Lhe debates on the protection of nature are numerous today and bring together actors who represent different, sometimes divergent, interests. The question of the representation of nature itself arises. The word “representation” can be understood here in two ways. The first concerns the way our contemporary imaginations imagine this nature. The field of art has taken up this version of representation since the 15th century.e century, in painting in particular: from a background highlighting a portrait or a scene, nature has gradually become a subject in itself in our images as in our imaginations.
The second sense of representation concerns the way of including nature in debates and decision-making relating to land use planning, the use of natural resources and, more generally, human activities. Obviously, the two perspectives are linked: the inclusion of living things or landscapes in decisions largely depends on the conception of nature in our societies.
Environmental defense associations and experts are often on the front line to defend and represent nature, that is to say, to speak for it. Research that we conducted for the French management review on the existence and maintenance of wild animal shows in circuses in France addresses this question by retracing and analyzing the controversy that developed and amplified on this subject from 2016 to 2020.
Exposure to criticism
After many European countries, France finally banned this practice, however providing for a seven-year moratorium to allow circuses to adapt (law no. 2021-1539 of November 30, 2021). This very limited controversy illustrates many more situations, which go beyond the question of animal welfare. It makes it possible to identify the arguments exchanged in controversies linked to the defense of nature, and to understand on what basis criticism of the positions of the different participants is made.
This criticism takes two general forms. The first concerns the arguments in support of a practice or in opposition to it. These arguments draw their moral justifications from different registers. In the case of the presence of wild animals in circuses, some actors defend the use of wild animals in the name of magic, tradition or the large audience of these shows, while others are opposed to it. by brandishing a degrading and amoral form of entertainment or the declining popularity of this type of show.
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