Charisma

Charisma is a research project exploring the relationship between western coastal societies and whales. Our fieldwork mainly takes place in Basque Country because of its local whaling heritage as well as its contemporary naturalist activities. Since the age of its intensive hunting, whales have been the symbol of fire: their oil was used for lighting and was a fundamental resource for the industrialization. This fire has become symbolic and affective. They have a special status in our physical, imaginary and social worlds. The presence of whales off our coasts as much as their absence - and the threat of their disappearance - moves us and brings us together. From these protected and charismatic animal bodies, that are "watched" or listened to at sea, to the dramatic corpses found stranded, or through the reconstructed bodies exhibited in museums, we explore the common history we share with these animals. We seek informal, scientific and cumulative knowledge to grasp this complex relationship caught between exploitation and fascination. The outcome of this Arts/SHS fieldwork will be a creative documentary.

Project led by

Vanessa Monceron, CNRS

Project team

• Vanessa Manceron (CNRS)
• Fabien Clouette (EHESS and LESC)
• Jeremie Brugidou (Imera and LESC)
• Graham Huggan (University of Leeds)
• Sophia Nicolov (post-doc) at the University of Leeds