Transforming Convivial Conservation

Towards More-Than-Human Participation in Research

Bibliographic Data

ID8108326
AuthorsSeverine Van Bommel (0000-0002-7782-9162, corresponding author), Susan Boonman-Berson (0000-0002-0876-7711)
Year2022
Volume20
Issue2
Pages136-145
Publication date2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConservation and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0972-4923 • E-ISSN: 0975-3133
PublisherMedknow (PUBLISHER • IN)
DOI10.4103/cs.cs_29_21
OpenAlexW4285214072
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited36

Convivial conservation requires a deep structural shift in research methods and methodology. Although convivial conservation calls for moving beyond the dichotomy of the human and the non-human, this dichotomy is often reproduced in the research methods and methodologies that are used. Most (conservation) researchers have been trained to investigate what non-humans might ‘mean’ to humans, thereby inevitably silencing the voices of non-humans. This research article identifies a number of threshold concepts and methodologies by turning to multi-species work in nature conservation and challenges the historical anthropocentric framings in this field. It critically challenges the convivial conservation concept by questioning who or what is counted as a research participant from this perspective. Additionally, the article outlines different multi-species research methods and methodology and puts forward the need for threshold and promiscuous methods developed with collaboration between social and natural scientists and non-humans to bring about transformative change in conservation as envisaged by the proponents of convivial conservation. It concludes by offering ways to promote greater conviviality in nature conservation research through a more expansive sense of research participants, recognition of their inter-subjectivities, and multi-sensory communication of their situated knowledges

Anthropocentrism · Conservation science · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Expansive · Field (mathematics · Situated · Social science · Sociology · Transdisciplinarity · Transformative learning · Work (physics · Computer Science · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Artificial Intelligence · Ecology

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