Comparative Histories of Scientific Conservation: Nature, Science, and Society in Patagonian and Amazonian South America

南美洲国家是最早建立公园的国家之一；他们保护了数量最多的大型保护区，他们保留了最高比例的保护区，人们住在里面。但很少有比较研究将它们最初的宣言、它们的演变或它们的社会意义置于背景下。因此，人们对全球公园的概括忽视了科学家在改变景观方面的作用。该项目探讨了自然领域科学的发展如何导致亚马逊和巴塔哥尼亚国家公园的建立、维护和推广。本研究将理解技术研究的科学史方法与环境史对社会内部和跨社会的社会、政治和文化影响的见解结合起来。作为一项比较研究，它将通过对阿根廷、巴西、智利和秘鲁六个公园群的关注，利用漫长的20世纪（19世纪70年代至今）来绘制科学信息保护的轮廓。该项目的方法包括对档案来源（如探索期刊、研究站记录、已发表的研究和通信）以及科学家和与科学家互动的社会群体的口述历史进行文件分析。在保护生物学、地理学、人类学和政治学等学科中存在大量关于保护的文献，但很少有研究从时间和地点的角度进行比较。仔细的历史研究将通过将相互竞争的知识体系和科学传统置于背景中，弥合这些学科中当前的争论。潜在的更广泛的影响尽管国家公园的存在看似无害，但它们的历史却充满争议。这段历史在很大程度上解释了科学如何成为政策，科学理解如何塑造景观，以及全球科学知识网络如何影响自然保护。更清晰地了解过去将为理解科学在制定保护政策方面的作用提供一个更好的框架。该项目的成果将以多种方式传播（一本书、一个教学网站和国际研讨会），以增强产生这些影响的前景。

IntroductionSouth American nations were among the first to create parks; they protect the highest number of large reserves, and they retain the highest percentage of protected areas with people living inside. But little comparative work has contextualized their initial declaration, their evolution, or their societal meaning. As a result, generalizations are being made about parks globally that overlook the role of scientists in transforming the landscape. This project asks how the development of natural field sciences has led to the establishment, maintenance, and promotion of national parks in Amazonia and Patagonia. Intellectual MeritThis research merges a history of science approach to understanding technical research with environmental history's insights into social, political, and cultural influences within and across societies. As a comparative study, it will use the long twentieth century (1870s to present) to chart the contours of scientifically-informed conservation through attention to six park groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. The project methodology involves document analysis of archival sources (such as exploration journals, research station records, published studies, and correspondence) as well as oral histories of scientists and social groups interacting with scientists. Abundant literature on conservation exists in disciplines like conservation biology, geography, anthropology, and political science but few studies give the comparative perspective of time and place. Careful historical research will bridge current debates in these disciplines by contextualizing the competing systems of knowledge and scientific traditions. Potential Broader ImpactsDespite their seemingly benign presence, national parks have a contested history. That history explains much about how science becomes policy, how scientific understandings shape the landscape, and how global networks of scientific knowledge have influenced the protection of nature. Understanding the past with greater clarity will provide a better framework for understanding the role of science in shaping conservation policies. The results of this project will be disseminated in multiple ways (a book, a teaching website, and an international symposium) to enhance the prospects for having these impacts.