gratitude I have for him-as a teacher, writer, humorist, performer, academic, faculty member, co-Instructor, and friend. Aware that many PhD students curse and are frustrated by their Advisors, I feel truly blessed to have worked with him. Being his TA for the Conservation course brought my teaching to a higher level of excellence; sitting in the front row, I learned from his example what it means to be a Master Professor, commanding the room, and stewarding over the semester with skill, poise, grace, compassion, and integrity. Rick gave me permission to be a critical scholar and encouraged me to think in new directions. For years, he has suffered the unenviable task of bringing my overexuberance back down to Earth and under wraps. His mentorship took the form of many gifts: including long, well-composed email responses, AAG coorganizing, opportunities for additional work, countless handwritten comments on papers and drafts, recommendation letters, morale boosting, and staying on with me to the end (even after he changed schools). My writing and thinking have been greatly improved by his sharp critical reading skills, brilliant ideas for revision, cautions, and highest standards of composition excellence. I hate to think of what my writing will be in the future without having his perspective. But I am grateful to have internalized his voice to the significant extent that I have-it is a gift to think "Rick would hate this." I could go on for pages more, thanking him for all the other ways that he has helped me, but I know he would hate that. In short then, my respect for Rick and the deep appreciation I have for his investment in me got me through this process: because he believed and invested in
Joining efforts to “decolonize geography”, we offer ‘animality/coloniality’ as a heuristic device... more Joining efforts to “decolonize geography”, we offer ‘animality/coloniality’ as a heuristic device for analyzing asymmetrical power relations between humans and nonhumanity. The case of COVID-19 is used to demonstrate the complexity, problems, and dangers of defining and deploying the category of ‘animal’. By illustrating how competing ideas of animality are worked through each other in understandings of and responses to zoonotic viruses, we suggest that delinking animality/coloniality should begin with an embrace of the ‘alien’ Other as a pathogenic constituency. While the perennial Animal question remains an important driver of new research in animal geographies, we caution that it should be taken up with reflexive, critical attention to one’s political purpose and situated location within (colonial) knowledge production.
Mary Louise Pratt used the term “contact zones” to describe those spaces where “cultures, meet, c... more Mary Louise Pratt used the term “contact zones” to describe those spaces where “cultures, meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today”. Building on three sessions at the 2017 American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting, this special section features articles which apply Pratt’s concepts to environmental research. We argue that these articles demonstrate a “more-than-human ‘contact’ approach” to (1) better account for nonhuman agency by multiplying perspectives, (2) intervene in cases of violence and injustice, and (3) decolonize knowledge/production. Included are empirical case studies which describe encounters with the nonhuman; these include a postcolonial reading of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, a feminist science study of migratory shorebird conservation on New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore, and political ecologies of...
This article applies Mary Louise Pratt’s “contact” perspective within a multispecies ethnography ... more This article applies Mary Louise Pratt’s “contact” perspective within a multispecies ethnography of conservation encounters on the Delaware Bay. Using critical insights from decolonial feminist science studies, environmental geography, and critical animal studies, the article deconstructs technoscientific environmental knowledge production within a more-than-human contact zone. The tools, technologies, and “conspicuous innocence” of hands-on shorebird conservation research practices are described. Re-inscribing nonhuman agency and colonial histories of place, it argues that certain elements of conservation research may be fairly read as “violent” expressions of “animality/coloniality” and “anti-conquest.” It concludes by offering some harm reduction strategies for improving conservation and critical environment studies.
of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Ramapo College of New Jersey in Partial Fulfillment... more of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Ramapo College of New Jersey in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies. By Jenny R. Isaacs May 2012 Chair: Dr. Eric Wiener Major Department: School of Theoretical and Applied Sciences The secret of Sustainability is the promotion of local stewardship. Stewardship is an invaluable element to Sustainability because it is both an ethical foundation and a call to action. Stewardship prompts us to ask such questions as “Are we living sustainably? Are we hurting the planet and other species? How can we tell?” Science and data gathering flow naturally from stewardship to answer these questions; but once data is gathered and analyzed, it must flow back into stewardship for it to inform sustainable decisions and actions. A Stewardship Model of Conservation may be visualized as a continuous loop where Stewardship is the start and end point with Science in the middle; such a representation...
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