Global trout: investigating environmental change through more-than human world systems

This project investigates how the humanities and social sciences can contribute to new modes of conservation and environmental management that are responsive to the complex histories and politics of species introductions. It does so by using the case of introduced trout to ask a methodological question about how to study ‘global’ environmental problems that unfold in highly diverse ways in different places. From the late 19th century onward, European colonists translocated vast numbers of trout as they remade rivers to support fly-fishing, a hobby they associated with upper-class culture. While often creating new economic opportunities by attracting fly fishing enthusiasts, trout have also driven out other species, altered nutrient regimes in aquatic ecosystems, sparked new property claims, and created complicated debates about environmental management. While non-native trout are a ‘global’ problem, they have had remarkably different effects in each location where they have come to live. To study this, the project’s scholars (from anthropology, biology, history, literature, and sociology) collaboratively examine the histories and ongoing effects of introduced trout in South Afrika, the UK, Japan, and Patagonia. I will spend my term at STIAS working on a monograph based on material from the South Africa part of the project.