Living and Dying as Compost in the Torne Valley Mires

Abstract

This article takes Donna Haraway’s claim that “We are compost” as a literal statement. Combining Human-Plant Studies (HPS) with the study of children’s literature, the article examines a novel set in the European Arctic as starting point for imagining what it means to live as compost. In the novel, Som om jag inte fanns [As though I wasn’t there] by Kerstin Johansson i Backe, a grieving girl, Elina, seeks out her father’s spirit in a sphagnum bog. The article draws parallels between Elina’s actions and storying activities in the mire and human-moss relationships. These relationships are reflected against indigenous ways of understanding the meshing of the worlds of the living and dead, as well as the meshing of humans with other living organisms. In doing so, it opens up a richer understand of human-plant relations, but also points out the risks of becoming one with the world