Dansen met Ganzen

Under continuing pressures of climate change and urbanization, Barnacle geese, like many other bird species, have been changing their migration patterns and settling in new territories. These changes led the birds to enter a complicated relationship with local human residents, institutions and governments. This case study illustrates such a relationship at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Finland, where approximately 200 pairs of wild Barnacle geese now have been nesting annually for over a decade. Inspired by the metaphor of dance, and drawing on geographical theories of encounter, we explore the embodied process of mutual adaptation, learning, and negotiation between the geese and human users of the zoo. Through a series of photos, we highlight shared affective and bodily aspects of these close and repeated encounters with nesting geese. These ‘dances’ are diverse and emotionally charged, based on power play, careful attunement and continuous mutual interpretation of the intentions of the other. We see humans and geese twisting and turning in ways involving roles such as testing, teasing, intimidating, bullying, protecting, repelling, escaping, and ignoring. We conclude with exploring the limitations of the dance metaphor, noting that in this context, dance does not require shared intentionality or close relationships. Instead, it embodies a more complex and ambivalent interaction with different goals, happening repeatedly, shaping and being shaped by the site in which it takes place. Dancing with geese produces a space where humans figure as a – however awkward and inharmonious - part of nature, rather than as distant and untouchable observers.