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Paper short abstract

Based on Norwegian transhumance tradition, this paper understands fairies as other-dimensional cultural beings, and not as symbolic representations of nature. Thus, the mountain landscape they inhabit must also be seen as a multi-dimensional cultural one, rather than a natural one.

Paper long abstract

Fairies and related supernatural beings have since the 19th century been described as ‘natural beings’ (Norwegian: naturvette, Swedish: naturväsen), and in that sense as an opposition to human culture. Such beings have often been seen as border guards between the social world and the natural world, both in time and space.

For example, Norwegian transhumance tradition tells how fairies (huldrefolk) lived on the mountain farms during the winter season. Their entry into the farms has been understood as a symbolic transformation of these farms from being a social sphere in the summer to becoming nature, or even wilderness, during the winter. Fairies are regarded as creatures of nature, even though the legend tradition tells that they have a social life and a societal structure that mirrors human society. Hence, it is tempting to think of the categorization of them as nature as a result of ontological purification by folklorists in a Latourian sense. This paper will discuss the rich Norwegian memorate and legend tradition about fairies, with an emphasis on their social life. Inspired by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and perspectivism, the social life of the fairies will be the starting point for arguing that these beings are not necessarily symbolic representations of nature, but rather cultural beings of an otherworldly dimension. And it will discuss whether it is productive to understand the landscape these creatures possess, the forests and mountains, as a certain kind of other-dimensional cultural sphere, rather than nature in a simplified sense.