Paper short abstract:

This paper presents a project that will explore snow as memory, meaning and materiality in the light of global warming in Sweden.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents a project that will explore snow as memory, meaning and materiality in the light of global warming in Sweden. The project's starting point is that the changing materiality of snow due to global warming affects how people relate to and engage with snow. This might also lead to that older generations have different memories and experiences of snow than younger ones. “Snow talk” can be seen as connected to the temporality of snow as memories might carry associations to future. The snows changing materiality tells a story of what kind of snow (or lack of snow) is to expect.

The aim of the project is to investigate how snow as a cultural phenomenon is understood and renegotiated in relation to climate change. This is done by doing a cultural analysis of snow as a phenomenon in contemporary Sweden. Memory, meaning and materiality will be the analytical themes that form the focus of the study. The material will consist of questionnaires, interviews, newspaper articles and snow-related artefacts (for example plastic snowmen and similar Christmas decorations). The focus for this paper is memories collected via interviews and questionnaires. By exploring and collecting people’s memories of snow, questions can be asked on how past snow play a role in the understanding of present snow. What does snow mean to people and how is snow given meaning in a time of global warming?