Jan-Oddvar Sornes – författare

The discovery, just forty years ago, of vast oil and gas reserves in the Southwestern part of Norway, and more recently in the Arctic High North region, created an economic titan and posed a vast array of challenges for both the Norwegian government and the residents of this area. How to extract and transport all that oil and gas without despoiling the pristine environment? How to use this wealth in a socially responsible and sustainable way? How to prepare the rural High North citizens—traditionally fishermen and farmers—for a global, high-tech economy?

Adopting an original narrative approach to qualitative research, this book tells the stories of 21 individuals either living or having a genuine interest in the High North, from mayors and entrepreneurs to farmers and fishermen. Through these first-hand meetings, it constructs an ethnographic study that reveals how petroleum and development have impacted on the regional economy and culture.

This book will be of interest to all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, and for students and scholars of organization studies, cultural and communication studies, environmental anthropology, natural resource management and sustainable development.

The discovery, just forty years ago, of vast oil and gas reserves in the Southwestern part of Norway, and more recently in the Arctic High North region, created an economic titan and posed a vast array of challenges for both the Norwegian government and the residents of this area. How to extract and transport all that oil and gas without despoiling the pristine environment? How to use this wealth in a socially responsible and sustainable way? How to prepare the rural High North citizens—traditionally fishermen and farmers—for a global, high-tech economy?

Adopting an original narrative approach to qualitative research, this book tells the stories of 21 individuals either living or having a genuine interest in the High North, from mayors and entrepreneurs to farmers and fishermen. Through these first-hand meetings, it constructs an ethnographic study that reveals how petroleum and development have impacted on the regional economy and culture.

This book will be of interest to all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, and for students and scholars of organization studies, cultural and communication studies, environmental anthropology, natural resource management and sustainable development.

The High North in a Time of Transition collects multiple perspectives on the lives of people in the High North of Norway at a point when the petroleum boom is no longer the dominant cultural feature of the region. Utilizing constructivist grounded theory, the volume contains a rich variety of narrative accounts of fieldwork conducted with those living above the Arctic circle in the city of Bodø. The book will be of interest to scholars from fields including anthropology, narrative theory, and Arctic and Scandinavian studies.

The High North in a Time of Transition collects multiple perspectives on the lives of people in the High North of Norway at a point when the petroleum boom is no longer the dominant cultural feature of the region. Utilizing constructivist grounded theory, the volume contains a rich variety of narrative accounts of fieldwork conducted with those living above the Arctic circle in the city of Bodø. The book will be of interest to scholars from fields including anthropology, narrative theory, and Arctic and Scandinavian studies.

The pandemic has created a crisis that has no equivalent in recent history, leading to a wide range of disruption across various social strata, highlighting and reinforcing inequality, and leading to profound organizational shifts. In this book, organizational communication scholars grapple with the implications of the pandemic for work and organizations, examining the immediate impact on their personal lives in an ethnographic narrative, but also theorising what the long term implications of COVID-19 will be. The book also explores the devastating impact of the virus on healthcare workers, on BIPOC entrepreneurs, and on people in developing economies. 

A timely, innovative work, this book will appeal to academics studying organizational communication, organizational responses to crisis, ethnographies, and alternative research methods.