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- Convenor:
-
Thomas Højrup
(University of Copenhagen)
- Location:
- Tower B, Piso 3, Room T16
- Start time:
- 20 April, 2011 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
Coastal communities have to be seen as a variety of places – work and home places, places for vacation and memorialisation as well as places that disappear and reappear – in times of severe changes.
Long Abstract:
Changes in fishing-rights, sea-born transportation, recreational use and the general demography of coastal areas give rise to new conflicts in coastal regions. Whether it is for surfing, yachting, fishing or bird-watching, conflicting life-modes claim ownership or seek to restrict access to the beach, harbour and sea. What new approaches do we need to the study of links between people and the places they inhabit? How is it possible for ethnologists/anthropologists to explore and engage in the struggles of coastal people for ecological sustainability, fishing-rights, cultural tourism etc?
Coastal communities are terminals for relations over sea between different coastlines and their specialized communities. How are the identity formation and cultural history of those relations (to be) used in the shaping of actual lives and belongings to the coastal places around Europe? How are European coastal communities trying to develop sustainable life-modes in times of post-industrial conditions? How is it possible for ethnologists/anthropologists to take part in these processes in constructive and reflexive ways?
The EU Common Fisheries Politics is under reconstruction (2010-2012) and the European politicians have invited to a public and disciplinary debate about how to manage fishing resources. The outcome will have a significant impact on which kinds of communities and cultural life-modes will survive and be shaped in the near future. How are ethnologists/anthropologists in different European costal settings taking part in these processes and do we have experiences to share with one another?
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This research proposal discusses how the notion of design is used as argument and strategy within the retail industry in Swedish coastal areas. Within the retail sector, “design” has become something of a household word to indicate products’ originality, authenticity and creative value. When life style determines which goods are consumed, the notion of design has become a retail strategy.
Paper long abstract:
This research proposal discusses how a case study of retail businesses in Swedish coastal areas could be used to understand what happens when the logic of creativity meets the practice of retail. In the centre of attraction stand retailers characterized by a combination of traditional craftsmanship and a growing share of mass produced pieces under designer labels. The aim is to understand how the products are thought of and communicated, how this is related to places and consumers reactions to retailers' use of the design notion. The forthcoming paper aims to outline how design discourses within retail can be studied: how is design used as an argument and a strategy in retailing?
Design is one of today's buzz words, a simple Google search results in 360 million hits. The notion of design is used and presented in a variety of ways - design as career, as way to self realization or as status marker. Within the retail sector, "design" has become something of a household word to indicate products' originality, authenticity and/or creative value. Today a rising number of retailing concepts cooperate with acknowledged designers or celebrities who design collections that are sold through the retailers stores. The notion of design has consequently become a retail strategy in an economy where life style determines the goods consumed.
Paper short abstract:
How do people experience environmental change and how do they cope with it by means of narration? The paper focuses on 'environmental' narratives of the inhabitants of a former suburban fishing village whose lived space has experienced several dramatic changes over the last fifty years.
Paper long abstract:
Environment is not an empty scene merely providing physical space for people's actions. The multiple ways in which places and environs feature in oral narratives testify that places are filled with deeply existential meanings. How do people experience environmental change and how do they cope with it by means of narration? The paper focuses on 'environmental' narratives of the inhabitants of a former suburban fishing village - Mangaļsala - whose lived space has experienced several dramatic changes over the last fifty years. Incorporation of the village into the capital city and development of fishing industry in the 1950s considerably transformed the small peninsula and, accordingly, the lifestyle of the isolated community. Another change started in the 1990s when, following the collapse of the USSR, fishing industry gradually declined. In this process, part of the village teritory was overtaken by the Riga Seaport and several companies posing serious threat to the environment. The narrative repertory of the village inhabitants today contain stories of concern and uncertainty depicting Mangaļsala as a shrinking space that is becoming alien for the local people and even threatening.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, we hope to demonstrate various issues to do with out major research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), entitled 'Stories of the Sea: A Typological Study of Maritime Memorates in Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Traditions'.
Paper long abstract:
In folklore studies, memorates are an under-studied area. Defined as personal accounts of supernatural happenings, memorates are centred around various phenomena of human life and constitute an extremely popular and productive folklore category. They include a variety of extraordinary maritime experiences and other accounts, which occur in liminal spatio-temporal contexts, such as the sea-shore, streams, fords and bridges. These stories typically involve encounters with ghosts and other beings, and portents of death symbolised in phantom boats.
Maritime memorates form an important component of the narrative tradition of Irish and Scottish coastal communities. The project is assembling a collection of personal accounts of Irish and Scottish fishermen, boatmen, foreshore gatherers and beachcombers, recorded from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day, and seeks to uncover the distinctive character of the maritime memorate with a special reference to Irish and Scottish coastal communities today, demonstrating what particular social and cultural implications for the community they may have.
Paper short abstract:
This study explores the social construction of the sea and making a living from the sea in the Azores. It looks at how some social and cultural aspects of fisheries are privileged and some invisible. We also discuss how we may learn about broader perspectives for sustaining marine environments.
Paper long abstract:
Who decides what is worthy of being sustained in coastal communities? This study explores how different social groups understand the sea and making a living from the sea. Narratives were gathered primarily on the Azores islands, Portugal from people associated with fishing and past whaling: seniors from fishing villages, former whalers, former and current fishers; whale watchers in the Azores; and whale watching tour operators and guides, biologists, sailors, spear-fishers and kayakers. A comparison is made with Newfoundland communities active in "traditional" fishing.
Research participants offered thick descriptions of complex interactions with the sea, describing fear, danger, hunger, ambiguity but also joy, connection, and deep spiritual beliefs. Analysis of these narratives uncovers the social construction of knowledge as well as ways in which certain perspectives are excluded from these norms. Focus groups and photo elicitation allowed for an exploration of how "the ocean" is constructed in multiple ways and how differing groups respect the sea. Respect was often discussed: respect for the ocean; respect for whales; respect for fishers; respect for whalers. But these "respects" are not always inclusive. How does tourism focused on the "wilderness" of the ocean devoid of people influence respect for fishers or the former whalers? Where might the differing understandings of respect for the sea overlap to provide more respectful tourism and educational opportunities?
This presentation will discuss research methods as well as public education for bringing a broader scope of perspectives to the forum of sustainable marine fisheries management in the Azores and Newfoundland.
Paper short abstract:
The paper presents a research design for an interreg/EU project, a co-operation between actors engaged in costal area development. Of importance is the making of a research design that can handle struggles as well as facilitate the positioning of coasts as sustainable and attractive destinations.
Paper long abstract:
This paper is an outline to an interdisciplinary research design in the context of the ongoing research project "Coasts of the Future". The project is a co-operation between actors engaged in coastal area development in the Skagerack-Kattegatt-Öresund region. These costal areas have experienced an extensive industrial change - from traditional enterprises such as fishing boats to tourism. A challenge is to adapt to the change in a way that leads to "economic growth" (according to the Interreg/EU), and at the same time preserve environmental, cultural and social values. By comparing the situation in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian costal areas the project will invent conditions for sustainable development. Our part of the project network consists of actors having competence in coastal development, particularly in terms of tourism, cultural heritage, environmental impacts and events. The actors form a competence network that exchange experiences and knowledge on coastal development. Different experiences promote creativity and cross-boarder innovation, but there are also different agendas and practices. The research project have to take part in these processes in a constructive and reflexive way. In several workshops and meetings we have experienced conflicts of interests between the making of a destination and every day practices in coastal areas. An important question is the making of a research design that can handle this struggles and also facilitate the positioning of the region and the ÖSK coasts as sustainable and attractive destinations.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents the ideas of how to reactivate three coastal communities based on their local culture historical conditions.
Paper long abstract:
Han Herred Havbåde is a grassroots initiative based on the cooperation between Lildstrand, Thorupstrand and Slettestrand located at the North West coast of Jutland in Denmark.
The 3 coastal communities have had a different development in the recent years. All of them have a history as places for sea trading back to the Viking Age, and after that they have all been fishing communities along with places for tourism. But in the last 15-20 years the coastal fishing has been concentrated at Thorupstrand. At Slettestrand the last fishing boat left in 1999 and in 2006 the remaining fishing boats at Lildstrand were sold.
A long side the privatization of the fishing industry – see Thomas Højrups paper – Han Herred Havbåde was founded in 2007. The interest is focused on repairing old Danish klinkerbuild/klinkercraft sea boats from the west coast, making them seaworthy again, thus contributing to the preservation of coastal knowledge.
At Slettestrand the old boats are being rebuilt and the stories about the whole fishing culture are told. A brand new shipyard and a house for presenting the story and the culture of the coast has been build. The restored fishing boats are coming out at the sea again because many volunteers are working with the project.
Han Herred Havbåde has several dimensions – one of continuing and developing the handicraft of the clinker boatbuilding, one of repairing and building new clinker sea boats to the fishermen, one of reactivating the coastal communities and one of developing a sustainable coastal culture.
Paper short abstract:
Through a case study dealing with the protest over the possible effects of environmental change caused by the development of a yachting marina, this paper outlines the ways in which attempts are made to safeguard the ecological sustainability of the sea and the surfing conditions created by sandbars
Paper long abstract:
On the whole, surfbreaks are not adequately recognised as a valuable resource and thus in and of themselves do not feature in terms of regional by-laws or national coastal policies. The rights that many people take for granted in accessing surfbreaks may be diminished in the future, especially in prime spots where competing interests for other resources such as seabed minerals are prominent. The impacts caused by many large scale coastal engineering schemes are irreversible. Others, like deteriorating water quality, take years to become noticeable and many more to be overcome. This paper provides an ethnographic comparison between the distinct surf cultures of New Zealand and Cornwall UK. Through the lens of a case study dealing with the organised protest over the possible effects of environmental change caused by the development of a yachting marina in Whangamata, the paper outlines the ways in which certain environmental pressure groups, such as Surfbreak Protection Society (SPS), have sought to safeguard both the ecological sustainability of the marine environment as well as the surfing conditions created by naturally occurring sandbars. Conceptually, the paper illustrates the ways in which shifting and unstable seascape features such as sandbars are nevertheless able to anchor certain beliefs, values, social relations and forms of civil unrest.
Paper short abstract:
Are coastal communities left in a pre-industrialized state of development or could a post-industrial perspective make way for new understandings of coastal communities?
Paper long abstract:
The traditional perspective on the state of rural and coastal areas propose that industrialization centralized development in urban areas, and thus, the coastal and rural areas were left in either status quo or in depopulation and backwards development. This paper explores another perspective. Using Danish fishing and coastal communities as the main examples, the paper investigates a thesis of a post-industrial situation, in which new technologies and infrastructure actually have created a new reality and possibilities for fishers and coastal communities. A high level of technology on boats and vessels and the increasing access to trucks, roads and railroads created a new European market for fresh high value fish, that gave rise to a new and highly specialized fleet. The post-industrial perspective challenges the well-rooted image of the traditional fishing communities and traditional small scale fishers. If there is a new post-industrial fisheries, can we still talk about the traditional communities? Should the industrial fishing fleet then, be seen as the most modern or maybe instead as the dinosaurs of fishing?
Paper short abstract:
This short case study explores the business resources, activities and interfaces that connect and form a coastal group of independent UK shellfish micro-businesses. The aim is to explore the livelihoods of a group of independent UK shellfish micro-businesses.
Paper long abstract:
This short case study explores the business resources, activities and interfaces that connect and form a coastal group of independent UK shellfish micro-businesses. Central to this investigation is the ethnomethodological approach adopted by the researcher. Employing qualitative research instruments the researcher causes the informants, as they become objects of observation in a field study situation to casually define their ordinary work routines. Subsequent to the field work the researcher translates accumulated notes into what could be termed a cultural description, contextually enhanced with photographic narrative to create a visual dimension (Banks & Morphy 1997). This aptly provides the researcher with an additional technique to test the validity of insider accounts. Observations about the way a focused independent group of businesses work together to sustain their livelihoods is reported from the point of view of the group being studied. The uniqueness of a Thames Estuary based group who work out of Leigh-on-sea in Essex is used to illustrate how these micro-businesses, who all need to operate within the same coastal zone conduct their daily, routine work. The overall aim here is to present an authoritative case study of a single field location as an output of ethnographic research in an attempt to discover how this community shape their lives and livelihoods. The ethnography is constructed from a thematically organised set of field notes, using concepts and language from the domain of business management.
Paper short abstract:
Today fishing communities are under a hard pressure caused by the overcapacity of trawlers and the political introduction of privatization and individualization of the catch rights. This study discuss if post industrial fisheries and communities can have a future in the cultural context of Europe.
Paper long abstract:
The fishing community of Thorupstrand in Northern Jutland has attracted considerable attention in European fisheries management since the fishers in this community have a highly developed artisanal – or post industrial - fishery.
To avoid the negative consequences of the privatization of catch quotas in 2006 these fishers formed a common quota company including the crew fishers, and the company invested in sufficient quotas in a common pool to ensure the future fishing rights of the community – and to keep out outside investors trying to take over the quotas. In the neighbouring community Lildstrand a similar attempt was unsuccessful and the local fleet was sold in less than a month in the spring of 2007. Today the town is taken over by tourism.
This example shows that on the basis of the share system and its culture, it is possible to build a common pool of quota rights attached to a single community and ensuring the community a share in the resource and provide fishers an interest in conserving this resource for future generations – legally as well as biologically.
But this experiment also reveals that the rapid rise in quota prices weighed down the community company with a vast debt, making it vulnerable to external factors. The financial crisis (leading to bankruptcy for one of the local banks) and a generally low price of fish in Europe have forced the company into a battle of survival, threatening the company with collapse and destroying the fishing activities in the community.
Paper short abstract:
The lecture deals with the impacts of European fishery policies on the local level and analyses from a cultural point of view how fishermen in Murcia (Spain) try to confront the deep crisis in their sector.
Paper long abstract:
In April 2009 the European Commission published the "Green Book" (COM(2009)163 final) that contains an evaluation of the last 20 years policies. It concludes that the policies have failed and invites to participate in the development of a new policy. Starting from this crossroads the lecture analyses from an anthropological point of view which transformations of fishermen’s cultures and costal societies will be brought forward and which ones will be undermined.
There are a plenty of different stakeholders involved in this process which have to be taken into account. Apart from the EU we talk about the nation-states, professional associations, trade unions, nature conservation organizations, aquaculture companies etc. All of them participate with different interests. And they use specific interpretations and images in order to achieve their aims.
The discourses that take place in this field, will be explained with the example of the Region of Murcia at the Mediterranean Sea, where coastal fishery is behind the eight ball. The number of fishermen is decreasing, and the few left struggle through because of high prices of fuel and low prices for fish provoked by fishfarming and worldwide competition. Our attempt is to provide an anthropological point of view on the debate about European fishery focusing on the way how fishermen in Murcia experience this situation and how these self-employed workers face the deep crisis in their sector.