Fisherman, turtles, and Darwin: Galapagos lives in *evolution's laboratory.

Abstract

On the Galapagos Islands, twenty five thousand people live among the more famous reptiles and birds. Nonhuman organisms are internationally celebrated for their unique behavior, their contributions to Galapagos biodiversity, and their role in the development of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. Today, scientists literally walk where Darwin walked in the Galapagos as they test and advance his theories. Conservationists use these theories to categorize island populations into species to be protected and species to be eradicated. As they cull invasive plants, exterminate rats, and shoot goats that threaten endemic populations, fishermen and their families from Isabela Island wonder if their futures on the archipelago are certain. In this dissertation, I examine conflicts between scientists, conservationists, and fishermen. People from the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station advocate for native and endemic organisms in their living laboratory of evolution---a place often imagined as peopleless. People from Isabela claim up to seven generations of history through narratives that ignore, dispute, and incorporate the intellectual and scientific processes that have made the Galapagos iconic on an international stage. Conflicts mount as Isabelenos fish among depleted stocks within and outside of sanctioned waters and seasons under pressure to conform to conservationist ideals. All groups struggle to find appropriate places for themselves and for other organisms in the shifting contexts of Galapagos evolution and history. Scientists in the Galapagos prove that evolution happens in historical time frames. While conservationists, fisherman, longtime residents, and tourists recognize the simultaneity of history and evolution in certain contexts, they hold them apart in others. Evolutionary and historical time frames shift as Galapaguenos use them to explain material processes, to advocate for nonhuman lives, or to call for human rights. Recognizing the ideological and material articulations of these processes in Galapagos conservation and conflict may provide valuable insight into the problems and possibilities of sharing time with our nonhuman cohabitants in other places.