Distrusting the Dragon

117 Pages·2016·1.71 MB·English

by  Redaksjonen 2016

Distrusting the Dragon

An Ethnographic Study of Distrust and Marginality in
the Eastern Fjords of Iceland

Pernille Ihme

Master’s Thesis
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Oslo

June 2016
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Distrusting the Dragon
An Ethnographic Study of Distrust and Marginality in
the Eastern Fjords of Iceland

Pernille Ihme

University of Oslo

2016
iii
© Pernille Ihme

2016

Distrusting the Dragon: An Ethnographic Study of Distrust and Marginality in the
Eastern Fjords of Iceland

http://www.duo.uio.no

Print: MailBoxes Ect. Oslo
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Abstract

This thesis aims to explore the manifestation of distrust and the feeling marginality in
the community of Orkuvík, situated in the eastern fjords of Iceland. More particularly, it
investigates the correlation between the financial crisis in 2008, the startup of an oil
industry in the “Dragon Area”, and the relationship between a peripheral community,
the urban center and global processes. Orkuvík is peripheral and semi-isolated, but at
the same time interconnected with global processes and large-scale systems. The
community is connected to the largest hydropower plant in Iceland, the Kárahnjúkar
dam, which provides power for the largest aluminum smelter in Iceland, Fjardaál.
Simountanously, Orkuvík inhabits the largest fishing company in Iceland, Fiskur. This
thesis provides a comparative analysis of these two different industries, and creates an
understanding of how the indifference expressed towards the oil industry is not due to
the lack of experience with industrial endeavors, but is rather based on a feeling of
distrust.
Building on the ethnographic descriptions throughout this thesis, I suggest that there
are multiple reasons for the cynicism towards the opening of an oil field in the Dragon
Area. However, they all emerge from the same feeling of distrust and marginality. The
reason for indifference towards the oil industry was not only based on a feeling of
distrust in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The financial crisis served as a catalyst
for change and simountanously revealed larger issues concerning marginality, the
feeling of not being heard and an understanding of disconnect from the greater
Reykjavík area. As the fieldwork unfolded, different strategies for maneuvering in this
reality became overt. Rather than staying dependent on global processes that provides
industry, or nation-state decisions that suggests further industrial development,
Orkuvíkians started to engage in how to frame their own future, and take back control.

Keywords: Iceland, Oil, Distrust, Neoliberalism, Crisis, Scale, Industry, Disillusionment,

Marginality.
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Acknowledgements

First, my deepest gratitude goes out to the people of Orkuvík who allowed me to take
part of and learn about their lives. I am grateful for the friends I made, who opened up
their homes, hearts and minds to me. Takk fyrir. You will always have a special place in
my heart and I will forever be grateful for this opportunity.

To my Icelandic family in Kópavogur, Bryndís, Egill, María, Hrefna and Pétur, thank you
for always having your door open. I am forever grateful for your friendship and support.

I want to thank my excellent supervisor Lena Gross for exceptional, supportive,
responsive and inspiring guidance during this process. You have been able to balance
perfectly between challenging and supporting guidance. Thank you. I am also sincerely
thankful for inspiring and challenging feedback from my supervisor, Thomas Hylland
Eriksen. You have navigated me through some complexities I would not be able to solve
on my own. To my fellow students; this has been great! Thank you all for fun and
engaging talks during our years together, you have made me better, smarter and helped
me through this exciting and frustrating process. The same goes to the Overheating
research group, my research would not have been the same without your influence and
suggestions given before, during and after my fieldwork. There are a few people I would
like to mention specifically; Tone Høgblad, Camilla Mevik, Mats Thorsen, Tiffany Utvær
Gasser, Mikkel Vindegg, Ola Gunhildrud Berta and Stina Worren. Last but not least,
Irene Svarteng, for always keeping the spirits high.

I am grateful to the Department of Social Anthropology in Oslo (SAI) and the European
Research Council for funding.

I would also like to give a shout out to my family. Thanks to my parents for all the
support and for being my biggest cheerleaders. To my brother Henrik for guidance and
stimulating discussions, to my brother Henning for always being just a phone call away.
To Þorbjörn, who has supported me through this entire process, I could not have done
this without you.

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Trevor Nickolls: Warmun Mandala (c) Trevor Nickolls/BONO

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research
Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) /
ERC Grant Agreement n. [295843].

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