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Thesis.Pdf (1.658Mb) Faculty of Humanities, Social Science and Education Symbolic and Embodied Involvements in a Landscape A Ski Ethnography of Käsivarsi, Finnish Lapland — Tiia Helena Grøn Master thesis in Visual Cultural Studies May 2016 i ii Symbolic and Embodied Involvements in a Landscape: A ski Ethnography of Käsivarsi, Finnish Lapland By Tiia Helena Grøn Master of Philosophy in Visual Cultural Studies Department of Archeology and Social Anthropology Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway SVF-3903 From Fieldwork Experience to Ethnographic film and text Spring 2016 Supervised by associate professor Bjørn Arntsen iii iv Abstract This thesis is about a wilderness-area in Finnish Lapland, people that dwell there and how they perceive the place. The idea of ‘wilderness’ in the socio-cultural context of this research does not exclude human-involvement and one might get surprised by how much social life that includes. The area is used by many tourists and some locals for recreation. At the same time the Saami have their reindeer’s pastures in the area. I did my fieldwork in the middle of the wilderness-area by one of the small huts that provide shelter for the hikers. Through participant observation and film I followed the life of this place with the focus on the group of skiers. The huts are important meeting-places as the skiers create a symbolic community among them. In the hut, people can share experiences, stories and advices with each other. The topics of discussion concern almost exclusively Lapland and hiking. In these social situations, images about the place are produced and reproduced. However, to be able to participate in these conversations, one must roam the mountains and get to know it by feet and by heart. In the movement along the journey, following the paths, perception occurs. I discuss how engaging in the landscape through activity creates belonging and how this makes people perceive the place. The wilderness-area of Käsivarsi is an important place for many and the same people return there year after year. Both the embodied and the symbolic aspects of the being in this environment are significant in the constitution of the place. Keywords: Finland, Lapland, Place-studies, Dwelling, Landscape, Perception of the environment, Nature. v vi Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible to do without all the help I have received. Living in a tent in winter, far away from the comforts of the everyday life, is challenging and I would not have managed it by myself. My dear Hans-Henrik, thank you for your excellent outdoor-skills and for your support and help through my whole studies. A big thanks to Juhani Roimaa and Kolström Oy. for providing us with a snowmobile. Many thanks to everybody else who helped with the practicalities of the field-trip. I am grateful to my parents for all the help and support. Thank you, dad, for taking me to this place already when I was a child and thank you for all the inspiration! Adam Herd, thank you for the great work you did proofreading this thesis. I would like to thank everybody at Visual Cultural studies for creating an atmosphere where writing a master thesis is not a lonely process. Lisbet Holtedahl, thank you for your heart and life’s work for this program. My dear class mates, Eline, Boyka, Gintare, Gil, Pernian, Mireille, Nathalie, thank you for good company and always being cheerful and helpful. My supervisor, Bjørn Arntsen, thank you for being motivating and supportive and giving me good advices from the beginning to the end of this project. A big thanks to everybody I met in the mountains. There is no other place where I have met so many friendly and helpful people. Thank you for good moments and conversations in the hut, in our camp, by the fishing hole and on the skiing track. vii viii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................................... vii 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Fieldwork context .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Personal motivation ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Methodological Perspectives ................................................................................................................................... 5 Access and positioning ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Anthropology at home .................................................................................................................................................. 8 My methods ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 The film and the text ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 3. Theoretical Approach ............................................................................................................................................... 11 Making oneself at home in the world: Dwelling ................................................................................................ 11 Senses of place .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Landscape and the visual ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Summary of the chapter ............................................................................................................................................. 15 4. Use and Perception of the Wilderness Area of Käsivarsi ........................................................................... 16 Feet on the ground: Perceiving with skis on ........................................................................................................ 17 Do not pass by your luck: The senses of belonging .......................................................................................... 19 Different wishes: Affordance and effectivity ...................................................................................................... 21 Dimensions and distances ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Sitting is doing .............................................................................................................................................................. 25 On a highway to Halti: Paths and routes............................................................................................................... 26 Summary of the chapter ............................................................................................................................................. 30 5. Together in the Wilderness: The Symbolic Community............................................................................. 31 “It is not about what you do, but who you are”: The idea of sameness ...................................................... 33 The hut: A safe and social haven ............................................................................................................................ 35 Wilderness-identities ................................................................................................................................................... 39 Have you heard? The news agency of the fells .................................................................................................. 43 The spring-skiing-trip as a ritual ............................................................................................................................. 46 Symbolic involvements in a landscape ................................................................................................................. 52 6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 54 7. Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................................ 57 8. References ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 ix x 1. Introduction In Finnish Lapland, there is a place that people long for and live for. It is the wilderness area of Käsivarsi. I will soon introduce the place in greater detail and my hope is that the reader will get to know it intimately by the end of this
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