The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland

Critical geopolitics is used in analysing discourses on a micro-social level in the performances and enactments taking place during fact-finding tours and leisure journeys in northernmost Europe. The cases of journeys focussed are those of Scandinavians travelling along, and sometimes departing from...

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Published in:Nordlit
Main Author: Urban Wråkberg
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Norwegian
Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3057
https://doaj.org/article/eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8 2023-05-15T17:03:59+02:00 The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland Urban Wråkberg 2014-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3057 https://doaj.org/article/eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8 EN NO eng nor Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3057 https://doaj.org/toc/0809-1668 https://doaj.org/toc/1503-2086 doi:10.7557/13.3057 0809-1668 1503-2086 https://doaj.org/article/eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8 Nordlit: Tidsskrift i litteratur og kultur, Iss 31 (2014) subarctic borderland simulacrum adventure tourism road movie Norwegian literature PT8301-9155 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3057 2022-12-31T00:56:15Z Critical geopolitics is used in analysing discourses on a micro-social level in the performances and enactments taking place during fact-finding tours and leisure journeys in northernmost Europe. The cases of journeys focussed are those of Scandinavians travelling along, and sometimes departing from, the highway between the Norwegian village of Kirkenes and the Russian city of Murmansk. In travels undertaken for professional or leisure purposes alike a hyperreal meta-script is enacted mediated on the cosmopolitan cultural experiences held collectively by the travellers; simulacra provide the context for the enactments of fact-finding and drama taking place during border-passage. It is argued that the characteristic montage-like sequence of events of border-crossings are interwoven with a geopolitical discourse, and that it should be understood as encompassing both language and practice in order to appreciate the geopolitics at work. Three ways in which geopolitics enters travels in the northern borderland between Scandinavia and Russia are identified: scenarios of future regional scenarios of future regional developments, popularisations of research obsessed with the problems of borders, and what has been termed here the geopolitical anecdote. In considering the aesthetics of the simulations taking place in cross-border travels this study suggests focussing the meta-script of the American and the European road movie film genres. The essay argues that the cosmopolitan mind of any traveller, and its collective mediated content of cultural and political discourses, has been underestimated so far in the socio-political research regarding the borderlands of the European north. Article in Journal/Newspaper Kirkenes Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Murmansk Traveller ENVELOPE(-48.533,-48.533,61.133,61.133) Nordlit 31 71
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
Norwegian
topic subarctic
borderland
simulacrum
adventure tourism
road movie
Norwegian literature
PT8301-9155
spellingShingle subarctic
borderland
simulacrum
adventure tourism
road movie
Norwegian literature
PT8301-9155
Urban Wråkberg
The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
topic_facet subarctic
borderland
simulacrum
adventure tourism
road movie
Norwegian literature
PT8301-9155
description Critical geopolitics is used in analysing discourses on a micro-social level in the performances and enactments taking place during fact-finding tours and leisure journeys in northernmost Europe. The cases of journeys focussed are those of Scandinavians travelling along, and sometimes departing from, the highway between the Norwegian village of Kirkenes and the Russian city of Murmansk. In travels undertaken for professional or leisure purposes alike a hyperreal meta-script is enacted mediated on the cosmopolitan cultural experiences held collectively by the travellers; simulacra provide the context for the enactments of fact-finding and drama taking place during border-passage. It is argued that the characteristic montage-like sequence of events of border-crossings are interwoven with a geopolitical discourse, and that it should be understood as encompassing both language and practice in order to appreciate the geopolitics at work. Three ways in which geopolitics enters travels in the northern borderland between Scandinavia and Russia are identified: scenarios of future regional scenarios of future regional developments, popularisations of research obsessed with the problems of borders, and what has been termed here the geopolitical anecdote. In considering the aesthetics of the simulations taking place in cross-border travels this study suggests focussing the meta-script of the American and the European road movie film genres. The essay argues that the cosmopolitan mind of any traveller, and its collective mediated content of cultural and political discourses, has been underestimated so far in the socio-political research regarding the borderlands of the European north.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Urban Wråkberg
author_facet Urban Wråkberg
author_sort Urban Wråkberg
title The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
title_short The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
title_full The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
title_fullStr The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
title_full_unstemmed The geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the Norwegian-Russian borderland
title_sort geopolitics of northern travels: enactments of adventure and exploration in the norwegian-russian borderland
publisher Septentrio Academic Publishing
publishDate 2014
url https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3057
https://doaj.org/article/eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8
long_lat ENVELOPE(-48.533,-48.533,61.133,61.133)
geographic Murmansk
Traveller
geographic_facet Murmansk
Traveller
genre Kirkenes
Subarctic
genre_facet Kirkenes
Subarctic
op_source Nordlit: Tidsskrift i litteratur og kultur, Iss 31 (2014)
op_relation https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3057
https://doaj.org/toc/0809-1668
https://doaj.org/toc/1503-2086
doi:10.7557/13.3057
0809-1668
1503-2086
https://doaj.org/article/eef977049ae440dfbdff89289c11b7d8
op_doi https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3057
container_title Nordlit
container_issue 31
container_start_page 71
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