Decolonizing conservationist hero narratives: a critical genealogy of William T. Hornaday and colonial conservation rhetorics

ABSTRACT

This essay provides a critical genealogical critique of William T. Hornaday’s involvement in hunting, zoo keeping, and environmental conservationism. The authors contend that although many conservationists and environmentalists have rightly credited Hornaday with helping preserve the American bison and other animal species, the rhetorical circulation of many of these ideological formations ignores the role that he and his progressive followers played in maintaining colonialism, racism, and speciesism. Drawing from the work of interdisciplinary critical animal scholars, Foucauldians, and post-colonial critics, the essay concludes that the decolonization of some of these accidental colonial nostalgias helps contemporary environmental communication scholars and lay environmentalists see some of the historical origins of ideologies that rationalized (and at times continue to rationalize) the zoological display and the selective killing of animals as part of racist/speciesist colonial projects.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.