CONFLICTING CULTURAL-VALUES - WHALE TOURISM IN NORTHERN NORWAY

This paper examines an example of cultural conflict in the case of a w hale tourism project in northern Norway. The project has caused confli ct since foreign entrepreneurs and their sponsors have moved in with t he explicit purpose of putting an end to whaling by various means of c hanging the whalers' and local people's conception about whales. It is argued in this paper that the reason behind the introduction of the p roject follows an increasing ideological trend in the Western world to day: the non-consumptive utilization of whales. This idea rejects whal es as a fishery resource in favour of developing an emotional and recr eational relationship towards them and at the same time helping unempl oyed whalers. The entrepreneurs have thus tried to transform ''the Wha le'' from within the traditional cultural context in northern Norway b y introducing an alien image of it as something humans are only suppos ed to consume by non-material means. Finally, it is concluded that the entrepreneurs have not succeeded in changing either local attitudes t owards whales or the economic situation for the whalers, since whaling and other coastal communities in northern Norway show a high degree o f cultural resistance.