To answer the project’s research questions, after receiving training in Arctic economies and sociolinguistic methodologies at the University of Jyväskylä, the researcher conducted 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork and critical discourse analysis in a municipality in Arctic Finland that is the site of a growing tourism resort. Research data reveals that large business owners manage the seasonality of tourism, in part, by recruiting seasonal workers from the south of Finland and increasingly internationally. Recruiters and governments attempt to attract foreign entrepreneurs and workers by selling “the good life” in the Arctic. While studies have examined “lifestyle migrants” in Finland, lifestyle migration is often viewed separately from labour migration, but in the case of Lapland the two cannot be separated. Mobility to Lapland, particularly for young people, is often viewed as a way to escape stagnation and stalled futures elsewhere and to explore alternative possibilities for self-development in exceptional nature. While tourism research examines how nature creates value for tourism as a product sold to tourists, this project demonstrates how the worker/tourist consuming nature creates value in the form of labour power. Similarly, in regards to small business owners, foreign entrepreneurs move to Lapland to chase a particular lifestyle, while locals who moved away relocate to Lapland because they value the lifestyle it provides. At the margins of mass tourism these small businesses are finding innovative ways to profit from nature. These innovations are informed by the entrepreneurs’ lifestyle values, with a particular focus on sustainability and wellness.
ArcticLabourTime also outlines the political economic conditions, institutional supports and differential access to resources that enable and constrain such aspirational mobility. For example, foreign workers are valued by hiring managers for their “soft skills” (that Finns are perceived to lack) and English language skills. The majority of seasonal workers faced unemployment or precarious work at home, which fuels their desire to chase an alternative lifestyle. Similarly, entrepreneurs reproduce a discourse of foreignness as an asset: it enables one to more clearly tap into international markets. Their focus on innovation is, in part, facilitated by EU innovation business grants. While access to this funding supports small businesses, it also encourages them to take risks that aren’t necessarily profitable.
This project also identifies who benefits and loses from labour mobility in Lapland. Many seasonal workers, for instance, complained that their wages were too low and recognized that their lifestyle, which was difficult on relationships, had an expiration date. Enthusiasm for nature nevertheless enables recruitment of relatively cheap labour for large employers. Small business owners also provided innovative product development that benefited the destination more broadly and yet the monetary return on their investments was uncertain. Their innovations were often supported by secondary employment. This research thus has broader societal and policy applications, revealing ways to better support precarious workers and small business owners.
Finally, this project maps multiple Arctic timescapes. For example, it highlights the contradictory temporalities of lifestyle entrepreneurship: desires for a “slow lifestyle” fuel intense seasonal work and future-oriented anticipatory investments.
These results have been disseminated to academic audiences, stakeholders and the general public.
