People in the mountains : life forms and cultural processes in the Swedish parish of Tärna in the 19th and 20th centuries

The aim of this study is to investigate life forms and the dynamics of cultural processes in the parish of Tärna, Västerbotten. The material is an investigation of the life stories of two families, which have been investigated from an overall scientific aspect. The aim has been to examine the exploitation of resources by individuals and cognitive structures within the framework of ecological adaption. These aspects have been illuminated by the use of comprehensive source materials. Estate inventories have revealed different object categories which were associated with the exploitation of natural resources. Church registers, judgement books, tape recordings from folklore archives and the author's own interview material described life stories in a Saami mountain family and a settler family. It turned out that people in the mountains had supported themselves on a combination of stock-raising, hunting and fishing. Comprehensive socialized knowledge of the environment and its resources was a decisive factor for ecological adaption and survival. The settler family had a solid knowledge of various handicrafts. The Saami in Tärna have settled down at an early stage and abandoned their former nomadism. The Saamish family investigated had a strong sense of family identity and their living story-telling tradition strengthened their identity and became a uniting factor. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century innovations began to emerge in the mountain parish, which often came to revolutionize the whole life pattern. The process of cultural change in Tärna in the 20th century has been dramatic. It has included the development of technology, modernization and changing exploitation of resources. Through the investigation of the life stories of the two families a clear picture has emerged of the exploitation of resources and of values, i.e. the total life pattern.digitalisering@um