Placing national parks: A benchmark for human interaction with the natural world?

Abstract

Exploring human-nature relationships in national parks, this contribution critically engages with the role tourism plays and can play for future conservation efforts. Taking the national parks Tierra del Fuego (PNTF) in Argentina and Trigalv (TNP) in Slovenia as illustrative examples, I especially seek to question the claim that national parks function as “a benchmark against the understanding of human interactions with the natural world” (Dudley 2013, IUCN). The analysis is conducted through the lens of place, taking the day-to-day practices, meanings, and materialities of the interaction into account (Cresswell 2019). In this sense, the (re)presentation and visitation of a national park is explored as a way of continuously (re)configuring and (re)producing an understanding of a ‘good’ interaction of humans with ‘nature’, posed, justified and promoted by the respective nation state. The parks differ in their management-structures and socio-cultural settings. The territory of the PNTF is completely state-owned and exclusively managed by the national park administration. Local stakeholders, like tour operators, guides, etc. need authorizations to operate within the park. Moreover, this is only possible in a restricted area accessible for visitors. TNP is as well managed by the national park administration on a national level. However, the ownership of the territory is diverse (state-owned, private, church, etc.), local residents live within the park’s territory and companies or tour operators do not necessarily need authorizations from the national park to operate within the area. These very diverse forms of operating, managing and presenting national parks offer the opportunity to explore various forms of human-nature relationships, e.g. existing and accelerating processes of commodification of nature. To analyse those processes, practices, meanings, and materialities especially on guided tours, but as well e.g. the infrastructure that (re)configure the interaction between humans and ‘nature’, are explored with ethnographic methods. First results in PNTF show for example a commodification of the ‘nature’ as a place constructed and sold mainly around the meaning ‘end of the world’ instead of contributing to an understanding of environmental issues. In TNP commodification takes place e.g. through the accelerating process of imposing entrance-fees, especially to gorges. However, PNTF for example in the last years implemented more information about indigenous communities which can be seen as a (re)configuration of the interaction presented in the park. This contribution offers the opportunity to reflect on and question the existing relationships, interactions and meanings created around the national parks for future conservation efforts, inside and outside national parks.