Multispecies language landscapes
(Re)making beachscapes with monk seals in Hawai‘i
The Hawaiian monk seal is the most endangered of all pinnipeds (walruses, sea lions, and seals). The threat of
extinction has loomed large for these seals, especially as sea-level rise threatens to inundate their primary habitat, but an
alliance of conservation actors, from federal agencies to non-profit volunteer groups, are working to bring this species back from
the brink in Hawai‘i. Today, the monk seal population is finally beginning to recover, but as monk seals make a comeback and
reclaim busy beaches, new and unpredictable human relationships with monk seals are taking shape in an uncertain time of climate
change. Drawing on data from my ethnographic research of the monk seal-human contact zone in Hawai‘i, in this article, I explore
possibilities for a multispecies approach to linguistic and semiotic Landscape research that seeks to ‘multiply’ our understanding
of social life and meaning-making in public space as a rich, multispecies entanglement.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Language landscapes in the multispecies contact zone
- 3.Hawaiian monk seals on the brink
- 4.Multiplying for multispecies language landscapes
- 5.Discourses in place
- 6.Historical body
- 7.Interaction Order
- 8.Discussion and conclusion
- Notes
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References