Keywords
Extinction
Conservation
Decolonize
Ethnography
Malasia
How to Cite
Abstract
The now three species of orangutan populating the islands of Borneo and Sumatra represent some of the most threatened primates in the world, and growing global consumption of palm oil is only exacerbating the destruction and continual fragmentation of their habitats. In her book, “Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation,” Dr. Juno Parreñas outlines a new approach to many common conservation concerns surrounding these Great Apes. Parreñas reimagines what it means to decolonize within the context of conservation and rapid extinction threat on both a population and genus level. With specific attention paid to the Bornean orangutans of Sarawak, Malaysia (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus), Parreñas argues for thinking outside the traditional aims of most current conservation initiatives, acknowledging the inherent limitations and shortcomings of these approaches, and for looking towards co-habitation and a shared vulnerability with the non-human other. Parreñas expertly crosses disciplinary boundaries by highlighting the complexity of relations and contexts that situate all conservation efforts: the underlying biases inherent to sexual inequality and privilege, which behaviours are considered normal or natural, and the limitations of empathy when wage labour is so depended upon it replaces traditional beliefs and taboos that had previously connected humans to non-human others, like orangutans, quite intimately. This review of her book provides a brief overview of the themes within “Decolonizing Extinction,” summarizing the main points of the chapter sections, and emphasizes the need for thinking outside the box when planning for conservation of the non-human other.
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