Storsjöodjuret i ett kalejdoskop. Humanekologiska perspektiv på en svensk kryptid.

Storsjöodjuret, or The Great Lake Monster, is an elusive phenomenon in lake Storsjön, situated in the province of Jämtland in Northern Sweden. This dissertation in Human Ecology investigates how the intricate web of the social, the cultural, the historical, and the local influence the shaping of this Swedish cryptid, or “hidden animal”.

The purpose of the study is to demonstrate how this scientifically yet un-validated animal serves as an interesting representative of a borderland between the real and the imagined.

The questions asked are:
1. What historical and discursive forms has this particular great lake monster been given throughout history, and how are these related to views of nature and science?
2. How do people who claim to have seen it describe their experience, and how do these stories communicate the relationship between humans and nature?
3. How are relationships to place and landscape portrayed in the material? What views of nature do these expressions convey?

Views of nature, landscape, place, society, history, and culture are weaved together with storytelling and scientific exploration to illuminate the relationships within an analytical quadrate with nature, society, community and the individual person in its corners.The narratives about cryptids in which perspectives of socio-ecological connections are expressed is an underdeveloped area of research within the field of Human Ecology. Earlier research on cryptids and the regionally grounded history of them have mainly focused their meaning in local folklore (ethnology/anthropology), investigations of what is observed (zoology/crypto-zoology and environmental history), or the people searching for them (sociology, sociology of religion, and tourism). This investigation expands beyond these scopes by drawing inspiration from Swedish sociologist Johan Asplund’s concept of “thought figures”. By exploring how the characteristics of this particular one changes together with society, and is thus continued as a meaningful phenomenon to people, this project uncovers the power of these perceptions to not only take shape, but also to transform. In this way, the study also sheds light on questions of when, where, and to whom the great lake monster matters.