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

狼在19世纪被消灭后，在21世纪初逐渐回到中欧。人类对来自东方的动物移民的反应不同。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。该项目旨在探讨管理的先决条件、知识和实际实践、谈判和价值增值的过程、人与动物之间的关系以及自然的相关定义和构成等问题。同样重要的问题是，人类社会通过讨论狼的回归来协商到底是什么，换句话说，他们通过关注狼来解决什么样的冲突。在理论概念方面，本研究项目将超越人类的人类学方法与当前有关野生动物研究的文化研究和社会科学领域的方法相结合。同样重要的还有文化人类学中关于叙事文化的研究，以及关于知识生成和空间构成的研究。该项目的理论基础依赖于关系或对称人类学的前提，旨在超越现代性在自然和文化之间所划定的界限。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Lausitz地区狼群回归的日常叙事文化，Lausitz地区被评价为人类和动物共存的成功典范。项目二是在联邦国家下萨克森州的这些地区研究人与动物之间的互动和关系，狼群在几年后又生活在那里。从方法上讲，该项目将从定性技术中获益，这些技术主要是通过参与者观察和访谈收集和分析经验数据。在与各种专家和人口成员的密切互动下，这两个项目都将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群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类和动物获得可接受的解决办法。此外，文化和自然的关系联系有可能质疑社会已经划定的基本界限，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.