The session recording will be archived on the site until June 25th, 2023

This session was streamed but not recorded

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Description:

Bird populations around the world are in steep decline; habitat loss and overexploitation threaten many species with extinction. Yet birds have long fascinated humans, and are immensely important to different cultures around the world. For Indigenous Peoples, certain species are often central to their cosmological understanding of the world, integral to the preservation of languages and cultures at risk of extinction. Birds also saturate more secular pastimes, evidenced by the historical practices of falconry, aviaries, and the current popularity of bird watching, and also appear as cultural icons such as Newcastle United's mascot Monty Magpie or the muppet Big Bird. Rapid urbanisation and human population growth since the industrial revolution has meant that many birds now live in close proximity to humans, often depending on anthropogenic activity for survival. Equally, many humans depend on birds for food, finance, companionship, or entertainment. Yet bird-human relations in the Anthropocene can be fraught. Birds are disease vectors for global pandemics like avian influenza, and their carcasses have become an emblematic geologic layer of the Anthropocene. While some birds are hit by planes, others rely on roadkill for food. Some birds are active targets of nature recovery, while others are unwelcomed as 'invasive aliens'. Birds become sentinels for disease outbreaks, are deployed as surveillance infrastructure in the high seas, and their intimate avian lives are livestreamed 24/7 into living rooms around the world.

Avian Anthropocenes looks to unpack these diverse relations and aims to understand the intimate, yet messy connections between the planet’s top geologic agents and their feathered ‘friends’.

Non-Presenting Participants