Predator Politics

Mary Louisa Cappelli

doi:10.1177/2158244016679210

Abstract

Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer urges readers to see coyotes as crucial members of the natural community whose predation is essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological stability. Their cultural production provides a human story of ecocritical engagement for understanding the cascading effects of removing top predators from their ecosystems. By envisioning biocentric possibilities within place-based and scientific contexts, Edward Abbey and Barbara Kingsolver share a common theme of political ecology: political processes shape ecological conditions. A close reading of Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer provides a literary entryway to connect research, arguments, and discourse across disciplines tasking readers to engage in political discussions of environmental sustainability and to consider viable solutions to preserve the ecological diversity of our predator populations and ecosystems.

Highlights

The coyote has been an integral predator of North America for hundreds of years; yet, populations fluctuate depending on the politics of the geographical bioregion in which they live
Coyotes have been slaughtered by U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services, gunned down in predator killing contests, or displaced by land enclosures, urbanization, and environmental degradation
Coyotes normally feed on the small prey of birds, rabbits, and rodents along with fruit and seed vegetation within their local prey environment, coyotes displaced to urban ecologies consume the food remains of human garbage (Timm, Baker, Bennett, & Coolahan, 2004, p. 51)

Summary

Introduction

Keywords Edward Abbey, Barbara Kingsolver, predator politics, coyotes, keystone predators, ecocritcism The coyote has been an integral predator of North America for hundreds of years; yet, populations fluctuate depending on the politics of the geographical bioregion in which they live.

Results

Conclusion