The Return of the Wolves. Cultural Anthropological Studies on the Process of Managing the Wolves in Germany

在十九世纪期间灭绝后，在二十一世纪初，狼正逐渐回到中欧。人类对来自东方的动物迁徙的反应是不同的。有些人害怕它们，有些人容忍它们的存在，有时甚至欢迎狼。根据目前关于狼在我们社会中回归的讨论，拟议的研究项目是研究德意志联邦共和国管理狼的过程。该项目旨在探讨与管理者的先决条件、知识和实际做法、谈判和估价过程、人与动物之间的关系以及与自然的相关定义和构成有关的问题。同样重要的是，人类社会通过讨论狼的回归来谈判到底是什么问题，换句话说，他们通过关注狼来争论什么样的冲突。在理论概念方面，该研究项目将人类学的方法与目前文化研究和社会科学领域有关野生动物研究的方法结合起来。同样相关的还有文化人类学中的叙事文化研究，以及与知识生成和空间构成有关的研究。该项目的理论基础依赖于关系人类学或对称人类学的前提，该人类学旨在超越现代性在自然和文化之间划定的界限。这项研究项目是在两个独立的部分项目中分析想象、叙述和知识，或谈判和捏造。项目一是分析劳西茨地区关于狼归来的日常叙事文化，该地区被评为人与动物共处的成功典范。项目二是研究下萨克森州联邦地区的人与动物之间的互动和关系，几年来狼又在那里生活。从方法上讲，这个项目将利用定性技术来收集和分析经验数据，这些数据主要是通过参与者观察和访谈收集的。在与各种专家和人口成员的密切互动中，这两个项目都是为了研究狼管理的基本议程和实际后果。综合考虑，这些项目旨在澄清与狼的回归有关的学习过程中所隐含的障碍和限制，这些障碍和限制目前阻碍了受当前冲突影响的人和动物都能接受的解决办法。此外，文化和自然之间的关系有可能对社会划定的基本界限提出质疑，这意味着对人文科学和自然科学之间的学术界限的挑战。

Having been extinguished in the course of the nineteenth century, at the beginning of the twenty-first century wolves are gradually returning to central Europe. Humans react differently to the animal migrants from the East. Some are afraid of them, others tolerate their presence, and sometimes the wolves are even welcomed. Based on current discussions about the return of the wolves in our societies, the proposed research project is to study the process of managing the wolves in the Federal Republic of Germany. The project is to explore questions relating to the managing's prerequisites, to knowledge and actual practice, to processes of negotiation and valorization, to the relations between humans and animals, and to the relevant definitions and constitutions of nature. Of no less importance is the question what exactly it is that human societies negotiate by discussing the return of the wolves, in other words what kind of conflicts they dispute by focusing on the wolves. In terms of theoretical concepts, the research project combines approaches from the Anthropology beyond humanity with current approaches in the fields of cultural studies and social sciences relating to the study of wild animals. Of equal relevance are the study of narrative cultures in Cultural Anthropology, and studies relating to the generation of knowledge and the constitution of space. The project's theoretical basis relies on the premises of a relational or symmetrical anthropology that aims to transcend the boundaries modernity has drawn between natures and cultures. The research project is to analyze imaginations, narratives, and knowledge, or negotiations and fabrications, in two separate partial projects. Project one is to analyze the narrative culture of everyday narratives about the returning wolves in the Lausitz, a region that has been appraised as a successful model for the cohabitation of human and animal beings. Project two is to study the interactions and relations between humans and animals in those regions of the federal country of Lower Saxony, where wolves live again since a few years. Methodologically, this project is to profit from qualitative techniques of assembling and analyzing empirical data that are predominantly being collected through participant observation and interviews. In close interaction with a variety of experts and members of the population both projects are to study the underlying agendas and practical consequences of wolf-management. Considered together, the projects aim to clarify the obstacles and restraints implied in the processes of learning related to the return of the wolves that currently prevent acceptable solutions for both humans and animals affected by the present conflicts. In addition, the relational connection of cultures and natures has the potential of questioning fundamental boundaries societies have drawn, implying a challenge to the academic boundaries perceived between the humanities and the natural sciences.