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- Convenors:
-
Shoko Yamada
(Yale University)
Wen Zhou (Yale University)
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- Discussants:
-
Heather Swanson
(Aarhus University)
Takehiro Watanabe (Sophia University)
Nigel Dudley (Equilibrium Research)
Sophie Wynne-Jones (Bangor University)
Laura Darcy (WWF -UK)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Sessions:
- Monday 25 October, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
As rewilding initiatives seek to (re)introduce wilderness into the domesticated landscapes of the Global North, what are their affinities, intersections, and breaks with conservation movements that would preserve the last vestiges of the wild in the Global South?
Long Abstract:
Across the industrialized countries of the Global North, rewilding initiatives seek to (re)introduce a wilderness - by means of beavers, bears, and bison, among other less charismatic species - that has long vanished from domesticized landscapes. At the same time, conservation movements act with urgency to preserve the last remnants of the wild in the Global South, establishing protected areas that would secure natural ecosystems from further anthropogenic degradation. These parallel actions of conjuring and protecting the wild raise pressing questions for theory and practice, to be addressed at this roundtable discussion that brings together a diverse panel of academics and practitioners: What are the imaginaries of wilderness that guide efforts for its reintroduction, and how do these compare to conservation imaginaries that seek its preservation? How do social and discursive networks mediate the circulation of the imaginaries of the wild across the North and the South? What are the historical referents that serve as templates for rewilding, if rewilding is the attempt to reincarnate landscapes of distant (if not antediluvian) pasts for a more utopian future? On the other hand, is conservation practice inevitably backwards-looking, as it seeks to maintain existing ecosystems in unchanging time? Finally, has the success (or failure) of conservation actions in the South inspired the rewilding of the post-industrial landscapes of the North? What lessons might conservation practice abroad have to share with rewilding efforts at home, and how might the very idea of home change with its transformation into "the wild"?
Accepted participant details:
Session 1 Monday 25 October, 2021, -Short bio:
I am involved primarily in river and wetland nature restoration projects in Japan (Tokyo and Hokkaido).
Additional details:
As rewilding initiatives seek to (re)introduce wilderness into the domesticated landscapes of the Global North, what are their affinities, intersections, and breaks with conservation movements that would preserve the last vestiges of the wild in the Global South?
I have been involved in research projects on wildlife conservation and natural resource management (in particular, oysters, salmon, owls, and cranes) in Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. My primary focus has been the Kushiro Wetland, Japan's first Ramsar wetland and a key site for the Japanese government's promotion of including local voices in nature restoration initiatives.
I also work with schools, community organizations, and local government offices in Tokyo, Japan (where I live and teach), in projects involved in the conservation and restoration of urban ponds, rivers, and wetlands.
Short bio:
With a long-standing interest in fish, rivers, and oceans, Swanson's work explores how political economies and ecologies are intertwined. She is a co-editor of Domestication Gone Wild: Politics and Practices of Multispecies Relations (Duke UP) and Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet (Minnesota UP).
Additional details:
Heather Anne Swanson is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University, as well as Director of the Aarhus University Centre for Environmental Humanities. With a long-standing interest in fish, rivers, and oceans, her current work broadly explores how political economies and ecologies are intertwined. She is a co-editor of Domestication Gone Wild: Politics and Practices of Multispecies Relations (Duke University Press) and Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet (Minnesota University Press), as well as the author of numerous articles on topics ranging from Japanese salmon hatcheries to railroad infrastructure.
Short bio:
Nigel Dudley is an consultant ecologist working for a range of NGO, government and intergovernmental organisations, focusing particularly on protected and conserved areas, landscape approaches and the interactions between people and nature. He is based on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, Wales
Additional details:
I will focus particularly on debates about rewilding in Wales and other parts of the UK