Paper 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.

Paper 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.