JOURNEYING RURALITY – INDIVIDUALS’ PERSPECTIVES ON SPACE AND PLACE IN THE SCANDINAVIAN INLAND

The Scandinavian inland is one of Europe’s most sparsely populated regions, with an average of 2.5 inhabitants/km2. In a world where more than half the population live in metropolitan areas its very opposite, extreme rurality, raises interesting questions about the conditions of everyday life in a modern welfare state. The purpose of this study is to understand how people in rural areas relate to space and place from an everyday perspective. The aim is to study how the nature, history, people, objects and artifacts shape the individuals’ understanding of the local conditions, culture and community. In June 2015 the authors travelled by car from the city of Östersund in the middle of Sweden (lat. 63°N) to Malmberget in the north (lat. 67°N). Throughout the route photos were shot and interviews conducted in ten households. A camera installed inside the car filmed the whole ride. The empirical materials were first analysed with qualitative text methods and artistic interpretative methods respectively. The analytical framework included: demographic change; the resistance and complexity of nature; the personification of objects; individuality and collectiveness; power and resistance; solidarity and trust vs. conflicts and distrust, and inspiration, hope and despair. The separate analyses were then merged and developed into an exhibition including paintings, 3D-printed objects, graphical text boards and a video projection. Three themes emerged from the analysis: embodied representations, socio-physical-digital interactions, and politico-cultural reconstructions. These themes explain how individuals perceive and enact their relationship with space and place. This knowledge, from a micro perspective of everyday life in rural regions, can inform socio-political programmes and policies on welfare issues on both national and supranational levels.