Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Page 62

60
DREAMS OF CARS ON AN ISLAND
and cultural values in the Faroe Islands today
from an interpretive anthropological app-
roach.
As an island community the Faroes are
normally associated with boats and sea
routes (Joensen, 1982). For centuries water
was - in every meaning of the word - the
main component of life. So why write about
young people's dreams of cars on small dots
of land in the vast Atlantic Ocean? Because
the car is indispensable in contemporary
Faroese culture - for work, family-life, leisure,
etc. Motor vehicles infiltrate every societal
sphere, especially those involving young
people. The car is the means and end of pro-
jects. Cars, says a French philosopher, are the
aesthetic cathedrals of the 20th and 21st
centuries (Heddelin, 1991). Symbolic car
worshipping takes place around the
globalized world; even small peripheral
archipelagos give homage to the trans-
national 'car cult’. There are more than
20.000 registered motor vehicles in the Faroe
Islands, the home of 49.000 inhabitants
(Akstovan, 2009).
The Faroe Islands, a latemodern society
in the North-western corner of Europe,
witnessed relatively high numbers of serious
accidents on the roads through the 1980s
and 1990s (Sigvardsen and Kragesteen,
2003). Fortunately, the negative statistical
pattern has changed during the last years,
making the national Road Safety Council's
(Ráðiðfyri Ferðslutrygd) preventive informa-
tion campaign look successful. The purpose
of the council's promoted 'zero-vision' pro-
ject is a future where no one is killed or
seriously wounded in car accidents (op cit).
This may be Utopia, but the visionary plan
changes the discourse on safe and unsafe
behaviour on the roads of the Faroe Islands.
Today people are in general consciously
aware of modern road trafhc dangers. The
'car culture' of young people is also changing;
new values and symbols are being intro-
duced to the youth cultures (Gaini, 2009).
Especially, young men, aged 18-30, are
considered hard to advice and educate
regarding safe driving.
Methods
In June 2009,1 published a report - commis-
sioned by the Road Safety Council - on
young people, trafhc behaviour and road
safety in the Faroe Islands. This recent
anthropological research venture (2006-
2008) provides this article's prime data. The
report is based on qualitative semi-structu-
red interviews and questionnaires involving
around 100 people in total during 2006-07.
Most informants are aged 16-30 and resi-
dents of Torshavn. The informants have
different social, cultural, religious and family
backgrounds, butall ofthem are students or
former students of upper secondary schools
of the Faroe Islands. One out of three infor-
mants was undertaking higher education at
departments of the University of the Faroe
Islands - including the Nursery School and
Teachers College - at the time of the inter-
view. Even though most informants are stu-
dents in Torshavn, many have a background
from distant towns and villages.
The informants are not singled out
because they have first-hand car accident
experience; they represent a cross section of
contemporary Faroese youths with different
viewpoints and attitudes towards driving.
The informants present youth images of the
curious rituals and ceremonies, customs and