Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 50

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ONCE WERE MEN
time without strict obligations and duties.
Many are part-time playboys with strong
local community ties. Their behaviour, atti-
tudes and language, unpolished and
provocative, does not make them liberal and
innovative, as the cowboys in general are
considered conservative and under strong
local pressure of conformity.
The atlantic cowboy’s horse is the car. A
desperate cowboy would give his ‘kingdom’
for a car, and the cult of cars, involving most
young people on the islands, has definitely
highest value and prestige among the cow-
boys (Gaini, 2004). The cowboy’s car has
manifold functions: it is used to cruise
through dark streets by night, to participate
in hazardous street races, to get intimate con-
tact to girls, to meet friends, to organize mo-
bile parties with drinking and heavy music
(Best, 2006). The Faroese car-culture re-
sembles the subcultures of car-loving youths
in Nordic rural areas (Mogensen, 2002;
Vaaranen, 2005). “Tied is man without a
boat”, says an old Faroese proverb, but today
it seems much more appropriate to say: “tied
is man without a car”. Young people want
cars, not boats, and the cowboys highly
value driving (fast) skills, technical (engine)
knowledge and skills, and the horsepower
and style of their cars. The car symbolizes
a home - an alternative private room out of
parental reach - where young people spend
a lot of time. The car functions as young peo-
ple’s private space and the heart of many
peer social networks. “Immersed in car cul-
tures”, says Vaaranen (2005: 14) referring
to Finnish men, “ young men give in to an
elementary desire in Finnish masculinity:
the desire to control horsepower. The cul-
tural dream of mastering a machine can be
found even in the ancient Finnish myths of
Kalevala...”. Atlantic cowboys feel free and
Iiberated while driving, even if the islands
are small and the road distances hence short,
and invest rnuch time and money in their
cars. Many cowboys consider it more im-
portant to possess a car than an apartment.
Florsepower is a indispensable cultural cap-
ital in Atlantic cowboy masculinity; even if
many young sailors spend most of their time
on sea the car has to be shining and ready
for high-speed cruising when the cowboy
steps on land with his pocket full of money.
Atlantic cowboys are probably the best
‘handymen’ on the islands today, always
ready to change wheels of the car, paint a
house wall or fix the old engine of a small
boat. The practical ‘concrete science’ of
Levi-Strauss (1962), mentioned earlier,
leamed by doing and participation, has much
higher priority than formal academic skills
among most cowboys and is indeed linked
to their masculinity.
I have motomania - I only get peace
in 5th gear
when my shining steel rushes first into goal
ah then life is good
I have motomania - if I slide
it doesn’t matter
if only I have my car
then the world can be as it want
(from Eg havi molomani, Farocse song)
Atlantic cowboys, usually family-men even
if their lifestyles at first glance may seem re-
bellious and temperamental, have relatively
close and strong family bonds. They stay at
their parents home as long as possible, not