‘They are healthy because they are free’: Conservation borders and more-than-human autonomy in West Tanzania

This paper addresses rumours and other discourse concerning conservation policy in Katavi region, Tanzania. I explore these discourses as reflecting an emphasis on the importance of autonomy for more-than-human wellbeing rather than separating human and natural spaces. Central to these discourses is the notion that organisms need not be protected from human presence – as in the wilderness ideal of mainstream conservation – but need to be free to eat, self-medicate and grow in their own ways. These rumours, I argue, also express social grievances over loss of forest access due to the expansion of protected areas. I suggest that these discourses offer critical reflections relevant to broader debates about conservation policy. The paper aligns itself with critics who point to protected areas’ limited effect on the root drivers of biodiversity collapse and often-adverse impacts on vulnerable populations. Drawing on these critical discourses, I suggest that a more viable way forward for conservation is to consider how to allow for the autonomy that more-than-human communities require to thrive in landscapes of which humans are part.