Adam Johnson is an assistant professor of anthropology at University of Texas at Arlington. He is also the author of Living with Javelinas: Multispecies Conviviality in Texas (University of Texas Press, 2026). He was generous enough to chat with us about his new book, conviviality, and the culture impact of javelinas.
How would you describe the book to people who haven’t read it yet and what are you hoping it accomplishes in the world?
The book explores the question of how do people and wildlife find ways to get along? The book investigates one sort of relationship: humans and javelinas in Texas. I hope that it helps scholars think about the ways in which humans and animals co-produce space. For the general public, I hope it shows alternative ways to live with wildlife and imagine a biodiverse future.
What inspired you to write Living With Javelinas? Where did the idea come from?
It started with a collaborative project with the Cofan community of Zabalo in Ecuador. The pandemic halted that project and, after developing my ability to work with peccaries (javelinas and white-lipped peccaries), I decided to pivot to peccaries (javelinas) in Texas. I thought I’d end up studying hunting given Texan stereotypes, but, as I started the project, I saw there was way more ways that Texans related to javelinas. I was invited out to a private ranch in the Texas Hill Country, where a landowner and herd of javelinas interacted every day without conflict. I was fascinated and wanted to understand 1) how they got to that point, and 2) was it more common?
A javelina is not just a wild pig. What makes it different?
35 million years of evolutionary divergence. Peccaries and pigs belong to the suborder Suina. However, peccaries belong to the family Tayassuidae. Pigs belong to the family Suidae. For context, humans and monkeys share a common ancestor about that long ago. Apart from the evolutionary divergence, peccaries have a large scent gland on their lower backs, a different digestive tract, and teeth. Pigs (Suidae) are Afro-Eurasian and Peccaries (Tayassuidae) are American. So, when people encounter feral hogs in the US, they are encountering an animal whose ancestors were brought to North America by European colonists. Javelinas are native to the region.
I remember reading an essay many, many years ago that said something about the states that have wild pigs versus the states that don’t—there’s almost a cultural line there. Is there a cultural difference between places that have javelinas, and places that don’t? (correlative or causative)
Javelinas live in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona and range all the way down to Argentina. Evidence suggests that peccaries evolved in North America and dispersed into South America during the Great Biotic Interchange (a la the Ice Age movie). Javelinas have then ranged back north, into the US. Domestic pigs were originally brought to the US by Hernando de Soto in the 16th Century as food for invading troops. As he marched west, from Florida to Texas, they left pigs behind. Later settlers and landowners imported pigs for livestock and hunting. Javelinas do really well in arid regions and have adaptations to eat prickly pear cacti, which are high in toxic oxalic acid, and get water. Pigs are constrained to areas with permanent surface water. Pigs spread from hotspots (e.g., the region de Soto marched through, ranchers/farmers) in the US, many of which were in the southern US and dispersed from there. Javelinas have migrated north, back into the US, probably in the last 1000 years. There is evidence that there may have been javelinas here long before that, but not much.
I think there are some American animals that carry a pretty heavy psychic load, like buffalo, coyotes, ravens… How do javelinas fit into that? What kinds of stories do we tell about them?
I don’t think javelinas fit that. That was one of the aspects of them that made them interesting to me. However, among South American Indigenous Peoples, javelinas and white-lipped peccaries are very important – both for food and as important cultural beings. There aren’t really deep stories in the US about javelinas. The main story from contemporary people here about javelinas that I heard was of how javelinas are aggressive and “tree” people. That means chasing people up trees and waiting beneath to tear them to shreds. There’s a whole chapter in the book on the “Folk Javelina” that explores how those stories shape people’s perceptions and interactions with javelinas. In South America, there are many stories among the various Peoples.
I love that you used the word “conviviality” in your title. What made you go with that rather than co-existence or harmony, or some other word?
This is a wonderful question! Co-existence didn’t really convey the ongoing act of living together. Harmony was misleading because it’s not always harmonious. There is conflict and unease. conviviality is closer in meaning to the Spanish convivència than to the common English sense of feasting, drinking, and merry company. Convivència was established as a public policy in Catalonia, Spain, to build social cohesion following the divisive Spanish Civil War and dictatorship. It’s an everyday labor of living together.
How does Texas compare to other states for animal presence? And for multispecies conviviality?
Texas has like the 4th or 5th most biodiversity in the US. Part of that is its size, but there are also many ecozones and lots of open space. In the places I did research (South Texas, the Hill Country, the Chihuahuan Desert), people really love nature and want to protect. Some people hate javelinas or other kinds of wildlife. Javelinas injure people’s dogs, for example. In those cases, there tends to be a lot of conflict. But, a lot of that has to do with misunderstandings or a lack of attention. However, a lot of stories people told me or things I observed ranged from minor annoyances (the javelinas laid on the flower bed), to loving them (giving the anti-parasitics to make sure they are healthy). Many people just like watching them or they are part of the everyday rhythms of their lives.
Obviously you wrote this book about javelinas, but are there some other animals you’d love to write a similar book about?
I hope that other scholars use my research in their own projects to help make sense of the human-animal relational dynamics in their own studies. But, for me, if I could do another study, I think coyotes or snakes. They are misunderstood but many people admire them. I’m not sure what I’d find out.
