Conservation or Development? Challenging the Heritagization of Shielings in Transitional Times, for Climate Mitigation and (Post-)Pandemic Development
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19004475 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eva Svensson (0000-0003-0571-2624, Karlstad University, corresponding author), Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir (0000-0002-8632-8191, Uppsala University), Ingela Kåreskog, Annie Johansson (0000-0002-2589-0631, County Administrative Board), Maria Sundqvist (0000-0002-1399-3676, County Administrative Board) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 23-43 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Heritage & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2159-032X • E-ISSN: 2159-0338 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/2159032x.2023.2228184 |
| OpenAlex | W4383342518 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
The classic Scandinavian shieling consisted of a fenced site on outlying lands with meadows and structures for dwelling, stabling livestock, and processing milk. Through dismantling of rural, forested areas, competition for forest use and heritagization, shielings have been marginalized in today’s agrarian life and framed as relics of an outdated system. Shieling owners, like small-scale farmers all over Europe, face challenges including economic viability, loneliness in their work, and difficulty recruiting new shieling workers. Surviving shielings (c. 200 in Sweden) are valued as local development assets and are often considered valuable for their rich biodiversity and heritage. As such, they are subject to conservation schemes that may conflict with development ambitions. Heritagization has also recently been challenged by archaeological and palaeobotanical research showing that shielings, in contrast to current relic framing, were highly adaptable to changing local economic and community conditions over almost 2,000 years. Herein, research work, community development, nature conservation, and heritage management perspectives are synthesized in a discussion of shielings’ past, present, and future, with a particular focus on the shieling Kårebolssätern. Based on historical findings, suggestions include promoting silvopasture and retro-innovative food production contributions to sustainable (post-)pandemic development and climate mitigation. The importance of a political ecology shift and fairer conditions for shielings, and the marginalized communities harboring them, are also highlighted
Agrarian society · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economic growth · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Political ecology · Political science · Politics · Sustainable development · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · French Urban and Social Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions
The Representation of the Past
Uses of Heritage
Heritage
The Scandinavian shieling – between innovation and tradition
Investigating rural change. Legal access rights and changing lifestyles in rural mountain communities (Ligurian Apennines, Italy, 16th-21st centuries)
The politics of co-production
The history of settlement and agrarian land use in a boreal forest in Värmland, Sweden, new evidence from pollen analysis
Hill farmers, habitats and time
Historical ecology and the study of landscape
Consulting versus participatory transdisciplinarity
Ecological entrepreneurship
Political Ecology
Historic Landscapes Without History? A Reconsideration of the Concept of Traditional Landscapes
Consuming Nature-Producing Heritage
Landscape archaeology, sustainability and the necessity of change
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |