Sympathy for Cecil: gender, trophy hunting, and the western environmental imaginary

Eric Godoy

doi:10.2458/v27i1.23526

Abstract

This article draws from political ecology, animal ethics, and ecofeminism to examine sympathy, expressed by record-breaking donation from North Americans, for the death of Cecil the Lion. Sympathy is disclosive insofar as it reveals, relies upon, and reinforces different forms of sexual, racial, and neocolonial domination; especially when western sympathy remains ignorant of the politics and histories of the power relations that shape attitudes toward non-human animals and their status as members in a moral community. When does nature appear as something to take care of rather than take care against?Keywords: sympathy, animal ethics, ecofeminism, big-game hunting, wildlife conservation, Cecil the Lion

Highlights

The death of a lionWildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) conducted a study attempting to understand the immense response to Cecil
This article draws from political ecology and ecofeminism to examine sympathy, expressed by record-breaking donations from North Americans, for the death of Cecil the Lion
In what follows I draw from both ecofeminism and political ecology, which together better capture how western sympathy for Cecil reveals, relies upon, and reinforces different forms of gender, racial, and neocolonial power relations

Summary

The death of a lion

WildCRU conducted a study attempting to understand the immense response to Cecil They called it "the largest reaction in the history of wildlife conservation" (Macdonald and Jacobsen et al 2016: 2).. In what follows I draw from both ecofeminism and political ecology, which together better capture how western sympathy for Cecil reveals, relies upon, and reinforces different forms of gender, racial, and neocolonial power relations. Both fields are themselves multidisciplinary and concerned with normative critique. I conclude with the claim that western sympathy can fail to benefit either lions or the people whose lives intersect with them Instead, it often reinforces sexual, racial, and colonial power relations. An ecofeminist analysis and a political ecology of sympathy can together better expose these power relations and help critique them

Metaphors of sexual violence

A political ecology of sympathy

Findings

Conclusion: neither lions nor people