Selling Extinction: The Politics of Cheetah Conservation in Namibia – “Cheetah Capital of the World”

Summary

This thesis developed and employed an analytical framework from Debord’s (1967) concept of the Spectacle to contextualize the conditions and processes of selling extinction over social media as well as the concrete/material realities of the politics of cheetah conservation in Namibia. Extinction was a pedagogical tool and strategy used by Namibia-based cheetah conservation NGOs to leverage social, economic, and political relations over social media. As a consequence, problematic information (misinformation and disinformation) about conservation in Namibia was constructed and circulated in ways that disrupted politics and power, masking the NGOs economic and political interests. My research revealed cheetah conservation was a business indicating a shift from conservation as a public good to a private good and service-based industry. When conservation is a private good, it changes the way the NGOs and other private actors access and engage in politics. Ultimately, when cheetah conservation NGOs mediate conservation politics online, they are selling extinction.