Cultural Geography

ethology, landscape ecology and conservation

biology), as well as the ‘new’ environmental

history, collided with social theoretic and cul-

tural studies perspectives. This engendered a

rethinking of natureand also shed different light

on the subjectivity of ‘natural aliens’ – to use

Neil Evernden’s (1993) phrase. Along with many

natural scientists, geographers from various

intellectual traditions – political economy (espe-

cially neo-Marxism), poststructuralism, femi-

nism and science studies – began arguing for

animal subjectivity and the need to unpack the

‘black box’ of nature to enliven understandings

of the world.

The reconceptualizations of culture, nature

and subjectivity allowed for the emergence of

arguments concerning human identity and

animal subjectivity. In particular, the focus was

on animals’ role in the social construction of

culture and individual human subjects, and the

nature of animal subjectivity and agency itself.

Topics for animal geographers included the

human–animal divide, especially how and why

this line shifts over time and space, and links

between animals and human identities, namely,

the ways in which ideas and representations of

animals shape personal and collective identity.

The recognition of animal subjectivity led to

questions of animal agency per seand what it

might mean for both everyday human and animal

lives.

Debates about the social construction of land-

scapes and places led animal geographers to

explore how animals and the networks in which

they are enmeshed leave imprints on particular

places, regions and landscapes over time,

prompting studies of animals and place. The

places considered include specific sites, such as

zoos, ‘borderland’ communities in which

humans and free animals share space, and places

in the grip of powerful forces of economic or

social change affecting both people and animals,

especially those caught up in the worldwide trade

in captive or domesticated animals.

Lastly, arguments about animal subjectivity

led some geographers toward environmental

ethics and especially a rethinking of animals in

the moral landscape. This focus raised ethical

questions associated with human–animal rela-

tions. How are notions of animal subjectivity and

animal rights incorporated into quotidian ethical

frameworks operative in the non-western world?

How can animal wellbeing and species existence

be protected under conditions of rapid urbaniza-

tion, economic globalization and free trade, in

which they are so integrally enmeshed – even when

188 CULTURENATURES

Rethinking

Culture

Rethinking

Subjectivity

Rethinking

Nature

Traditional Cultural

Geography

Environmental

Studies

Cultural

Studies

Social

Theory

New Cultural

Human Geography Geography

ANIMAL GEOGRAPHIES

Figure 9.2 Emergence of animal geographies

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