Surviving with more-than-human kin
How can ancestral survival skills bridge the gap between crisis preparedness and social-ecological transformation?
funded by Formas, 2026-2029
Interest in survival skills—such as how to make fire, identify wild edible and medicinal plants, or build a natural shelter—is increasing in these troubled times of climate change, war, and global pandemic risks; times when individual preparedness for crises and societal disruptions is high on the agenda. At the same time, there is a growing need for improved safety in outdoor recreation as more and more people head into 'nature'. Today, there are numerous books and courses on wilderness survival, specialized equipment, and reality shows attracting millions of viewers.
A major problem with this trend, however, is the survivalist discourse that often focuses on the individual who must fight alone against nature or survive an imminent collapse, for example by stockpiling food and weapons. This idea can reinforce the separation between humans and rest of nature, neoliberal individualism, and a sense of defeatism, where preparing for a possible collapse comes at the expense of continued efforts to save and protect life. Another issue is that the interest in survival skills is part of a trend in which nature has become an arena for human adventure, leaving a significant ecological footprint. There is therefore a need to explore alternative approaches to survival that can strengthen crisis preparedness while also improving the human–nature relationship and contributing to sustainable societal transformation.
This project aims to examine, unsettle, and rethink the survivalist discourse - as it manifests in Nordic outdoor education and recreation - by grounding it in a relational more-than-human perspective. With the term “more-than-human” I want to emphasize how interests and agencies of human and non-human (i.e., animals, plants, and the earth) are intertwined when it comes to survival in an era of planetary crises. The project is based on a simple assumption that humans cannot survive in the long term without healthy ecosystems and functioning relationships—both among people in local communities and between humans and nature.
The project is situated within the environmental humanities, and in particular within outdoor studies, with a special focus on relational more-than-human environmental ethics that highlights the agency and interests of non-human nature. The project also draws inspiration from the historical roots of what today is called wilderness survival skills in the past and existing hunter-gatherer cultures, with curiosity about how these are being revived and reinvented—and possibly also romanticized, misunderstood, and appropriated—within contemporary outdoor practice.
The project’s first work package is an exploratory study including interviews and observations with professional wilderness guides and instructors who work with survival skills in the Nordics, focusing on their philosophies and pedagogical approaches. The second work package will develop, test, and evaluate new pedagogical and guiding methods that focus on ancestral skills - that is practical and relational ways of living with the land that draw on practices associated with historical and contemporary hunter-gatherer societies - and relational more-than-human ethics. The interventions will take the form of shorter workshops and longer immersions and will be followed up with interviews and focus groups to capture participants’ experiences.
The project contributes increased understanding of the ethical and pedagogical possibilities and limitations of ancestral survival skills when it comes to bridging the gap between crisis preparedness and sustainable societal transformation. Through critical examination of existing survival education and my own pedagogical interventions, the project will provide concrete tools that nature guides and outdoor leaders can use to develop ethical reflection and sustainability in their practice, as well as promote better knowledge of, contact with, and responsibility for non-human nature. The project will also generate recommendations for policymakers who work at the intersection of outdoor recreation, crisis preparedness, and sustainable use of natural resources. Finally, the project will inspire the public with concrete ideas for how to navigate today’s environmental and societal crises while making outdoor experiences safer, more meaningful, and with less ecological footprint.
Maxim Vlasov
Maxim is a researcher, educator, and guide exploring how we can repair our relations with the more-than-human world and find our way through times of social and ecological precarity.
His current work focuses on ecological philosophies, ethics, and pedagogies of ancestral skills and cultural rewilding in the context of Nordic outdoor life, outdoors education, and grassroots movements.
He received his PhD from Umeå University with a dissertation on the Swedish back-to-the-land movement and degrowth. Since then, he has also looked into such topics as ecological emotions, political ecology of 'green energy transitions', and portrayals of eco-sabotage in fiction.
Along his academic work, he has experience with guiding and teaching in nature connection, friluftsliv, and traditional nature skills.
He is affiliated with Swedish Centre for Nature interpretation (SLU) and Umeå University.