ABSTRACT
Our idea of nature has been shaped and reshaped several times throughout history. This chapter will investigate the role that physical education (PE) played in the social construction of nature in Norway. What view of nature was produced and implemented in Norwegian schools? Were there any changes in how nature was understood and used in the period from 1889 to 1960? Has today’s use of nature in Norway been shaped by concepts and practices that were created during this period? And can an investigation of the historical founding of Norwegians’ relationship with nature help us better understand the cultural basis of the Nordic welfare model? Inspired by Michel Foucault’s theories, this chapter will analyse how new discourses and practices change how we see nature. The purpose of examining this era, when Norway transitioned from an agrarian society to a modern industrial one, is to find keys that may help us understand how today’s Norwegians relate to nature. And by introducing what Foucault called the ‘technologies of the self’, this very relationship will be discussed at the end of the chapter.
