A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Natureculture dilemmas in Northern Finland : guiding post-anthropocentric social work through the mire (2021)
Ranta-Tyrkkö, S. (2021). Natureculture dilemmas in Northern Finland : guiding post-anthropocentric social work through the mire. In V. Bozalek, & B. Pease (Eds.), Post-Anthropocentric Social Work : Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives (pp. 198-209). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429329982-19
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Ranta-Tyrkkö, Satu
Parent publication: Post-Anthropocentric Social Work : Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives
Parent publication editors: Bozalek, Vivienne; Pease, Bob
ISBN: 978-0-367-34965-3
eISBN: 978-0-429-32998-2
Publication year: 2021
Pages range: 198-209
Number of pages in the book: 254
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: Abingdon
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429329982-19
Publication open access: Not open
Publication channel open access:
Abstract
In Sodankylä, central northern Finland, there exists a unique swamp ecosystem known as Viiankiaapa Mire. Since early 2000s this sparsely populated region has gone through a significant metal mining boom as part of the global resources boom, resulting in, among other things, the opening of one large-scale mine in the same municipality and the discovery that underneath the nature-conserved Viiankiaapa Mire lies a significant deposit of copper-nickel-platinum metals. Overall, the situation represents a criss-cross of various naturecultures, including the imperatives posed by the market. Social work is in many ways connected to this extractive economy, which forges human–nature relations in the region, and is a source of widespread environmental eco-anxiety for many. Thus, social work does not stand apart from all this, although curiously enough, being subjected to its own bureaucratic and material discursive doctrines, it seems to largely imagine that it does. Taking the Viiankiaapa Mire case as my vantage point, I discuss the criss-cross of various naturecultural entanglements in central northern Finland and their implications for guiding post-anthropocentric social work through the mire.
Keywords: mining activity; mining industry; economic effects; nature values; relation to nature; environmental policy; social work
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 3