Nature interpretation workshop #3

Friction fire, tea ceremony and transformative conversations

Mingle through a Fire-making workshop
with Nature Interpretation Lab Workshop, with Society for Transformative Conversation

The Nature Interpretation Lab is based at the Swedish Centre for Nature Interpretation and aims to bring together researchers and practitioners who are interested in nature interpretation. The Society for Transformative Conversation brings together those who want to create conversations that open up new possibilities in difficult times. Together this mingle aims to explore and experiment how new, challenging and opening conversations can be held through methods embedded within nature interpretation practices.

Nature Interpretation Lab has hosted two webinars in 2024 to continue discussions that interest people. This mingle is happening on site at Campus Ultuna in Uppsala.

Maxim Vlasov is a researcher-practitioner from Umeå with interest in ancestral skills and cultural rewilding, including applications of these ideas in the contemporary outdoor education and recreation. Alongside his academic work, he runs his own practice as wilderness skills instructor and currently teaches at the year-long course Naturliv at Munka Folkhögskola. At this workshop, he will demonstrate the ancient technique of bow drill (friktionseld med bågdrill) and share fireweed tea. We will gather around the fire, listen to stories and taste the fireweed tea.

We will hold conversations and share our thoughts on friction and relations: how can ancestral life skills help us repair the broken relationship with more-than-human kin? We will also reflect together on this type of nature interpretation – what types of conversations are enabled by such situations, what is opened up and what is closed?

A bow drill is an ancient tool to start fires with. Photo: Kiljan Eckerman.

When: Tuesday March 18th, (13.15) 13:30 – 15:00

Where: We gather at the reception at Ulls hus, Ultuna at 13:15. We will go together to the forest behind Kunskapsparken.

How: Dress warmly and bring your own teacup if you can (not plastic or paper cup)

Last day for signing up: Monday March 17th. Maximum number of participants: 15

The workshop is held in English.

For those who cannot join, we will document the workshop and share with you all in the next newsletter.

We wish to study and learn from the workshop, so what we share at the workshop will be analysed later as research materials. 

Most welcome to an afternoon around the fire.