Spiritual Entrepreneurship in a Northern Landscape: Spirituality, Tourism and Politics

Authors

  • Trude Fonneland Department of History and Religious Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.7510

Abstract

A cultural turn in the economy has led to growth in what might be called ‘spiritual entrepreneurship’.1 This term refers to entrepreneurs inspired by a New Age philosophy marketing spiritual values such as ‘self-development’, ‘holism’ and ‘deep values’. To shed light on this type of enterprise, the article examines one of its practitioners; Esther Utsi at Polmakmoen Guesthouse in northern Norway. My focus is on how New Age spirituality is here localized, wrapped in local indigenous culture and landscape, and turned into a commodity with market value for both tourists and conference participants. The staging of spirituality simultaneously involves marketing a vaca- tion destination to outsiders, and is also linked to the formation of a reimagined local identity, and incorporated into the redefinition of

images and dreams about the northern region.
Keywords: spiritual entrepreneurship, New Age, tourism, indigenous spirituality, local reinvention

Author Biography

Trude Fonneland, Department of History and Religious Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway

TRUDE FONNELAND, PhD, is Post-doctoral researcher in Religious Studies at the Department of History and Religious Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway.

 

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Published

2013-01-07

How to Cite

Fonneland, T. (2013). Spiritual Entrepreneurship in a Northern Landscape: Spirituality, Tourism and Politics. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 48(2). https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.7510

Issue

Vol. 48 No. 2 (2012)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2013 Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

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