‘What Local People?’ : the establishment of a mine in Kallak, Jokkmokk, understood from a stakeholder recognition framework
(2014) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM01 20141LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
- Abstract
- Global exploration and production of minerals is increasingly located in areas populated by indigenous people. Conflicts that arise between multinational corporations and local activists and/or indigenous people are widespread while the understanding of such issues are still lacking. The Swedish government encouraging an expanding mining industry have caused great resistance, particularly due to the environmental and social implications, and above all with regards to the effects on Saami reindeer husbandry. The resistance to a mine in Kallak is based on the belief that the right to decide about the land historically fall on Saami people and the right to use the land is detrimental for the survival of Sami culture and the practice of... (More)
- Global exploration and production of minerals is increasingly located in areas populated by indigenous people. Conflicts that arise between multinational corporations and local activists and/or indigenous people are widespread while the understanding of such issues are still lacking. The Swedish government encouraging an expanding mining industry have caused great resistance, particularly due to the environmental and social implications, and above all with regards to the effects on Saami reindeer husbandry. The resistance to a mine in Kallak is based on the belief that the right to decide about the land historically fall on Saami people and the right to use the land is detrimental for the survival of Sami culture and the practice of reindeer husbandry. Even though the conflict might at first glance be perceived as a conflict concerning access to natural resources, I argue in this thesis that the perceived environmental conflict can be seen as part of a larger struggle over social status and recognition.
This research combines insights from a number of different stakeholders in order to highlight how the establishment of a mine in Kallak is perceived by different stakeholders. Data have been collected using methods of observations, interviews and documents and then interpreted using coding and discourse analysis. The data have been analyzed using a meta-theoretical framework of justice as recognition and stakeholder analysis, using a typology of relations of power.
The results of this thesis suggest that relations of power constitute some categories of social actors as normative and others as deficient. This can be shown particularly prominent in the way that more dominant stakeholders such as the government, the company and media have ‘more’ power, ‘different’ kinds of power and/or power ‘over’ other subordinated stakeholders such as the Saami population. Saami people are being misrecognized in a number of ways by other more dominant stakeholders. The struggle over a mine in Kallak can be understood as a struggle to overcome parity-impeding cultural norms.
The findings in this thesis suggest that further investigation needs to be directed towards understanding the implications that the mining industry has on misrecognition of Saami stakeholders with a focus on making informed and suitable remedies. A more informed understanding of the politics of recognition can serve to broaden, concretizes and deepen the questing of the mining industry into a questioning of misrecognition of the Saami population. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4463630
- author
- Persson, Sofia LU
- supervisor
-
- Mine Islar LU
- organization
- course
- MESM01 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- resource rights, participation, Sweden, sustainability science, decision-making
- publication/series
- Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
- report number
- 2014:018
- language
- English
- id
- 4463630
- date added to LUP
- 2014-06-16 17:30:42
- date last changed
- 2016-11-24 16:40:32
@misc{4463630,
abstract = {{Global exploration and production of minerals is increasingly located in areas populated by indigenous people. Conflicts that arise between multinational corporations and local activists and/or indigenous people are widespread while the understanding of such issues are still lacking. The Swedish government encouraging an expanding mining industry have caused great resistance, particularly due to the environmental and social implications, and above all with regards to the effects on Saami reindeer husbandry. The resistance to a mine in Kallak is based on the belief that the right to decide about the land historically fall on Saami people and the right to use the land is detrimental for the survival of Sami culture and the practice of reindeer husbandry. Even though the conflict might at first glance be perceived as a conflict concerning access to natural resources, I argue in this thesis that the perceived environmental conflict can be seen as part of a larger struggle over social status and recognition.
This research combines insights from a number of different stakeholders in order to highlight how the establishment of a mine in Kallak is perceived by different stakeholders. Data have been collected using methods of observations, interviews and documents and then interpreted using coding and discourse analysis. The data have been analyzed using a meta-theoretical framework of justice as recognition and stakeholder analysis, using a typology of relations of power.
The results of this thesis suggest that relations of power constitute some categories of social actors as normative and others as deficient. This can be shown particularly prominent in the way that more dominant stakeholders such as the government, the company and media have ‘more’ power, ‘different’ kinds of power and/or power ‘over’ other subordinated stakeholders such as the Saami population. Saami people are being misrecognized in a number of ways by other more dominant stakeholders. The struggle over a mine in Kallak can be understood as a struggle to overcome parity-impeding cultural norms.
The findings in this thesis suggest that further investigation needs to be directed towards understanding the implications that the mining industry has on misrecognition of Saami stakeholders with a focus on making informed and suitable remedies. A more informed understanding of the politics of recognition can serve to broaden, concretizes and deepen the questing of the mining industry into a questioning of misrecognition of the Saami population.}},
author = {{Persson, Sofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
title = {{‘What Local People?’ : the establishment of a mine in Kallak, Jokkmokk, understood from a stakeholder recognition framework}},
year = {{2014}},
}