Through the NWO Open Competition, the NWO Social Sciences and Humanities (SGW) domain aims to offer researchers the opportunity to conduct research on a topic of their own choosing, without thematic restrictions. In the first round of the SGW Open Competition XS, seven researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam were awarded a grant. I was one of them with WolfHowl:
WolfHowl: Howling with the Wolves. Traditional Ecological Knowledge Practices as Disaster Mitigation Strategies
Social and Cultural Anthropologist Leonidas Oikonomakis
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) consists of local practices used to address environmental problems, including disaster prevention. As part of “rewilding Europe,” the wolf has returned to the continent—though not without conflicts involving shepherds, hunters, and NGOs. The preventive value of TEK remains underexplored, especially the practice of mimicking wolf howls to track wolf populations. This project studies that practice in Halkidiki, Greece, and its potential as a disaster mitigation strategy, contributing to the growing TEK bibliography.
XS projects have a maximum duration of one year and can therefore quickly contribute to scientific insights.
WolfHowl updates will be -irregularly – published here.
Last modified: August 28, 2025
