CONTENTS
C. Patrick HEIDKAMP: On Nordic Place-making: Introduction to the Themed Issue on Nordic Environments, Nordic Places, Nordic Spaces
Jennifer Grace SMITH and Catherine Patricia CHAMBERS: Where Are All The Fish? Local Fish Networks in the Westfjords of Iceland
- Abstract: We used a paper-based survey to explore dynamics of Local Food Networks (LFNs) for fish in the Icelandic Westfjords. Preference for local fish remains high and fish consumption is largely embedded within a gift network, rather than typical commercial channels with costly, frozen, and non-local products. Individuals lacking personal connections to the fishing industry obtain fish from these commercial networks. LFNs for fish in rural Icelandic communities are therefore expressions of power dimensions that are symptomatic of the larger inequalities built into the fisheries management system, designed for globalized food networks. The disconnect between large-scale production mechanisms and local consumption patterns highlights the lack of responsiveness of the fishing industry to local Icelandic consumers and demonstrates the impacts national political structures can have on LFNs.
Karl BENEDIKTSSON and Edda R.H. WAAGE: Taskscapes at Sea: Trawler Fishing and the Experience of Fluid Nature
- ABSTRACT: Recent interest by scholars in the ocean and its complex geographies has not been directed much towards the everyday life of those on board fishing vessels and how they sense the nature around them. A large trawler for oceanic fishing is a highly efficient industrial production machine, carrying an array of equipment that mediates the connection between crew and nature. This article presents results from an experimental research project, where one of the authors joined a fishing trip on an Icelandic factory trawler. The resulting rich set of ethnographic material reveals much about the particularities of being at sea. It is argued that the ship can be understood as a series of distinct taskscapes, each of which affords certain relations between human and non-human nature.
M. JACKSON: Representing Glaciers in Icelandic Art: A Spatial Shift
- Abstract: Glaciers in Iceland are disappearing, and this article investigates how such glacier change might be transmitted into Icelandic culture, specifically, in art oriented around Icelandic glaciers. Utilizing cultural climatology as an approach, this article analyzes changes in spatial properties of glaciers as represented in older and newer artworks. Three central spatial characteristics of glaciers emerge and provide insights into how glacier loss can be represented and understood: 1) the compression of traditional distance; 2) the use of multiple perspectives; and 3) the structural representation of the glacier body. Analysis suggests a re-positioning of glaciers in the cultural imaginary and the fluctuating nature of how individuals and societies understand themselves and their place within the glaciated landscapes.
Jordan P. HOWELL and Todd SUNDBERG: Towards an Affective Geopolitics: Soft Power and the Danish Notion of “Hygge”
- Abstract: Affective geographies examine the emotional dimensions of space and spatial relationships; (critical) geopolitics seeks to understand the role of space and geography in international relations. In this paper, we consider a hybridization of these concepts in the context of the Nordic countries, and in particular Denmark. Nordic countries have shifted attention to the wielding of “soft power” as a tool in seeking to achieve international relations and economic goals. We argue that in the case of Denmark, these soft power tools bear an interesting affective dimension through emphasis “hygge,” or, “coziness.” Through media analysis, we illuminate the components of soft power in the Danish case and highlight the role of affect as both a key element of these soft power tools.
REVIEWS
- Troy R.E. PADDOCK: Northscapes: History, Technology, and the Making of Northern Environments. Edited by Dolly Jørgensen and Sverker Sörlin
- Alex ZUKAS: Dreamland. Directed by Þorfinnur Guðnason & Andri Snær Magnason
