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Paper short abstract:

Through a biocultural approach, I intend to demonstrate ethnographically how the genetic history of chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau touches and connects with the cosmologies of the Nalu people contributing not only to understand the history of the landscape but also of those natures.

Paper long abstract:

One of the challenges of preserving biodiversity, particularly at its most primary level - genes - requires that the genetic diversity of endangered species be characterized from the point of view of their structure and distribution so that mitigation and safeguarding plans can be effectively designed. Based on this principle of conservation genetics and taking chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) from the Cantanhez National Park of southern Guinea-Bissau as leitmotiv, I will disentangle an ethnographic frame based on an empirical study conducted between 2007 and 2019 that aims to demonstrate how the history of chimpanzee lineages intertwines with the colonial war in space and with the founding myths of Nalu in time, thus creating a complex reality where humans and non-humans connect and cross their teleological limits. Using a biocultural approach (i.e. genetics and anthropology), the environmental history of the landscape is explored where humans and chimpanzees still coexist, their future implications in terms of conservation are discussed and epistemological bridges are reinforced. It is concluded that the traditional local knowledge can and should be incorporated in environmental management plans since they can be concomitantly not only a departing point but also an arrival.