Marja Jalava: Toward the History of a Multi-Species Society
”To date, social history has been shown to possess particular resistance to challenges presented by the diversity of species. Animals and other organisms are often seen as objects of human actions outside the actual society instead of being considered as co-actors and active participants in shaping the historical reality.”
Jalava’s research is focused on the intertwining of the history of humans and of other species, and the lived bodily practices and experiences. She highlights the accelerating loss of biodiversity and the simultaneous increase in the number of production animals. How has the relationship between humans and other living things developed historically into what it now is?
If we want to ensure that social historical research has significance in our time, the discipline should expand its perspective regarding the multi-species nature of history and society. This requires historians to distance themselves from the anthropocentric approach and adopt humbler view of the position of humans in a multi-species world, Jalava says.
“It is important for us to be able to critically question things that seem to be served up on a plate and appear self-evident in the present. For example, studying the history of animal production in a social historical context provides new perspectives to the current debate, which is often ahistorical and polarized.”
