Review by Choice Review
For many people engaged in conservation, it can be easy not to query the quality of the world being created for endangered species and their guardians, perhaps because of the immediacy of the task at hand. Parreñas's impactful book has made this reviewer question the broader social context within which species conservation work is situated: is it really helping, or merely prolonging the inevitable at the cost of considerable suffering? Parreñas (womens's, gender, and sexuality studies, Ohio State Univ.) uses the theme of suspended autonomy in her analysis of stakeholders at an orangutan rehabilitation site in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, an impasse that mirrors the state's political relationship with Malaysia. Using this framework, Parreñas explores connections between and among caregivers and rehabilitant orangutans, male and female orangutans trapped in a too-small forest fragment, administrators (usually white) and workers (often local people), caregivers whose work is partly valued based on gender, and the entire system juxtaposed to volunteers from other countries paying comparatively large sums to labor on behalf of orangutans' return to "the wild." Parreñas details diverse assumptions and expectations participants bring to this complex network, thereby generating a unique and timely addition to the conservation literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Lori Kay Sheeran, Central Washington University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
