“Those That Come and Go”: Tracking Migratory Species and Other Transients

In the 17th century, naturalists began to research the motivations and geography of migratory animals, especially ‘birds of passage,’ which, unlike ‘permanent residents,’ often traveled exceptionally long distances in groups. In the wake of the current upsurge of stateless asylum seekers and its conjunction with the crisis of global warming, scholars of the Anthropocene have called for thinking about humanity’s common loyalty to our species rather than as citizens loyal to individual nations. Examining the history of notions about the movement of people as a species offers a critical perspective on the relationship between environmental management and population governance.