Abstract
Abstract Interactions between conservation and the social sciences are frequently characterized by either critique (of conservation by social scientists) or co‐optation (of social scientific methods and insights by conservationists). This article seeks to push beyond these two dominant positions by exploring how conservationists and social scientists can engage in mutually transformative dialogue. Jointly authored by conservation scientists and social scientists, it uses the global nexus of orangutan conservation as a lens onto current challenges and possibilities facing the conservation–social science relationship. We begin with a cross‐disciplinary overview of recent developments in orangutan conservation—particularly those concerned with its social, political and other human dimensions. The article then undertakes a synthetic analysis of key challenges in orangutan conservation—working across difference, juggling scales and contexts and dealing with politics and political economy—and links them to analogous concerns in the conservation–social science relationship. Finally, we identify some ways by which orangutan conservation specifically, and the conservation–social science relationship more generally, can move forward: through careful use of proxies as bridging devices, through the creation of new, shared spaces, and through a willingness to destabilize and overhaul status quos. This demands an open‐ended, unavoidably political commitment to critical reflexivity and self‐transformation on the part of both conservationists and social scientists. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Highlights
The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the value of the social sciences to wildlife conservation
1.2 Engaging people in orangutan conservation we explore some strategies through which orangutan conservationists have engaged with two key sets of human stakeholders: communities in Borneo and Sumatra, and members of the public in the Global North
The images and narratives that dominate popular Western engagements with orangutan conservation are markedly different to those used in Borneo and Sumatra: focused on charismatic individual orangutans while demonizing faceless corporate oil palm villains (Chua 2018a) and erasing the presence of Malaysian and Indonesian oil palm smallholders
Summary
The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the value of the social sciences to wildlife conservation. We were keen to explore ways of nudging the conservation-social science relationship beyond two common impasses (which have been noted by Brockington et al 2018; Brosius 2006; Larsen 2018; Mascia et al 2003; Redford 2018; West and Brockington 2006) These are: the long-running, and still dominant, tendency among social scientists to critique conservation (Section 1.3.2; Kiik 2018a; Larsen 2018; Redford 2018); and the risk, alluded to above, of social scientific methods and knowledge being co-opted for pre-existing conservation agendas (see Bennett and Roth 2019:A16; Moon et al 2019:2). We aim throughout to draw out the implications of our discussions for conservation, social sciences, and the relationship between them
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
