Paul Kirschstein

Fluid Borders. Conflicts Concerning Water and Indigenous Rights

In 1970 the Norwegian government publicly announced plans for a monumental dam and hydropower-station located in the far north of the country. The Sámi minority played an important role in the numerous oppositional movements formed against these plans. The Alta-saken was a definite turning point in the history of the indigenous Sámi-population in northern Europe. Drawing on Jurij Lotman’s work, I analyse the narrative construction of this crucial event to explain the cultural negations surrounding the Alta-river.

By focusing on the close interconnection of the population with their local waterscapes, I open a comparative pathway to other conflicts and cooperations concerning water usage and cultural interests worldwide. For the analysis, a wide variety of text types as well as visual representations of the conflict is utilized to convey what kinds of qualities were attributed to the Alta-saken. How is it possible that this event constituted a critical tipping point for the Sámi, who had been subjected to several generations of Norwegian assimilation policies?

Blog posts, other

• “Die Ostsee – ein Meer, das verbindet,” [blog] Baltic Peripeties Blog, May 13, 2022, https://peripeties.uni-greifswald.de/die-ostsee-ein-meer-das-verbindet/.
• Translation of: “Julia Butschkow: Granit,” in: Zeitstücke (Neue Nordische Novellen VII), ed. Noëmi Grimm and Anja Köneke. Grevenbroich: Heiner Labonde, 2020, 96-105.
• Translation of: “Lone Hørslev: Egernet,” in: Im großen Kreis (Neue Nordische Novellen VI), ed. Claudia Nierste and Mareen Patzelt. Greifswald: Freiraum, 2018, 95-103.

Reviews

• Astri Andresen, Bjørg Evjen and Teemu Ryymin, eds. Samenes historie fra 1751 til 2010. Oslo: Cappelen Damm 2021, 540 pp. H-Soz-Kult, January 10, 2023, www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-97292.

• “Turning Points for Issues of Belonging? A Comparison of Modern People’s Movements against Hydro-Electric Dam Projects in Norway and Canada,” 30th Nordiska historikermötet (NHM) Globalt och lokalt, University of Gothenburg, August 8-11, 2022.
• Participation in the summer school Bringing Politics Back In(to) … Environmental Studies, organised by the Research School Political History / Onderzoekschool Politieke Geschiedenis (OPG), University of Groningen, June 27 – July 1, 2022.
• Participation in the PhD workshop Environmental Storytelling and Narrative, NTNU Trondheim, April 25-29, 2022.
• “La elva leve! Der Alta-saken und die kulturellen Dimensionen des Wassers,” 16. Überregionale Promovierendentagung der Skandinavistik, Abteilung für Skandinavistik an der Universität Wien und Nordeuropa-Institut an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, online, October 1-2, 2021.