Paper short abstract:

I explore the use of History in conservation efforts. I show how multispecies histories can help humans and animals co-exist based on local knowledge, historical ecology and evolutionary history. I argue that that the cultures of animals themselves can be reconstructed and be used in conservation.

Paper long abstract:

I take seriously the possibilities of including History in conservation efforts. History – as I hope I will illustrate – can be significant in addressing current global biodiversity crises and may be particularly effective in revealing the shifting dynamics of conservation dilemmas and thereby help in shaping more effective responses. Hitherto the integration of History and conservation efforts has been neglected, especially in African contexts, so this essay discusses how such collaborative approaches can find common ground between conservation and animal sensitive histories, from Deep History, historical ecology and evolutionary history, to generate fresh initiatives from the ‘conservation humanities’. There are many ways that History can be deployed in conservation: it can fuse ecological, political, social and economic data into explanatory narratives of change over time. It can explore successful initiatives but also exposes the failures precipitated by unintended blowback from failed efforts. The long roots of (human) coping strategies may be learned from cultures with long oral traditions and vernacular traditions of traditional ecological knowledge. Finally, this essay also tries something much bolder: it looks at the changing cultures of the animals themselves and discusses how these might be reconstructed and how they might be useful in conservation efforts.