Presentation short abstract

Norway’s right to roam protects traditional foraging practices but could threaten plants, mushrooms, and capitalist laborers. This study shows how the Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging exerts discursive power in interpreting laws and setting norms for just human-nature relationships.

Presentation long abstract

Norway preserves one of the purest forms of the right to roam, including the right to harvest wild plants and mushrooms. With long roots in customary law, it grants open access to 95% of the country, covered in forests, meadows, mountains and coastlines. These rights supported subsistence gathering, rural trade, and travelers’ needs. Today, however, foraging transcends idealized traditional use. Coinciding with the New Nordic Food movement, gathering has entered urban economies. This shift coincides with threatening species such as wild garlic, now on the Norwegian Red List due to overharvesting, along with human rights violations against capitalist laborers in the Nordics.

In this context, the Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging seeks to steer sustainable gathering governance. Drawing on 2.5 years of participant observation, interviews and document analysis, this study examines how the Association exerts its discursive power to influence gatherers and the governance matrix. I first outline legal frameworks that protect nature and define access rights. Then, I analyze the Association’s interpretations of these laws and propositions for best practices. Finally, I present ambiguities in these laws and norms, pinpointing particular species, ecotypes, and practices, and show how the Association asserts its epistemic authority through addressing these gray zones. In a capitalist society that risks moving past the original intent of the right to roam, the Association plays a critical role in supporting generative human-nature relationships while denying exploitative ones. I conclude by emphasizing the interplay between formal legal structures and informal social norms in shaping just futures.