Identity and life quality: shaping one’s place on a small island in a fishing community

Abstract

he paper is based on 15 months of anthropological fieldwork on some small islands, fringing the North Atlantic Ocean, in Norland County, Norway. The concepts of identity and life quality are central to this exposition as part of a socio-cultural web including significant elements of history/traditions connected to social and nature environments. In a modern world, life quality is everywhere significantly influenced by political decisions brought out without major impact or guidance from many small scale community members. This is important when assessing perceptions of sustainability, how it is defined and for whom it is considered.