Humans and non-humans in shared environments. Introductory notes to an anthropology of protected areas

Abstract

Based on scattered fieldwork (in terms of space and time), which I have been conducting in the National Park Peneda-Gerês (PNPG) since 2000 along with some more recent approaches through research projects in two other Natural Parks (Alvão and Serra da Estrela), I propose to look at Protected Areas as anthropological subjects. My point is that protected areas, especially considering the Portuguese context characterized by highly humanized territories and landscapes, are products of a policy of Nature (ideological production) that has “disregarded” human individuals, and which, more recently has culminated in the establishment of a wilderness area inside the PNPG.