Introductions. Re-introductions: Convergences, beyond Differences
Mauz, Isabelle
Introductions. Re-introductions: Convergences, beyond Differences - 2006.
75
At first sight, operations consisting in releasing wild animals, which have become more and more common during the last decades in the French Alps, seem very heterogeneous. Nature protectors and managers of protected areas insist on their differences, and keep making a sharp distinction, in particular, between introductions, which they firmly condemn, and re-introductions, which they sometimes undertake. However, this distinction deserves to be questioned. Even if the methods, the results, the aims, the species and the persons involved are indeed different, these operations do share some common points, which deserve to be stated. All of them make their promoters feel that they are living an uncommon adventure. All generate a particular relation to the animal, which at the same time resembles that of hunters, farmers and nature observers, without being exactly the same as any of them. All show the existence of collective projects (on the animal, and on space, shared by some but rejected by others, who regard their own projects as threatened. These operations therefore produce new proximities and new tensions with persons that have not always been warned nor associated. Because of their similarities and of their influence on relations between social groups, they should not be carried out as if they were independent from one another, nor as if they were merely technical interventions.
Introductions. Re-introductions: Convergences, beyond Differences - 2006.
75
At first sight, operations consisting in releasing wild animals, which have become more and more common during the last decades in the French Alps, seem very heterogeneous. Nature protectors and managers of protected areas insist on their differences, and keep making a sharp distinction, in particular, between introductions, which they firmly condemn, and re-introductions, which they sometimes undertake. However, this distinction deserves to be questioned. Even if the methods, the results, the aims, the species and the persons involved are indeed different, these operations do share some common points, which deserve to be stated. All of them make their promoters feel that they are living an uncommon adventure. All generate a particular relation to the animal, which at the same time resembles that of hunters, farmers and nature observers, without being exactly the same as any of them. All show the existence of collective projects (on the animal, and on space, shared by some but rejected by others, who regard their own projects as threatened. These operations therefore produce new proximities and new tensions with persons that have not always been warned nor associated. Because of their similarities and of their influence on relations between social groups, they should not be carried out as if they were independent from one another, nor as if they were merely technical interventions.
Réseaux sociaux