Invaded by weeds: contested landscape stories

Abstract

Landscapes tell stories of the lives and dwelling of those who inhabit them. They are not given, but in constant motion. In North Norwegian coastal societies cultural landscapes are rapidly transforming. One of the most visible and debated agents of landscape transformations are weeds such as cow parsley and dock. As well as threatening the biodiversity of coastal landscapes, the “invading weeds” seem to challenge the embodied landscapes of their dwellers. Focusing on the rapid spread of cow parsley, this article investigates complex and contested aspects of landscape changes. Inspired by Ingold's phenomenological perspective as well as performative theories, we search for ways of approaching hybridized relations within dwelt places. The transformative agency of cow parsley is used as a lens to approach societal dynamics and challenges. Through a study of the coastal community of Herøy in Northern Norway, we have explored people's engagement with the changing cultural landscape. The cow parsley covered landscape is perceived as a deteriorated landscape and as such seems to affect a form of alienation. We demonstrate a disruption between the emerging landscape produced by new ways of dwelling, and the landscape people wish to dwell in. What happens when the landscape tells stories which their dwellers do not want to be part of?

Key words:

• human‐plant relations
• landscape transformation
• invasive weeds
• dwelling