In her doctoral dissertation, literary historian Katri Aholainen examined Yrjö Kokko’s classic works on birds as a co-production between a human and swans, viewed from an animal perspective. In this video PhD Katri Aholainen talks about her research and the impact art can have on bird conservation, through the writings of Yrjö Kokko. In the 50-ies the whooper swans were rapidly disappearing from Finland. Despite being protected by legislation in the 1930’s the whooper swans were still hunted and their eggs stolen, and there were as little as around 12 pairs left. In 1950 Kokko published his famous book Laulujoutsen – Ultima Thulen lintu / The singing swan that became incredibly popular and touched the hearts of many Finns. Hunting eventually stopped and the whooper swan population rapidly increased and there are now approximately 10 000 pairs nesting in Finland. The book saved a species from extinction and transformed the whooper swan into an icon that has become Finland’s national symbol, and even made it into the Finnish passports as a watermark! Read or listen more about this inspiring story in Katri Aholainen’s contribution to Winged Words.
Read the transcript HERE
Katri Aholainen (Fi)
DOCTORAL RESEARCHER, LITERARY STUDIES AND CREATIVE WRITING
Katri Aholainen is a literary historian at Turku University in Finland. Her research focuses on the involvement of non-human actors in art-making processes through the writings of Yrjö Kokko. In the 50-ies the swans were rapidly disappearing from Finland due to human
interventions. Thanks to the popularity of Kokko’s books, the attitudes towards swans gradually changed and their livingconditions improved. Kokko is credited with saving the whooper swan population in Finland from extinction. Now the once disrespected bird has become Finland’s national symbol. In her thesis, Aholainen reflects on how the whooper swans participated in the process of creating books to save them.
