Contribution short abstract

Using multispecies fieldwork in the Pantanal, this contribution examines how more-than-human political ecology can better engage with marginalised human experiences, revealing overlooked relations and supporting more just and grounded forms of coexistence with nonhumans.

Contribution long abstract

Grounded in multispecies fieldwork in the Brazilian Pantanal, this contribution considers how more-than-human political ecology can be methodologically operationalised and connected to broader questions of justice and coexistence. My research followed jaguar–human encounters on the river, engaged with guides, conservationists, Indigenous actors, and Pantaneiro families, and attended to the ecological and affective relations that shape tourism landscapes. These observations highlight jaguars as agentive beings that co-create interspecies interactions and guide how humans move, watch, and interpret the landscape.

At the same time, the fieldwork revealed processes through which certain human actors become less-than-human—marginalised, excluded from decision-making, or rendered invisible within dominant conservation and tourism narratives. In some instances, the intensification of more-than-human attention seemed to reinforce these dynamics, as the visibility of jaguars and other nonhumans overshadowed the lived experiences of marginalised human groups. This tension between nonhuman agency and human devaluation is an empirical reality that more-than-human political ecology must address more explicitly.

Working with multispecies assemblage provided a methodological space to integrate ecological cues, local knowledge, embodied experience, and social dynamics. Assemblages composed of jaguars, boats, prey species, river currents, photographic infrastructures, and tourist expectations show how landscapes are co-created and how power operates across species and institutions.

I offer these reflections to contribute to a collective discussion on how multispecies approaches might illuminate overlooked relations, challenge hierarchical knowledge practices, and support more inclusive and justice-oriented pathways to human–nonhuman coexistence.