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Moving Nature explores the Anthropocene in Scandinavia through the movement of organisms, substances and ideologies, from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. Case studies explore the Pacific oyster and wild boar as alien species, the production of Arctic animal museum specimens, changing Nordic livestock regimes, the afterlives of Swedish copper production, eighteenth century attempts to combat ‘evil herbs', and clearing of Argentinian rainforest by Swedish migrants. Collectively, they show how the Anthropocene in Scandinavia can be characterised by such movements, and how they promoted progress and related to the welfare state, whilst remaining entangled with transgressive and colonial forms of intervention.
‘[This book] provides valuable examples on how to approach the Anthropocene as a humanities scholar, and it takes an approach to the Anthropocene as a productive concept that itself moves and mobilizes humanities questions, study cases, ways of research and disciplinary collaborations.’
Sabine Höhler, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Marit Ruge Bjærke is a Researcher in Cultural Studies at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, Norway. Her research focuses on how environmental issues are understood and acted upon. She recently published Nature Gone Wild? Alien Species and We who Move Them (2025, in Norwegian).
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Anthropocene Movements in the Scandinavian Patch
Marit Ruge Bjærke, Frida Hastrup and Kyrre Kverndokk
Chapter 1. Pigs on the Move: A Legible Danish Anthropocene
Frida Hastrup
Chapter 2. Moving Energy in Norway: The Electrification of Bergen since the Nineteenth Century
Yngve Nilsen
Chapter 3. Moving the Arctic: Gustaf Kolthoff and the Scales of Natural History
Anders Ekström
Chapter 4. Hiding in Plain Sight: Slag as Anthropocene Heritage
Lars Kaijser
Chapter 5. Understanding the Local Anthropocene: A Brief Natural and Cultural History of a Ravine Landscape in Norway
Henrik H. Svensen, Kyrre Kverndokk and Karianne S. Lilleøren
Chapter 6. Fields, Fish and Fodder: How Nordic Arctic Sheep Were Disconnected from Coastal Landscapes
Marianne Elisabeth Lien
Chapter 7. A Scandinavian Settlerocene: Swedish Migrants in Early 20th Century Argentina and the Transformation of Landscapes
Jenny Ingridsdotter and José Ignacio Curto
Chapter 8. ‘Evil Herbs’: Eradicating an Invasive Plant (Glebionis segetum) in Eighteenth-Century Denmark-Norway
Anne Eriksen
Chapter 9. Moving Oysters: Turning an Invasive Alien Species into a Local Resource
Marit Ruge Bjærke
Conclusion. Implications of Moving Nature in Scandinavia
Marit Ruge Bjærke, Frida Hastrup and Kyrre Kverndokk
Index