This dissertation explores the ways in which practices of killing animals in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Canada shaped humans’ perceptions of self and place. Analyzing the multivalent meanings of animal death in wild animal stories, sport hunting, photography, taxidermy, and meat eating, I argue that killing animals was integral to the expansion of settler colonialism in the dominion, materially facilitating the extension of agriculture and industry, and rhetorically legitimizing claims to conquest over indigenous peoples and wild landscapes. But humans’ self-definitions through animal death were not straightforward tales of mastery. Increasingly aware of the disappearance of wildlife from the dominion’s forests, less dependent upon wildlife for subsistence, women and men attributed greater cultural, political, and economic value to the nation’s animals, empathizing with animals and condemning animal extinction. Expressing a sense of guilt over human culpability in the vanishing of wild species, then, humans sought ways of defeating the ravages of modernity by preserving traces of animals in material, representational forms, using encounters with animals as means of defining a sense of self and nation. Fictional stories of animals proliferated, sport hunting soared in popularity, and taxidermied animals adorned many walls. Contemporaries killed animals as a means of legitimizing colonial occupation of newly settled land and asserting mastery over nature, then, but they also regretted their role in precipitating the disappearance of animals from nature. In reconciling this paradox, human and animal engaged in an ongoing process of co-constitution, defining and redefining shifting boundaries of kinship and otherness in a myriad of ways. Such paradoxical meanings of animal death emerged when humans were no longer reliant upon wild animals for survival. As such, I conclude this study by analyzing an important counterpart to wild animal death—the slaughtering of domestic animals as meat. Eating commercially produced meat increasingly defined one’s status as a modern subject within a technologically advanced and civilized nation, the transition from eating wild animals to domestic animals symbolizing a sense of success in overcoming the challenges of settlement in a colonial landscape.

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In Cambodia, over 80% of the population is engaged in agricultural production, mostly in rice cultivation. The country, however, faces a lot of problems of rice crop damage. In Cambodia, rodents are considered to be one of the most important pests of rice, with the potential to cause severe damage during periodic plague events. As is seen in other developing countries, physical methods of rodent control are probably the most commonly used approaches. In general, the choice of methods varies with the availability of resources, season, the participation of farmers, the condition of the rice field, weather conditions, experience with the success of the techniques, likely level of rodent attack and other considerations. However, effective rodent control methods suiting farmers’ needs and applicable to the agricultural production environment in Cambodia are yet to be assessed. The aim of this research was to examine the socio-economic factors impacting on the implementation of several rodent control methods in comparison to the Trap-Barrier System (TBS) in order to improve rodent pest control in Cambodia. The research employed a constructivist approach in which the researcher played a role as a participant observer, to study the social setting and realities as constructed by the participants in the study sites. Rodent management was studied as a complex phenomenon, occurring within the milieu of family, village and commune life in rural Cambodia. The study looks into the beliefs and behaviours of the farming community and examines how Cambodian traditions affect the implementation of rodent management techniques and the management of rodents as a community activity. Participatory techniques were employed to gather information concerning the farmers’ assessments of the effectiveness of various rodent management options practiced in Samrong Commune. The level of adoption and adaptation of TBS in the commune was observed over a period of several years. This study is the first detailed study of farmer perceptions of alternative rodent control methods in Cambodia, especially the TBS. The study was based on long term trials involving a TBS application on a commune scale and investigations after the removal of all subsidies for purchase of materials. It was apparent that TBS use declined and eventually become limited to a few individuals who had worked closely with the project. The study also demonstrates how BBNs and Netica software can be applied as participatory tools to develop and explore the decision making structure of farmers. These tools can also be used as extension tools and can contribute to better decision making by communities. The study also shows how an understanding of traditional aspects of public goods management by communities can contribute to the design of effective contemporary solutions to problems involving the community and public goods management. In this sense its significance goes well beyond the specific context of rodent control, pest management and rice production and takes on wider significance in the field of community development generally. The study applied a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach to data collection and analysis, involving interviews, surveys, modelling, workshops, field notes, observations and document review. Five rodent control methods (TBS, rodenticide, electric fencing, netting and hunting) were found to be the most common rodent control methods used in the study sites. Some common factors were found to influence the effectiveness of these methods. Farmer participation was found to be the most widely influential factor affecting the rodent management techniques. Netting method was considered the most effective method of rodent control by farmers, as well as the method that had the best benefit-cost ratio. This technique was only found to be applicable in the wet season. In general, the effectiveness of TBS and its benefit-cost ratio was ranked fourth of the five methods, because it required high farmer participation, monitoring and maintenance as well as high material expense. Improvement of TBS can be made when it can be clearly demonstrated to farmers that TBS is an applicable method, being safe and able to catch more rats. To suit the farmers’ requirements for an effective rodent control method, TBS must be able to deal with migrating rats, situations of high rat abundance and the planting problems associated with an irregular rain regime. To achieve these conditions, some intervention policies are required in terms of research and extension support.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College Dept. of Classics, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Univ., Diss--Münster (Westfalen), 1999.