Binaries in Protected Areas

This site explores the binaries found in the discourse of protected areas. A binary is the distinct division of a system into two categories.  Conservation is a growing topic today, with geographic regions like the Amazon Rainforest and much of Madagascar serving as textbook examples of areas that have lost a great number of species to industrial, urban, and agricultural development. Travelers, scientists, journalists, and locals affected by depleting or unattainable resources report the changes seen in their environment.

In discussions of conservation, protection is usually an assumed solution to a problem. Narratives are created surrounding deforestation as an evil and conservation as a benevolent act. The circulation of these narratives solidifies certain images and “fact” that may be contradictory to reality. Questioning the term “protection” or “problem gives insight into the interests being represented. Sometimes in focussing on the protection of soils, or flora and fauna, the locals whose interactions and livelihoods are tied to the maintenance of an environment are overlooked.

For this site, “A View From a Point” is a foundational work. “How to Queer Ecology” also reflects many of the main messages of this site − binaries are constructed and do not represent completed stories. Ethics, power, knowledge, and, ethnoecology are major themes I will discuss around the site.