Forest-Walks – An Intangible Heritage in Movement A Walk-and-Talk-Study of a social practice tradition

Authors

Margaretha Häggström, University of GothenburgFollow

Abstract

This article seeks to understand and extend current understandings of intangible heritage and particularly forest-walks as such. The study is related to Swedish conditions and has been conducted in Sweden. The research is grounded in social practice theory – and the perspective of practice architectures in particular – and it draws on the work of Stephen Kemmis. Further, we view practice theory entangled with the phenomenological life-world concepts of intersubjectivity and historicity. The data are based on 12 walk-and-talk interviews conducted in the forest with individuals who willingly walk in the forest on their leisure time. The analysis takes its point of departure from representations by the participants regarding what they emphasise in relation to the practice of forest-walking. We find that the participants in this study have curated their heritage in landscapes, in this case, a forest. Further, the study shows that intersections between cultural identity and landscape play a significant role in people’s lives.

Author Biography

Margaretha Häggström is a doctoral student in Pedagogical work, at the University of Gothenburg, the Faculty of Education. Her phd work is part of the project This thesis is a part of the international project Beyond ´Plant Blindness´: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world financed by the Swedish Research Council.

Anita Synnestvedt holds a PhD in archaeology and heritage. She works as a researcher and lecturer in archaeology, heritage and pedagogy at the University of Gothenburg. Parts of her position is within the Centre for Critical Heritage studies at UGOT. She has during the last four years been involved in an EU funded research project about public archaeology called NEARCH.

Recommended Citation

Häggström, M. (2019). Forest-Walks – An Intangible Heritage in Movement A Walk-and-Talk-Study of a social practice tradition. Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language, 9(1).
Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/landscapes/vol9/iss1/7