Temporal polyphonies of humans and tortoises: an anthropological approximation from the Albera massif (Catalonia)

This article analyzes the coproduction of temporalities between humans and tortoises from an anthropological perspective, using as a case study the last native population of Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni Gmelin, 1789) in the Iberian Peninsula, located in the Albera massif, Catalonia. Drawing on the concept of the “myth of time” (Barreau 2000), we explore how tortoises have historically been used as symbols for the origin of time and, at present, as indicators of the end of time in a context marked by the ecological crisis and the notion of emergency in the face of extinction. The study combines ethnographic fieldwork with historical analysis to show how human practices – from domestication and trade to conservation – have configured the temporal horizons of tortoises, while their biological rhythms and longevity influence human imaginaries around becoming. We argue that the coordination between human and non-human temporalities constitutes a critical framework for thinking about shared futures that goes beyond anthropocentrism. The article’s principle contribution is connecting the anthropo­logy of time with multispecies anthropology, proposing that interspecies interaction produces not only cultural meanings, but also ways of experiencing time in crisis scenarios. In this sense, the relationship between humans and tortoises in the Albera becomes an opportunity to think about how the coordination between species could give rise to a notion of the future that diverges from catastrophist visions.