Rutgers History PhD student, Javier González Cortés, presented his talk titled “Finding Pablo Escobar’s Animals: What Was I Getting Myself Into” on the panel Animal Encounters in the Archive, held at the American Society for Environmental History Conference 2024 in Denver, CO.
Javier’s presentation focused on the challenges faced in obtaining information about the individual animals that the kingpin, Pablo Escobar, brought to his private zoo at the Hacienda Nápoles in the early 1980s, located in the region known as Magdalena Medio, Colombia. His analysis was based on a set of 180 photographs taken by Escobar’s private photographer, “El Chino,” and several oral histories from individuals who interacted with the animals during the early days of the zoo.
Approximately forty-five attendees participated in the Animal Encounters in the Archive roundtable, organized by Caroline Abbott (NICHE - Network in Canadian History & Environment) and Heather Green (Assistant Professor, Saint Mary's University, Canada). Also presenting at the panel were Sean Cox (PhD candidate in History, University of New Brunswick, Canada) and Isabelle Gapp (Lecturer, University of Aberdeen, Scotland). Professor Jack Bouchard (History Department, Rutgers University) chaired the roundtable.
Congratulations to Javier and all the other participants!
