Is the Puerto Rican Parrot Worth Saving? The Biopolitics of Endangerment and Grievability

Abstract

“Is the Puerto Rican Worth Saving? The Biopolitics of Endangerment and Grievability” describes how threatened species lists elevate listed nonhuman species from the realm of biological life into that of a political life that is both worth saving and worth grieving. The chapter provides a novel perspective on the biopolitics of lists that highlights both their affirmative properties and their acute relevance for understanding the governance of entire nonhuman species.

Keywords: endangered species, conservation, biopolitics, captivity, grievability, legal ethnography, IUCN’s Red List for Threatened Species