Nature as heritage: the Swedish case
2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13527250500036767
ISSN1470-3610
Autores Tópico(s)Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
ResumoAbstract In 1909 the Swedish parliament passed two laws regarding natural landmarks and National Parks. This may be seen as a discovery of 'Nature as Heritage'. But there are earlier examples. From the 17th century, antiquarians had paid attention to certain natural landmarks and in the 19th century it was common to see nature as something that fostered the spirit of the people (das Volk). Around 1900 an increasing role was played by nationalistic motives. The National Parks were supposed to preserve and display the essential quality of Swedish nature. Biology and geology, the theory of evolution and the glaciation theory played a major role in emphasising these new national symbols. But as examples for Sweden indicate, it is difficult to make a heritage of a landscape. In this essay two separate discourses, namely antiquarian and environmental, are discussed. Keywords: SwedenNatureHeritageAntiquitiesNational ParksEnvironmental History Notes Bosse Sundin, Umeå University. Correspondence to: bo.sundin@idehist.umu.se CitationSundin, 'Environmental Protection and National Parks'. The early history of nature protection in Sweden has been treated in detail by Haraldsson, Citation Skydda vår nature! The international development was reported in depth by a commission of inquiry appointed within the Ministry of Agriculture; see Betänkande rörande åtgärder till skydd för vårt lands nature och naturminnesmärken. Afg. af inom K. Jordbruksdepartementet för ändamålet tillkallade sakkunnige, Stockholm, 1907. CitationMolin, Den rätta tidens matt , gives many examples of the practices of travelling antiquarians and their observations in the landscape in the 18th and early 19th century. CitationNordlund, Det upphöjda landet , investigates aspects of geological, plant geographical and archaeological research in the shoreline displacement between land and sea pursued in Sweden during the period 1860–1930, and the significance of this research for the view of the 'Swedish' landscape and its post‐glacial history. Sundin, 202. Ibid., 208. Nordlund, 260ff.; Sundin, 210f. CitationAlmqvist and Florin, Förteckning å svenska nationalparker samt å fridlysta naturminnesmärken . As early as 1905, in a critical study of the Academy's first nature protection committee, botanist Gunnar Andersson indicated that total protection of forest meadows would lead to their being transformed into spruce woodlands. See Andersson, 'I Sverige under senaste tiden företagna åtgärder till naturens skydd'. Definition by CitationJackson in Discovering the Vernacular Landscape , 8, here quoted from CitationNye, Technologies of Landscape , 1. The programme is presented in CitationSundin, Landskapet som arena . For a discussion of a common discourse in the 19th century, with examples from archaeology and geology, see CitationMolin and Nordlund, ' "Här vandra sålunda fornforskningen och geologien hand i hand vid hvarandras sida" ', 3. The antiquarian discourse in the 20th century is discussed in detail in CitationPettersson, Fädernesland och framtidsland and Citation Den svenska kulturmiljövårdens värdegrunder . CitationHvarfner et al., Lossen . CitationJanson and Hvarfner, Ancient Hunters and Settlements in the Mountains of Sweden . This beautiful book, which gives a survey of the investigations, was first published in Swedish in 1960. Six years later it was translated into English. The following quotes are from the English version, published in 1966. Ibid., 16. Ibid., 15. Ibid., 15. CitationBeach, 'World Heritage and Indigenous Peoples', 96. Citation from the homepage of the Board of Antiquities, describing Laponia. See http://www.raa.se/varveng/lapplande.asp Citation from http://whc.unesco.org/sites/774.htm Additional informationNotes on contributorsBosse Sundin Footnote Bosse Sundin, Umeå University. Correspondence to: bo.sundin@idehist.umu.se
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