Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Border Performances Politics, art and tourism where Norway meets Russia — Bjarge Schwenke Fors A dissertation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor – November 2018 ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... vii Abstract ....................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Performance ................................................................................................................ 3 Border performances ................................................................................................... 5 The place ..................................................................................................................... 7 Structure of the thesis .................................................................................................. 9 Notes on language ..................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Border Performances: A Theoretical Framework ............................... 11 The performative turn ............................................................................................... 11 What performances are ............................................................................................. 13 What performances do .............................................................................................. 18 Borders and borderlands ........................................................................................... 21 Border studies ............................................................................................................ 23 Borders as special places ........................................................................................... 24 Borders as performative spaces ................................................................................. 29 Approaches to border performances ......................................................................... 33 Political border performances ................................................................................... 37 Artistic border performances ..................................................................................... 39 Touristic border performances .................................................................................. 41 Intersecting fields ...................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 3: The Border and the Borderland ............................................................ 46 The border ................................................................................................................. 46 The borderland .......................................................................................................... 49 From common land to iron curtain ............................................................................ 55 Border opening .......................................................................................................... 60 The border as bridge or barrier? ................................................................................ 64 Chapter 4: Fieldwork and Methods .......................................................................... 69 iii Entering the field ....................................................................................................... 69 The field .................................................................................................................... 71 Field research ............................................................................................................ 74 Looking at people ...................................................................................................... 76 Talking to people ....................................................................................................... 77 Being with people...................................................................................................... 79 Fieldwork at “home” ................................................................................................. 80 Researcher and informants ........................................................................................ 85 Challenges and concerns ........................................................................................... 87 Chapter 5: Political Performances ............................................................................ 91 The main actors ......................................................................................................... 92 The borderland as a political destination .................................................................. 95 Commemorations ...................................................................................................... 96 Border crossings ...................................................................................................... 101 The Barents Capital ................................................................................................. 104 Twin cities ............................................................................................................... 109 Material aesthetics ................................................................................................... 113 The Sri Chinmoy Peace Border plaque ................................................................... 114 The Thorvald Stoltenberg bust ................................................................................ 116 The Barents House .................................................................................................. 119 Performative materiality .......................................................................................... 122 Findings ................................................................................................................... 123 Chapter 6: Artistic Performances ........................................................................... 126 The Samovar Theatre and the Girls on the Bridge .................................................. 126 The Barents Spektakel ............................................................................................. 129 The Girls on the Bridge: Border-crossing exercises ............................................... 131 The Samovar Theatre: Border dramatics ................................................................ 139 The artistic staging of the border ............................................................................ 143 The artistic staging of the borderland...................................................................... 150 Artistic–political collaboration ................................................................................ 157 iv Kirkenes – Norway’s North Korea? ........................................................................ 160 Findings ................................................................................................................... 163 Chapter 7: Touristic Performances ......................................................................... 165 The touristification of the border ............................................................................ 166 One-sided border tourism ........................................................................................ 173 The touristic staging of the border .......................................................................... 175 The touristic staging of the borderland ................................................................... 183 Findings ................................................................................................................... 191 Chapter 8: Reflections and Conclusions ................................................................. 193 Performances and fields .......................................................................................... 193 The border as a theatre of opportunity .................................................................... 197 The border invested with meaning .......................................................................... 199 The borderland invested with meaning ................................................................... 201 New Vasiuki ............................................................................................................ 203 The pitfalls of theming ............................................................................................ 206 The future ................................................................................................................ 210 References .................................................................................................................. 214 v List of Tables Table 1. Countries and languages in performances of the Samovar Theatre. ............ 141 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of the Norwegian-Russian borderland. .................................................. ix Figure 2. The art installation Borderlines in the main street of Kirkenes....................... 3 Figure 3. The Norwegian-Russian border seen from Skafferhullet, Elvenes, Norway. 48 Figure 4. The municipal