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A World in a Shell

Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions

Author Thom van Dooren
Ebook
The MIT Press
On sale Sep 13, 2022 | 288 Pages | 9780262370240
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Following the trails of Hawai‘i’s snails to explore the simultaneously biological and cultural significance of extinction.

In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience.
 
Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.
 
Introduction 
In Search of Snails 1

1 The Wanderers 
A Foray into Worlds Written in Slime 23

2 The Drifters
The Mysterious Deep Time Movements of Snails 51

3 The Collected
The Ongoing Colonial Entanglements of Shells 81

4 The Anonymous 
Taxonomy and the Unknown Extinction Crisis 113

5 The Exploded 
Solidarity and Military Snails 147

6 The Captives 
Hope in a Time of Loss 177

Epilogue 197

Acknowledgments 211
Glossary 215
Notes 219
Bibliography 245
Index 263
  • WINNER | 2023
    Nautilus Gold Award
Thom van Dooren is a field philosopher at the University of Sydney and the University of Oslo. He is the author of Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction and The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds. Donna Haraway has called him “a leader in learning to learn without the tools of human exceptionalism.”
 
Thom van Dooren View titles by Thom van Dooren

About

Following the trails of Hawai‘i’s snails to explore the simultaneously biological and cultural significance of extinction.

In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience.
 
Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction 
In Search of Snails 1

1 The Wanderers 
A Foray into Worlds Written in Slime 23

2 The Drifters
The Mysterious Deep Time Movements of Snails 51

3 The Collected
The Ongoing Colonial Entanglements of Shells 81

4 The Anonymous 
Taxonomy and the Unknown Extinction Crisis 113

5 The Exploded 
Solidarity and Military Snails 147

6 The Captives 
Hope in a Time of Loss 177

Epilogue 197

Acknowledgments 211
Glossary 215
Notes 219
Bibliography 245
Index 263

Awards

  • WINNER | 2023
    Nautilus Gold Award

Author

Thom van Dooren is a field philosopher at the University of Sydney and the University of Oslo. He is the author of Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction and The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds. Donna Haraway has called him “a leader in learning to learn without the tools of human exceptionalism.”
 
Thom van Dooren View titles by Thom van Dooren

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