4 research outputs found

    The landscape is a trap:Duck decoys as multispecies atmospheres of deception and betrayal

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    Duck decoys are trapping devices designed to catch ducks. From the fourteenth century onwards, duck decoys emerged in riverine lowlands in northwestern Europe. Their operation is based on a rigorously maintained physical structure with a woodland that encloses a water body with protruding extensions called pipes, which end in nets and are surrounded by reed screens. Catching ducks in these places requires a complex interplay between different groups of ducks, a dog, and a human decoyman who together are enmeshed in what becomes a deeply deceptive landscape. This paper explores duck decoys in the Netherlands as relational, situated and co-designed multispecies atmospheres. Through ethnographic descriptions of field visits, interviews and by drawing on historical accounts, we trace how inter- and intraspecies relations and behaviours are interpreted in terms of deception, betrayal, trust and curiosity. The varying interpretations of behaviours and the more-than-human knowledges at play reflect the essentially elusive character of the duck decoy. Especially when facing the environmental challenges of the Anthropocene, duck decoys and the ambiguous relations that were until recently maintained in them, encourage us to consider the historical trapping and hunting landscapes as places made by multispecies atmospheres. Even though these atmospheres and the intimate collectives of human and more-than-human lives have become increasingly fragile, their afterlives resonate through the changing character of the riverine landscape and its various waterfowl, as well as practices of knowing and conserving biodiversity.</p

    Hunting communities of practice : Factors behind the social differentiation of hunters in modernity

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    Hunting is a social world in which members socially differentiate themselves into smaller social worlds on the basis of adhering to a particular method, aesthetic, or game. Such identity constitution has been understood as forming communities of practice of hunters. Importantly, these communities frequently take pride in their distinct identities and assert theirs is the ‘real’ way of hunting. In this paper, we canvass the diverse factors that make up hunter identities and examine them for patterns and meaning. Our analysis places the phenomenon of social differentiation as it currently takes place in hunting in the context of responses to modernization. On this analysis, hunter identities are found to be rooted in defensive localism, class competition over resources, gender and moral affiliation, and the protection of the social legitimacy of hunting before an increasingly critical society. Our work is at once a synthesis of recurring hunting profiles across literature and field sites in Europe and a critical analysis of the significance of hunting communities of practice in future research, including serious leisure studies, nature-based recreation, criminology and rural sociology

    Hunting communities of practice : Factors behind the social differentiation of hunters in modernity

    No full text
    Hunting is a social world in which members socially differentiate themselves into smaller social worlds on the basis of adhering to a particular method, aesthetic, or game. Such identity constitution has been understood as forming communities of practice of hunters. Importantly, these communities frequently take pride in their distinct identities and assert theirs is the ‘real’ way of hunting. In this paper, we canvass the diverse factors that make up hunter identities and examine them for patterns and meaning. Our analysis places the phenomenon of social differentiation as it currently takes place in hunting in the context of responses to modernization. On this analysis, hunter identities are found to be rooted in defensive localism, class competition over resources, gender and moral affiliation, and the protection of the social legitimacy of hunting before an increasingly critical society. Our work is at once a synthesis of recurring hunting profiles across literature and field sites in Europe and a critical analysis of the significance of hunting communities of practice in future research, including serious leisure studies, nature-based recreation, criminology and rural sociology.</p
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