Animal Industries and the Exploitation of Animals in Finland since the Late Nineteenth

This project will investigate the history and evolution of the culture of unsustainability by focusing on the use of animals in the industrial production of meat, milk, fish, leather, and furs. Animal lives have been viewed merely as a commodified matter in all of these activities.

Consequently, industrial production has had a devastating impact on the environment and has caused the death of billions of sentient beings. Our research centers on Finland in the wider context of the Global North. The project will bring a fresh perspective into the research field on the Anthropocene vis-à-vis the everyday practices and common beliefs that ordinary people have and perform in their relationship with the natural world.

Our overarching goal is to analyze the development of animal exploitation since the late 19th century until the present. This will be achieved by focusing on two time periods or developmental stages in regard to the ways animals were used, through which the ruptures and continuities in the unsustainable human-animal relations will be scrutinized.

1.9.2019–31.8.2023