Date of Graduation
Spring 5-23-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Global Studies
College/School
College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program
Global Studies
First Advisor
Sam Mickey
Second Advisor
Brian Dowd-Uribe
Abstract
This thesis examines how folklore and cultural phenomena shape human relationships with wildlife, arguing that the stories a society tells about animals are not merely reflective of its values but are constitutive of them. Drawing on narrative research methods sourced from literature and academic journals and interviews with academics, conservationists, and community members, this project examines the role of animal folklore.
I discuss how narratives around wildlife evolved alongside the development of the United States, arguing that the beginnings of mainstream American conservation not only displaced existing communities but also erased the sophisticated human-animal relationships their traditions had long sustained. I explore this at length in the settling of the Western U.S. territories. Then I turn to Indigenous folklore surrounding the biodiversity of the Hawaiian islands, exploring how these stories encode ecological knowledge and shape communal ways of life.
Across both contexts, I find that folklore does not simply reflect the way humans relate to the natural world but actively constructs the relationship, determining which animals are seen as worthy of protection, which ecosystems are understood as sacred, and which human behaviors are considered acceptable. If the “Anthropocene” has produced a crisis of human-animal relationships, this thesis suggests that the path forward runs not only through science and policy, but through narrative. To change how we treat the natural world, people must first change how we know it through the stories we tell.
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Taylor Breeanne, "The Feather of the Quill: How Folklore Shapes Human Relationships with Wildlife" (2026). Master's Theses. 1649.
https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/1649
