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This thesis is a study of constructions of reality in visual and textual representations in current exhibitions in the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm with comparisons to the Natural History Museum in Gothenburg and minor excursions to other museums. The study also includes seven giant screen films in Cosmonova: an IMAX theatre which is part of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. The study consists of three parts: I. Historical and theoretical contextualisation: The emergence of museums is understood as an aspect of modernity and nature, and analytical concepts from semiotics, deconstruction and discourse analysis are presented and discussed. This part also includes a discussion of anthropomorphism and andropocentric stereotyping and a study of the emergence of the environmental question in society, science, museums and in the disciplines of sociology and cultural studies. II. Empirical analysis: Starting with questions what stories modern exhibitions in museums of natural history tell and how animals, bodies, humans and the environment are represented in the exhibitions and films I discuss different aspects of the dualism of nature and culture in relation to other dualisms such as animal/human, nature/society and ecology/economy. The dualism nature/culture that is expressed in exclusions of conventional signs for human culture is problematic from an environmental perspective. I pose the question of whether or not the marginalized phenomenon of the cabinet of curiosity that combine both “naturalia” and “artificialia” and displays phenomena classified as abnormal, can provide a key to narratives about co-evolution, environmental issues and variations in morphology and behaviour. III. Discussion: The potential for transcending the dualism of nature and culture, both theoretically-and practically-speaking, and particularly in relation to the environmental question, is discussed, as is the possibility that museums can be(come) reflexive sub-political arenas for dialogues between politics, science and people.

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In 13th century Europe, the German bishop and scholastic philosopher Albertus Magnus was one of the most influential writers on the natural world and theology. This thesis investigates the relationship between humans and animals in his Quaestiones super de animalibus and De animalibus. In writings on medieval history the theologically enforced boundary between humans and animals is both emphasized and treated as a given. This study nuances the picture presented by previous scholars by highlighting an alternative natural philosophical discourse on humans and animals. Using discourse analysis, I argue that the differences that Albertus used to differentiate humans from animals were based on an understanding of similarities rather than opposites. To Albertus, the human was one species in the animal kingdom, thus sharing many basic functions with other animals. His understandings entailed a theory of essential differences between species but also allowed for divisions based on gradation and relativity. This study sheds new light on the complex relationship between humans and animals in medieval Europe.

This qualitative multiple case study explored human-elephant conflict-coexistence relationships and issues of conservation in Namibia (Damaraland) and Sri Lanka (Wasgamuwa) from a posthumanist, multispecies perspective. Within each region, conflict between humans and elephants is considered high, elephants are considered endangered and are of high conservation priority, the human population has grown significantly, and community-based organizations are implementing holistic approaches to increase positive relations between humans and elephants. This study was guided by research questions that explored the current landscape of the human-elephant-conservation nexus within each region, the shared histories between humans and elephants over time, and the value in utilizing more-than-human theoretical and methodological frameworks to enhance human-elephant relationships and support conservation efforts. Data collection methods included participant observation, naturalistic observation, interviews, visual data, and documents. Data was triangulated and analyzed within each case, as well as across cases. Major themes were identified within each case that describe unique contexts, cultures, and shared histories. These findings were then analyzed comparatively. Emergent themes across cases identified ways that a more-than-human framework may be useful in fostering coexistence between humans and elephants and supporting conservation efforts. This study contributes to the evolving scholarship on multispecies approaches to inquiry and methodology from the position of conflict resolution scholar, supports a more inclusive framework for analyzing human-wildlife conflicts, discusses theoretical and methodological implications in multispecies research, and provides recommendations for future research.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Seoul from July 2012 until July 2013, this dissertation offers a novel perspective on human-animal interactions and public discourses regarding livestock versus pet moral boundaries in contemporary Korea. I aim to explore how Koreans struggle to make sense of the tension between the emergence of animal welfare and the perpetuation of traditional health behaviours that involve animal processing. The focus will be on why participants in my study, whether activists or not, defended both animal ethics and cat and dog meat consumption, while including Korean animals in fluid and instrumental conceptions of Koreanness. I have analysed a variety of discourses produced by both Korean and non-Korean, academic and non-academic stakeholders, in order to reveal the on-going tension between these powerful ubiquitous ideas and the lived experience of Koreans today. Moreover, I examine how the aesthetics of cruelty and empathy is employed in order to singularize livestock into companion animals thereby transgressing cultural taboos regarding Western ethics of species separation. I also demonstrate that converging and conflicting economic, political, social and cultural agendas are responsible for making Korea’s public discourses about animal welfare very unsettled. My research thus contributes to key anthropological debates about the cross-cultural circulation and cross-fertilisation of moral values that impact the ethics of post-industrial human-animal interactions; and about the influence of policy dialogue, at both national and international levels, on applied animal ethics, cultural stigmatization and the reinforcement of national sentiment.