TRACE ∴ Journal for Human-Animal Studies https://trace.journal.fi/ <p><em>Trace — Journal for Human-Animal Studies</em> is a peer-reviewed,&nbsp;fully open access online journal that&nbsp;provides a forum for research and discussion of human-animal relations from social and cultural perspectives.&nbsp;The journal&nbsp;publishes original research articles, lectiones praecursoriae, and conference reports, as well as reviews on books, art exhibitions, films, and other media. <em>Trace </em>accepts submissions in English, Finnish and Swedish.</p> en-US <p>When sending a manuscript the author(s) accept <a href="https://trace.journal.fi/contract" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the digital publishing contract</a> (please open the link and read it!). The publishing contract covers the publication of the manuscript on the digital versions of the <em>Trace</em> journal according to the Open Access principles and the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license<strong>&nbsp;</strong>[<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a>].&nbsp; (NB! Changed on January 28, 2020!) The conditions allow the author to retain copyright to his/her work and anyone to copy and distribute it for free in any medium and form, changed or unchanged provided that appropriate credit to author(s) is given, a link provided to the license, and any changes are indicated. Information on copyright issues in Finland is given by <a href="https://www.kopiosto.fi/kopiosto/en_GB/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kopiosto</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Trace</em> is a scientific journal that doesn't pursue economic gain. Instead, the purpose of the publishing contract is to acknowledge the moral rights of the author(s) to their work and make possible the distribution of results of scientific research in the <em>Trace</em> journal in print as well as in digital form.&nbsp;</p> <p>The license concerning the metadata of published articles is Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0).</p> <p class="P6_borderEnd">More information about open science in Finland:</p> <p class="P7"><a href="https://openscience.fi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://openscience.fi/</a></p> <p><a href="https://libraryguides.helsinki.fi/oa/eng" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://libraryguides.helsinki.fi/oa/eng</a></p> hekaki@utu.fi (Helinä Ääri) jiteit@utu.fi (Jouni Teittinen) Sun, 23 Mar 2025 03:15:22 +0200 OJS 3.2.1.4 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Otto Latva: The Giant Squid in Transatlantic Culture. The Monsterization of Molluscs (Book Review) https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/146081 Sara Zaman Copyright (c) 2024 Sara Zaman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/146081 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Biodiversity, Neurodiversity, Ethodiversity https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/144936 <p>This article explores the relationship between neurodiversity and the life sciences – specifically biodiversity and neurology – in order to call for a more-than-human and more-than-neurological turn in neurodiversity studies.</p> <p>I first examine how Judy Singer’s conception of neurodiversity is based on an ambiguous engagement with biology and directed towards anthropocentric human rights politics. In this conception, neurodiversity constitutes a form of biodiversity without nonhuman animals. This anthropocentric bias in the neurodiversity lexicon reinforces the divide between humans and animals.</p> <p>The article then shows how neurocentrism – the emphasis on nervous systems – in neurodiversity studies often leads to neuroreductionism, which reduces lived experience to the physicochemical. In assimilating neurodivergent people to lesser humans, this rhetoric bestialises neurodivergence. While neurology itself is not fundamentally flawed or regressive, the way it is often taken up in the neurodiversity movement leads to problematic effects, which leads me to conclude that neurological accounts should be decentred.</p> <p>Aiming to renew neurodiversity’s engagement with the life sciences, I call for a more-than-human and more-than-neurological turn. To do so, I turn to ethology and develop the concepts of ethodiversity and ethodivergence. Ethodiversity refers to the intra- and inter-specific variabilities and differences in animal behavioural patterns or existential styles. Ethodivergence describes ways of being and behaving that depart from the ones dominant in one’s species, in one’s ecological and social milieu, and/or imposed by anthropocentric ethonormativity. Both concepts are finally elaborated drawing on conservation biology and philosophical ethology.</p> Ombre Tarragnat Copyright (c) 2025 Ombre Tarragnat https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/144936 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Uskonnontutkija puutarhassa https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145655 <p>In this study, we look at the interspecies encounter between a gardener and a Spanish Slug. At the same time, we critically reflect on the limits of the study of religion. The study is based on data collected in the context of an international research project between 2021 and 2022, consisting of qualitative interviews with a total of 120 gardeners from eight different countries. From Finland, ten people who tend a community garden or plot in Helsinki participated in the study. In the analysis, we read the data in contrast to conventions in religious studies that look for indications of religion in qualitative data and to analyses of interspecies relations that emphasise the cultivation of positive relationships. In other words, while we explore the ethics of exclusion in a garden context at the case study level, we perform it in a context of sociology of religion at the theoretical level.</p> <p>Our results highlight the importance of exclusion in the constellation of the garden community. The exclusion of the Spanish Slug from the garden and from interspecific reciprocal relationships can be seen as a responsible act that produces a desirable future for the rest of the garden. Our analysis shows that ethical reflection on exclusion is not only focused on the justification of killing, but extends to questions of bodily repetitiveness, futility and necessity. The destruction of the Spanish Slug is not an isolated act, but an ongoing, frustrating and necessary task that renews the relationship between the people who care for the garden and the harmonious coexistence between humans and the species that are welcome in the garden. This speaks to the strong social, relationally constitutive meaning of absence and the repeated, renewing work required by this constitution.</p> <p>Despite the diverse religious identifications of our Finnish gardeners, none of them mentioned religion or spirituality when discussing the Spanish Slugs. However, the people we interviewed did reflect in a complex way on their relationships with undesirable others, their own position in the world, their behaviour and values - in other words, their lifestances. Our results suggest that the lifestances associated with the Spanish Slugs in Finnish gardens are repetitive in terms of behaviour, relational in terms of practices and boundary-crossing in terms of beliefs. In our analysis, the exclusion of religion and nonreligion constitutes an opportunity to view the common ground shared by people with different beliefs and identities on an equal footing.</p> Anna Sofia Salonen, Ryan T. Cragun Copyright (c) 2025 Anna Sofia Salonen, Ryan T. Cragun https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145655 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 From Dingoes to AI https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145720 <p>There is a pressing need for improved decision-making in a rapidly changing, unpredictable world. In response, we integrate ecocentric and technocentric perspectives to develop a more-than-human framework for understanding creative decisions that direct action in environmental governance, management, and design. Technocentric and ecocentric approaches often pursue distinct and incompatible goals but also share a commitment to amplifying power, reach, accountability, fairness, and beneficial consequences of decision-making processes. Current frameworks for urban and environmental management often prioritize human decisions and technologies at the expense of nonhuman voices. This results in widespread harm to nonhuman lifeforms and, by extension, to human societies. This study introduces an integrated approach to decision-making, one that draws on the creative potential of both human and nonhuman agents. We argue that embracing a more-than-human perspective can foster just relationships, enhance care, promote resilience, and support wellbeing in multispecies communities. To evaluate this framework, we examine decision-making processes in nonhuman organisms, compare these with technical systems, and explore hybrid decision-making in diverse contexts. As a case study, we examine the challenges facing alpine dingoes in Australia. The goal is to assess the impact of smart technologies on these apex predators in three future human-altered landscapes. The outcomes illustrate how more-than-human decision-making can contribute to environmental design and management. This, in turn, offers actionable insights for building equitable and sustainable futures. Our work also contributes to research on more-than-human approaches to algorithmic management in relation to cities, landscapes, and the communities that inhabit them.</p> Stanislav Roudavski, Douglas Brock Copyright (c) 2025 Stanislav Roudavski, Douglas Brock https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145720 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 "Hän, subjektina" https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145202 <p>Ihmisten ja muunlajisten eläinten yhdenvertaisen yhteiselon tavoittelu on tärkeä reitti kohti kestävämpää maailmaa. Tuotantoeläimiksi kategorisoitujen eläinten toimijuuden laajeneminen tämän hetken välineellisestä asemasta kurottelee kohti yhdenvertaisuutta. Eläintuotannosta vapautuneiden eläinten turvakoteja onkin tarkasteltu paitsi eläinoikeusliikkeen viitekehyksessä, myös eläinten subjektiuden toteutumisen ja uudelleenkuvittelemisen näkökulmasta. Tässä artikkelissa etnografisen lähestymistavan informoima katseeni kiinnittyy Gustafsson&amp;Haapoja -taiteilijakollektiivin <em>Siat</em>-näyttelyyn Seinäjoen taidehallilla vuonna 2021. Tarkastelen näyttelyn kolmea video- ja ääniteosta sikojen toimijuuden näkökulmasta. Erityisesti keskityn suomalaisessa eläinten turvakoti Saparomäessä tehtyyn <em>Nimetön (Elossa) </em>(2021) -videoteokseen, jonka on kuvannut valjailla pään päälle kiinnitetyllä kameralla turvakodin asukas, Paavo-sika. Teoksen tarjoamat näkökulmat avaavat mahdollisuuden tarkastella sian toimijuutta nykytaiteessa, eläinten turvakodeissa ja laajemmin yhteiskunnassa. Keskustelukumppanuutta analyysilleni haen muun muassa Bruno Latourin olioiden parlamentista sekä posthumanistisista ja eläinfilosofista ajattelijoista. Kriittinen eläintutkimus, etenkin Sue Donaldsonin ja Will Kymlickan ajatukset eläinten turvakodeista lajienvälisten yhteisöjen visioimisen ja kokeilemisen paikkoina, tarjoaa keskeistä heijastelupintaa analyysilleni. Kysyn, (1) <em>millaista on Gustafsson&amp;Haapojan taiteen, erityisesti </em>Nimetön (Elossa)<em> -teoksen, tuottama sian toimijuus</em>. Tämän kysymyksen jatkona tarkastelen teosta lajienvälisenä, tavoitteellisena yhteisönä taiteen kontekstissa, ja pohdin, (2) <em>miten pyrkimys yhdenvertaisuuteen vaikuttaa sian toimijuuden laajenemiseen ja toisaalta ihmisen toimijuuteen. </em>Analyysini pohjalta esitän, että sian toimijuuden vakavasti ottaminen avaa uusia näkymiä paitsi taidetoiminnan muutokseen ja rikastumiseen, myös eläimen subjektiviteetin rakentumiseen tulevaisuuden kestävämmässä ja oikeudenmukaisemmassa yhteiskunnassa.</p> Sanna Karimäki-Nuutinen Copyright (c) 2025 Sanna Karimäki-Nuutinen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145202 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 1941/AIDA https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/146070 <div dir="auto">1941/AIDA is the story of a cow who left home a number and returned a legend. An ongoing multimedia art and research project comprises text and poems, drawings, site-specific sculptures, cyanotypes, photographs, videos, presentations, interviews, and interactions. It looks closely in tribute and in empathetic forensic detail at the decisions a singular cow makes under duress in support of her own agency, relationships within herds within the beef industry in the southeastern US, and between mothers and calves in a market driven economy determining not just the length of their lives but where they live, with whom, and how. Important to the story is the ongoing dialogue between farmer and artist mediated, inspired, and progressed by the cow 1941: how she navigates and insists, how positions she takes are utterly reasonable yet provocative for being actions of individuality and claim. How she “makes her point strong” in the words of the farmer (who does not own the cow but is responsible for her) and even upon her return “home” from her liberty-defining escape to the other side of a flooded creek (where the artist lives) and its attendant risks along with freedoms, continues her “transgressions” and her insistence on choice banked in defiance.&nbsp; Who she is changes and amplifies those who encounter her, human and non-human. She ruptures expectations. She defines her community and explores where she belongs by placement and where by choice and claim.&nbsp;</div> <div dir="auto">&nbsp;</div> Lee Deigaard Copyright (c) 2025 Lee Deigaard https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/146070 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Clouded Vision https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145641 <p><span data-contrast="auto">Humankind is experiencing an existential poly-crisis. Despite years of warnings, we as a species continue to consume and discard the natural elements of the planet at a voracious and unsustainable rate. Scientists articulate frustration and despair at our seeming inability of to acknowledge this unfolding disaster. The Western extractivist framing of planetary elements as ‘resources”, conceptualised during the period of Enlightenment, is enabled through an Anthropocentric vision of the universe, centring human existence whilst disenfranchising all other-than-human existences. </span><span data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}"> </span></p> <p><span data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Photographic processes of representation have been employed as a central methodology in cataloguing taxonomies of possession. This paper proposes a recalibration of this acquisitional vision as one of the processes required to catalyse mitigation of the climate emergency. To decentre our human experience, we must extend citizenship to the other-than-human elements of our planet, re-establishing the ecological balance of our relationship. A visible citizenship requires new forms of expression, enabling audiences to reimagine their ecological entanglements and responsibilities of care.</span><span data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}"> </span></p> <p><span data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">How can a photographic practice avoid rendering its subjects fully visible, and thus exposing them to a possessive and colonising gaze? Can visual artists represent landscapes through a protective partial opacity of care? Through various processes of lens-based and lens-less photographic imaging, many practitioners aim to offer insight and alliance to the more-than-human citizens of the world. This paper gathers the methodologies of artists from both Global South and North who are utilising these strategies, acknowledging the complicated relationships woven between photo-filmic technologies and the subjects of our human gaze.</span></p> Becky Nunes Copyright (c) 2025 Becky Nunes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145641 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 We Do Not Even Know, Yet, How to Take Non-Human Animals Morally Seriously https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145719 <p>At the end of 2023, a proposal to amend the Finnish constitution passed the citizens’ initiative system and proceeded to be discussed by the Finnish Parliament. This radical proposal was based on the idea of respecting the individual value of ever non-human animal as sentient beings. Though this is a very defensible starting point, the proposal demonstrates some of the difficulties in achieving or even imagining a new state of society where these rights are fully respected. Some of the corollaries of the proposal as explicitly spelled out in it were too conservative to match the purported spirit of the proposal itself, whereas some of its unexplored but undeniable implications were radical beyond what its authors had seemingly intended. This article explores what the problems in the proposal demonstrated: that the idea of taking the individual moral value of non-human animals seriously is such a radical and unprecedented change to what we have now or have ever had that it is not possibly for us to know what such a world will be like, and we will need to learn what it will be like as we approach it; it is not possible to simply derive it from such principles as sentientism. Not only is human society built around a lack of recognition of non-human value, but even nature itself is problematically amoral. This is no justification to just give up on a radically more moral world, but it does mean we cannot see its full shape from here.</p> Ville Kokko Copyright (c) 2025 Ville Kokko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145719 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Communing with Others https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145722 Johanna Hällsten Copyright (c) 2025 Johanna Hällsten https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145722 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Animal Togetherings https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145696 Angela Bartram, Jaana Erkkilä-Hill Copyright (c) 2025 Angela Bartram, Jaana Erkkilä-Hill https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/145696 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200 Editorial https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/160002 Tiina Salmia Copyright (c) 2025 Tiina Salmia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://trace.journal.fi/article/view/160002 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0200