Oral histories are people’s accounts of their lives in their own words. Here you will find oral histories of people involved in and affected by scientific research and conservation in national parks in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. They range from park rangers to administrators, biologists to non-profit workers. Members of many social groups merit oral histories for their role in shaping scientific research, their positions as scientists or advisers, the services they provided to investigations underway, their contributions to the mapping of the parks, or other similar roles. Oral histories reveal information not available in archives including a level of personal reflection absent in official documents and the perspective of populations that are underrepresented in traditional records. Oral histories contribute information about the particular experiences of certain people in the past. Asking residents, politicians, and scientists how they see science shaping conservation adds color and texture to written documents bringing them to life. It also creates a valuable record of knowledge that might slip away as the first generations of park rangers in tropical countries near the ends of their careers.

These oral histories adhered to a general set of questions rather than merely open-ended memories. These guiding questions allow you to listen to the responses of various people to similar inquiries and reach more full understandings of their experiences. We invite you to listen to interviews in full, to choose the most interesting questions, or to listen to the testimonies by topic.

These oral histories were collected and recorded by the research team with full consent of the participants who retain copyright and authority over the records. These individuals generously gave of their time and expertise for this project and contributed valuable knowledge that can be used to understand a spectrum of experiences regarding science and parks. Individuals were identified by recommendation and for their positions within their respective countries. Many more people than are represented here deserve to have their experiences recorded. If you know someone who would like to be included, please contact the research team.