World in a Shell : Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions

Van Dooren, Thom

ISBN 10: 0262547341 / ISBN 13: 9780262547345

Published by The MIT Press, 2023

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 45547484-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: World in a Shell : Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262547341
• ISBN 13: 9780262547345
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Following the trails of Hawai‘i’s snails to explore the simultaneously biological and cultural significance of extinction.

In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience.

Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.

About the Author

Thom van Dooren is a field philosopher at the University of Sydney and the University of Oslo. He is the author of Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction and The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds. Donna Haraway has called him “a leader in learning to learn without the tools of human exceptionalism.”