Squirrelling : Human–Animal Studies in the Northern-European Region

Squirrelling : Human–Animal Studies in the Northern-European Region
Serie Södertörn Academic Studies
Medverkande
Förlag Södertörns högskola
GenreLitteraturvetenskap
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor255
Vikt420 gr
Utgiven2022-01-03
SABG
ISBN 9789189109940
This collection maps out the current state of the field of literary and cultural animal studies in Northern Europe. With contributors from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, and Sweden, the work spans a wide variety of issues regarding human and non-human life in relation to different kinds of cultural expression, while others are more general in character. Above all others, one urgent and overarching question is addressed: How can we challenge the current anthropocentric paradigm in ways that benefit the production of less violent, more ethically sound and sustainable knowledge regarding the relationship between human and non-human life? Ratatϙskr, in Norse mythology, is a squirrel that scurries up and down Yggdrasil (the tree of life), carrying messages between the dragon at its roots and the eagle at its top. Being a representation of a ‘real’ animal species, but also a part of the mythology organizing the human world, Ratatϙskr is ideally situated for literary and cultural animal studies. Apart from directing the scope of interest towards Northern Europe, this figure reminds us that the “squirrelling” and storage of productive and just knowledge about all forms of life is an important undertaking if there is to be a future for any of them.