Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway
The article examines key actors’ perceptions on why Norwegian policy objectives aimed at securing sustainable reindeer husbandry through participation have failed in West Finnmark. Based on government documents, media debates, and interviews with the actors, the authors identify two competing narrat...
Published in: | Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography |
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ftunivmob:oai:nmbu.brage.unit.no:11250/2479671 2023-05-15T16:13:36+02:00 Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett Benjaminsen, Tor A Eira, Inger Marie Gaup 2015-06-12T09:04:32Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2479671 https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 eng eng http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 Norges forskningsråd: 220892 Norges forskningsråd: 215961 Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. 2015, 69 (4), 230-241. urn:issn:0029-1951 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2479671 https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 cristin:1247722 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no CC-BY-NC-ND 230-241 69 Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 4 Journal article Peer reviewed 2015 ftunivmob https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 2021-09-23T20:16:35Z The article examines key actors’ perceptions on why Norwegian policy objectives aimed at securing sustainable reindeer husbandry through participation have failed in West Finnmark. Based on government documents, media debates, and interviews with the actors, the authors identify two competing narratives on why there are ‘too many reindeer’ despite continued state efforts at destocking. The dominant narrative claims that participation is unsuccessful because herders do not accept expert advice, but increase their herds for personal gain. The Sámi pastoralists’ counter-narrative claims that lack of transparency hinders participation and policy implementation. Inspired by political ecology and perspectives on governance within development studies, the authors examine why the government’s narrative dominates public debates, while the counter-narrative remains marginalized. They find that the dominant narrative frames destocking as an apolitical and objective measure based on unequivocal scientific advice, while the pastoralists’ rejection of such advice is presented as ignorant and irrational. The dominant narrative’s authority is further increased by numerous press reports (repeated in social media) of overstocking threatening biodiversity and economic development. The authors conclude that due to the persistence of the dominant narrative, it has become an undisputed truth in Norwegian debates that Sámi pastoralists are overstocking to maximize their benefits. acceptedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Finnmark reindeer husbandry Finnmark Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU Norway Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography 69 4 230 241 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmob |
language |
English |
description |
The article examines key actors’ perceptions on why Norwegian policy objectives aimed at securing sustainable reindeer husbandry through participation have failed in West Finnmark. Based on government documents, media debates, and interviews with the actors, the authors identify two competing narratives on why there are ‘too many reindeer’ despite continued state efforts at destocking. The dominant narrative claims that participation is unsuccessful because herders do not accept expert advice, but increase their herds for personal gain. The Sámi pastoralists’ counter-narrative claims that lack of transparency hinders participation and policy implementation. Inspired by political ecology and perspectives on governance within development studies, the authors examine why the government’s narrative dominates public debates, while the counter-narrative remains marginalized. They find that the dominant narrative frames destocking as an apolitical and objective measure based on unequivocal scientific advice, while the pastoralists’ rejection of such advice is presented as ignorant and irrational. The dominant narrative’s authority is further increased by numerous press reports (repeated in social media) of overstocking threatening biodiversity and economic development. The authors conclude that due to the persistence of the dominant narrative, it has become an undisputed truth in Norwegian debates that Sámi pastoralists are overstocking to maximize their benefits. acceptedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett Benjaminsen, Tor A Eira, Inger Marie Gaup |
spellingShingle |
Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett Benjaminsen, Tor A Eira, Inger Marie Gaup Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
author_facet |
Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett Benjaminsen, Tor A Eira, Inger Marie Gaup |
author_sort |
Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett |
title |
Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
title_short |
Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
title_full |
Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
title_fullStr |
Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seeing like the state or like pastoralists? Conflicting narratives on the governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Finnmark, Norway |
title_sort |
seeing like the state or like pastoralists? conflicting narratives on the governance of sámi reindeer husbandry in finnmark, norway |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2479671 https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Finnmark reindeer husbandry Finnmark |
genre_facet |
Finnmark reindeer husbandry Finnmark |
op_source |
230-241 69 Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 4 |
op_relation |
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 Norges forskningsråd: 220892 Norges forskningsråd: 215961 Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. 2015, 69 (4), 230-241. urn:issn:0029-1951 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2479671 https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 cristin:1247722 |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1033747 |
container_title |
Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
230 |
op_container_end_page |
241 |
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