Fat Booty. A Social History of the Whale in Flanders, the Netherlands and Northern Germany (c. 1300-1600)

胖战利品。

• 批准号: 525252809
• 负责人: Dr. Marie Jaros
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl für Mittelalterliche Geschichte I
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: WBP Position
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/525252809?language=en
• 关键词: Fat; Booty.; Social; History; Whale

Whales served as an object of projection for moralisations and mystifications or as huntable resources. Therefore, they have primarily been studied in these contexts by scholars in medieval and early modern studies. However, hardly any consideration has been given to the cultural and social effects of the unintended encounter between humans and whales in the case of strandings. These extraordinary and accidental events happened outside of the divine order, which is precisely why they made such an impression on contemporary witnesses. Torn from their element, the whales forced a reaction, be it by harvesting whale oil and meat, be it as a starting point for religious and political claims, as a trigger for conflicts, or simply as a disposal problem. This observation is the starting point of my habilitation thesis, which is to be significantly advanced within the time frame of the project. Its aim is to analyse practices of experiencing, interpreting and utilising stranded whales between c. 1300 and 1600. I will, therefore, problematise changing patterns of thought, needs for representation, political constellations and ways of communication. Changes and persistences of practices and knowledge will be traced across the traditional periodizations. The North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts of Flanders, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire were chosen as the study area because no commercial whaling took place there during the period in question. The base for my research is a database of whale stranding events, that I will successively expand through systematic evaluations of a heterogeneous spectrum of sources. The stranding density varied considerably along the above-mentioned coasts, a fact that significantly influenced the handling of whales and thus needs to be taken into account. In some places, for instance, routinely used patterns developed, whereas in other areas the washed-up whale remained a once-in-a-hundred-year event. It is a substantial concern of my study to bring together the disciplines (e.g. art history, legal history, social history, economic history, cultural history, history of knowledge and environmental history, zooarchaeology, marine biology) that have so far predominantly worked independently on the topic. Through my critical investigation of historical sources, I will fundamentally expand the current state of historical whale research. In addition to the work on the monograph, I will publish two papers and a blog article, all dealing with related topics. Furthermore, I plan to organise an international and interdisciplinary workshop. Within the framework of the project, I would like to further my academic qualifications in a significant way by establishing a new field of research, connecting to a new research location and thereby increasing my visibility. Due to the research interests and personality of the host, its international research community and excellent libraries, Berlin offers an ideal environment to pursue these goals.

鲸鱼被用作道德说教和神秘化的投射对象，或者作为可捕猎的资源。因此，中世纪和早期现代研究的学者主要在这些背景下研究它们。然而，在鲸鱼搁浅的情况下，几乎没有人考虑到人类与鲸鱼意外相遇的文化和社会影响。这些不寻常和偶然的事件发生在神圣秩序之外，这正是为什么它们给同时代的目击者留下了如此深刻的印象。从他们的元素中被撕裂，鲸鱼被迫做出反应，要么是通过获取鲸鱼油和鲸鱼肉，要么是作为宗教和政治主张的起点，作为冲突的导火索，或者仅仅是作为处理问题。这个观察是我的康复论文的出发点，在项目的时间框架内，这将是一个显著的进步。它的目的是分析体验、解释和利用大约1300年至1600年间搁浅鲸鱼的做法。因此，我将对不断变化的思维模式、对代表的需求、政治格局和沟通方式提出问题。实践和知识的变化和持续性将跨越传统的分期进行追踪。法兰德斯、荷兰和神圣罗马帝国的北海和波罗的海沿岸被选为研究区域，因为在研究期间那里没有商业捕鲸活动。我的研究的基础是一个鲸鱼搁浅事件的数据库，我将通过对异构来源的系统评估，逐步扩大这个数据库。上述海岸的搁浅密度变化很大，这一事实对处理鲸鱼有重大影响，因此需要加以考虑。例如，在一些地方，常规的使用模式发展起来，而在其他地区，被冲上岸的鲸鱼仍然是百年一遇的事件。将迄今为止主要独立研究该主题的学科（例如艺术史、法律史、社会史、经济史、文化史、知识史和环境史、动物考古学、海洋生物学）结合起来，是我研究的一个重要关注点。通过我对历史资料的批判性调查，我将从根本上扩大历史鲸鱼研究的现状。除了专著的工作，我将发表两篇论文和一篇博客文章，都涉及相关主题。此外，我计划组织一个国际和跨学科的研讨会。在这个项目的框架内，我想通过建立一个新的研究领域，连接到一个新的研究地点，从而提高我的知名度，从而进一步提高我的学术资格。由于东道国的研究兴趣和个性，它的国际研究社区和优秀的图书馆，柏林为追求这些目标提供了理想的环境。