Nature Identification: The Power Of Pointing
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On: 18 February 2011
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Publisher Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://wwwintra.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t770239508
Nature Identification: The Power of Pointing and Naming
Tema Milstein
Online publication date: 18 February 2011
To cite this Article Milstein, Tema(2011) 'Nature Identification: The Power of Pointing …show more content…
They illustrate how performances construct humanÁwhale relations largely in non-fearful and highly anthropomorphic ways. In this study’s wild whale site, some whale insiders referred to the first captive orcas as, in a sense, serving as ambassadors for wild orcas.4
Ironically, as captures killed and traumatized individual area orcas and devastated their populations, the captives helped create an atmosphere in which the public for the first time became concerned about whales. Instead of fearing or hating killer whales, people began to find they could relate to them.5
At the same time, participants in the study’s site witnessed captures. One former politician-turned whale activist spoke years later to a public gathering about his own personally transformative witnessing of a capture while out pleasure boating:
We all looked and went a little closer and realized that not only was there a pod of orcas but there was a big fishing boat, and a couple of smaller boats, and a sea …show more content…
Using identification of wild whales as her foundation, the naturalist mediated a particular perception that directed tourists to view Sea World’s practices of replacing prematurely dead captive orcas simply by naming the next Shamu as disturbing trickery to fool ‘‘people into thinking this is one whale.’’
While I found in many cases tourists did not respond to a naturalist’ information that was particularly sad or depressing (such as overview information about captures, deadly orca bioaccumulation of human-created toxins, or massive human reduction of orca prey), in this context, where a naturalist explicitly paired identification information with information about destructive human actions toward orcas, tourists appeared more eager to ask questions. The first asked, ‘‘Are we still capturing them?’’ using the subjective pronoun ‘‘we,’’ including, and perhaps reproaching, herself in capture practices. In explaining that captures have moved to other countries, the naturalist again individualized whales by providing numbers and sexes of those captured and killed. The second tourist’s seemingly out-of-place response (‘‘I didn’t know they still live with their moms’’) was informed by the naturalist’s
On: 18 February 2011
Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 755239602]
Publisher Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://wwwintra.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t770239508
Nature Identification: The Power of Pointing and Naming
Tema Milstein
Online publication date: 18 February 2011
To cite this Article Milstein, Tema(2011) 'Nature Identification: The Power of Pointing …show more content…
They illustrate how performances construct humanÁwhale relations largely in non-fearful and highly anthropomorphic ways. In this study’s wild whale site, some whale insiders referred to the first captive orcas as, in a sense, serving as ambassadors for wild orcas.4
Ironically, as captures killed and traumatized individual area orcas and devastated their populations, the captives helped create an atmosphere in which the public for the first time became concerned about whales. Instead of fearing or hating killer whales, people began to find they could relate to them.5
At the same time, participants in the study’s site witnessed captures. One former politician-turned whale activist spoke years later to a public gathering about his own personally transformative witnessing of a capture while out pleasure boating:
We all looked and went a little closer and realized that not only was there a pod of orcas but there was a big fishing boat, and a couple of smaller boats, and a sea …show more content…
Using identification of wild whales as her foundation, the naturalist mediated a particular perception that directed tourists to view Sea World’s practices of replacing prematurely dead captive orcas simply by naming the next Shamu as disturbing trickery to fool ‘‘people into thinking this is one whale.’’
While I found in many cases tourists did not respond to a naturalist’ information that was particularly sad or depressing (such as overview information about captures, deadly orca bioaccumulation of human-created toxins, or massive human reduction of orca prey), in this context, where a naturalist explicitly paired identification information with information about destructive human actions toward orcas, tourists appeared more eager to ask questions. The first asked, ‘‘Are we still capturing them?’’ using the subjective pronoun ‘‘we,’’ including, and perhaps reproaching, herself in capture practices. In explaining that captures have moved to other countries, the naturalist again individualized whales by providing numbers and sexes of those captured and killed. The second tourist’s seemingly out-of-place response (‘‘I didn’t know they still live with their moms’’) was informed by the naturalist’s