Selective Ecologies: Hunting, Game Capital and the Technocratic Management of Wild Fauna in Interwar Greece

This article explores hunting in interwar Greece as a window into the technocratic management of wild fauna and the rise of game as a form of economic capital. Unlike previous studies that focus on rural practices or folklore, it analyses hunting guides published between 1922 and 1940 to show how state-affiliated authors sought to transform hunting from a decentralised, subsistence activity into a regulated and profit-oriented enterprise. These guides promoted selective ecologies, favouring certain game species while calling for the eradication of predators seen as threats to agriculture and hunting yields. This shift reflected the broader ethos of the interwar Greek state, which framed hunting as both a tool of national economic management and a recreational pursuit for urban elites. The authors, often officials or advisors within state and hunting associations, used print to advance ideals of ecological control, economic calculation and social hierarchy rather than to instruct rural hunters in practical skills. The sudden boom in hunting guides coincided with post-1922 refugee resettlement and intensified agricultural modernisation, revealing how hunting became entwined with rural reconstruction, ecological engineering, and the emergence of internal tourism. By tracing the intersection of hunting, capital and state ideology, this study highlights how wild animals were valued not simply as food or game, but as resources to be managed, commodified and woven into the economic and political ambitions of interwar Greece.