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Paper short abstract

In the Alps, humans, animals, and mountains co-shape history. Folkloric hybrids like werewolves and human–bear figures blur human–non-human borders, reveal complex cultural logics, and challenge the nature/culture divide in more-than-human entanglements.

Paper long abstract

My research investigates multispecies entanglements in the Alpine border region of Italy, France, and Switzerland. Alpine history is not shaped by humans alone: wolves, bears, feral dogs, and mountains themselves can be considered non-human actants that co-construct cultural borders as well as historical imaginaries of space. From an anthropological perspective, these non-humans appear to assume multiple symbolic roles, often coexisting and pairing in meaningful ways.

These dynamics unfold in a liminal space where borders between humans and non-humans are continually negotiated. This space may also generate metamorphic moments, interpreted as “excessive blurring” along the human–non-human continuum.

The folkloristic study of Alpine werewolf and human–bear hybrid traditions is particularly illuminating. These hybrid beings can be interpreted as suggesting that supernatural figures embody complex cultural logics beyond “nature” categorizations. As Joisten demonstrated, the functions of werewolves vary across different spaces, reflecting cultural contexts. In the human–bear symbolic pair, the bear serves as a guardian of the human–non-human borders, while human–bear hybrids emerge as supernatural beings, engendering reflections on kinship.

Overall, Alpine narratives and practices challenge the nature/culture divide and foreground non-human agencies as co-constitutive of history. They illustrate how folkloristic perspectives can contribute to understanding more-than-human entanglements, offering new insights into environmental humanities.