Political Animals: Barren Ground Caribou and the Managers in a “Post-Normal” Age

Abstract

This article examines barren ground caribou conservation in the Canadian north from the 1940s to the 1980s, reframing it as an important moment in the history of science. I argue that in order to make sense of government management policy, we need to understand conservation as a “crisis science.” The possibility of species extinction impelled biologists to act without knowing all they might have wished to know. To address this uncertainty, new people and perspectives were brought to bear on management. Doing so changed the practices and social relations of science, shaping how we know and what we know.