This is not a wilderness. This is where we live.

267 Pages·2013·4.24 MB·English

“This is not a wilderness. This is where we live.”
Enacting nature in Unjárga-Nesseby, Northern Norway

Stine Rybråten

Dissertation submitted for the partial fulfilment of the Ph.D. degree,
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo,
June 2013
Acknowledgements

This thesis is the result of several demanding but also rewarding years of research, and its
completion is due, in great measure, to the invaluable contributions I have received from
many people and several institutions.
Firstly, I want to express my gratitude to the people in Unjárga-Nesseby for their great
hospitality and for including me in the life of the community as well as the outfields. For all
the activities and stories shared with me during my stay, and all the help I have received when
writing up and analysing my data, I am deeply thankful.
I would also like to thank Unjárga-Nesseby municipality and Varjját Sámi Musea
(VSM) for providing me with work places in friendly environments during my year of
fieldwork. At VSM I was further given the opportunity to lead a small project that prolonged
my stay, and upon returning to the museum last year as an employee, I was given the
possibility to work part time, in order to complete my thesis. For this Kjersti Schanche and
Mia Krogh deserve special thanks.
During the years that I have been a PhD student, Professor Marianne Elisabeth Lien at
the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, has been my highly valued
supervisor. For her analytical insights, availability, enthusiasm, thoroughness and generosity I
am deeply indebted. Her own work has further served as constant inspiration for my
theoretical reflections. Dr. Grete K. Hovelsrud has also been profoundly influencial in the
development of my PhD research. As both my second supervisor and research leader at
CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo, my workplace
during my PhD years, she has shared her rich knowledge and provided invaluable support and
encouragement throughout the whole process.
In following the educational PhD program at the Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Oslo, several people at SAI have provided various kinds of irreplaceable
assistance over the years. Among my fellow students, I am particularly grateful for the
cooperation and friendship of Maria Øyen, Cecilie Nordfelt, David Ramslien, Ingrid Smette
and Celine Loades. Furthermore, heartfelt thanks goes to Gro Ween, Knut Nustad and Ásdís
Jónsdóttir for all the inspiring conversations, and for kindly providing perceptive comments to
iii
earlier versions of three of the chapters. Professor Kjersti Larsen at the Department of
Ethnography, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, generously offered to read and
comment upon the first draft of my thesis, and her insightful suggestions and constructive
critique provided an essential aid and guidance throughout the thesis revision. For this I am
deeply grateful.
During my time at CICERO I have benefited from professional collaboration and
social interaction with good colleagues across academic disciplines. In particular, I want to
thank Helene Amundsen, Jennifer West, Torben Mideksa, Jeremy White, Halvor Dannevig,
Trude Rauken, Bob van Oort, Sigrid Rian Song, Erlend Hermansen, Marianne Karlsson,
Armando Lamadrid and Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie for stimulating discussions and enjoyable
company. I also want to thank former colleague Winfried Dallman for clearing time in his
busy schedule to assist me in customizing maps of particular relevance for my thesis.
My PhD fellowship was granted by the Research Council of Norway, as part of the
Community Adaptation and Vulnerability in Arctic Regions research consortium. My
participation in CAVIAR provided me with valuable knowledge, information and inspiration
from the activities it occasioned, including community meetings, multidisciplinary workshops
and conferences. It also opened the opportunity for a three month visit to the Department of
Geography, University of Guelph, where I was generously welcomed by Professor Barry Smit
and his research team in the Global Environmental Change Group. This stay was financially
supported by UNIFOR through the Ella and Robert Wenzins endowment.
I am genuinely thankful for Jeremy White’s flexible availability and skilful proof
reading of the draft version of this thesis. In addition to significantly improving my English,
he has offered valuable editorial comments and useful suggestions for all chapters.
Furthermore, inspiring discussions evolved during the process, making the text exchange a
great experience and a lot of fun. I also want to thank Katrine Trane Nilsen, Mihkku Solbakk,
Aage Solbakk and Øystein Nilsen for their time spent checking and correcting my Sámi
spelling. Any errors and omissions to be found in the thesis remain my responsibility.
In my final phase of writing, Jorunn Jernsletten and Kjersti Schanche contributed
valuable input to two chapters that I found myself struggling to complete. Thank you so
much.
Family and friends have been wonderfully supportive during my time as a PhD
student. In particular, I want to thank Dagmar Trane, my mother in law, for all practical help
during the last year of intensive writing. A special thank also goes to Marianne Aasen, for not
only sharing the highs and lows of being a PhD student and commenting on earlier drafts of
iv
several chapters, but also for invaluable friendship and encouragement. Your wonderful
personality and wise words made rough times easier to deal with and good times even more
joyful. My parents, Bente Høyer and Svein Rybråten have, as always, shown unwavering
encouragement and support. I am sincerely grateful that you, time and time again, are ready to
travel 2000 km, or whatever it takes, to help out and be near. My brother Jonas is a constant
inspiration due to his impressive ability to combine determination and hard work with total
relaxation. Thank you also for re-convincing me that those tough moments always pass.
Last, and most importantly, I want to thank Geir for immeasurable support, for always
being there and for letting me be who I am. Without you constituting such a firm part of our
Team PhD, I would never have made it to the end. And Isak: Thank you for continuously
reminding me about the most important things in life.

v
vi
Table of contents

Acknowledgements iii
Table of contents vii
List of illustrations ix
Note on languages and words xi
1. Nature and the North – an introduction 13
2. Unjárga-Nesseby – Spatial and temporal trajectories 33
3. Methodology 57
4. “This is not a wilderness. This is where we live” –
On outfield belonging 77
5. Enacting nature(s) in seasons of snow 99
6. Enacting nature(s) between snowmelt and snowfall 141
7. Food, living resources and the in-betweens of wild and tame 183
8. Stories of environment transitions –
Enacting nature(s) through talk and texts 213
9. Multiple natures 243
References 249
Appendix 1 267

vii
viii
List of illustrations

Figures
Figure 1: Map of Sápmi 34
Figure 2: Map of Eastern Finnmark 34
Figure 3: Map of Unjárga-Nesseby municipality 35
Figure 4: Map of Finnmarksløpet 119

Pictures
Picture 1: The harbour with the curch in the background 37
Picture 2: Houses by the fjord 38
Picture 3: Anna demonstrating the making of a ptarmigan snare 112
Picture 4: Trapped ptarmigan 116
Picture 5: Two mushers and dog teams arriving at the checkpoint 121
Picture 6: Spectators at the checkpoint 122
Picture 7: Ice fishing at Suovvejávri/Bergebyvann 127
Picture 8: From the catch of the day 130
Picture 9: Fishing vessels in the harbour 132
Picture 10: Gutting cod 137
Picture 11: Fishing for salmon 149
Picture 12: Picking blueberries 153
Picture 13: Tor and the sheep 164
Picture 14: Heading for the village 166
Picture 15: In the corral 171
Picture 16: Observing females and calves 175
Picture 17: Area with dead dwarf birch (Betula nana) and heath 224

Tables
Table 1: List of names on animals and plants mentioned in the thesis 267

ix
x