Sketches of a non-human theater

In this virtual round table organized by the National Institute of Fine Arts (Mexico), four scholars (Rodrigo Parrini, Ivan Sandoval-Cervantes, Rigoberto Reyes Sanchez and Columba Gonzalez-Duarte) discuss novel approaches to traditional ecology a conservation. Dr. Gonzalez talks about her research work in Mexico concerning the migratory paths of the monarch butterfly.

Columba Gonzalez work is a multi-sited and multi-species research. In this conversation she talks about the oyamel forest in Michoacán, Mexico, the only type of forest suitable for monarch butterflies hibernation; therefore, paramount for its survival. This forest is now a UNESCO protected site; however, it is also a place where organized crime has taken root. Illegal activity in the region has yielded an increase in violence threatening the local communities.

She talks about a cosmo political theatre with a wide variety of actors ranging from butterflies, the forest and the network of organized crime engage with local communities, local and federal authorities and the international community amongst others.