Boreal forest temporalities: Temporal politics in Finland and Sweden
(2026) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- Time is often taken for granted. However, the ways in which it is perceived and expressed are never neutral or pre-given - they are the result of particular experiences, knowledges and desires. In the context of competing values and expectations for the boreal forest in the face of climate change and resource pressures, this thesis investigates how understandings, experiences and framings of time - temporalities - shape and bring meaning to everyday human and nonhuman (or more-than-human) engagements with the forest in Finland and Sweden. In particular, the thesis looks at how forest legacies and imaginaries are acknowledged, upheld, challenged and remade.
The concept of boreal forest temporalities is developed and explored via... (More) - Time is often taken for granted. However, the ways in which it is perceived and expressed are never neutral or pre-given - they are the result of particular experiences, knowledges and desires. In the context of competing values and expectations for the boreal forest in the face of climate change and resource pressures, this thesis investigates how understandings, experiences and framings of time - temporalities - shape and bring meaning to everyday human and nonhuman (or more-than-human) engagements with the forest in Finland and Sweden. In particular, the thesis looks at how forest legacies and imaginaries are acknowledged, upheld, challenged and remade.
The concept of boreal forest temporalities is developed and explored via multi-sited, multimodal ethnography across three cases: museums and the curation of forest exhibits, conservation forests and nature protection practices, and 'the mushroom forest' and mushroom foraging activities. Advancing perspectives in critical time studies, critical forest studies and more-than-human research, this work reveals the processes and practices through which some forest temporalities are privileged whilst others are sidelined. Through the analytical lens of temporalities, the thesis shows how groups and individuals contend with certain memories, rhythms, intergenerational knowledges and other ways of dealing with and understanding time in the forest.
This research focusses on temporal politics in local, lived contexts whilst remaining attentive to connections across scales. As such, the thesis presents personal, multi-scalar and multispecies stories and relationships which are often left out of policy and public debates. Paying attention to temporal politics also raises a broader question for socio-environmental governance: not only whose values and perspectives count, but also whose temporalities are allowed to matter. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Tiden tas ofta för given. Men de sätt på vilka den uppfattas och uttrycks är aldrig neutrala eller förutbestämda – de är resultatet av specifika erfarenheter, kunskaper och önskningar. Mot bakgrund av konkurrerande värderingar och förväntningar på den boreala skogen i ljuset av klimatförändringar och resurspåfrestningar undersöker denna avhandling hur förståelser, erfarenheter och tolkningar av tid – temporaliteter – formar och ger mening åt människors och icke-mänskliga (eller mer-än-mänskliga) vardagliga möten med skogen i Finland och Sverige. Avhandlingen tittar särskilt på hur skogens arv och föreställningar erkänns, upprätthålls, ifrågasätts och omformas.
Begreppet ”temporaliteter i den boreala skogen” utvecklas och utforskas... (More) - Tiden tas ofta för given. Men de sätt på vilka den uppfattas och uttrycks är aldrig neutrala eller förutbestämda – de är resultatet av specifika erfarenheter, kunskaper och önskningar. Mot bakgrund av konkurrerande värderingar och förväntningar på den boreala skogen i ljuset av klimatförändringar och resurspåfrestningar undersöker denna avhandling hur förståelser, erfarenheter och tolkningar av tid – temporaliteter – formar och ger mening åt människors och icke-mänskliga (eller mer-än-mänskliga) vardagliga möten med skogen i Finland och Sverige. Avhandlingen tittar särskilt på hur skogens arv och föreställningar erkänns, upprätthålls, ifrågasätts och omformas.
Begreppet ”temporaliteter i den boreala skogen” utvecklas och utforskas genom en platsöverskridande, multimodal etnografi i tre fallstudier: museer och kurateringen av skogsutställningar, skogsvårdsområden och naturvårdsmetoder samt ”svampskogen” och svampplockning. Genom att vidareutveckla perspektiv inom kritiska tidsstudier, kritiska skogsstudier och ”mer-än-mänsklig” forskning belyser detta arbete de processer och praktiker genom vilka vissa skogstemporaliteter prioriteras medan andra marginaliseras. Genom den analytiska linsen av temporaliteter visar avhandlingen hur grupper och individer förhåller sig till vissa minnen, rytmer, generationsöverskridande kunskaper och andra sätt att hantera och förstå tiden i skogen.
Denna forskning fokuserar på tidsmässig politik i lokala, vardagliga sammanhang, samtidigt som den är uppmärksam på kopplingar mellan olika nivåer. Avhandlingen presenterar därför personliga, flernivå- och flerartsberättelser samt relationer som ofta utelämnas i politiska och offentliga debatter. Att uppmärksamma tidsmässig politik väcker också en bredare fråga för socio-miljömässig styrning: inte bara vems värderingar och perspektiv som räknas, utan också vems tidsuppfattningar som tillåts ha betydelse. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b7fbd909-de75-4cdf-bb2c-6acb05bcbdc5
- author
- Garson, Katja LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Anderson, Ben, Durham University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-08
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- temporalities, temporal politics, time, boreal, forest, more-than-human, legacies, imaginaries
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 231
- pages
- 339 pages
- publisher
- Department of Political Science, Lund University
- defense location
- Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund
- defense date
- 2026-09-10 10:00:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-90202-78-4
- 978-91-90202-77-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b7fbd909-de75-4cdf-bb2c-6acb05bcbdc5
- date added to LUP
- 2026-08-25 00:44:57
- date last changed
- 2026-09-01 13:25:13
@phdthesis{b7fbd909-de75-4cdf-bb2c-6acb05bcbdc5,
abstract = {{Time is often taken for granted. However, the ways in which it is perceived and expressed are never neutral or pre-given - they are the result of particular experiences, knowledges and desires. In the context of competing values and expectations for the boreal forest in the face of climate change and resource pressures, this thesis investigates how understandings, experiences and framings of time - temporalities - shape and bring meaning to everyday human and nonhuman (or more-than-human) engagements with the forest in Finland and Sweden. In particular, the thesis looks at how forest legacies and imaginaries are acknowledged, upheld, challenged and remade.<br/><br/>The concept of boreal forest temporalities is developed and explored via multi-sited, multimodal ethnography across three cases: museums and the curation of forest exhibits, conservation forests and nature protection practices, and 'the mushroom forest' and mushroom foraging activities. Advancing perspectives in critical time studies, critical forest studies and more-than-human research, this work reveals the processes and practices through which some forest temporalities are privileged whilst others are sidelined. Through the analytical lens of temporalities, the thesis shows how groups and individuals contend with certain memories, rhythms, intergenerational knowledges and other ways of dealing with and understanding time in the forest.<br/><br/>This research focusses on temporal politics in local, lived contexts whilst remaining attentive to connections across scales. As such, the thesis presents personal, multi-scalar and multispecies stories and relationships which are often left out of policy and public debates. Paying attention to temporal politics also raises a broader question for socio-environmental governance: not only whose values and perspectives count, but also whose temporalities are allowed to matter.}},
author = {{Garson, Katja}},
isbn = {{978-91-90202-78-4}},
keywords = {{temporalities; temporal politics; time; boreal; forest; more-than-human; legacies; imaginaries}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{231}},
publisher = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{Boreal forest temporalities: Temporal politics in Finland and Sweden}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/259535355/Boreal_forest_temporalities_Katja_Garson_2026.pdf}},
year = {{2026}},
}