Supported by scientific modes of representation, wildlife-management agencies commonly adopt policies that subordinate nonhuman species and resubstantiate human–nonhuman hierarchies. In this paper I illustrate the inadequacy of current management policies by drawing upon Deleuzian notions of immanence and movement and applying them to the specific case of Yellowstone bison. Modes of representation that define nonhuman ontology in terms of genetics are shown to be inadequate for they separate essence from experience and facilitate the removal and exclusion of nonhumans. In contrast, a Deleuzian theory of wildlife accentuates the importance of movement, contact, and contingency in the constitution of nonhuman ontology, thus outlining an approach that can also lead to a revision of human–nonhuman relations. In particular, movement provides a physical mechanism to bridge the theoretical gap that separates human from nonhuman, and suggests a means to link together ethical and evolutionary concerns regarding nonhumans. With the distinctions between Deleuzian theory and common wildlife-management practices in mind, the paradigm of sustainability is criticized for prioritizing demographic and genetic stability over spatial transgression, thereby minimizing the developmental capacities of nonhumans and legitimizing existing spatial structures of exclusion and control.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenJ A, 1876, The American Bison, Living and ExtinctCambridge University Press, Cambridge)
2.
AviseJ C, 1996, “Introduction: the scope of conservation genetics”, in Conservation Genetics: Case Histories from Nature Eds AviseJ CHamrickJ L (Chapman and Hall, New York) pp 1–9
3.
BloorD, 1999, “Anti-Latour”Studies in History and Philosophy of Science3081–112
4.
BotkinD, 1990Discordant HarmoniesOxford University Press, New York)
5.
BruggersR LOwensRHoffmanT, 2002, “Wildlife damage management research needs: perceptions of scientists, wildlife managers, and stakeholders of the USDA/Wildlife Services program”International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation49213–223
6.
CallonMLatourB, 1992, “Don't throw the baby out with the bath school! A reply to Collins and Yearley”, in Science as Practice and Culture Ed. PickeringA (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL) pp 343–368
7.
CarrierR M, 1998, “The ontological significance of Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the Body without Organs”Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology29189–206
8.
ChevilleNMcCulloughD RPaulsonL R, 1998Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone AreaNational Academy Press, Washington, DC)
9.
CollinsHYearleyS, 1992, “Epistemological chicken”, in Science as Practice and Culture Ed. PickeringA (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL) pp 301–326
10.
CosgroveD, 1985, “Prospect, perspective and the evolution of the landscape idea”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series1045–62
11.
CresswellT, 1997, “Imagining the nomad: mobility and the postmodern primitive”, in Space and Social Theory Eds BenkoGStrohmayerU (Blackwell, Oxford) pp 360–379
12.
CrononW, 1995, “The trouble with wilderness”, in Uncommon Ground Ed. CrononW (W W Norton, New York) pp 69–90
13.
DavisD STempletonJ WFichtT AWilliamsJ DKopecJ DAdamsL G, 1990, “Brucella abortus in captive bison. I. Serology, bacteriology, pathogenesis, and transmission to cattle”Journal of Wildlife Diseases26360–371
14.
DeLandaM, 1999, “Immanence and transcendence in the genesis of form”, in A Deleuzian Century? Ed. BuchananI (Duke University Press, Durham, NC) pp 119–134
15.
DeleuzeG, 1983Nietzsche and PhilosophyColumbia University Press, New York)
16.
DeleuzeG, 1990Expressionism in Philosophy: SpinozaZone Books, New York)
17.
DeleuzeG, 1993The Fold: Leibniz and the BaroqueUniversity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)
18.
DeleuzeG, 1994Difference and RepetitionColumbia University Press, New York)
19.
DeleuzeGGuattariF, 1987A Thousand PlateausUniversity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)
20.
DeleuzeGGuattariF, 1994What is Philosophy?Columbia University Press, New York)
21.
DenevanW M, 1992, “The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492”Annals of the Association of American Geographers82369–385
22.
DoelM, 1996, “A hundred thousand lines of flight: a machinic introduction to the nomad thought and scrumpled geography of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space14421–439
23.
DoelM A, 2000, “Un-glunking geography: spatial science after Dr Suess and Gilles Deleuze”, in Thinking Space Eds CrangMThriftN (Routledge, London) pp 117–135
24.
FallM WJacksonW B, 2002, “The tools and techniques of wildlife damage management—changing needs: an introduction”International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation4987–91
25.
FrankelO HSouléM E, 1981Conservation and EvolutionCambridge University Press, Cambridge)
26.
GandyM, 1996, “Crumbling land: the postmodernity debate and the analysis of environmental problems”Progress in Human Geography2023–40
27.
GriffithsP EGrayR D, 1994, “Developmental systems and evolutionary explanation”Journal of Philosophy91277–304
28.
GroszE, 1994, “A thousand tiny sexes: feminism and rhizomatics”, in Gilles Deleuze and the Theater of Philosophy Eds BoundasC VOlkowskiD (Routledge, New York) pp 187–210
29.
HaydenP, 1998Multiplicity and Becoming: The Pluralist Empiricism of Gilles DeleuzePeter Lang, New York)
30.
HaylesN K, 1990Chaos BoundCornell University Press, Ithaca, NY)
31.
HettingerNThroopB, 1999, “Refocusing ecocentrism: de-emphasizing stability and defending wildness”Environmental Ethics213–21
32.
JablonkaELambM, 2002, “Creating bridges or rifts? Developmental systems theory and evolutionary developmental biology”Bioessays24290–291
33.
JonesO, 2000, “(Un)ethical geographies of human–non-human relations”, in Animal Spaces, Beastly Places Eds PhiloCWilbertC (Routledge, London) pp 268–291
34.
JonesS, 1999, “Becoming a pest: prairie dog ecology and the human economy in the Euroamerican West”Environmental History4531–552
35.
KeiterRFroelicherP H, 1993, “Bison, brucellosis, and law in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem”Land and Water Law Review281–75
36.
KellerE F, 1995, Refiguring LifeColumbia University Press, New York)
37.
KimuraM, 1983The Neutral Theory of Molecular EvolutionCambridge University Press, Cambridge)
38.
LalandK NOdling-SmeeJFeldmanM W, 2001, “Niche construction, ecological inheritance, and cycles of contingency in evolution”, in Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution Eds OyamaSGriffithsP EGrayR D (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 117–126
39.
LatourB, 1999, “For David Bloor … and beyond: a reply to David Bloor's ‘Anti-Latour’”Studies in History and Philosophy of Science30113–129
40.
LehmanN, 1998, “Conservation biology: genes are not enough”Current Biology8R722–R724
41.
LeopoldA, 1966A Sand County AlmanacOxford University Press, New York)
42.
LeopoldA SCainS ACottamC MGabrielsonI NKimballT L, 1963, “Wildlife management in the national parks”Transactions of the 28th North American Wildlife Conference2929–44
43.
LewinR, 1984, “Why is development so illogical?”Science2241327–1329
44.
LewontinR, 1992Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNAHarperCollins, New York)
45.
LorraineT, 1999Irigaray and Deleuze: Experiments in Visceral PhilosophyCornell University Press, Ithaca, NY)
46.
LukeT W, 1995, “The nature conservancy or the nature cemetery: buying and selling ‘perpetual care’ as environmental resistance”Capitalism, Nature and Socialism61–20
47.
LynchM, 1996, “A quantitative–genetic perspective on conservation issues”, in Conservation Genetics: Case Histories from Nature Eds AviseJ CHamrickJ L (Chapman and Hall, New York) pp 471–501
48.
MaskitJ, 1998, “Something wild? Deleuze and Guattari and the impossibility of wilderness”, in Philosophy and Geography III: Philosophies of Place Eds LightASmithJ M (Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD) pp 265–283
49.
MassumiB, 1996, “Becoming-deleuzian”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space14395–406
50.
MayT, 1994, “Difference and unity in Gilles Deleuze”, in Gilles Deleuze and the Theater of Philosophy Eds BoundasC VOlkowskiD (Routledge, New York) pp 33–50
51.
MeagherM, 1973The Bison of Yellowstone National ParkNational Park Service, Washington, DC)
52.
MeagherM, 1989a, “Range expansion by bison of Yellowstone National Park”Journal of Mammalogy70670–675
53.
MeagherM, 1989b, “Evaluation of boundary control for bison of Yellowstone National Park”Wildlife Society Bulletin1715–19
54.
MeagherMMeyerM E, 1994, “On the origin of brucellosis in bison of Yellowstone National Park: a review”Conservation Biology8645–653
55.
MullarkeyJ, 1999, “Deleuze and materialism: one or several matters?”, in A Deleuzian Century? Ed. BuchananI (Duke University Press, Durham, NC) pp 59–83
56.
MurdochJ, 1997, “Inhuman/nonhuman/human: actor-network theory and the prospects for a nondualistic and symmetrical perspective on nature and society”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space15731–756
57.
NashR, 1982Wilderness and the American MindYale University Press, New Haven, CT)
58.
NPS, 1998Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National ParkNational Park Service, Denver, CO)
59.
NPS, 2000aBison Management for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park: Final Environmental Impact StatementNational Park Service, Washington, DC)
60.
NPS, 2000bBison Management for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park: Responses to Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact StatementNational Park Service, Washington, DC)
RobertJ SHallB KOlsonW M, 2001, “Bridging the gap between developmental systems theory and evolutionary developmental biology”Bioessays23954–962
66.
SchulleryP, 1989, “Yellowstone elk and bison: a mid-winter report”Park Science919
67.
SibleyD, 1981Outsiders in Urban SocietyBlackwell, Oxford)
68.
SimberloffD, 1988, “The contribution of population and community biology to conservation science”Annual Review of Ecological Systems19473–511
69.
SingerF JNorlandJ E, 1994, “Niche relationships within a guild of ungulate species in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, following release from artificial controls”Canadian Journal of Zoology721383–1394
70.
SmithD W, 1998, “The place of ethics in Deleuze's philosophy: three questions of immanence”, in Deleuze and Guattari: New Mappings in Politics, Philosophy, and Culture Eds KaufmanEHellerK J (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN) pp 251–269
71.
SouléM E (Ed.), 1987Viable Populations for ConservationCambridge University Press, Cambridge)
ThorneL, 1998, “Kangaroos: the non-issue”Society and Animals6167–182
74.
ThriftN J, 1996Spatial FormationsSage, London)
75.
TunnicliffE AMarshH, 1935, “Bangs disease in bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park and on the National Bison Range”Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association86745–752
76.
Van SpeybroeckL, 2000, “The organism: a crucial genomic context in molecular epigenetics?”Theory in Biosciences119187–208
77.
WhatmoreSThorneL, 1998, “Wild(er)ness: reconfiguring the geographies of wildlife”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series23435–454
78.
WhittleseyL H, 1995, “Cows all over the place: the historic setting for the transmission of brucellosis to Yellowstone bison by domestic cattle”Wyoming Annals6642–57
