Do You Have Any Particular Favorite Place? Hunters’ and Anglers’ Secrets Meet Tourism in Northern Norway

Abstract

Secrecy constitutes a vital part of hunters and anglers social life in northern Norway. This article explores how we can understand secrecy and how this is challenged by tourism. Hunters’ and anglers’ secrets are, despite a protectionist trait, part of a practice where knowledge is contested, shared, and even stolen. Secrecy as a norm is therefore constructed with reference to both protected and shared secrets. This article suggests that we must look at the secrets shared in order to understand secrecy as a norm. However, tourism represents a different premise for sharing secrets. An increasing demand for guide services that includes knowledge about locations and techniques that give harvests and catch raises questions about how local practices are affected by tourism. The data presented in this article is anchored in a social anthropological research tradition with qualitative data collected mainly through participant observation and interviews.