Contribution long abstract:

Hunting is among the classic anthropological subjects and has typically been analysed within the empirical and conceptual frame of hunter-gatherer societies. However, the contemporary state of the art has significant blind spots. Certain regions are emphasised over others, for instance, Africa compared to Europe. Equally important, the study of subsistence hunting is privileged over an array of hunting subjects, whether recreational pastimes, wildlife management, bushmeat industry, or other emerging practices and practitioners within shifting political, economic, and ecological contexts. Ironically, European ethnology has offered a limited contribution to fill the existing knowledge gaps, leaving the cluster of Europe’s hunting nature-cultures (together perhaps with those of ‘non-native’ North America) as the least studied and understood. This roundtable’s objective is to discuss the reasons behind the omission and explore new perspectives by brainstorming about how to bring various forms of hunting, trapping and other aspects of wild animal-human relations across Europe into the disciplines’ spotlight.

Contribution short abstract:

I shall focus on human-wolf multifaceted relations in non-Western and Western societies. I rely on ethnography I collected in Yakutia among hunters/reindeer herders, also my observations of hunters, farmers, residents, NGO’s, environmental institutions - attitudes towards wolves in Lithuania.

Contribution long abstract:

What led anthropologists more keen on non-Europe hunter-gatherers societies and their hunting practices comparing to the Western ways of hunting? The modern European hunting in the West associated with nature management, game laws, leisure-hunting, trophy/meat hunting, perhaps, was juxtaposed to the "more original" animistic worldview of indigenous people and their relations with animals as the part of subsistence hunting. Classically, the Western thought based on ontological separation of humans and animals characterized animals as mere biological machines (Cartesian philosophy), that is opposed to the animistic worldview of non-Western indigenous societies perceiving animals as active, sentient and intentional actors. Meanwhile, the modern post-humanistic (more than human, multispecies ethnography) anthropology calls to steer away from anthropocentrism not distinguishing so much between Western and non-Western societies but decentering humans as the main actors of sociocultural systems and paying equal attention to non-humans.

I shall discuss hunting aspects focusing on multifaceted relations between humans and wolves in two different societies. My account is based on the ethnography I collected during a 10-month investigation of hunters and reindeer herders in Arctic Yakutia, as well as my observations of key groups: hunters, farmers, villagers, urban residents, NGO’s, environmental institutions - attitudes towards wolves in my country Lithuania.

Contribution short abstract:

Mountain hunting in the Alps is undergoing major upheavals. Working on hunts carried out in different mountain territories in France (Savoie/Isère) and in Switzerland (canton of Valais), we wish to question how hunters define a way of living together with this alpine fauna.

Contribution long abstract:

Mountain hunting in the Alps is undergoing major upheavals linked to the intensification of the recreational activities in certain mountain areas, cultural changes in the appreciation of hunting at the societal level and transformations of the environment (soil artificialisation, climate change, return of large predators…). Working on hunts carried out in different mountain territories in France (Savoie/Isère) and in Switzerland (canton of Valais) thanks to ethgnographical work and semi-structured interviews, we wish to question the way in which these mountain hunts are evolving today and how hunters define a way of living together with this alpine fauna, between care practices, recreational activities, passion and “rewilding”. Depending on the type of hunting, but also on the history of the territories, the organisation of groups of hunters, and the personal relationship developed by each of them with the practice and certain animals, different ways of thinking about the wild and of constructing its relationship to naturalness emerge. We propose to shed light on these questions by comparing our different mountain hunting experiences.

Contribution short abstract:

Practices and terms such as sound hunting or shooting pictures refer to forms of mediatised hunting. In my input to the roundtable I would like to raise the issue of the role and ethics of alternative and mediatised ways of "hunting" through cameras and microphones.

Contribution long abstract:

During my research about the (aural-sonic) relationships of humans and wild birds I came across different ornithophilic people, from vegan animal activists, musicians to active hunters. One key experience in relation to hunting ideologies happened in a conversation with an Icelandic biologist and bird watcher. When he was confronted with my experiences with Icelandic hunters that shoot dozens of geese or trap Iceland's tourist signature bird, the puffins, he said, that under ecological and extinction crisis he thinks that it would be better that they would shoot these animals with cameras than with rifles and that he would tell them so, not making friends. Myself a field recordist for my research about the role of listening to and the sounds of wild birds, I "hunt" sounds of animals, but this term doesn't feel appropriate to me because it doesn't go along with my personal ethical attitude. I could contribute to the roundtable some insights from the experienced huge contrast of ethics of hunting which I encountered during field research (and field ornithological training) in Switzerland, Spain and Iceland and with people that "love" wild living birds and animals, but still in various shades chase, hunt or shoot them.