Ideological Coyotes: A more-than-human geography of landowners’ discourse in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada

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dc.contributor.advisorAlexander, Shelley M.
dc.contributor.authorBoesel, Alexandra V.M.
dc.contributor.committeememberDraper, Dianne
dc.contributor.committeememberColpitts, George
dc.dateFall Convocation
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-11T04:26:30Z
dc.date.embargolift2023-09-14
dc.date.issued2021-09-14
dc.description.abstractThis thesis presents a critical animal geography analysis of human-coyote relationships in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada. Concerned by large-scale reports of coyote killing in rural parts of North America, this thesis reveals discursive themes in interviews of landowners living alongside coyotes in the study area. Previous studies in North America have predominantly focused on why killing predators is not sound ecological practice. While some studies have begun to address human dimensions of perceived wildlife conflict, research has not attended directly to the discourse and ideologies behind the perceived conflict with coyotes. In this thesis, I identify that coyote management practices appear sociocultural and ideological rather than ecological in reasoning. In the more-than-human landscape of the Foothills Parkland Region, where livestock industry abounds, coyotes are discursively framed as pestilant and threatening bodies to many agricultural landowners. Yet, as the region has developed, becoming more heterogenous, views on coyotes are increasingly divided and polarized. This research explores how coyotes become social, cultural, political, and ideological creatures. While, overall, I find practices regarding coyotes are dictated by speciesism, my discourse analysis also identifies that ideologies of rurality, masculinity, and capitalism influence the human-coyote relationship. The Foothills Coyote Initiative provided 47 audio interviews which I transcribed, coded, and analyzed, identifying emergent discursive themes in landowners’ reported relationships with coyotes. Bringing together disciplines of rural geographies and critical animal geographies, this thesis reveals the ideologies that sustain the practice of killing coyotes, offering insights on anti-predator attitudes across North America.
dc.identifier.citationBoesel, A. V.M. (2021). Ideological Coyotes: A more-than-human geography of landowners’ discourse in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada (Master thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca .
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/116304
dc.identifier.urihttps://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/dspace/41148
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.publisher.facultyArts
dc.subjectCoyotes
dc.subjectDiscourse analysis
dc.subjectCritical animal geographies
dc.subjectMore-than-human
dc.subjectSpeciesism
dc.subjectRural geographies
dc.subjectMasculinity
dc.subjectAnimal capitalism
dc.subject.classificationGeography
dc.subject.classificationBiology--Ecology
dc.titleIdeological Coyotes: A more-than-human geography of landowners’ discourse in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada
dc.typemaster thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineGeography
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (MSc)
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