To live and die in an age of extinction: a conversation with Juno Salazar Parreñas

ABSTRACT

This article is a conversation between Marie-Thérèse Talensby, a doctoral student with the Extinction Studies doctoral training programme at the University of Leeds, and Dr Juno Salazar Parreñas, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. Talking over Skype in July 2023, Dr Parreñas reflects on her current research, exploring the death of a tropical polar bear in Singapore Zoo, her work on Orangutan conservation, and the violence inherent in many methods of animal conservation. In doing so, she highlights the entanglements of human and more-than-human lives in what is being described by scientists and conservation organisations as the sixth mass extinction event. Weaving throughout the conversation are more personal reflections on loss and grief, vicarious trauma, and the transformative potential in moments of decolonisation. This article offers a rich reflection on the experience and impact of researching death and loss, encompassing themes of positionality, boundaries, and the broader socio-cultural context of fieldwork encounters, topics highly relevant to Mortality readers.

KEYWORDS:

• Animals
• conservation
• ethics
• decolonisation
• extinction
• eco-grief

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. A mass extinction event is when species and ecosystems disappear faster than they can be replaced, leading to ecological cascades. There have been five extinction events in the earth’s history, with the last taking place 66 million years ago. Based on current levels of species decline and ecosystem loss, there is a growing body of research suggesting we are now in the sixth mass extinction event. For an introduction to theories on the sixth mass extinction, see Elizabeth Kolbert ‘The Sixth Extinction’ (2014, Bloomsbury), and Natural History Museum’s ‘What is a mass extinction?’ (https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-mass-extinction-and-are-we-facing-a-sixth-one.html).

2. Dr Ruth E. Toulson is a sociocultural anthropologist and coroner whose research focuses on the dead body and death’s material culture in Southeast and East Asia.

3. Stefan Lehman visualises ‘ego vs eco’ in his article, ‘Reconnecting with nature: Developing urban spaces in the age of climate change’ in the journal Emerald Open Research. The image can be seen here: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Diagram-Ego-Eco-Humankind-is-part-of-the-ecosystem-not-apart-from-or-above-it-This_fig1_330697869 [accessed April 5, 2024].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marie-Thérèse Talensby

Marie-Thérèse Talensby is a counsellor/psychotherapist in private practice, and a 3rd year doctoral researcher with the Extinction Studies DTP at the University of Leeds.

Juno Salazar Parreñas

Juno Salazar Parreñas is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University.