One of my more popular posts of late has been The Fall and Rise of Lindbergh: A Javelina Story. In that post, I tell the story of a javelina in one of the groups that I work with in the Texas Hill Country. In brief, Lindbergh was outcast from their group and I recount the…
Category: Blog
The Fall and Rise and Lindbergh: A Javelina Story
I have been working with javelinas in Texas for nearly a year. My first encounter with them occurred at Big Bend National Park and I have since visited groups all over Texas. The group that I am currently most fond of–partially because they are easiest to hang out with and partially because of the wonderful…
Insurrection, Accountability, and Reconciliation
Note: This piece is merely a stream of conscious as I watch and think about the impeachment. Last week, we Americans watched a violent insurrection unfold at the US capital and challenge the very basis of American democracy in support of keeping Donald Trump in office despite losing a fair election. Embolden by calls from…
Shadows, Ambiguity, and More-Than-Human Politics
I am currently working on a manuscript exploring the ways that both literal and metaphorical shadows produce ambiguity in more-than-human communities. In order to be participating members of these communities, we have to find ways to engage in a politics that bridges evolutionary, ontological, and perceptual barriers. I attempt to do so through the ethnographic…
Speaking for the Dead: Narratives of Genomics and Colonization
This is a paper that I wrote for a Ph.D. course: Nature and Capitalism. I’ve been sitting on it and I don’t think I am going to do anything else with it. It’s a bit long but I figured this is the place to put it. In Speaker for the Dead (1986)—the sequel to the…
Adventures with Peccaries pt. 2
I spent time out in the Hill Country, north of San Antonio ,Texas. The clan that I worked with on this trip was made up of 8 total members (4 adults, 2 subadults, and 2 juveniles). I worked on top a hill to determine their home site and bedding patterns. I also tracked them around…
Adventures with Peccaries: pt. 1
I am currently in the early stages of designing a multispecies project working with the Cofán, an Indigenous people of Amazonian Ecuador, and two species of peccaries (white-lipped and collared) that inhabit the forest. Peccaries are medium-sized artiodactyls that superficially resemble pigs. However, these are American originals! They differ in many substantial ways from pigs,…
A Tale of Two Snakes
Upon entering the warmest room in our house, we are greeted with the subtle smell of earth. In this room is a 36″X18″X12″ bioactive habitat with two small garter snakes (a blue-sided garter snake and valley garter snake). Most people in the USA have seen a garter snake of some sort as they are widely…
Cain and Abel: A Reflection on Coronavirus
The story of Cain and Abel from the Christian Holy Bible is common knowledge but to recap. Cain and Abel both offer sacrifices to God: Cain offering produce and Abel offering livestock. God favored Abel’s offering and in a fit of jealousy, Cain murders his brother. When God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain…
Upcoming Pilot Research
As of today I have submitted all of the required paperwork (IACUC, Occupational Health, Special Use Permit Application) . I will be collecting data on behavior and the use of space by collared peccaries/javelinas (Tayassu tajacu) at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge. This pilot study will support a larger research project in Ecuador on multispecies relations…
Anthropology 365 