Paper short abstract:

The starting-point of this paper is a case-study of a staged rainforest at a public aquarium with the purpose to engage visitors in topics of science and conservation. The aim is to discuss the multiple ways that knowledge of nature and environmental issues is intermediated.

Paper long abstract:

Rainforests makes a good start for a discussion of the Anthropocene. Deforestation has crucial implications for all species dwelling in the rainforest. This goes for plants and non-human-animals as well as for humans. On a more general level rainforest-products are part of most western-homes and the devastated rainforest has global implications. One approach to the question of the Anthropocene is to investigate the intermediaries that convey knowledge and information on the topic. A particular place for this is the public aquarium. In parallel to a more general environmental awareness, aquariums have changed their assignments from showing exotic animals to market themselves as facilities of conservation and knowledge-production.

This paper explores the processes of distributing knowledge of nature and environmental issues. The purpose is to discuss an ethnographic approach and a theoretical tool-kit enabling understandings of the multiple ways that knowledge on the rainforest is intermediated through living material, soundscapes, written words and story-telling. The starting-point is a case study of a staged rainforest at a science-center/aquarium in Gothenburg/Sweden. Here, the purpose is to engage visitors in topics of science and conservation. The staged habitat is made out of living plants, sounds, animals, it is humid and warm. By experiencing this environment, reading posters and following guided tours, the visitors are supposed to understand and gain an empathy with the environmental challenges raised by deforestation and production of palm-oil; hopefully changing both the way they relate to the rainforest and their consumption-routines. How can ethnographically-based methods make these multiple-sensual practices understandable?