NORDIA GEOGRAPHICAL PUBLICATIONS (NGP) is a non-profit, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Geographical Society of Northern Finland and the Geography Research Unit at the University of Oulu.
The Geographical Society of Northern Finland and the Geography Research Unit
Life's work in the city without ground: Cross-border family politics between Shenzhen and Hong Kong
How do we evaluate our life’s work, the reflexive understanding of our role in the reproduction of society, in the city without ground? How is space produced between two metropolises constituted of air-conditioned passageways, concourses and tunnels that aim to disorientate the traveller with capital? To involve the reader in these questions, this sensory ethnography takes the reader on a journey across a series of reconstructed sites, from a study-centre classroom with a view of the border fence to immigration control points separating Hong Kong from Shenzhen and barricades erected by protesters on the occupied streets of Hong Kong Island. At each of these sites, the reader joins the author in interpreting multiple examples of the cross-border family’s strategies for dealing productively with the friction produced by territorial, economic and embodied borders. Over the dissertation’s course, these draw a “counter-topography” (Katz 2001) that highlights the productive and violent frictions created by individual and collective interventions in existing systems of assigning citizenship through genealogical inheritance. The aim of this dissertation is to bring the family back into scholarly studies of borders and global inequality – not as a tool for defining binary gendered systems of inheritance, but as a flexible pragmatic regime in which we learn to become tolerant of difference and work strategically together. It argues that families are a critical factor in the reproduction of borders. Family, state and enterprise regimes learn from and depend on each other. Over our lifetimes, these regimes use inherited logics of gender and sexual reproduction to shape our life’s work. This dissertation argues that members of cross-border families are experts in strategically engaging with inequality. Because of this, they can offer scholars and policymakers strategic advice on how their policies are pragmatically used as tools for individual and family development. The dissertation develops its conclusions by addressing three interrelated questions: How is the Hong Kong–Shenzhen border reproduced in the lives of its practitioners, what does this mean for how borders address global inequality, and what is the role of space in the performance of cross-border family politics? It addresses these questions by observing the tension between the dreams of individuals and the inherited possibilities assigned to them by immigration departments and family wealth through property ownership. Border control, the city, family or the workplace do not constitute a singular experience, but are instead constructed uniquely for each traveller based on internal and external inheritances. Within each experience of border crossing, this dissertation finds a tension of authenticity, resolved through emotional labour – the presentation of an outward expression of feeling contrary to a deeply held personal feeling (Hochschild 1983). The intimate event of family formation – the act of love – is what those who justify inherited borders of gender, nationality and property ownership propose liberates its participants through rewarding emotional labour. However, this simultaneously entails the next generation in the very genealogical structures they propose such events evade (Povinelli 2006). These emotional frictions hold this system of inequality together while producing valuable heat for participants that justify their complicity in the reproduction of borders. Families and other intimate relations, act topologically, twisting, turning and folding through topographical spatial structures to simultaneously support and extract value from them. Feelings matter. It is through our learnt structures of feeling that we consciously and subconsciously respond to and develop new spaces through encounters with difference. This study finds that our current order is critically dependent on the transmutation of emotional “tolerances” for the genealogical “order of things” across generations (Brown 2006). Borders and mobility, this dissertation proposes, are not universally evil; rather, they are co-constructed as integral “genres” of ideas based on historical experience that produce a multiplicity of violence and sovereignty. If we take the time to listen to those who love across distance, they can draw guides for us to make the best use of the friction produced by the discursive, material and economic interdependence of families, states and enterprises.
Regional differences in visitors’ experiences: the impacts of natural environment to health and wellbeing in national parks
There’s been a lot of studies concerning the relationship between natural environments and health and wellbeing. Many of them have focused on finding out what benefits can be acquired from nature and some have also made comparisons on different natural and unnatural environments and their effects on health. However, there really hasn’t been any large focus on the health benefits of various wilderness areas. This article is based on a master’s thesis. The aim of the thesis was to examine whether there would be any differences in the health and wellbeing benefits visitors experienced in one of four nature reserves (study sites) in Finland. The quantitative data was collected using an Internet survey. Altogether, there were 910 responses that were unevenly distributed across the four nature reserves. The data was analysed with principal component analysis and linear regression analysis. Results suggest there might be some differences how different wilderness areas affect people’s health and wellbeing. However, the study was unable to find any reliable evidence on what variables were the cause of these differences. Nevertheless, there was evident data to support the thesis that contact with nature has positive effects on people’s health and wellbeing. More research has to be made in order to be able to understand more about the impact of different environmental characteristics of wilderness areas on health and wellbeing.
Healthy urban planning – new approaches for strategic land use planning in the North
This article outlines a theoretical framework and a strategic support scheme for healthy urban planning, which integrates the socio-spatial aspects of environment with the patterns of human-environment interaction. A multidisciplinary discussion of prior research and the rationale for the theoretical and methodological framework is shortly presented. The paper aims at reframing community-scale planning focus towards the multiple dimensions of human-environment interaction patterns that may positively affect human health and well-being in (sub)arctic climatic conditions. Pointing that relatively little has been said so far of the topic in the scale on small and medium sized rural communities, further discussions and research is needed how to benefit the practice of land use planning and community public health promotion in the north. In order to refrain the premises of healthy urban planning, an empirical case study was carried out in 2015 in Sodankylä, a small municipality with ca. 9000 inhabitants located in Northern Finland. Based mainly on qualitative data sets, the case study included contextual site analysis of the perceived qualities of the case area. This was followed by profiling and scenario drafting phase, where alternative futures for Sodankylä were framed, and their expected impacts on the environmental quality and well-being of the residents were evaluated together with the locals. As an outcome, a strategic land use plan for healthier future in 2040 was presented for Sodankylä. Based on the outcome and findings of this pilot case study, it can be concluded that understanding the interactions between individuals and their environment is critical for community planning which is beneficial to the long-term development of living environment quality and human health in the north.
Defining ‘rurality’ for rural wellbeing tourism - Halfacree’s conceptual triad of the production of rural space in practical-level tourism development in Northern Europe
The developers in Northern Europe are increasingly looking into tourism as a potential livelihood and contributor to employment and local economies, especially in rural (and peripheral) areas. One potential form of tourism to be further developed in these areas is wellbeing tourism that has started to gain increasing attention in rural areas. In addition, the development of the common rural wellbeing tourism market has started to increase in Northern Europe, and especially around the Baltic Sea. However, the nonexistence of shared understanding of the central concepts, ‘rural’ and ‘wellbeing tourism’ hinders international, collaborative development activities among the various tourism stakeholders operating in the area. Therefore, it is essential to construct a common conception in order to progress in the development of the common rural wellbeing tourism market. In this article we describe one construction process of a commonly accepted, over-arching definition for ‘rural tourism’ or ‘rurality’ in a transnational and multi-stakeholder development project. Our aim is to examine the applicability of the well-known triad understanding of the ‘rural’, originally introduced by Halfacree, in this context. The triad has been utilised in different tourism-related contexts, but its practicality and potential for use in tourism development has been studied less. The definition process we describe in this article shows that the triad cannot be directly utilised for practical-level tourism development purposes. The results indicate that a more critical approach or even deconstruction of Halfacree’s triad could give more fresh and new angles to the development of rural tourism products.
The well-being effects of localized multi-level environmental governance: Case of Kilpisjärvi
Equality among stakeholders and sustainable environmental impacts are important themes for good environmental governance. Good governance is a tricky theme to address as localized environmental decision making is deeply connected to issues and actors at various governance levels, from the local to the global, embedded with power relations. The examined case of Kilpisjärvi also includes issues from various governance levels and involves contested relationships between stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to examine the Kilpisjärvi case in order to identify: 1) How key governance problematics originating from various levels are manifested in local level land use decision making; 2) What kinds of implications these problematics may have on local well-being; and 3) How good governance can be enhanced regarding these identified problematics. The Kilpisjärvi case illuminates the complexities associated with local environmental governance. The key stakeholders in the area are Sámi reindeer herders, tourism entrepreneurs, local inhabitants, land use governance officials, and protected area management officials as well as scientists. The lessons learned relate to: 1) Enhancing the environmental sustainability of herding and understanding different conceptualizations on what “environmental sustainability” actually means; 2) Enhancing the dialogue between land users to increase social capital among stakeholders; 3) Clarifying the position of Sámi as indigenous people, 4) Clarifying local rights and ways to structure stakeholder interaction in order to increase the possibility for action and self-determination at the local level; and 5) Enhancing the transparent link between international guidelines and local practices and highlighting international guidelines, such as Akwé: Kon, to increase a local sense of being respected by external actors. Only by considering tangible environmental impacts and the well-being implications of governance can scholars make concrete proposals on how to enhance the sustainability of localized multi-level governance.
Population diversification in demographics, health, and living environments: the Barents Region in review
This paper provides updates on the geographical patterns in well-being of the population of the Barents region by applying indicators used in demography, public health, and environmental studies. In particular, we analyze recent demographic trends with regard to gender, age, ethnicity, and over time (1990−2015), considering depopulation, aging age structures, mortality and fertility patterns in connection with environmental changes. We investigate environmental effects on population health and living conditions of the Barents people, including the impact of air and water contamination, food insecurity, housing conditions, and new diseases driven by climate change. In addition, we highlight the importance of human capital (highest educational attainment of population) in tackling socio-economic challenges as well as adapting to climate and other sweeping changes occurring in the Barents region. Barents territories show inequalities in post-secondary educational attainment distribution between average nation-wide level and northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, based on the latest data available. The results and discussion suggest a significant variability across regions in the context of the studied parameters, except for life expectancy. The causes and consequences of the diversification of these trends need to be further investigated; as does the spatial distribution of societal well-being in the Barents region, an important geographical alliance in the northernmost part of Europe. The evidence presented in this review may help in the planning of adaptive community programs which respond to stresses in society, health, and the environment in the Barents region.
On topobiography; or, how to write one’s place
In topobiography there is a triad of place, memory and self at work. The self is a narrating self and to narrate is to try to organise experiences into a meaningful whole. In a narrative the meaning of each event is produced by its position in this comprehensible whole. What is of interest in this paper is how the meaningful whole is spatially constituted. In this respect the sensuous human embodiment is seen as always taking its place, or happening somewhere. Thus, the lived sense of time becomes the lived sense of place. In this way, time and place coincide.
Politics of memory: Historical battlefields and sense of place
The historical landscapes of war and conflict — such as battlefields, remains of military constructions, memorials and graveyards — are fundamental parts of the national iconography of modern states. They stand there not just for their own sake but to — regardless of its pitfalls and mythological aspects — evince a nationalistic narrative of unified history and culture from past time up to the present day. The meanings and historical narratives related to places and landscapes are part of continuous processes of reproduction and representation. Historical places and landscapes and their meanings have never arisen for nothing. On the contrary, they are a part of wider social discourses and the reading and interpretation practices associated with these. These discourses act as frameworks that include particular combinations of narratives, concepts, myths, ideologies and signifying practices, each relevant to a particular realm of social action. They can enable and constrain meanings by constituting the limits within which ideas and practices are considered to be natural. In this article certain factors or interpretation practices related to the historical landscapes of war are identified and discussed. These factors may be identified as processes of 1) marking 2) naming 3) seeing and 4) controlling.
Towards transnational spatial policies in Finland
State spatial transformation is one of the key topics in contemporary human geography and social sciences more broadly. Its centrality as a research foci stems from the changing spatiality of the political economies of the world over the past decades. This paper discusses the changing spatiality of the Finnish state, and elaborates the recent transnationalization of spatial policies in particular.
Regionalisms and the ‘exceptionality’ of security regions
Work on regions and regionalisms highlights the complex processes through which regions emerge or disappear, or are remade often with unpredictable outcomes. This well-established knowledge of regions is however not fully appreciated by proponents of Regional Security Complex Theory, who are pre-occupied with security as a central element in region-formation. In security context the intersection between regions and security is expressed through a pluralistic security community in which the security of the regional group is a focal point for member states and their activities. In this paper I draw on insights from research on regionalism and from the emergence of southern Africa as a region to suggest that there is no need to treat regional security complexes as ‘special regions’ of some sort as Regional Security Complex Theory suggests. Security should be understood as an integral part rather than an exceptional feature of region-formation processes. I further suggest that analyses of regional security complexes are still trapped in the concept of bounded territoriality.
Symbolic violence in border crossing – a bodily geopolitics
This paper asks how to understand the relationship between symbolism and violence. The issue is tentatively accounted for by proposing two analytically distinguishable ways in which violence relates to symbolism: ‘symbolic domination’ and ‘symbolic violence’. The paper discusses the first in relation to border crossing as a common practice among travelers world wide. It then moves on to looking at how symbolic violence may operate as a more covert but nevertheless influential part of the geopolitical world ordering. By way of concluding the paper briefly discusses the ramifications of these forms of symbolic power when the geopolitical exception is becoming the norm.
U.S. immigration enforcement: then and now, there and here
This article examines shifts in US border and immigration policing over the last few decades, tracing the transformation of policing from an outwards-looking power located at the territorial margins of the state to an inwards-looking power focused on immigrant populations. I review five components of the militarization of US-Mexico border policy, then outline the recent expansion of enforcement to the US interior. Rather than marking a distinct break between policing regimes, I instead show that many of the same practices remain central to US immigration control. Heeding Paasi’s social-process oriented conceptualization of territory, the article closes with a reflection on borders and bordering.
Kuvista mielikuviksi: Valokuvat Suomi-brändin vetovoimatekijöinä
Mielenkiintoa herättävä, erottuva ja aitoihin vahvuusalueisiin perustuva maabrändi on yhä tärkeämpi menestystekijä valtioiden välisessä globaalissa kilpailutilanteessa. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan Suomen maabrändin edistämistyötä visuaalisen viestinnän näkökulmasta ja analysoidaan sitä, miten valokuvia hyödynnetään Suomesta ja suomalaisuudesta kerrottaessa. Tällöin huomio kiinnittyy toistuvasti esiintyviin kuvaustapoihin, jotka kertovat niistä asioista, ilmiöistä, paikoista ja ihmisistä, joita suomalaisessa maabrändiviestinnässä erityisesti suositaan. Vuosien 2010–2014 väliselle ajanjaksolle sijoittuva tutkimusaineisto kattaa maabrändin eri osa-alueet ja sisältää yhteensä 32 yksittäistä julkaisua ja 2870 valokuvaa. Kriittisen diskurssianalyysin lähtökohdan mukaisesti Suomea esitteleviä viestintämateriaaleja tutkitaan tuotannollisten ideologioiden ohjaamina visuaalisina tuotoksina, jotka kertovat maasta ja sen asukkaista maabrändiä edistävien intressien mukaisesti. Kuvastosta identifioidaan yhdeksän toisistaan poikkeavaa suomalaisuusdiskurssia, jotka sisältävät keskinäisiä ristiriitaisuuksia, mutta jotka toisaalta tasapainottavat kuvaston välittämää kertomusta Suomen erilaisista ulottuvuuksista. Diskurssien välisissä painotuseroissa on kyse siitä, millaista mielikuvaa Suomesta ja sen kansalaisista maabrändin edistämistyössä halutaan korostaa ja millaiset tavoitteet ohjaavat kuvastojen tuotantoa. Visuaalisen semiotiikan osalta analyysi kohdistuu kuvaviestinnän kerrokselliseen rakenteeseen, eli kuvien ilmimerkitysten ja niiden heijastamien kulttuuristen ideoiden ja arvojen väliseen suhteeseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kansallista identiteettiä rakentava tarinallisuus luodaan aina ajan ja paikan muodostamassa kontekstissa, vaikkakin kuvien kulttuurinen kierto ja historialliset kuvausperinteet vaikuttavat Suomen visuaaliseen esittämiseen. Perinteistä luontosuhdetta hyödynnetään suomalaiskansallisen identiteetin kulmakivenä, mutta tämän kerrontatavan vastapainoksi kuvastossa korostetaan metropolimaisen Helsingin kansainvälistä vetovoimaa. Brändi-imagon vahvistamiseksi viestintämateriaaleissa kerrotaan kansainvälistä huomiota saavuttaneista menestystekijöistä, jotka nojautuvat suurelta osin pitkän kulttuurihistoriallisen jatkumon varaan. Maabrändiviestinnän moniulotteisuus ilmenee esimerkiksi siinä, kuinka kuvaston aktiviivisuusdiskurssissa korostetaan dynaamisuuteen pohjautuvia vetovoimatekijöitä, kun taas arkidiskurssin sisältö nojautuu enemmänkin pysyvyyttä osoittaviin aihealueisiin. Stereotyyppisissä kuvaamisen tavoissa esille nousee myös suomalaisia symboloivia ideaalikansalaisia, joiden kautta välitetään yleistäviä mielleyhtymiä omaa tietään kulkevista, luovista, rohkeista ja innovatiivisista suomalaisista.
Regions, borders and identity in a relational and territorial world
‘Regimes of territorial legitimation’ in a fast-changing world: why they matter and how they change
The work of Anssi Paasi and others highlights the importance of viewing territories as institutionalized social constructs. The territorial claims made by states should be seen in this light, as these are fundamentally influenced by regimes of territorial legitimation. These regimes are a product of taken-for-granted ideas about the relationship between people and territory that emerged along with the modern state system, and related understandings of the political-cultural circumstances that gave rise to states as juridically independent entities. There is considerable inertia to the initial regimes of territorial legitimation that take root after a state becomes independent, but they can evolve over time in response to shifts in the internal challenges states face, changing geopolitical circumstances, and the ideological commitments of state leaders. Understanding the nature and changing character of regimes of territorial legitimation can shed light on the forces shaping interstate conflict in the contemporary world.
Revisiting good fences and neighbours in a postmodern world after twenty years: theoretical reflections on the state of contemporary border studies
It is almost twenty years since Paasi and Newman published a framework paper for understanding borders in an era of globalization in Progress in Human Geography, entitled Fences and Neighbours in a Postmodern World. In the interim period, border studies have undergone a major renaissance and expansion, drawing in scholars from across the disciplinary borders. Much of the research has focused on case study material relating to the border crossing experience as borders have become more porous and easier to transverse. Theoretical questions have been limited in their nature, with a focus on the dynamics of the bordering process, as contrasted with the border and its demarcation per se. The globalization narrative which focuses on the process through which borders are opened, and in some cases may be totally removed, is now paralleled by the post 9/11 securitization discourse which focuses on the reclosing and resealing of borders, even though the actual border dynamics may be taking place in different border spaces than the physical border itself. The next generation of border scholars need to posit a new set of challenges and questions which will help bridge the scholarly and practitioner understandings of border dynamics and change.
City-Region Building and geohistorical matters: New new localism and the New new regionalism
In an article published nearly 15 years ago with Gordon MacLeod, we carefully reviewed, situated, extended, and above all celebrated the enormous intellectual contributions of Anssi Paasi to the scholarly project of doing ‘regions in geography’ Situated within, and going beyond, the ‘new regional geography’ movement in human geography and the social sciences more broadly, we looked at Paasi’s thinking on regionalization processes, abstracted in four stages, which collectively allowed us to advance (we claimed) a meaningful understanding of regional change. Rolling forward the research clock, I maintain that Paasi’s framework remains a cutting-edge theoretical framework in and through which to examine region-building processes and practices. This article accordingly looks at the ‘new new localism’ and suggests the need to now think about the dawn of a ‘new new regional geography’.
“Spatial socialization”: Understanding the state effect geographically
This article revisits Anssi Paasi’s concept of “spatial socialization.” The hallmark of Paasi’s geographic approach to identity, the concept offers a way to move beyond statist approaches that either reify the state or dismiss its significance. Spatial socialization sheds light on how the myths of coherence of “states,” “territories,” and otherwise-scaled regions come to be institutionalized through everyday practices and spatial imaginaries. Although Paasi is best known for his theoretical contributions, his long commitment to empirical research in Finland suggests the power of his contributions to think through unlike contexts, which I illustrate through a case study from my own research on the “state effect” in Central Asia.
The Mediterranean: international region and deadly border
Anssi Paasi’s research has contributed significantly to how political geographers understand the interrelated concepts of region and border. Paasi argues that regions and borders are both territorial and relational in that they are based on material practices in the landscape but also are created, reproduced, and contested through narratives. This article applies these ideas to the Mediterranean, a region with a long history of connection but with a current discourse and practice of division as the European Union attempts to limit the movement of immigrants through the sea, to argue that the idea of regions and borders are produced through 1) the iterative process of material interactions with the landscape and other humans and 2) symbolic representations of these spaces and relationships.
Topological imagination, digital determinism and the mobile border paradigm
Building on previous insights that have decentered the understanding of borders in a simple, linear manner, there have been recent calls for a paradigmatic change in understanding the role borders play in organizing and regulating contemporary social interaction in space. The main argument focuses on the shift of the role of borders from remote limits controlling access to state territories to central ordering devices at the core of societies both in symbolic and material terms. In this view, borders play vital roles in individuals’ lives, reaching deep into the fabric of societies to structure and regulate daily routines as well as long-term strategies. Several developments such as advances in digital technology, globalization-driven mobility imperatives, flow-related security demands, and a topological imagination of space, are converging to shape a new border paradigm that unsettles long established political and economic practices and rises essential questions about power relationships in society in the twenty-first century.
Imagining and re-narrating regional identities
Human imagination, with all its institutional elements, is an integral part of regional identity construction. Considering regions ‘imaginative’ is not about underscoring the essence of fictiveness, but rather about emphasizing the relevance of the man’s power to imagine and narrate history in one’s own terms. This paper discusses the role of literature, especially literary humour, in the process of re-narrativizing regional identities, within the theoretical frameworks of Edward Said and Anssi Paasi. Through the analysis of Mikael Niemi’s breakthrough novel Popularmusik från Vittula, it is illustrated how the narrative identities of regions, in this case the region of Tornedalen in northern Sweden, can be contested, re-formed and complexified. Tornedalen is approached here as an imaginative region, with its own colonial history, while humour represents a unique textual method through which the ‘othered’ regional identity becomes re-negotiated.
Producing health knowledge by calculating accessibility of ecosystem disservices
Conservation of environment is important not only for maintaining biodiversity and moderating global warming, but also for increasing public well-being. Studies on ecosystem services show that nature’s features have both positive and negative effects on human wellbeing. These effects can occur at individual and population level. Nature can decrease mental or physical wellbeing among humans for example by causing fear or by negatively affecting the already weakened physical condition of an individual. The elements of nature that have negative impacts are called ecosystem disservices and are the focus of this study. For producing health knowledge, it is meaningful to know a providing unit of ecosystem disservices and how the unit is situated in relation to human habitation and living environments. This ecosystem-human spatial relationship can be analyzed with a spatial link between these two locations. By knowing the providing unit of ecosystem disservices and the spatial link between people and ecosystem disservices, we have more tools for environmental planning and can provide better information of the disadvantages of nature to society. A providing unit of ecosystem disservices can be modelled by using GIS-based analysis or statistical methods depending on the nature of the ecosystem disservices. The spatial link can be modelled by accessibility calculations. Accessibility modelling gives information about the shortest distance between ecosystem disservices and population. With accessibility models it is thus possible to determine ecosystem disservice areas within a specific distance from a population location, and this way to determine how high the risk of encountering the disservices is.
Modelling the spatial variability of maximum mountain snow depth in Northern Norway
Snow depth is highly variant in wind-dominant mountain environments. The variation is especially high at local scales. Winter maximum snow depth influences the ground temperatures and the beginning of the growing season. Statistical modelling provides a feasible and cost-effective method for the analysis and prediction of localscale snow depth variations. The focus of this study is to analyse the spatial variability of near-maximum snow depth at local scale. Moreover, a statistical model for estimating the near-maximum snow depth distribution is provided. The study area in Northern Norway, Tana municipality, is characterized with a mountain landscape. The elevation range of the area is 500 m and the study sites are located on the slopes of the Rásttigáisá and Geaidnogáisá mountains. The lowest parts consist of mountain birch forest and most of the area does not have vegetation above the snow surface. Snow depth observations were collected in mid-April 2015 in a one-week measurement campaign. Modelling was conducted with Generalized Additive Model (GAM) using GISbased terrain and vegetation surrogates. Upwind exposure to westerly winds and horizontal (plan) curvature measure were the most important explanatory variables in the analyses. The interaction of wind and topography defines the winter maximum snow depth in the study area. Terrain sheltering from westerly winds and concave topography show increases in snow depth. The impact of vegetation was only visible in the mountain birch forests which had relatively even snow depth. In open areas above the forest, snow depth was highly variable. Elevation and solar radiation, which have been commonly used in mountain snow depth models, did not indicate impact in this study area. The GAMs calibrated in this study approximate the near-average snow depth quite well. Most of the sites with shallow or thick snow cover could not be predicted with the resolution, sample size and variables used in this research.
In Search of the Sense of Finnish Lakes: A Geographical Approach to Lake Tourism Marketing
The initial recognition of the Finnish natural landscape took place during the first half of the 19th century, and the lake landscape was chosen as the symbol of Finland due to its geographical exceptionality, but also due to the fulfilment of the picturesque requirements of beauty and variety. By the end of the 1800s, Finland had already been acknowledged as the land of a thousand lakes, and from the early 1900s to the 1980s, lakes were Finland’s international marketing trump card. Although lakes are one of the key attraction factors of Finnish tourism, the basic knowledge of the specificity of the country’s lake resource among tourism operators is surprisingly thin. Despite the fact that in recent years the role of lakes has been recognised, Finland’s great lake resource is still in many respects a dormant tourism opportunity. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute an understanding of Finnish lake tourism and to evidence how a geographical approach can contribute new ideas to lake tourism development and especially to the marketing of lakes. While a more traditional holistic approach interprets the landscape as a measurable part of the physical environment, humanistic geography presents a multi-layered view that goes beyond what we see, interpreting the landscape as a more comprehensive visual and experiential phenomenon that is created through our mind, in addition to sensory observations. The main focus of this thesis is in seeing and experiencing a [lake]landscape. Introducing the concept of ‘sense of place’ into the mental landscapes connected with the lake allows the development of lakes as a tourism resource and the touristic development of a region. Raising the ‘sense of place’ to the ranks of traditional tourism images increases the value of lake tourism and lake landscapes. The methodological approach taken was built-in triangulation with a series of separate data gathering sessions from 2001 to 2008. The selected research methods were mainly qualitative, in order to draw on respondents’ verbatim descriptions of the lakes. The lake as a place and space was studied from the perspective of the consumption of space by studying the organic images of potential visitors in Finnish Lakeland and the production of space by presenting the concept of Lake Wellness. This study clearly shows that the marketing of lakes has to start from a more complex viewpoint. In other words, the lake should be seen as a landscape and place that does not leave the observer outside, as do the ideals of the traditional objective landscape. The lake landscape is construed not only on the basis of personal experience, but also on the social and cultural interpretation of the lake. The lake has to be made a significant rather than a neutral natural landscape. Experiencing a lake landscape or a lake environment can be seen as part of ‘doing’ tourism. There is not necessarily a need to be physically present in the landscape. A similar experience to doing tourism can be achieved by gazing at touristic photographs. However, without any introduction to Finnish culture, the meanings remained rather irrational and even artificial in the mental images of a non-Finnish audience.
Identities and regions: Exploring spatial narratives, legacies and practices with civic organizations in England and Finland
We all have our stories to tell. Where we have born, where we have lived and the places we have visited. The spatial history of our lives reveals much about the ways we identify with space and how we narrate our belonging. The way we identify with space is always unique, reflexive and emotional. Space around us can be thought of as scaled, in which the landscapes and communities hold differently scaled spatial meanings. Regions are part of such an identity matrix, but identification with regions is a complicated issue in the late modern world, in which space does not provide a clear and meaningful collective discourse. Regions, however, provide one source of identification. Geography has a rich tradition of regional studies, and it remains important for geographers to understand what regions mean for people today, how individuals use regions in their reflexive identity narratives, how they entitle themselves to regional discourses, how they might feel regions as an obligation or as an inseparable part of the Self-Other dialectic. This dissertation is in short about how reflexive individuals share and narrate their identities and how they understand the spatially and historically defined social. The aim of this dissertation is to understand space as open in relation to different positionalities, life-paths and differently scaled worldviews. People construct their identities throughout their lives. Aside from highlighting the processes that construct identities and the part time plays for individual identities, the research also argues for understanding the role of time in forging the conceptions of regions. The research articles included here explicate the processes of identification with space, the role of identity discourses and belonging for both citizens in civic organizations and regional actors in regional institution, the importance of understanding how regional legacies condition various reflexive identity narratives and how regions form a part of the scalar spatial identities. In addition, the synopsis explains how regions have evolved in the case countries, Finland and England, and questions the relevance of regional imaginaries married to nation-building imaginaries. The four research articles and this synopsis draw from focus-group interviews with four different civic organizations in four regions in Finland and two regions in England. The 15 focus groups in Southwest Finland, Päijät-Häme, North Karelia and North Ostrobothnia were comprised of members of Local Heritage Associations, Youth Societies, Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth/Nature Conservation Association, and the eight focus groups in Devon and Cornwall involved groups of Local Heritage or Old Cornwall Society, Local Association or Amateur Operatic Society, Amnesty International and Transition. In the research, these are categorized as more locally-orientated or universally-orientated social movements or civic organizations. In addition to these focus groups, one of the articles uses one-to-one semi-structured interviews with regional actors in different regional institutions operating in Päijät-Häme. The empirical research was conducted between September 2008 and June 2010. Some of the articles and the synopsis analyse the historical legacies of the countries’ regional systems through historical source materials. The dissertation makes a contribution to geographical knowledge by addressing three main themes. First, I argue that people have a need to identify with space and that such identification draws from their life-paths and their ability to reflect on past experiences. Second, identification with space can take place in multiple scales and individuals construct their identities by piecing together and negotiating different spatial ideas and representations. Third, while regions might form a solid source of identification for some identity narratives, the ways people relate to regions, their histories, symbols, institutions and discourses, depends on the choices the individual makes and how she or he negotiates entitlement and obligation to discursive space among social connections. In addition, the synopsis opens up the regional histories of Finland and England. Along with regions becoming institutionalized, they can be thought of having been synchronized as a part of administrative systems. Yet the legacies different regions have left behind influence discourses of regional identities, identification with regions and how national communities are seen through regional positions. Finally, the dissertation argues that comparing different experiences of regions, regardless of state administrations and regional systems, and that the way individuals tell emotionally driven stories for themselves and to others is, perhaps, the most fruitful way to understand identities and their transformation in everyday life.
Rethinking mass tourism: Professional discourses of contemporary mass tourism and destinations
Mass tourism is a concept that has been used for decades in academic and public travel discussions, and thus it serves a purpose. Mass tourism is often used to refer to the early phases of air-based mass tourism since the 1960s, concerning the remarkable growth in tourist numbers, democratization of tourism, standardization of products and societal transformations. It is also used to emphasize certain motivations, behaviours and values in tourism that are seen as typical for mass tourism separating it from other contemporary or ‘alternative’ forms of tourism. This distinction frequently produces taken for granted or simplified categorizations both in tourism studies and in public discourses. Within tourism studies discussions about the conceptualization of mass tourism between different traditions have been almost non-existent. In this study, my interest is in the different ways mass tourism can be conceptualized. Tourism is now a larger phenomenon than ever and transformations have occurred in its production and consumption, demanding that the limits and possibilities of the concept of mass tourism need to be evaluated in new ways. This thesis contributes a conceptualization of mass tourism by addressing the academic discourses of mass tourism and discursive practices of professional social groups. The idea of mass tourism is approached from different strands of constructionist thought in order to create dialogues. The situated nature of knowledge and researcher positionality are also addressed in relation to knowledge creation of mass tourism. The thesis concentrates empirically on the stereotypical form of mass tourism, charter-based package holidays in the course of contemporary transformations in tourism. This Finnish case is useful because mass package tourism has traditionally been ‘travel for all’, offering a more democratic context for discussing the possibilities and limits of the mass tourism category. This dissertation consists of four studies that each shed light on the conceptualization of mass tourism with different materials and frameworks. The majority of the thesis is based on the empirical material that includes two sets of semi-structured interviews of 29 charter package tourism professionals. Pair interviews were conducted in 2011 for Finnish-based travel agents and individual interviews for Finnish tourist guides took place in Crete in 2013. Secondary material of academic research writings on mass tourism was utilized in one of the studies. The findings of the study reveal that mass tourism is a concept with a lot of historical weight, which guides its current categorization and interpretation in both academic and industry institutional settings. However, mass tourism is not easily defined, thus based on this study I propose a framework for more dialogical conceptualization of mass tourism. The framework starts with the contextualization of mass tourism (knowledge) as situated and proceeds addressing the plural-singular relationship of the ‘mass’ as a dynamic ‘mass effect’. These formulations are in connection with three intertwined possible versions of mass tourism: a quantitative category, a model(s) in tourism or as a ‘super-umbrella’ concept for contemporary travel. I encourage the research community to consider these aspects in relation to one another and position different cases within the framework. The framework shows that mass tourism conceptualization is a multidimensional process that includes choices with effects. This study suggests that the usefulness of mass tourism as a concept for research lies in building its future bases on inter- or post-disciplinary dialogues, which could better serve critical academic inquiry, and give purchase to the concept in describing tourism of today.
Valtiomuutos ja satiirin pohjoinen ulottuvuus: Alueellinen ero ja kirjallisuuden politiikka Haanpään, Huovisen ja Heikkisen tuotannossa
Since the 1980s, the Finnish state has been reshaped in significant ways, much like the transformation of statehood and state territoriality which has taken place all over the world. The economic, social, political and cultural forces working to reshape the state have undermined the legacy of the welfare state era and its “one nation” politics within Finland. To gain a better understanding of these transformative processes, my thesis focuses on the continuities and discontinuities in the dynamics of territorial and social integration/ disintegration of the Finnish state. My approach is through readings of satirical literature from the 1920s to the 2010s, where I focus on selected novels and short stories by three writers whom I believe are the best representatives of the northern dimension of satire in Finnish literature: Pentti Haanpää (1905–1955), Veikko Huovinen (1927–2009) and Mikko-Pekka Heikkinen (1974–). I use “the northern dimension of satire” as a heuristic device, which refers to the relative marginality of satire in Finnish literature, and to the shared cultural background of these prominent satirists, who all hailed from northern Finland. It can be understood as a centrifugal tradition rejecting the longstanding line of Finnish cultural policy and discourse on literature, which typically treats indigenousness as a problem while promoting a Finnish version of “genuine” European high culture. This satirical literature has often questioned these activities, as well as the politics of asserting cultural superiority from the core, the capital city of Helsinki in particular. It problematized the spatial and political structure of the state and the way in which its discursive practices define some places and scales as culturally valuable and reduce others to insignificance. My research design brings together materialistic and discursive perspectives on the political geography of state transformation. My analysis of state transformation is based on a materialist philosophy of history in which the spatial transformation of the state, as well as cultural production, are understood to be intimately connected to the development of the capitalist economy and its contradictions. These contradictions in turn necessitate different kinds of state interventions and strategies that seek to establish spatio-temporal fixes in order to balance accumulation strategies with the need for social cohesion and territorial integrity of the state. I approach the political processes of Finnish state transformation through a periodization of state territoriality (an areal state from 1917 to the 1950s, a welfare state from the 1950s to ca. 1990, and a competition state from the 1990s onwards). With the help of this periodization I interpret the historical context of the satires of Haanpää, Huovinen and Heikkinen as well as the social and political contradictions articulated in their works. I conceptualize the discursive perspective as the “politics of literature”. This implies focusing on the ways how the disagreement constitutive of politics is articulated in symbolic acts of literature. Moreover, I argue that satirical literature delegitimizes and challenges hegemonic discourses and virtuous subjectivities used to stabilize certain configurations of power. In order to historicize the political reading of literature and bring together the materialist and discursive perspectives on state transformation, I build on the theoretical synthesis of literature as a socially symbolic act proposed by Fredric Jameson. Thus, my narrative analysis operates on three levels: the political, the social, and the historical. I reconstruct the text as a symbolic act, as an ideologeme, and as an ideology of form, respectively. The levels are applied to examine the analyzed literary texts as regards their relation to political contexts, class discourses, and historical change. The relationship between the literature and the materiality of state transformation is thus considered as dialogical, or narrative, not mechanically or expressively causal. Nonetheless, Jameson’s rather sweeping conceptualization of “the political” is modified through a critical examination of the concept of politics. My approach to literature interpretation builds on Jacques Rancière’s notion of “the politics of literature”, which I seek to spatialize and historicize by drawing on the theories of postmodern by Jameson and David Harvey. The analytical part of the thesis consists of five articles which analyze different phases and aspects of the Finnish state transformation through satirical texts. The Satirical Politicization of State Transformation in the Novel Terveiset Kutturasta (Greetings from Kuttura) by M-P. Heikkinen (2012), Politiikka 2/2013, 73–90. Politics of Border Crossing in the Novel Noitaympyrä (The Witch Circle = vicious circle). Tiede & edistys 39:4, 321–346. Easy Living in the Hinterland? The Welfare State in the Satire of V. Huovinen (Short stories and short prose published between 1963–1986). forthcoming Alue & ympäristö 1/2015. World Politics Behind the Bush: Satire on Mustached Sovereignty (Historical Novels on Hitler (1971), Stalin (1988) and Peter the Great (1995) by V. Huovinen). Kosmopolis 44:3–4, 96–111. Accumulation and Destruction in Three Generations. Kolmen Töräpään tarina (The Tale of the Three Töräpää’s) by P. Haanpää (1927) and “The Notion of Expenditure” (1933) by G. Bataille, Niin & näin 4/2013, 45–53. The historical logic of the articles is genealogical rather than chronological. The first article analyzes the contemporary circumstances through the dystopian satire of Heikkinen. In it the disintegrating processes of the competition state have devolved into territorial separatism and civil war. The second article focuses on the problems associated with the Great Depression of the 1930s, which Haanpää’s novel Noitaympyrä approaches through the proletarianization of the state citizen and through the symbolically charged and transgressively political act of quitting the capitalist world-order represented in the novel by an act of crossing the border to the Soviet Union. In the third article the focus is on the welfare state era. In Huovinen’s satirical short prose the welfare state, in my reading, is seen as a radical modernization project which cured the social sickness of unemployment and poverty but at the same time introduced new “diseases of affluence”. The fourth article scrutinizes the nature and scales of state transformation through the problems of political leadership and world politics thematized in Huovinen’s historical novels on Hitler, Stalin and Peter the Great. In the concluding article the rationality of the economic logic of accumulation is challenged through the notion of expenditure or dissipation. The theoretical concept of dissipation, formulated by Georges Bataille in 1933, is used as an interpretive code to a satirical novel by Haanpää (1927), which evinces a strikingly similar logic of questioning. The central aspects of the spatiality of state transformation in the thesis are the processes of territorial integration and disintegration as well as the political subjectification of the state citizen. My interpretation of the satirical texts discloses the discursive logics of these processes and challenges the economistic and ahistorical ways of treating the territorial and social integrity of the state as a given. Analyzing the politics of literature allows distinguishing the historical phases and distinct ways of politicizing state space.
Rural tourism development and economic diversification for local communities in Botswana: The case of Lekhubu Island
Community-based rural tourism is has received massive support as one of the ways through which the benefits of tourism can reach the local communities. It is generally believed that by involving the local communities in tourism through community-based initiatives, their livelihoods would be uplifted, both at individual and household levels. Furthermore, these community-based initiatives are said to carry the potential to diversify rural economies and therefore contribute to the process of rural development. In the southern African region, including Botswana, community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) has emerged as a popular approach to involve rural communities in tourism development and conservation. From the initial primary concern with wildlife, development of CBNRM in Botswana has begun to include other resources such as veldt products as well as culture and heritage. However, research on CBNRM development in Botswana has generally neglected these non-wildlife initiatives. Specific circumstances that determine their success or failure have not been given adequate attention, especially during the early stages of development. This thesis draws attention to some important factors to consider when proposing community-based rural tourism as a tool for economic diversification among local communities in Botswana. Using the case of a non-wildlife-based initiative at Lekhubu Island, this thesis investigates; the community’s levels of awareness and preparedness to participate in tourism development; the significance of power in the relationship between the state and the community in community-based tourism development process; the challenges facing this kind of community-based rural tourism development as well as implications for its use in rural development. Lekhubu Island is a rural heritage site in north central Botswana. The community of Mmatshumu village located to the south of this Island operates a culture and heritage tourism business at this Island. Activities include camping and guided walks while many others are still in the pipeline. The study relied on a mix of qualitative methods for data collection. These included seven focus group discussions (FGDs) with members of Mmatshumu village community and seventeen long interviews with traditional and civic leaders, Trust members and employees as well as government officials who are members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Several informal interviews were also conducted with villagers whenever an opportunity arose. In addition, the study utilized a number of secondary data sources both published and unpublished including official reports, government policy documents, dissertations, books and journal articles. The findings indicate that while members of Mmatshumu community participating in the FGDs were aware of the potential benefits of community-based rural tourism, they were not aware of either the potential trade-offs they may have to make when tourism continues to grow or even the constraints that militate against future growth of their initiative. They also show that while one of the stated principles of CBNRM is to devolve power to the local communities, the actual relationship on the ground between the state and Mmatshumu community challenges this notion. In practice, ultimate decision making power remains with the government, while the little devolved to the community rests with the community trust. Members of the community participating in this study felt that they have very limited power in terms of influencing the process of community tourism taking place at Lekhubu Island. Finally, the Lekhubu tourism initiative faces several challenges; inter alia; low income generation and employment creation; lack of capacity in the community trust and the TAC as well as poor accessibility.