, 高权The excise of biopower in wildlife tourism: A case study of Crocodile Park, Guangzhou
YINDuo, GAOQuan通讯作者:
收稿日期:2016-11-9
修回日期:2017-01-21
网络出版日期:2017-11-10
版权声明:2017《地理学报》编辑部本文是开放获取期刊文献，在以下情况下可以自由使用：学术研究、学术交流、科研教学等，但不允许用于商业目的.
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1 引言
自然的社会建构是近年来欧美地理学界重新审视人与自然关系的重要理论思潮之一[1],重在深入分析现代性背景下人类社会与自然系统的互动关系,试图解开自然系统被卷入人类社会后的文化情境,讨论并彰显自然的主体性[2]。事实上,自然的社会建构不应该单纯理解为社会建构主义视角,即社会行动者如何通过权力、话语和文本等“建构”自然的社会意义。所谓的建构并不局限于社会关系之内,也应关注人类与非人类（non-human）如何在互动中组建（assemble）完整的行动者网络[1]。其中,剖析人类与动物之间关系的建构过程是展示复杂的自然与社会互动机制的重要方面。在现代性社会文化情境中,高度密集的城市生活将人与自然系统间天然的关系不断地割裂,社会发展对自然界造成的例如环境退化、生态可持续性威胁以及生物多样性危机等一系列负面问题,加速了现代城市人对于自然的渴望[3]。在庞大的自然系统中,人类天生就具有与动物亲近的欲望与需求[4]。尽管,在人类历史长河之中,许多特殊种类的动物被驯化成为家畜走进人类生产生活[5]或是被育种成为宠物走入人类家庭生活[6]。但野生动物作为动物世界最神秘的核心群体,象征着人类永远渴求探索的未知自然世界,展示着最为丰富多彩的生命形式[7]。因此,以野生动物为主体的自然保护区或主题公园成为了连接自然和社会的重要纽带。正是在这种现代性的社会文化情景下,野生动物旅游在世界范围内的快速发展,使得旅游活动开始成为人类探索并近距离接触野生动物的最主要商业形式之一[8]。然而,近来野生动物旅游中频繁曝光的各种问题,已经引发社会的广泛关注。例如,泰国普吉岛蛇园为了吸引游客购买自制蛇药,而引导游客与蟒蛇进行亲密互动,导致上海旅游团的一名女性游客被不胜其烦的蟒蛇疯狂攻击。北京八达岭野生动物园游客在猛兽区擅自下车,被埋伏的老虎袭击导致一死一伤。将野生动物强行纳入人类现代文明秩序的现象及其引发的种种问题,忽视了旅游活动中野生动物作为具有生命参与者的地位与意义[9],应该引起全社会的深刻反思。虽然,人对动物的控制是一个古老的话题,但进入现代社会,尤其是随着现代生物技术的发展,人类对野生动物施加权力的方式已经如福柯在描述现代生命权力观时所言,经历了由断头台等公开残暴的君主权力（sovereign power）机制,向更为精巧隐秘的生命权力（biopower）机制的转变过程[10]。权力的运作开始针对具有生命的个体和群体,融入到日常生活,并渗透在微观空间的各个方面。而在具体的野生动物旅游情境中,人与动物之间呈现着怎样的权力关系?这种权力关系又是如何运作?其背后反映着怎样的自然社会建构机制?本文以中国典型野生动物旅游景区——广州鳄鱼公园景区为案例,试图揭开那些看似“理所当然”的野生动物旅游活动中人与动物互动过程所掩盖的生命权力关系以及自然与社会的建构机制。
2 文献述评
2.1 生命权力与动物
生命权力的理念最早可以追溯至亚里士多德对于政治的古典定义,即人是政治的动物[11],但米歇尔·福柯（Michel Foucault）却认为,不同于传统的政治话语,在现代性语境下人的动物性本身（生命）才应该是政治的核心之所在[12]。据此,他提出了生命权力的概念框架,以此来阐释现代民族国家对其国民的监管机制是如何由恐怖且残忍的野蛮方式向更为复杂且精巧的文明方式转化的,从而实现由“让你死”（let live and make die）到“使你活”（make live and let die）的过渡[10, 13]。在福柯看来,生命权力是一种权力技术,一种管理作为群体的人的生命的方式[12]。这种生命的治理主要在两个层面上得以完成[13]：首先,是对个体身体的规训,以持续介入性的方式构建起个体的生命常规,使得个体具有更高的经济生产力。其次,是对作为整体的人口的生命政治（biopolitics）的管治,旨在控制人口的出生率、死亡率、健康状态与人均寿命等,降低内外风险以把控人口安全[14]。这两个层面的生命权力紧密交织,使得生命以个体与群体两个尺度的形式被镶嵌在以经济为基础的社会形态之中。近来部分****们已经将对生命权力的关注延伸至非人类生命的范畴[15],开始反思人对动物施加生命权力的途径与过程[16]。福柯认为,权力是主体间的力量关系,其存在的前提是双方都存在一定限度的自由和能动性,无限度的支配和暴力并不构成权力关系[17]。从古至今,伴随着社会经济的发展,人与动物的关系的演变事实上也是生命权力在现代性背景下的形成过程：人与动物相处逐渐与暴力脱钩,从对生命的绝对支配转变成规训、管治、干预与优化生命并努力使之繁荣的生命权力运作过程。这种动物生命权力形式在人类进入现代性尤其是晚现代性（late modernity）社会表现的尤为明显。一方面,人类对自然的征服并不能无限度地延伸,人类开始关注对动物尤其是野生动物的“保育”。因此,人类开始使用更为高科技的手段对动物的身体和种群进行操控与管治。自动化、转基因等技术渗透到动物健康、繁育等过程的方方面面[18],以使动物纳入到人类可操控的范围内。另一方面,人与动物关系开始成为构建现代社会“文明性”（civility)的一个重要内容。随着自然中心主义的崛起,社会开始广泛关注动物的福利与道德,动物的主体性得到了前所未有的彰显与承认[19],动物在饲养过程中的生境待遇,甚至生命的终结方式都被赋予了法律与道德的评价标准[20]。动物伦理已经成为了一种广泛传播的话语,并接受着更多公众的制衡。但动物的生命权力仍然呈现着充满矛盾的复杂性,一方面依然保持着对动物生命的诸多胁迫性与强制性力量,另一方面则注入了调节性与扶植性的力量,利用现代生物技术行使着“保育生命”的职能[14]。生命权力的概念为剖析社会与自然的关系提供了一个非本质主义的权力观和分析视角：人对自然的权力不应理所当然地理解为依据人类的经济、科学技术和法律而对自然形成的一种支配,而应更多地关注权力作为一种“技术”是如何在社会和自然的互动中运作和再生产。
2.2 旅游、生命权力与野生动物
人类对野生动物的观览和游赏历史亦可谓源远流长,契合了人对动物利用过程中由规训权力向生命权力过渡的演变历程。古代中国、古埃及以及其他世界各地的王公贵族普遍对野生动物怀有浓厚的游猎与玩赏兴趣,在当时野生动物被看作是高贵与王权的象征,只有精英阶层才可以接触,皇家贵族对野生动物施加权力的过程野蛮而赤裸,动物的生命随时会因个人喜好而被剥夺,成为召显权贵社会地位的“活道具”。到18世纪受到启蒙运动的影响,公众认为贵族对野生动物的规训与惩罚映射了自身所承受的压迫与不公,因而对野生动物私人化游赏的抵制开始大规模爆发,并由法国开始波及整个欧洲进而向外推进[7]。人类与野生动物的互动不再局限在精英阶层的私人圈养与游赏,开始朝向大众化观览迈进。在全世界范围内,野生动物旅游都成为了人类观览与接触野生动物的绝佳甚至唯一机会[21-23]。而野生动物旅游中所谓的野生动物通常有两种主要类型[24],第一种为安置在例如动物园、水族馆等人造空间中被捕获的野生动物,第二种为在自然栖息地中的野生动物。在旅游活动的背景下,人类对野生动物的生命权力运作主要围绕三条主线展开。首先,人类对野生动物的规训与管治技术越来越依赖于科学技术的运用,让野生动物的行为、健康及游客的安全都处于可操控的范畴。例如,美国黄石国家公园为了旅游活动的顺利开展,将无线电发射项圈（tracking collar）、遥感技术（RS）、地理定位系统（GPS）等现代科技用以追踪并管理灰熊、郊狼等猛兽的活动线路,并采用厌恶性刺激（aversive stimuli）惩戒擅自进入游客活动区域的“越轨”猛兽,以防止人兽冲突的发生并对野生动物的健康进行动态监测[25]。其次,旅游景区已经能够熟练巧妙地对旅游活动中游客与野生动物的关系进行操纵,以达到服务于旅游经济的目的。就加利福尼亚州长滩市的太平洋水族馆而言,景区深谙游客想要与象征着吉祥、好运的吸蜜鹦鹉亲密接触的需求,因此设置了只有购买价值三美元的花蜜才可以吸引鹦鹉停靠并抚摸的 “吸蜜鹦鹉森林”展馆。在考虑投喂食物时,景区选择了对鹦鹉而言饱足感较小的花蜜,因此即便大量游客的喂食也不会对鹦鹉造成伤害。另外,花蜜会减少鹦鹉排便次数和粪便粘度以防止在接触过程中给游客带来负面的旅游体验[26]。简单的互动项目,却彰显出景区对人与鹦鹉关系精密的设计与操纵。最后,生命权力的运作不是一个单向施加的过程,不同利益主体或行动者之间形成了复杂的行动者网络,野生动物旅游的开展受到更多社会主体的制衡[27]。作为政治力量,政府自上而下地通过制定法律与政策等方式对野生动物在景区中的使用权限与保护等级进行规制,对动物保育做出引导。作为社会力量,非政府组织（NGO）自下而上地通过社会运动与自筹基金等方式对野生动物旅游景区进行监督,对动物福利与道德做出倡导[28]。正如卡尔·波兰尼（Karl Polanyi）在The Great Transformation中所描述的那样,经济活动是紧密嵌入在社会文化情境中的,政治与社会力量会对经济活动形成反制作用[29]。事实上这些研究都偏重分析旅游活动中的社会关系的建构或者旅游活动对自然系统的影响,将旅游活动理解为社会关系的一种表征,而忽视了非人类行动者的能动性,即围绕野生动物而卷入和生产的行动者网络。因此,从自然的社会建构视角出发去分析人与动物之间的权力关系可以摆脱以往研究中对自然系统和社会系统的割裂,可以为理解人与动物之间的关系提供更加有益的视角。
相比于国家公园、自然保护区等在原始野生动物栖息地之上被人类政策话语所建构的野生动物旅游地[30],动物园因为将野生动物直接置入人类的社会情境之中,因而其对人与野生动物关系的展演相比于野生动物的原生栖息地更加直接也更为丰富[31]。并且现今类似传统动物园的野生动物旅游企业会开始向野生动物主题公园演化,出现迪斯尼化现象（Disneyization）[32]。相比于传统动物园,野生动物主题公园更富主题性、旅游消费形式更加多样且野生动物商品化更加突出。最为重要的是,野生动物主题公园直接以动物保护与自然教育为特色组织旅游项目,因而政府与非政府组织能够以更加直接与公开的方式参与到野生动物旅游中[33]。因此,本文从自然的社会建构视角出发,以福柯生命权力的概念为理论工具,探讨野生动物旅游活动中人与动物的权力关系,以及社会主体围绕着野生动物彼此制衡而再生产的行动者网络。
3 案例地与研究方法
广州鳄鱼公园景区（简称景区）①（①2016年7月1日,运行了十余年的广州鳄鱼公园彻底更名为长隆飞鸟乐园,在保留原本鳄鱼项目的基础上,飞鸟主题的旅游项目继续增多。这说明,伴随着人们对于自然主题追求的不断转变,野生动物生命权力的运作仍在不停地转型与深化。由于本文关注的是景区名为鳄鱼公园期间的生命权力运作过程,因此依然沿用广州鳄鱼公园的名称。）隶属于长隆集团,景区前身为番禺香江鳄鱼养殖基地,经历了从单一的鳄鱼养殖场,向以鳄鱼为特色同时包含各类湿地动物的综合型野生动物主题公园转变的发展过程。景区于2004年正式向游客开放,目前展区内有扬子鳄、马来鳄、湾鳄等6大种类的数万条鳄鱼,除此之外还拥有丹顶鹤、鹈鹕、红鹮等湿地鸟类,以及大鲵、黄金蟒等两栖类与爬行类野生动物。景区清晰的动物主题、齐全的动物种类与成功的运营历史,对于探究现代旅游活动情境中的人与野生动物权力关系与自然的社会建构机制极具典型性。从景区的空间布局来看,其位于中国经济最活跃且最发达的珠三角广州市,体现了城市居民对于亲近自然、消费自然的时尚与需求。从景区内部功能分区来看（图1）,共设A、B、C三大功能版块,每个功能版块中鳄鱼主题展馆与其他湿地动物主题展馆相互搭配、互为补充,野生动物旅游体验形式亦包含凝视、互动等不同类型。
显示原图|下载原图ZIP|生成PPT图1广州鳄鱼公园景区内部示意图
-->Fig. 1The inner structure of Guangzhou Crocodile Park
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考虑到野生动物的生理习性会因为天气和季节的状况而产生变化,景区的运营与管治方式亦会随之发生改变。因此,研究者在2015年8月-2016年8月的不同季节,挑选了阴雨、晴朗等不同的天气状况5次前往鳄鱼公园进行调研,研究不同状态下鳄鱼公园各旅游项目的运作状况。研究主要采用质性研究,运用参与式观察、半结构化访谈以及文本分析的方法。
参与式观察主要关注野生动物旅游景区的运行方式、景区内具体旅游项目的设计机理与游客体验：以研究者身份,仔细观察景区中各项旅游活动的运行要素,着重思考其中野生动物的地位与意义。期间对全部动物表演和主要展馆游客观览的现场进行了录像,同时辅之以照片拍摄。另外,以游客身份对景区各项旅游项目均进行了体验,并将体验感受以自我民族志的方式进行记录与整理。此外,为了获取更为深入的信息,研究者还对景区中的11位游客、14名员工进行了半结构化访谈,在所获信息达到饱和后停止访谈信息收集,访谈整个过程进行了记录或录音并在后期进行整理。信息编码时员工以字母E为代表,游客以T为代表,研究样本基本信息如表1所示。游客的访谈在景区内进行,地点主要是在对旅游项目体验前的游步道中以及体验后的动物表演场地内进行。对游客的访谈主要侧重两方面：① 游客感知中的景区核心旅游吸引力及其形成原因;② 景区中各项目的旅游体验。员工的访谈主要是在其主要负责的展馆周围进行,在其为游客讲解时进行提问与追问或者在其空闲时进行深度访谈。对景区员工的访谈主要侧重三方面：① 景区针对不同动物种类管治方式的时（繁育、冬眠等动物生理周期）空（不同动物场馆以及不同功能分区）分异如何;② 具体旅游项目的设计机理及其对野生动物与游客的感知如何;③ 涉及景区运营的不同行动者及其互动情况如何。
Tab. 1
表1
表1研究样本构成情况
Tab. 1The structure of the samples
| 编号 | 性别 | 年龄阶段(岁) | 职业 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E01 | 男 | 20~24 | 动物管理员 |
| E02 | 女 | 30~34 | 动物管理员 |
| E03 | 女 | 25~29 | 动物管理员 |
| E04 | 男 | 30~34 | 动物管理员 |
| E05 | 女 | 25~29 | 动物管理员 |
| E06 | 男 | 35~39 | 动物管理员 |
| E07 | 男 | 25~29 | 动物管理员 |
| E08 | 男 | 20~24 | 动物管理员 |
| E09 | 男 | 20~24 | 动物管理员 |
| E10 | 男 | 25~29 | 动物管理员 |
| E11 | 男 | 20~24 | 动物驯养员 |
| E12 | 男 | 35~39 | 动物驯养员 |
| E13 | 女 | 25~29 | 动物表演司仪 |
| E14 | 女 | 20~24 | 动物表演司仪 |
| T01 | 男 | 40~44 | 企业管理人员 |
| T02 | 女 | 40~44 | 私营业主 |
| T03 | 男 | 30~34 | 银行柜员 |
| T04 | 女 | 25~29 | 人力资源培训师 |
| T05 | 男 | 20~24 | 大学生 |
| T06 | 女 | 20~24 | 大学生 |
| T07 | 女 | 30~34 | 餐饮服务人员 |
| T08 | 男 | 30~34 | 公司职员 |
| T09 | 男 | 50~54 | 私营业主 |
| T10 | 女 | 25~29 | 教师 |
| T11 | 男 | 25~29 | 公务员 |
新窗口打开
此外,除了从现场观察与访谈得到的针对野生动物身体与种群的直接规训与管治方式,知识的生产作为一种特殊的权力类型,从来都与生命权力的运作息息相关[34]。为了获取全面的知识文本,首先,对长隆集团的官方网站、“欢乐长隆”与“长隆野生动物世界”官方微信订阅号进行了长期关注,对关于景区运营报道的历史消息进行细致地整合与梳理,并持续进行追踪与补充。另外,关注了“中国林业网”、“世界动物保护协会”、“WCS国际野生动物保护学会”等长期关注野生动物旅游的政府与非政府组织的官方网站与官方微信订阅号,着重了解与旅游活动相关的野生动物政策法规与保育活动。同时对蚂蜂窝旅游虚拟社区网站、新浪博客、微博等有关景区旅游体验的游记以及各类政府与非政府组织针对景区组织的各项政策与活动报道进行了抓取,意图全面了解野生动物旅游的运作体系以及不同社会主体之间的制衡与博弈关系。
4 研究结果
4.1 管治与保育：野生动物的种群管理与生命政治
旅游活动对于动物保育至关重 要[35],Hennessy认为,人类对动物种群管理的生命政治技术主要通过照料、分类与监测等行为来实现 [36]。由于现代生物科技的引入,景区对动物种群的健康与繁育的照料得以最大程度的保障,同时,动物理疗、繁育的设备和过程成为了景区对外标榜动物福利的新兴手段与吸引力。目前,传统动物园贪多求全的动物展示策略已经很难迎合现代游客的旅游需求。拥挤的笼舍和了无生趣的动物行为状态只会降低游客满意度,甚至使游客产生厌恶与焦虑的负面旅游体验[37]。因此,对野生动物种群健康的维持和保育的成功成为了景区的核心竞争力。景区野生动物的医疗保健与繁殖育幼部门不再像传统动物园那样仅仅是内部私密的应急、支持系统,而是开始被作为一项重要的旅游项目对外宣传与展示。景区开设了育幼孵化长廊作为景区保育成功的对外展示窗口,游客能够透过视窗全面获取野生动物在景区中的保育知识。视窗内全面地陈列了人工孵化与养育鳄鱼及飞鸟的育幼仪器,展示出景区为野生动物幼雏营建的犹如人类幼儿园一般舒适、可爱的成长环境。在景区内,野生动物福利与生活条件得以最大程度的宣传,并且为景区的增添了极富社会教育意义的旅游观览项目。另外,核心旅游项目的更新换代与游客的消费需求休戚相关,而主题公园则对旅游市场的信息反馈更加敏感[38]。由于有限的动物保育经费与展演空间,面对旅游市场需求的波动,景区必须对核心旅游项目的演替做出取舍。但野生动物主题公园中的旅游项目均是以具有生命的野生动物作为核心吸引力,因此,景区中旅游产品的更新换代不能像其他游乐主题公园的游乐设施一般轻易地安装拆卸。景区必须首先以游客喜好与市场需求为标准,对园区内的野生动物进行分类,然后以更为精巧且平缓的方式,利用现代生物科技带来的便利与可能,逐步缩减那些不易操控且逐渐丧失旅游吸引力的动物种群,而扶植那些更具亲和力且在旅游消费市场中更加时尚的动物种群,以便维持景区的运转与盈利。
目前,景区已经熟练地掌握了鳄鱼与飞鸟的繁育规律与技术。鳄鱼的性别会由孵化时的温度与湿度决定,一般情况下,鳄鱼的孵化会大致按照雄雌1∶2的比例调控温度,以保证鳄鱼种群总量的稳定。但由于鳄鱼本身不爱活动又有冬季长时间的休眠期,伴随着景区十余年的发展,鳄鱼旅游项目的吸引力在逐渐减弱。因此景区开始在人工孵化鳄鱼的关键时期,调控孵化的温度与湿度,从而减少雌性鳄鱼的数量,使得鳄鱼种群的总量稳步降低。而与此相反,景区不断地对飞鸟所在的展馆进行环境丰容改造,尽可能地营造模拟荒野自然的环境系统令飞鸟感到舒适与放松,以促进飞鸟的求偶与交配。在飞鸟的繁殖季节景区会安排人员加强巡查,为不同种类的飞鸟提供不同材质的筑巢材料,并使用能够净化空气并调节温度的人类婴儿培养箱来养育被抛弃或体质较弱的雏鸟,从而壮大飞鸟种群数量。在景区精心地培养与监控下,动物种群出现了“鸟”进“鳄”退的发展态势,有限的动物繁育经费与展演空间开始更多地运用于更受游客欢迎的活泼艳丽的飞鸟。
你看,现在面前的这个古巴大火烈鸟的展区以前全放的是鳄鱼。景区刚开始主要以鳄鱼（展出）为主,都没有其他动物。好多游客都提意见说,鳄鱼太多了,动都不动一下太没意思。我们就慢慢开始增加这些湿地鸟类和小动物,好多的鳄鱼都搬回去后勤那边了。
——动物管理员E02
现在这里虽然还是全国最大的鳄鱼养殖地,但是（鳄鱼）数量已经少了好多啦,毕竟现在不是以鳄鱼为主题了,这里要鳄鱼太多也没用,所以每年孵鳄鱼时就都会要有意控制一下温度湿度那些,加上那些没有受精的蛋,鳄鱼数量也就没那么多了。
——动物管理员E07
目前景区已经拥有总数超过1万只的300余类飞鸟种群,成为了中国最大的金刚鹦鹉繁育基地并拥有全国最大的火烈鸟种群。通过标准化、高科技的管治与保育措施,景区中动物种群的性别、健康与数量等方面得以最大程度的调控,并由此形成了与旅游市场相适应的“生命政治”运作模式。
4.2 规训与操控：旅游活动中的人与野生动物关系
在景区旅游项目的设计与开展过程中,景区根据不同动物的习性与特征,使用不同的专业技术对野生动物进行规训,向游客展演野生动物或驯顺、或狂野的身体,以满足游客亲近与征服野生动物的双重渴望。这种对动物或驯服或狂野的呈现,反映的不仅是对动物身体的操控,更是对游客体验的操控。正如段义孚所述,人与自然之间其实是一种复杂多元的残忍与爱恋关系[39]。人类对于野生动物总是秉持好恶交织的原始欲望。而景区则会基于这种双重的欲望,对鳄鱼的形象进行复杂地多元化建构。首先,当游客意图亲近和了解鳄鱼时,景区会展现出鳄鱼温顺的一面,精心挑选景区中当季瘦弱的幼鳄进行近距离展示与讲解,选择性地展演鳄鱼幼年、母性等特征建构出鳄鱼这种本来被认为极其危险的动物的可亲近性。但值得指出的是,人类对动物的规训是受制于动物本身的生理特性的。例如景区无法操控鳄鱼规律的繁育期、冬眠期等,因此转而选择更易被操控的两栖爬行类和鸟类动物,设置了许多“投食驿站”和“科普讲堂”等可以满足人与动物互动的项目,意图使游客在与动物身体的互动中产生与自然的亲密感。但即便如此,这些供游客玩乐的所谓被规训的动物也并非可以随时随地接受景区的调配与摆布,它们无法改变的生理特性会成为其能动性的有力体现。例如在2016年7月4日的调研中,突然的降雨让羽毛淋湿的金刚鹦鹉非常郁闷,雨停后闹脾气的它们开始拒绝食用游客购买的瓜子,使得这项投喂互动活动被迫临时取消。其次,现代城市的野生动物主题公园中,以动物搏斗取乐的残忍项目已经不为现代文明所接纳。但从根本上来说,时空轨迹的变迁并未停止人类征服并驾驭野生动物的渴望,人类宣示社会性对于动物性的挑战与支配会以另一种方式更加精巧多元的方式呈现。游客会在亲自或者观看他人驾驭、摆布野生动物的过程中产生类似征服感的愉悦旅游体验。而景区通过精心的设计与编排,在旅游项目中巧妙地操控着这种旅游体验为旅游经济服务。这一过程在最受游客欢迎的“鳄作剧”与“钓鳄岛”两大鳄鱼主题的旅游项目中体现的尤为明显（图2）。
显示原图|下载原图ZIP|生成PPT图2广州鳄鱼公园中的鳄鱼表演(鳄作剧)与互动(钓鳄岛)②(② 图片来源：http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2013-05/30/c_124782633_2.htm)
-->Fig. 2Crocodile performance and interaction in the Guangzhou Crocodile Park
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在“鳄作剧”表演中,景区通过驯鳄师专业的技能展现和鳄鱼驯顺的身体展演,使游客在观看专业表演时产生人类竟然能够如此娴熟地驾驭并驯服鳄鱼的惊奇与赞叹。由于鳄鱼不具备长久的记忆力,因此驯鳄师会掌握用于固定表演的鳄鱼的习性,配合鳄鱼身体细节的变化为游客做出看似双方极其“默契”的表演。例如,在表演“鳄口取物”这类高风险动作时,将手放入鳄鱼口中前,要轻敲鳄鱼眼睛与嘴部,起到使鳄鱼放松警惕并减少对人类敌意的所谓“麻醉”作用。手放入后,取物动作需精准并时刻注意鳄鱼身体的细微变化,“看到鳄鱼的鼻孔在收缩或者嘴里的合板打开了,代表鳄鱼已经生气,就要赶快收手”（驯鳄师E11）。在表演的过程中,驯鳄师专业的驯兽动作会搭配滑稽的“不专业”表演。如佯装笨拙地摔入鳄鱼池中,造成失误假象以突显鳄鱼凶险。有惊无险的表现让游客在经历了犹如过山车一般惊悚与愉悦交织的高峰体验,而后驯鳄师向游客索要小费以便“奖励”鳄鱼的环节,就自然而然且毫不违和地融入到了节目之中。
那么大的鳄鱼还在疯狂挣扎（驯鳄师）就一下给抱起来,刚刚我都激动得站起来了。这才是来这儿想看到的鳄鱼,凶残吃人,但那又怎样。人定胜天,人就是厉害啊,这么凶狠的鳄鱼照样搞的这么听话,一直就想看这样的表演,太过瘾了。
——游客T08
看他（驯鳄师）用手拿鳄鱼嘴里的东西,旁边的人（驯鳄师）还不小心摔跤的时候我的心都要蹦出来了,好惊悚啊,感觉那个鳄鱼随时都有可能会发飙咬他,看的时候觉得不敢看又想看,好矛盾,但好刺激。给点小费嘛无所谓啦,觉得超值。
——游客T10
相较之下钓鳄岛的设计则更加简单,就是让游客亲自站在高台上以垂钓的形式用鸡腿作为食物直接逗弄台下的鳄鱼。在钓鳄时身体与身体的角力中,游客的旅游体验也出现了与自然“对抗”与“战斗”的隐喻。游客只要花费20元人民币,就可以购买一根绑着鸡肉的竹竿作为“武器”参与钓鳄活动。在景区营造的非惯常环境中,日常生活中营建的野生动物保护意识与危险常识被有条件的暂时消解,人对野生动物占有与征服的本能被合理激发,体验过程出现了类似“战斗”的策略与技巧,并产生了“畅爽”、“刺激”等快感。
我们平时不会让鳄鱼吃的太饱,这样客人来了逗它们才能扑食啊,玩这个也要技巧的,最厉害的一个（游客）,一个鸡腿玩两小时,所有的鳄鱼被他逗的到处跑。
——动物管理员E10
平时哪有机会,也不敢这么玩鳄鱼啊,它们好聪明的,排的阵列好到位,每一个尾巴后面都跟着另一个,肉刚放下去它是不会咬的,只会趁你不注意突然发动攻击秒杀你。所以你必须把肉甩到它尾巴那儿,它扑的时候你再猛提竿就不会被咬到。
——游客T05
在实地观察中发现,一旦鸡肉被鳄鱼咬住,经过短暂几秒的僵持后,钓鳄活动就会以鳄鱼的大快朵颐而宣告结束。游客大多会非常不甘心地继续购买鸡肉再次加入“战斗”。“基本上（每一位）都是一百（元）一百（元）的买,（生意）最好的一天可以卖三百多份（鸡肉）”（动物管理员E06）。在人与鳄的对抗中,鳄鱼成为了游客的“玩物”,伴随着人类的征服欲与满足感,钓鳄成为了公园最受欢迎的旅游项目之一。总之,在野生动物旅游体验中人类对动物亲近和征服的欲望大多是互相交融难以割裂的。在看似平和的非消费型野生动物旅游活动中,游客对野生动物虽没有例如围捕、猎杀等直接伤害,但整个旅游体验过程的实质仍然只是以另一种更加合乎现代文化规范的方式在彰显着人对野生动物驾驭与控制的本能。
4.3 生命权力的制衡：不同行动者针对野生动物的博弈
伴随着现代化社会对于野生动物保护的隐忧,以国家林业、农业等主管部门为代表的政府组织与以野生动物保护组织（简称动保组织）为代表的非政府组织（NGO）开始全面参与到野生动物旅游中,基于各自立场对野生动物旅游景区的人工繁育、公众展示展演甚至出售与利用等经营活动做出规定与限制。政府机构通过制定针对野生动物的政策性话语对景区经营活动做出规范与限制,并对景区的“越轨”行为做出惩罚。首先,对景区中的野生动物进行了分级界定。《中华人民共和国野生动物保护法》中规定（资料来源：根据2017年1月1日起实施的新修订《中华人民共和国野生动物保护法》相关内容整理。）,珍贵、濒危的野生动物按照一级保护野生动物与二级保护野生动物的标准进行分类并被国家重点保护。就景区的核心旅游吸引物——鳄鱼而言,所有的鳄鱼种类全部属于国家重点保护野生动物。其次,对景区的经营管理权限进行了规定与限制。农业部与国家林业局等政府组织依照《野生动物保护法》规定,要求景区依照法律程序取得鳄鱼的驯养繁殖许可证,且驯养繁殖的鳄鱼不可为野外种源,必须是人工繁育鳄鱼的子代种源（即野外种源的孙子辈）。再次,对景区中野生动物的利用方式进行了明确的限定。例如,景区中的扬子鳄被认定为中国特有国家一级保护野生动物,因而必须重点关注、完整保护。而暹罗鳄、湾鳄与尼罗鳄这三种鳄鱼则被国家林业局认定为可商业性经营利用驯养繁殖技术成熟的野生动物,在符合条件的情况下就可以被烹食宰杀（资料来源：根据国家林业局2003年文件《关于发布商业性经营利用驯养繁殖技术成熟的梅花鹿等54种陆生野生动物名单的通知》（林护发[2003]121号）整理。）。景区只要按照广东省人民政府野生动物保护主管部门核验的年度生产数量来取得“中国野生动物经营利用管理专用标识”,凭借专用标识就可对鳄鱼进行出售和加工（资料来源：根据2001年与2010年农业部文件《农业部关于加强鳄鱼管理的紧急通知》、《农业部、国家林业局关于加强鳄鱼管理有关工作的通知》（渔农发[2001]18号、[2010]26号）整理。）。现在景区已经开发出了瓦锅鳄鱼腩、宫廷扣鳄鱼尾等一系列鳄鱼主题的旅游餐饮产品,并设有鳄鱼皮具、鳄鱼装饰等一系列旅游商品供销点。在政策性话语的规制下,同样的野生动物生命被施以不同的管理方式。可以发现,其实政策性话语本身亦是一种野生动物生命权力运作的方式与过程。最后,对景区中违反法律法规的行为进行惩罚。制定了例如“罚款”、“没收野生动物及其制品”,以及“收回许可证与专用标志”等一系列惩处的条目与规定,甚至构成犯罪的要依法追究刑事责任（资料来源：根据新修订《中华人民共和国野生动物保护法》相关内容以及国家林业局文件《国家林业局关于对野生动物观赏展演单位野生动物驯养繁殖活动进行清理整顿和监督检查的通知》（林护发[2010]195号）整理。）。
各种政策性话语详细深入的规定与限制,并没有对景区利用野生动物进行旅游活动形成桎梏,而是助推景区在国家法制社会的宏观轨道中更顺畅地运行。而各类惩处与警示的政策,亦帮助景区规避了走私、非法驯养野生动物等同类型旅游市场中的恶性竞争。同时,景区在繁育野生动物方面的巨大成功,使得政府需要依靠景区的保育成就来完成所肩负生态保育的工作任务。因此,政府在需要举办如全国“爱鸟周”、广东省“野生动物保护月”等公益活动时,会考虑将活动的举办地布置在景区,间接助力景区进行市场宣传与推广。政府与景区在野生动物生命权力运作过程中的限制与助推形成了一种制衡关系,而这种制衡为野生动物旅游的开展提供了一个可持续发展的合法性框架。
动保组织会宣传所谓动物知识的科学主义话语,并对景区中野生动物的生境状况进行监督与举报,以此对景区的经营活动形成规范与限制。首先,动保组织会在时下最流行的社交媒介中传播与推广科学化与主题化的野生动物知识,倡导游客拒绝参加野生动物旅游。例如,世界动物保护协会援引来自“牛津大学野生动物保护研究中心（WildCRU）报告”的科学话语（资料来源：根据2016年3月3日与5月16日世界动物保护协会微信官方订阅号推文整理。）,认为鳄鱼养殖园是全球十大最残忍的野生动物娱乐表演“培养皿”,鳄鱼被描述为“对压力非常敏感”且“罹患白血病概率极高”的脆弱物种,而其生境被描述为“严重拥挤和不卫生的混凝土坑”以及“单调贫瘠的监禁环境”。除此之外,动保组织会联合政府部门对景区的野生动物生境状况进行监督与举报。原本景区设有与绑嘴小鳄鱼（一般为1~2岁的幼年鳄鱼）合影的旅游项目,在诸多网络游记中还留存有许多游客的合影留念。但在实地调研中,却并没有发现此旅游项目。
“这个活动被动保人士投诉了,他们觉得给鳄鱼绑嘴对鳄鱼有伤害,早就没了,想玩（亲密接触）小鳄鱼,过段时间也许会和去年一样,有更有趣、更受欢迎的为小鳄鱼接生活动,刚破壳的小鳄鱼牙软,不用绑嘴也不咬人”。
——动物管理员E04
野生动物保护组织对动物福利与权力的监督与举报,并没有使得景区终止开设游客与野生动物亲密接触的旅游项目,在一定程度上反而推动了旅游产品的更新换代并朝着更加符合现代城市消费需求的方向发展。其实质上仍然是野生动物卷入人类社会文化情境后的商品化过程。动保组织的监督,促使景区的发展更符合公序良俗,景区更紧密地融汇到动物福利与道德倡导的浪潮之中。另外,景区在现代化城市中营造的庞大自然生态系统,为各种动保组织的生态教育职责提供了绝佳的自然仿生情境,动保组织通常会选择借助并联合政府的力量,依托景区空间开展各类环保教育活动。动保组织与景区在野生动物生命权力运作过程中的监督与倡导形成了另一种制衡关系,这种制衡为野生动物旅游的开展提供了一个可持续发展的道德性框架。政府部门、动保组织与景区针对野生动物生命权力展开的三角博弈与制衡,共同将野生动物旅游活动紧密地嵌入到社会文化情境之中,推动了野生动物旅游的发展壮大与转型升级（图3）。
显示原图|下载原图ZIP|生成PPT图3野生动物旅游生命权力运作机制
-->Fig. 3Wildlife tourism biopower operation mechanism
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5 结论与讨论
伴随着势不可挡的现代性洪流,象征着荒野（wildness）、自然与神秘的野生动物被卷入人类社会系统并被纳入人类文化秩序进行规训与管治[37]。而旅游无疑成为了这一过程的“助推剂”和“显微镜”,加速了人类对野生动物个体与种群施加生命权力的进程,并促使野生动物生命权力的运作过程得以完整地显现。本文以广州鳄鱼公园为例,探讨了在高度城市化与现代化的地方,野生动物旅游中生命权力的运作过程,并展示了在此过程中形成的行动者网络。首先,本文分析了野生动物旅游中人类对野生动物规训与管治的技术与野生动物生命权力的施加方式。研究发现,不同于传统旅游文化情境中,人类利用野生动物为旅游经济服务时直接而颇具争议的操控方式[40-41]。在现代野生动物旅游对科学话语与动物主体性的强调与彰显下,以生物技术为依托的野生动物医疗、健康与保育等“生命政治”已成为了野生动物旅游景区发展的新兴产品及核心驱动力。
其次,研究丰富了野生动物旅游研究的相关理论成果,发现在旅游活动情境下,人类对野生动物生命权力的运作是建立在人类对野生动物亲近与征服的双重欲望基础之上。以往人文地理学与旅游学对于人与动物关系的讨论相对单一,大多认为在例如动物园、水族馆等非消费型或低消费型的野生动物旅游活动中,人类主要具有亲近并了解野生动物的愿望[42-44]。而在例如狩猎等消费型野生动物旅游活动中,人类则主要具有征服并占有野生动物的欲望[45-46]。研究发现,在非消费型野生动物旅游活动中,游客在体验看似平和的旅游项目时,依然在彰显着人类对野生动物征服欲驾驭的本能渴望。因此,人与野生动物的关系应该是亲近与征服并存的,两者伴随着旅游体验的开展相互交织,无法割裂看待。
第三,野生动物旅游中的生命权力运作是在不同行动者的博弈与制衡中开展的。本文批判式地反思了政府、非政府组织在野生动物旅游行动者网络中的意义[47]。两者并非是传统认知中处于道德至高点的动物“救世主”[48]。从更宏观的尺度讲,政府对野生动物的保护与规制、非政府组织对野生动物的宣传与监管,也是在将野生动物卷入人类社会文化系统基础上的自然的社会建构过程,亦是一种向野生动物施加生命权力的过程。这种生命权力的运作并非是单纯的社会关系的建构,而是围绕着非人类行动者而生产的行动者网络体系,是一种为社会关系重现而组织的互动框架。也就是说,旅游景区、政府与非政府组织针对野生动物旅游而形成的三角制衡,实质上为生命权力的可持续运作提供了合法性与道德性框架,促进了野生动物旅游的壮大与升级。
长期以来“自然”和“社会”在地理学研究中一直处于较为割裂的状态,即将“自然”和“社会”分别作为一种独立的解释系统或所谓的因素与维度。本文将人文地理学中人类活动对自然的影响机理研究以及自然地理学中对自然规律的探讨放置在一个包括人类与非人类行动者的完整网络中思考,为人文地理学分析自然与社会的关系提供了新的思考和尝试。随着中国社会转型的加剧,自然越来越被卷入人类的经济和社会文化情景之中。本文作为微观的个案研究,期待未来研究能够继续关注人与动物权力关系建构中更为宏观复杂的自然的社会建构机制。例如社会与自然的权力关系如何在国家、资本、科学技术和全球环境变化的背景下处于持续和动态的建构之中?社会与自然的关系又如何被重构?这些问题都尚待持续深入探讨。
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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| [1] | Abstract This paper seeks to clarify what is meant by the ‘social construction of nature’, which has become a crude but common term used to describe very different understandings of nature, knowledge and the world. I distinguish two broad varieties of construction talk in the social sciences: construction-as-refutation and construction-as-philosophical-critique. The first uses the construction metaphor to refute false beliefs about the world and is consistent with orthodox philosophical stances, such as positivism and realism. By contrast, I identify four other, more radical sorts of construction-as-philosophical-critique that use the construction metaphor to question the culture/nature, subject/object and representation/reality dualisms that provide the conventional philosophical foundation for distinguishing true conceptions of nature from false ones. Another source of confusion has been the question of precisely what is meant by the term ‘nature’. Making distinctions among different senses of that term can provide some badly needed clarity in debates about the social construction of nature. It also highlights a broad difference between those for whom the social construction of nature refers to the construction of our concepts of nature and those for whom the construction of nature refers to the process of constructing nature in the physical and material sense. That distinction, in turn, suggests two major, if also somewhat related, points of theoretical contention: first, the epistemological significance of understanding concepts of nature as constructed; second, the philosophical and political implications of arguing that nature is a socially constructed and contingent phenomenon. These are difficult philosophical and political questions, and the variety of constructionisms suggests that it is possible to answer them in a number of different ways. |
| [2] | This paper reflects upon the progress and prospects of the "production of nature' thesis within Marxist geography. Pivoting around a distinction made by George Canguihelm between "theories' and "concepts,' the argument is two-fold. First, it is suggested that Marxist geographical accounts of produced nature underplay the materiality of produced nature. A general theoretical account is then presented wherein historical materialist concepts can register the materiality of produced nature. Second, it is suggested that Marxist geographical accounts of produced nature insufficiently problematize the concept of nature deployed within their theoretical-explanatory frameworks. A discussion of "cultural studies of science' is then presented in order to problematize that conception. In the final part of the paper an attempt is made to reconcile the ontological realism of the first part and epistemological skepticism of the second by arguing that Marxist geographers must see produced nature as simultaneously a constellation of ontologically real and yet epistemologically-conceptually "fixed' entities. |
| [3] | Typically, cities and nature are perceived as geographic opposites, cities being manufactured social creations, and nature being outside of human construction. Through a historical geography of water in the modern city, Kaika shows that this is not the case. Rather, nature and the modern city are fully intertwined, with cities integrating nature at every level of activity. While her empirical focus is on Athens, she discusses other major cities in the West, including London and New York. |
| [4] | . |
| [5] | ABSTRACT Cattle and sheep breeders in the UK and elsewhere increasingly draw on genetic techniques in order to make breeding decisions. Many breeders support such techniques, while others argue against them for a variety of reasons, including their preference for the 'traditions' of visual-based and pedigree-based selections. Meanwhile, even for those institutions and breeders who promote genetic techniques, the outcomes are not always as predicted. We build on our recent use of Foucault's discussions of biopower to examine the effects of the introduction of genetic techniques in UK livestock breeding in order to begin to explore the diffuse and capillary nature of resistance within relations of biopower. We focus specifically on how resistance and contestation can be understood through the joint lenses of biopower and an understanding of livestock breeding as knowledge-practices enacted within heterogeneous biosocial collectivities. In some instances these collectivities coalesce around shared endeavour, such as increasing the valency of genetic evaluation within livestock breeding. Yet such mixed collectivities also open up opportunities for counter-conduct: heterogeneous resistances to and contestations of genetic evaluation as something represented as progressive and inevitable. We focus on exploring such modes of resistance using detailed empirical research with livestock breeders and breeding institutions. We demonstrate how in different and specific ways geneticisation becomes problematised, and is contested and made more complex, through the knowledge-practices of breeders, the bodies of animals, and the complex relationships between different institutions in livestock breeding and rearing. |
| [6] | This paper explores the ways in which pet-owners in contemporary Britain mobilize the categories of ‘animal’ and ‘human’ in their attempts to understand their pets. Pet-keeping forms one of the closest forms of human–animal interaction in modern western society and as such provides an ideal opportunity to examine the ways in which people understand the similarities and differences between humans and non-humans in the course of their daily lives. Through the close-lived nature of pet–human relationships, people come to understand these animals in a variety of ways which go beyond ideas of instinctual behaviour to recognize their individual subjectivity and ‘personhood’, but also respect their ‘animalness’ and difference, rather than valuing them simply on the basis of their similarity to humans. These disruptions of binary categories provide a model for understanding notions of ‘post-humanism’ in the lived reality of everyday life. |
| [7] | |
| [8] | Wildlife tourism is an important platform to investigate the relationship between people and nature. Given that wildlife destinations are likely to receive higher tourism demand from new emerging economies, this article considers the wider emotional and psychological implications of wildlife watching. The growing significance of this tourist activity is a potential reawakening of a deeper ecological sub-consciousness brought about by a society that is disconnected from nature. Particular attention is given to the importance of experiencing nature first hand, the psychological benefits, and the emotional responses that may engender a relationship of care. This is good for both the human spirit and for nature conservation. |
| [9] | This paper presents a critical investigation of power relations circulating in promotional materials associated with polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Drawing on precepts of ecofeminism, critical discourse analysis, and the content of cultural texts (websites, souvenirs) produced by tourism operators, businesses, and crown corporations, the study interprets how representations of polar bears re-inscribe regimes of truth that marginalize non-human animal others and are complicit with patriarchal ideologies. Focus in our analysis is placed first, on illustrating the portrayal of “performing spectacle bears” – a socially constructed subjectivity designed to serve the desires of wildlife tourism producers and consumers – and, second, on diagnosing the privileged discourses that work to maintain and normalize this construction, along with the interspecies dynamics they support. In effect, the paper sheds light on the complex and recurrent effects of anthropocentric and instrumentalist orientations in tourism, including their contingency upon masculine systems of value and rationality. The paper also points out the potential of ecofeminist ethics of care for enhancing interspecies relationships in sustainable tourism. |
| [10] | |
| [11] | . |
| [12] | . . |
| [13] | |
| [14] | . . |
| [15] | ABSTRACT This article seeks to unpack notions of governmentality by reading it through the case of nature. By highlighting three key aspects of governmentality - its analytics of power, biopolitics, and technologies of the self - I argue that this approach presents a promising theoretical trend for those who study nature and its rule. However, there have been critiques leveled at this approach which must be considered. Using examples drawn from human/non-human interactions, I explore how the governmentality literature needs to be made more complex and attune to difference. In the final analysis, I argue that the concept of governmentality is not only an effective tool for geographers, but that geography provides a particularly insightful lens with its attention to spatiality, scale, territory and human/non-human relations that enrich the analysis of the making of governable spaces. |
| [16] | I explore how some aspects of Foucoult’s work on power can be applied to human/animal power relations. First, I argue that because animals behave as “beings that react” and can respond in different ways to human actions, in principle at least, Foucoult’s work can offer insights into human/animal power relations. However, many of these relations fall into the category of “domination,” in which animals are unable to respond. Second, I examine different kinds of human power practices, in particular, ways in which humans construct animal constitutions and animal subjectivities. Finally, I use a case study of a pet cat to show how such power practices may come together in a single instance. |
| [17] | Includes bibliographical references |
| [18] | Genetic techniques have become increasingly prevalent in livestock breeding, associated with new types of knowledge-practice and changes in the institutional and geographical relationships related to animal husbandry. This paper examines the value of Foucault's concept of 'biopower' to theorising livestock breeding and the implications of the rise of genetic knowledge-practices in agriculture, developing the concept to apply to nonhuman animals and to situations where humans and nonhuman animals are co-constituted through particular knowledge-practices and corporeal meetings. It focuses on the idea of 'population' as a central component of biopower, and relates this to conceptualisations of biosocial collectivity. Reacting to the inherent humanism of Foucault's outlining of biopower, the paper argues for its relevance in relation to nonhuman populations, and for heterogeneous conceptualisations of biosocial collectivity. Drawing on research with UK beef cattle and sheep breed societies, the paper explores how, in practice, populations are constructed in relation to the production of particular sorts of truths concerning, and particular modes of intervention in, the lives of nonhuman animals. It explores how heterogeneous biosocial collectivities are constituted around these interventions. The emergence of genetic techniques is shown to transform the processes constituting populations and heterogeneous biosocial collectivities, and this is discussed in terms of a new inflection of agricultural biopower associated with novel interventions in the lives of livestock animals. |
| [19] | |
| [20] | This paper considers some recent developments in ‘animal-centred’ welfare science, which acknowledges the sentience of ‘farmed’ animals, alongside the emergence of a market for ‘happy meat’, which offers assurances of care and consideration for ‘farmed’ animals to concerned consumers. Both appear to challenge the instrumental ‘machine’ model characteristic of ‘factory farming’. However, in both cases, this paper argues that these discourses of consideration for the well-being of ‘farmed’ animals work to appease and deflect ethical concerns while facilitating the continued exploitation of ‘farmed’ animals. Michel Foucault's work traces shifting techniques in the governance of humans, from the production of ‘docile bodies’ subjected to the knowledge formations of the human sciences (disciplinary power), to the facilitation of self-governing agents directed towards specified forms of self-knowledge by quasi-therapeutic authorities (pastoral power). While mindful of the important differences between the governance of human subjects and the oppression of nonhuman animals, exemplified in nonhuman animals' legal status as property, this paper explores parallel shifts from disciplinary to pastoral regimes of human-‘farmed’ animal relations. Recent innovations in ‘animal-centred’ welfare science represent a trend away from the ‘disciplinary’ techniques of confinement and torture associated with ‘factory farms’ and towards quasi-therapeutic ways of claiming to know ‘farmed’ animals, in which the animals themselves are co-opted into the processes by which knowledge about them is generated. The new pastoral turn in ‘animal-centred’ welfare finds popular expression in ‘happy meat’ discourses that invite ‘consumers’ to adopt a position of vicarious carer for the ‘farmed’ animals who they eat. The paper concludes that while ‘animal-centred’ welfare reform and ‘happy meat’ discourses promise a possibility of a somewhat less degraded life for some ‘farmed’ animals, they do so by perpetuating exploitation and oppression and entrenching speciesist privilege by making it less vulnerable to critical scrutiny. |
| [21] | This paper focuses on a specialty sub-sector of the larger ecotourism market, which fuses the ‘hard’ ecotourist with the volunteer tourist, in which paying members of the general public travel for the purpose of participating in organised conservation work. This industry has an increasing impact on the global distribution of volunteers and resources for conservation, and despite its increasing commercialisation, there has been little examination of this industry. This paper aims to provide a broad insight into the UK conservation tourism industry, examining the scale of the industry and the diversity and practices of the organisations involved. The paper then explores the range and distribution of holidays, the volunteers participating and allocation of fees. As the industry expands further, it will be important for these organisations to keep the quality of their conservation products high and the volunteer's engagement with nature deep and meaningful. |
| [22] | The feeding of wildlife has become a popular means by which tourists and tourism operators can facilitate close observation and interaction with wildlife in the wild. These practices are widespread and have a variety of impacts on the wildlife鈥攁nd on the tourists. Deliberate and long-term provision of food to wildlife has been shown to alter natural behaviour patterns and population levels. It has also resulted in the dependency of animals on the human provided food and their habituation to human contact. Intra- and inter-species aggression has also occurred where wildlife, in their efforts to obtain food, have harmed one another and harmed tourists. There are also important health implications arising from artificial food sources where injury and disease have resulted. While the great majority of cases show negative impacts arising from supplemental feeding of wildlife, this is not always the case. Certainly there are psychological, social and economic benefits that are experienced on the human side of the interaction and, in a limited number of cases, the wildlife can be shown to have benefited as well. The issue of feeding wildlife for tourism is a controversial one with little consensus regarding how it should be managed. Approaches range from complete prohibition, to active promotion and management, to simply ignoring the practices. Little empirical research, inconsistent management and differing views of the role of animals in humans鈥 lives ensure that this issue will remain a contentious one worthy of further examination and consideration. |
| [23] | Tourism based on interactions with wildlife is increasing in popularity across the world. A conceptual framework is presented which begins to classify the major components of wildlife tourism/recreation and indicates the roles of and the relationship between these components. It is suggested that the values of conservation, animal welfare, visitor satisfaction, and profitability are often in conflict in wildlife tourism (WT) and trade-offs are necessary. While there is a range of factors involved, the most germane are impact on the environment and quality of the experience. Sustainable tourism depends on encouraging the desirable and discouraging the undesirable. Such mechanisms are discussed. |
| [24] | A common justification for developing wildlife tourism attractions is that they help to secure long-term conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitats. Managers and guides often highlight their role in protecting wildlife and its habitat, yet little is known about the interests, needs and preferences of the tourists who participate in such activities 鈥 how aware are they of conservation issues; how concerned are they about the environmental impacts their visit may cause; do they expect and accept the conservation messages they receive? This research explores the perceptions, preferences and conservation awareness of tourists visiting the Mon Repos Conservation Park in Queensland, Australia. Comparison data from four other sites are also presented in order to provide a wider context for interpreting the data. The findings suggest that wildlife tourism management practices that enlist tourists as conservation partners, communicate the reasons behind any constraints imposed, and present a consistent message regarding interactions with wildlife, are likely to be most successful in meeting the needs of both tourists and wildlife. |
| [25] | Environmental theorists have used Foucault's work on biopolitics, governmentality, and disciplinary power to examine nature conservation and domesticated animals. This article applies Foucault's studies to evaluate how current species management practices for the reintroduction of the grizzly bear, wolf, whooping crane, and condor create animals and landscapes that are simultaneously docile and useful in the context of the tourist economy. This analysis concludes that managers need to acknowledge that using sophisticated technologies (i.e., geographic positioning systems [GPS]) for species management is, ironically, creating a “wild” animal that is constructed by human means and desires. |
| [26] | Abstract The Aquarium of the Pacific is a 501(c)3 institution in the United States, beholden to ticket sales for its survival. In this article I show how its staff, and its animals, co-participate in an "edutainment" project, where the institution governs the bodies of Lorikeets through regulatory technologies crafted to ensure guests have a satisfying experience and become more conservation-minded. In this way, the Lorikeets are politically deployed to support the fiscal survivability of the institution, and in its conservation education project that imagines visitors as "advanced liberal" consumers, insofar as they choose their edutainment experiences and their environmentally responsible behaviors. The resulting guest-Lorikeet interactions promote sanitized encounters with wildness, limiting the development of empathic human-animal relationships. Staff, however, do develop empathic and intersubjective relationships with the birds. |
| [27] | Wildlife tourism is an important component of tourism worldwide. However, for many species little is known about the possible impacts from tourist-wildlife interactions. Previous research has identified barriers to such science being undertaken but this science–wildlife tourism interface remains poorly understood. Actor-network theory, with its attention to the actors and relationships that make science possible, was used to describe and analyze the development and decline of scientific research into the effects of tourism on wildlife in the Antarctic region. This study concludes that actor-network theory provides a robust description of the complex role and positioning of science in wildlife tourism, while at the same time suggesting that further attention to actors’ relative power and scientists’ normative beliefs are essential elements of analysis. |
| [28] | Abstract: Much has been written about the resource crisis facing the conservation movement if it is to scale up successfully to face what are perceived as global threats such as biodiversity loss, poverty and climate change. But what happens to conservation organizations when they successfully scale up, and what are the impacts on biodiversity and local people? This paper attempts to chart the successful scaling up of an international conservation NGO, the African Wildlife Foundation, and examines the implications of this on its performance in community-based wildlife conservation in Tanzania. |
| [29] | . |
| [30] | |
| [31] | Zoos and aquariums have shifted their focus over recent years, taking a much more active role in wildlife conservation and in promoting conservation learning among their visitors. Research in these settings provides a valuable foundation for the emerging field of non‐captive wildlife tourism. In particular, valuable lessons regarding the potential impact of wildlife encounters on visitors’ conservation attitudes and behaviour can be drawn from research in zoos and aquariums. This paper explores those aspects of wildlife encounters that appear to contribute most to conservation learning. These include observing animals in their ‘natural’ environment; opportunities for close encounters with wildlife; opportunities to observe animal behaviour; engaging visitors emotionally; connecting with visitors’ prior knowledge and experiences; using persuasive communication; linking conservation goals and everyday actions; and providing incentives and activities to support visitors’ behaviour change. The extent to which wildlife tourists may be receptive to conservation messages is also considered, in light of research in zoos and aquariums. The implications of these findings for conservation learning in the context of non‐captive wildlife tourism are discussed and suggestions for future research in this area are made. Several methodological challenges facing the field are also discussed. |
| [32] | This article begins with an analysis of four of the principal 'modes of engagement' which articulate the human/wild animal nexus: encounter; representation; presentation; and quasification. It then goes on to focus upon the zoo as a key site of animal presentation and of mass tourism. The argument is presented that the zoo in late modernity is undergoing crucial changes in its legitimating narr... |
| [33] | This article uses animal ethics theory to address the issue of whether zoos are a morally acceptable form of ecotourism. Arguments in favour of the zoo as ecotourism have justified this stance according to education and conservation factors. However, a survey of literature on zoos points to the fact that they are not as effective in the area of conservation as they contend, nor do they educate visitors at a level that would be deemed meaningful and long-lasting. In the absence of success in these areas, it is argued that zoos should not be viewed as a morally acceptable setting for ecotourism; a contention supported through the use of animal ethics theory 鈥 in particular utilitarianism, animal welfare and animal rights. The article concludes by offering a first principle for ecotourism that may be useful in determining what constitutes the acceptable use of animals for ecotourism, and what does not. |
| [34] | Abstract. This paper explores turtle conservation in Odisha, India, to map the complicated ways... |
| [35] | Abstract Large carnivores are key visitor attractions in protected areas, but are difficult to see. Thus, supplementary feeding is sometimes used to attract them to viewing sites. Such intervention is contentious but its effects have rarely been examined. This paper analyses a case study of supplementary feeding in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Using data from daily and annual Komodo dragon censuses, feeding records and financial accounts, the effects of feeding and its cessation on dragon numbers, tourist viewing opportunities and local community benefits were examined. Regular feeding caused dragon numbers to increase at the feeding site, but not year-round. Cessation of feeding caused numbers to decline again to natural levels. However, tourists were less likely to see dragons at the feeding site after cessation, and local community revenues declined with the loss of a market for goats. Solutions lie in finding less intrusive means for tourists to view dragons, and enabling local people to become involved in tourism through training, recruitment and the development of alternative markets. |
| [36] | The giant tortoises of the Galápagos Islands, a species Charles Darwin called ‘antediluvian,’ are the focus of one of the world’s most successful conservation breeding programs. This paper explores the paradox of the breeding program, examining how ‘prehistoric’ life has been actively produced through nearly a century of work by scientists and conservationists dedicated to saving this endangered species. It traces the story of one giant tortoise, Diego, who was collected from the archipelago in the 1930s, lived in an colony at the San Diego Zoo for forty years, and returned to the Galápagos in 1977, where he became the star stud of the breeding program. I argue that the giant tortoises are not icons of a ‘pristine’ evolutionary history, but are the product of genealogies that enfold management practices in the bodies and bloodlines of wildlife. The paper focuses on the assemblages of reproduction at the center of these genealogies, drawing attention to the multiple agencies and spatialities that emerge in practices of experimentation – first at the zoo, where keepers struggled to keep the giant tortoise colony alive and healthy, and then in the Galápagos, where conservationists were eventually able to gain enough control over tortoise reproduction to standardize and replicate breeding practices. The case extends readings of conservation as a field of nonhuman biopolitics by attending to the production of wildlife itself as a strategy that facilitates the reproduction of conservation and tourism in the archipelago. |
| [37] | An overview is presented of the aims and roles of zoos, outlines the nature of zoos as tourist attractions and provides a brief profile of zoo visitors. In suggesting a new research agenda, the article examines issues about the future of zoos, including questions concerning their potential as ecotourism attractions and their possible contribution to more sustainable tourism. It also discusses t... |
| [38] | The study solicited opinions from 122 general managers representing North American theme parks and attractions regarding the future of the industry. The findings revealed that economic forces, employees, and changing demographic forces were perceived to have the greatest impact on the future operation of the industry. General managers also thought that consumers would most likely seek interacti... |
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| [40] | The 24 May 1968 issue of magazine featured a short article with the title ‘Animal Behavior: Love at the Zoo’. Its topic was the breeding of animals in zoological gardens, but unlike the puff pieces featuring neonate mammals routinely fed to media by zoo publicity departments today, this story sought to highlight the unique dilemmas encountered on the way to such happy successes. It may not have broached the precise mechanics of rhino husbandry or the numbers of elephant miscarriages, but it did recount the frustrations of managing reproduction in these peculiar institutions, from storks, emus and tortoises attempting to mate with their caretakers, to the dangers of provoking a lion’s jealousy. Zoos’ insistence on absolute visibility has often revealed elements of animal sexuality disruptive of their bourgeois tranquillity, but these even more unseemly behind-the-scenes anecdotes, from the ‘embarrassing’ to the ‘pathetic’, expose the extent to which, behind their facade of naturalism, zoological gardens control all aspects of animal life, not only diet and habitat but even the tawdry details of procreation divulged here with such obvious delight. |
| [41] | |
| [42] | Zoos endeavour to meet their conservation role through captive breeding, education, research, animal welfare, environmental enrichment, reintroduction, and support for in situ conservation of species and their habitats. Zoo tourism can be a tool in promoting biodiversity conservation, especially through education and interpretation. This paper discusses the challenges and constraints faced by zoos in meeting their conservation role while at the same time providing opportunities for the public to learn more about and enjoy nature, albeit in artificial conditions. A case study of the captive breeding programmes that are implemented in the Philippines in collaboration with certain leading zoos overseas is also presented. It examines the potential contribution of tourism in sustaining these programmes. Zoos鈥 ability to balance the need to remain economically viable and to play a major role in biodiversity conservation is a major challenge that requires sustained public support and collaboration with other zoos including relevant research and academic institutions. More research is needed to determine the contribution of zoos and captive breeding centres as tourism attraction/destination towards the promotion of conservation ethos and sustainable zoo tourism practice. |
| [43] | This paper reports results from a survey of 359 visitors to Hamilton Zoo, New Zealand. The questionnaire comprised items relating to motives for visiting the zoo, and evaluations of attributes, thereby permitting an importance-evaluation approach. The construction of the questionnaire was prompted by zoo management wishing to learn more about what motivated visits, and whether there were perceived deficiencies in visitors' experiences of the zoo. Like other studies (e.g. Turley, 2001) it was concluded that zoos represent an opportunity for family-based trips. However, while some opportunities exist for learning, on the whole visitors were not generally interested in acquiring detailed information about wildlife. Indeed, more importance was attached to the viewing of animals than to the recognition that possibly animals might require 'private places'. These findings prompt a discussion about the extent to which zoos might be able to replace or supplement trips to natural habitats as a means of viewing animals, and concludes that for this to happen significant changes in zoo layout would be required. Additionally, possible implications for zoo management are discussed. |
| [44] | Marine aquaria continue to be popular tourist attractions, and while not ecotourism per se, they are clearly nature-based, and fulfil parallel tourist needs for interaction with animals. In recent years, some of these facilities have recognised that visitors desire an experience that goes beyond the visual and entertainment encounters that categorise the majority of their offerings, for example, the ‘Animal Adventures’ programme at Sea World64 on Australia's Gold Coast. However, these interactions open up a whole new realm of performance management for these organisations, coordinating a range of actors from tourists, wildlife trainers, and the animals themselves. This paper examines why tourists are seeking such encounters, and shows how these interactions are contextualised and given meaning in tourist narratives, situated within an emerging social science discourse on embodiment. Observations suggest that society's over-anthropomorphising of the animals in question brings particular opportunity for dissonance. The broader significance of animal–human relations is explored through this interface, as are the implications for sustainable nature tourism in the future. There is potential here for a more enlightened approach to animal tourism, and a more nuanced categorisation of these activities in the literature. |
| [45] | This paper develops a conceptualisation of safari tourism as an arena of nature negotiation. The circuit of culture model of cultural communication is modified for the institutional specificities of tourism and is used as a framework within which the encoding and decoding strategies respectively employed by tourism marketing texts and tourists are elaborated. From an analysis of tourist brochures, the tourism marketing of East African nature is described as utilising a primeval archetype, reproducing a romantic discourse which places the wild animals and primitive cultures in prehistory. From interviews of tourists in East Africa, the paper outlines how tourists develop their own experientially-based interpretations of East Africa, drawing on knowledges of other texts, personal experience and social dialogue, from the period of anticipation prior to the holiday, the safari experience itself and during subsequent reflection. These interpretations of East African society and nature are far more sophisticated than the idealisations reproduced in tourism marketing. However, the paper notes that tourists' interpretations are partial accounts which are unable to draw on hidden discourses, including those which contradict the primeval nature archetype, such as the early history of civilisation in East Africa, as well as those which would expose historical and contemporary struggles to define and utilise the nature of East African national parks and game reserves. |
| [46] | Kenya's national parks and game reserves form the pillar of the country's tourism industry, and wildlife viewing and safari tourism are significant generators of income and foreign exchange. The promulgation of pioneer national parks in Kenya in the mid-20th century followed colonial practices of “exclusion” and “divide and rule” which marginalized local communities in decision-making processes and initiation of tourism programmes and wildlife conservation initiatives. Government supported policies and programmes that focused on wildlife protection and promotion of safari tourism also accentuated human-wildlife conflicts and contributed to species loss and habitat fragmentation. This study examines the evolution of Kenya's wildlife conservation policies and safari tourism programmes, and argues that safari tourism in Kenya has privileged Western models of tourism development and wildlife conservation, with historic exclusion of indigenous communities still ongoing today, though some improvements are evident. Postcolonial legacies influence the political economy of tourism in regard to the Maasai in Kenya; inequitable power relations are illustrated with the help of a literature review as well as a case example. The study offers suggestions to guide the development of future tourism certification programmes and indicators related to protected areas and safari tourism. Such programmes should be cognizant of Kenya's postcolonial context and attend to social and cultural sustainability, including issues of inclusion, exclusion and empowering local communities to participate directly in the management and ownership of environmental and tourism resources. |
| [47] | This paper examines challenges associated with global regulation of the tourism industry via an analysis of the use of elephants for trekking and safaris in Thailand and Botswana. It highlights inherent problems in applying universal principles in diverse locations; it unpicks the North鈥揝outh power dynamics involved in drawing up global standards for elephant welfare in tourism. The development and expansion of elephant riding raise important ethical issues around questions of animal welfare, especially definitions of acceptable and appropriate standards for working animals. This paper uses a political economy approach to understandings of global governance to analyse who has the power to govern, at what scale and with what effects. It examines the role of animal welfare NGOs as key epistemic communities shaping the debate on elephant welfare. It discusses the highly variable practices of working with elephants in Botswana and in Thailand. It concludes that attempts at global regulation need to seriously engage with local level practices if global standards are to be workable and acceptable for tour operators, animal welfare NGOs, elephant camp owners and tourists alike. It raises leading global governance issues and discussions of the role of NGOs in governance, in general. |
| [48] |
