Environmental history, Turku: Hand programme and abstracts

Here at the 6th conference of the European Society for Environmental history in Turku, Finland a hand programme with abstracts has been handed out to all participants. It is also available for download online.

I am mentioned three places (though only two are listed in the index, p. 249):
- p. 26: as a session organizer and presenter in the session "Animal agency and environmental history - three different approaches to Nordic wolves" (29/6)
- p. 44: as one of the panelists in the regional panel "Never cry wolf. Human-predator interactions" (30/6)
- p. 154: with the abstract to my talk mentioned on p. 26 "Wolf history: Agents in hiding"

Talk on wolf agency in Turku held

Yesterday I presented my paper "Wolf history: Agents in hiding" here at the 6th conference of the European Society for Environmental History ("Encounters of Sea and Land" - Turku, Finland), where there are close to 300 participants and some 240 presentations. The presentation was the first of three in the session "Animal agency and history - three different approaches to Nordic wolves", initiated by Håkon Stokland and attended by around 15 people. I enjoyed both of the two other papers, by Heta Lähdesmäki and Karin Dirke.

Wolf history: Agents in hiding

[Abstract of paper accepted for presentation at the sixth ESEH conference, see previous post]

/

WOLF HISTORY: AGENTS IN HIDING
BY MORTEN TØNNESSEN

Humans are so accustomed to being the subjects of history that to many, it is provocative to claim that animals too can be actors of history. Such attitudes are enthused by our age-old philosophical dismissal of animals. A hundred years ago, nature writers William J. Long and Ernest Thompson Seton caused controversy by claiming that their writings were accurate representations of natural history. Their depiction of wolves sparked a debate about whether animals were individual creatures subject to learning or instinct-driven specimen. Charges of anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism have never silenced, and the relation between science and folklore remains troublesome.
/

The cultural baggage at play in the discourse about wolf policies is so overwhelming that even an environmental historian can be excused for confusing the map with the territory. While in a strict sense we cannot go beyond having cultural perceptions of the wolf, it does matter how we treat the wolf in environmental history. Attributing agenthood to the wolf entails, for a start, to regard it as an animal that acts. Naturally, there is a whole range of different actions (biologist Jakob von Uexküll operated with seven categories). In many cases, wolves are decision makers. They make informed choices (typically based on what Michael Polanyi calls tacit knowing).
/

Being an actor may not in itself qualify anyone as an actor of historical significance. But some individuals stand out. To illustrate the function wolf agency can play in environmental history, I will make use of three examples:
/

1 The beast of Gévaudan: Man-eating wolf(s) that caused havoc in 1764-1767 (disputed).
2 “Ivan”: An immigrant from the East that was shot illegally (contemporary Norway)
3 The Galven bitch: Unaware of management zones, this sheep-eating female was the first to be relocated (contemporary Norway)

Animal agency presentation accepted

I have just been informed that the panel proposed by my collaborator Håkon Stokland for the sixth conference of the European Society for Environmental History, to be arranged in Turku, Finland, June 28th to July 2nd 2011, has been accepted by the scientific committee. The title of the panel session has been changed from "Animal agency and history - three different approaches to Scandinavian wolves" to "Animal agency and environmental history - three different approaches to Nordic wolves", and the committee has added a fourth presenter, a Ms. Heta Lähdesmäki.

/

Below is an overview of the four papers now included in the panel (Dr. Frank Zelko will be the session chair).

"Wolf history: Agents in hiding"

PhD candidate Morten Tønnessen

/

"Influencing military strategy, developing chemistry, changing politics: The role of the wolf in 1800-century Sweden"

Dr. Karin Dirke

/

"Animal agency and the wolf that saved an entire population"

PhD candidate Håkon Stokland

/

"Controlling wolves: Attitudes towards wolves in Finland in the 1990s"

Ms. Heta Lähdesmäki