Paper short abstract:

My paper will discuss the different fears, hopes and also strategies in encountering wild animals and reindeer in Lapland. Wild animals are among others, bear, wolf and other predators. My main question is, that do predators and reindeer have space on the same pastures.

Paper long abstract:

Lapland is often regarded as a sparsely populated area in the northern periphery, which has enough space for predators as wolverine, wolf and bear. This stereotype of a wilderness does not fit with the picture which the people living there and herding reindeer have about it. Reindeer herding is a very important source of livelihood, both economically and culturally. It is also a way of living, which pays a lot of attention, both for peopling living on reindeer herding, but also for other groups, such as wild life researchers, politicians and decision makers. For all of them, transferring knowledge about different animals and their living conditions are important. Different groups have also different needs and values, and they are encountering e.g. in the questions of predators and reindeer. The discussions and conflicts about reindeer and predators are today very political and also very heated, but they are important. My main research questions is that, do predators and reindeer have space on the same pastures? In my paper I try to find some answers on this question. This is based on my ethnographic fieldwork in Lapland.