Post-anthropocentric Water Relations in the Bothnian Bay
The Research Task
The contemporary water management and water research separates water from its social context. Our project problematizes this approach.
We explore complex, entangled water-society relations as multiple water-related, everyday encounters and unfolding processes in water-society relations and their governance.
Our project challenges the dominant Arctic hydrohegemony, that is, statecentric and anthropocentric international marine regionalism, with our relational theoretical and methodological approach with a focus on multispecies watery relations.
The Research Site
The Bothnian Bay in Northern Europe provides an excellent case to study of complex water-society relations in a sub-arctic context.
The bay, the sea and islands, coasts, deltas and rivers, and the catchment area as a whole is an interface where people, land, and water meet.
The bay has rich histories of cross-border interactions; cultural, political, and economic significance of the sea, islands, and rivers; a complex system of governance; and multiple transformations in human-nature .
Four Case Studies
- The management system of the islands in the Bothnian bay.
- Ice, sea and Kokkola city.
- Water management practices in ski resorts in Lapland.
- Restoration of rivers in Lapland.
Research Team
- PI, Research Professor Monica Tennberg
- Researcher Hannah Strauss-Mazzullo
- Post-doc Researcher Sohvi Kangasluoma (2025-2027)
- Post-doc Researcher Heidi Konttinen (2025-2027)
Funding
Academy of Finland 2023-2027, general grant.