Place making, mega events and ritual effervescence: A case study of the Nelson Mandela concert in Tromsø, 11th June 2005

Abstract

Based on local newspaper coverage of a Mandela solidarity concert in Tromsø in June 2005, the article discusses the importance of mega events in relation to place construction, with particular emphasis on ritual aspects. Mega events are shaped by a global discourse, which emphasizes the uniqueness of place and locality. Through the staging of mega events, people are provided with opportunities for thinking about themselves and their locality, for experiencing the pictures and messages presented, and for representing them to the world. Such opportunities are not limited to mega places and centres of the world order. This was the case of a mega event in a small place, and a place, moreover, that has traditionally been designated the primitive backyard of the Norwegian periphery. The concert stories drew upon such established images, but revised them as indicative of uniqueness and authenticity. Constructed in contrast to world centres in general and 'Norwegian-ness' in particular, the concert stories at the same time spoke to the emergent features of a global civil religion. Placed under the midnight sun in northern Norway, Mandela served both as a high priest of this project, and as the bridge between local uniqueness and 'good' globalization. © The Finnish Society for the Study of Religion.