Home matters: The role of home in property enactment on Norwegian smallholdings

Abstract

The article argues that geographies of home add important perspectives for analysing property enactment on Norwegian smallholdings. Characteristics of smallholdings as homes are described, and it is demonstrated that ‘home matters’ in terms of how property owners’ senses of home affect how properties become enacted. In conformity with recent theories in legal geography, the article demonstrates that these socio-spatial relationships conflict with the dominant ownership model which permeates public policy initiatives. The ownership model assumes a single owner motivated by self-regarding behaviour and maximising economic benefits. The article, however, reveals a deep sense of home and place attachment relating to Norwegian smallholdings, and this influences how smallholdings as properties become enacted, and thus, how legal instruments aiming at affecting people's behaviour are responded to. The article draws upon empirical research conducted among current and former owners of smallholdings in four Norwegian local authority districts.

Keywords:

• enactment
• home
• property
• rural Norway
• smallholdings

Acknowledgements

All participants in the study are thanked for taking the time to be interviewed. I am indebted to Gunhild Setten, Wendy Fjellstad and Kari Rueslåtten for valuable comments and fruitful discussions during the process of writing this article. I also thank Alison Blunt (Queen Mary College, University of London, UK) and Rob Burton (AgResearch, New Zealand) for their constructive criticism and suggestions for how to clarify the arguments. The article is the result of an ongoing PhD project supported by The Research Council of Norway.

Notes

1. ‘Nostalgia’ derives from the Greek words nostos, meaning ‘return home’, and algos, for longing or pain.

2. Numbers refer to farms applying for agricultural support.

3. See also Hunt (1989) on how visual images can be successfully used in studies of home and domesticity.