Seija Tuulentie, D.Soc.Sc.

Name, academic degree:

Seija Tuulentie, D.Soc.Sc.

Academic title:

Senior researcher, adjunct professor

Affiliation:

Finnish Forest Research Institute Metla

E-mail:

seija.tuulentie@metla.fi

Link to CV:

http://www.metla.fi/pp/5765/index-en.htm

Research Interests/Activities in the Winter project:

My research activities in this project are related to the work package 4, Aurora Borealis: Tourism performances and symbolic meanings. The comparative question of “how is Northern Light tourism staged and narrated and how do the providers negotiate natural conditions and constraints in Norway, Finland and Iceland?” is an important one for this part of the project. Also comparisons with other nature-depending product will be made. Hunting and fishing are interesting from this perspective but also such phenomena as midnight sun and polar nights which can be guaranteed but which are difficult to productize as they are not closely related to any specific activity. In Finland, our case study will be performed in the tourist resort of Ylläs where the marketing organization demanded last winter that the streetlights should be turned out for the night so that the tourists would have better possibilities to see the Northern lights. In addition, the enterprises were asked to diminish lightning. This led to a lively discussion about safety issues, and different authorities were asked for statements. Thus, the Northern lights combine different perspectives: natural, institutional, material and cultural dimensions of winter product development.