Sami on the stages and in the zoos of Europe (original) (raw)
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Cultural heritage of the Sámi in Finnish national histories 1894–2009
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 2019
How has Sámi cultural heritage been incorporated into the national histories of Finland? How have the national and academic discourses constrained and enabled ways of writing about the Sámi in this genre? A complete change from a hierarchizing and at worst racializing perspective to a more matter-of-fact approach is detectable quite late on, from the 1980s onwards. The Sámi have remained on the periphery of Finnish historiography, but they have become integrated into the national history, even though they still serve to illustrate Finnish nation-building in this genre. The amount of updated archaeological and historical knowledge has increased, but the approach still under-communicates the political agency of the Sámi. The inherent methodological and history-political conservativism stunts the way the Sámi are dealt with so that the Sámi histories remain mostly uncommunicated.
Nordisk Museologi
The National Museum of Finland is repatriating their entire Sámi collection to the Sámi museum Siida in Inari. This article illustrates the type of collected material that is to be returned, and what kind of tradition of representation the Sámi museum Siida will have to deal with in the repatriation. A remarkable part of the Sámi collections in the National Museum of Finland has been provided by the well-known Finnish Lappologist, T. I. Itkonen. Due to his many research trips in 1912–1927, altogether 91 per cent of his collections originate from the Skolt Sámi area in the Pechenga region and Kola Peninsula. In exhibitions curated by Itkonen for the National Museum, the Skolt Sámi objects seem to have been relatively well represented, although subjected to the almost compulsory representation of reindeer herding. Because of Itkonen’s collection, the repatriation of the whole Sámi collection of the National Museum to the Siida Sámi Museum has an especially poignant meaning for the Sko...
Arctic and North
In this special section of journal "Arctic and North" renowned and younger scholars from Finland and Norway take on the topic of research on the Sámi, from the era of "Lappology" to the era of "Sámi research". The focus in the articles varies between research history, historiography and history of science. Thematically, the articles range from longer overviews of the historical evolution and transformation of "Lappology" in their national settings to more focused articles on individual scholars, as well as an article on Sámi historiography with a methodological approach. Two articles focus on the genesis of more culturally sensitive Sámi research.
Arctic and North, 2017
Anders Andelin was a Finnish clergyman who engaged in Sámi research in the northernmost parsonage of Finland in the 1850s. His efforts were not exceptional, as the residents of 19th century European rural parsonages practiced a lot of research. Andelin himself was an amateur ethnographer, historian, archaeologist, meteorologist, geographer, natural scientist, linguist, and toponymist. He was, as a Sámi researcher, between old and new scientific traditions: The middle of the nineteenth century has been regarded as a turning point in the history of academic research in Finland. Until then, researchers collected folklore, historical sources, plants, and meteorological observations. Around the 1850s the focus shifted from collecting and listing towards more analytical and experimental research. Andelin published his writings in scientific journals but also compiled a lot of detailed information related to the Sámi people, as the Sámi were thought to be a primitive people heading towards extinction. The clergymen who came to Lapland also viewed the Sámi lands through the lens of cultivation. They gathered statistics, which could be used to justify the need for the efforts of agriculture in Lapland.
Arctic and North
The article examines how the representations of the Sámi were constructed in Finnish studies on Sámi in 1920 and 1930s. The role of racial studies in the Finnish lappology remained a short-period influence, while the dominant scientific field of interest, the Finno-Ugric research, had it´s own hierarchies concerning the Sámi, implied in the multi-disciplinary field from linguistics to folkloristics and ethnology. This branch was challenged by the human anthropological or cultural geographical position, emphasizing the cultural adaptation to the environment as the guiding force formulating Sámi societies. Besides purely scientific knowledge, the article studies the extensive field of other Sámi descriptions, which spanned from travel guides to newspaper articles. It suggests that this mixture of scientific and political interests together with stereotypical representations of the Sámi forms the context for the poor reputation of lappology among the later researchers.
Archaeologies
In recent years, there have been remarkable developments in the repatriation of Sámi ethnographic objects in Finland. The repatriation of large archaeological collections excavated from Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi people (the only indigenous people in the European Union), however, has not been discussed. Based on thirteen interviews, this article examines Finnish archaeologists' views on the repatriation of the Sámi cultural heritage. The research shows that there is suspicion or wariness towards questions of ethnicity in Finnish archaeology and a fear of political involvement, which makes the matter of repatriation an uncomfortable issue. Nonetheless, the practices of doing research in Sápmi or studying Sámi materials are changing as a result of the Sámi gradually taking a stronger role and engaging in and governing research in Finland, too, especially with the stronger role, through the Sámi parliament and the Sámi Museum, in the administration of archaeological heritage in Sápmi. ________________________________________________________________ Résumé: Ces dernières années, le rapatriement des objets ethnographiques sámi en Finlande a connu des développements remarquables. Le rapatriement de vastes collections archéologiques extraites du territoire sámi, la terre natale des Sámis (le seul peuple indigène de l'Union européenne), ne fait toutefois pas l'objet de discussion. Fondé sur treize entrevues, le présent article étudie les points de vue d'archéologues finnois sur le rapatriement du patrimoine culturel sámi. Les recherches démontrent que dans le domaine de l'archéologie finnoise, les questions relatives à l'appartenance ethnique suscitent les soupçons et la méfiance, ainsi qu'une I use Northern Sámi terms in my paper, if not otherwise mentioned. Place names are written in Sámi language spoken in the area.
Arctic Anthropology, 2013
The writings of ethnographer Sergej Sergel after his travels in Finnmark, Norway, and Finland (1907-1908) deserve more attention among western scholars. Coming from the professional ethnographic chair of learning in St. Petersburg, he gave fresh, thorough, and humane insights into the various ways the Sami adapted to their harsh environment. He had not chosen to go west in order to fi nd the original Sami culture, but was sent there and solved his commission by using a variety of methods to describe the differences between especially the Sea Sami and their nomadic coethnics. This article aims to compare his pictures, report, and book with complementary source material in order to exercise source criticism and put his fi ndings into context.
Sami Histories, Colonialism, and Finland
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Public apologies, compensations, and repatriation policies have been forms of reconciliation processes by authorities in Nordic countries to recognize and take responsibility of possible injustices in Sámi histories. Support for reconciliation politics has not been unanimous, however. Some Finnish historians have been ready to reject totally the subjugation or colonialism towards the Sámi in the history of Finnish Lapland. The article analyzes the contexts for the reasoning and studies the special nature of Sámi-Finnish relations. More profound interpretations are encouraged to be done, examining colonial processes and structures to clarify what kind of social, linguistic, and cultural effects the asymmetrical power relations have had.
From Kautokeino to a Nordic Sami Convention: An Overview on Sami and Indigenous Peoples' Rights
2017
III Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank prof. Poggeschi for accepting to supervise this work and for lending a helping hand during the research phase. His love for the minorities' issue and his passion in supporting language rights are commendable, and it has been a true honour to be one of his students. Second, I would like to thank Alexandra Tomaselli of the EURAC Research Centre for always being so kind and willing to help students and researchers interested in the topic, and for helping me in both my bachelor and master thesis. I wish her a successful career and a bright future. Third, I would like to thank the Finnish professors and researchers who I contacted during the research phase, Lotta Kokkonen, Maritta Stoor-Lehtonen, and Lydia Heikkila. Their kindness and passion in helping young people has been highly appreciated. A special thank, in particular, to Lotta: I still remember attending her course in Jyväskylä, during my stay in Finland, as one of the sweetest moments, thanks to her cheerfulness and devotion to the students. Finally, I would like to thank my parents and my closest friends, who have always had kind words of encouragement (and a whole lot of patience) to offer unconditionally through the months spent writing this thesis.