ABSTRACT
The process of adopting any innovation is a learning process. The stages in this process are ‘awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, final adoption, and application’. In Utsjoki, these stages in adopting the snowmobile were passed through especially rapidly, because the advocates or innovators were leaders in reindeer herding and had strong influence in the reindeer association and in the community. The use of snowmobiles for recreation is often the origin of conflicts between native Lapps, who rely on their traditional economy, and immigrant Finns, who almost always take over wage labour positions. The adoption of the snowmobile in reindeer herding has speeded up the working process by making more roundups possible during one season. Reindeer herding, besides hunting, trapping and fishing, has been the general means of subsistence for the native peoples from northern Scandinavia to the eastern edge of Siberia.
