Case Study of Vormsi Island

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Effects of the presence of the temporary residents on permanent residents lives – case study of Vormsi island

Carina Ausdal Barun Khanal Janika Raun Grete Ruberg

Pärnu 2014 Table of contents

1. Introduction ...... 3 2. Towards a theory of grounding ...... 4 2.1 A place as a meaningful area ...... 4 2.2 Sense of place ...... 5 2.3 "Us" and "Them" ...... 5 2.4 Visual method ...... 6 3. Case study area ...... 8 4. Methodology ...... 11 4.1 Counting village population ...... 11 4.2 Interviews ...... 12 4.3 Visual analysis ...... 12 5. Analysis and interpretation ...... 14 5.1 Population counting ...... 14 5.2 Local land use and landscape ...... 17 5.3 "Us" and "Them" ...... 19 5.4 Meaning of place and belonging ...... 20 5.5 Visual analyse – „spirit“ of the place ...... 21 6. Discussion about methods used ...... 31 7. Conclusion ...... 33 8. References ...... 35 Appendix ...... 37 Appendix 1...... 38 Appendix 2 ...... 39

1. Introduction

Second home phenomenon has gained more importance during the last decades due to the increasing mobility and lifestyle changes. According to Sheller and Urry (2006) there has been formulated a concept of “new mobilities paradigm” due to the rapid developments in technology. Besides physical movements the virtual movements and opportunities have gained more importance. Hence we do not need to physically switch places and we can work from longer distances. This also increases the wish to have a second home in some peaceful and beautiful areas e.g along coastline.

In this report, we begin our work by presenting research that has examined location, locale and sense of place, and its relationship related to second home population and locals discourse. We describe the history and the population of case study area and the methodologies we used. Then we analyse these concepts with the material from the second home phenomena in three villages Kersleti, Rälby and Borrby located in Vormsi island in Western Estonia. Under discussion we argue the methodological issues we had and the last chapter concludes the result and work we have done.

The main aim of this research is to find out how does the presence of summer residents affects the lives of the permanent residents in Vormsi? To reach the goal three research sub-questions were formulated: 1. In what ways do the physical location matter for the situation of second home presence in Vormsi? 2. How do the permanent residents feel about the potential material effects due to the presence of summer residents? 3. Has and if then how is the feeling of belonging and identity of permanent residents affected by any of the aspects due to the presence of summer residents?

2. Towards a theory of grounding

In a larger process in which the rural is changing through the continuing globalization and modernization, the focus on second housing may be a way for rural areas to adapt to this change. Woods (2005) points out that because of major changes in the rural economy, there have also been changes in areas that previously was used for agriculture, in that way that they are now for example being used within the tourism sector. In a larger sense this means that rural societies have shifted “from landscapes of production to landscapes of consumption” (Cloke, 2006, p. 19). The literature describes this as a way to adapt to a restructuring process, and also as a way of commodifying rural places in the post-modern era (Woods, 2005). Tourism in general may represent many important values in a community, and especially second housing have the potential to bring both physical and more material contributions to some places. This can generate both opportunities and challenges for the local communities, and potentially affect the permanent citizens in different ways.

The second home phenomenon bears a rural character with the majority of the owners from the cities, creating movement between the urban and the rural. Second home mobility represents a large part of leisure behaviour in many developed countries, and “with second-home mobility, we refer to the use of a second home, which requires a journey between the primary home and the second home” (Ellingsen & Hidle, 2013, p. 4/251). This also creates a contributory effect of interactions between places, and especially the rural tends to be affected by the urban, and the importance of place may be questioned. In our case, however, the island of Vormsi seems rather untouched by the continuing movement and modernization that is going on, but is it really? We wish to investigate how the presence of temporary citizens affects the lives of the permanent citizens, both through the feeling of identity and belonging and through potential effects from material changes due to the presence of second home owners. In addition to this we will stress the relevance that physical location may have for the situation, and how it might help us to understand why the situation occurred in the first place. In this chapter we will introduce theory that stresses the importance of place, and in order to emphasize rural space as a socially produced set of manifolds “it seems fruitful to bring together material and imaginative conceptions of rural space through their intersections in particular practices” (Cloke, 2006, p. 24). A place can be seen is a meaningful area that combines the three aspects of “location”, “locale” and “sense of place”, and this is our main theoretical perspective for the research.

2.1 A place as a meaningful area

How places affect us and how people relate to these places is something that concerns us as geographers. The place is more than just a physically defined area, it is also a place with meaning and relationships (Holt-Jensen, 2007), and the place consists of and links together three realms: “location”, “locale” and “sense of place”. "Location" refers to the physical location, an

4 absolute point with a specific set of coordinates and measurable distances from other places, and refers to where the particular place is (Woods, 2005). Vormsi, which is our study area, is an island located in the Baltic Sea. Because of this location most of the tourists come here during the summer season for leisure activities. The second homes are also of great importance to the local community. What you associate with a place is often what stands out, what makes this place special (Holloway and Hubbard, 2001). It may include physical characteristics such as its landscape, architecture, buildings or infrastructure, or cultural characteristics associated with tradition, national pride or cultural norms. The meaning marks the most obvious difference between 59°00'N 23°13'E, which represents the location only, and "Vormsi", which gives more information and associations, is the place that occupies that position. The idea of the meaning has long been central to notions of place in human geography, and you can say that the location became the place when it became meaningful. The term "locale" refers to the meaning and the material settings of social relations, such as buildings, streets, parks and other visible and tangible aspects of a place (Woods, 2005). It refers to the visual picture and what the place looks like and what it consists of. We ascribe places with meaning and a sense of belonging, and we have relationships with other people in a place. This means that places are part of our identity and how we define ourselves as human beings.

2.2 Sense of place

Yi-Fu Tuan are one of those who made some of the most influential contributions to the theorizing of the term "sense of place", and made sure it got an important place in the discipline of geography (Berg & Dale, 2004). In the book Space and place: the perspective of experience (1977), Yi-Fu Tuan argues that space becomes place when one becomes more familiar with it and acquires its’ value. By this he means that it is only when the room is experienced, that it becomes a place. The way of understanding a place through "sense of place" refers to the subjective, experiential aspect of the place and is linked to a slightly more vague meaning attached to a place, such as feelings and emotions that a place evokes. These meanings can be individual and based on personal biography, or they can be shared. Shared "sense of place" is based on communication and representation (Berg & Dale 2004, Holt-Jensen 2009).

2.3 "Us" and "Them"

Places and the practices that are carried out in a place are always bound up with forms of collective identity. Tilly (2002) argues that politics largely revolves around building shared stories or narratives, about how it occurs boundaries between "us" and "them", and what distinguishes them from each other and what kind of power relations that keep them in place. Such identities are not based on solid material interests, but are created and established primarily in connection with structures of meaning and constructed through inter-subjective relationships.

A person that is permanently living in Vormsi, will have an associated identity and go under the term "local resident". This establishes a "we-them" limit, where other permanent residents are part of the "we", while those who do not have a permanent home, but only live there temporarily, will be part of the "them". This action is made possible by having a certain set of identities available, while limited by the varying availability of identities (Tilly, 2002). Such a grouping may create consequences or set guidelines for what we in this paper wants to examine; how the presence of “invisible citizens” affects the permanent citizens that live in Vormsi.

2.4 Visual method

There are several studies in human geography about people and the impacts that they bring to certain location, and the feelings they have towards the place. However, there is a definite need to combine approaches that brings visible form of empirical information to theories and methods in order to understand the “what” and “how” of the peoples engagements. This calls for using the best approaches from both areas of imagery research and social geography.

Visual representation of situations and things we see in a place seems to be essential also from the idea that objects are connected to one another across time and space, so that change in one place may produce change in another place (Shim & Nabers, 2013). Things that happen, or the experience of people in remote villages, will, according to this approach, influence “others”, no matter if the result or understanding is immediate or not. Visual methods are one of the “principal ways in which news from distant places is brought home” (Campbell, 2007). Apart from its capability to effectively convey message through graphical form, visual representation like photos and videos of certain phenomena has been more easily interpreted and has had strong emotional impact than other forms.

The concept of ‘place’ is more than a location, and relates to “those fragment of human environments where meanings, activities and a specific landscapes are all implicated and enfolded with each other’s” (Relph, 1992: 37). Sense, emotions and stories plays important roles in the conceptualization of place, and the geographer Gillian Rose (1995) observed that “places are infused with meanings and feeling” (p. 88). The method that we use in this research is a process proposed by Goodwin (2000) as a methodologies and forms of analysis to investigate visual phenomena within conversation analysis. This method helps in analysing visual images with the help of several observations made in different level. 1. Focus of analysis is not only visual events, but rather analysis of actions that happens during the interaction with participants. In our case, the interaction process happened during interviews, and the observations that was possible in that time. 2. Analysis is not to provide meaningful phenomena but demonstrate participants activity and use them as engagement activity. 3. A static snapshot only signifies single structural possibility.

4. Analysis requires data of much information as possible about the setting, and information relating to space. 5. Transcription of interviews is based on analyzing relevant speech during interviews.

3. Case study area

Vormsi is an island that is situated in West-Estonian archipelago and is part of Lääne County (figure 1). It is the 4th largest island in Estonia covering 93 km2 and forming an independent municipality with its' centre in Hullo village. Direct distance between Hullo and the county center Haapsalu is 25 km. Connection with the mainland is organized by ferry that commutes between Rohuküla and Sviby harbors. When conditions allow iceroad is used for transportation during the winter (VVÜP, 2004).

Figure 1. The location of Vormsi island

Vormsi has unique history. First people settling on island were Swedes, who arrived here on 13th century. Primary settlers were descendants of Swedish fisherman and farms. In year 1721 Sweden gave up rights they had over Vormsi to Russia but people on Vormsi still remained special status with special privileges (VVÜP, 2004).

Settlement on island has concentrated into compact villages. In a history there has been 19 villages, today there are 11. In 1934 the population of Vormsi was 2547 people and 95% of them were Swedes. The biggest change in the history of the island took place in years 1943 and 1944 when about 2000 inhabitants left the island and moved to West, mostly to Sweden. Vormsi remained almost empty until the end of the Second World War. Island was resettled by war refugees from Kohtla-Järve and Narva area who started to live in empty farms and houses. During 1960s number of workplaces in Vormsi decreased due to establishing state farms and a lot of people left the island (VVÜP, 2004).

Today permanent residents of Vormsi are mostly descendants of people who migrated to island after Second World War, only few Swedes are remained. Based on census data 231 people were living on the island in year 2011. There is a big difference between data that is collected from

Statistics Estonia and Population registry. More people are registered to the municipality than living there. For example on year 2014 there were 417 people registered to live in Vormsi but Statistics Estonia shows only 270 inhabitants (table 1). Despite the fact that number of people in Vormsi has increased, looking the number of children in school and number of workplaces, the number of permanent residents is not increasing (VVÜP, 2004).

Table 1. Number of people living in Vormsi according to the data from Statistic office and Population Registry of Estonia between 2005 and 2014. (Data: Statistics Estonia, 2014; Population Registry, 2014)

Year Statistics Population Estonia Registry 2005 253 317 2006 271 338 2007 261 321 2008 264 325 2009 268 322 2010 340 394 2011 340 399 2012 235 401 2013 250 407 2014 270 417

Rapid population decrease has changed natural outlook of Vormsi. Forestland has replaced meadows and natural grasslands. Due to the land reform, agricultural production has almost stopped but use of forest has increased. Concerning land use in Vormsi municipality there is an issue concerning land ownership. Restitution has not been easy process on the island. Biggest conflicts are between people who live there today and Swedes who own the land (VVÜP, 2004). About 80% of landowners are Swedes, owning together about 1/3 of the land on an island. Permanent residents who are aiming to use that land have to go through long legal processes to have permissions to do so (VVA, 2011).

In our research three case study villages were given to us: Kersleti, Borrby and Rälby. They are situated on the northern coast of Vormsi (figure 2). From pre-war time until today there have been remarkable changes in the number of people living in these villages (table x). Borrby is one of two villages in Vormsi that have changed the most due to Swedes emigration (VVÜP, 2004). The number of people living there has decreased from 335 in year 1934 to only 6 persons in 1999. The number of people living the other villages Kersleti and Rälby have also decreased significally (table 2).

Figure 2. The location of case study villages. (Base map: Estonian Land Board, 2014)

Table 2: Number of people living in case study villages Kersleti, Borrby, Rälby. (Data: VVÜP, 2004) Village 1934 1948 1959 1970 1989 1998 1999 Kersleti 292 119 92 36 20 10 11 Borrby 335 ? 76 7 3 6 6 Rälby 152 ? 60 27 21 22 22

4. Methodology

To conduct the study quantitative and qualitative information was collected from public databases and during the fieldwork. Fieldwork took place from 19th to 21st May 2014 when study group stayed in Vormsi and collected needed information through counting village population, holding interviews and collecting visual data for latter interpretations.

4.1 Counting village population

In order to count permanent and temporary residents living in the case study villages, we had to define who is permanent resident and who is summer resident. It was not easy thing to do because people on the island that we interviewed, cannot draw straight line between them. Permanent residents consider people, who are born and raised in Vormsi but who have left to live somewhere else and are coming back to island for weekends and summers, still to be locals. This fact makes relations between permanent residents and summer home owners more complex. In order to be able to interpret result of the research we define here who are summer residents and who are permanent residents in our context.

Permanent resident - so called local is somebody who lives on the island on everyday bases. People who work on mainland or abroad (for example on ships) but do not have another home are also considered as permanent residents.

Summer resident - other terms that we use for them in this paper are second home owner and summer home owner. We include here people who are spending their summers and weekends in Vormsi but their main residence is somewhere else. We also decided to count as summer residents people, whom permanent residents count as locals (not just summer residents) because of their old connections with the island (born and raised in Vormsi but have left the island for different reasons and are having another home somewhere else).

According to the theory used in this research we counted people in given villages to understand better how is locale interpretable in the study area. Who are the people that these villages are consisting of? In other words what are the material settings of social relations. We decided to find key informant of the village who would have a good overview of people living there and information about who owns the plots. We separated three different ownership groups: 1. permanent residents; 2. summer residents; 3. Swedes.

For every household we also asked from the informant the number of people living there. The permanent residents were counted as people living in the village during winter. The number of people living in the villages during summers consist of permanent residents and summer

11 residents. It is also necessary to keep in mind that these people are not there always in the same time. After finding this information from the informant, we marked the results on a map.

4.2 Interviews

Semistructured interviews were used to find out the permanent residents opinion on summer people living in Vormsi. We set main topics and formulated main questions that would give answers to our research question. We included questions about Swedish summer home owners to better understand sense of place of the island as feeling of belonging and identity are closely connected to persons biography and background (Berg & Dale 2004, Holt-Jensen 2009). Using semistructured interviews gave us the possibility to change order of topics and add questions to be flexible with our research. Doing interviews we used two to four interviewers.

In order to found the interviewees we made the first interview with a person working in Vormsi municipality who suggested us other people to talk to in three different case study villages. Hence we used snowball effect to get the interviewees. This first interview worked as an expert interview because the interviewee has a social position, which helps to give detailed and privileged information about people and processes in this area (Parson 2008). We made two more expert interviews with the island keeper and the local person working in tourism sector.

At first our aim was to do three interviews in each village but we changed it according to special situations. For example in Borrby village there is only one household with two people permanently living there but we were supposed to have interviews with three different permanent resident in a villages. As it was impossible to follow the plan we did only one interview in this village with permanent residents and another one we replaced with summer resident and left out third interview. Using semi-structured interviews we were able to understand how individual people experience the problem that we focus on.

The interviews took place on 19th and 20th of May. In total we made 11 interviews with 15 people (Appendix X). One of them was in English and one in Swedish, others were done in Estonian. Eight of them were recorded and in three cases only written notes were done because the interviewees didn’t agree with recording. From all the interviews English summaries were made and combined into one document. It was done so that all the members in our group could understand the content of interviews.

4.3 Visual analysis

A visual description of Vormsi can be, for example, seaside meadows, juniper fields, irregular boulders, lighthouses etc, but there are certain parts of those descriptions which is analogous to other locations, what makes Vormsi a place for local people is an interesting question. In order to study Vormsi as a place with a place specific “spirit”, the cultural meanings, things people do on

12 the island and the natural landscape needs to be united in the understanding, and cannot be separated from their significance to the place. We see that “place” implies blend of physical encounters, the place and its material aspects, personal stories and interpretations, and something remembered from the past. The visual experiences were captured with photos. With the help of pre-designed questions, we try to analyse their sense of place by trying to understand their thoughts about second home owners, their views on coastal Swedes, and what kind of places are most valuable for them and how does it describe identity of Vormsi for local people. This was done by taking photos of people in front of their home and experiencing those places ourselves by making short trips to places they mentioned as their favourite places during the interview.

5. Analysis and interpretation

5.1 Population counting

The physical location of Vormsi island in the Baltic sea, determines the seasonal character of everyday life on the island. Cold and dark winter months are quiet and local people spend most of their time indoors. With the beginning of the spring also more people come to the island and the colourful summertime can begin. “In winter the life stops, because the summer people are away” (Informant F, 2014).

Counting the permanent and summer residents in our villages showed a big difference between seasons. The number of people living in villages during summer consisting of permanent residents and summer residents is approximately 3 and 5 times bigger in Kersleti and Rälby villages and 21 times bigger in Borrby village (figure 3). Expert C (2014) also said that during the winter months there are approximately 200 people staying on the island, most of them are old people, but during the summer months this number can reach to 1000.

40 Winter 30 Summer 20

0 Borrby Rälby Kersleti

Figure 3. Number of people living in villages during summer and winter.

Borrby has only one household with two permanent residents living there around the year round. Informant H (2014) even said that there aren’t any real Vormsi people living in Borrby village, only this Finnish guy. During the summer there are 12 other households with maximum 41 people who come there. The village is not situated next to the main roads, so the informant A (2014) said that it is still very quiet here in summer time compared to Rälby or Rumpo. “This place is also far from the bus circle. If the islanders are going to the beach so we hear them as well but they do not disturb us, the road is a bit away from house.” (Informant A, 2014). There is also one Swedish summer resident in Borrby village (figure 4).

Figure 4. Permanent and summer residents’ households in Borrby village. (Base map: Estonian Land Board, 2014)

Kersleti and Rälby Village have both six permanent households during winter. Rälby is also popular among summer home owners - there are 15 households with 51 people (figure 5). Kersleti has 8 summer houses with 20 people (figure 6). In both of the villages there are also two Swedish summer residents.

Figure 5. Permanent and summer residents’ households in Kersleti village. (Base map: Estonian Land Board, 2014)

Figure 6. Permanent and summer residents’ households in Rälby village. (Base map: Estonian Land Board, 2014)

The distance from bigger cities and other countries causes different visitation patterns. Estonian summer visitors come more often because it is not too far for them to visit during the weekends as well. Because of that it is also difficult to differentiate permanent and summer residents. Swedes on the other hand mostly come only during the summer months and stay for week or two. “The Swedish people usually come here during the summer for one or two week or sometimes even for the whole summer.” (Informant I, 2014).

The isolation from the mainland has positive and negative effects for local people. It is hard to commute to workplaces in mainland and people need to book the ferry tickets early. “Now when we have a meeting in Tallinn at 10 am it means I need to leave the day before and come back not the next day but the day after. So it takes 3 days to have one day meeting.” (Informant C, 2014). On the other hand the isolation makes the island more unique. As it is isolated people feel more secure because they know everybody on the island.

5.2 Local land use and landscape

Second homes constitute an important part of both housing and local land use on the island of Vormsi. In one of our expert interviews (Informant D, 2014) we got familiar with the tendency that most summer hoses are located individually, meaning that there are no bigger developments for building second homes. This also corresponds with our observation. According to our informant they did try this way development twice, but it didn’t work because people were not interested in this kind of housing. The same informant claimed that there are only two kinds of interests concerning the summer residents living in Vormsi. There are the ones that want peace and quiet and the others who want the island to develop. One of the second home owner (Informant B, 2014) that we talked to during the fieldwork expressed a feeling of attraction towards the island of Vormsi, mainly because of the peacefulness and the picturesque landscapes and sceneries. This is a way in which the rural can be seen as a commodity, which we introduced in the theory chapter, and with this categorisation we also have available the identification of consumers, which represents the second home owners.

In the interviews we asked the informants (Informant A, 2014) if they could feel the presence of second home owners, and if so, then how and in what way. One of the permanent residents said that they could feel them during the summer time, but they could not see them. The way in which they felt them was through their dogs, all five of them, because the dogs were used to the quietness during the winter, and in summertime when the tourists come they bark a lot. After saying this they concluded with that it is still pretty quiet during summer, and that they don’t really disturb them. Others said that in the summer the villages look nicer, as the temporary residences tend to have more money to fix up their properties with. However, the same informant also claims that the summer residents have different interests concerning improvements on

17 common ground, such as improving the local roads. The summer residents want everything to be like it has always been, whilst many locals want it fixed.

There are reasons to believe that locals are likely to welcome changes towards the second home ownerships that enhance the condition of local economy, and toward the community, whereas the second home owners support protection of rural idyll. One of our informants puts it in words: There are different interests concerning the summer residents and local people. The second home owner wants everything to be like it has always been. For example the seacoast road. They do not want to repair it (then tourist are disturbing their quietness), but I and my husband as locals need it in order to get more easily to the seaside, for fishing and to look after the cows.

Travelling around the island was for us an interesting experience, and with that we mean mostly positive. The short distances from one place to another continued to amaze us, and we never really felt isolated even though we were mostly travelling in a rather closed landscape of trees. According to one of the permanently living informants (Informant A, 2014) there is a problem with the ownership of the land on the island, because many of the Swedish people owning land are getting to old to travel and decides to sell their land. What happens in many cases is that Estonian businessman buys this land very cheap from the Swedes, and starts destroying the local nature by cutting down trees and making money out of it. He also says that especially this winter this was intense. Locals also seems to have different opinions regarding “public interest” of second house owners, and questions the behaviour of second home tourism. One of the active local resident from our interview (Informant E, 2014) said:

“there are many people here during the weekends, and they drink beer and drive their car, and that is not a good thing. And also when they go to the beach, they sometimes open the fences for where the cattle are grazing, so that they go outside – and that is a problem for the locals”.

Most of the second home owners are Estonians, but there are some descendance of Swedish people. Like we said in the chapter of the case study area, there are more people registered in Vormsi than there is people actually living there, and there are many reasons for that. One of the informants (Informant A, 2014) explains that the main reason for registering yourself into Vormsi is the cheaper ferry ticket that you get. This is especially convenient for the temporary citizens that are from Estonia, and who travels to Vormsi more often during the weekends as well. The ferry, however, was mentioned by others as well, but in a different sense. One mentioned the ferry timetables as inconvenient for the local people who wanted to work elsewhere on the mainland, in that way that they arrive at nine o’clock, which is too late for most workplaces (Informant A, 2014). This might also be one of the main reasons for people moving from the island, and one of the local residents (Informant A, 2014) made a prophecy for the

18 development: “In ten years there will be more summer residents on the island and less local people. More people will have two homes”. In the same direction, respondent even showed hope from migration that the existence of Vormsi will bring more positive hope for the future for family with kids: “I hope I can live here, and I hope for more people will come, so that the school stays open. If the school closes all the young families have to leave”.

5.3 "Us" and "Them"

The aim of the research was to understand the effect of the presence of summer residents. One of the ways to understand it was to figure out has the feeling of belonging and identity of permanent residents been affected by summer residents and if then how. Due to the fact that these residents are temporary, and present at different times due to season, some of the local people said that they felt their presence in a way in which that it became more lively in the summer. Some, however, seemed to be less affected by their presence, saying that they hardly ever saw the tourists, and that there is a distinction between “The ones that live here and the ones that live there”. According to Tilly (2002) we aimed to understand where and what kind of boundaries are there between “us” and “them”.

Analysing interviews we found out that permanent residents draw line between “us” and “them” based on common historical backround. People that have had childhood together in Vormsi are still “us” without needing to live permanently on the island. They may visit the place only during the summer. They have similar values thinking about the future of the island than locals. “We have lot of people who are born here and went to school here but now living on an island only part time. They are definitely locals like us.” (Informant I, 2014).

There is a strong feeling that people who come to visit Vormsi just for a small amount of time (regular tourists) are “them”. Also people who have bought property on Vormsi in past 10 to 15 years are not counted as “us”. Lot of the times they have different opinions about the future of the island and they have different interest in Vormsi. Still there are cases when they are becoming part of “us”.

“Permanent residents are thinking how to keep this island alive. They understand that life on Vormsi is very fragile. Newcomers are coming here to charge batteries, they hide to forest. Newcomers start to show their interest when they feel danger to their peace. They joined with “us” through being against windmill development project.” (Informant I, 2014).

There is one more important interest group that has strong connections with Vormsi, Swedes that have come back as summer residents. Most of the interviewees counted Swedes as “them”. They were described as invisible people along with the people who did not have any roots connected to them.

“You barely see Swedish people here, they come here rarely and don’t speak much to the local people. It is mostly due to the language barrier. It is hard to know what they want out of the community. It is hard to recognize them in a community. But it is a blessing to have Swedish people owning the land cause they do not close public places like Estonians do.” (Informant C, 2014).

Swedes were considered as “them” also by people who have family connection with them because they are visiting the island only for short period of time that holds them away from local life. Swedes between themselves are making a community, group of “us” who had to leave their homes because of World War II. “These Swedes that used to live here are holding together and have strong connection between each other.” (Informant I, 2014).

Taking our findings and putting it together with theory about “us” and “them” we can see that the situation in Vormsi island is not that easy to categorize like it is done by Tilly (2002). He points out that permanent residents are part of the "we", while those who do not have a permanent home, but only live there temporarily, will be part of "them". So in our case the situation it is more complex than it is described in 2002 by Tilly.

5.4 Meaning of place and belonging

The meaning of place can be individually based on a person biography (Holt-Jensen 2009). In an interview we asked people to name and describe their favourite place on the island and many of them connected it with their home, either in smaller scale or in bigger. Informant I (2014) named her home village to be the most important place, and there are reasons to believe that this is the place that she identifies with, and to her it may represent the meaning of Vormsi. Informant E (2014) brought out that the most important place with meaning to her is a seashore in Saxby village, and that this is where she goes to watch the sunset and relax. It can be closely connected to her personal biography.

For many interviewees the most important place was their own home or yard. Informant H (2014) said that “I do not want to go anywhere else” and this was supported by informant B (2014) which said: “Home is the favourite place in Vormsi. Also beach and the nature with all the birds. It is just quiet ...and the nature is beautiful”. These are the places that matter, these are the places were people feel the sense of belonging. One elderly couple brought up that one of the things that makes Vormsi Vormsi, is its’ uniqueness. “The island is separated from the mainland, here is Swedish history and culture - you can see the traces of it and you must honour those who used to be here.” (Informant G, 2014). Another informant (E, 2014) gives three characteristics of Vormsi as; quiet, close to nature and peaceful. Then she continues with telling us how she moved from the island to go to school and so on, but then eventually and she just had to come back because of all these characteristics that she puts an high value to.

Interviewees mentioned that Swedish people who used to live in Vormsi or whose ancestry is from here have nostalgic feelings for the place. That is something that brings them back to visit the island that they or their family used to live on (Informant F, 2014). This is how the space becomes place, which describes the feelings and emotions that a place evokes (Berg & Dale 2004).

5.5 Visual analyse – „spirit“ of the place

For most of our respondent, not surprisingly, house, or place surrounding house is the most important and favourite place in Vormsi island: „beautiful and untouched nature, with birds and animals“. (Informant A, 2014) Some considers the slow life as a blessings and important for their life: „different time flow. No watch since moved to island. Now everything flows with nature and listening to their body. If you are tired then it is time to rest. You can see how the regi has grown by one night“. (Informant A, 2014)

Respondents like the fact that people can't go to mainland whenever feels like it. So during the winter when there is iceroad, and the feeling of freedom comes and possible to feel like human. One of the participants from Rälby mentioned: „Island is an island. The sea is important, you can hear it. The whole island is nice.“ (Informant J, 2014)

Figure 7. The same person continued that „there is no bridge and island is isolated, time flow is slower, and you have to make a booking for ferry in order to get home“.

In the following section, we present photos of the places that are important for people in different ways and which describe the spirit of island:

Figure 8. „Norby beach - closest point on island to the mainland. (Informant C, 2014)

Figure 9. „Tiby beach - as a child I use to go fishing there“. (Informant A, 2014)

Figure 10. „Unique - it is separated from the mainland, here are Swedish history and culture - you can see the traces of it and you must honour those who used to be here“. (Informant G, 2014)

Figure 11. „Near the beach, even though its not beach“. (Informant B, 2014)

Figure 12. „Birds waking up during the summer“ (Informant D, 2014)

Figure 13. „Quiet, peaceful, and a paradise for raising your children.“ (Informant E, 2014)

Figure 14. „Saxby coast: Because of the geology, the sunsets and so on“ (Informant E; 2014)

Figure 15. “When I have time I go there.” (Informant F, 2014)

Figure 16. „Everything, seaside, junipers and sunset, forest.“ (Informant F, 2014).

Figure 17. „Home“(Informant G, 2014)

Figure 18. „My home and yard - I don’t want to go anywhere else.“ (Informant H, 2014).

Figure 19. „It is not what it used to be.“ (Informant H; 2014)

Figure 20. „Covered with forest (turned wild) - most of the island is covered with forest and you can’t see the sea anymore.“ (Informant H, 2014)

Figure 21. It is not what it used to be“ (Informant H; 2014)

Figure 22. „My home and Rumpo village- quietness, peace - everything is close by – unique.“ (Informant I, 2014)

Figure 23. Island is an island. The sea is important, you can hear it. The whole island is nice. (Informant G; 2014)

Figure 24. „No bridge (isolated), time flow is slower here, you have to make a booking for ferry in order to get home“. (Informant G, 2014)

6. Discussion about methods used

In our research we used three different methods in order to get the answers to our research questions. To get the overview about the summer residents living in our three case study villages we used the key informants help to distinguish the different households and the number of people living there. So the quality of the data depends on the knowledge of the informant. In our case we also controlled the results with another informant’s answers. Questions arose in classifying the results, because there are many different ways to distinguish summer and permanent people and also differentiating the Swedish people. Difficulties came up also with counting the summer people. It is really hard to say the exact number of people because it varies a lot. For example during summer months the relatives and friends of the permanent residents come to visit and it is hard to grasp the real number of people. Hence some rounding were done

Interviews were done using snowball method. This works well in a small community because people know each other and know which people to recommend. Small aging community has also its’ drawbacks because there are fewer good informants and the old people answers are often content with their lives and they don’t give much relevant information. One shortage concerning the interview questions was that we formulated them in English and didn’t translate them into Estonian. That is the reason why the questions might have been asked a bit different way each time and it might have had its’ impact on the results. While doing the interviews we also found out which questions work better. The conclusion from that is the more shorter and simple the question the better it is.

We used visual analyses for interpretation of participants favourite place. This is not only question about alternativity and implicablity of scene from different angles and perspectives but also raises questions about a photographer's interpretation of the place. As can be expected, our stay in island for three days could not capture the spirit of place which rather might be difference in weather, season related to their memories. The method we use what was suggested by Gordon, there is no record that camera can capture that is completely adequate. Moreover, transcription of visual phenomena can only be a small part of a larger complex constituted by bodies interacting together in a relevant setting. The camera location and its position in the environment will not include views of what is happening in other part. However, this opens possibility of crucial analytical decisions.

However, it is very important to point out that visual understanding and our interpretation is not a meaning. As Gillian Rose (2012) described in his book related to visual methodologies that even though there are enormous academic works published related to visual materials, there are few methods and guides available for the interpretations and examining graphical materials through empirical studies. However, before going into the theoretical understanding of how can we interpret visual information, techniques or methodologies used to understand imagery, it is necessary that we understand some preliminary consideration. Stuart Hall (1997) suggested that

“there is no single or ‘correct’ answer to the question, ‘What does this image mean?’” The “real” or “true” meaning of an image cannot be deduced to draw logical conclusion. Thus, here, a photographer tries to interpret the images, and interpreting images is just that, interpretation, not the truth'. However, as Goodwin (2000) suggested, rather than standing alone as a self-contained analytic domain, visual phenomena is made meaningful only through the way they are attached within the larger set of applications (pp. 11). We try to justify our visual interpretation through interviews. It is our effort to describe the spirit of place with words and expressions; the use of visual methods and interviews combined together to interpret locale and spirit of the place seems to be our stand.

7. Conclusion

The main aim of this research was to find out how the presence of summer residents affects the lives of the permanent residents in Vormsi. In order to do that the counting of summer and winter households and people living there were done during the fieldwork, to give an overview of the case study villages. 11 interviews were made with 15 people to ascertain their feelings and opinions concerning the summer people living in Vormsi. Visual analyses were used to support the findings from the interviews about their favourite places and sensing the place.

Counting the data during fieldwork from designated villages we found out that there could be approximately 3 to 21 times more people living in the villages during the summer season than during the winter season. This stresses the importance of the location of Vormsi island, where second home dwellers come mainly for summer activities due to the convenience of the sea and also due to the location itself being close to mainland.

Answering to the second sub-research question concerning the feelings of permanent residents about potential material effects that come along with the presence of summer residents, came out that it is complex phenomenon. And there is no common answer to this question. There are different types of summer residents who are affecting permanent residents in their own way. For example second home owners who live in Sweden come here seldom because the plots they own are often not well taken care of. Opposite to that people who have lived here in their childhood but are now summer residents come here often and help to better outlook of villages. Similarly newcomers who have purchased their summer home in last 10 to 15 years are fixing up their houses because often they have more financial resources to do so. We can say that summer people have affected locale of Vormsi in a complex way.

The presence of second homes can bring many contributing aspects to a local community, and in the third, and last, sub-research question we found out how feelings of belonging and identity of the permanent citizens are affected by the presence of the temporary citizens. Many of the informants expressed that it was either their homes or yard that they felt the strongest connection to. Physical aspect of rural nature was also mentioned a lot, if not by all. In a larger sense it was quite clear that they all had a somehow feeling of home within the island, and areas that were expressed in a more specifically way were in all different scales, either their house or a village, or the whole island itself. In order to support our analysis from the interviews and add support to the part where we discuss meaning and sense of the place, we found it might be interesting to bring visual analysis to the table to analyse photos from the field.

The summer residents affect the local people living in Vormsi, but the permanent residents take the summer people as a normal part of their everyday lives. Most of the permanent residents are waiting for the season to begin so that the summer people could bring colours to their lives.

Some, however, are not that happy about their presence, but they all agree that the temporary citizens are important contributors to the local community in Vormsi.

8. References

Berg & Dale (2004) Berg, N. G. og Dale, B. (2004). ‘Sted –begreper og teorier’, i Berg, N. G., Dale, B., Lysgård, H. K. & Løfgren, A. Mennesker, steder og regionale endringer, s. 39- 60. Tapir Akademiske Forlag, Trondheim Campbell, David. (2007) Geopolitics and Visuality: Sighting the Darfur Conflict. Political Geography 4: 220–225. Cloke, P. (2006) Conceptualizing rurality. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, P.H. Mooney (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Rural Studies, Sage, London (2006), pp 18-28 Ellingsen &Hidle, K. (2013) Performing home in mobility - second homes in Norway. Tourism Geographies, 15(2), 250-267. (18 pages) Farstad, M., & Rye, J. F. (2013). Second home owners, locals and their perspectives on rural development. Journal of Rural Studies, 30, 41-51. Goodwin, C. (2000). Practices of seeing visual analysis: An ethnomethodological approach. Handbook of visual analysis, 157-182. Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (Vol. 2). Sage. Holloway, L. og Hubbard, P., 2001. People and place – the extraordinary geographies of everyday life. Essex: Pearson Education. Holt-Jensen, A., 2007. Hva er geografi. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Holt-Jensen, A. (2009). Geography. History and concepts: A student’s guide. SAGE Publications, London Overvåg, K., & Berg, N. G. (2011). Second homes, rurality and contested space in Eastern Norway. Tourism Geographies, 13(3), 417-442. Parsons, J. 2008. Key Informant. In Paul J. Lavrakas (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods, Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications. Popper, Frank. 1985. The Environmentalist and the LULU. Environment 27, 2: 7-1 1, 37-40. Relph, E. (1993). Modernity and the reclamation of place. Dwelling, seeing, and designing: Toward a phenomenological ecology, 25-40. Rose, G. (1995). Place and identity: a sense of place. In Hague, C., & Jenkins, P. (Eds.). Place identity, participation and planning. Routledge. Rose, G. (2012). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. Sage. Sheller, M., Urry, J. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment and Planning A, 38, 207-226. Shim, D., & Nabers, D. (2013). Imaging north korea: Exploring its visual representations in international politics. International Studies Perspectives, 14(3), 289-306. Tilly, C. (2002) Stories, identities, and political change. Lanham, Md., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Tuan, Yi-Fu (1977). Space and Place. The Perspective of Experience. The University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota Woods, M. (2005) Rural Geography – Processes, Responses and Experiences in Rural Restructuring. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Internet webpages:

Statistics Estonia, 2014. www.stat.ee Last visit 19.05.2014 Population Registry, 2014. https://www.siseministeerium.ee/elanike-arv Last visit 19.05.2014 Vormsi valla arengukava aastateks 2011-2025 (VVA), 2011. http://avalik.amphora.ee/VORMSIVV/document.aspx?id=41592 Last visit 22.05.2014 Vormsi valla üldplaneering (VVÜP), 2004. http://avalik.amphora.ee/VORMSIVV/document.aspx?id=46550 Last visit 22.05.2014

Appendix

Appendix 1.

INFORMANT AGE SEX PERMANENT- BACKGROUND INTERVIEW (approximately) / DESCRIPTION TEMPORARY CITIZEN A 70 M + F Permanent Finish + Estonian B 55-60 M + F Temporary Finish C 60 F Permanent Swedish- Expert Estonian D 55 F Permanent Estonian Expert E 32 F Permanent Swedish- Estonian F 60 M Permanent Swedish- Estonian G 75 + 70 M + F Permanent Estonians H 90 + 85 M + F Permanent Swedish- Estonian + Ingrian I 55 F Permanent Estonian Expert J 65 F Permanent Estonian K 50 F Permanent Estonian

Appendix 2

Interview guide

1. How long have you been living in Vormsi? 2. Can you describe what a typical day in Vormsi looks like for you? a. Is there a difference between everyday life in summer VS winter seasons? b. If yes: Why this difference? (anything to do with the second home tourists?) 3. Are there any effects due to tourism during summertime? a. Are there different kinds of tourists that come here? (second home owners?) b. Can you feel the presence of second home owners? If yes: how and in what way? c. What impacts have second home owners on local land use and landscape? d. Can you discribe what kind of role these second home owners have in the local community? e. Do you have occations/places where you meet with them? f. How do you as a local relate yourself to them, and why? (distant or close relation?) g. Do you think that the second home owners and local people have different intrests in Vormsi? 4. Do you know any Swedish-Estonians that have a summerhouse here in Vormsi? a. How do you as a local relate yourself to them, how and why? (distant or close relation?) b. What is the role of Swedish-Estonians here in Vormsi in your opinion? c. Do you have occations/places where you meet with them? d. Are there any impactson on local land use and landscape from the presence of Swedish-Estonians? And in what way? e. Do you think that Swedish-Estonians and local people have different intrests in Vormsi? 5. What is your favourite place on the island? a. Can you please describe the place? (what makes this place special?) b. Why is it important for you? 6. Can you give three words/characteristiscs that, in your oppinion, can describe Vormsi as a place? 7. How do you see Vormsi in ten years?