Open seminar: Helga Ögmundaróttir on "The appropriation of Nature: The case of sheep herding in Þjórsárver, Iceland"

With their sheep, sheep herding traditions and a common identity surrounding sheep herding practices, as the core of their land-use and resource management, and human-nature interaction in general, the sheep-farmers of Gnúpverjahreppur in Iceland have for decades resisted industrial activities in the form of energy development in their highland commons in Þjórsárver.

As the story of the resistance has unfolded, other issues of land-use and resource management have entered the scene, with the wetland and sub-Arctic tundra ecosystem south of Hofsjökull glacier as a literal and symbolic space of cooperation and contest. These issues are for instance the science of biodiversity conservation, the perception of nature and wilderness, the future of farming and farming communities, policies of erosion prevention and land-reclamation, the interaction of energy development and nationalism, and the future of Iceland's highland in a world of mass-tourism and melting glaciers from climate change.