Historicizing Miskitu Green Turtle Knowledge

Christopher JordanCLACS Symposium

04/22/2010

Pre-European Contact: Before ~AD 1500

Oscar TheodorTurtle fisherman, Kakabila RAAS

Buccaneer Trade: ~AD 1612-AD 1641

•English Buccaneer

•Author of A New Voyage Round the World:

•“Their (the Miskitu) chiefest Employment in their own Country is to strike Fish, Turtle, and Manatee…For this they are esteemed and coveted by all Privateers; for one or two of them in a Ship, will maintain 100 Men…” (15)

William Dampier

The English and Cayman Islander Traders: AD 1641-AD 1960s

The Foreign Companies: AD 1969-AD 1977

•Frescamar

•Tortugas S.A.

•Overharvest

Wartime:1981-1990

ContrasSandinistas

Conservation?

Neoliberalism and Initial Autonomy:1987-2000s

Foreign Fleets Increasing Harvests

“Storing” Turtles until Market Day

Thank you:

Dr. Robert Blake – CLACS

Drs. Daniel Kramer, Gerald Urquhart, Andrea Allen, Aaron McCright

National Science Foundation CHANS/GRFP

Dr. Linda Kalof – Animal Studies