Paper short abstract:

This presentation will discuss particular revelations during fieldwork about how embodied knowledge transformed me as a researcher, my theoretical perspectives, and the difficulties with translating embodied knowledge to field material for observation and analysis.

Paper long abstract:

Doing fieldwork in a seal rehabilitation center in the Netherlands, which focuses on seal rehabilitation as well as on heritagization of the Wadden Sea, challenges methods of participant observation and its translation into text. Getting more experienced in seal care taught me how to read the behavior of seals and how to behave around them. This has provided me with the embodied knowledge of how relations are built on the basis of abstract feelings towards seals, and the insight that these relations depend on the chemistry between particular seals and staff or volunteers. Furthermore, by creating memories with particular seals, for example by the act of naming, humans form special relations with them. Embodied knowledge gained through interspecies interaction extends to changing perceptions on the environment, the Wadden Sea. Knowing that plastic pollution will end up in the stomach of these same seals, influenced my perception of the Wadden Sea as an environment to be seriously cared for as well. This leads to an open-ended discussion of how embodied knowledge, that has deep effects on the researcher and theoretical insights, can be observed and what kind of field material would be satisfactory for analysis. What language can we use to describe these complex interspecies relationships? What other means are available to communicate this embodied knowledge? And to what extend can the researcher be used not only as an instrument, but also as source of field material to be analyzed?