October 1, 2008
September 30, 2008
Bugøynes style dressing for king crab
9 pers:
6 dl rømme
ca 1,5 pk ækte majones
1 glass pickles i biter
4 selleristenger i biter
en desj hakket hvitløk
salt
pepper
dill (vi brukte tørket)
saften fra en halv lime
Mmmmmmm!
Feel free to translate it to English. Or French. Or Czech.
Feel free to remove it.
Maybe it should be on facebook instead?
A Russian Northern Maritime Corridor to the EU
The Barents Observer writes today about the Northern Maritime Corridor project. The regional authorities in Northwest Russia are looking at this project as an important factor in their transport connections with Europe. This comes at the same time as the European Union seeks to move more transport off the roads and onto the sea.
Fish in the Barents sea
Dagbladet has made an article about how fish are migrating due to the warming of the sea along the Norwegian coast
September 29, 2008
the Barents Team
Ingunn Danielsen Lindbach, Synnøve Sæle, Matteo Gregori, Clémence Lepelletier, Ragnhild Førde, [Katerina] Katka Margoldova, Hilde Bøkestad, Magnus Jørgensen, Rune Stangeland, Kari Dalland
The Barents non-identity
Barents region is a land of contrasts, this is a land shared beetween day and night, east and west. Two differents cultures, two differents ways of living, with their own economic/ diplomatic/ educationnal/.../ system are facing.
On the left hand Europe (Nor.Swe.Fin.) has a steady evolution for several centuries, the capitalism functioning is deeply included into the societies.
On the right hand Russia, weaken after the end of the communism, is now establishing itself as one of the first world power.
What does 'identity' mean for a such contrasted region?
We can speak of 'community' when we deal with the Sami people, we can find 'similarities' beetween the lifestyles, or cultural 'resemblances', but it's impossible to sum up the Barents region under one idea, one 'identity'.
The strength of this territory may reside in such opposition, what if the left hand joined the right hand?
We sould keep in mind the words of Johannes Pedersen from NORD "Wealth in this new regime flows directly from innovation, not optimisation. Wealth is not gained by perfecting the known, but by impefectly seeking the unknown."
We're on facebook!
We have now created our own account on Facebook.
Follow this link and check it out! (- or simply search for "The Barents Project")
Common identity, does it exist?
Is there a common Barents identity? Will it ever arise? Do we wish for it?
The different countries have some of the same problems and qualities. Can these factors be used when we as outsiders define the Barents Identity?
Through the years the people in this region have struggled a lot. Both when it comes to man against nature and man against man. Today the struggle has shifted to man against economy. A growing problem is the lack of jobs. Young people are forced to move to the south to get a job. The region is in desperate need of new and innovating jobs. The problems grow even more when we look to the east. The poverty rate of Russia has improved a great deal. But the differences are still huge. The health system is in desperate need of upgrade. Will the relationship in the Barents Region help this development? Can we cover up the big gap between Russia and the other countries? Can we in the welfare state of Norway share the same identity as a beagger in Russia? Are the common qualities/problems strong enough to bulid a new region upon?
A shift in industry and resources
The discovery of natural resources has led to a great focus of the north.Oil,gas,wood, fish and minerals can bring the region closer together in terms of exchanging knowledge and technology. But will the outcome of the resources affect the ones who really needs it? Will the life quality be better for the whole region or will some small groups of people get all the benefits? It is important that a strong country as Norway set the standard at an early time.
It is difficult to grasp the common identity at this point. Writing this task leads to many unanswered questions. But we are on our way!
Work in progress
Writing something about the Barents Identity...what an hard task considering the fact that this region is made of differences and contrasts: 4 different countries, more than 4 different languages, different currencies, indigenous people, differences in the standard of living between Scandinavian countries and Russia. Does the Barents Region have a common identity? What is this identity? Can a Regional identity be made of gaps and contrasts?
They’re indeed a lot of tensions in this area, due to the fact that this region is a border region and because of all those differences (political, economical, cultural), but not only: tensions between the local and the global, tensions between the east and the west part of the region, tensions between tradition and modernity.
The four countries that make the Barents region have some features of development in common: history, sparse population, large areas, ethnic minorities, high amount of natural resources and the harsh and cold climate. Those common factors are a way to see the region as a strong entity with a possible future.
People who’re living there are for most of them proud of their past and cultural background. They all share the same strong relation with nature, wherever they live in the region.
But from now it seems that people who’re living in the Barents region are expecting something new, they’re expecting future. The difficulties people had to pass through the past years (with the decreasing of fisheries, the fall of the soviet union…) made them maybe stronger to face the future. All those differences and gaps are making the Barents Region as it is now.
How local people live with those differences? Would it be possible to reduce the economical gap between the east and the west part of the region in the future to hope a closest collaboration between the Scandinavian countries and Russia? Is it possible to make people stay for a long time in this area (and not only a place to work but a place to live!) and make it an attractive region in the future?
I don’t think that we can already speak about a Barents Identity yet… It asks for a lot of time to talk about identity for a region... maybe in a few years, who knows!
One thing is at least sure… the reindeers keep on crossing the borders!
It's to early to search for identity
As far as I know, Barents region was established by Norwegians to help to develop new business contacts or to make the existing ones easier.
In the past, there weren't any mutual relations throughout the whole area. Sure there were some, but allways only between some parts of the region. It never worked as one entity. For illustration - what could have in common medieval Swedish farmer and fisher from Archangelsk oblast? They could watch the same nothern lights...
Now you can find some aspects or qualities that people in this region share, but there's no need to call them identity. For me Identity is something I can't describe very precisely, it's more some kind of feeling than an observable quality.
I think, that Idenity, if it's not formed on the bases of nationality (Sami, for ex.), needs some time to develop. And time in this case means centuries, during which the region is working together. Therefore 15 years is not enough.
Barents identity on the move
Is there such a thing as a common identity for the Barents region? Well, after exploring the region myself for 5 days by the coastal steamer Hurtigruten and 12 days by car, I can at least conclude with one thing. The Barents identity certainly has to include a lot of driving. Mobility has always been of cruicial importance for people in this area, even before the term ”Barents region” itself was constructed: Pomor trade along the Russian and Norwegian coastline. Sami reindeer herding, stretching from Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia. Fisheries along the coast and rivers. The people of this region have always been migrant workers, following their herd of either fish or reindeer through the changing seasons and settling down wherever the resources were found.
But as time went by, fishing boats grew bigger and processing industries were moved to other and more profitable places. Without a reliable source of income people were forced to move. Today the discovery of new resources such as gas and oil in the Barents sea give new hope to the people in the region and politicians dream of a prosperous future and a wealth new workers. The taxi driver we met in Hammerfest, home of ”Snøhvit” (Snow White) – the first offshore development in the Barents Sea, was somewhat more reserved: ”Well, at first we expected a lot of new people. But the people who come to work at the platform are merely commuters. They move back when their job is over.”
The main issue for the Barents region may be this: How can one adapt the Barents identity of mobility into a will to stay? Or does the future of the Barents region include a comeback of the migrant workers from the old days?
The babushka
Trying to find a common Barents identity is not an easy task. And this babushka from Murmansk might not be the perfect symbol of this identity, but she is a part of it. She represents the women in Russia, whose husbands have died and left them with nothing. She is old without a job, and with no pension. She is one of the thousands of elderly women in Russia who has no choice but to beg for money in order to survive. In that sense she represents one of the aspects in the Russian politics which does not work. She represents the gap between the poor and the rich. In a way she also represents the gap between Russia and the three Scandinavian countries in the region. Will these four countries ever become equal in terms of social welfare?
In Norway the poverty rate is next to nothing. After the fall of USSR, Russia went through a major economical crisis and the number of people living in poverty increased from 1.5% to somewhere between 39 and 49% within a couple of years. Today the situation has improved and in 2007 14% lived below the poverty line. Since the financial crisis in 1998, Russia has had a 7% annual economical growth. The personal income has increased by 12% the last five years. But these numbers might lie. Most of the wealth in Russia is in the hands of the oligarchs, while the rest of the population can’t see the fruits of a country in growth.
How will the Barents Cooperation affect the lives of ordinary people in the region? Who will benefit from the Barents Cooperation? Welfare and social security could be the key to communicate the idea of the Barents Cooperation to people outside the political establishment.
The babushka illustrates the vast distance between Norway and Russia, not only geographically, but also culturally and economically. Is it possible or even desirable to speak about a common identity in spite of all the differences?
September 28, 2008
Regional identity?
The Barents region is a region of different nationalities, different ethnical groups, different languages and different cultures. Historically, it contains the border between east and west, communism and capitalism, and between the pore and the rich.
The Barents region and the areas of the high north is something we hear more and more about. The politicians and the money makers have big big plans for the region. But is this really a region a part from on the map? Is there a common identity? Some people say that identity is merely a construction. So of what is the identity of the Barents people constructed? Is there a common Barents identity?
The identity of the Barents region consists of different levels. On one level there is the common culture and language of the Sámi. This ethnic group has always traveled across the borders, lived in harmony with each other and nature, and still lives in many parts of the region. Their present serves as a gathering factor in a region of great differences. Further, there are the enormous amounts of natural resources both in form of oil, gas, minerals and fish, but also woods and nature experiences. The region sees itself as a region high on resources and low on people. This brings them together in their common attempt to explore the possibilities of the known and the unknown. Still, on the basic ground level of the Barents identity you will find the arctic deep sea and the rough cold climate. These people have long traditions of harvesting the sea and surviving the harsh weather, and this makes them stick together and help each other. All together their common identity creates a spirit of community across the borders. Is it strong enough to build a region upon?
Its about time in the Barents Region
The Barents Region is all about time. To understand time is an condition to understand this region. This is a place where the past, present and the future are very closely connected. One could feel the presens of both the history and the future of the places we visited.
The fishing villages on the coast of Northern Norway is now the home of recently redundant fishing industry workers. People here wants jobs. New jobs. Innovative jobs. Different form those that was before. People from the past are waiting for the future.
Murmansk also wears its history of a Soviet state on the outside. Take the property situation in Murmansk. After the fall of the Soviet union a goal has been to privatize the way people live. This has to some extent been done, yet only single private apartment. The building as a structure, with roofs, stairways, facades and outside areas are still owned by the authorities. Caught between the past and the future. Also here, people are waiting. For the oil. for the new jobs, for the wealth and the cars that is going to come. Sometime in the future.
The Barents is changing rapidly. The Barents Region today is in a state of in between.
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