Recreation and it's discontents? On the political virtues of hunting in the USA

In the United States, hunting is practiced by nearly 12 million people, or about 4% of the population. However, the number of enthusiasts has been decreasing since the beginning of the 1980s, in a context marked by the growing popularity of “anti-hunting” discourse and by the politicization of the sport. How do hunters defend themselves against the emergence of an increasingly audible and structured anti-hunt movement? While they see their hobby under attack, how do they defend the preservation of their activity? Based on a study conducted in Arizona, one of the US states most renowned for the value and quality of its game, this article shows how hunting promoters paradoxically turn a contested practice into an opportunity to build, organize and disseminate a (counter)ethics serving political purposes.

Studying pima county soundscapes

Visiting researchers Anne Sourdril and Luc Barbaro made the front page of the Green Valley News on their OHMI project SONATAS – Listening to the SOunds of NATure to understAnd environmental changeS. 

The multidisciplinary research OHMI project aims at grasping (i) how local communities and people perceive their landscapes and ecosystems in a context of strong mutations of societies and their environment; and (ii) how they think about adaptation to environmental changes through their immediate sound environments, or soundscapes. The project is located in Pima County which is confronted with multiple sociological and environmental changes, including climate warming, water scarcity and uncontrolled urbanization. Sonatas aims to understand through sounds experiences and perceptions how the environment is locally conceived by local communities and whether it is seen as changing or immuable. Our objective is to explore how different types of ecological knowledge coexist within those communities in the context of major mutations and how people could collaborate together to face those changes.

Climate change and impact on behavior

Financed by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) with the support of the ANR project led by Sabrina Teyssier, Boris Wieczorek’s doctoral thesis “Changing norms and disparity when confronted with climate change” is looking at how social norms can be used as a mechanism to promote cooperation between individuals in situations where personal and community interests are in conflict, with a specific focus on environments that are threatened by climate change.

Two research laboratories are involved in Boris’ project: Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL, France) and Interdisciplinary Global Environmental Studies (iGLOBES, University of Arizona). After researching behavior changes in controlled environments, the project is now concentrating on water issues in the Tucson region.