THE STJERNØya Network.
Mapping the knowledge network about the fault line between mining and reindeer herding on the island of Stjernøya, Norway.
Øksefjord and Stjernøysund, Alexandre M. Zeitler©
The Stjernøya Network is a searchable database mapping knowledge shared by individuals and entities about the island of Stjernøya. The aim of the project is to highlight the network created around reindeer herding and mining knowledge encapsulated in the jurisprudential saga on right of ownership and usership of the island (2008-2016).
Click on the map to search the network.
→ The Finnmarkslov
With the adoption of the Finnmarkslov [Law on Finnmark] by the Norwegian parliament in 2006, the Finnmarkskommisjon [Finnmark commission] was created to map existing land rights [ownership and/or usership, collective and/or individual] on Finnmark, the northernmost county in Norway.
→ The First Field
The first field opened were the islands of Stjernøya and Seiland, 40nm. off the coast of Alta. From the 8 claims, my project focuses on 2 applications that prospered all the way up to the Supreme court.
→ Two Claims
Both claims are anchored on the island of Stjernøya and connected to local ecology knowledge about reindeer herding. The practice is deepely linked to the indigenious people of the Sámi. Located on the south part of the island, their grazing lands also partly overlay the mining areas of Lillebukt and Mount Nabbaren – each entities constructing their own narrative and therefore knowledge.
The Hypothesis
1. Reindeer herding and mining spheres of knowledge interconnect despite having strong centrifugal force; and
2. Central actors as well a key-strategies can be identified within the network.
3. Both actors and strategies are essential to concentrate individual knowledge into shared knowledge, not only at local level, but also within the multilevel governance framework of the Nordkalloten: from the local level (Stjernøya and the county of Finnmark) to transnational platform like the Sámi Council.
stjernoya.wordpress.com 