Abstract

BARBOZA-ARIAS, Luis. Humans-coyotes relations in the Province of Cartago, Costa Rica: an introductory reflection on proximity ecologies. Humanidades (Montevideo. En línea) [online]. 2023, n.13, pp.63-98.  Epub June 01, 2023. ISSN 1510-5024.  https://doi.org/10.25185/13.4.

In this essay, I inquire into the human-coyote relationships in the Province of Cartago, Costa Rica. I point out that the increase in the number of coyotes sightings in urban and semi-urban spaces, since the early days of the lockdown (first semester, 2020) caused by COVID-19 pandemic. I mobilize my own fieldwork experience with the rural community of San Gerardo de Oreamuno (North zone of Cartago) to elaborate the empirical case study. I propose the concept of «ecologies of proximity» to analyze the conformation of territories of (co)existence in that community. My reflections explore situated ways in which the presence-coyote can be used to organize new stories of multi-species cohabitation. In doing so, it’s possible to reveal the emergence of modes of relationships that challenge the prevailing anthropocentric narrative of progress, development, and sustainability.

Keywords : More-than-human geography; Environmental humanities; Nature-culture interface; Multi-species landscape; Human-animal relations.

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