Governing reindeer husbandry in western Finnmark: barriers for incorporating traditional knowledge in local-level policy implementation

AbstractIn Norway, recent policy reforms for indigenous reindeer husbandry incorporate traditional social organizational units into the governance regime, and are intended to induce greater internal autonomy through self-regulation. Implementation of the reforms have, however, proved challenging, both in terms of achieving policy goals and for incorporating internal autonomy. This article explores how reindeer herders' traditional knowledge and social organization are incorporated into policy implementation through legislative, economic, institutional, and informational means, focusing on western Finnmark, where implementation challenges have been most pronounced. By drawing upon an analysis of policy documents in combination with semi-structured interviews, this paper highlights barriers to knowledge integration induced by the design of supportive policy instruments of information and institution building, where traditional knowledge is de-prioritized in relation to scientific knowledge and notions of rationality and practicality. As such, this study draws attention to the importance of considering the design of supportive policy instruments from a traditional knowledge perspective, and in particular, to asymmetrical power relations between ways of knowing. FundingThis research is part of the UArctic EALAT Institute, financially supported by Research Council of Norway [grant number 176078/S30], Reindeer Husbandry Research Fund, Norway (project grant title: forvaltning i endring) and Sparebank EN Nord Norge Fund for Research. Data collection was partially supported by the activities of the Dávggas project (funded by Research Council of Norway [grant number 215961]).Additional informationFundingFunding: This research is part of the UArctic EALAT Institute, financially supported by Research Council of Norway [grant number 176078/S30], Reindeer Husbandry Research Fund, Norway (project grant title: forvaltning i endring) and Sparebank EN Nord Norge Fund for Research. Data collection was partially supported by the activities of the Dávggas project (funded by Research Council of Norway [grant number 215961]).