bird stories
from a struggling planet
Thom van Dooren
Under this broad theme I am exploring a range of case studies in which species or local populations of birds are sliding towards extinction or in serious decline. Bringing ethnographic work into conversation with the theoretical insights of the ecological humanities and science and technology studies (STS), I am particular concerned with the relationships between these disappearing birds and the various communities of humans that care about them or rely on them in a vast array of different ways.
My first research project in this area focused on the vultures of India and the surrounding region who have experienced a massive decline in their numbers in recent decades. It is now feared by many that they may become extinct in the wild in the coming years.
Indian White-backed Vulture
(Image (c) Lip Kee)
At present I am working on several smaller avian research projects. The first is focused on a small colony of Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor), living in Sydney's North Harbour, and is particularly concerned with the complexities of conservation in an urban environment.
A Little Penguin from the St. Kilda colony in Melbourne (Australia's other urban colony)
Image by Richard Fisher / CC BY 2.0
I have also recently begun work on the tangled place of the corvid family in extinction events - as both threatened species (e.g. the Hawaiian Crow), and highly adaptive generalists who are frequently contributors to the decline of other species through predation and competition (e.g. the Common Raven in the USA).
Common Raven
Image by Minette Layne / CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
Under this broad theme I am exploring a range of case studies in which species or local populations of birds are sliding towards extinction or in serious decline. Bringing ethnographic work into conversation with the theoretical insights of the ecological humanities and science and technology studies (STS), I am particular concerned with the relationships between these disappearing birds and the various communities of humans that care about them or rely on them in a vast array of different ways.
My first research project in this area focused on the vultures of India and the surrounding region who have experienced a massive decline in their numbers in recent decades. It is now feared by many that they may become extinct in the wild in the coming years.
- van Dooren, T. (2011): Vulture, Reaktion Books; London
- van Dooren, T. (2010): 'Pain of Extinction: The Death of a Vulture', Cultural Studies Review, 16.2
- van Dooren, T. (2011): 'Vultures and their People in India: Equity and Entanglement in a Time of Extinctions', D. Rose and T. van Dooren (eds.) Unloved Others: Death of the Disregarded in a Time of Extinctions. Special issue of the Australian Humanities Review, 50.
Indian White-backed Vulture
(Image (c) Lip Kee)
At present I am working on several smaller avian research projects. The first is focused on a small colony of Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor), living in Sydney's North Harbour, and is particularly concerned with the complexities of conservation in an urban environment.
- van Dooren, T. (forthcoming) ‘Invasive Species in Penguin Worlds: An Ethical Taxonomy of Killing for Conservation’, Conservation and Society
A Little Penguin from the St. Kilda colony in Melbourne (Australia's other urban colony)
Image by Richard Fisher / CC BY 2.0
I have also recently begun work on the tangled place of the corvid family in extinction events - as both threatened species (e.g. the Hawaiian Crow), and highly adaptive generalists who are frequently contributors to the decline of other species through predation and competition (e.g. the Common Raven in the USA).
- Rose, D., S. Cooke and T. van Dooren (2011) ‘Ravens at Play’, Cultural Studies Review
Image by Minette Layne / CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
My major project in this area is a book in progress - Flight Ways: What is Lost in Extinction.
Focusing on several species of birds that are approaching extinction,
this book explores what the absence of particular life forms (and
their forms of life) might mean: what is really lost here, what does
this loss bring with it, and what does this situation tell us about
ourselves and our place in a changing world? The book focuses on five
groups of birds: North Pacific albatrosses, Indian vultures, an
endangered colony of penguins in Australia, Hawaiian crows, and the
kakapo of New Zealand. In each case my writing draws biology, ecology
and ethology into conversation with ethnography and philosophy, to do a
kind of ‘multispecies storytelling’ that highlights the complexity and
entangled significance of these (possible) extinctions.
Nesting Laysan Albatrosses, Midway Atoll
Image by David Patte/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Nesting Laysan Albatrosses, Midway Atoll
Image by David Patte/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
