Sikkerhet og risiko i norsk friluftsliv og naturbasert reiseliv — en kulturhistorisk studie

Abstract

This Ph.D dissertation is an interdisciplinary, article-based work that deals with the social construction of safety and risk in the field of Norwegian outdoor recreation (friluftsliv) and nature-based tourism. The dissertation is a cultural history study oriented around the practice of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism. That the dissertation is interdisciplinary implies historical, sociological and anthropological perspectives, in combination with descriptive statistics. Large sections of the dissertation are included in the research tradition «New Cultural History», where discourse analysis is central.

On the one hand, my ambition is to analyze the backgrounds for how image of risk in Norwegian outdoor recreation policy is constructed. On the other hand, it is my ambition to investigate how «our collective risk perception» is negotiated through various discourses, and thus still are under construction. My research questions are: How did different actors and institutions, in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, understand safety and risk at different times historically, and what responses to the dangers of nature has this understanding caused? How does society negotiate the perception of safety and risk in outdoor recreation and nature based tourism today?

The Ph.D dissertation consists of five articles: Article 1: Response to danger in nature, and attitudes towards safety, in Norwegian outdoor recreation. Article 2: The organizing and regulation of mountain guiding in Scandinavia 1820-2016, with a glance at the Alps. Article 3: Safety discourses in Norwegian outdoor life and mountain sports. Article 4: Death accidents in Norwegian outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism - a media analysis. Article 5: Safety status for outdoor recreation activities in Norway in the 2000s.