ABSTRACT
All of a sudden, the politics of nature have moved centre stage in Iceland. On the whole a rather placid and contended nation, usually more preoccupied with petrol prices than with philosophical introspection, Icelanders have found themselves embroiled in deeply divisive battles over the meaning of their own nature and how it could and should be used to fashion desirable futures for the country. These battles have centred on the building of large-scale power stations and the concomitant industrial strategies pursued relentlessly by the state and other actors. In the process, some widely differing cultural values and constructions of nature have been exposed. At the centre is an entanglement of various mobilities – of people, images and ideological convictions, not to mention capital – and how they constantly shift and rework the content and meaning of place.
