‘That’s not how you do it’: Moralising the migrant in the Norwegian outdoors

Abstract

Participation in outdoor recreational activities is encouraged as a successful method for refugees to learn Norwegian language and culture, based on an assumption that this facilitates social inclusion into Norwegian society. Whilst diversity and engagement in the outdoors is highly valued and strongly encouraged, much because of their social and health benefits, there is also much to suggest that the Norwegian outdoors works to include some more than others. The outdoors is, hence, not a neutral space for everybody to access and enjoy. This article engages with organisers of outdoor recreational activities, or friluftsliv, for refugees through an investigation of how and why organisers are ‘engineering’ the refugees’ behaviours so as to fit established normativities and ideologies inherent in the outdoors. By drawing on conceptualisations of moral geographies and the ‘moralisation of citizenship’, the article identifies three categories of normativities which serve as a basis for a discussion of how the moral ordering of bodies contributes to a citizen-making project, aiming to create certain types of ideal outdoor citizens. The article also contributes to discussions of whether and how moralisation of citizenship can create a moral order that places newcomers as outsiders, fuelling already-existing challenges regarding inclusion and exclusion of refugees in Norwegian society.