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Paper short abstract:

Seabird populations are declining at an alarming speed. We will explore how to put an old seabird archive to work through local exhibitions and co-creative workshops in more-than-human approaches. Can we "bring the birds to the tables" to visualize alternate and multi-species imaginaries?

Paper long abstract:

Seabird populations are declining at an alarming speed, globally as well as nationally. Inspired by Tsing et al’s work on the Matsutake Worlds Research (2009), the FUGLAN VEIT project (NRC 2021-2024) explores how more-than-human approaches may bring new attention and alliances in the management of seabirds who seek human protection during the nesting season.

In the presentation we explore some of the experiences by putting to work a nearly fifty-year-old archive at Tromsø museum, Norway. The archive contains several hundred interviews, tape recordings and thousands of photos of local people’s seabird practices along the coast of Northern Norway. The archive is used as an asset for local exhibitions and workshops, inviting descendants of the interviewees and local seabird practitioners to reflect, comment on the images and stories, and to share stories of the contemporary practices and prospects for the future. In the workshops we focused on how to “bring the birds to the tables”, and in the paper, we will discuss some of these findings related to visualizing alternate and multi-species imaginaries.