Multispecies language landscapes

Abstract

Abstract The Hawaiian monk seal is the most endangered of all pinnipeds (walruses, sea lions, and seals). The threat of extinction has loomed large for these seals, especially as sea-level rise threatens to inundate their primary habitat, but an alliance of conservation actors, from federal agencies to non-profit volunteer groups, are working to bring this species back from the brink in Hawai‘i. Today, the monk seal population is finally beginning to recover, but as monk seals make a comeback and reclaim busy beaches, new and unpredictable human relationships with monk seals are taking shape in an uncertain time of climate change. Drawing on data from my ethnographic research of the monk seal-human contact zone in Hawai‘i, in this article, I explore possibilities for a multispecies approach to linguistic and semiotic Landscape research that seeks to ‘multiply’ our understanding of social life and meaning-making in public space as a rich, multispecies entanglement.