TY - JOUR
T1 - Airplanes, cameras, computers, wildebeests
T2 - The technological mediation of spaces for humans and wildlife in the Serengeti since 1950
AU - Schleper, Simone
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This publication is part of the project Moving Animals: A History of Science, Media and Policy in the Twentieth Century (with project number VI.C.181.010) which is financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Funding Information:
Earlier research related to this article has been conducted during a fellowship at the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz. I thank my colleagues Raf de Bont, Joeri Bruynincks, and Jens Lachmund for reading earlier versions of this article. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This publication is part of the project Moving Animals: A History of Science, Media and Policy in the Twentieth Century (with project number VI.C.181.010) which is financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Drawing on the concept of technological mediation, this article examines the spatial politics of observation technologies and associated practices that have been used to monitor the movement of migratory wildebeests in the Serengeti from the 1950s until the 2000s. It shows that key technologies, and the types of research collaborations they sustained, mediated notably different normative ideas about human–wildlife interaction and the sharing of space in and around protected areas. During the 1950s and 1960s, observations of animal migration were conducted by airplane. Direct observation was characterized by the study of movement of migratory ungulates, such as the wildebeest, and humans across space in real time. Aerial observations depended on a close cooperation between scientists and park authorities, and on the knowledge and observational skills of game wardens. The experience of the movement of animals and people in real time allowed, to some degree, for experimentation with forms of human land-use. During the 1970s, many small-scale and short-term projects shifted the research focus toward data recording by camera. Aerial photographs created supposedly complete spatial overviews of inhabitation, which supported interpretations of spatial conflicts between humans occupying the park’s surrounding areas and animal populations inside the park. From the 1980s onward, computer technology allowed for long-term calculations of past and future trends in population densities of individual species. The understanding of the wildebeest as a keystone species and the Serengeti as a baseline ecosystem turned communities of local pastoralists and agriculturalists into a future threat. As observation technologies are here to stay, it remains important to pay attention to technologies’ potential roles in creating additional distances between researchers and research subjects. Historical insights, such as the ones presented in this article, can help reflect on how various forms of remote sensing may mediate normative views on human–wildlife interactions and consequentially affect local livelihoods.
AB - Drawing on the concept of technological mediation, this article examines the spatial politics of observation technologies and associated practices that have been used to monitor the movement of migratory wildebeests in the Serengeti from the 1950s until the 2000s. It shows that key technologies, and the types of research collaborations they sustained, mediated notably different normative ideas about human–wildlife interaction and the sharing of space in and around protected areas. During the 1950s and 1960s, observations of animal migration were conducted by airplane. Direct observation was characterized by the study of movement of migratory ungulates, such as the wildebeest, and humans across space in real time. Aerial observations depended on a close cooperation between scientists and park authorities, and on the knowledge and observational skills of game wardens. The experience of the movement of animals and people in real time allowed, to some degree, for experimentation with forms of human land-use. During the 1970s, many small-scale and short-term projects shifted the research focus toward data recording by camera. Aerial photographs created supposedly complete spatial overviews of inhabitation, which supported interpretations of spatial conflicts between humans occupying the park’s surrounding areas and animal populations inside the park. From the 1980s onward, computer technology allowed for long-term calculations of past and future trends in population densities of individual species. The understanding of the wildebeest as a keystone species and the Serengeti as a baseline ecosystem turned communities of local pastoralists and agriculturalists into a future threat. As observation technologies are here to stay, it remains important to pay attention to technologies’ potential roles in creating additional distances between researchers and research subjects. Historical insights, such as the ones presented in this article, can help reflect on how various forms of remote sensing may mediate normative views on human–wildlife interactions and consequentially affect local livelihoods.
KW - 20th-century conservation and research policy
KW - Serengeti National Park
KW - animal movement
KW - human-wildlife interaction
KW - technological mediation
KW - PROTECTED AREAS
KW - COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION
KW - NATIONAL-PARK
KW - GAME UTILIZATION
KW - TANZANIA
U2 - 10.1177/25148486211005659
DO - 10.1177/25148486211005659
M3 - Article
SN - 2514-8486
VL - 5
SP - 740
EP - 761
JO - Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
JF - Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
IS - 2
ER -