Aino

Jämsä

In my dissertation, I study human-snake relationships in Finland from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. I focus on farmers and landless labourers who encountered snakes in yards, fields, meadows, and forests. I examine the meanings that people attached to snakes and encounters with them. I analyse these meanings by exploring descriptions of encounters and expressions of knowledge, feelings, and beliefs related to snakes. The source material consists of digitised newspapers and oral history narratives. I treat snakes as historical actors and also examine their lives and their influence on these relationships.