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Paper short abstract

Drawing on walking ethnography and Tsing’s notion of the ‘arts of noticing,’ this paper examines bracken’s role in multispecies relationality within plots of land related to animal husbandry. Integrating photography, animation, and eco-printing, it explores what we can learn from bracken.

Paper long abstract

Bracken or eagle fern is one of the most lore-rich plants in Europe and beyond believed to have magical and protective properties. Worldwide, it is also somewhat controversial plant, often considered an aggressive colonizer that rapidly invades abandoned areas and causes habitat loss and alteration of soil properties. Drawing on walking ethnography and following “the arts of noticing” (Tsing 2015), this paper explores bracken and its multispecies relationality within steljniki. Steljniki—expanses dominated by bracken and sparsely growing birches—have in Slovenia been traditionally associated with animal husbandry. These plots of land have been used for spring livestock grazing and for harvesting bracken in the autumn. Bracken is a pioneer species that gains dominance following logging and burning, representing a stage in secondary ecological succession. Human and animals’ slow disturbances maintained the characteristic appearance of steljniki, preventing succession to oak and hornbeam forests and thereby sustaining bracken’s presence. This paper explores what we can learn from bracken in an anthropogenic landscape. To investigate this question, the presentation integrates photography, animation, and eco-prints.