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The Long Arc of Forest Land Dispossession and Degradation—Firm and State Actions on Sámi Lands in the Wood-Based Commodity Frontier in Northern Sweden, 1673–1955

Harnesk, David LU and Östlund, Lars (2026) In Journal of Agrarian Change p.1-17
Abstract
This article presents a new way of obtaining deep explanations of environmental problems. We expose the production strategies, corporate strategies and state actions that have been taken by firms and state agencies to facilitate the geographical expansion of the wood-based commodity frontier at the expense of reindeer pastoralists among the Indigenous Sámi people. Through qualitative analysis of archival material and historical research, drawing on commodity frontier theory and a state theory of modern landed property, we explain what happened to forests on Sámi lands in northern Fennoscandia and why it happened during three historical phases: the colonial-capitalist breakthrough, the industrial capitalist breakthrough and the... (More)
This article presents a new way of obtaining deep explanations of environmental problems. We expose the production strategies, corporate strategies and state actions that have been taken by firms and state agencies to facilitate the geographical expansion of the wood-based commodity frontier at the expense of reindeer pastoralists among the Indigenous Sámi people. Through qualitative analysis of archival material and historical research, drawing on commodity frontier theory and a state theory of modern landed property, we explain what happened to forests on Sámi lands in northern Fennoscandia and why it happened during three historical phases: the colonial-capitalist breakthrough, the industrial capitalist breakthrough and the intensification breakthrough. We show how these phases were critical to the appropriation and transformation of forests on Sámi lands and provide deep explanations of environmental problems for reindeer pastoralists. Finally, we discuss the relationship between commodity frontiers, different forms of landed property and the natural environment. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Journal of Agrarian Change
pages
17 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:105040806944
ISSN
1471-0358
DOI
10.1111/joac.70093
project
Sámi social movements – indigenous mobilization around the ecological conditions of reindeer husbandry under climate emergency
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c3d4509d-c0dc-40cd-810e-3998d74237ad
date added to LUP
2026-06-05 07:00:48
date last changed
2026-08-01 04:01:32
@article{c3d4509d-c0dc-40cd-810e-3998d74237ad,
  abstract     = {{This article presents a new way of obtaining deep explanations of environmental problems. We expose the production strategies, corporate strategies and state actions that have been taken by firms and state agencies to facilitate the geographical expansion of the wood-based commodity frontier at the expense of reindeer pastoralists among the Indigenous Sámi people. Through qualitative analysis of archival material and historical research, drawing on commodity frontier theory and a state theory of modern landed property, we explain what happened to forests on Sámi lands in northern Fennoscandia and why it happened during three historical phases: the colonial-capitalist breakthrough, the industrial capitalist breakthrough and the intensification breakthrough. We show how these phases were critical to the appropriation and transformation of forests on Sámi lands and provide deep explanations of environmental problems for reindeer pastoralists. Finally, we discuss the relationship between commodity frontiers, different forms of landed property and the natural environment.}},
  author       = {{Harnesk, David and Östlund, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1471-0358}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  pages        = {{1--17}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Agrarian Change}},
  title        = {{The Long Arc of Forest Land Dispossession and Degradation—Firm and State Actions on Sámi Lands in the Wood-Based Commodity Frontier in Northern Sweden, 1673–1955}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joac.70093}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/joac.70093}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}