Cougar figures, gender, and the performances of predation

Bibliographic Data

ID8074348
AuthorsRosemary-Claire Collard, Rosemary‐claire Collard (University of British Columbia, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume19
Issue4
Pages518-540
Publication date2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender Place & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-369X • E-ISSN: 1360-0524
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0966369x.2011.610179
OpenAlexW1983419960
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited69

This article considers how nonhuman animals are enrolled in the construction of gendered identities. Specifically, I interrogate two gendered figures with which I was repeatedly confronted over the course of researching cougar–human relationships on Vancouver Island, home to what is estimated to be North America's densest population of cougars. The first figure, Cougar Annie, was a woman 'settler' on western Vancouver Island, reputed to have killed over 100 cougars in her lifetime and now celebrated as a strong, independent female. The second figure is a contemporary trope, an older woman who expresses interest in younger men, known in slang speech as a 'cougar'. Both figures are intimately bound to a third figure, the animal cougar, Puma concolor, whose material–semiotic relationship to humans both performs and is performed by 'cougars' and Cougar Annie. Haraway's conception of figures as embodied and performative mappings of power is central to this article's discussion, which lies at the intersection of animal studies, more-than-human geographies, posthumanism, and feminist science studies. Methodologically, I draw on interviews and archival research to trace the historical and contemporary specificities of these two figures – Cougar Annie and 'cougars' – revealing how they are informed by, and simultaneously produce, uphold, and perform, gendered understandings of the relationship between humans and cougars, predator and prey, humans and animals, and culture and nature. Este artículo considera cómo los animales no humanos son enrolados en la construcción de identidades generizadas. Específicamente, cuestiono dos figuras con las que fui confrontada reiteradamente a lo largo de una investigación sobre las relaciones puma-ser humano en la Isla de Vancouver, hogar de lo que se estima la población más densa de pumas de Norteamérica. La primera figura, Cougar Annie, fue una 'pobladora' en el oeste de la Isla de Vancouver, conocida por haber matado más de cien pumas en su vida y ahora celebrada como una mujer fuerte e independiente. La segunda figura es el tropo contemporáneo de una mujer mayor que expresa interés en hombres más jóvenes, conocida en el lenguaje coloquial como una 'cougar' (puma). Ambas figuras están íntimamente ligadas a una tercera figura, el puma animal, Puma concolor, cuya relación semiótica-material con los humanos representa y es representada por las 'cougars' y Cougar Annie. La concepción de Haraway de figuras como mapeos performativos y corporizados de poder es central en la discusión de este artículo, la cual yace en la intersección de los estudios de animales, geografías más que humanas, estudios de poshumanismo y estudios feministas de la ciencia. Metodológicamente, me baso en entrevistas e investigación de archivos para rastrear las especificidades históricas y contemporáneas de estas dos figuras – Cougar Annie y las 'cougars' – revelando cómo son influidas, y simultáneamente producen, sostienen y representan, las formas generizadas de entender la relación entre humanos y pumas, depredador y presa, humanos y animales, cultura y naturaleza. Keywords: animalsfiguresgendercougarsposthumanismHarawayKeywords: animalesfigurasgénero cougars poshumanismoHaraway Acknowledgements Many thanks to Trevor Barnes, Geraldine Pratt, Juanita Sundberg, and Matthew Wilson for their comments on an earlier draft of this article. Juliane Collard, Sarah Brown, and Wesley Attewell also provided helpful comments. I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers whose engaging, astute comments much improved this article. Thank you to all who took time to share thoughts, tips, and clippings about all three cougar figures. Finally, special thanks to Joanna Reid for many comments and conversations that form this article through and through. All omissions and errors are mine alone. Notes 1. Agamben (Citation2004) discusses the anthropological machine in his book, The Open: Man and Animal. Contrary to the title, the book is predominantly about humans, and although Agamben has been called a posthuman scholar, his work is avowedly anthropocentric (Calarco Citation2007). Nevertheless, his ideas about the anthropological machine have purchase for posthuman scholars interested in decentering and destabilizing the privileging of the human. Also see Midgley's (Citation1978) book, Beast and Man. 2. Haraway (Citation2008, 17), arguably a leader in posthumanist thought, has declared: 'I never wanted to be posthuman, or posthumanist, any more than I wanted to be postfeminist.' 3. Numerous sightings of cougars in parts of eastern and central Canada and the USA have, however, called into question the classification of cougars as 'extirpated' from these regions. Determining whether cougars exist in these areas is precluded by cougars' mobility, solitary nature, and preference to avoid human contact. This indeterminacy points to the ephemeral nature of classifications and to the fundamental incompatibility between classifications' disparate and abstract categories and the intertwined and material reality of the world (Law Citation1994, Citation2004; Bowker and Star Citation1999). 4. Uncertainty plagues these cougar counts: while the BC government estimates that there are 4000–6000 cougars in BC alone, it admits that 'confidence in the population estimate is low' (Austin Citation2005). 5. Pre-emptions were large, free tracts of land issued to 'settlers' who intended and promised to 'improve' the land and reside upon it. Agricultural practices had to be undertaken, no small feat on western Vancouver Island. The land that was pre-empted was the First Nations territory for at least 8000 years, and early 'explorers' reports on the region worked, with numerous other surveys, sketches, and communications, to reduce 'topographically and culturally distinct cultural spaces to a homogenizing, classificatory, measurable and endlessly flexible Cartesian grid' (Brealey Citation1998, 201), laying the foundation for the Indian reserve system that was overlaid on this abstracted terra nullius (cf. Whatmore Citation2002, Ch. 4). This was the ground upon which British Columbia and communities like Boat Basin subsequently unfolded (Brealey Citation1995, Citation1998; Harris Citation2002). 6. Interestingly, I observed on several occasions over the course of my research on cougar–human relationships a fluidity in the assignment of gender to P. concolor. Depending on the behavior being exhibited by the cougar, its gender would be male or female: in general, cougars exhibiting aggressive behavior were male; passive cougars were female. For instance, during a talk on 'Cougar awareness,' the speaker, a Conservation Officer, retold a story of an incident between a female cougar, her cubs, and a hiker. When the female cougar began to show signs of aggression toward the hiker, the Conservation switched to 'he' in reference to the cougar in his narrative (Pauwels Citation2009). The comments made in reference to the two cougar attacks in BC (CBC Citation2010a, Citation2010b) betray a similar fluidity in gender assignment to animals. Although the news story about the golden retriever states clearly that the dog, Angel, who protected the boy, was a female, several comments refer to the dog as 'he,' and although the gender of the cougar is not stated, most posts also refer to it as 'he'. In the other attack story, commentators refer to the cougar as male when the gender is unstated in the paper. Incidentally, the cougar was actually female

Biology · Geography · Predation · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Ecology

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