A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
From Harmless Nuisance to Frightening Enemy: the Perceptions of Ticks in Finland before the Beginning of the Tick Hysteria in the 1990s
Authors: Latva, Otto
Editors: Laura Hollsten, Otto Latva, Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Suvi Rytty, and Tuomas Räsänen
Publisher: BRILL
Publication year: 2024
Book title : Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks
Series title: Brill’s Series in the History of the Environment
Number in series: 8
First page : 147
Last page: 166
ISBN: 978-90-04-68060-9
eISBN: 978-90-04-71544-8
ISSN: 1876-6595
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004715448_009
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004715448_009
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/471021563
This chapter investigates the relationship between ticks and humans in Finland between 1889 and 1990. The multispecies relationship is examined using the digitised press material of the National Library of Finland. The chapter shows that for a very long time in Finland, ticks were mainly understood as harmless nuisance and as metaphors for devouring and slowness, among other things. Ticks were known to be the cause of Redwater fever, a dangerous disease for cattle, as early as the beginning of the 1900s. These arachnids were also understood to spread TBE, which is dangerous to humans, as early as the mid-20th century. Despite these facts, however, ticks were understood in the Finnish public discussion as more or less harmless animals until the 1990s, when the awareness of the link between ticks and borreliosis started to spread in the Finnish public debate. After this, ticks began to be presented in public discussion exclusively as “frightening enemies”.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |