From Bambi through the Slaughterhouse to the Forest: Nation, Hunting, and Violence in Human–Animal Figurations in Poland.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between animals, hunting, and the Polish national habitus through Norbert Elias’s concept of the civilising process. Drawing on parliamentary debates, expert opinions, media coverage, and sociological perspectives, the study explores how debates on animal violence intersect with national identity, tradition, and modernity. Central to these debates are questions of justifiable violence: hunters frame violence as necessary ‘nature management’ rooted in tradition and identity, while critics see hunting as an outdated and decivilising practice, incompatible with evolving ethics and scientific knowledge about animal cognition. The paper situates these debates within broader global shifts in human–animal relations, where the ‘Disney mentality’ and the industrialisation of animal violence intersect with the nationalist politics. By framing hunting as a contested site of national identity, the study shows how Poland reflects a broader struggle to reconcile tradition with evolving ethical demands, as ideas of civilisation shift in response to climate change, speciesism, and social justice.