TID OCH PLATS FÖR TRADITION: Betydelsen av hantverk och plats för båtbyggare på Orust

Abstract

Abstract This paper is based on an anthropological study conducted among boat builders on the island of Orust, Sweden. Orust is a place where boat building has been part of the social realm for a long time. In the 20th century boat building on Orust took a new turn from being something mainly done on small scale to the development of a more industrialized boatbuilding process. With the success of the shipyards on Orust also came an external generalized idea of Orust as Boatbuilders land. This paper argues that boatbuilders on the island today have an ambivalent relationship to terms such as Boatbuilders land. Recognizing that such terms exist, and the important role boatbuilding has played for Orust, they also feel a need to distance themselves from the general idea to signify their own expertise for a competitive purpose. Using the terms habitus and expertise I discuss how they are intertwined and part of social capital in which the know-how of boatbuilding, although different from the past, is seen as local tradition and a craft that will remain on the island in the future. The study is mainly based on interviews with local boatbuilders, both retired and still active. The observational part of the study serves to contextualize the boatbuilding industry.