Limits and limitations: doing animal geographies at the Korean demilitarised zone (DMZ)

Abstract

The Korean demilitarised zone (DMZ) has traditionally been understood as an alienated borderland consistent with ideas of no-man’s lands as abandoned and enclosed spaces. However, far from being an empty space or geopolitical vacuum, the withdrawal of human bodies and activity from the DMZ has (inadvertently) established an ecological haven where non-human life thrives. The near complete inaccessibility of the space poses significant obstacles to researching the species thriving within and, indeed, to how we envision, sense, and engage with the DMZ to begin with. Yet, the difficulties and challenges associated with researching such spaces also provide stimulating ways of thinking with and through the subfield of animal geographies. Drawing upon fieldwork experiences with birds at and along the DMZ, with a particular focus on the red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), this paper explores how the subfield of animal geographies can itself become a means of exploring, interacting, and engaging with (de)limited spaces. In doing so, it considers how we might push animal geographies beyond its current limits whilst also expanding both the conceptual and methodological toolboxes through which we approach less accessible spaces of study.

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