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LATEST ISSUES WITH ABSTRACTS ACTA BOREALIA - NORDIC JOURNAL OF CIRCUMPOLAR SOCIETIES |
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REVIEWS AND PRESENTATIONS 1999-
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VOLUME 25, 2-2008 Novgorod the Great in Baltic Trade before 1300 Tatjana N. Jackson
Language Assimilation During the Modernisation Process: Experiences from Norway and North-West Russia Trond Trosterud The article gives an analysis of the demographic material for North Sámi in Norway during the last 150 years, and compares it to key tendencies in some of the Uralic languages of the Soviet Union. The present linguistic landscape can be predicted with great accuracy from Friis' survey of 1860. At that time, biligualism among the Norwegians was widespread in parishes with predominately Sámi of Finnish (Kven) population. During the assimilation process, the preservation of Sámi was not due to the size of the Sámi population, but rather to its relative size. Today's Sámi communities are the ones with the least Norwegians one and a half centuries ago. A key factor in the language shift process has been mixed marriages. The Soviet data show a greater degree of language preservation, especially for the Nenets and Mari. The difference is partly a result of the Soviet language policy, but also to the degree of contact between the minority and majority populations. Key Words: Sámi languages, North Sámi, Language assimilation, Language policy, Language revitalisation, Finnmark, Northern Norway, North-West Russia
Rethinking the Creation of North Norway as a Region Ketil Zachariassen
The subject of this article is the creation of North Norway from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Some initial remarks about the relationship between nations and regions are followed by a number of interpretations of recent national and nationalism debates. The former synthesis of the creation of North Norway as a region is analysed, using approaches that on the one hand could be described as an actor stage theory and on the other as a structurally modernistic. As an alternative, a new theoretical approach inspired by cultural hegemonic theories is presented. This cultural hegemonic approach uses the works of Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) as a point of departure and is related to the concepts he developed, such as ‘hegemony’, ‘counter-hegemony’, ‘historic bloc’, ‘civil society’ and ‘organic intellectuals’. A new synthesis of the historical regional formation process, based on a cultural hegemonic approach, is then presented, showing that North Norway as a region is the result of a long-lasting, contradictory and continuous process. Six periods are identified in the creation of the region; the period from the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century up to the second decade of the twentieth century emerges as a time-frame for a counter-hegemonic nation-building project. Since then, North Norway as a region has developed through hegemonic struggle between different kinds of region- and nation-building projects within and outside the region. Key Words: North Norway, Region, Regionalism, Region-building, Nation-building, Gramsci, Cultural hegemony, Counter-hegemony
The Shadow Field of Reindeer Management: A Case Study from Finland Ari Martin Laakso This article applies the analytical concept of shadow field in relation to reindeer management, to explain why some herders and reindeer herding cooperatives do not adhere to government regulations on herd size. The underlying processes and structures related to reindeer numbers are exemplified through two case studies of two Finnish reindeer herding cooperatives, which for several years have exceeded the total allowable quota (TAQ) of reindeer. The case studies reveal a different reality of reindeer management, which functions according to a logic and agenda not always understood by the state authorities or incorporated into the management decisions. This reality is the outcome of anomalies in the official reindeer management system including the system’s disclosure of herders from the decision-making process, the system’s provision of self-determination and self-monitoring regarding the organisation of reindeer herding to the cooperatives, the system’s weak external control and a subsidy system which promotes reindeer ownership instead of production. Combined, these anomalies enable and encourage the formation of a shadow field of reindeer management. This paper uses as its theoretical framework Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and focuses especially on the key notion of field and shadow field in addressing the Common Pool Resource (CPR) discussion related to reindeer herding. Key Words: Finland, reindeer herding, reindeer management, shadow field, total allowable quota (TAQ), internal conflict, Pierre Bourdieu
Sports, Politics and Ethnicity in the North. Workers' Sport in Western Finnmark in the Late 1930s Helge Chr. Pedersen Internationally, ethnicity in sports has become an independant field of research amongst historians focusing on phenomena such as colonialism, immigration and indigenous populations. Studies demonstrate that sports have simultaneously been able to assimilate different groups. promoting majority cencepts of identity and majority values, and enable groups to fashion their own singular ethnic identities in contrast to those of majority societies. In Norwegian historical research, sport and ethnicity has been given only scarce attention. Norwegian sports historicans have mainly seen Norway as an ethnically homogenous society where sports has played an essential part in creating a unifying national identity. A major concern for Norwegian sports history research has been the political split in Norwegian sports in the 1930s. Research on this event has mainly been occupied with the relationship between the Worker's Sports Federation (NLI), and by AIF's significance as a political movement. Less attention, however, has been given to its cultural impact. This article investigates the establihsment and function of AIF in the multic-ethnic area of West Finnmark, a geographically and politically peripheral region of Northern Norway, at the end of the 1930s. The town of Alta, the main focus of attention, was in the 1930s a small fiord community with an ethnically mixed population of indigenous Sámi, Kvens and Norwegians, sharp political divisions and a vibrant sporting milieu. Although the political division of Alta''s sport establishment displays many of the traits that characterize similar events in the country at large, the ethnic factor brought another, important dimension to it. This highly politicized period in Finnmark sports underlines the importance of sports as an area for the construction and reinforcement of not only political identity, but also for the production of ethnic and local identites. Key Words: Sports, Politics, Ethnicity, Identity, Finnmark, Sámi, Kven
VOLUME 25, 1-2008 Contesting the Sami Polity: Discursive Representations in the Sami Electorial Campaign in 2005 Lina Gaski This article investigates the internal struggle for power in an electoral campaign for an indigenous popular elected body. Focusing in discourses in the 2005 election to the Sami Parliament in Norway; the article aims to map the space of political competition between the two largest parties represented in the Sami Parliament. By using qualitative data and disourse theory, the article reveals the discursive strategies that were important resources for the Sami politicians in constructing political cleavages, and explores how the national collective found its way into the electoral discourse. The article makes two interrelated claims. First, that certain repertoires from the national identity discourse were important resources for the two parties when they constructed an image of themselves as a trustworthy party, and rendered their political rivals unreliable. Second, that the politicians by engaging in different rhetorical strategies when it came to who they addressed and whose interests they represented, thereby created contesting representations of the Sami polity. Key Words: Indigenous, National identity discourse, Sami politics, Elections, Political cleavages
Kirkenes: An Industrial Site Reinvented as a Border Town Arild Viken, Brynhild Granås & Toril Nyseth
This article analyses the transformation of Kirkenes, a small town on the Russian-Norwegian border, from an industrial town to a border town. Kirkenes was established as a harbour for an iron ore mining venture in what today is the municipality of Sør-Varanger. This industry closed down during the 1990s. The article describes how Kirkenes has been transformed within “bordered” relationships of civic society, business and a combination of high-level and local political activities. Being a border town and a centre in the Barents Region is the hegemonic narrative of today. The manifold transformations have led to a situation where Kirkenes has become “Russianized”, though local actors struggle with how to handle this aspect of local development and the meaning of the place. The article also investigates to what degree the transformations have changed local identity. The focus is on how identities are dealt with, whether they are seen as immanent and essential cultural traits, as something that tends to be changed and adapted to the situation. Based on the concept of narrative identities, there are reasons to believe that there are strong identities based on both public narratives relating to local history and nature and metanarratives about globalization and cross-border communities. Key Words: Transition, Industrial transformation, Restrudturing, Identity, Border, Border town, Mining town, Kirkenes, Barents Region
Oral/Past Culture and Modern Technical Means in the Literature of the Tweentieth Century in Greenland Karen Langgård
The present article takes as its starting point a short story from 2001 and relates it to the development of the Greenlandic literature in the 20th century. The Greenlandic literature evolved around 1900 and mirrors the socio-political trends and the stages of nation building through the 20th century. The overall tendencies of the century start with a striving towards more knowledge of and competence in European culture (including technical know-how) before 1950. Then a feeling of overwhelming impact from Danish culture followed during the Danification policy of the 50s, 60s and 70s and this resulted in a protest movement in the 1960s and 70s and Home Rule from 1979.However, if we read the literature in details and supplement it with the contemporary newspapers a much more diverse picture of an appropriation process (i.e. a conscious adaptation of selective parts of the impact from outside) emerges. The present article focuses on how these sources give us glimpses of an ongoing debate already in the first half of the 20th century i.e. in colonial times: the Greenlandic population wasn’t just passively under colonial domination. The history of the 20th century is the history about a fairly well functioning appropriation of technical means and cultural impact from outside up till 1950, and then - after three decades of heavy modernization and Danification - a process from 1979 on towards more and more agency in a "glocalized" Greenland. Key Words: Appropriation, Glocalization, Literature Greenlandic, Newspapers Greenlandic, Oral/past culture, Technology Greenlandic
Representations of the Chudes in Norwegian and Russian Folklore Natalia Drannikova & Roald Larsen The objectives of this article are following: 1) to reveal the meaning (semantics) of the word ”Chude” in Norwegian and Russian cultures; 2) to analyze Russian and Norwegian legends about the Chudes in order to define the main plot-constructing elements. When writing this article the authors used a synchronous and diachronous methods of analysis of material that was written down in a period that exceeds one and a half centuries. In etymological sense the word ”Chude” (tsjude or Cud) can be derivative form from old Slavic form *tjudjo (strange, foreign) that can in its turn be borrowing from a Gothic or a German word that got the meaning ”a nation” (folk). With the Sami the word ”tshudde”/ ”tshutte” means an enemy, an adversary. The image of the Chudes has preserved in Russian and Norwegian narrative traditions. Oral stories in Norway are called sagn. In Russian folkoristics narratives about the Chudes are traditionally called ”predanie”. The ethnonym “Chude” has a collective meaning in Russian and Norwegian folklore. In Norwegian culture it means plunderers of different ethnical belonging who came from the East to plunder the local population in the Northern Norway. As the undertaken research has shown, this name could have been applicable to Russian, Finns, Karelians, Kvens and peoples speaking Nordic languages (Swedes). In the Russian cultural tradition the name “Chude” was used to name different Finno-Ugric peoples living in the North-West Russia before the Russians came there and who later assimilated with the Russians. The Kola Sami called Swedes and Norwegians who came to them from the west to plunder for the Chudes. The existence of a people in the same name in the old times is not excluded. The research carried out by place name scientists evidences that this people could be related to the Baltic-Finnish group of peoples.The word Chude has historical and mythological aspects. Folk legends about the Chudes have ‘preserved’ memories about the historical past of the northern region. Additionally this ethnonym contains conceptions of the world’s binary character that are typical for archaic consciousness. Folk legends about the Chudes are widespread among in the European North of Russia while plots about militant and plundering Chudes are localized in traditional Sami regions of Russia and Norway. In folk legends and sagn, the Russians and the Sami belong to one’s ‘own’ world, while the Chudes are associated with the concepts of the ‘strangers’’ This nomination acquired the meaning ‘a stranger’, ‘a robber’. Key Words: Chude, ”Sagn”, ”Predanie”, Norway, Russia
Book Reviews Storli, Inger: Hålogaland før rikssamlingen - politiske prosesser i perioden 100-900 e.Kr. [Hålogaland before the Unification - Political Processes in the Period AD 200-900]. Institutt for sammenlignende kulturforskning, Novus forlag, Oslo 2006. 224 pages. Reviewed by Frode Iversen. Acta Borealia 25(1): 76-80 Bull, Colin: Innocents in the Arctic: The 1951 Spitsbergen Expedition. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks 2005. 254 pages. Reviewed by Einar-Arne Drivenes, Acta Borealia 25(1): 80-82.
VOLUME 24, 2-2007 Medical Hermeneutics of Murder. Race, Medicine and Law in a Murder Case from Finnmark, 1911 Svein Atle Skålevåg This article seeks to investigate the investigation of a murder case in Finnmark in 1911, where four siblings killed their young brother. In the legal investigations following the misdeed, a number of medical experts played a prominent role. Their role was to assess the mental condition of the defendants, but also to make sense of the murder. A specific interpretational mode was called for: a "medical hermeneutics" of the murder. The murder investigation becomes an occasion for discussing medical and juridical interpretations of human agency at the turn of the century, and especially the role of the concept "race" in these interpretations. For at least some of the physicians involved, the racial make-up of the ethnic group to which the actors belonged constituted an inevitable part of the context that made the act intelligible. Although the concept of race, and the conceptual frameworks offered by degenerationism and medical psychology to a certain degree made the act intelligible, these interpretational schemes had little of offer in terms of assessing the legal accountability of the defendants. Hence, the case illustrates the profound epistemological limits of medical interpretation in facing a legal case. Key Words: Forensic psychiatry, History, Finnmark, Race, Medicine, Legal accountability
In the Wake of the Kautokeino Event: Changing Perceptions of Insanity and the Sámi 1852-1965 Astri Andresen An unprecedented drama took place in the village of Kautokeino in Northern Norway on a November night in 1852: members of the parish attacked the village, set houses on fire and murdered the tradesman and the bailiff. The aim of this article is not to explain the event, but look into the extent to which notions of mental illness were brought into the following trial, and furthermore, if such illness was perceived as pertaining to a specific Sàmi character or mentality. The article also investigates the ways in which changing perceptions of the Sámi and mental illness made for new interpretations of the 1852 event. Throughout the period from the 1950s until the 1960s, claims were made that the Kautokeino ringleaders were mad or insane, but the ways in which madness was connected to being Sámi changed, as did the specific reasons for making these claims. However, whether the diagnosis came from physicians, the clergy or other interested parties, it seems more often than not to have had its heart to make the best possible excuse far from those who participated in the Kautokeino event. The inevitable result was to emphasize the lack of civilization or later, the otherness, of the Sàmi people as compared with Norwegians. Key Words: Kautokeino, Representions, Insanity, Sàmi, Race, Culture
Civilising the "Uncivilized": The Fight against Tuberculosis in Northern Norway at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Teemu Ryymin The anti-tuberculosis campaign conducted in Finnmark, North Norway, between 1914 and the Second World War was informed by shifting scientific, social and ethnic notions pertaining to the disease itself, the region of Finnmark, and its population. This article focuses on how the Sámi were represented by the medical establishment, how the image of the Sámi influenced the form and the content of the fight against the disease, and how the anti-tuberculosis campaign was connected to the state minority policy of the period. The understanding of tuberculosis and the ways of combating it underwent several changes during the period, particulary during the economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. The initial emphasis on the role of culture, more specifically ethnicity and language, was gradually replaced by a more medicalized focus in the fight against the disease. As the notion of tuberculosis as a disease of civilization was replaced by an understanding of the disease as an infections one, on a par with other infectious diseases, the earlier strategy of civilizing the "uncivilized" Sámi in order to protect them from tubrculosis was replaced by e more epidemiological approach in tuberculosis prevention. Key Words: Twentieth century, Tuberculosis, Public Health, Sámi, Norway, Finnmark
Estonian Swedich Ethnic Survival - Examples form Nuckõ in the Interwar Period Ann Grubbstrõm A long-term perspective is important in studies of ethnic groups and their opportunities for survival. This case study deals with the Swedish population in Nuckö (Noarootsi), Estonia, during the interwar period. Even though the Swedish population declined as a whole, some villages succeded in maintaining their Swedish affiliation. Settlement patterns and varying opportunities to own land are more important factors behind these differences. The Estonian-Swedish cultural awakening in the interwar period made it easier for people to show their Swedish ethnic identity more openly. Inhabitants in villages that already at the end of the nineteenth century had a large proportion of Estonians in their population, reacted more positively to the state's request that people change their surname as part of the assimilation policy of the 1930s. Even though people in some villages chose to register a change in ethnic status, a change of surname, and even changed their use of language, they may nonetheless have remained commited to heir former Swedish ethnicity on a private level. It is crucial to combine different kinds of data, such as church records, censuses and interviews, in order to illustrate the complexities of ethnic identity from a variety of different angles. Key Words: Estonian Swedes, Ethnic identity, Ethnic survival, Interwar period
Book
Review Drivenes,
Einar Arne and Jølle, Harald Dag (eds.): Norsk polarhistorie,
Vols. 1-3, Gyldendal, Oslo 2004. Reviewed by Knut Einar Eriksen,
Acta Borealia 24(2): 176-182
VOLUME 24, 1-2007 Self-determining the Self: Aspects of Saami Identity Management in Sweden Hugh Beach The topic of this paper concerns the variable essentialist and constructivist perceptions of Saami identity as reflected in the criteria specified by the Swedish state on the one hand and notions of those who self-identify as Saami on the other. Hence, it deals heavily in the comparison of state as opposed to Saami formal definitions of "Saami", but it is the general principles and the dilemmas highlighted in these definitions that are under scrutiny here. Although this paper focuses predominately in the taxanomies of various criteria of ethnicity, it does so in an effort to make these open to changeable, relational content. Just what characterizes Saami relational content or what different content might be emphasized by different Saami groups is not the primary focus here. This heuristic discussion is aimed not to consider the replacement of rights inherited through individual descents lines as per the original conception of immemorial right. Rather it is to chart a possible "phase-in" course by which cultural competency can come in time to warrant rights accorded to menbers of a collective ethnic ancestry. Key Words: Saami, Ethnicity, Indigeneity, Self-determination, Saami Parliament
Recontruction Housing in North Norway: Gender and the Reception of the Modern Era Ingebjørg Hage At the end of the Scond World War, large areas of North Norway had to be rebuilt as a result of war damage. It is estimated that 12,000 dwellings housing 60,000 people were ruined. The limited funds available necessitated a low-budget form of housing when the area was rebuilt. The government perceived in this situation the possibility of house modernization, for which standardized, pre-approved drawings were a solution. This paper focuses on the reconstruction houses and the discussion about what kind of house was most suited to the area. It refers to the housing involvement of one of the female architects, and to the architects in general as meditators between the central authorities in the south and the people/local government in the north. It also shed some light on the decisions made at a family level concerning the question of housing. Gender differences in the acceptance of, or resistance to, the modernization of these dwellings during the reconstruction period (1945-1960) in North Norway form the main topic of this article. Key Words: North Norway, Post-war reconstruction housing, Gender and housing, Housing modernization, Standardized drawings, Pre-approved drawings
The Professional Ethos of Rangers in Russian Nature Reserves Tatiana Safonova This article isdevoted to the study of Russian nature reserves, which are now changing their form and status as all organizations have done since the collape of the Soviet Union. The author is mostly concerned with the study of the prefessional ethos of the ranger. The similarity of the rangers' ethos is determined by their common experience of work in the forest. The variability is explained by the difference in the environments of nature reserves, such as proximity of a city or state border. The attempt to integrate this study in the corpus of works about social effects of nature reserves is made in the conclusion. Key Words: Professional ethos, Nature reserve, Social enviroment, Russia
What did the Weather Forecast do to Fishermen, and what did Fishermen do to the Weather Forecast? Narve Fulsås In the wake of the First World War, Vilhelm Bjerknes and his colleagues in Bergen established their so-called front meteorology. With their new concepts and models they "appropriated" the weather - to use Robert Marc Friedman's expression - for physics and for Norwegian science. A regular weather forecasting service was established at the same time for the whole of the Norwegian coast, and fishermen soon became the meteorologists' primary allies in their struggle for state support and resouces. This article examines how the alliance was established, how weather forecasting was "appropriated" by the coastal population, particulary in the north, and what difference this made. Key Words: Weather forecasting, Meteorology, Science and society, History of fisheries, Risk
The Possible Advantage of Living in Turf Houses on Settlement Mounds Reinhard Mook and Reidar Bertelsen Before timber and stone were introduced to northern regions, varieties of turf houses were the most commonly used architecture. These houses had a wooden structure encapsulated in a shell construced of grass turf. The different ethnic groups of the north built their houses in different styles and constructions, but the general principle was the same. The Norse of North Norway and also on the North Atlantic islands had a tendency to build their houses on top of the ruins of previous houses. After a few centuries this arrangement produced a settlement mound of highly organic soil. In the research literature, both the turf architecture and the settlement mounds have been described as adaptions to and a function of marginality and lack of timber. This paper reports an effort to test the idea that turf houses on top of settlement mounds may have been a finely tuned ecological system that made use of the capacity of organic soil to produce heat. Key Words: Experimental archaeology, Iron Age, Middle Ages (Medieval period), North Atlantic settlement, Organic floor heating, Settlement mounds, Turf houses
Book
Review Obituary
VOLUME 23, 2-2006 The
Image of the Sàmi in Finnish Visual Arts before
the Second World War Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja This article examines how Finnish artists depicted the Sàmi people in their paintings from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Second World War. In the first paintings that represented the Sàmi, the attitude was very romantic and artists were not interested in knowing the Sàmi culture or even in encountering the Sàmi people. In the nineteenth century, nationalism required building an image of the Finns, thus most Finnish artists were not interested in the Sàmi. The French philosopher Hippolyte Taine's writings influenced the young artist Juho Kyyhkynen, who started to depict the Sàmi culture. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sàmi were thought to be primitive or Mongolian, so Finnish artists painted relatively few portraits of Sàmi. All this time it was only Finnish painters who depicted the Sàmi, as the voice and ideas of the Sàmi themselves did not become prominent in Finland until the 1970s. Key Words: Art history, Sàmi culture, Image of Sàmi, Finnish nationalism, Finnish visual arts.
Pietism and Colonialism. Swedish Schooling in Eighteenth-century Sàpmi Daniel Lindmark This article analyses Swedish educational policy and practice in Sàpmi (Lapland) from a theoretical perspective of colonialism as associated with power and domination. The study is based upon the Saami School Instruction of 1735, which regulated the system of boarding schools established in the 1720s, and a description of educational practice at Jokkmokk Saami School in the 1760s written by a former schoolmaster. Following historian Richard Gawthorp's study of the Pietist educational institutions of German Halle and the postcolonial theorist Valentin Yves Mudimbe's analysis of Catholic priest seminaries in twentieth-century Congo, the article identifies similar characteristics in the Saami schools: the principles of isolation, surveillance and self-examination created favourable conditions for ideological indoctrination. Placed in a colonial setting, the Saami schools not only aimed at annihilating the religion and culture of the colonized, but also endeavoured to imprint suitable aspects of the colonizers' culture upon the colonized. By transferring standards of obedience and subordination, the Saami schools served the purpose of domesticating the colonized people. Key Words: 18th century, Colonialism, Education, Pietism, Sàpmi, Sweden.
Gender in Polar Air: Roald Amundsen and his Aeronautics Roald Berg The aim of this article is to discuss the polar aeronautics of the 1920s as men, that is: to take seriously the obvious - but so far more or less ignored fact - that polar history is a gendered history: a man's history. It is time to ask what kind of men polar aviators were: that is the purpose of scrutinizing polar history as a part of the history of mascunlinity. A more general purpose of gender studies is to study the variety of mascunlinity as an illustration of the historicity of human behaviour. The conclusion of the article is that the polar aviators were representatives of an archaic kind of masculinity that deviated from the hegemonic engineer-hailing mascunlinity of the 1920s. They were escapists, of course. They loved flying, of course - and certainly they worshipped technology. At the same time, however, they acted extremely emotionally and even irrationally towards themselves. They were dictated by their strong feelings in a degree that collided with both common sense and the ideals of correct manliness. Thus, the article is intended to be a contribution not only to the study of mascunlinity, but even to the discussion in social research on the meaning of emotions in human interrelationsships. Key Words: Polar history, Gender history, History of technology, History of emotions.
Palaeoecology and Archaeology of the Village of Uukuniemi, Eastern Finland Teija Alenius & Ville Laakso In the present article, pollen analytical results from Lake Kirkkolampi are presented and compared with results provided by archaological material. Pollen analysis is connected with the archaological research project at Papinniemi in Uukuniemi. Papinniemi is one of the numerous Greek Orthodox settlements that existed in Kareliain the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Archaeological evidence of settlement proceding this period is very scarce, and in this respect Uukuniemi represents a typical area in eastern Finland. There is no archaeological evidence of permanent settlement in Uukuniemi from the Early Metal Period (c. 1800 BC-AD 400), the Middle Iron Age (c. AD 400-800) or from the Late Iron Age (c. AD 800-1300). Pollen agricultural activities and cultivation in permanent fields took place around cal AD 800. A shift in land-use practises, including a declining use of fire, is visible at cal AD 1520-1600. The discrepancy between archaeological and palaeoelogical records raises several questions, and the problem of Early Metal Period and Iron Age populations, as well as settlement continuity, are discussed. Key Words: Pollen analysis, Archaeology, Land use, Settlement history, Lake sediments, Holocene, Karelia, Parikkala, Uukuniemi, Eastern Finland.
Book
Reviews Mebius, Hans: Bissie: studier i samisk religionshistoria [Bissie (the Sacred): Studies in the History of Sami Religion]. Jengel, Östersund 2003. 247 pages. Reviewed by Håkan Rydving, Acta Borealia 23(2): 168-172. Kennedy, John C.: Island Voices. Fisheries and Community Survival in Northern Norway. Eburon Academic Publishers, Delft 2006. 178 pages. Reviewed by Trond Thuen, Acta Borealia 23(2): 172-176.
VOLUME 23, 1-2006 Nature
Conservationism and the Arctic Commons of Spitsbergen
1900-1920 Urban Wråkberg The purpose of this article is to show how national interests and western ideas about the polar wilderness influenced initiatives taken in the early decades of the twentieth century to protect the natural environment of the Arctic islands of Spitsbergen, today called Svalbard. After a brief outline of the environmental history of the islands, the explanatory sigificance of a game theory-based assumption about the predicament of nature conservation on common land is discussed by applying it to this historical case. It is the environmental dilemma known as the "tragedy of the commons". Some elements of the western and Scandinavian ideological interpretations of the Arctic nature are introduced as a background to the following discussion of the most significant early initiative of nature conservation in the Arctic: Hugo Conwentz's proposal for the protection of the nature of Spitsbergen of 1914. The conception and outcome of Conwentz's initiative is explained by references to the political, social and ideological contexts of early twentieth-century science and colonialism. In the final section, the post-war development of the environmental administration of the islands is correlated to the political situation following World War I with its many historical contingencies and the breakdown of internationalism in science and nature conservation. Key Words: Environmental history, Nature conservation, Polar research, Nationalism, Colonialism, Sustainable resource management.
Saami Circular Sacrifical Sites in Northern Coastal Sweden Britta Wennstedt Edvinger & Noel D. Broadbent Saami circular sacrifical sites have been known for many years in northern Norway and northern interior Sweden. Oral or written sources regarding their origins are nevertheless lacking outside reindeer-herding areas. The circular features have now been documented in Swedish Bothnian coastal environments together with site complexes at elevations, suggesting that they were used during the Iron Age, medieval and historic periods. It is argued that these coastal features, stone circles of ring-shaped enclosures, are Saami sacrifical sites of the same character as documented in North Norway and in the mountains and the forest lands of northern Sweden. Key Words: Circular features, Saami sacrifical sites, stone circles.
Sami Fisheries in the Pre-modern Era: Household Sustenance and Market Relations Lars Ivar Hansen This article tries to access the importance of fisheries within the traditional Sami household economy; where market orientation and participation in commercial fishing activities directed at selling stockfish to external partners formed an integral, strategic factor. After an introductory overview of the traditional fishing methods of the Sami, their most common types of fishing gear and the most preferred species, the article focuses on the sources that might highlight Sami fisheries from the Middle Ages and on through Early Modern times. Accounts and tax registers from the late sixteenth century show that the groups of coastal and inland Sami displayed highly different trading profiles. The coastal Sami were heavily dependent on institutionalized form of trade, not only connected to the Hanseatic trade network with its regional centre in Bergen, but also to other merchant groups, in a way that made them able to take advantage of competition among the merchants. However, in comparison with their Norwegian cohabitants, the Sami showed a greater adaptability and capability of switching between various resource niches, and were not so fundamentally dependent on provisions from outside as the Norwegians. Key Words: Sami cultural history, fisheries, sami fishing methods, household economy, market adaption.
Book
Reviews Kasten, Erich (ed.): Properties of Culture - Culture as a Property: Pathways to Reform in Post-Soviet Siberia. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 2004. Reviewed by David G. Anderson, Acta Borealia 23(1): 91-93 Roberts, David: Shipwrecked on the Top of the World. Four against Arctic. Brown and Company, Little, London 2004. Paperback edition, Time Warner Books, 2005. Reviewed by Jens Petter Nielsen, Acta Borealia 23(1): 94-96
VOLUME 22, 2-2005 Reconstruction
of North Norway after the Second World War - New Opportunities
for Female Architects? Ingebjørg Hage Female architects took part in the reconstruction of North Norway after the Sceond World War, rebuilding the scorched-earth area as well as the bombed towns. For the first time in Norway they were visible both as individual architects and as a group, and the aim of this paper is to uncover evidence for their contribution, which has been somewhat overlooked until now. The female architects can be realted to different forms of architectural practice - some designed biuldings, e.g. small and large schools for the public sector - but more important was their contribution to work in the public reconstruction offices, especially in the housing debate and the modernization of housing. These women made an architectural impact on the everyday environment and landscape of the north. Even though the female architects of the 1950s had a marginalized experience as practitioners in the north, they paved the way for generations of female architects to come and the latter's struggle for access to professional status in Norway. Key Words: Female architects, North Norway, Post-war reconstruction
Recently Discovered Gievrie (South-Saami Shaman Drums) - Contexts, Meanings and Narratives Birgitta Berglund In the circumpolar area of the Northern Arctic shamanism and use of drums are strongly connected. Recently, three South-Saami shaman drums were dicovered in Norway; in the mountains in Helgeland and Nord-Trøndelag. These drums together with their accessories were analysed and the meanings of the drums and their symbols were interpreted. The ways other shaman drums arrived in Norway museums were traced. The contexts of the drums are discussed, espesially how and when they were used. The role of the drums as important ethnic markers is discussed as well as the consequences for the drums in the time of the activity in Norway by the Danish College of Missions in the beginning of the 18th century. The background aim for the Saami mission is also illustrated. How the use of the drums has been understood by the missionaries and earlier authors is discussed with the basis in their narratives. The fact that the narratives, also younger narratives, almost always are written down by others than those who used the drum is stressed. Some remarks are given in an archaeological light to the question of when the use of the drums started in the north of Scandinavia. Key Words: South-Saami Shaman Drums, Norway
Research and Activism in Sàmi Politics: The Ideas and Achievements of Karl Nickul towards Securing Governance for the Sàmi Veli-Pekka Leothala Pacifist, land surveyor, friend of the Sàmi people, scholar studying Sàmi culture, Karl Nickul's (1900-1980) life work proves that the work of a public servant and researcher can be merged into a strong ethical stand to influence society. Nickul, an early initiator of Finland's peace movement, was by training and profession a land surveyor, who worked for the Finnish government making maps of Lapland and Petsamo in northern Finland in the 1920s and 1930s. Becoming aquuainted with the Skolt Sàmi, he began to preserve Skolt culture Nickul's paramount idea of Sàmi governance began to grow. He actively pursued this idea after World War II through his activities in Sàmi politics in Finland and in Sàmi cooperative efforts in the Nordic countries. The dominant idea was that the Sàmi culture was to be protected from outside pressures of settlement, and that the Sàmi themselves should be allowed to determine their own identity and their own needs. The paper discussed and analyses Karl Nickul's personal development and involvement in various projects and activities to secure Sàmi rights. Key Words: Skolt Sàmi, Karl Nickul, Sàmi culture and politics, Finland
From 'Traditional' to Collectivized Reindeer Herding on the Kola Paninsula: Continuity or Disruption? Yulian Konstantinov The article turns critical attention to the process ot Kola Sami land-use that had occured in the century immediately preceding Soviet collectivization drives of the mid-1930s. Particular attention is turned to influences brought by Izhma Komi settlers at the end of the 19th century. The overall argument is that Kola Sami land-use adaptive patterns have shown signs of orienting towards reindeer-driven, market-oriented form of husbandry well before collectivization. In this sense, there are grounds to see collectivization - in its expansive strategy for ever-rising production of reindeer meat - as part of a sufficiently long period of continuous changes, rather than an abrupt disruption of 'traditional' patterns - the latter reading occurring as a popular theme in Kola Sami related literature. Attention is turned also to post-Soviet forms of reorientation in land-use. Here the problematic point of intra-community tendencies for 'hidden privatization' of extant assets is discussed in its current local controversy with foreign-supported experiments in private, clan community (obshchina) reindeer-husbandry. Key Words: Kola-Sami land-use, reindeer husbandry, Soviet collectivization
Book
Reviews Möller, Frank and Pehkonen, Samu (eds.): The Many Faces of the North. Encountering the North Cultural Geography, International Relations and Northern Landscapes. Ashgate, Aldershot & Burlington 2003. 308 pages. Reviewed by Marjut Anttonen, Acta Borealia 22(2): 192-196 Meldgaard, Morten: Ancient Harp Seal Hunters of Disko Bay: Subsistence and Settlement at the Saqqaq Culture Site Qeqertasussuk (2400-1400 BC), West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Man and Society No. 30, 2004. Nyt Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen 2004. Reviewed by T. Max Friesen, Acta Borealia 22(2): 196-200
VOLUME 22, 1-2005 Editorial The
Discovery and Early Exploitation of Svalbard. Some Histographical
Notes Thor B. Arlov The chronology of the earliest history of Svalbard (Spitsbergen) has been, and still is, a controversal issue in historiography, partly due to inconclusive evidence and lack of sources that open up for different interpreations, but also because of particular interests in this contested region. This survey of a dozen important works shows that historiography reflects the changing national interests in Svalbard over time and the variations in intensity of political debate. By 1920, three different history traditions had established themselves with regard to the question of discovery and early exploitation: the Norwegian "Viking hypothesis", the Russian "Pomor hypothesis" and the nationally more neutral "Barentsz hypotehesis". While Barentsz' discovery in 1596 is generally accepted as a historical fast, the hypotheses about earlier visits have proved strikingly resilient. The "archaeological turn" around 1970 introduced a fourth hypothesis, the possibility of a Stone Age settlement, and also hopes that new material evidence would finally solve the question of chronology. This has not happend; archaeological research has argumented historiography, but not caused a fundamental shift in positions and interpretations - national historical traditions remain influential.
Dutch Pre-Barentsz Maps and the Pomor Thesis about the Discovery of Spitsbergen Edwin Okhuizen The Pomor thesis has been the subject of an ongoing debate among historians and archaeologists for over a century. The (Soviet/Russian) protagonists of the Pomor thesis claimed that Pomors from the White Sea region discovered Spitsbergen/Svalbard prior to the official discovery of this Arctic archipelago by the Dutch explorer Willem Barentzs in 1596. So far, neither the study of written sources nor archaeological investigations have offered generally accepted conclusive evidence in favour or in rejection of the Pomor thesis. This article examines this question by using a hitherto neglected source material, namely cartographical documents. A significant group of Dutch maps covering the present Svalbard region made prior to the Barentzs expedition in 1596 is investigated for references ti an early Russian presence on Spitsbergen. Dutch pre-Barentzs maps, both sea charts and geographical maps, are selected as these are probably of greater importance for studying this topic than any other single group of available maps.
John Tradescant's Diary of his Voyage to Russia June - September 1618. A Source of Information about Russian Sea Mammal Hunting on Svalbard Archipelago? Jens Petter Nielsen The English botanist and gardener John Tradescant the Elder's diary from a voyage to northern Russia in 1618 has lately attracted attention as a potential source on early Russian sea mammal hunting in the Svalbard archipelago. This article examines the usefulness of Tradescant's diary in this respect, but comes to a negative conclusion.
Archaeology on Svalbard: Past, Present and Future Roger Jørgensen This year it is 50 years since the first professional archaeologists set foot on Svalbard in the first of three inter-Nordic expeditions. Amateurs had been digging freely for a century because the historical monuments had no legal protection. Two more Nordic expeditions were mounted in 1958 and 1960. The next phase in archaeological exploration began in 1978. Over the next 15 years, archaeologists from several countries conducted extensive excavation programmes on many Pomor house sites and west European whaling sites, leading to a substantially rasied level of interest in and knowledge about the history of Svalbard. Given the limited archaeological resource base, the high excavation rate had to be reduced. In recent years there have been very few excavations and this low field activity is a concern both for the cultural heritage management and scientific milieus concerned with research in Svalbard. An important question is how to stimulate research and at the same time ensure sustainable cultural heritage management on Svalbard.
Methods of the Russian Heritage Site Dating on the Spitsbergen Archipelago Vadim F. Starkov Russian Pomor people used Spitsbergen as a hunting and trapping area for over 300 years, from the early sixteenth century until the mid-nineteenth century. The early dating of Pomor activity is discussed with respect to written sources, dendrochronology, epigraphy, direct dating and geomorphological relationships.
The Chronology of the Russian Hunting Stations on Svalbard: A Reconsideration Tora Hultgreen There is no agreement on the exact starting point of Russian Sea Mammal hunting on the Svalbard archipelago, although the question has been discussed for decades among Russian and Norwegians historians and archaeologists. After more than 25 years of archaeological research, the Russian archaeologist Vadin F. Starkov agues that Russian hunting in the Svalbard archipelago was initiated around 1550 (if not earlier), i.e. well in advance of Willem Barentsz' discovery of Svalbard in 1596. Starkov's chronology is first and foremost based on dendrochronological datings of remnants from Russian hunting stations. This author is critical of Starkov's interpretations, and argues that almost all of his dendro-datings can in one way or another be connected with re-used material such as ship planks or local driftwood. That means there is no direct correspondence between these datings and the period when the hunting station were in use.
Book
Reviews Daniela Büchten, Tatjana Dzjakson and Jens Petter Nielsen (eds.): Norge - Russland. Naboer gjennom 100 år. [Russia and Norway. Across borders and Centuries]. Scandinavian Academic Press, Oslo 2004. Reviewed by Trond Thuen, Acta Borealia 22(1): 97. VOLUME 21, 2-2004
On
the Date of the First Russian - Norwegian Border Treaty Tatjana N. Jackson Hákonar saga gamla Hákonarsonar tells that in 1251 there came messengers from the Russian Prince Alexander Nevskij to the King of Norway, Hákon Hákonarson. The year 1251 is often considered to be the date of the first Russian-Norwegian border treaty. Some scholars, however, think the negotiations to have taken place in 1252, as the Tatar raid, mentioned by the saga, happened, according to a number of Russian chronicles, this very year. My colleague V.A. Kuchkin and me, at a conference in Russia, suggested a new dating of the event, namely 1257 (see Djakson, Kuchkin 1998). Here follows its further argumentation.
Confrontation and Conciliation: The Sami, the Crown and the Court in Seventeenth-century Swedish Lapland Karin Granqvist This article aims to discover in what kind of legal cases conflicts may be traced between the Sami and representatives of the Crown, and in which situations conciliation is apparent; and it also answers the questions of how and why this happened. It is evident, from the court rolls from the court district of Jukkasjärvi (one of the two northernmost lappmarker in Sweden at this time), that the Crown prosecuted the Sami for sexual offences and crimes against religion. This was due to the prevailing ideology of the seventeenth century, in which Lutheran Christianity prevailed, and because the court was the arena for a power discourse: there was a 'right' way to live and behave. This came into conflict with Sami tradition. The Sami themselves pursued a desire and need for conciliation, which becomes apparent in cases of crimes such as murder, manslaughter and grand theft, but also in civil cases of e.g. inheritance. This was due to the fact that the population was quite small, bound together in different relations, and because large-scale conflicts were not beneficial to Sami communities. Even though the Crown court was an arena of power, it was also used by the Sami for their own ends, and thus we can see an interactive Sami society, independent of the prevailing political Lutheran Christian ideology and its discourse.
Book
Reviews Bjørn Bjerkli og Per Selle (red.): Samer, makt og demokrati. Sametinget og den nye samiske offentligheten. [The Sami People, Power and Democracy. The Sami Parliament and the New Sami Public Sphere]. Gyldendal Akademisk, Oslo 2003. 461 pages. Reviewed by Rolf Sjölin, Acta Borealia 21(2): 119-125 Svein Jentoft, Henry Minde and Ragnar Nielsen (eds.): Indigenous Peoples. Resource Management and Global Rights. Eburon Academic Publishers, Delft 2003. 315 pages. Reviewed by Lennard Sillanpää, Acta Borealia 21(2): 127-132 Ingvar Svanberg: Hästslaktare och korgmakare. Resursutnyttjande och livsstil blant sockenlappar. [Horse slaughterers and basket makers. Resource utilization and life style among Parish Lapps]. Johan Nordlander-sällskapet, Umeå 1999. 120 pages. Reviewed by Åke Junge, Acta Borealia 21(2): 133-143 Olle Andersson: Den sista rajden. Samer berätter om livet førr. [The last trek. Saamis telling about life in previous times]. Jamtli förlag, Umeå 2002. 109 pages.Reviewed by Åke Junge, Acta Borealia 21(2): 133-143 Lars Thomasson: Ur jämtlandssamernas nutidshistoria. En mer än hundraårig kulturkamp. [The recent history of the Saamis of Jämtland. A cultural struggle lasting more than a century]. Gaaltije - sydsamisk kulturcentrum, Östersund 2002. 249 pages. Reviewed by Åke Junge, Acta Borealia 21(2): 133-143 VOLUME 21, 1-2004
Wretchedly
Poor, but Amazingly Practical: Archaeological and Experimental
Evidence on the Bone Arrowheads of the Fenni Janne P. Ikäheimo, Juha-Pekka Joona and Mikko Hietala The paper discusses two assemblages of bone arrowheads found in the excavations of a Bronze Age and an Iron Age burial site in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Arrowheads of this type are mentioned in AD 98 by Tacitus, the Roman historian, as a feature underlining the poverty of the Fenni, a tribe which has been variedly identified either as the ancestors of the Finns or the Sámi. Experiments carried out with replicas of the bone arrowheads recognized from the archaeological material, however, give evidence of objects characterized by excellent performance characteristics. Finally, based on the results of the experiments as well as on archaeological evidence regarding the distribution of these artifacts, it is suspected that the use of bone arrowheads in prehistoric Fennoscandia was more widespread than has often been thought.
Narrating the Arctic Finns: Samuli Paulaharju's Representations of the Kvens Teemu Ryymin How have the Kvens - the 18th and 19th-century Finnish-speaking migrants in Northern Norway - been represented in Finland? This article discusses the imagery of the Kvens found in the works of the Finnish author Samuli Paulaharju, one of the most influential Finnish authors engaged in the Kven question in the period between the wars. The main questions to be adressed are, firstly, why was Paulaharju interested in the Kvens? Secondly, what kind of images or representations of the Kvens did he create in his books about these "Finns of the Arctic Ocean"? Thirdly, how suitable are these books as historical sources about the Kvens?
...thought I was just a same, "Lulesame" and "lulesamisk area" as New Political and Identity-shaping Expressions Bjørg Evjen Sami is the native name of the indigenous people living in parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In Norway the Sami people consists of a number of smaller groups, but have from time immemorial been divided into two main groups, the Northern and the Southern Sami, even if they most often were referred to as Sami only. During the 1970s a new group appeared, the Lule Sami. This paper shows why and how this group obtained the status of the third official group of Sami people in Norway.
Assessing the Delimitation Negotiations between Norway and the Soviet Union/Russia Ingrid Kvalvik Norway and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) have been negotiating the boundaries between their two maritime jurisdictions in the Barents Sea for over 30 years. The negotiations revolve around boundary delimitation for the continental shelf and between the states' exclusive economic zones in the Barents Sea, dealing in particular with the rights to resources in this area. This area is rich in living marine resources as well as a potentially rich store of petroleum deposits. The placement of any boundaries can have significant economic implications for both countries, especially as the delimitation negotiations revolve around and impact the distribution of these important resources.
Book
Reviews Stepanenko, Aleksandr (ed.): Rasstrelyannaya semya (Istoricheskie ocherki o kolskikh saamakh). Murmansk 2003. 284 pages. Reviewed by Jens Petter Nielsen, Acta Borealia 21(1): 85-87 VOLUME 20, 2-2003
On
Customary Law: Inquiry into an Indigenous Rights Issue Tom G. Svensson Customary law among indigenous, or Fourth World, peoples is part of comprehensive aboriginal rights. The political aspects of customary law has lately emphasized as a strategic element of the general political agenda. As argued, this reactualization of customary law offers legitimacy to stated claims, at the same time cultural and political autonomy is reinforced. The article also attempts at certain conceptual clarification, differentiating the perspectives of anthropology and law. The contemporary Sámi rights process in Norway forms the empirical basis for the general arguments introduced. In reflecting on customary law comparatively cases from Canada, Australia and New Zealand are brought in. Finally, the significance of customary law, as pointed out, refers to recognition of difference and the acceptance of a legal pluralistic arrangement.
Assimilation of the Sami - Implementation and Consequences Henry Minde In May 2002, the Norwegian Sami Parliament discussed a motion put forward by the government of establishing a Sami people's fund as an act of reconciliation; to compensate for the state's former policy of norwegianization (assimilation). In conjunction with this case, the present article was originally written as a background paper to depict the present state of knowledge about the minority policy toward the Sami (1950-1980). The paper shows that on one hand great efforts have been made to clarify the political aspects of norwegianization towards the Sami and the Kven. One can conclude that the state's efforts to make the Sami drop their language and change the basic values of their culture and national identity have been extensive and long lasting. On the other hand, the consequences of the victims of this policy, both economically and social-psychologically, have so far been examined to a small extent. The few contemporary sources from the Sami children's encounter with the school system are used to discuss the methodology and the ethical problems in studying the consequences of the meeting between a dominant and a minority culture.
Between Mobility and Belonging: Out-migrated Young Students' Perspectives in Rural Areas in North Norway Agnete Wiborg The relationship between people and places, and the meaning of place are changing in the context of modern society. Modernist theories emphasize the free choice of individuals, their construction of individual identites and the diminishing meaning of place. The latter is related to mobility, both as practice and ideal. Discussions about modernity are generally related to urban areas, while rural areas and local communities are associated with the past and tradition. The aim here is to nuance the image of the modern, free, detached students from the rural areas in Norway studying at a regional university in a small town in Northern Norway as the empirical point of departure, how the students describe their relationship to their home place will be discussed. These descriptions will in different ways portray the kind of life they want to live, what possibilities and limitations they associate with rural areas, and how their home place is incorporated into their lives and their construction of identity. Instead of focusing on the detached individual, it is more rewarding to examine how individuals handle attachment and the changing meaning of place. Both mobility and individual freedom are central values in modern society. The values are, however, not absolute, but conditioned and must be contextualized.
"One Man's Foolishness Led to the Death of 14 Men". Norwegian Reactions to Umberto Nobile and the "Italia" Disaster Steinar Aas In the summer of 1928, the dirigible "Italia" with the Italian navigator and constructor Umberto Nobile and his crew crashed in the polar ice north of Spitzbergen. The accident triggered not only the then most extensive rescue operation ever, it also resulted in a national grievance in Norway, when the national hero Roald Amundsen vanished in the sea on his way from Norway to Spitzbergen. Amundsen was flying north to help to find his old companion. With his disapperance the Norwegian attitude towards Nobile and his fellow Italians turned from bad to worse. This unkind attitude was also strengthened when Nobile came out of the ice safe and sound after 1 month. One Norwegian paper called Nobile "a goldgallooned fascist fool", whose "insane venture had caused the whole tragedy" (Friheten 8 June 1928). Now Nobile was in safety, while Amundsen was gone forever. When the Italian ship-wrecked men came to the coastal town of Narvik in Norway to dock for the waiting train to Italy, the locals met them with hostility. Why had the usually friendly and calm Norwegians suddenly become so hostile and unkind? VOLUME 20, 1-2003
The
Touristic Construction of the "Emblematic" Sámi Kjell Olsen This article examines the representations of Sámi culture in tourism. It is argued that Sámi culture is displayed in an "emblematic" form that promotes an idea of the Sámi culture as traditional and radically different from modern Norwegian culture. This touristic way of exhibiting culture is also found in other fields than tourism, and is in danger of reinforcing clear-cut ethnic boundaries in an area that should rather be understood by concepts such as hybridity. Finally, it is discussed how this touristic way of representing indigenous culture proceeds from a reasoning also found in political discourse.
Lapp Cairns as a Source on Metal Period Settlement in the Inland Regions of Finland Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen This article presents an overview of the history of research of the so-called Lapp cairns. On the basis of the limited find material from these cairns, they are assumed to be from the archaeologically poor Iron Age period of the Finnish inland regions. The situation is similar throughout large wilderness areas in northern Europe, and in Norway is has sometimes been called the "findless period" (den funntomme perioden). Six so-called Lapp cairns excavated in central Finland in the 1980s and 1990s are discussed in detail. Three of these cairns contained sufficient amounts of burnt bone for testing the new AMS dating method of burnt bone based on crystalline carbonate on the Finnish material. As far as is known, these are the first datings of burnt bone in the Finnish material. The oldest Lapp cairn, cairn no.1 at Pyykkisaari in Viitasaari, is from the end of the Stone Age, and the other two are from the Early Metal Period. This article briefly discusses problems related to defining Lapp cairns, their age and function. The early dating of the Lapp cairns gives new topicality to the prevailing conception that the Lapp cairns resulted from the influence of the cairns of the coastal Bronae Age. The burnt bone from the oldest cairn included the remains of seal. It is possible that these fragments of bone represent relict ringed seal that lived in Lake Keitele in the past.
Industrial Pollution Discourse in the European Arctic Geir Hønneland This article reviews the environmental interface between Russia and Norway in the European Arctic, defining major discourses in the two countries pertaining to industrial pollution. Metaphors and story lines, catching certain aspects of a problem in a simple and understandable manner, are essential in defining the range for political action. Calling the Kola Peninsula a "black desert" and the clouds drifting from Russia into Scandinavia "death clouds" - largely the achievement of the media, non-governmental organizations and environmentally oriented politicians - had a substantial effect on the general public in Norway and propelled large assistant schemes to Russia. The emergence of the "death clouds discourse" coincided in time with the "Barents euphoria discourse", which held optimistic views of a general "clean up" in northwestern Russia with the help of infrastructure financed by the Nordic side. The Norwegian discourse clash with the Russian "anti-hysteria discourse", depicting the Kola Peninsula as a pristine corner of the world. The "environmental black discourse", found on both the Norwegian and the Russian side of the border, hinges on the assumption that Russian polluting enterprises have no incentive to close down activities as long as they have propects of foreign assistance. The Barents euphoria having largely vanished, alternative ensuing discourses have not significantly altered the outcomes of the original "disaster and euphoria discourses".
Threats and Threat Scenarios in the North during the Cold War Fredrik Fagertun To understand the cold war it is necessary to focus in geopolitics, geostrategy and varying threat scenarios. But it was also a conflict of ideology, in which both parties, with the USA and the Soviet-Union in front, were seeking to promote their own social constructions, based on their respective ideologies, and strengthen their political and military positions. In addition, mentalities were created that were characterized by fear, threats and enemy images, which to some extent were manifestations of the way in which the contending parties viewed themselves as well as their enemy. The present article deals with some aspects of the cold war threat scenarios that relate to the northern areas of Europe in general, and to North Norway in particular. First, it briefly discusses the concepts of "geopolitics" and "threat scenario" and makes an attempt to establish a kind of geopolitical status for the period in question. Second, it discusses "northern" threat images in the cold war, from an international perspective as well as from a national and local point of view. In dealing with the local perspective, the article also looks into the question of whether the cold war was experienced very differently, according to people's regional belonging or their social, political and professional bakgrounds.
Book Review David J. Starkey, Chris Reid and Neil Ashcroft: England's Sea Fisheries. The Commercial Sea Fisheries of England and Wales since 1300. Chatham Publishing, London 2000, 272 pages. Reviewed by Bjørn Petter Finstad in Acta Borealia 20(1):91-94 VOLUME 19, 2-2002
A Place in the Memory of Nation. Minority Policy towards the Finnish Speakers in Sweden and Norway Lars Elenius This article is devoted to an analysis of language policy towards the Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden and Norway from the end of the nineteenth century until ca. 1940. After the 1880s, the language policy in both countries turned into a nationalistic phase. The common underlying doctrine was to transmit the majority language and culture to the minorities, in order to make them melt into an imagined homogeneous national culture. The minority policy was relatively similar in character in the two countries up to the end of the First World War. After that time it started to diverge. While Norway continued with an assimilative policy without compromises, Sweden adopted a somewhat modified policy. This altered policy in Sweden was partly due to the long continuity and minority status of the Sami and Torne Valley people in the Swedish nation state, but also to elements of modernization and international political change.
When did the Pomors come to Svalbard? Tora Hultgreen One of the characteristics of the cultural landscape of Svalbard is the abundance of remnants of Russian hunting stations, in the form of house ruins, graves and large erected crosses. These are traces from Russian Pomors from the areas along the White Sea, who were hunted here over a long period of time - a period which the author makes an attempt to delimit in this article. It is known that the last Russian hunting expeditions to Svalbard were equipped from Archangel in 1851-52. Far more controversial is the issue of the actual start of hunting by Pomors in Svalbard. This issue has been hotly debated among historians and archaeologists ever since the end of the nineteenth century.
Cultural Policies on the North Calotte Trond Thuen This article discusses cultural policies in the north from a historical as well as a spatial perspective. A distinctive feature of the nation-states' policy towards northerners has been to divide them by drawing national boarders across the symmetric east-west relationships which emerged during several thousand years of interaction. As such, the presence of the nation-states represents an asymmetric dominance. Since the boarders were determined the cultural policy of the states has been to incorporate the various sections of the population into the majority through various measures of assimilation. A cultural policy of the future should have as its task to strengthen the symmetric east-west relationship at the expense of a dominating centre, and thus create a better foundation for maintaining the diversity which has always existed in the area, rather than developing a common regional identity.
Short articles: Bjarmaland Revisited Tatjana N. Jackson This article is devoted to the enigmatic Bjarmaland of the Old Norse sources. Where was Bjarmaland situated? Was there only one Bjarmaland, or were there several Bjarmalands? The author approaches these questions by going through the historical sources mentioning Bjarmaland/Biarmonia/Biarmia. Second, she analyses the reception of Bjarmaland in Russian historical literature in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, and finally, she gives her own opinion on the question of its localization, etymological origin and changing lexical content.
A Self-triggered Device to Catch Elk as Early as the Neolithic: A Study from an Archaeological and Ethnological Point of View Anders Huggert This article deals with equipment and methods used by Stone Age man in hunting elk in the extensive woodlands of interior Norrland, northern Sweden. The prevailing division into active hunting and trapping is applied. Ethnological source material is used to exemplify various ways of hunting elk. The methods discussed are: (1) active hunting on skis in winter, (2) driving the animal into an enclosure in bare ground, (3) catching in a pitfall, (4) snaring, and (5) trapping by a self-triggered spear/arrow. A rock carving at Nämforsen, Ängermanland, northern Sweden, is evidence that a self-triggered device used to catch elk with a spear or arrow was in use even in the Neolithic. It is generally known that the elk was a very important prey for Stone Age man in the forests of Norrland. This is evident from figural portrayals and food remains alike. It is easy to suspect other uses for elk, but they are difficult to prove. Occasionally, however, parts of tools made from elk antler and bone have been found. VOLUME 19, 1-2002
Letter from the Editors
The Colonization of the Russian Barents Sea Coast (Mid-19th to Early 20th Century): Two Approaches to the Economic Development of the Area Alexei Y. Yurchenko This article deals with the early colonization of the Russian Barents Sea Coast (the so-called Murman Coast) on the middle of the 19th and early 20th century. It focuses mainly on the household economy and economic adaption in the area by groups of Finnish, Russian, Karelian, Norwegian and Sami colonists. The opening up of the new territory by the colonists resulted partly in the employment of traditional methods of using natural resources and partly in the culture of these groups being transformed. Based on this, two different patterns of using natural resources were singled out within the ethnic groups that settled on the Murman Coast (western and eastern). These patterns were more suited to the new living conditions in each of the respective areas, and became the basis for different trends in the economic development of the Murman Coast.
Functional Ladles or Ceremonial Cutlery? A Cultural Biography of the Prehistoric Wooden Spoons from Finland Visa Immonen Five wooden spoons dated to the Sub-Neolithic and Bronze Age are known from Finland. Four of them have an animal head carved onto their handles. The decoration has usually been seen as a sign of the spoon's totemistic and ceremonial use. Three of the spoons are stry finds, one comes from a possible cult site and one from a dwelling site. Two spoons are made of Siberian pine, which makes them objects of trade exchange; the westernmost natural occurence of the raw material was in the Ural Mountains. Previous interpretations of the spoons have inconsistencies and rigid categorizations, whoch are reconsidered here from the perspective of cultural biographies of things. The functional aspects, ceremonial use and find contexts of the spoons are re-examined along with their connections to totemism, shamanism and ancient trade.
The Two-Wood Bow Ragnar Insulander The invention of long-range weapons has played an important role in the evolution of human culture. The evolution of the bow in particular has held a central position in this process. A recontruction of the steps by which the bow evolved is therefore of considerable interest. In this process the use of two separate types of wood, the invention of strong glues, the evolution of stiff ends, which act as levers, and the discovery of the mechanical characteristics of horn and sinew are key technical innovations. Previous research has often focused on the evolution of the horn bow, or the composite bow as it also is called. On the other hand, the type of bow that is typical of northern Asia, the two-wood bow, has attracted little interest. This paper treats the evolution of the bow in Scandinavia, with focus on the two-wood bow. To put the two-wood bow in perspective, archaeological records and rock-carvings are analysed. This study highlights some of the new aspects of the early evolution of the bow, where the two-wood bow is, for the first time, assigned an important role. It is classified as a distinct type, which, moreover, formed an important stage in the evolution of the bow.
The Russia of the Tsar and North Norway. "The Russian Danger" Revisited Jens Petter Nielsen The fear of Russia in Norway goes back far beyond the Russian Revolution. It played an important role in Norwegian-Swedish foreign policies towards Russia from the 1830s and up to 1905 (and in Norwegian conceptions of threat between 1905 and 1917 as well, although the threat seems to have been more down-played in that period) (Nielsen 1994-95). In particular, there has been a published work entitled Norsk forsvarshistorie 1814-1905 (The History of the Norwegian Defence 1814-1905) presents evidence that the conception of a Russian danger was an issue in Norwegian military considerations as far back as in the 1820s and 1830s. According to Berg, it is evident that this idea was central in Norwegian military-strategic thought in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century (Berg 2001: 112-115, 307-308). The author's purpose in this paper is to try to establish whether there was a reason for this fear, that is, if there were any plans among the Russian authorities to conquer Norwegian territory in the period between the Eidsvoll Assembly and the storming of the Winter Palace (1914-1917).
Book Reviews Aarsæther, Nils and Bærenholdt, Jørgen Ole (eds.): The Reflexive North. The Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2001, 294 pages. Reviewed by Trond Thuen, Acta Borealia 19(1): 95-100. Aarsæther, Nils and Bærenholdt, Jørgen Ole (eds.): Transforming the Local. Coping Strategies and Regional Policies. The Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2001, 204 pages. Reviewed by Trond Thuen, Acta Borealia 19(1): 95-100. VOLUME 18, 2-2001
Traditional Sami Knowledge of Predators and Swedish Environmental Policy Eivind Torp From a background in documenting traditional Sami knowledge of major predators, the author discusses the conflict of interests between Sami reindeer herding and Swedish environmental policy on the matter of governmental administration of predators. The author argues that a recognition of the fact that different standpoints and within different frames of reference is missing in today's debate in Sweden. According to the author this could lead to a situation of eco-colonialism if Sami experiences and apprehensions are not taken into account in Swedish environmental policy.
From Universal Homogeneity To Essential Heterogeneity: On The Visual Construction Of "The Lappish Race" Cathrine Baglo During the second half of the nineteenth century, a radical change took place in the representation of the Saami. Whereas physical variation ealier was insignificant to cultural representation, from then on it became the very essence of their otherness. In this paper the author relates the change in the representation of the Saami to the emergence of a modern discourse in which the comcept of "race" became central to the organization of knowledge and social practices as well as to the understanding of cultural difference. Moreover, the author tries to demonstrate how the "success" of the racial discourse was conditioned by new visual technologies.
The Displacement of Nenets Women from Reindeer Herding and the Tundra in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Northwestern Russia Tuula Tuisku "One of the biggest problems of current herding is the fact that there are only a few women on the tundra. It creates pitfalls for the normal running of reindeer herding. Soviet policy caused women to lose interest in reindeer herding", recounted a local Nenets reindeer herding administrator. Herders, both women and men, pointed out that Soviet officials effectively displaced women from reindeer herding, and claimed that this has lead to serious problems. The Nenets and Soviet approaches to the life of nomadic herders were diametrically opposed. For the Soviet state, reindeer herding entailed producing meat and hides - a purely economic action - and life on the tundra was seen as backward. The Soviet state viewed the presence of an entire family on the tundra as an obstacle to increasing production. In contrast, for the Nenets the presence if the family was a prerequisite of normal life. Soviet officials implemented a policy to end the presence of women and children at the tundra. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 this policy was abandoned, but there remain practical obstacles for the content of this policy, its impact on the Nenets reindeer herding family, and the role of women in contemporary Nenets reindeer herding.
Gerhard Schøning, Gothicism and the Re-evalution of Northern Landscapes Stian Bones Larsen In this article the author survies some central views of the north and the people living there, as it was presented by different scholars from the 16th to the 18th century. In particular, the author focus on Gerhard Schøning (1722-1780). Many historians has stressed the big influence that French Enlightenment philosophy had on Schøning. This article, however, also point to other ideas and traditions that inspired him. One is the old Swedish cultural and patriotic movement called Gothicism. Schøning did, no doubt, share many ideas with Swedish Gothicism. Even so, important factors like aesthetics, scholary orientation and religious ideas changed greatly during this period, and this effected both Gothicism and Schøning's relation to it. It is also fundamental for us to clarify these changes when trying to explain the re-evaluation of northern landscapes in the 18th century.
Debate: A Note on Ethnography & Interpretation & Imagnination by Robert Paine
Book Review Fewster, Derek (eds.): Folket: Studier i olika vetenskapers syn på begreppet folk. Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, Helsingfors 2000, 216 pages. Reviewed by Visa Immonen, Acta Borealia 18(2): 95-98 VOLUME 18, 1-2001
The tension between culture and nature. Fridtjof Nansen's understanding of the Arctic minorities Harald Dag Jølle As one reads the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen's description of the Inuit of Greenland, one sees clearly that he holds a great deal of respect for their society. The manner in which he presents his findings differs strongly from much of the anthropological and travel literature of the time. In this article, the author discusses how it is possible for us to understand Nansen's presentation of the Inuit and other Arctic people.
Trade, tribute and household responses. The archaeological excavations at Geahcevájnjárga 244 B in the Varangerfjord, Northern Norway Knut Odner During the Late Middle Ages the combined pressures from the stately tributary organizations of Novgorod and Norway, in cooperation with the capitalist organization of the German Hansa, seem to have driven the hunting population of Varanger in East Finnmark to exploit the wild reindeer resource heavily. The article deals with how a Saami household who lived in a turf house on a peninsula in the present municipality of Nesseby (Unjárga) dealt with the situation.
Creating Kvenness: Identity building among the Arctic Finns in Northern Norway Teemu Ryymin In this article the author examines some aspects of identity building among the Arctic Finns or Kvens in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s. During these decades, the Kvens started to organize themselves on ethnic lines. The main organization, Norske Kveners Forbund (the Association of Norwegian Kvens), is engaged in the creation of ethnic markers, such as a common proper name, differentiating elements of common culture, and a common history or a myth of origin. While being successful on some fronts, the strategies chosen by the Kven Association have also created conflict within the Kven community. The identity-building process and the nature of the elements used to accomplish it will be seen in relation to the movement's strategies towards the Norwegian authorities, as based on a model borrowed from the Sami movement, and related to the ongoing debate in Norway, Sweden and Finland about indigenous peoples' rights to land and water resources. Like nationalism, modern ethnic associations and networks seek to emulate a politically useful and emotionally satisfactory Gemeinchaft in a historical situation where such communities have to be created because they do not already exist (Eriksen 1993: 144).
Time-bound theories about the origin of the Finns Janne Vilkuna It is a well-known fact that the present transforms the past at least as much as the past guides the present. The origins of the Finns can be reviewed from two perspectives; firstly, in terms of how local communities explained this question at different periods, and secondly, how the nation's scholary community explained the matter. This article discusses the latter. The author stress that it simplifies the process it describes and does not rely on a wide range of research materials. It is simply meant to provoke and encourage researchers and scholars to address the social context of previous answers to the question of origin.
Review article: Yulian Konstantinov Golovnyov, Gail Osherenko: Siberian Survival. The Nenets and Their Story. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1999, 176 pages. Reviewed by Yulian Konstantinov, Acta Borealia 18(1): 81-86 Presentation of New Book about the North Vahtola, Jouko, Onnela Samuli and Aitamurto, Veikko (eds.) Turjanmeren maa, Petsamon historia 1920-1944, Petsamo-Seura r.y., Rovaniemi 1999. Presented by Jari Hautio, Acta Borelia 17(1): 125-126 Book Review Wright, Miriam: A Fishery for Modern Times. The State and the Industrialization of the Newfoundland Fishery, 1934-1968. The Canadian Social History Series, Ottawa 2001, 196 pages. Reviewed by Bjørn Petter Finstad, Acta Borealia 18(1): 87-89 VOLUME 17, 2-2000 Special issue: The Russian North - The Russian Arctic
The Russian North - The Russian Arctic From the editors
The Eastern Sámi: A short account of their history and identity Jelena Sergejeva During the last decade there has been a growing interest in the history and culture of the Eastern Sámi, but information on this subject is insufficient. In this article the author starts from the quite problematical question about the use of the term Eastern Sámi, and presents further data about the main historical milestones for the Eastern Sámi from olden times up to the end of the 20th century. Among other things, the author considers changes which happened in the structure of Eastern Sámi social life, the cultural and linguistic environment and its influence of the state borders and the state policies, and the relationship between the Sámi and the Orthodox Church. Based on this historical background, the author elucidates the issue of Eastern Sámi culture, folklore and religion. In this presentation, the inner point of view, native Sámi terms and place-names are especially emphasized.
The Ter Sámi according to the Russian census of 1858: Ethno-social characteristics Marina Kuropjatnik Census material representing the tax-paying segments of the population of the Russian Empire can be used as an empirical basis for carrying out local research in the field of ethno-social history. This article deals with ethno-social characteristics of the Ter Sámi of the Kola Peninsula, and is based in archival data from a local census report from 1858. Special attention is given to family structure, marriage preferences and the distribution of family names.
Pre-Soviet pasts of reindeer herding collectives: Ethnographies of transition on Murmansk Region Yulian Konstantinov This article summarizes observations from field studies with reindeer herders in northwest Russia (Murmansk Region) carried out between 1994 and 1999. The work has been done by living with reindeer herding crews at their seasonal tundra camps. For a large majority of the herders and their families, the concept and practices of the Soviet State Farm (sovkhoz) tend to represent not only the most desirable form for livelihood, but indeed the only conceivable, although now seriously shattered, reality. In the face of a grim present, new reinterpretations of the sovkhos are constantly being tried out. The pool of options is found in pre-Soviet traditions and tends to reveal links between the Sámi pogost (sijt) social organisation and practices and those of the Soviet and post-Soviet reindeer-herding crew (brigada). The article pursues these connections and discusses the sovkhos not as destroying all previous tradition, but as drawing from and incorporating pre-Soviet pasts. The underlying continuity with such pasts may explain the tenacity of the sovkhos concept in this particular Arctic setting and, possibly, in a variety of others.
The Civil War in Northern Russia, 1918-1920 Vladislav Goldin In this article, the author takes a regional approach to the history of the Civil War in Northern Russia, viewing it in the broader context of the other local and regional civil wars that occurred more or less simultaneously throughout Russia. The authors re-examination of the history of the Civil War in northern Russia is based on a careful study of recent Russian and Western literature on the subject, collections of newspapers published at the time, and material from 18 Russian archives.
Who were these brave men? Personnel of the Russian and Norwegian polar expeditions in 1890-1917 Svetlana A. Khorkina A polar expedition is a small closed society, isolated from the rest of the world in the ice desert. The duration of such a trip is very unpredictable: it can last several winters. Severe weather conditions, darkness, monotonous nutrition, diseases and even death make demands on the physical and mental health of expedition members. Discipline, patience and the ability to co-operate are also important factors for any normal working polar expedition. Due to this, the selection of the staff has always been very important for every polar explorer or institution which planned to equip an ideal team for a polar expedition to the Arctic. We can find different traditions and visions of the ideal team for a polar expedition in different countries. In this article, the author intends to compare the organizational structure and staff of the Russian and the Norwegian expeditions from 1890-1917 and to illuminate the specific features of the Norwegian and Russian patterns of selecting people for their expeditions.
Book Reviews Bulatov, Vladimir N.: Russkij Sever, Vols. 1-3, Izdatel'stvo Pomorskogo Universiteta, Archangel 1997-99, 352 + 352 + 336 pages. Reviewed by Jens Petter Nielsen, Acta Borealia 17(2): 106-108 Gennadij, P. Popov and Davydov, Ruslan A.: Murman. Ocerki istorii kraja. Rossijskaja akademija nauk, Ekaterinburg 1999, 223 pages. Reviewed by Jens Petter Nielsen, Acta Borealia 17(2): 109-111 Shepherd, D.J: Funerary Ritual and Symbolism. An Interdisciplinary Interpretation of Burial Practices in Late Iron Age Finland, BAR International Series 808, Oxford 1999, 133 pages, 19 maps. Reviewed by Charlotte Damm, Acta Borealia 17(2): 103-105 VOLUME 17, 1-2000
The Saami between East and West in the Middle Ages: An archaeological contribution to the history of reindeer breeding Thomas Wallerström When did pastoral reindeer breeding emerge out of utilizing the reindeer as a decoy and means of transport? Where? Under what circumstances? Why was this form of economy significant for Saami communities which belonged to the Swedish trade network and not to the contemporary Danish-Norwegian or Russian ones? The problem is illuminated here using social anthropological theory and historical-archaeological evidence. Prerequisites for nomadism are economic reserves, e.g. silver, and regular contact with other economies. Thus, the Saami's silver accumulation, monetization and emerging external economical networks in the north are considered relevant to the problem, as well as ancient remains that surely represent pastoral reindeer breeding or new ways of using the environment. Pite and/or Luleå lappmark and adjacent parts of northern Norway are probably where reindeer pastoralism emerged. It seems to be of late medieval origin (15th century?), though its expansion principally is post-medieval. The economic network established by the Swedish Crown in the Gulf of Bothnia in the 14th century, with the so-called bircarlians (Sw. birkarlar) as middlemen in contacts with the interior parts of northern Fennoscandia, appears to have been of principal importance. This network was rendered more effective from the 17th century onward, a time when reindeer pastoralism became more and more significant. The article also illuminates how a group in the periphery came to be so important for the territorial definition of states, in this case Sweden, Denmark-Norway and Russia, and how opportunities for royal governance were created. The interpretation of the so-called stallo (stalo) sites is also discussed.
The quest for cod: Some causes of fishing conflicts in the North Atlantic Jon Th. Thór This article presents an historical overview of the role played by the North Atlantic cod fisheries in shaping the relations between two ecological zones: a fish-surplus zone in the north and a fish-deficient zone in the south. As production changed from a predominantly subsistence-based economy to one of market orientation, fierce competition developed between national fleets and trading companies when the quest for cod increased due to demographic and climatic changes. The introduction of highly efficient technologies since the latter half of the 19th century has caused servere over-exploitation in certain parts of the North Atlantic region and encouraged the fish-producing states to nationalise cod resources by extending their boarder extensively, thus generating inter-state conflicts known as "cod wars".
A church at Lycksele and a sacrificial site on Altaberget - the two worlds of the Saami Anders Huggert In 1606-07 a church was built in Umbyn in Ume lappmark, more precisely beside Lycksele in Umeälven. Twenty kilometres away and likewise in the territory of Umbyn, the author has discovered an important sacrificial site is compared with other known examples. Principally, however, an attempt is made to throw light on the shift in religion among the Saami in this part of Ume lappmark. It appears that the sacrificial site was still in use in the middle of the 18th century. At that time the Saami lived in two worlds, one official and the other hidden in the Saami environment.
The revival of rituals among the Sakha-Yakut and the Hokkaido Ainu Takako Yamada The revival of rituals has been one of the serious concerns of indigenous peoples. This paper deals with cultural revitalization movements among the Sakha-Yakut in eastern Siberia and the Ainu in Hokkaido. First, it examines the revival of rituals among the Sakha. The relationship between recent cultural revitalization movements and shamanism in a broad sense, as well as the revival of rituals, focusing especially on the ysyakh festival, are examined, and the motivation for this revival is discussed. Second, the cultural revitalization movements among the Ainu after the Second World War and the recent revival of their rituals are described and the motivation for it discussed. Finally, the paper compares the revival of rituals among these two different ethnic groups and discusses its significance.
Book Reviews Anttonen, Marjut: Etnopolitiikkaa Ruijassa. Suomalaislähtöusen väestön identiteettien politisoituminen 1990-luvulla. Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Vammala 1999, 521 pages. Reviewed by Renè Gothòni, Acta Borealia 17(1): 123-124 Hønneland, Geir and Jørgensen, Anne-Kristin: Integration vs. Autonomy: Civil-Military Relations on the Kola Peninsula, Aldershot, Ashgate, England 1999, 200 pages. Reviewed by Yulian Konstantinov, Acta Borealia 17(1): 117-122
VOLUME 16, 2-1999 Special issue: Research at the Arctic Centre
Introduction: Acta Borealia Special Issue on Research at the Arctic Centre Janne Hukkinen and Richard Langlais
Sami subsistence activities - Spatial aspects and structuration Elina Helander In the social sciences, spatial aspects of reality have been rediscovered. I will use certain concepts to describe and clarify the spatial organization of Sami subsistence activities. In this paper, ptarmigan trapping is taken as an example of "situated activities" which, according to Anthony Giddens, characterizes social systems. The siida as old hunting territory is also discussed. I will show that the Sami notions of place are not fixed in temporal and spatial terms. Moreover, I want to emphasize the dynamics of Sami subsistence activities. My claim is that they act as re/producers of Sami traditional ways. These traditions are undermined by the overall mission of the state and its agents of power. Still, the perdurability of the Sami subsistence hunters and their activities help to maintain and develop the old Sami ways in terms of spatiality and social organization.
The effectiveness of Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Process - a case study if the projected Sierilä hydropower station at Oikarainen, Northern Finland Arja Huttunen One of the most difficult challenges in environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the effectiveness of public participation. This article addresses this question by looking at evaluation criteria applied during the EIA process for northern Finnish hydropower project. The problematics of public participation is discussed in connection with the EIA process and social impact assessment for the projected Sierilä hydropower station in the village of Oikarainen, near Rovaniemi, in northern Finland, during which the local population has been viewed as not being sufficiently competent as the project developer, Kemijoki Ltd. Nevertheless, carrying out an EIA seems to be starting point in the long-term process of increasing the effectiveness of public participation and the influence of local communities on hydropower planning processes in Finland.
Human Environmental Interactions in Upper Lapland, Finland: Development of Participatory Research Strategies Ludger Müller-Wille and Janne Hukkinen The paper outlines strategies for participatory research by comparing the results of a participatory workshop on research needs in human-environmental interaction in Finnish Lapland with an analysis of official Finnish policy documents on the same subject. The workshop was organized in Anár/Inari, Finland in October 1997 as part of the Human Environmental Interactions theme (HEI) of the European Commission's Arctic-Alpine Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Initiative (ARTERI). The mandate of ARTERI was to develop research themes and encourage their implementation to allow for discussions among local residents, natural and social scientists, and policy-makers concerned with environmental protection and management in arctic and alpine regions of Europe. The objective of the Anár/Inari workshop was to discuss central issues of human-environmental interaction in the region in a participatory mode with local interest groups, generate alternative scenarios for the region, and develop research and development project proposals on the basis of the scenarios. The paper discusses the scenarios and the project proposals that the workshop developed, and compares them with the official Finnish policies on forestry and reindeer management in Lapland. From methodological and theoretical perspectives, the workshop was a unique empirical setting within which to investigate the dynamic interaction between traditional and modern knowledge sets on human-environmental interaction. From the policy perspective, the comparison of workshop recommendations and official policies offers valuable indications for future directions in participatory policy-making in the region and novel ways of balancing the conflicting demands on environmental resources, such as reindeer management, forestry, and tourism.
Total security as threat: The blurring of hard and soft security in northern Europe Richard Langlais Part of the rapid change in thinking about security and security policy is occuring in northern Europe. Notions of "hard" and "soft" security are being implemented, most notably in the Visby Process of the Baltic Sea states. These variations of national security also interact with those of the United States and NATO. The direction of US security policy is called "total security" in the paper. The content of US policy is discussed as a contradiction of the basis for identifying hard and soft security. The blurring of these concepts contributes to the threatening character of total security. Implementation of measures to ensure total security involves the creation of pervasive and comprehensive intelligence gathering mechanisms that, because of their lack of sharply defined targets, has the potential for threatening the security of individuals for the sake of preserving national security.
Presentations of New Books about the North Heininen, Lassi and Lassinanti, Gunnar (eds.): Security in the European North: From "Hard" to "Soft", Arctic Centre Reports No. 32, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland 1999. Presented by Richard Langlais, Acta Borealia 16(2): 81-82 Jentoft, S.: Commons in a Cold Climate: Coastal Fisheries and Reindeer Pastoralism in North Norway - The Co-Management Approach, Man and the Biosphere Series Vol. 22, series editor J.N.R. Jeffers, UNESCO (Paris) and Parthenon (New York), 1998. Presented by Richard Langlais, Acta Borealia 16(2): 82 Petersen, Hanne and Poppel, Birger (eds.): Dependency, Autonomy, Sustainability in the Arctic, Aldershot, Ashgate, England 1999. Presented by Richard Langlais, Acta Borealia 16(2): 81 VOLUME 16, 1-1999
Sailing boats in Padjelanta: Sámi rock engravings from the mountains in Laponia, Northern Sweden Tim Bayliss-Smith and Inga-Maria Mulk Six figures of boats, four of them large sailing boats, have been found scratched on an outcrop of soapstone at a site in a mountain valley at about 700m altitude in Padjelanta, northern Sweden. In addition some human figures and a harnessed reindeer are depicted. An iconic resemblance exists between aspects of the Padjelanta sailing boats (e.g. hull shape, side rudders, anchor, sails) and the larger boats used by farmers or traders in the fjords of north Norway, c. 800-1300 AD. In the Iron Age and Medieval periods, the Padjelanta region was used by the Mountain Sámi for wild reindeer hunting within an economy that became increasingly focused on the fur trade. The consequent interaction between Mountain Sámi, Coastal Sámi and the Nordic population in the outer fjords provides one contexts fir the depiction by Sámi of these sailing boats. However, the boat figures may also have served a symbolic purpose in connection with Sámi shamanism and beliefs connected to the spirits of the dead.
The witch-hunt in early modern Finnmark Rune Hagen In the Norwegian context, the persecution of accused witches and sorcerers in 17th-century Finnmark was distinguished by its scale, form and motivation. The author's concern in this article is to discuss the scale of the witch-hunt, and to introduce some of the people who were involved in this vast and brutal persecution. At the end of the article, the author draws attention to what was specific to the witch trials in Finnmark. Some of the focus will be placed on diabolism and learned demonology, which the author considers to be a distinctive feature related to the pattern of witch-hunt in this region.
"Reindeer theft"? Notes on how a culture is put at odds with itself Robert Paine This article directs attention to one aspect of the Saami pastoral discontent in Finnmark today. A general feature of the current situation is the way in which Norwegian legal and administrative codes and procedures overlay "traditional" Saami understandings: hence the suggestion that the pastoral culture is now "at odds with itself". The specific illustration is the way "reindeer theft" has become the label for a destructive force among pastoralists themselves and is taken by the state as further evidence of the need for its control over pastoral affairs. The thesis is that the pastoralists are fast losing the use of reindeer to mediate social relations within the framework of a distributive regulatory system. What today are all too likely perceived as - and sometimes are - "criminal", "illegal" acts, were - aside from unadorned acts if theft - earlier intended and received as finely calibrated messages with moral and political implications.
Reindeer-herding and the call for sustainability in the Swedish mountain region Eivind Torp Reindeer herding in Scandinavia has in recent years been studied as a common-pool resource problem. In such studies the size of the herds are often analysed in relation to issues like economics, demography, and technology. In this article the author discusses the size of reindeer herds in relation to social and organizational issues in the light of experiences from an environmental assessment.
"Culture alone will not put bread on the table." The many facets of the debate of preservation of Sami culture Seija Tuulentie The idea of preserving minority cultures is widely shared in Western nation-states. Concrete application of this idea is, however, surprisingly difficult, and sophisticated rhetoric is used in discussions related to the issue. In the 1980s and 1990s three laws dealing with the rights of the Sami people were proposed in Finland. Three discourses related to defining the concept of Sami culture in this context are identified here: first, diminishing differences, with an emphasis on equality; second, emphasis on national obligations and the cultural wealth of the majority society; and third, the rhetorical tool of dividing principle and application. The definition of Sami culture varies in different contexts, and in some cases there is even a danger of treating it as a substitute for the concept of race.
Expeditions to Sámi territories. A History of the studies of the Kola Sámi in the 1920s-1930s Marina Kuropjatnik This article is devoted to the history of the expeditions to the Kola Sámi in the 1920s-1930s and is based especially on previously unknown archival materials. Special attention is paid to the correlation between Sámi research program and the internal political life in Russia at the time. The fate of some of the Kola Sámi investigators, D. Zolatarev, V. Carnoluskij, and V. Alymov, is described.
Book Reviews Culhane, Dara: The Pleasure of the Crown: Anthropology, Law and First Nations, Talon Books, Vancouver 1998, 407 pages. Reviewed by Richard Daly, Acta Borealia 16(1): 125-129 Hagen, Rune and Sparboe, Per Einar (eds.): Lilienskiold, Hans H.: Trolldom og ugudelighet i 1600-tallets Finnmark. University of Tromsø, Ravnetrykk no.18, Tromsø 1998. 312 pages. Reviewed by Ellen Alm, Acta Borealia 16(1): 130-134
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