The landscape is a trap

Duck decoys as multispecies atmospheres of deception and betrayal

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8963291
AutoresEugenie Van Heijgen (0000-0001-5438-7026, Wageningen University & Research Wageningen The Netherlands, autor correspondente), Clemens Driessen (0000-0003-1695-1524, Wageningen University & Research Wageningen The Netherlands), Esther Turnhout (0000-0002-2190-2076, University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands)
Ano2023
Volume49
Fascículo3
Data de publicação2023-07-30
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12629
OpenAlexW4385399929
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas48

Duck decoys are trapping devices designed to catch ducks. From the fourteenth century onwards, duck decoys emerged in riverine lowlands in northwestern Europe. Their operation is based on a rigorously maintained physical structure with a woodland that encloses a water body with protruding extensions called pipes, which end in nets and are surrounded by reed screens. Catching ducks in these places requires a complex interplay between different groups of ducks, a dog, and a human decoyman who together are enmeshed in what becomes a deeply deceptive landscape. This paper explores duck decoys in the Netherlands as relational, situated and co‐designed multispecies atmospheres. Through ethnographic descriptions of field visits, interviews and by drawing on historical accounts, we trace how inter‐ and intraspecies relations and behaviours are interpreted in terms of deception, betrayal, trust and curiosity. The varying interpretations of behaviours and the more‐than‐human knowledges at play reflect the essentially elusive character of the duck decoy. Especially when facing the environmental challenges of the Anthropocene, duck decoys and the ambiguous relations that were until recently maintained in them, encourage us to consider the historical trapping and hunting landscapes as places made by multispecies atmospheres. Even though these atmospheres and the intimate collectives of human and more‐than‐human lives have become increasingly fragile, their afterlives resonate through the changing character of the riverine landscape and its various waterfowl, as well as practices of knowing and conserving biodiversity

Betrayal · Biology · Character (mathematics · Deception · Environmental ethics · Geography · Political science · Sociology · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Ecology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Law · Philosophy · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation