Doctoral Defense in Tourism Studies - Elva Björg Einarsdóttir

Doctoral candidate:
Elva Björg Einarsdóttir

Title of thesis:
Thinking with placemaking in V-Barð, Iceland

Opponents:
Dr. Phillip Vannini, Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, Canada Dr. Jundan Jasmine Zhang, researcher at the Swedish Center for Nature Interpretation, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Advisor:
Dr. Katrín Anna Lund, Professor at the Faculty of Life- and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland

Other members of the doctoral committee:
Dr. Gunnar Þór Jóhannesson, Professor at the Faculty of Life- and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland Dr. Outi Rantala, Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Finland

Chair of Ceremony:
Dr. Snæbjörn Pálsson, prófessor og deildarforseti Líf-og umhverfisvísindadeildar HÍ  / Dr. Snæbjörn Pálsson, Professor and Head of the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland

Abstract:
Places are mobile and becoming, they are constantly changing and dynamic. Places on the margins sometimes seem to take on another image and are thought of as static and homogenous. In the thesis, I look at Western-Barðastrandarsýsla county, Iceland (V-Barð) through the idea of place making which tells about how places are made through mobilities and dynamic relations, and there V-Barð is no exception. Using a relational materialistic approach, which recognises that humans are but a part of nature, and the idea of place making I examine how V-Barð is differently created through human–nature relations, mobilities and tourism. My findings show that places on the margins are no less dynamic and mobile than places closer to the centre. The relational materialistic approach allows for different methods of listening and looking at places and thinking about them, as it recognises a more-than-human agency. Through these lenses V-Barð emerges as a multi-layered and multivocal place where different stories of more-than-human encounters meet and make a place. V-Barð, as other places, is therefore messy and holds agencies which are crucial to recognise when negotiating about the place or researching it, for the more-than-human relations that it consists of to emerge.

About the doctoral candidate:
Elva Björg Einarsdóttir is the daughter of Bríet Böðvarsdóttir and Einar Guðmundsson, born at their home in Seftjörn, Barðaströnd, in Iceland, in 1966. In 2016, she published the book Barðastrandarhreppur - göngubók, about walking in her old countryside, also a map and website, www.bardastrandarhreppur.net. Elva Björg has worked as a teacher at both elementary and university levels, as well as a project manager at the University of Iceland, spending most of her time at the Centre for Teaching and Learning. She currently works as the project manager of the Field Academy at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit, Iceland. Elva Björg has a bachelor's degree in theology, a teaching diploma from the Icelandic Teachers University and an MA in anthropology. Her research in tourism studies is a part of the research project Mobilities on the Margins (MoM), which received a grant from the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) 2020-2023. During her doctoral studies, Elva Björg has been a part of three other research teams, Intra living in the Anthropocene (ILA), One by walking and Critical tourism studies (CTS). Elva Björg is married to psychologist Hannes Björnsson, her daughters are Jónína Sigrún, Ragnhildur Helga, and Þuríður, and her grandchildren Heiðar, Jenný, Kjartan, Krummi and Lóa.