Gecko translocalities. The negotiation of social and ecological values in human-animal relations between Germany and the Indian Ocean

• Applicant: Dr. Lisa Jenny Krieg
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418026224

Phelsuma day geckos are globally mobile animals: protected as endangered species on their islands of origin; they are fought and killed as invasive species on other islands, or exported to Europe, where the small, colourful geckos are popular terrarium pets, especially in Germany. With the “purity” of fauna and flora as a guiding principle, nature conservationists kill invasive species to protect endemic Phelsuma-geckos. Following colonial narratives of a lost paradise, they try to restore “pristine” landscapes, free of non-native species.This proposal for a continuation of funding builds on 1.5 years of research on the mobility of geckos and humans in Germany and the Indian Ocean that focused in particular on how value is ascribed to or revoked from geckos. Working with ethnographic methods in Germany and on islands of the Western Indian Ocean (La Réunion, Mayotte, Mauritius), I explored how Phelsuma day geckos are embedded in discourses about value, mobility, and belonging in the spheres of nature conservation and terraristics.Continuing the research project I propose here is meant to facilitate on the one hand a field trip to Mauritius that had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, and on the other hand to allow me to delve deeper into two aspects: the role of digital technologies in nature conservation, and the narrative of the “lost paradise”, a central narrative in Mauritian nature conservation.In terms of methods, a combination of virtual ethnography and ethnographic field research in the Western Indian Ocean will be employed.Digital technologies are of increasing significance in nature conservation, and also in the context of Phelsuma geckos in the Indian Ocean. Especially the animals’ smallness renders algorithmic pattern identification or data collection about invasive geckos through smartphone applications particularly relevant. Here, I want to explore the nexus between the mobility of digital data about geckos and the movement of actual geckos in relation to discourses of the value of nature.On Mauritius, Phelsuma geckos are part of complex enterprises of “ecological restoration”, aimed at rebuilding what are deemed to be authentic ecosystems. Paleontological excavations, conservation measures, and artistic illustrations of extinct fauna and flora merge to become a potent mix – connected by speculative elements. Thus, they manifest narratives of paradisiacal pasts and shape possible futures. Informed by colonial narratives of a “lost paradise”, I want to explore these speculative narratives and their political power in more depth.These new directions would contribute to a deeper understanding about how Phelsuma geckos are embedded translocally into historically grown narratives, especially in the context of the attribution or revocation of value in socio-ecological discourses.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants