Kirkenes: An Industrial Site Reinvented as a Border Town

Abstract

1 1. This is a significantly revised version of an article published in Nyseth and Granås 2007 “Place-reinvention – Dynamics and Governance Perspectives”, Stockholm: Nordregio. This article analyses the transformation of Kirkenes, a small town on the Russian–Norwegian border, from an industrial town to a border town. Kirkenes was established as a harbour for an iron-ore mining venture in what today is the municipality of Sør-Varanger. This industry closed down during the 1990s. The article describes how Kirkenes has been transformed within “bordered” relationships of civic society, business and a combination of high-level and local political activities. Being a border town and a centre in the Barents Region is the hegemonic narrative of today. The manifold transformations have led to a situation where Kirkenes has become “Russianized”, though local actors struggle with how to handle this aspect of local development and the meaning of the place. The article also investigates to what degree the transformations have changed local identity. The focus is on how identities are dealt with, whether they are seen as immanent and essential cultural traits, or as something that tends to be changed and adapted to the situation. Based on the concept of narrative identities, there are reasons to believe that there are strong identities based on both public narratives relating to local history and nature and metanarratives about globalization and cross-border communities.     

A Newly Acquired Ancient Ship-model in Kassel, Germany

Study of the small clay ship-model T832 in the Kassel Museum suggests that it is an instructive document bearing on ancient Greek maritime history and folklore. A preliminary dating that has had to rely on iconographic and literary sources gives an origin in the 6th or 5th centuries BC and a tentative identification as a small coastal warship. Some suggestions as to the purpose and use of the model are discussed.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society