Lost salmon
Lost salmon: An environmental history of declining and extinct populations of the Swedish north
Doctoral project, Johan Cederqvist
In the wake of the 20th century hydropower expansion in the Swedish north, wild salmon populations went extinct river by river, along with age-old salmon fisheries. The most accelerating phase of this process took place between the 1940s and 1970s. Against this background, the aim of this dissertation is to understand and explain how societal forces and power relations shaped roads towards extinction during that period. To historize what happened and why during this era, outlooks to how human relationships and interactions with salmon have changed over longer periods of time are also made.
The broader intention of the project is to shed light on the global problem of why humans of our time have been impoverishing life on Earth at an accelerating rate. Drawing on theories from Political ecology and Eco-Marxism, it aims to contribute to our understanding of how unequal power relations have driven processes of accelerating extinction in our time. Methodologically, the project makes use of archival studies, oral history, field studies, and readings of fish biology literature.
With that as starting point, the dissertation seeks to answer the following research questions: How have the power dynamics of human-salmon relations in the Swedish north changed over longer periods of time and why? What societal forces and cultural ideas drove decision-makers to accept that salmon would have to be driven extinct for the sake of industrialization? How did power relations between actors and power struggles shape the outcome of this history, viewed through the lens of both longer and shorter historical perspectives? What consequences have the extinction of salmon brought to humans and societies once strongly dependent on salmon fishing?
Time span
2020–2025.
Deliverables
A dissertation (monograph).
Contact
Johan Cederqvist
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