{"id":1235,"date":"2013-10-14T13:09:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T13:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/?p=1235"},"modified":"2013-10-14T13:09:37","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T13:09:37","slug":"a-poem-about-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/?p=1235","title":{"rendered":"A poem about loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

In historical research we sometimes come across little gems, insights into what a particular person at a particular moment in time thought about a situation. Today I discovered a lovely poem published in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten<\/em>\u00a0on 24 October 1932.\u00a0The author is listed simply as Nicolette. For those who can read Norwegian, here’s the poem in its entirety.<\/p>\n

Moskus p\u00e5 Dovre<\/strong>
\nI Dovre gikk jeg mangen gang
\ni alleh\u00e5nde ruter.
\nOg ofte jeg for livet sprang
\nfor hundre tusen stuter. —
\nfor Gudbrandsdals- og \u00d8sterdals-
\nog sidedals- og s\u00f8sterdals-
\nog Drivdalsstut og Tr\u00f8ndelags-
\nog landbrukslags- og b\u00f8nderlags-.<\/p>\n

Og nu jeg h\u00f8rer till mitt sjokk
\nat faren stadig vokser!
\nNu har man sluppet ut en flokk
\nmed ville moskusokser!
\nMen om s\u00e5 hele fjellparti
\nskal bli et stort parfymeri
\nmed moskusdyr i hvert et s\u00f8kk
\nof moskusduft og moskusm\u00f8kk,<\/p>\n

og moskus for og moskus bak
\nog ragg og pukkelputer, —
\ns\u00e5 er det dog en avgjort sak
\nat okser, — det er stuter!
\nOg tenk n\u00e5r s\u00e5 turistene
\nforsktig kommer listende!
\nOg tenk n\u00e5r alle stutene
\ni fjellet kommer kutende!<\/p>\n

Man g\u00e5r i fare hvor man g\u00e5r!
\nOg ikke minst p\u00e5 berget!
\nTuristene har triste k\u00e5r
\nfor uten skjold og verge!
\nI Dovre gikk jeg siste gang
\n— ennskj\u00f8nt det jo er tristemang! —
\nMen tenke sig en boksekamp
\nmed slik en moskusokseslamp!<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, Nicolette says that she has been a regular hiker in the Dovre mountains and one of the imminent dangers has always been cattle bulls allowed to graze freely. Now she has “heard with a shock that the danger steadily increases. Now someone has let loose a flock of wild muskox.” With “muskox in front and muskox behind” there is a danger. “Think,” she writes, “about when a tourist comes carefully creeping! And think when all the bulls in the mountains come into rut!” So now, sadly, Nicolette has made her last trek in the Dovre mountains. She concludes that the danger is too great: “But think about a boxing match with that kind of muskox ruffian.”<\/p>\n

While much of the muskox reintroduction story is dominated by a few central actors who arranged to bring the animals from East Greenland to “improve” the countryside, this poem reminds us that the local inhabitants and the people who regularly visited the mountains were not consulted. There were no public consultations or regional councils that put forward recommendations. No one asked the people living in Hjerkin if they wanted the muskox that arrived on 7 October 1932.<\/p>\n

\""Our<\/a>
“Our high mountains will be fully populated with muskox. They are not a danger for mountain hikers.” Aftenposten, 10 October 1932<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicolette’s reaction — which was published only 2 weeks after the muskox arrived — reveals the complexities of reintroduction, restoration, and conservation actions. In this case, Nicolette felt unsafe and had thus lost her tourist access. Although the project leaders tried over and over again to downplay the danger from muskox, for example the secondary headline of the article on 10 October 1932 says “They are not a danger for mountain hikers”, in reality there were conflicts, and as I previously wrote<\/a>, even a death in the Dovre region.<\/p>\n

This should remind us all that there are always losers — people or creatures that don’t<\/em> benefit from an action that is supposed to help the environment. Historians must continue to fight to hear the losers’ voices, their laments of loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In historical research we sometimes come across little gems, insights into what a particular person at a particular moment in time thought about a situation. Today I discovered a lovely poem published in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten\u00a0on 24 October 1932.\u00a0The author is listed simply as Nicolette. For those who can read Norwegian, here’s the poem in its entirety. Moskus p\u00e5 Dovre I Dovre gikk jeg mangen gang i alleh\u00e5nde ruter. Og ofte jeg for livet sprang for hundre tusen stuter. — for Gudbrandsdals- og \u00d8sterdals- og sidedals- og s\u00f8sterdals- og Drivdalsstut og Tr\u00f8ndelags- og landbrukslags- og b\u00f8nderlags-. Og nu jeg h\u00f8rer till mitt sjokk at faren stadig vokser! Nu har man sluppet ut en flokk med ville moskusokser! Men om s\u00e5 hele fjellparti skal bli et stort parfymeri med moskusdyr i hvert et s\u00f8kk of moskusduft og moskusm\u00f8kk, og moskus for og moskus bak og ragg og pukkelputer, — s\u00e5 er det dog en avgjort sak at okser, — det er stuter! Og tenk n\u00e5r s\u00e5 turistene forsktig kommer listende! Og tenk n\u00e5r alle stutene i fjellet kommer kutende! Man g\u00e5r i fare hvor man g\u00e5r! Og ikke minst p\u00e5 berget! Turistene har triste k\u00e5r for uten skjold og verge! I Dovre gikk jeg siste gang — ennskj\u00f8nt det jo er tristemang! — Men tenke sig en boksekamp med slik en moskusokseslamp! In a nutshell, Nicolette says that she has been a regular hiker in the Dovre mountains and one of the imminent dangers has always been cattle bulls allowed to graze freely. Now she has “heard with a shock that the danger steadily increases. Now someone has let loose a flock of wild muskox.” With “muskox in front and muskox behind” there is a danger. “Think,” she writes, “about when a tourist comes carefully creeping! And think when all the bulls in the mountains come into rut!” So now, sadly, Nicolette has made her last trek in the Dovre mountains. She concludes that the danger is too great: “But think about a boxing match with that kind of muskox ruffian.” While much of the muskox reintroduction story is dominated by a few central actors who arranged to bring the animals from East Greenland to “improve” the countryside, this poem reminds us that the local inhabitants and the people who regularly visited the mountains were not consulted. There were no public consultations or regional councils that put forward recommendations. No one asked the people living in Hjerkin if they wanted the muskox that arrived on 7 October 1932. Nicolette’s reaction — which was published only 2 weeks after the muskox arrived — reveals the complexities of reintroduction, restoration, and conservation actions. In this case, Nicolette felt unsafe and had thus lost her tourist access. Although the project leaders tried over and over again to downplay the danger from muskox, for example the secondary headline of the article on 10 October 1932 says “They are not a danger for mountain hikers”, in reality there were conflicts, and as I previously wrote, even a death in the Dovre region. This should remind us all that there are always losers — people or creatures that don’t benefit from an action that is supposed to help the environment. Historians must continue to fight to hear the losers’ voices, their laments of loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-muskox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1244,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions\/1244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}