Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses two different works of fiction set in the Arctic and contain folkloristic elements in their representation of human/polar bear relations. However, the symbolic importance of the polar bear is vastly different, reflecting the different times in which the stories are written.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses two Scottish works of fiction taking place in the Arctic: James Hogg’s novella The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon (1837) and Helen McClory’s short story “The Companion” (2018). These two very different works of fiction both feature a polar bear that acts as a close companion to the main character of the story. Both contain folkloristic elements in their representation of human/polar bear relations, for instance through emphasising the similarity between the polar bear and the human and in suggesting that polar bears can cross worlds and be guiding spirits to humans (some of the folklore and mythology elements outlined by Lizanne Henderson 2020, pp. 252-3). However, the symbolic importance of the polar bear varies significantly between these stories, reflecting the different times in which they are written: whereas in Hogg we encounter the colonisation of the beautiful but dangerous Arctic space, showcased in the domestication of Nancy the polar bear (companion and “spouse” yet something of a threat to the human), in McClory we are confronted with the impact of human actions on the Arctic space, i.e. climate change and its effects on the natural world (a starving polar bear). Therefore, while both stories perhaps portray both the human and the animal’s “arresting ability to live with strangeness” (Sarah Moss 2007, n.p.), the message conveyed concerning human/animal relations and the Anthropocene is vastly different.

Paper short abstract:

This paper concerns how animals are portrayed at public aquariums, introducing the notion of the Popular Science Animal. This is an assemblage combining scientific facts, entertaining stories and popular myths; presenting an understanding of humans´ relationship to nature.

Paper long abstract:

Public aquariums have been around since the 1900-century, throughout their history they have combined entertainment with an ambition to educate on aquatic environments. The aquarium of today provides a multi-sensuous experience staging nature with props, lights and sound, and at the same time working actively as research centers. They are an important link in connecting environmental research with the public. This paper concerns the issue of how animals are portrayed at aquariums, introducing the notion of the Popular Science Animal.

The way public aquariums represent animals does not differ significantly from similar popular science arenas, such as zoos, natural history museums or books about nature and animals. They belong to the same narrative domain, where the ambition is to present animals in a scientific and entertaining way. Taken together, this creates the Popular Science Animal, an assemblage combining exciting scientific facts, entertaining stories and popular myths. The popular science animals are ambiguous and complex. They are in the borderland between research and fantasy, and frictions easily arise between the various elements that create them. The Popular Science Animal is assembled with parts from different domains of expertise such as biology, ecology, cultural history, folklore and popular culture. The Popular Science Animals work as elements in narratives evoking zeitgeists, such as human's relationship to nature. Often, the Popular Science Animals are easily recognizable equipped with charismatic traits, examples could be species like the shark with its´ familiar dorsal fin or the octopus with eight legs and three hearts.

Paper short abstract:

I examine the human/animal relationships found in folklore concerning 19th century cattle husbandry, and what those depictions mean for present-day ideas of female/male and animal/human. With a posthumanist approach to folklore records, I question the concept of an idealized interspecies bond.

Paper long abstract:

The nostalgic idea of a perfect, pre-industrial bond between animal and human is often viewed as belonging to an ideal world, long since forgotten. Cattle husbandry was traditionally women's work until the industrialization of farmwork brought the men into the barn. The "soft" female values were considered lost as soon as men and machines claimed the work, and this binary opposition of female/male and animal/human still shapes opinions about cattle care today.

In my research project I examine how life and work with, as well as caring for cows, is narrated in Finland-Swedish 19th century folk tradition, and more specifically how the interspecies relationship is expressed. The material used for this study consists of folklore records collected in 19th and early 20th century, Swedish-speaking parts of Finland.

Leaning primarily on posthumanist concepts of companion species, I question the idea of a non-problematic interspecies relationship in the female-dominated barn. Companion species are not two (or more) species melting together in a perfect symbiosis, rather, the relations are ugly, fantastic, difficult, and rewarding. Because companion species are dependent on each other evolutionally and socially, they are not free of power structures, and should be viewed intersectionally, which I do using an critical ecofeminist perspective of binary categories, such as woman/man and animal/human. The gain of this study is a wider understanding of not only past practices and ideas of animal/human coexistance, but also of the origin and meaning behind contemporary idea(l)s of cattle farming.