In the middle of nowhere?” This book looks beyond this kind of wornout slogan used in Finland and deconstructs dichotomous assumptions which view the North as an opposite to the South. From the viewpoint of Nordic Lapland or the Arctic region as a whole, most feminist research has overlooked the cultural, social and ethnic differences in the North. Nordic societies have been viewed mainly in relation to the countries and cultures of the South or East; rarely have they concentrated on the differences and marginality of the North. What is gendered life like in Northern societies? What are the conditions for women’s agency? What does the principle of located knowledge and criticism of hegemonic scientific discourse mean in the North? In what direction do travelling theories travel? The main purpose of this book is to discuss the politics of place in the context of feminist research from the perspective of marginal Northern societies and cultures. Geographically and politically, the idea of “North” is wide; in this book, many of the research topics deal with Finnish Lapland but extend beyond its official geographical boundaries. The authors open up viewpoints on lived gender and everyday life in the northernmost societies, analysing the agency of women in different Nordic contexts described both by works of art and experiential narratives.
