ABSTRACT
In the ancient Polish woodland known as the Białowieża Forest, authoritarian regimes have frequently seized upon charismatic species, such as the European bison, to secure their status and power. Here we turn to a symbolic element of the forest, which has eluded attention on the part of former authoritarian regimes, the spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus). Through this simultaneously material and symbolic insect we analyze the ecological outbreaks of ultra-right-wing nationalisms in a forest. This chapter traces the return of a Polish nationalist myth about the forest, expressed through agents of the state, State Foresters and their attempts to stem a current bark beetle outbreak. Both environmental history and anthropology, this essay provides a long duree perspective on authoritarianisms, including the interwar period, communism, and the current PiS government. This chapter draws insights from post-socialist studies and post-humanism to argue that the agency of the bark beetle can help us radically rethink relations/ecology of nationalism, and how the nation is produced through natural resources by authoritarian-leaning governments.
