“It’s the machine’s fault” : An ethnographic study of the domestication of Swedish production forests

Abstract: This thesis explores different ways of relating to forests, and thus also different types of forestry. Starting with the Swedish forest industry one which is characterized by the planting of forests at the expense of natural regeneration, thus making Sweden the fifth country in the world in terms of planted area the study then examines different forests. This study is conducted with qualitative methods and by “following the seed” looks at various actors’ interests and potential flaws in the venture of planting forests. Different possibilities of doing forestry are explored in the thesis through letting modern forestry meet local forest-owners as well as a seed-collecting practice in central Sweden.  These processes are explored by understanding the forest as an assemblage of historical decisions, species and human interests, tracing relations and powers within and beyond forestsfrom a more-than-human perspective. Forestry emerges as an attempt at domestication of the forest and the thesis explores how it goes wild, as well as the meeting of modern industrialism and science with other world views, values and practices. This allows for an alternative understanding of forests, forestry beyond industrialism and modernity, and what sort of futures we might have living together with forests.