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Navigating cultural narratives to provide meaning to a human-wildlife conflict situation

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 10 p.

Author FAO; IUCN SSC HWCCSG;

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Synopsis (short abstract) The case study comes from the Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau and aims at exploring the human-wildlife interface and the people-park interface from the perspective of the park's inhabitants. This case study focuses on how these investigations revealed that encounters between chimpanzees and people, as described by the park’s inhabitants, generated two parallel narratives. Two narratives coexist—one attributing the actions of a chimpanzee to a person who supposedly shape-shifted into a chimpanzee, while the other attributes the chimpanzee's actions as a response attributable to the conservationists. Both narratives address issues of social responsibility, where individuals are perceived to not fulfil their societal obligations of redistribution. Through various discussions with different informants, it was reported that unprovoked attacks by chimpanzees were attributed to individuals who had allegedly shape-shifted into chimpanzees to commit harmful acts. In contrast, “clean” or “bush” chimpanzees were perceived to attack only if threatened or if denied a source of food. When attacks by “clean” or “bush” chimpanzees occurred, it was believed to be due to some provocation. for example, if someone had taken a chimpanzee by surprise and the chimpanzee attacked them as a defensive reaction. it was found that in Guinea-Bissau culture, accusations of witchcraft and sorcery, including those related to shape-shifting, can be used against people who are perceived as accumulating too many things and/or failing to adhere to essential cultural sharing.

Cite this content as:

FAO and IUCN SSC HWCCSG. 2024. Navigating cultural narratives to provide meaning to a human-wildlife conflict situation. Rome


https://doi.org/10.4060/cc9812en

Language English

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