The main purpose of this essay is to examine if it is possible to identify farms of “forest Finnish” people in Sweden, by means of an archaeological analysis, comparing the forest Finnish settlement with known none-forest Finnish settlements. This study is based on material excavated from the farms of Grannäs, and Råsjö, in the Swedish provinces of Jämtland and Medelpad. Both farms are dated to the 17th and 18th century. The study itself is divided into three parts, firstly a general study to get an overview of the material, secondly a study of ceramics as an attempt to discern social status and lastly a study of the animal bone material for analyzing the forest Finns’ livestock and possible hunting habits. The aim of the essay is also to provide a brief discussion regarding forest Finns and ethnicity. The results are ambiguous, but it seems possible to argue that there is a correlation between the ceramic and the amount of livestock. The forest Finns’ hunting habits could furthermore be considered in some ways a cultural act.

The purpose of this essay was to find and analyse Finnskogen’s actors and their opinions about the place’s cultural and natural heritage values. Also, the process so far to become a World Heritage Site. The methods used in the essay were hermeneutic and argumentation analyses; the first was used in the process of finding the sources, the second, to analyse them. The results show that the actors have different arguments to why they want to make the place a World Heritage Site and also that collaborations they have with other projects and people that are involved are important. The results also show that they also follow UNESCO’s conventions about world heritage and cultural heritage, even if they have not said it officially. The conclusion of the essay is also that the actors sometimes have conflicting arguments  to why Finnskogen should become a World Heritage Site and how to proceed with the application process in the future.

The World Heritage Project ”Finnskogen – vägen till världsarv” was initiated in 2018 with the aim of inscribing the Forest Finnish heritage in northern Värmland on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This essay examines how the cultural values of Finnskogen are portrayed and communicated by the project owners through visual semiotic analysis. The material consists of the film ‘Finnskogen – vägen till världsarv” and the project’s website finnskogen.se, with communication being related to, among others, the governing documents of the World Heritage Committee. The theoretical approach of the essay is based on Laurajane Smith’s Authorized Heritage Discourse (AHD) and Iain Robertson’s Heritage from Below (HFB). Through these two approaches, we explore how cultural heritage is produced from above, as well as a genuine way of living and transmitting lived cultural heritage. The study’s findings reveal that Finnskogen’s universal, unique, living, and antiquarian aspects are presented as positive values, aligning with several of the UN’s normative sustainability goals in Agenda 2030. Another conclusion from the study is that Finnskogen is portrayed as HFB, but ultimately subordinated to AHD.

The aim of this study is to illuminate how the 19th century’s researchers Carl Axel Gottlund and Albrekt Segerstedt contributed to the design of the cultural heritage of the Forest Finns in northern Värmland. One book from each author was analyzed: Dagbok öfver mina vandringar på Wermlands och Solörs Finnskogar 1821 (1821/2021) by Gottlund, and Segerstedts samling: skogsfinnarna i Skandinavien: en kommenterad och illustrerad källutgåva (1888/2006) by Segerstedt. Theories from the ethnographic field, the critical heritage field and from the field of scientific theories were all utilized. This study shows that the construction of a cultural heritage can be affected by multiple different factors, and that the researchers’ and their different practices often have a central role.