Ecological authority by gaslight: A doubt manifesto. With hedgehogs.

• In Event: Science and Activism: Transdisciplinary Approaches

Abstract

In light of the domination of many earthly habitats by humans, making liveable space for other species often requires active provisioning. In the UK, with hedgehog populations in decline, instructions from ecologists are typically publicly expressed as straight-forward factors: the provision of appropriate habitat, food and water, checking for hazards and the connection of properties to allow hedgehog mobility.
In practice, however, the work of urban hedgehog conservation is a necessarily uncertain task of extrapolating from ecological studies to the ever-emergent realities of life. The day-to-day work of making space for hedgehogs requires careful experimentation. As Annamarie Mol writes of the work of diabetes care: “Even idealised practice is not ideal. It is a matter of trying things out and of being willing to revisit what has been done before” (2008: 56). As hedgehog ecologists noted, decisions are made in climates of well-informed doubt. However, public expressions of what hedgehogs need frequently exorcised such subtleties.
In this paper, I look at such doubt erasure as a commonplace form of gas-lighting, leading lay conservationists, who look to public authorities, to come to doubt their own experiences of the uncertainties of making space for hedgehogs. Using Isabelle Stenger’s work on the authority-restricting effect of public expert ‘guardians’ (2015) and Sheila Jasanoff’s “technologies of humility” (2007), I argue for the importance of public acknowledgement of working with doubt. Such doubt is vital not only to reflect the realities of life, but also to call for a broader sharing of environmental decision-making and action.

Author

• Laura McLauchlan, UNSW