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