From Everyday Work to Sensations of Freedom: Snowmobile Users’ Relationships to Snow, Ice and Weather

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationships that are created between snowmobile users and the winter elements of snow, ice and cold weather. ‘Relationships’ refers to the immediate material and mental relations as well as to longer-term cultural and social human–nature connections. The chapter focuses on two empirical examples, snowmobile use in reindeer herding in northwest Finland and the recreational use of snowmobiles. Informed by actor–network theory, I conclude that using a snowmobile makes it possible to understand, and (re)constitutes, the snowy and icy environments in particular ways. While reindeer herders look for driving practices that are sustainable in the long run both for the herding and the drivers themselves, in recreational use the landscape mediated by the snowmobile is constituted in terms of enjoyment which can be drawn from sensations such as excitement, esthetic pleasure, tranquillity and kinship.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationLiving and Working With Snow, Ice and Seasons in the Modern Arctic
Subtitle of host publicationEveryday Perspectives
EditorsMonica Tennberg, Hannah Strauss-Mazzullo
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Pages145-165
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-36445-7
ISBN (Print)978-3-031-36447-1, 978-3-031-36444-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
MoEC publication typeA3 Part of a book or another research book

Publication series

SeriesArctic Encounters
ISSN2730-6488

Keywords

  • snowmobile
  • reindeer herding
  • recreational snowmobiling
  • ANT
  • the Sámi

Field of science

  • Sociology

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