Landscapes of change and resistance : a case study of the mineral industry’s establishment in south-east Skåne

This paper studies the struggles over the landscape that emerge in south-east Skåne due to the exploration permission which was given to ScandiVanadium in 2018. It also examines how this permission has a background in trends of a green transition in the mineral industry. The paper departs from theories on global land rush and accumulation by dispossession, and uses certain aspects of the production of landscape, derived from Don Mitchell, as the conceptual framework. The study is a case study which relies on interviews as its main source of empirical material. The data from the interviews is furthermore contextualized using secondary sources to understand the case accurately and in depth. In the analysis, a multiscalar approach shows how economic and political processes on multiple scales are seeping down into the landscape, causing conflicts of interests and struggles over the form and meaning of that landscape. In the landscape of south-east Skåne, these struggles are manifested in 1. parallel processes of fragmentation and unity, 2. material concerns about lessening prices on property, and representational concerns about what this area should be, and 3. division of authorities into what is regarded good local and ignorant national politicians