Collective troubles: Transforming neoliberalism through interactions with nonhumans

Abstract

During ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a National Wildlife Refuge in the United States I observed numerous instances in which staff members were adjusting to neoliberal policies and the actions of nonhumans as they went about trying to manipulate the Refuge environment. In addition to illustrating the impacts of neoliberal policies for (non)human beings at the Refuge, in this discussion I develop the concept of collective troubles to highlight how interactions with inorganic materials, plants, and animals complicated and transformed the everyday practices of staff—including how they experienced and implemented a neoliberal shutdown and budget cut. Drawing from scholars that have focused on how nonhumans affect political-economic processes more generally, I make an important contribution to the neoliberalisation of nature literature by illustrating how nonhumans have the capacity to continually affect the manner in which such policies are experienced and implemented in addition to and in accordance with the historical, political, cultural, and institutional specificities of place. Beyond illustrating the empirical and analytic implications of these findings, I contribute to the important process of overcoming the humanist focus in political-ecology and related disciplines.