The benefits of the cold: open-access book 2025
Finally the time has come for a separate blog post advertising and celebrating the publication of a book volume, for which more a dozen Arctic scholars have been…
Tag: Human-animal relations
A liturgy for animals as seen through the eyes of a character with long ears
By Peter Versteeg – This year, as Christmas approached, I felt a strong urge to visit a church. An advertisement in a vegan deli shop caught my eye:…
From Foraging to Keeping Bees in Northeast Brazil
“This,” explained Chico Filho, gesturing to the lush, flowering Caatinga shrubland surrounding us, “is the bees’ pasture.” Chico Filho, a state extension officer and avid beekeeper, was reflecting…
Fieldwork literally: the stony path of working in the field
Some may remember our entry here with Erik Kielsen about the disastrous early snowfall and freezing event in South Greenland in late 2023. This summer fieldwork in the…
Extreme Arctic weather impacts for animal husbandry
Florian Stammler and Erik Kielsen Much has been written already about the losses of reindeer due to icing-over, or rain on snow events, among reindeer herders in Siberia…
Generation & gender change in reindeer herding – opportunities in Lapland
Congratulations to our research partners from the Sattasniemi Paliskunta in Lapland for their young empowering activism, which is now increasingly noticed also by journalists (see below). Great …
Khanty fishing in the Ob’ River system, West Siberia, 6 Sep 2023 Rovaniemi talk by Yuka Oishi
In the current situation we do not get any more new research evidence from our Siberian field sites, unfortunately. Nonetheless Siberia remains THE place in the Arctic where…
reindeer slaughter economy, human and animal welfare, 31 Aug 2023, Arktikum
Welcome to join us for the opening of the reindeer slaughter season 2023 in Finnish Lapland! A group of scientists, reindeer herders, animal practitioners, managers and economists are…
Anthropology for pressing issues: climate change and inequality, Tuesday 20 June 14:00 Rovaniemi
Prof John Ziker introduces his research and plans in the European Arctic. The anthropology team is pleased to announce a rather spontaneous talk by our visiting professor at…
Why I Study Human-Animal Relations as an Anthropologist
Anthropology is the study of humans, or as Dr. Jon Marks says: “the study of who we are and where we come from.” I consider it to be…
Greenland’s South: Inuit pastoralists in a rapidly changing Arctic environment
The first thing flying into Kangerlussuaq, Greenland reminds us that this is ‘properly’ Arctic. For most people who call the North home, the Arctic is further up North…
Film screening: in the name of the wild
On October 3rd our colleagues from the University from the “Sustainable Naturecultures” research group at the Faculty of Social Sciences host an interesting film screening including discu…
Arctic Midsummer – party time with pagan roots
In the European Arctic Midsummer nowadays marks mostly the start of the summer holidays. But at the roots of this big holiday, celebrated on or close to the…
Resurrecting a wolf for conservation?
Many herders, especailly in the Sub-Arctic, are threatened by the increased number of wolves, eating entire reindeer herds. In Australia they go the opposite way now: they try…
Christine Wilson 2021 Graduate Award Winner
Noha Fikry, 2021 Christine Wilson Graduate Award Winner SAFN is happy to announce that the winner of the 2021 Christine Wilson Graduate award winner is Noha Fikry, of…
#Review: Contesting Leviathan
In Contesting Leviathan, a reference on both the mythical sea-serpent and Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy, Les Beldo seeks to provide a multi-faceted view of the Makah whaling conflict,…
Viralscapes. The bodies of others after COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic reveals a vital-lethal entanglement of human and nonhuman bodies at a global scale. This post first draws attention on how different viral strains may…
Collecting waste in Sicily: old and new ways
BY FREEK COLOMBIJN Every human settlement has to think of a way to dispose its solid waste, but each place finds its own particular ways to do this.…
Decolonizing Extinction: An Interview with Juno Salazar Parreñas
Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation By Juno Salazar Parreñas, The Ohio State University 288pp. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. § Colin Hoag spoke with…
The Blueberry Wars
In elementary school, the first “robin red-breast” of spring signaled warmer days, colorful flowers, and a promise that the school year wouldn’t last forever. I considered robins m…
South America’s Golden Fleece
In the Andes, a fine fleece is highly prized. Yet, scientists’ understandings of genetic variation and classification diverge sharply with local herders’ relations with their herds. The guanaco,…
Human-Animal Encounters at the Park
By Shay Perryman, Ana Cruz, and Justin Brady § Woodward Park lies on the northwest edge of Fresno in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. Fresno is California’s fifth largest city…