Hedgehogs, Killing, and Kindness
The Contradictions of Care in Conservation Practice
- Paperback
272 pages
- Release Date
11 June 2024
Summary
How our understanding of and relationship to hedgehogs reveals the complex interactions between culture, technology, bodies, conservation, and care for other animals.
Across the globe, the bumbling hedgehog has been framed in a variety of ways throughout history-as a symbol of both good and bad luck, of transformation, of vengeance, and of wit and reincarnation. In recent years, it has also, in different parts of the world, been viewed as a pest for its predation on ground-nesting bir…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262548106 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0262548100 |
| Author: | Laura McLauchlan |
| Publisher: | MIT Press Ltd |
| Imprint: | MIT Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 272 |
| Release Date: | 11 June 2024 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 229mm x 152mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“McLauchlan’s feelings are central to Hedgehogs, Killing, and Kindness. Though we may view our attitudes toward nature as natural, really, she argues, they are socially constructed. (There’s nothing either good or bad about hedgehogs, but thinking makes it so.)”
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker
“In Hedgehogs, Killing and Kindness, anthropologist Laura McLauchlan describes her fieldwork in the UK and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her description is deeply personal, as she writes about the emotional strain of spending months caring for injured hedgehogs in the UK, then subsequently setting traps for them with amateur conservationists in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The book is made particularly thought-provoking by McLauchlan’s awareness of her perspective as a pākehā (non-Māori, settler-descended New Zealander). This allows her to critique aspects of dominant conservation culture, starting with the acknowledgement that it is indeed a culture, not a self-evident truth.”
—The Biologist
“Hedgehogs, Killing, and Kindness contributes to the small but growing body of work that highlights the importance of understanding the role of emotions in conservation.”
—H-Net Reviews
About The Author
Laura McLauchlan
Laura McLauchlan is an anthropologist with expertise in both ethnographic illustration and more-than-human approaches. Her work focuses on the role of learned practices and cultural concepts in supporting generative connection. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in anthropology at Macquarie University.
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