Håkon Hermanstrand Asbjørn Kolberg Trond Risto Nilssen Leiv Sem Editors

# The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami

Historical and Political Perspectives on a Minority within a Minority

The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami

Photo: Asbjørn Kolberg

Håkon Hermanstrand • Asbjørn Kolberg Trond Risto Nilssen • Leiv Sem Editors

# The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami

Historical and Political Perspectives on a Minority within a Minority

Editors Håkon Hermanstrand The Faculty of Education and Arts Nord University Levanger, Norway

Asbjørn Kolberg The Faculty of Education and Arts Nord University Levanger, Norway

Trond Risto Nilssen Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway

and

Nord University Levanger, Norway

Leiv Sem The Faculty of Education and Arts Nord University Levanger, Norway

#### ISBN 978-3-030-05028-3 ISBN 978-3-030-05029-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962762

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### Preface

This book is the product of presentations made at a symposium in the spring of 2017 arranged by the research programme entitled Historical and Political Negotiations of South Saami Culture and Identity 2016–2018. This programme, funded by the Regional Research Funds Central Norway (RFF) and Nord University, has been led by a group of researchers from Nord University's Faculty of Education and Arts in collaboration with partners in Norway and Canada. Partners representing the following institutions and universities have been involved in the project: Saemien Sijte—South Saami Museum and Cultural Centre (Norway), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), UiT—the Arctic University of Norway, the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), the Centennial of the First Saami National Congress in Trondheim 1917 (Norway 2017), Sijti Jarnge—Saami Cultural Centre (Norway) and Røros Museum (Norway). Not all of these have been able to contribute to this volume. However, they have been important to the project through guiding, supporting and correcting the research during meetings, in symposiums and seminars and correspondence. The main objective of the research project has been to enhance public awareness of the South Saami culture and history, and to deepen the understanding of how the South Saami and non-Saami identities are formed in a dynamic interaction and negotiation process with each other.

In Norway, Nord University has been given special responsibility for the South Saami and Lule Saami language and culture. There is a definite need to increase research-based knowledge about South Saami history, culture and identity. This is all the more important as the South Saami people are in a vulnerable position as they are few in number and spread out across a large geographic region (Research Council of Norway 2008). Reflecting the much broader international scale of these issues in its resolutions, the UN's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stresses the enormous need for knowledge about the world's indigenous peoples in many fundamental areas, such as demographics, resources, rights and traditional knowledge.

Levanger, Norway Håkon Hermanstrand Levanger, Norway Asbjørn Kolberg Trondheim/Levanger, Norway Trond Risto Nilssen Levanger, Norway Leiv Sem

### Acknowledgements

In recent decades, a small but growing group of scholars has made important efforts to question, correct and supply the hegemonic narratives of history with information from the South Saami perspective. Most of these scholars have been of South Saami ancestry. One particular important source of inspiration and information in this project has been the South Saami historian Sverre Fjellheim. We dedicate this volume to him and to the other scholars who have laid the basis for South Saami history, culture and identity as a field of study.

This work would not have been possible without the financial support of Regional Research Funds Central Norway (RFF Midt-Norge), Nord University and the contributions from the external project partners: Saemien Sijte—South Saami Museum and Cultural Centre (Norway), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), UiT—the Arctic University of Norway, the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), the Centennial of the First Saami National Congress in Trondheim 1917 (Norway 2017), Sijti Jarnge— Saami Cultural Centre (Norway) and Røros Museum (Norway).

Furthermore, we would like to offer our special thanks to Kjell Magne Derås, former Senior Adviser in South Saami affairs at Nord-Trøndelag University College. We are very grateful for his input in our project, for his help in collecting data, for his guidance and his role as intermediary. Thanks to our colleague Trygve Skavhaug, Nord University, for helping us with the design of the map of Saepmie (Fig. 1.1), and to Ellen Jonassen at Samtext for translating the abstracts into South Saami. Thanks also to our contact persons in Springer, Jolanda Voogd and Helen van der Stelt, whose advice has been a great help in producing this book.

### Contents

#### Part I Introduction



### Contributors

Cathrine Baglo Tromsø University Museum, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Håkon Hermanstrand The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

Inger Johansen Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Gouvdageaidnu/Kautokeino, Norway

Asbjørn Kolberg The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

Brit Mæhlum Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

Trond Risto Nilssen The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway; Department of Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Erik Norberg Saemien Sijte—South Saami Museum and Cultural Centre, Snåsa, Norway

Leiv Sem The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

### Part I Introduction

### **Chapter 1 Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives**

#### **Håkon Hermanstrand, Asbjørn Kolberg, Trond Risto Nilssen and Leiv Sem**

**Abstract** In this chapter, we give a brief outline of the South Saami people's historical, linguistic and political position as a so-called *minority within the Saami minority* in Fennoscandia. One of the research questions asked in the book is how the past has been incorporated into modern South Saami self-understanding and how the past is actively used to shape contemporary society. In this volume as a whole, we aim to promote research that sheds light on the complexity and development of the South Saami communities. Part II focuses on the socio-linguistic aspects of the modern South Saami language. Part III analyses and discusses key historical and archaeological issues relating to prehistory and historic research questions within the South Saami sphere. Part IV will focus on the extent to which and how the South Saami people and South Saami affairs are represented, and to what extent and how the South Saami voices take part in the public general discourse. Part V discusses some contemporary policies in Norway. Questions of how land disputes and the South Saami use of history, culture and traditions play a role in the identity processes and the struggle for the South Saami land is one aspect examined in this chapter, in addition to negotiations between indigenous groups and majority societies.

**Iktedimmie** 1. kapihtelisnie aktem åenehks bijjieguvviem vedtebe åarjelsaemiej histovrijes, gïeleldh jïh politihkeles posisjovnen bijjelen goh akte unnebelåhkoe dan saemien unnebelåhkoen sisnjelen Fennoskandijesne. Akte dejstie dotkemegy-

The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway e-mail: hakon.hermanstrand@nord.no

A. Kolberg e-mail: asbjorn.kolberg@nord.no

T. R. Nilssen e-mail: trond.r.nilssen@nord.no; trond.nilssen@ntnu.no

L. Sem e-mail: leiv.sem@nord.no

H. Hermanstrand (B) · A. Kolberg · T. R. Nilssen · L. Sem

T. R. Nilssen Department of Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

htjelassijste gærjesne lea guktie åvtetje aejkie lea meatan vaaltasovveme dan daajbaaletje åarjelsaemien jïjtjegoerkesen sïjse, jïh guktie åvtetje aejkie eadtjohkelaakan åtnasåvva juktie daajbaaletje tïjjem hammoedidh. Abpe daennie gærjesne eajhnadovvebe dotkemem åehpiedehtedh mij gellievoetem jïh evtiedimmiem dejstie åarjelsaemien siebriedahkijste vuesehte. Bielie II tjoevkesem beaja dejtie sosio-gïeleldh bielide åarjelsaemien daajbaaletje gïelesne. Bielie III vihkeles histovrijes jïh arkeologeles gyhtjelassh analyserede jïh digkede mah leah dej åvtehistovrijes jïh histovrijes gyhtjelassi bïjre åarjelsaemien suerkien sisnjelen. Bielie IV jarngesne åtna man vijries jïh guktie almetjh jïh åarjelsaemien aamhtesh leah åehpiedahteme, jïh man vijries jïh guktie doh åarjelsaemien gïelh leah meatan dennie byögkeles sïejhme digkiedimmesne. Bielie V såemies daejbaaletje politihkeles strategijh Nöörjesne digkede. Gyhtjelassh guktie ovvaantoeh dajvi bïjre jïh åarjelsaemien åtnoe histovrijistie, kultuvreste jïh aerpievuekijste aktem råållam utnieh identiteeteprosessine, jïh gæmhpoe dan åarjelsaemien dajven åvteste lea akte biehkie maam lea goerehtamme daennie kapihtelisnie, lissine dejtie rååresjimmide aalkoealmetjedåehkiej jïh jienebelåhkoesiebriedahki gaskem.

### **1.1 Who Are the South Saami?**

The traditional land of the South Saami people is in central parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula (Norway and Sweden). The Saami are minority populations in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and the indigenous people of Fennoscandia. To different degrees, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden have recognized the Saami people's status and rights. The traditional concept of the Saami, not least in the popular media, has been an image of a homogenous people living as semi-nomadic reindeer herders on the mountain plains of the far north. Reality is more multifaceted. Most Saami are not reindeer herders, there are several Saami dialects/languages and traditional Saami culture varies in essence and expression. The Saami of Norway, Sweden and Finland have their own parliaments and are given certain political rights as an indigenous people. The Saami constitute a people in as much as they share common cultural, historical and linguistic roots.

Commonly the Saami language group is divided into 10 variants.1 Northern Saami has the most speakers, estimated at approximately 10–17,000 in Norway, Sweden and Finland, whereas South Saami is spoken by around 5–700 speakers in Norway and Sweden and Lule Saami by between 800 and 2000 speakers in Norway and Sweden (Sammalahti 1998; samer.se [a]). All figures are estimates as there seem to be no extensive, current and reliable official statistics for the number of speakers of the Saami languages (samer.se [a]). The South Saami is the southernmost of the Saami peoples, frequently described as a minority within the minority. South Saami

<sup>1</sup>South Saami, Ume Saami, Pite Saami, Lule Saami and North Saami spoken in the southern, western and northern regions of Saepmie; Inari Saami, Skolt Saami, Akkala Saami, Kildin Saami and Ter Saami spoken in the northern and eastern regions of Saepmie (Sammalahti 1998).

culture has not been as visible in the majority perspective as that of the North Saami, the people of the northernmost region of Fennoscandia popularly looked upon as the heartland of Saami culture. The description of the South Saami as a 'minority within a minority', although frequently used by members of the South Saami community, can be the subject of discussion. Originally, the phrase was coined to highlight the South Saami position versus the North Saami majority. However, as with many popular phrases, it might easily turn into a cliché, thus obscuring the original power of the phrase. Still, when we have decided to use the phrase in the title of our book, it is to emphasize the position of the South Saami as a minority not only in the states of Sweden and Norway but also within the Saami context of the Saami nation. The asymmetry is indeed even greater in comparison to the majority, non-Saami national culture. This situation is one of the issues addressed in this volume. The way and the conditions under which South Saami identity has been formed is one of several parts of the Saami history that has been given less attention than that given the North Saami culture. Knowledge of the past is essential for understanding the present. An interesting research question is how the past has been incorporated into modern South Saami self-understanding and how the past is actively being used to shape contemporary society. In order to promote constructive development of the South Saami community, targeted, high-calibre research is essential for forming a better basis for decision-making and public administration and for providing critical input for societal and cultural development. In this book, we aim to promote research that sheds light on the complexity and development of the South Saami communities.

South Saami politicians have played a crucial role in the early political manifestation of the Saami people. In the first decades of the 1900s, the Saami political pioneers Elsa Laula Renberg (1877–1931)<sup>2</sup> and Daniel Mortenson (1860–1924) advocated Saami rights and organized Saami political efforts. Their political activism was a reaction and a protest against colonialization, state assimilation policies and racism. Both in Norway and in Sweden, these processes peaked during their lifetime. Elsa Laula Renberg's pamphlet *Inför Lif eller Död*? (A Matter of Life or Death, our translation) has not yet lost its relevance. Daniel Mortenson's words, '(…) I feel like an oppressed man without legal rights. I often feel an urge to blame God for being born a Lap3 (…)',<sup>4</sup> could sound familiar to Saami presently involved in land-right disputes. The political work of these pioneers culminated with the first Saami congress in Trondheim, Norway in 1917. The first day of the congress was 6 February, a date now celebrated as the Saami national day.

In several ways, Elsa Laula Renberg and Daniel Mortenson reflect Saami unity and difference through their local bonds in the south and their trips into other parts

<sup>2</sup>Elsa Laula Renberg was born Elsa Laula. She and her husband took the last name Renberg when they married.

<sup>3</sup>Lap is a derogatory word today. The quote is from 1917 when Lap (and 'Find') were the common words for Saami in Swedish and Norwegian.

<sup>4</sup>Quotation in Norwegian (…) jeg føler mig som en undertrykt mand uten lov og ræt. Jeg føler ofte trang til at bebreide Gud at jeg blev født som Lap. (…), from the newspaper Trondhjems Folkeblad 10 February 1917 at https://www.nb.no/items/8597f51c13d01fac5f7eb76723852c62?page= 0&searchText=Daniel%20Mortenson%20bebreide%20Gud. Retrieved on 23 March 2018.

of Saepmie to rally political support. Their personal biographies and family ties also exemplify the significance of the state border between Norway and Sweden. That border influenced their lives, their family bonds and economy.

### **1.2 The Challenges of Maps—Historically and Politically**

Saepmie—the traditional Saami land—covers the northern part of Fennoscandia. During late medieval times, the Swedish and Danish kings and the Russian tsars started to impose borders on their respective realms across Saepmie. They also fought several wars. These borders acquired their present political status in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the map (Fig. 1.1), we see the state borders of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, whereas the shaded area marks Saepmie. As there has never been a Saami state, there are no strict borders between the traditional Saami land, as it is conceived today, and the adjacent areas. Moreover, there is no consensus among historians and archaeologists as to the historic extent of the Saami settlements.

Drawing maps is an act of highly political and hegemonic significance, not least in the period of European colonialism, whether in other parts of the world or within Europe, as was the case for the monarchies of Denmark–Norway, Sweden–Finland and Russia and their respective interests in Saepmie from late medieval up to modern times. The colonial and political implications of the mapping of Saepmie through history are discussed by Anna Lydia Svalastog in 'Mapping Sami Life and Culture' (2015).

Drawing a border to show the South Saami area is no less a political act. For one thing, the present-day South Saami area, as shown in many contemporary maps, also encompasses the traditional areas of the Ume and Pite Saami. Second, the borders, or rather frontiers, between groups of people who have interacted are dynamic and not fixed. However, in the 1880s and 1890s, the Swedish and Norwegian states introduced administrative measures to control and restrict the Saami reindeer husbandry in favour of agricultural interests.<sup>5</sup> One result was that reindeer herders were organized into Reindeer Herding Districts whose borders were drawn by the Swedish and Norwegian governments. These, the only existing political borders, are then frequently used to show the contemporary South Saami area. The problem is that these borders were originally imposed on the Saami reindeer herders by the governments of Sweden and Norway; they were not the result of the Saami people's own organization of their land, the traditional sijte (siida in North Saami) (samer.se [b]; Allard 2011; Allard and Funderud Skogvang 2016). With these reservations taken into consideration, the map we present in this chapter (Fig. 1.1) gives a general idea of what today

<sup>5</sup>The so-called Common Lap Law (Norway and Sweden), 1883 and 1886, respectively, and later regulations in both countries throughout the twentieth century (Jernsletten 1998; Lundmark 2008; Ravna 2011).

#### 1 Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives 7

**Fig. 1.1** Map of Saepmie—the traditional Saami land. The darker shading of Southern Saepmie is based on the borders of the reindeer herding districts on both sides of the national borders of Norway and Sweden. The slanted and unshaded lines to the south and west represent the current scholarly re-negotiation and investigation of archaeological and historical sources

is considered to be the main South Saami land. Therefore, the darker shading of Southern Saepmie is based on the borders of the reindeer herding districts on both sides of the national borders of Norway and Sweden. The slanted and unshaded lines to the south and west represent the current scholarly re-negotiation and investigation of archaeological and historical sources. Recent scholarship questions and possibly even widens the limits of Saami presence on the Scandinavian Peninsula.

### **1.3 Ethnonyms and Geographical Names**

The spelling of the Saami ethnonym varies in the various sources; this is also the case with the spelling of the name of the land of the Saami. We have chosen to use the following spelling of the ethnonym and the land: Saami and Saepmie. In English, we see three variants of the ethnonym, Sami, Sámi and Saami. The first, 'Sami', is frequently used, especially by non-Saami writers; in the second, we have the North Saami 'á'. The two latter alternatives both express the long Saami vowel sound. Some writers find the double 'aa' easier in English where the diacritical signs are unfamiliar. In this book, both alternatives are used, the double 'aa' or the 'á'. In North Saami, which is the majority Saami language, the name of the land is spelt 'Sápmi', and in this book we have chosen to use the South Saami spelling, 'Saepmie'.

On the map (Fig. 1.1), we have chosen to use Saami names as well as names in the respective majority languages of municipalities, towns and cities within Saepmie. Within the South Saami area, from Mo i Rana/Måahvie and southwards, the names are in Norwegian/Swedish and South Saami.

Saami is the ethnonym used by the Saami people themselves, but in the various forms depending on language/dialect. As is often the case, the ethnonyms used by the others, especially the majority populations or the people in power, are different from the ethnonym used by the people themselves. Throughout history, the Saami have been called Finns, Laps, even Finnlaps ('Finlapper') or Lapfinns ('Lapfinnerne') (Ravna 2011). In earlier English texts, the Saami have frequently been called Laplanders. Lap and Finn are today considered derogatory. In this book, these ethnonyms are only used when appearing in quoted sources. Traditionally, the Finn ethnonym, stemming from Old Norse 'finnr', has mostly been used in Norway, whereas Lap has been used in Sweden, Finland and to a certain degree also in Norway, particularly in northern Norway. In Norway, the Saami ethnonym (same/samer/samisk) replaced the Lap and Finn ethnonyms in the 1950s and 60s, at least in official documents and in the media (as is also commented on in Kolberg's chapter in this volume).

### **1.4 The Field of Research, Positioning and Context**

The Saami in both Sweden and Norway have been heavily pressured to assimilate with the Swedish and Norwegian majority populations. This has not only contributed to a loss of ethnic identity, language competency, culture and religion, but also to disadvantages in socio-economic status, discrimination and prejudice (Kvernmo 2004; Spein 2008; Hirvonen 2008). A positive identity as a member of an indigenous population is linked with conversational knowledge of the indigenous culture. The revitalization of indigenous cultures and languages interacts with the quality of life and is a driving force in the maintenance of a strong and vital indigenous culture. The links between language, culture, history and identity are close. However, in spite of the importance of language, and its importance for sustainable quality of life, language has been neglected and until recently ignored for the South Saami population (Todal 2007). South Saami is a severely endangered language with around 500 speakers (UNESCO, see also Huss 2008). The low number of speakers and the decrease in language proficiency severely threaten the intergenerational transfer of the language.

A crucial part of the Saami identity is the common history of colonization and discrimination by the nation states that have set up their borders across the Saami land since medieval times. The historical process of South Saami identity formation is a crucial source of information and understanding of the current situation. In research and science, the Saami (and other minorities) have suffered under various highly unethical practices (Hagerman 2016; Niemi and Semb 2009). Within academia, the current situation has roots in an early subjugation of Saami topics. In its earliest forms, this meant excluding Saami topics from academic disciplines and putting them into their own field of Lappology (Hansen and Olsen 2014).

Lack of memory environments is a threat to the South Saami culture, and awareness and knowledge will be an important contribution to vitalizing and sharing values with the South Saami community itself, as well as to the general public. Language, identity, history and culture are in this respect connected to how the South Saami community has been represented in the majority society. In order to rework the relations between the South Saami identity and the identity of the majority population in the Saami territories, this volume has as its ambition to disseminate information about and an understanding of how this relationship has been historically constructed and is currently practised. A reflection on these practices must be spurred both within and, not least, outside the Saami community. Therefore, the main objective of this book is to enhance awareness of the South Saami culture and history, and to deepen the understanding of how the South Saami and non-Saami identities are formed in a dynamic interaction and negotiation process with each other.

### **1.5 Negotiations, Indigeneity and Indigenous Methodology**

The term indigenous or indigeneity is not an unproblematic one, as it is rooted deeply in colonial discourse and practice. Etymologically, it stems from the Late Latin term indigenous (born in a country, native), and the Oxford English Dictionary denotes the primary meaning to be 'Born or produced naturally in a land or region; native or belonging naturally to (the soil, region, etc.)'. Using this meaning in a Fenno-Scandinavian context might be seen as more problematic than in reference to parts of the world that have undergone a colonizing process more recently. However, a term is needed that distinguishes between cultural groups of different ancestries within one territory, and a term is also needed that recognizes the possibility not only of identities but also of power. Furthermore, there is a need for a term that recognizes that all across the globe, peoples of regions colonized by new arrivals experience many of the same difficulties in preserving their language, way of life and even physical existence. Therefore, we will in this volume speak of indigeneity and indigenous peoples.

Questions of indigenous identities are complex and must be approached through a negotiation of different perspectives. In these negotiations, no one can assume absolute power in determining identity. To a certain extent, any group or individual must be allowed to determine one's own identity. It must be acknowledged, however, that identities are in flux and are constantly being revised and reworked more or less consciously in relation to a context, where the identity of others is a vital part. No group can have a final say in how one's identity is construed. However, a key obligation, especially for majority groups or groups with hegemony, must be to be finely tuned into the perspectives of others in order to work their perspectives and self-conceptions into one's own. The crux of the matter is one of ethics, and of social consciousness. We as non-Saami scholars must check ourselves through due scholarly processes, and we must acknowledge our positions as outsiders and as representatives of certain power structures. This point, which applies universally to any study of group identity, is all the more important in questions of indigenous identity in the aftermath of colonialism. Linda Tuhivai Smith has pointed out how indigenous peoples systematically have been oppressed, marginalized and made invisible as a consequence of colonial structures in politics, science and research. In her work, she refers to Edward Said (Smith 2012) and his book *Orientalism* in which he analysed how academic tradition and literature produced power through knowledge, and thus defined how Europeans viewed and identified The Others (Kohn 2014).

Research ethics, indigenous theories and decolonizing methodologies are interconnected. The criticism against Euro-American research has a clear ethical content. The development of indigenous guidelines for research is examples of this. Such guidelines reflect the philosophical, methodological and theoretical questions that researchers need to consider and reconsider. There are examples of such ethical standards and guidelines, for example, in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada (Olsen 2016, p. 29). The San people in South Africa have also developed their own ethical guidelines (Torp 2017). Lars Jacobson argues that one should aim for trust and reciprocity, and move from considering people as objects to seeing them rather as partners in research (Jacobson 2016, p. 55).

The methodological consequence of this for the non-indigenous scholar will be to de-centre oneself, putting oneself outside the privileged position of the defining authority, and to acknowledge the indigenous privilege to set the terms and the agenda (Olsen 2017, p. 7). We agree with Land (2015, p. 27) that there are issues that nonindigenous scholars have to pursue with care. In some aspects of identity, an internal perspective is necessary. As such, both the project and this volume represent a stance where no one should have the power to determine the identity of others. The Saami identity, as any other, is never fixed nor final, but rather constantly in flux. It is a joint effort of insiders and outsiders, and a matter of constant reworking, through words, practice and omissions.

### **1.6 Research Questions and Topics**

Our approach to this study of South Saami identity has been based on the concept of 'negotiations'. By using this concept, our intention has been to bring to mind a dynamic process of interchange, in this particular instance, of meaning, between two or more parties. In this interchange, there is no stable, immovable or unchangeable centre, rather we are dealing with a highly complex structure of positions and relations that are evolving, the one always affecting the other. In the words of cultural historian Helge Jordheim: 'In a process of negotiations, no one can avoid re-evaluating and changing their positions in answer to impulses and suggestions from others—hence, no one and nothing remains exactly the same, exactly identical' (2009, p. 15). Jordheim points out that the different parties do not necessarily have to be physical objects. For instance, our use of the concept will encompass a social group's dialogue, interpretation and confrontation with their own history as this is represented in the present through narratives, objects and landscapes, as well as the expectations of other groups. The process of negotiation by implication entails difference of interest, at least initially. Although these interests do not need to be in conflict, they often are, and one always has to keep an eye on the power structures that underpin the positions and frame the proceedings.

We have strived to identify arenas where different ideas of South Saami identity are expressed, questioned, discussed and refined. What we want to highlight in doing this is the dynamic and plastic nature of the indigenous identity.

This collection of studies is the final result of a 3-year project. The mixture of cases, of perspectives and of contexts, transnational and indigenous/non-indigenous, should also be seen as a methodological tool. The different studies are not only studies of negotiations, historical and contemporary. They are also bids in ongoing negotiations themselves, within the project and within the political/societal discourse of indigenous and Saami identity. As such, they express what we as non-indigenous scholars and editors see as a methodological necessity: to check our own concepts, processes and results, engaging in discussions and keeping questions of identity, of power and privilege constantly under debate.

Based on both historical material, such as archaeological evidence, twentiethcentury newspapers and postcard motifs, and contemporary sources, such as ongoing land-right disputes and trials, and recent works of historiography, the chapters highlight the culture and living conditions of the South Saami. One important goal has been to highlight how the negotiations of different identities have taken place through the interaction of South Saami and non-Saami people through the ages. This book will focus on aspects related to the need to increase research-based knowledge about the South Saami history and formation of identity. The studies include both South Saami self-expression and the majority society's changing attitudes, not only to the South Saami as an indigenous people with certain rights but also to how knowledge about South Saami culture, language and history is paramount for developing a society based on equal opportunities and inter-cultural education (Lile 2009, p. 31). While this research is focused on the South Saami, it is vital to study this identity formation and assimilation of an indigenous people as an example of a global phenomenon.

The following aspects are presented in separate chapters organized into parts II–V, following Part I. Part II focuses on the socio-linguistic aspects of the modern South Saami language. In these chapters, questions of language survival are addressed. A key concern for the South Saami community is the preservation and growth of the South Saami language, despite more than a century of assimilation policy conducted by the Norwegian and Swedish authorities. In recent decades, a revitalization movement has led to a strengthening of the language, a growing number of families are using South Saami as the language of the home and the number of young speakers is rising.

Part III analyses and discusses key historical and archaeological issues relating to prehistory and historic research questions within the South Saami sphere. Furthermore, investigation of ethnic processes in prehistoric times, as well as a critical examination of historical sources and the use of non-indigenous sources in writing indigenous history, will be discussed in these chapters.

Part IV will focus on the extent to which and how the South Saami people and South Saami affairs are represented, and to what extent and how the South Saami voices take part in the public general discourse. Incorporated into these perspectives, the research questions focus on the relationship between the South Saami and the majority non-Saami population in Norway and how this is negotiated in the public domain. In this chapter, negotiations and representation are important elements, as well as self-expressions, indigenous identities and the majority society's popular perception of the South Saami.

Part V discusses some contemporary policies in Norway. Questions of how land disputes and the South Saami use of history, culture and traditions play a role in the identity processes and the struggle for the South Saami land is one aspect examined in this chapter, in addition to negotiations between indigenous groups and majority societies.

### **Bibliography**


Torp, I.S. 2017. 28. mars: *San-folket med egne etiske retningslinjer*. https://www.etikkom.no/ Aktuelt/Nyheter/2017/san-folket-med-egne-etiske-retninglinjer/. Retrieved June 2 2018. UNESCO. 2015. http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap.html. April 31 2015.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

## Part II Sociolinguistic Perspectives

### **Chapter 2 Southern Saami Language and Culture—Between Stigma and Pride, Tradition and Modernity**

### **Brit Mæhlum**

**Abstract** In this chapter, I will present an analysis of how a Southern Sámi identity is performed in our late modern society, first and foremost how this identity is expressed through the use—or omittance—of the Southern Sámi language. It has been pointed out that it is more or less a miracle that Southern Sámi is still a living language. In my chapter, I will try to demonstrate how some sociocultural and political factors through history have inhibited the use of this language, while other factors have supported—directly or indirectly—the transmission of this linguistic repertoire from one generation to another. The master story of the Southern Sámi language and culture is intimately connected to the general 'climate of opinion' when it comes to minority–majority relations in Norway. The position of the Sámi population today has in several ways been fundamentally changed, compared with how the Sámi were regarded by the Norwegian majority population well into the twentieth century, as a lesser and inferior people. Some of the main aspects of my analysis will be related to contrasts like stigma versus pride, tradition versus modernity—as these values are attached to the Sámi culture.

**Iktedimmie** Daennie tjaalegisnie sïjhtem aktem goerehtimmiem åehpiedehtedh guktie saemien identiteete lea våajnoes mijjen minngemes daajbaaletje siebriedahkesne, uvtemes guktie identiteete lea våajnoes åtnoen tjïrrh—jallh ij åtnoen tjïrrh, saemien gïeleste. Tjïertestamme nov lea badth naa onterligs jïh sjïere åarjelsaemien akte jielije gïele annje. Mov tjaalegisnie sïjhtem pryövedh vuesiehtidh guktie såemies sosiokultuvrelle jïh politihkeles faktovrh histovrijen tjïrrh leah åtnoem gïeleste heerredamme, mearan jeatjah faktovrh leah gïelesertiestimmiem dåarjoehtamme- ryöktesth jallh ovryöktesth—aktede boelveste dan måbpan. Åejviehistovrije saemien gïelen jïh kultuvren bïjre lea lïhke vïedteldahkesne dan sïejhme vuajnose unnebelåhkoenjienebelåhkoen bïjre Nöörjesne. Saemien årroji sijjie siebriedahkesne lea gellielaakan tjarke jarkelamme, viertiestamme dejnie aarebi vuajnojne maam nöörjen

B. Mæhlum (B)

Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway e-mail: brit.maehlum@ntnu.no

B. Mæhlum Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2019

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_2

jienebelåhkoe utni saemiej bïjre guhkiem 1900-låhkoen; goh unnebe jïh unnebevyörtegs almetjh. Naakenh dejstie vihkielommes bielijste mov analyjsesne sæjhta vuestiebieliej bïjre årrodh goh skaamoe garmeresvoeten vööste, aerpievuekie daajbaaletjen vööste—juktie daah aarvoeh leah saemien kultuvrese ektiedamme.

The fact that the Southern Sámi language has survived at all in the close millenary neighbourhood of Scandinavian might seem to be a miracle. (Bergsland 1998: 45)

Modern life is moving closer and closer in on us, and the Saami language can't withstand that. (Matti Aikio 1919, after Minde 2002: 19)

### **2.1 Introduction**

The two vignette quotes above set the tone for this chapter by leading us directly to the two main themes to be addressed. The first is the fact that the Southern Saami language has survived, almost against all odds, raising the question as to which historical, political and socio-cultural factors have been effective and resulted in a development that is surprising in many ways. We are talking about the types of factors that promote, or alternatively inhibit, the continued use of a minority language. Second, we will look more closely at some key aspects of being Southern Saami, or Saami generally, in a modern world. These factors actually affect the framework of what is accepted as 'Saami' in our late modern age. What are the limits for what is recognized as legitimate cultural expression within a Saami repertoire? And what represents a potential threat to Saami culture and identity?

The two themes are closely linked in several ways. A common thread in this chapter is the socio-cultural *indexicality* of being Southern Saami, that is, how the Southern Saami language as well as other Southern Saami cultural expressions is assigned a particular signal value, thus achieving a symbolic position within a given social community. The first theme concerns factors that inhibit or promote the use of a minority language and is primarily historical, in the sense that essential aspects of the Southern Saami's language history are laid out. The second theme builds on this historical overview, while bringing key dimensions of the past into the future. How should this cultural heritage be conducted in our time?

### **2.2 Southern Saami Language—A Fragile Fabric**

Based on what we know today about language death as an accelerating global phenomenon, there is little doubt that Southern Saami is almost a priori in a highly vulnerable position. It is a language linked to a minority group that is actually a minority *within* the minority. In terms of a general linguistic-based assessment, Magga (2000) estimates that Southern Saami is between steps 7 and 8 on Fishman's (1991) eight-step scale for assessing the degree of threat, which means that he considers the language to be very vulnerable. By comparison, he places Lule Saami at step 6, and Northern Saami at step 4.

The extent to which the older generation transmits a language to the younger generation is the primary criterion that can be used as an indicator of how threatened a minority language actually is. In other words, the question is to what extent children experience a 'natural', generational socialization into the minority language. Often this factor is pointed out as the most essential aspect of minority language vitality. Based on this criterion, plus the size of the minority population, minority groups are often classified under the categories 'moribund', or dying, 'endangered' and 'safe' (see Krauss 1992: 4).

Bearing this in mind, let us take a quick look at the language situation in the Southern Saami area of Norway (which, as far as we know, is very similar to the adjoining Swedish region). To what extent is this minority language transmitted in a natural, generational matter, for example? No one has in fact ever conducted a comprehensive and all-encompassing linguistic investigation in the Southern Saami communities that could provide the grounds for more precise answers to this type of question. However, we can obtain some general indications from a mapping study conducted by the Southern Saami cultural centre Sijti Jarnge in Hattfjelldal municipality in the late 1980s, about a generation ago (see Engen and Kulbrandstad 2004: 120ff., and also Todal 2006, which reviews a mapping study conducted in 2000). The result that stands out is the significant difference between the oldest and youngest age groups. This study found that among people over 50 years of age, approximately three out of four states that they can speak Southern Saami, whereas only one out of four in the youngest age group reports the same. On the other hand, a significant proportion of the two youngest age groups states that they know 'some' Saami.

It is worth noting a number of reservations that must be observed with this type of result. These include how representative the informant selection is relative to the total Southern Saami population, and not least how the various informants may have interpreted the response options in the survey. At the same time, it is important to point out that this survey from the late 1980s shows us a demographic pattern in Southern Saami language competence that is highly plausible. A consistent characteristic of processes that put a minority language under pressure from a majority language is primarily how the oldest generation maintains the minority language, while competence gradually decreases the further down the age groups one goes. A study conducted among young people who had been learning Southern Saami as a second language in school (Todal 1998) also shows that the minority language was their home language to only a minimal degree. Although more than half of the parents reported speaking Southern Saami well, only a small minority used it in communicating with their own children.

Besides the general tendency for more older than younger speakers to have a command of Southern Saami, it is obvious that maintaining this minority language is something that has mainly been managed internally in certain families. In practice, this means that in *some* families the transmission of Southern Saami has been strong, and in these settings, both the parent generation and the children can have a relatively high level of proficiency in the minority language—even today in the twenty-first century. In other families, however, the generational transmission of the language has broken down, in some cases relatively recently and in others two to three generations ago (see, e.g. Jansson 2003; Mæhlum 2004a, b for further discussion).

How, then, should we interpret the developments that have taken place? What factors have contributed to this once widely used communication medium among the Southern Saami more or less falling out of use? And just as important to consider are the conditions that have *reinforced* the use of this minority language and resulted in what Bergsland (1998) refers to as something approaching a miracle (see the vignette quotation above).

### **2.3 Ethnolinguistic Vitality**

Majority languages are powerful because they have the power to recommend themselves through their political, economic and social status. Minority languages, on the other hand, represent more alternative and "soft" value systems that often emphasize cultural awareness and ethnic origin. In the age of globalization and modernity, minority language speakers worldwide live in language contact situations that are characterized by different and competing value sets. (Johansen 2009: 2)

A number of models have been developed in linguistics that attempt to systematize many factors that have proven significant in terms of strengthening or weakening the preservation of minority languages. Here, we will use the *ethnolinguistic vitality model* (Giles et al. 1977) as our point of departure in the analysis of Southern Saami language and culture. The term 'ethnolinguistic vitality' expresses a mental power and will within a minority group—a form of consciousness and energy that helps to keep the minority together as a group. High, or strong, vitality thus makes it likely that the minority language can be maintained, whereas low or weak vitality is more likely to result in a linguistic shift to the majority language (Fig. 2.1).

A key aspect of the model, as presented by Giles et al. (1977), is that it is a descriptive taxonomy for analysing the connection between language, ethnicity and interethnic relations. Neither this model, nor any other serious model for that matter, is thus able to predict the outcome of any given language contact situations. This is simply a way to systematize potentially relevant factors without weighting them in any way.

Let us take a closer look at what the historical situation has been for the Southern Saami minority, with particular emphasis on the situation in Norway. To start with, the three main categories in the classification of Giles et al. (1977)—*Status*, *Demography* and *Institutional Support*—frame the structure of this presentation (for more in-depth analyses in accordance with this model, see Johansen 2006: 43ff; Mæhlum 2007: 138ff).

**Fig. 2.1** Taxonomy of factors influencing ethnolinguistic vitality (after Giles et al. 1977)

### **2.4 Status**

Southern Saami people and culture, like all other Saami culture, have long been assigned an inferior and in many ways marginal position in the greater Norwegian community—economically, socially, culturally and consequently, also linguistically. In short, being Saami in Norway was stigmatized. Actions and policies throughout the 1800s laid much of the foundation for this marginalization and stigmatization. Later in the century, the conventional outlook, especially on the part of various authorities, gradually evolved to regard the Saami as representing a lower development stage than the majority Norwegian population. Within this ideology, the Saami population was considered to be a weak, degenerate, infantile and dying race; a race that could only be rescued by becoming 'Norwegianized'—in other words, assimilated—so that their members could be lifted up to a higher cultural level. Starting in the second half of the 1800s, a general acceptance of Social Darwinism ideals upheld and reinforced this racial hierarchy, both in Norway and elsewhere in the Western world. According to this conceptual framework, the Saami were a 'nature people' and by virtue of this found themselves at a lower level of cultural sophistication and civilization than the rest of Norway's population (see, e.g. Eriksen and Niemi 1981; Mæhlum 2007, with various references).

This prolonged and systematic stigmatization of the Saami people and their culture was naturally influential in shaping the attitudes and stereotypes that developed in the wider Norwegian society. These stereotypes portrayed the Saami as old-fashioned and reactionary, beggarly and verging on culturally backward. The Saami language came to be seen as one of the foremost symbolic expressions of belonging to what was perceived to be an inferior and anachronistic culture. Within this horizon of understanding, using the Norwegian language was seen as better suited to meeting the needs of a modern world. In this way, Norwegian functioned as a symbolic admission ticket to social and economic progress in the broader community, while continued use of the Saami language—more than anything else—expressed a person's inability to keep up with 'progress'. One consequence of all of these ideas was that the Saami language and culture were increasingly relegated to the private sphere, and as much as possible kept hidden from the public arena. A consequence of a slightly different nature was that many parents began to doubt the value of teaching their children Saami at all. 'What's the point in having such a language? Soon no one will be speaking it anymore anyway', became the refrain of many Saami.

The infantilization and general denigration of Saami people and culture that prevailed represent a palpable parallel to the conventional representation of the 'other' within a European colonialist ideology. We are familiar with these mechanisms from Edward Saïd's (1978) concept of *Orientalism*; the term's validity can be extended to various forms of internal colonialism. Just such a form of internal colonialism of the Saami minority took place in Norway for an extended period of time. This occurred in its organized and official form through a number of assimilation measures undertaken by the Norwegian authorities from the mid-1800s until at least 1980. In reality, a subtle form of ethnic cleansing took place that resulted in many Saami people eventually choosing to deny or renounce their ethnic origin. Many considered the burden of being Saami within the Norwegian national state to be too great to bear.

One factor stands out as especially important to the status of the Southern Saami language. Until just a few decades ago, this was exclusively a *spoken* variety. The language had been written down in the nineteenth century, but only for scientific purposes. In 1957, the first book for Southern Saami was published—a small Southern Saami reading book with Northern Saami orthography (see Bergsland and Hasselbrink 1957). But it took until 1978 for Norway to approve a separate and special Southern Saami standard for textbooks, developed by Professor Knut Bergsland and teacher Ella Holm Bull. The codification of Southern Saami as its own written language served as a crucial symbolic act and laid the foundation for a qualitative status elevation of the Southern Saami language. With this codification, the prerequisites were in place to develop a modern written culture in Southern Saami. Progress in this arena to date has primarily been in textbook publications—and initially also connected to the recent decades of revitalization measures (see the section on *Institutional Support* below).

As we have seen, the different status factors in the ethnolinguistic vitality model have traditionally and consistently disfavoured the Southern Saami, in terms of their social status, sociohistorical status and linguistic status. Historically, the conditions in a number of fundamental areas have thus been extremely unconducive to developing strong ethnolinguistic vitality within the Southern Saami minority population. One status factor has an ambiguous and almost paradoxical function, however. This is the reindeer industry, which is linked to economic status. Reindeer husbandry has traditionally served as a sustainable economic foundation for a large part of the Saami population and has been particularly strong in the Southern Saami area. Since the 1880s, reindeer herding has been exclusively an ethnic industry, reserved for the Saami population within the regulated reindeer husbandry areas. Although economic status among the Southern Saami is more differentiated today, the reindeer industry is still an important and vital identity factor within the Southern Saami community. But reindeer husbandry also has a prominent identifying function in the Norwegian majority community. Just belonging to a livelihood that is so strongly linked to a traditional pre-modern form of nature utilization has contributed to the attributes that have been assigned to Saami culture, such as 'old-fashioned' and 'uncivilized' (see above). The Saami have consistently been regarded as 'nature' people who, in the eyes of some individuals, are seen as an anachronism in a late modern world.

The paradox here is that the very thing that has so greatly contributed to marginalizing and stigmatizing Saami culture in wider modern society serves as an identity factor that has strengthened ethnolinguistic vitality *within* Saami communities. This particular form of economic specialization has proven to be an important focus of identity for many minority groups (see, e.g. Adams 1981: 9; Hyltenstam and Stroud 1991: 98). In such cases, the industry not only provides an important source of income but also carries a kind of representative function for the minority in question—that is, it serves as a social and cultural symbol. This context provides the necessary backdrop for understanding how the reindeer industry is a Saami occupational specialty that can function as a cultural shield, as some would formulate it (Aarseth 1982: 3). As has been the case in the Northern Saami area, reindeer husbandry has served to consolidate the Southern Saami group identity overall—thus strengthening the use of the minority language.

### **2.5 Demography**

Three of the demographic factors in the vitality model are particularly relevant for the situation in the Southern Saami region. Two of them—population size and settlement pattern—likely contribute to weakening ethnolinguistic vitality, while the third factor—marriage practices—represents an unquestionable confirmation and strengthening of a distinct Southern Saami identity.

As we have already acknowledged, the Southern Saami comprises a small minority group not only in Norway and Sweden but also globally. The official figures vary a great deal here, but according to estimates made in recent years, the Southern Saami population in Norway is generally considered to be about 1000 individuals, with roughly the same number in Sweden. If, like Krauss (1992: 7), we estimate 100,000 language users to be a reasonable lower limit for what can be considered a 'safe' language, Southern Saami is definitely in the high-risk group. The lack of geographical concentration—the second demographic factor—has contributed at least as much to placing the Southern Saami minority in a particularly vulnerable position. Southern Saami, both in Norway and Sweden, live widely scattered across a significant geographical area, with only hints of concentrated populations in certain areas. This absence of a core geographical area reinforces the problems inherent in small population groups. However, minority groups that are relatively concentrated within a defined geographical area, such as language islands or ghettos, generally have better conditions for maintaining the minority language (see, e.g. Kloss 1966; Hyltenstam and Stroud 1991: 90). This factor could help explain why the Lule Saami language seems to be somewhat stronger than Southern Saami (see Magga's assessment of this above).

The demographic component that undoubtedly strengthens Southern Saami vitality, and thus also directly influences the language situation, is the tradition of endogamy. The Southern Saami has traditionally married one another to a great degree, a practice that seems to have been particularly strong in families making a living from reindeer husbandry. This factor has in fact neutralized some of the negative effects on vitality caused by the other two demographic conditions.

### **2.6 Institutional Support**

Since the mid-1900s, there has been growing recognition that *without* varied forms of official, institutional support, linguistic minority groups like the Saami will face even greater problems in our late modern society. Institutional support in the education and media sectors, plus certain administrative areas, has proven to be decisive in maintaining minority languages. The government-appointed Saami Committee presented recommendations in 1959 that laid the basic foundation for this mindset in Norway (see, e.g. Stordahl 2000). This report affirmed that Saami culture could not continue to exist without making a separate space for what is Saami, across economic, social, cultural and administrative realms. The period since 1960 has largely been characterized by the struggle to establish this space (see, e.g. the establishment of the Saami Parliament in 1989 and the introduction of the Saami language Act in 1992).

Radical changes in the institutional conditions for the Saami language and culture overall have taken place in a relatively short period of time. However, it is important to point out that many of these measures—above all explicitly linguistic ones—have primarily benefitted the Northern Saami. In a number of public contexts, 'Saami' tends to be perceived and treated as Northern Saami, which is the de facto majority-Saami language code. However, Northern Saami and Southern Saami need to be regarded as two different languages, where the users of each language usually do not understand the other.

Here, we will only briefly refer to two institutional conditions that, in part, have been and could become vital for the language situation within the Southern Saami minority. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, there have been boarding schools in the Southern Saami area that are specifically for Southern Saami children. This is a form of institutional support we would expect could have strengthened the language situation, except for the fact that mission organizations ran the schools. The oldest of these boarding schools, located in Havika in Nord-Trøndelag (from 1910 to 1951), was run by the so-called *Finnemisjon* (Saami mission), which had as its primary objective to integrate Saami children into a Christian, Norwegianmajority culture (see Devik 1980). Thus, the Havika boarding school functioned in many ways as a regular institution for Norwegianizing children—at least in the linguistic realm—as did the state-run boarding schools in the Northern Saami area that were created in the 1900s. However, with the establishment of the boarding school in Hattfjelldalen in 1951 and the Saami school at Snåsa in 1968, this explicit assimilation policy was abandoned (see Jacobsen 1982; Holm Bull 1982). Both of these schools have undoubtedly played a pivotal role in revitalizing the ethnic awareness and competence of Southern Saami children, and sending the children to these boarding schools remained a strong tradition throughout the Southern Saami area until at least the early 2000s.

The one institutional factor that more than any other could have a decisive impact on the Southern Saami language situation is the inclusion of—for now—four Southern Saami municipalities in the Saami administrative district: Snåase/Snåsa (2008), Raarvihke/Røyrvik (2013), Aarborte/Hattfjelldal (2017) and Plaassje/Røros (2018). Legally speaking, Southern Saami is an official language alongside Norwegian in these four communities, and the four municipalities are officially bilingual. Given that Southern Saami has traditionally been a spoken language used primarily in the private sphere, this change in formal status could no doubt have great symbolic and practical significance.

### **2.7 Saami Identity Management—Between Tradition and Modernity**

As the Saami author Matti Aikio expressed in the early 1900s, 'Modern life is moving closer and closer in on us, and the Saami language can't withstand that encroachment' (1919, after Minde 2002). If we are to interpret Aikio literally, 'Saami' and 'modern' represent irreconcilable opposites. This inherent conflict has represented one of the major challenges for most of the Saami culture building that has occurred in recent decades. The following theoretical reflections are thus as relevant for the Saami population in general as for the Southern Saami specifically.

One of the most prominent dilemmas in the encounter between Saami minority culture and Norwegian majority culture has revolved around the limits for what should be accepted as 'Saami'. What cultural expressions are tolerated as legitimate within a Saami cultural repertoire, and what represents a threat to Saami culture and identity? Being Saami has been something that many Saami have had to actively take a position on throughout much of their lives—both *whether* they want to be Saami and if so, *how* they will manage a Saami identity. The backdrop for this is, above all, that the limits for shaping one's identity and combining social roles are often far narrower within a minority culture than one normally experiences in a majority society (see, e.g. Stordahl 1998).

Many of the most typical Saami identity dilemmas are undoubtedly closely related to the symbolic values traditionally associated with the Saami, both in the wider Norwegian community and among the Saami themselves. As we have seen, key parts of Saami culture are still based on a traditionalist, pre-modern cultural heritage, where utilization of and interaction with nature are supporting elements. The foremost symbol of this connection is unquestionably reindeer herding. The relationship between Saami and Norwegian as minority and majority culture, respectively, exemplifies a number of the conflicts that are often associated with the encounter between a pre-modern civilization on the one hand, and a high-modern or late-modern society on the other. As the majority Norwegian society has become strongly industrialized, urbanized and generally modernized in recent generations, there is a risk that the traditional Saami economic foundation may be considered as an anomaly and an anachronism. The conflicts have therefore been numerous and long-lasting. The greater community's economic exploitation of nature—in terms of, for example, industrial development and power development—has often come into sharp conflict with the Saamis' more traditional livelihood. The larger community has put continuous pressure on the Saamis' ability to manoeuvre, and in this way often reinforced the experience of Saami culture as something truly 'outdated'.

These are some of the essential assumptions that we need to see as the backdrop when the question arises as to what will happen to Saami language and culture in general, and the Southern Saami language and culture in particular. The Saami minority faces challenges that are in many ways like a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the majority community exerts continuous pressure on the Saami, explicitly and implicitly, to adapt to the larger society's lifestyle. But adapting represents a potential threat to some of the most important—and iconic—Saami activities and values. Changing or reducing traditional Saami activities*too* radically risks undermining and perhaps completely eliminating a supporting element of traditional Saami culture. On the other hand, there has been a strong tendency in certain Saami communities to try to *shield* themselves from some of the influences and demands of modern society. This strategy has in turn often resulted in rather orthodox notions of what constitutes 'real' and 'pure' Saaminess, linking the idea of being Saami to a strictly and traditionally defined cultural heritage; see the discussion of such thoughts in Stordahl (1998, 158): 'The Saami society that is present today […] is a kind of remnant of something original, a remnant that we must either save or must realize will disappear'. Within this kind of framework, newer and more modern cultural expressions tend to be regarded as 'un-Saami' in the sense that they represent cultural elements that are perceived as belonging exclusively to the majority culture and are therefore difficult to integrate into Saami culture.

An interview with some Saami women who are not linked to traditional Saami industries provides a striking example of these mechanisms (see Daerpies Dierie 2000, 9). One of these women states that she is unable to be a Saami for more than an hour a day. On the other hand, she regards herself as a *pc*-*Saami* or *office*-*job Saami*, which is obviously incompatible with being a 'proper' or 'full-time' Saami.

This picture of the Saami as being 'genuine' and 'authentic'—and thus traditional—essentializes the minority culture, while the majority culture represents what is modern. A key part of this view is the belief that these two cultural polarities are by definition difficult to integrate. This attitude has been prevalent in Southern Saami culture in the linguistic realm, articulated as a form of rigid *purism* (see Johansen 2006, 94ff). Until quite recently, the widespread position among many Southern Saami was that, to the extent that people used the Southern Saami language at all, they had to master it—preferably perfectly. Many older individuals, notably language-proficient ones, have thus acted as a kind of 'language police' within the communities. As a result, many language users, especially young people, became reluctant to use the language for fear of speaking incorrectly. The attitude has simply been that it is better not to speak the language at all than to destroy it by using it with less than native-like proficiency. Of course, the result was particularly unfavourable for linguistic socialization, but at the same time this is a well-known practice in a number of minority contexts (see, e.g. Dorian 1994).

Staking out a 'sustainable' balancing act in the cultural minefield we have outlined here would appear to be the major challenge for conducting Saami identity in the future. On the one hand, a strictly traditionalist and hyper-puristic view of what qualifies as 'real' Saami risks reflecting an out-of-date and anachronistic culture that is isolated and marginalized relative to the rest of Norwegian society. On the other hand, eagerly 'upgrading' and 'modernizing' Saami culture by constantly integrating new cultural elements runs the risk of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. In that case, Saami culture no longer remains an integral part of Norwegian culture, but becomes fully assimilated—and thus lost. However, finding a *modus vivendi* somewhere between these extremes would reduce concerns about the future, both for the Saami language and culture generally and for Southern Saami language and culture in particular.

### **Bibliography**

Aarseth, B. 1982. En fremtid for sørsamene? *Ottar* 116 (117): 3–9.


Daerpies Dierie. 2000. Sørsamisk kirkeblad—Sydsamiskt kyrkoblad. 1.


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### **Chapter 3 'But They Call Us the Language Police!' Speaker and Ethnic Identifying Profiles in the Process of Revitalizing the South Saami Language, Culture and Ethnic Identity**

#### **Inger Johansen**

**Abstract** The aim of this study has been to highlight the complexity of a linguistic community which has undergone two language shifts in less than one century. The different social actors are given a voice in this multiple environments. All these social actors and positions are important to take into consideration in future language planning. To strengthen the societal position of the language and culture, it is important to create learning resources and instruction programmes that are suited to all kinds of speakers and their linguistic and identity tangles. As Paine (op. cit.: 294) stated 15 years ago, the identity tangle consists of the question of *how* to be a Saami—and I could add: how to be *enough* Saami. How much *Saaminess* does one have to produce in the linguistic and ethnic markets to be able to claim linguistic and ethnic legitimacy? The growing group of new speakers is claiming legitimacy and authority on another basis than the traditional authenticity. In this way, they are creating parallel hierarchies and competing legitimacies.

**Iktedimmieh** Ulmie daejnie goerehtimmine lea gellievoetem aktene gïeleldh siebriedahkesne vuesiehtidh mij lea göökte gïelemålsomh åtneme aktem unnebe tïjjem goh akte tjuetiejaepie. Doh ovmessie sosijaale aktöörh aktem tjoejem åadtjoeh daennie gellielaaketje byjresisnie. Gaajhkh daah aktöörh jïh sijjieh lea vihkeles krööhkestidh dennie båetijen aejkien gïelesoejkesjimmesne. Juktie siebriedahkesijjiem nænnoestehtedh gïelesne jïh kultuvresne lea vihkeles lïeremevierhtieh jïh bïhkedimmieprogrammh tseegkedh mah gaajhkesåarhts soptsestæjjide sjiehtieh jïh dej tsagkesidie mejtie gïelen jïh identiteeten bïjre utnieh. Goh Paine jeehti 15 jaepiej juassah, identiteetetsagkesisnie lea gyhtjelasse guktie lea saemine årrodh jïh manne

I. Johansen (B)

I. Johansen Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Gouvdageaidnu/Kautokeino, Norway

This chapter presents preliminary results from my ongoing Ph.D. project.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway e-mail: inger.johansen@ntnu.no

maahtam lissiehtidh: Guktie nuekie saemine årrodh. Man jïjnjem saemienvoetem tjuara buektedh dennie gïeleldh jïh etnihkeles sijjesne juktie maehtedh gïeleldh jïh etnihkeles legitimiteetem krïevedh. Dïhte sjïdtije dåehkie orre saemiestæjjijste legitimiteetem jïh autoriteetem aktene jeatjah våaroemisnie kreava goh dïhte aerpievuekien tjïelkevoete. Naemhtie dah baalte hierarkijh jïh gaahtjije legitimiteetem tseegkieh.

### **3.1 Introduction**

Due to radical changes in the relevant ideologies and education policies over the last century, the South Saami linguistic community of today is very complex. A small and fragile speech community used to be characterized by protection and maintenance strategies based on traditional values during the period of the active assimilation policies practised by the majority society. Today, as assimilation has more or less been replaced by a Saami-friendly policy and cultural revitalization, the linguistic community consists of new types of speakers. The traditional values are challenged in different ways as these new speakers are trying to find their place in the community of practice.

All societies have a range of speakers on different levels of proficiency and command, but Grinevald and Bert (2011: 47) argue that linguistic communities with endangered languages stand out from those with non-endangered languages:

There are two basic differences between the range of speakers of endangered and nonendangered languages. One is that, as the level of vitality of a language decreases, the proportion of supposedly marginal types of speakers will become more prevalent, perhaps rising eventually to become the bulk of the population of speakers. In this case, there may also be many varieties of second-language learners or speakers, as well as many speakers at different levels of language attrition. A second characteristic is that the phenomenon of language loss gives rise to some types of speakers that are specific to those circumstances, not so much in terms of their levels of knowledge of the language, but more in terms of sociopsychological traits that sometimes create unexpected interactions.

Using qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter addresses some of these *sociopsychological traits*, as Grinevald and Bert call them. Issues that arise under these traits, like negotiations over what constitutes *Saaminess* when it comes to language and ethnic identity, are highly present within the South Saami community. The set of values associated with the cultural and linguistic revitalization movement challenges and develops the traditional values. In recent decades, several South Saami institutions have been built, and great effort has been put into language planning and development. The South Saami community of practice is very diverse as the participants are positioned in highly different and sometimes contradictory positions to each other when it comes to linguistic experience and proficiency, language ideology, ethnic identification and language planning goals. Hence, they have disparate needs if they are to become stronger language users—or simply to be able to practise the language in the first place—and to take full ownership of the Saami identity. Sometimes, the divergent backgrounds and perspectives lead to misunderstandings and conflicts—like the one in the title above where teachers are involuntarily referred to by others as 'language police'. This chapter aims to shed light on the different kinds of speakers participating in the South Saami community of practice and the complexity that these together constitute. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the interaction between the various social actors in light of historic circumstances, linguistic and ethnic *authority*, *authenticity* and *legitimacy*.

### **3.2 Speaker Types**

Nancy Dorian was the first to point out different speaker types in an endangered linguistic community in her description of the death of East Sutherland Gaelic in Scotland (Dorian 1977). When she wanted to describe and document the dying language, she discovered 'considerable differences in the Gaelic of the oldest available fluent speakers and the youngest, the Gaelic of the latter showing reduction and loss in certain areas in comparison with the former' (ibid.: 23). The *semi*-*speaker* is described (ibid.: 24) as being at the lower end of the scale of the total pool of speakers. They 'could make themselves understood in imperfect Gaelic but were very much more at home in English'. Dorian's problem with the semi-speaker was how she could 'gauge the completeness and intactness of the version of the language which [she received] from [her] informants'. The semi-speakers are contrasted to *fluent speakers*, monolingual or bilingual, who have a good or full command of the language (loc. cit.). Later, the *rememberer* was added by Campbell and Muntzel (1989) (Grinevald and Bert 2011: 47). This type of speaker has an even poorer command of the language than the semi-speaker.

These earliest speaker types are categorized exclusively according to language proficiency—and with the purpose of documenting a previously unwritten and poorly documented language. Grinevald and Bert (2011) present a speaker typology based on more factors which take into consideration a greater part of the informant's individual (socio)linguistic characteristics. From this typology, the most relevant category for this study is the *neo*-*speakers*: 'Neo-speakers are learners of endangered languages in the context of revitalization programmes and activities' (ibid.: 52). They can reach any level of competence, but many become some kind of a semi-speaker. '[T]heir positive attitudes towards the endangered language and their particular vision of the endangered language community […] propels them into conscious efforts to learn it' (loc. cit.).

### **3.3 New Speakerness**

Prior to this particular publication by Grinevald and Bert (2011), according to their own account (ibid: 51), the term *neo*-*speaker* had not been referenced in the literature. But as they point out, neo-speakers 'are becoming central to language revitalization, whose aim is partly to produce this kind of speaker' (loc. cit.). As the number of minority languages being revitalized has been increasing over the most recent decades, there has been considerable need for this concept within the study of revitalizing languages. Hence, since 2011 the notion of the neo-speaker has been growing into a particular field of interest: *new speakerness*.

While all the other categories in the typology are constructed within the concept of language shift—the semi-speaker being a carrier of 'decay', the notion of the neoor new speaker is constructed on the basis of linguistic revitalization and the reversed shift. In this context, the new speakers are the carriers of hope and 'life support' for the further existence of the language.

The new speakers are people

with little or no home or community exposure to a minority language, but who instead acquire it through immersion or bilingual programs, revitalization projects or as adult language learners. The emergence of this profile of speaker draws our attention to the ways in which minority linguistic communities are changing because of globalization and the new profiles of speakers that this new social order is creating. (O'Rourke et al. 2015: 1)

The new speaker reflects a new way to develop in the process where both majority and minority populations have 'historically used language to legitimize claims to nationhood and cultural authenticity' (ibid: 2). Also, the 'new speaker' label represents a new scientific perspective, namely

growing critiques in multilingual research of the fundamental epistemologies on which our understanding of language has been based. It prompts us to query how linguistics as a discipline has participated in the reproduction of linguistic ideologies, essentially through abstract notions of "nativeness", which […] have in fact been shown to have little or no empirical basis. (loc. cit.)

Even though minority language research has existed for a long time, the new speaker has not been given much attention—the concept has been left in the shadow of the *native speaker*. <sup>1</sup> O'Rourke et al. state that the linguistic terminology describing both new speakers and their language and the new form of the language appearing after the reversed shift are often represented by '*clinical* categorizations' (ibid.: 10) with an underlying comparison to the former native, mother tongue speakers and their more 'intact' language. This is at worst delegitimizing both speakers and language, and

<sup>1</sup>The notion of *nativeness* or the *native speaker* has been criticized by several, see, e.g. O'Rourke and Pujolar (2013), Hornsby (2015), Frekko (2009), Doerr (2009), Davies (2003), Bucholtz (2003), etc.

documenting 'linguistic *dis*-embodiment through interference, hybridization, grammatical simplification and other forms of tainted, corrupted or otherwise pathologic language practices of more "correct" linguistic models' (loc. cit.). One could say that the researcher in this way contributes to understanding the language—and its speakers—as museum items. The concept of the new speaker describes both the speaker and his or her language forms *without* the underlying comparison to something more 'genuine' or 'real'. It can be seen 'to represent a *re*-embodiment of the language […] [and to] give new speakers recognition as linguistic models in and of themselves' (loc. cit.). Studies of new speakerness often provide descriptions of how the emergence of revitalization and the generations of new speakers challenge existing hierarchical structures and lead to new and multiplex negotiations of language and speaker authenticity, authority and legitimacy.

In this study, new speakers have not been investigated exclusively, but many of the informants are some kind of new speaker, and many of the conflicts and dilemmas in the South Saami linguistic community revolve around the questions of the status of the new speakers and their linguistic performances.

### **3.4 Saami Identity Negotiations**

In the aftermath of World War II, the stage was set for fundamental changes in managing, negotiating and developing the Saami identity. The Saami areas in the northernmost part of Norway had been torched, and the country was being rebuilt under a strong ideology of unification. The Saami ethnopolitical movements grew stronger as the assimilation policy was gradually abandoned.

Social anthropologists have been present among the Saami people, especially in the northernmost regions, since the 1950s. Robert Paine was one of the first to describe both the coastal Saami communities2 and the inland reindeer herding communities. He summarizes the development of the identity negotiations in the North Saami areas in Norway: In the 1950s, the struggle was between being Saami or Norwegian. The following decades the question turned into how to shape and reshape Saami culture, and after that again, the debate revolved around the criteria, and their validity, for Saami identity among the Saami people themselves (Paine 2003: 298). As the Saami ethnopolitical movements grew and claimed rights, the relations between power and collective identity in a Saami-Norwegian government context were changed. This introduced Saami self-determination, and with that comes the privilege of selfunderstanding, to be able to confirm or dispute (ibid.: 292). Vigdis Stordahl, who has studied Saami youth, describes the differences between the youth of the 1970s and the 1990s to illustrate the same development:

For the youth of the 1970s […] the life project was to create a Sámi identity solely based on Sámi traditions […]. This was a project in opposition to mainstream society. At the same

<sup>2</sup>The coastal Saami communities were generally based on combined farming and fishing, and not extensive reindeer herding.

time it was in opposition to their own parent's generation whose life project had been either to keep quiet, hide their Sámi identity or to strive to be as clever as possible in Norwegian language and culture. (Stordahl 1997: 145)

[…]

The 90s generation is the first generation of Sámi […] to have received training in Sámi language and culture throughout their school years. […] [I]n contrast to their parents [they] have no lost Sámi past to avenge or mourn. […] They are, on the contrary, claiming their right to determine their own terms and symbols of Sámi-ness which they feel appropriate to the demands of their own time. (ibid.: 147 f.)

Today, the pain of the *identity tangle*<sup>3</sup> for many lies not in the question of being or not, but *how* to be (Paine op. cit.: 294). Paine (ibid.: 295) then states his concern over the fact that the necessity for ethnopolitical programmes (which follows after a Norwegian hegemony) and the value of individuality are possibly incompatible entities. *Collective* uniqueness and *individual* uniqueness sometimes pull in each their direction.

The South Saami community has undergone more or less the same development as in the North, but with some important exceptions. In the South, the Norwegianization pressure has been more powerful, and the language and culture shift started earlier. The Saami coastal culture, based on fishing and farming, was already absorbed by the majority population by the second half of the nineteenth century (Hermanstrand 2014). This means the reindeer herding livelihood has been, and still is, an even more important factor than in the north when it comes to defining the Saami culture and identity—and who is an authentic Saami or not. These processes are not as well documented scientifically as the ones in the north, but Christina Åhrén (2008) has described the identity negotiations among young Saamis living in Sweden. She shows how an underlying ethnocentrism is the reason why Saami individuals are valued differently, and the particular Saami heritage one grows up with becomes the basis for divergent kinds of *Saaminess*.

[…][D]ifferent Saami symbols are given different value. The result is a dominating ethnocentrism based on a *cultural ladder* where the most original is valued the highest. Language, reindeer herding, traditional handcraft and other symbols with a long history are markers with high value. (ibid.: 161) (my translation from Swedish)

The Swedish policy towards the Saami population was slightly different from the Norwegian policy in the sense that the Saami population was divided in two, where only the settled Saamis were to be assimilated into the majority. The nomadic reindeer herders, on the other hand, were to be conserved and 'protected' from the Swedish majority society and modernity. The territorial rights of today are dependent on whether your Saami ancestors were reindeer herders or not. This is the main reason why the differences, negotiations and conflicts between the Saamis with a connection to the reindeer herding communities and those without are more severe in Sweden than in Norway. Still, this pattern, or *cultural ladder*, is also, as we will later see, definitely recognizable in the collected material from the Norwegian South Saamis.

<sup>3</sup>My translation of *identitetsfloke* from Paine's (2003) title.

### **3.5 South Saami Speaker and Ethnic Identifying Profiles**

The fieldwork for this project consists of 28 qualitative interviews, and ethnographic participation and observation. The 28 informants range from 20 to 75 years of age—although most of them are in their 20s or 30s. They come from both the northern, middle and southern part of the South Saami area, from both Norway and Sweden—although most are from Norway, and they have different backgrounds when it comes to attachment to the reindeer herding units, language skills and education.

In the following, the findings relating to South Saami *speaker and ethnic identifying profiles* are presented. The term '*profiles*' has been chosen because it appears to be less fixed and static than the traditional term '*types*' from the speaker typologies. Questions of language usage and ethnic identification are tangled closely together in the informants' narratives of their experiences in the South Saami community of practice. Consequently, the profiles are called not only *speaker* profiles but also *ethnic identifying* profiles. Identify*ing* suggests that this is an ongoing process throughout different stages in life, and there is sometimes discrepancy between the self- and other-attribution of identity. The categorization of the profiles is the result of a highly inductive method as there is no attempt to shape the data into non-overlapping, 'symmetrical' categories. On the contrary, the profiles are very much *overlapping*, both synchronously and diachronically in the way that one person can be several of the profiles both at the same time and also during a time span. They are *un*symmetrical in the way that some of the profiles represent a large group of people, others a very few. Moreover, the criteria for the categorization do not follow a rigid system. The criteria are *generations*, *choice of shift or maintenance*, *self* - *and other*-*attribution of ethnic identity, linguistic competence and participation/status in the community of practice, language ideology* and *linguistic life project*. Some of the names of the profiles do not exist *literally* as labels in the community, others do. The informants' linguistic competence is not measured or tested, it is all based on self-reported proficiency and the ability to use the language.

There are contradictory relations between many of these profiles, and the following dramaturgy of the presentation is more or less built on opposition pairs.

### *3.5.1 The Older Saamis—Old Speakers*

The diversities in linguistic and ethnic command, experience, norms, attitudes, competence and identification do not always follow the generations, but to a great extent they do. The two first categories divide the population roughly into 'older' and 'younger' Saamis. Because the language and identity shift took place at different times in different parts of South Saepmie, it is difficult to draw exact time lines between who is older or younger in this context. 'Older' means actually that they grew up before the language shift in their family, while the 'younger' grew up after. The older Saamis have experienced the assimilation policy directly, and they grew up with a stigma attached to their Saami identity. Most of them went to assimilation boarding schools where speaking Saami was not allowed, and some of them did not know Norwegian or Swedish when they started school. Many of them are fluent speakers of South Saami, but some do not know how to write the language. Those who can have learned it as adults. Their oral Saami is one of the traditional dialects, and their linguistic identity is strongly attached to it and the region it represents. The written standard or the 'new', revitalized spoken language based on it, sometimes appears foreign to this group. They often feel very strongly about what they see as linguistic mistakes and errors.

Some of the young … they should consult us before writing something! There's an example from a grave inscription - and they just got it *all* wrong!

### *3.5.2 The Language Shifters*

These are elderly people today who once chose to make Norwegian or Swedish their home language. Most continued to speak Saami among the grown-ups, but the children were not included in the Saami conversations. Many of them strongly regret their choice today—and they question whether they actually made a 'choice'. The pressure from the assimilation policy was strong, and many of them have traumas or bad memories from not knowing the majority language.

He said something to me in Norwegian, and I understood. But I didn't know how to reply in Norwegian, so I remained silent. – Look, she must be stupid, he said to the other guy.

There were separate boarding schools for Saami children, and many lived far away from their families. The staff at the boarding houses often were Saamis, or at least knew Saami, but the teachers were seldom Saami, and it was not allowed to speak Saami in class. Sometimes, one could be punished for doing so. These experiences made many determined to give their children a better foundation before going to school.

We didn't want our kids to experience what we did! We wanted a better future for them – and the future went via the Norwegian language. We thought this was the best for them – not to be Saami.

### *3.5.3 The Non-shifters*

Others never stopped speaking Saami with their children—in some families the language shift never occurred. At the Saami congress in 1917,4 one of the topics of

<sup>4</sup>This meeting in Trondheim in 1917 is seen as one of the most important events in the history of the Saami ethnopolitical movement. For the first time, Saami people from Norway and Sweden met to discuss common issues and to claim rights as a united people.

discussion was to establish a separate Saami school where Saami children could have instruction both in and on Saami. Some years after this, the ethnopolitical movement was not very strong, but the ideas from the meeting must have been carried on by someone. For this reason, a language and culture shift took place, some of the people did *not* follow the hegemonic ideology and kept on speaking Saami, also with their children. Some of them are still today concerned with those who did *not* fight for the Saami culture and language when the pressure from the majority community was at its strongest:

They didn't stick with us then, when times were really hard. But now – as things are better - now it's popular to be a Saami - now, they come back, and they think that they know everything!

The pronoun 'they' does not necessarily point to the exact same persons—but rather to the descendants of those who made this choice of not transmitting Saami to the next generation. Kinship is a very central concept in the Saami culture, and the individual can sometimes be judged by the choices of the ancestors.

#### **3.5.3.1 The Younger Saamis—New Speakers**

The majority of the younger Saamis did not learn South Saami as children. What seemed to be the best choice for the previous generations turned into a big loss for the younger ones. This is called *the third (*or second*)-generation phenomenon* (e.g. Huss 1999; Tsunoda 2005 and Johansen 2009). Members of this generation are trying to gain bilingualism and trying to acquire and strengthen the language that was deselected by their parents or grandparents. They express a huge feeling of responsibility as the generation that has to secure the future of the language.

Almost on a daily basis, I feel guilty for not using the language enough, and for not doing enough to learn more.

Very many of them have had some kind of South Saami instruction during school, and due to this, they can write South Saami, but orally they are in part semi-speakers and in part new speakers—both individually and as a group. Many of them have grown up hearing Saami and have a partial understanding of the language. Perhaps, they are also able to speak some, especially in restricted domains. Most of their productive skills, however, have been learned in school. However, many have critical comments on how they were taught what they see as their *heart language*, or even *mother tongue*, <sup>5</sup> during school.

There was this focus on *grammar* all the time. We didn't learn how to just speak. If you said something incorrectly, they told you right away: That's wrong!

As they have been growing up parallel with the ever rising ethnopolitical and revitalization movement, they feel a strong pride about their Saami identity, but also

<sup>5</sup>Even though they do not have what we think of as traditional mother tongue proficiency in the language, new speakers look upon South Saami as their "real" mother tongue.

a fundamental uncertainty because of their lack of linguistic skills. Most of them struggle with psychological barriers to speaking Saami due to fear of being caught saying something incorrectly:

It feels *totally* different to speak incorrectly in South Saami than in other languages, like for example English. It's like … like having the skin stripped off - like someone is actually *flaying* you!

Instead of taking this risk of being 'flayed' on an everyday basis, most young Saamis end up speaking the *third variety* that they have in their linguistic register: an ethnolect consisting of a local Norwegian or Swedish dialect with certain Saami words embedded in it. We will return to this variety later. The inability to speak Saami fluently pains the young generation deeply due to two major discrepancies. The first discrepancy is between the self- and other-attribution of identity. Others, both from inside the Saami community, but also from the Scandinavian majority, do not see them as 'real' or 'complete' Saamis. They are often met with the expectation of being fluent speakers—an expectation they cannot fulfil. The second discrepancy is between what they feel inside and what they are able to express through their linguistic repertoire. For most of them, the Norwegian/Swedish language can never fully express their Saami identity. As already mentioned, they see South Saami as their mother tongue.

### *3.5.4 The Half Saamis*

There is a stigma attached to having a non-Saami parent. Some of these people have experienced a double stigma during their adolescence. In Norwegian/Swedish contexts, they are sometimes *too much* Saami, and in Saami contexts they are sometimes not *enough* Saami. This is especially seen in the Saami environment where many of this group have grown up being ranked in a 'blood percentage system'.

Everyone knew who was half or a quarter or whatever. And we used it against each other: - You're only half, so you're not as good as me, I was once told. But I knew that the mother of that boy, was only 1/8th, so I got him back.

The young half-Saami in particular have a strong barrier against speaking Saami. Saying something incorrectly is like revealing an incomplete Saami identity. However, many of them say that the 'blood percentage ranking system' is now not as pressing as it used to be. As adults they have redefined themselves from having a 'double-half-identity' or a 'neither-nor-identity' to having a 'both-and-identity':

I'm one whole person! No one can come here and tell me I'm half. I am *both* Saami *and* Norwegian, … maybe I feel slightly more Saami by the way, but it gives me a lot to have both.

### *3.5.5 The Double Saami*

Some are in the fortunate position to be trilinguals. They have one South Saami parent and one North or Lule Saami parent. If one of the parents come from the 'Norwegian side' and the other from the 'Swedish side', they are even quadrilinguals and speak both Norwegian and Swedish in addition to two different Saami languages. This is a very big contrast to the reality of the young new speakers and the half Saamis.

You know what, I feel so rich! I feel like I can almost turn into different personalities, … or show different parts of me when I speak the different languages. But of course, I miss more young people to speak with in both my Saami languages.

Obviously, these exclusive speakers have a very wide linguistic register to choose from when expressing themselves and their ethnic identity. However, they do not necessarily have an equal command of the two Saami languages.

### *3.5.6 The Core Saamis*

The core Saamis have grown up in a reindeer herding family, they learned Saami as a mother tongue during their adolescence and both their parents are Saamis. They are at the top of the Saami hierarchy and possess definition power. They feel a strong ownership of both the Saami language and traditions.

Of course, I want to continue with reindeer herding. I've grown up with it, and I want to keep the traditions alive. It's both something I want, and some kind of … Well, it's expected of me.

Some in this group have a dilemma when they are at Saami gatherings. They always want to speak as much Saami as possible, but are aware that speaking solely Saami can be perceived as excluding those who are not fluent speakers. At the same time, speaking Norwegian/Swedish to a new speaker who is not yet fluent may also be perceived as an exclusion or rejection. Sometimes, what learners of the language want is to be invited to speak Saami and practise their proficiency with the fluent speakers.

Because the last thing I want to do is to put someone in an embarrassing situation … by addressing them in Saami, and then it turns out they don't understand what I'm saying. But yet I want to invite them into speaking Saami … I tell you, it's a minefield!

Others do not see the dilemma and show little mercy for the new speakers.

I really don't get why this is so difficult. Why can't they just learn the language if that's what they want to do?

### *3.5.7 The Reversed Shifter*

Almost all of the informants who do not already have children say that when they have children in the future, they will start speaking Saami as a home language. This goal of becoming a *reversed shifter* or a *new fluent speaker* for the sake of their future children is the reason why many spend time and effort in going to Saami courses. Echoing their ancestors, they do not want their children to go through the same as they did themselves. But for this generation what they want to avoid is loss of language and difficult identity negotiations. They want to empower their children and give them what they themselves did not have: bilingualism and a strong and complete Saami identity. Moreover, they have a very strong continuity perspective: Their contribution to the survival of the language is that they want to transfer the language to the next generation in a better shape than it was when they got it from their elders.

The ones who have actually come to this point, who have become parents and started to speak Saami with their children, displayed huge amounts of awareness, courage, effort and hard work—both before they had their children, and after they were born. Keskitalo (2005) talks about the emotional challenge it was for her to speak Saami to her newborn child for the first time: 'I had to whisper'. Just becoming used to hearing one's own voice speaking Saami can be a challenge.

Teaching a child a language which is not your own mother tongue demands not just positive attitudes but also linguistic skills—and a lot of self-discipline. One of the informants had the South Saami dictionary in a kitchen drawer—easily accessible during everyday routines:

Because when you're in the middle of something – cooking with the kids, and you suddenly don't know a word … You just have to look it up immediately!

#### […]

Once we were outside in the garden, and [the child] saw a snail for the first time. I didn't know what "snail" was in Saami, so before I spoke to her about it, I ran inside and checked in the dictionary. Because I have this idea that the children will learn Saami better if they hear the Saami word *before* the Norwegian word, for the new things that they see and discover.

Not all are waiting until they have children to become reversed shifters. They study hard to learn the language, and often have a friend in the exact same situation to practise with. They make clear deals and arrangements about using the language and rehearsing together. They feel a very strong ownership of the language, and as they are studying the language at university, they possess a high metalinguistic knowledge and awareness.

I'll speak the language no matter what they say – I don't care, because the language is mine too. To learn it, I have to use it and make mistakes. Deal with it.

### *3.5.8 The Language Police*

There are at least two main groups of the language police. One group comprises fluent speakers with formal education who very often work as teachers or language professionals. The other group comprises non-professional fluent speakers who are engaged in language matters. Both of them see themselves as the guardians of the language—they protect the language from deteriorating and being destroyed and changed by the Scandinavian languages. Throughout history, this linguistic purism has been a question of life or death for the language. Without these protecting attitudes, the language most likely would be out of use. However, if the ownership of a very small group of the population is too strong, and too exclusionary towards other speaker groups, it will have the opposite effect (Dorian 1994). Their goal is to help learners of the language speak the language correctly. If someone says something incorrectly, it is their task to make them aware of the mistake so they can say things correctly the next time. Some of them are not happy about being called language police.

But they call us the language police! We're only trying to help them!

However, many are aware of the possible negative effect correcting someone's language can have.

Maybe we need to discuss how we can do it [make someone aware of their mistakes] in a more careful way?

Many romanticize the language and the fluent speakers of the past, and have an idea of the old language as the most 'real' or 'genuine'.

Oh, but the ones who *really* knew how to speak the language, they're all dead by now.

### *3.5.9 The Non-speaker*

The individuals in this group stand out from the rest of the informants as they are not attempting to speak Saami. They see that the language has important value, but for them personally, it is not important. They have a strong Saami identity, but they choose other items from the pool of Saami identity markers.

The language is not important to me – I actually don't miss it, and I don't have any problem seeing myself as a complete Saami without the language.

### **3.6 Interaction in Linguistic and Ethnic Markets**

As we can see, the historic past with assimilation and language shift, resilience and revitalization has created a community where the social actors have widely varying ethnic and linguistic resources. Individuals of today are carrying the weight of their ancestors more or less fortunate choices from more than half a century ago. Different views of the world collide and create conflicting relations between the community members. The axes of the categories run in part alongside each other, and in part across each other. What generation the speakers belong to, referring to their own and their ancestor's choices, will and ability to speak the language, their managing of their ethnic identity and their long-term goals of how to realize their own ethnicity are all axes along which they spread out widely. In a small community of practice, these subgroups become even smaller, and some of these groups have had a marginalized position within the community.

However, what most of the social actors have in common is that their actions, choices and ideologies are adequate responses to the environment and historic circumstances in which they are shaped and executed. Most of them just want to put the history right again. The young new speakers, whose South Saami contains neologisms and errors, do not speak like that because they want to dilute the language. Indeed, the so-called language police do not want people to stop speaking Saami when correcting their language.

Since the two South Saami schools mentioned above were established in the 50s and 60s, several other Saami institutions and initiatives have successfully been established—both in Saepmie in general, and in South Saepmie. Along with the establishment of these, there have been numerous open and more hidden discussions around the topics of defining, developing and managing language, history, culture and identity, and the concepts of authority, authenticity and legitimacy are keywords in these negotiations.

As we have seen, Christian Åhrén describes a hierarchic *cultural ladder* where the most original is given the highest value. Through the descriptions of the speaker profiles and their quotations, one can also clearly see this pattern in this material. These values and evaluations lay the foundation for the interaction between the various social actors, both in the linguistic and the ethnic markets.

All the speakers and participants, and their linguistic and ethnic products, are evaluated by others in the South Saami linguistic and ethnic market. On top of the hierarchy is the 'untainted' South Saami—both ethnic and linguistic. The 'blood percentage ranking system' testifies to the hierarchy with the genuine Saami on top. Linguistically, we have seen that many of the speakers look back in time to find their ideas of the best or most authentic language. This is in general a very common idea about language, and O'Rourke and Walsh (2015: 69) give an example from an informant in a study of Irish: 'Liam is highly critical of language mixing and looks to the past for linguistic purity and authenticity. He is of the opinion in fact that there are no real native speakers left. They are all dead, he says'. This is exactly the same essentialist linguistic ideology as found in this material. It is a fundamental belief among almost all participants in this study, independent of which profile I have categorized them into. Both new and elderly informants romanticized the speech of their grandparents and great-grandparents. The authentic language is seen as 'fixed and bounded, as a code rather than practice and as naturally given or taken for granted' (O'Rourke and Walsh 2015: 66). Scandinavian influence on the language is in part still interpreted within an assimilation policy view of the world as something that is threatening and destroying the language.

The authentic speakers are constructed as belonging to particular places, producing locally orientated language that is in and of that location. In […] minority languages, authenticity has been tied tightly to the speech of rural peasants [in our case: reindeer herders] from isolated communities as these are speakers who have been seen as untainted by social contact with other cultures, particularly the [majority culture]. (Ó hlfearnáin 2015: 50)

What divides the new speakers from the old with respect to these views is that the new speakers know that this ideal is no longer a reachable reality. For them, the question of survival is the most important. As they are trying to change their surroundings, they are social constructivists in practice, even though not fully in their ideology.

Below the 'untainted' South Saami is the 'new' language, or the revitalized language—called both *School*-*Saami* and *Book*-*Saami*. The new speakers themselves have not acquired names,<sup>6</sup> but their language has—although these expressions most probably were invented as names for the written standard—before someone started to speak like that. The written standard was based more or less on one of the traditional South Saami dialects. For a long time, this was the source of conflict in the community. The standardization of the language and the institutionalization of it by founding the schools created a new form of linguistic authority. Strong voices belonging to the other dialect areas felt devalued by the increased status of the chosen dialect. As Costa et al. (2018: 2) state, '[t]his potentially establishes linguistic standards that speakers themselves cannot meet, together with new hierarchies that give advantage to some speakers over others'. Many of the elderly, who only learned Norwegian or Swedish in school, do not recognize the standardized language and do not feel at home in it. Since the standardization, the language is being used in more and more domains, and the new terminology, neologisms, the Scandinavian loan words and the use of old Saami words with a new semantic meaning are often foreign to the elderly.

The institutionalization of the language and culture has created many jobs where formal knowledge of the language is required. This has indeed opened the doors for the young new speakers. There are not enough people with sufficient qualifications to fill all the positions at schools, kindergartens, language centres, museums, universities, state and regional administrations and so on. Some get the chance to work with the language without being fluent speakers in the beginning, and this helps them gain authority in the linguistic market. Jaffa 2015: 42 points out that '[t]hese new forms of

<sup>6</sup>In the North Saami area, however, the expression "new Saami" has been in use for a long time about those who did not grow up with a Saami identity, but as adults have taken back their ethnic identity.

authority […] [from institutionalizing the language] do not replace traditional criteria but rather, exist alongside them, creating a multiple, complex ideological field'.

Below the School- or Book-Saami in the hierarchy of the linguistic market, we find the ethnolect, the spoken Norwegian or Swedish dialect with Saami words embedded in it. The embedded words are often linked to traditionally Saami domains like kinship, reindeer herding, traditional handcraft, place, landscape or other strong symbolic carriers of *Saaminess*. One informant puts it like this:

I remember really well how important it was to me, when I was younger, to speak like this. At least I knew *some* words - and I wanted to show everyone!

The Saami words work as identifiers for giving and receiving internal identity confirmation, a kind of*in*-*group unifiers*, and for the older and the fluent speakers they show that they know as least *something*—this can be seen as an attempt to gain authenticity by using vocabulary from high authenticity cultural concepts. This ethnolect is widely used in the community, and since this has not yet been researched, one can only guess that it might have been developed within the families where Saami went out of use. According to the young ones, they have always been speaking like this at home—both with their parents and grandparents. Although not everyone in the community is supportive of this way of mixing the languages, the social risks from speaking like this are much lower than when speaking erroneous Saami.

Erroneous Saami is at the bottom of the hierarchy. When trying to speak Saami fluently, speakers are trying to increase their authenticity as a Saami and their legitimacy as a Saami speaker. Being explicitly corrected can be described as being delegitimized as a Saami speaker and unauthenticated as a Saami person by someone who is, and who possesses the power of definition for what is legitimate and authentic or not.

In the new-speaker niche market, where more or less everyone is struggling in the same way to become legitimate speakers, trying to speak fluently has a high value. Very often the speakers have spent considerable amounts of time and effort on learning what they know, and achieving their level of linguistic proficiency has been hard work. Within this *revitalization ideology*, trying to speak fluently is what eventually will strengthen the language. But from an essentialist view, the errors are considered a threat to the existence and authenticity of the language, rather than the future of the language. The flayed-like pain that arises as the linguistic product, which has a high value in the new-speaker niche market, is being devalued and delegitimized by other social actors with a higher linguistic and ethnic authority in the larger linguistic market. The new speakers have to expose themselves to this potential pain as they again and again negotiate their participation in the linguistic market. The group of the reversed shifters shows that to be able to become a fluent speaker and state one's own legitimacy as a speaker, one also has to overcome the identity tangles by approaching the identity issues in a constructionist view. One informant who has done exactly that, says:

There is no such thing as a more or less or higher or lower worthy Saami: I'm a Saami and that's that. I have the right to speak the language too.

### **3.7 Summary**

As the South Saami ethnopolitical movement slowly managed to turn the language and culture shift and establish institutions for maintaining and revitalizing the language and culture, the foundation was in place to enable major changes in the traditional society, and in its survival strategies, attitudes and so on, as well as in the hierarchies and authority structures in the South Saami community. Shame turned into pride and assimilation into resistance. The silence was replaced by open debate, and the invisible became visible and exposed to the outside world. Unity turned into differentiation, and collective uniqueness was challenged by individual uniqueness. The enemies became friends, and resistance was transformed into cooperation and partnership. Language loss was replaced by language regained, and the authentic language and culture was tainted by the majority as the borders between them were dimmed.

### **Bibliography**


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### Part III Historical and Archaeological Perspectives

### **Chapter 4 Identification of the South Saami in the Norwegian 1801 Census: Why Is the 1801 Census a Problematic Source?**

### **Håkon Hermanstrand**

**Abstract** In this chapter, I examine why the Norwegian 1801 census is a problematic source for South Saami history. Both the notion that archival sources necessarily reflect Saami presence and the trust in ethnonyms are refuted. These notions still have repercussions in court decisions and historical narratives. The chapter is based on studies of the Norwegian 1801 census compared with church registers contemporary with the census from areas on both sides of the present Nordland–Trøndelag county borders in Norway. Comparison with the church registers shows that ethnonyms are inconsistent. Often, the census and the church registers did not register the same people as Saami, and there are more people registered as Saami in church registers than in the census. I explain the erratic registration of the Saami by interpreting it as an expression of an identification process, as exclusion and inclusion of the Saami by others as well as a part of colonialism. It exemplifies why non-indigenous sources should be critically interpreted, and how identification of ethnicity constitutes a challenge. I suggest that the 1801 census cannot be treated as a census of the South Saami.

**Iktedimmie** Tjaalege digkede man åvteste dïhte nöörjen almetjeryökneme jaepeste 1801 lea akte muevies gaaltije dan åarjelsaemien histovrijasse. Dovne dïhte vuajnoe mij jeahta våarhkoegaaltije saemien baeliem vuesehte jïh leajhtadimmie etnonymide/åålmegetjïertese leah heajhtasovveme. Daah dïejvesh annje konsekvensh utnieh reakta-aamhtesisnie jïh histovrijes soptsesinie. Tjaalegen våarome lea dïhte nöörjen almetjeryökneme jaepeste 1801 viertiestamme gærhkoegærjan daajbaaletje almetjeryökneminie dejstie dajvijste gåabpegen bielesne dehtie daaletje Nordlaanten–Trööndelagen fylhkenraasteste Nöörjesne. Viertiestimmie gærhkoegærjajgujmie vuesehte etnihkeles dåehkieh sinsitnien vööste strijrieh. Daamtaj almetjeryökneme jïh gærhkoegærjah eah dejtie seamma almetjidie saemine registreredh, jïh jienebh almetjh leah registreradamme goh saemieh gærhkoegærjine goh almetjeryöknemisnie. Manne dam joekehts registreradimmiem saemijste tjïelkestem viehkine dam toelhkestidh goh akte identiteeteprosessese, goh ålkoestimmie jïh feerhmeme saemijste mubpijste, jïh goh akte bielie kolonialismeste. Daate

H. Hermanstrand (B)

The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway e-mail: hakon.hermanstrand@nord.no

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2019

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_4

vuesehte man åvteste edtja gaaltijh laejhtehkslaakan toelhkestidh mah eah aalkoealmetjijstie båetieh, jïh guktie identifikasjovne etnisiteeteste akte haesteme sjædta. Manne raerestem almetjeryökneme jaepeste 1801 ij maehtieh åtnasovvedh goh akte almetjeryökneme åarjelsaemijste.

### **4.1 Introduction**

This chapter is about South Saami history.1 My first aim with this chapter is to clarify how the Norwegian 1801—census is a problematic source for South Saami history when interpreted from a positivistic or empiricist point of view. This is a criticism of assumptions about both source validity and reliability when using non-Saami sources to research Saami history, especially in relation to the particular historiography of Norwegian and Swedish historical research in the South Saami area. My second aim is to contribute to a better understanding of how non-indigenous sources can be critically interpreted and how identification of ethnicity constitutes a challenge.

### *4.1.1 Background*

In the case of the South Saami, history has been an important political issue. Since the late 1800s, a hypothesis of their late immigration (in the 1600s and 1700s) into large parts of their traditional lands in Sweden and Norway gained foothold among Swedish and Norwegian academics.<sup>2</sup> This hypothesis was coined during the same period that social Darwinism, colonization, forced assimilation and reindeer grazing laws increasingly undermined Saami society.

Saami researchers and institutions and some Swedish and Norwegian researchers have contested this hypothesis. But over the years, it has been supported by influential Swedish and Norwegian historians and researchers (e.g. Haarstad 1992). Along with a general disinterest in Saami issues, this hypothesis seems to have resulted in the exclusion of Saami topics and questions from historical research and narratives in southern Scandinavia. The hypothesis of immigration excluded the existence of Saami history in large areas. Thus, this hypothesis and the lack of acknowledgement of Saami historical narratives have served as support for colonialism (Falkenberg 1988; Jünge 2005; Kosmo 2013), and thereby court decisions against Saami rights to land, for example, Härjedalsdomen in Sweden (2002) and Trollheimensaken in Norway (1981). Härjedalsdomen and Trollheimensaken were court decisions on Saami land rights where Norwegian and Swedish landowners contested Saami rights to reindeer herding on private land. History played a key part in the court decisions

<sup>1</sup>This chapter has been developed and elaborated from previously published material in Norwegian (Hermanstrand 2008, 2014).

<sup>2</sup>The hypothesis is known in Norwegian as *framrykningsteorien.*

because the question of land rights had to be answered through historical evidence. The above-mentioned hypothesis of late Saami immigration was given value as truth and played an important part in the courts' decisions. The Saami lost in both cases.

In mainstream Norwegian and Swedish research, historians in general have not taken any particular interest in South Saami history, and Saami history has been variably included in historical narratives. Most often the perspective has been non-Saami, and this has been the case even when the intention was otherwise (Sem 2017). Often, the under-representation of Saami history is ascribed to a lack of sources (e.g. Bull and Stugu 2008). My opinion is that several Norwegian historians working with South Saami history, some quite lightly I have to claim, have seen the question of sources as naïvely unproblematic in an empiricist or positivistic way (Haarstad 1992, pp. 9–17). Here, criticism from indigenous theories seems to fit well, part of which points to how traditional positivist approaches to research stem from and serve non-indigenous concerns. Another part of the criticism points to the need to contest notions of objectivity and neutrality (Denzin and Lincoln 2008, p. 2 and 6).

Traditional archival written sources have been seen as trustworthy in the sense that they are believed to reflect Saami presence if the Saami were there. Thus, the lack of any mention of Saami in sources has been interpreted as a lack of Saami presence. This is at the core of the hypothesis of late immigration. For example, the emphasis has been placed on the presence of ethnonyms to identify Saami individuals in such sources as church registers (Haarstad 1992, p. 17 and 83). The trust in the ethnonyms has been infallible. This view has been incorporated in court rulings against Saami rights as seen below in the decision in the Trollheimen case of 1981:

(…) it is ruled out that – even after a considerable research effort – the presence of such a Saami population can be detected in this area. In that case this Saami population must have left traces in other historical sources, now fully available, e.g. in church registers or other public records, official reports, petitions etc., (…). (The Supreme Court of Norway 1981. My translation)

Another argument is simply that there are no or too few sources (Bull 2017). Therefore, it is impossible to write in more detail about South Saami history or refute the hypothesis of late immigration. An approach based on basic knowledge of Saami culture and insights from decolonizing methodology or indigenous theories, for example, does not seem to have been part of the apparatus (e.g. Bull and Stugu 2008). Years of indigenous research have shown that there are other historical sources than the traditional written ones, such as material culture and traditional geographical knowledge (O'Brien 2017, pp. 20–21). In my reading, most of the efforts by Norwegian historians connected to South Saami history fit quite neatly within Jelena Porsanger's description of how the very existence of indigenous people is a research problem (Porsanger 2004, p. 106 with reference to Smith 1999, p. 90).

### **4.2 The 1801 Census**

I have chosen the Norwegian 1801 census as an example. This was the first census in Norway that was supposed to include the entire population, and it is considered rather accurate (The National Archives of Norway, n.d.). There seems to be an assumption that the registration of the South Saami in the census is trustworthy, and it has not been critically examined. Numbers from the census have been used for comparison, even though authors in some cases have noted that especially the reindeer nomads were not always included (Bull 2005, pp. 184–185).

I have studied the registration of the Saami in several parts of the South Saami area. My conclusion is that the 1801 census is highly problematic as a source for South Saami history.

### *4.2.1 General Remarks*

I have studied areas in the northern parts of present-day Trøndelag County and the southern part of present-day Nordland County.

I have chosen the 1801 parishes of Alstahaug, Vefsn and Brønnøy in Nordland County and Overhalla, Nærøy and Snåsa from Trøndelag. I have studied Overhalla, Nærøy and the Bindal part of Brønnøy more closely, and I have systematically compared the census with church registers from the period 1775–1804 (Hermanstrand 2008). For the remaining areas, I have only undertaken limited checks with the church registers for the years 1800–1802 (Hermanstrand 2014).

I initially used the now old digital version of the 1801 census at Digital Archives, where I found people identified as Saami by using the search function. Later I used the newer version as well as the scanned original to check accuracy. The church registers have been read in full for the indicated periods, either on microfilm or on scanned originals at Digital Archives.

### *4.2.2 The 1801 Census*

The 1801 census included the names of every person, such as heads of the household, spouses, children, other family members, servants, lodgers and so on for each household grouped together for each farm, smallhold or house outside towns and cities. There were printed forms and instructions for how to perform the census work (rural and urban areas had different forms). Outside towns and cities, the parish priests were to do the work, often assisted by teachers and church assistants. Even though the aim was to register every individual at his or her location on 1 February 1801, the actual situation was that the priests often interviewed heads of households while attending church (The National Archives of Norway, n.d).

From the forms and instructions relating to the census, it is quite clear that it was ill-adapted to reflect the variation of contemporary Saami life. The census was made to register a sedentary agricultural or urban population. There were no instructions about how to handle what we today would call race, nationality or ethnicity. Some Saami lived as Norwegians or like Norwegians and with Norwegians. On the other hand, the Saami with a fully nomadic life herding reindeer lived mostly at a distance from Norwegian settlements and were obviously different from Norwegians. Clearly, many Saami led a life that scattered them on a scale between these two examples.

The ethnonym *lap* was used for identification of the Saami in the census. In 1801, the ethnonym *Saami* was not used officially, rather it is an indigenous word that is quite modern in official and Norwegian contexts. The Saami were labelled *fin(d)* or *lap,* with or without various prefixes or in combination, by the authorities and Norwegians. The usage was not formalized and also changed in the period from 1600 to 1800. First, it is quite clear that the terms used for the Saami, *fin(d)* or *lap,* were not completely synonymous, i.e. they referred to different economic and geographical adaptations among the Saami (Hansen 1986, pp. 120–212) (Hammond 1787, p. 447).

Studies of multicultural history have been carried out in the northern part of Nordland County. In these areas, ethnonyms and their reference have been problematized. Evjen and Hansen (2008) state that it is unclear what kind of criteria officials really used in their classifications and identifications of the Saami population (Evjen and Hansen 2008, p. 18). The general picture in the northern part of Nordland County up to 1650 was that the Saami were referred to as finns and lapps. The finns had a more sedentary coastal economy, whereas the lapps were reindeer nomads. Because of their land use, the finns were associated with the Danish–Norwegian realm, whereas the lapps were to a greater extent associated with the Swedish realm. The sources are scarce for the period 1650–1740. Due to the border negotiations between Denmark and Sweden leading up to the finalized border in 1751, a host of sources were produced. In these sources, the Saami were categorized into three groups all belonging to the same people. The overarching term was *lappfinn*, and the three subgroups were *bufinn*, *bygdelapp*/*bygdefinn* and *lapp*. Bufinn were sedentary Saami, bygdelapp/bygdefinn referred to Saami who recently had settled inland near the Norwegian settlements and lapp referred to the reindeer nomads. This is a very simplified rendering of a more complicated and varied use of terms. The terms were the work of Danish officials, and these officials wanted to indicate to which realm the different groups of Saami belonged. In addition to this come the economic variations and change in the Saami society (Evjen and Hansen 2008, pp. 19–28). In the areas I have studied, the term *lap* is the one used in the 1801 census.

When the border between Sweden and Norway was finalized in 1751, the border treaty had a codicil, the Lappecodicil, about Saami rights to cross the border.<sup>3</sup> The ethnonym used in the Lappecodicil was, evidently, lap. In the codicil, the question of

<sup>3</sup>Første Codicill og Tillæg til Grendse-Tractaten imellem Kongerigerne Norge og Sverrig Lapperne betreffende. (Lappekodisillen). Retrieved 27 March, 2018 at https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/ 1751-10-02.

citizenship was connected to where a Lap had winter land.4 If a person did not have a title to winter land, one option was to choose citizenship. The questions of citizenship were settled, for example, in Vefsn in 1761. It is possible that the Lappecodicil could have influenced the way the priests and their assistants looked upon the Saami in relation to the census, but this does not appear to have been a systematic and explicit influence.

It appears that there was no clear strategy or instruction as to how the Saami population was to be identified in the 1801 census, even though the instructions stressed that everybody, no matter profession or status, foreign or citizen, was to be included.<sup>5</sup> This seems to be a continuation from the first extensive census in Norway in 1769, when ethnicity was not systematically registered. In some areas in 1769, finns and lapps were included in special lists at the end of the census (Evjen and Hansen 2008, p. 24). The first Norwegian census to register ethnicity, i.e. Saami and Kvens,<sup>6</sup> was in 1845 (Evjen and Hansen 2008, p. 29).

Through studies of examples from the census, it is possible to map how these questions were solved in the areas I have studied. I believe that how the Saami were included in the census may reflect the attitude of the priest and his helpers when it comes to the Saami, since there were no instructions as to how to do conduct the process, nor slots in the forms for the Saami. A description of how this influenced the census and an attempt to understand the background will contribute to a sensible use of the census as a source for South Saami history.

Before considering actual examples, it is also important to envisage the practical questions faced by the priests and their helpers. Their solutions might be purely pragmatic. They had their forms and their instructions as a frame. They also most likely had a perception of the Saami's place in their society. Then came their knowledge about their local society. They had to combine all this when carrying out the practical census work. How could they place nomadic or semi-nomadic Saami within the frame of a 'farm'? They did not fit into this category. What about sedentary Saami smallholders or servants? The term ethnicity was not invented, so how could they be identified? Would they use the terms *lap* or *fin*? Would they consider omitting the Saami altogether? Did they think that ethnonyms were redundant for some Saami?

### *4.2.3 The Church Registers*

The church registers assist the interpretation of the treatment of the Saami population in the 1801 census. Throughout the 1700s, Norwegian priests kept church registers,

<sup>4</sup>The discussion of land rights, or ownership, is left out in this context.

<sup>5</sup>Kongelig reskript ang. en almindelig Folketælling (…) 28 November, 1800. In Fogtman, Laurits (1802): Kongelige Rescripter, Resolutioner og Collegialbreve for Danmark og Norge, København, Gyldendal pp. 804–816. Retrieved 28 November, 2017 at https://www.nb.no/items/ 50496d1c53c4755b0287ffd724e56c4f?page=823&searchText=fogtman.

<sup>6&</sup>quot;Kven" refers to the originally Finnish speaking minority of Northern-Norway.

which was in accordance with government instructions. Even though there was variation between priests and parishes and there were no printed registers, these registers include a host of personal information on baptism, weddings and so on.

The church registers make it possible to study individuals over years and areas. Even though there were no instructions to register the Saami, the priests wrote ethnonyms next to names. However, close study of the registers shows that this was not done in a systematic manner. As opposed to the 1801 census, there was variation in the use of ethnonyms (lap, fin and combinations). Priests did things differently and unsystematically, but were probably influenced by both official and local concepts. The result was that persons could be labelled fin or lap in one place or at one time, and not in another. Sedentary life most often led the priest to omit the ethnonym. In other words, the ethnonyms in the church registers were not only ethnonyms but also markers of economic adaptation (Hermanstrand 2014). This totally undermines the assumption of the Saami always being reflected in sources, for example, by ethnonyms.

As a tool for understanding the census, the church registers allow the researcher to check a variety of factors, such as if the priest knew of a Saami population. Alternatively, were there people in the census, but not in the registers, and vice versa? It is in this fashion that I have used the church registers here when the census lacks or has very few registered Saami.

### *4.2.4 Vefsn*

Vefsn was a parish that encompassed the southeastern part of present-day Nordland County. Still today, Vefsn is one of the more central South Saami areas. In the first part of the 1700s, most of it was also a missionary district in the fight against Saami religion. Therefore, it is to be expected that the census included the Saami.

And so it does. The remarkable thing is how it does. The Saami population was placed at the end of the census, literally speaking.<sup>7</sup> For the Norwegian population, the census follows the order of farm settlements. The Saami are at the end, after the Norwegian farms, under the heading *Hatfieldals og Bøygdens Lapper*. Therefore, it is generally worth paying attention to where the Saami are placed in the census.

*Hatfieldal* was a part of Vefsn, and judging from the census, the people placed under this heading were probably nomadic reindeer herders, but not only from the area of Hatfieldal. I find it reasonable that they were put under this heading because they were associated with mountains or mountain areas. Apart from that, the lists are similar to the others. However, I find it doubtful that these people were in these areas in February 1801. At that time of the year, reindeer herders would normally have been further east, or west, seeking winter pastures, i.e. they were probably not where the census put them. A thorough examination of this falls outside the scope of

<sup>7</sup>RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1824P Vefsn prestegjeld, 1801, pp. 103b–104a. Retrieved 2 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090807310297.

this chapter, but a check with Swedish church registers shows that this is very likely. The nomadic reindeer herders of Vefsn would head eastwards following the Ume River. Thus, they would seek clerical services within Lycksele parish. There is, for example, a list of Norwegian Lapps (*Norrska Lappar*) for the period 1790–1824 in Lycksele parish registers, and several names and families are recognizable from the Norwegian census' headings *Tuftervasfieldet* or *Krutfieldet*. The dates for communion in Lycksele in the 1790s correspond to the time of winter grazing (e.g. March).8 Even though the year 1801 is hard to find, the repetitive yearly cycle of the reindeer herders makes it very likely that most of them were not where the Norwegian 1801 census put them.

*Bøygdens* refers to the Saami living sedentarily near or in the Norwegian settlement areas or farms. Following the logic of the order of the census pertaining to Norwegians, they should have been placed in connection to the farm where they geographically belonged. Instead, they were placed in the end, after the nomadic reindeer herders. The sedentary Saami seem to have been deliberately sorted out according to another line of thought than the one used for the Norwegian population. Being placed after the reindeer herders, I believe this strengthens the validity of the assumption that the placement at the end of the census was not the result of a pragmatic approach.

### *4.2.5 Alstahaug*

Alstahaug was a coastal parish to the west of Vefsn. Even though outside the old missionary districts, the area has clearly been within the Saami settlement area from times of old. The Saami are not singled out and put at the end in the 1801 census for Alstahaug, but are found throughout the census in the households or on the farms where they belonged. They are, however, identified by the ethnonym *Lap* after their surname, for example, as is the case for Anders Sjursen and Pernille Hansdatter at the Hestad farm.<sup>9</sup> Only in a few cases was the ethnonym written in the column for title or profession.

Obviously, the Saami of Alstahaug were included in the census in a different way than that of Vefsn, but there was a need to identify Saami in Alstahaug as well. It is noteworthy that the Alstahaug Saami seem to have been few and sedentary. No nomadic Saami were registered, which is surprising. Alstahaug has well-known reindeer winter pastures, and it would also be expected to find reindeer herders staying within Alstahaug all year round. Therefore, I suspect that a non-sedentary Saami population of Alstadhaug was not included in the census. There are indications

<sup>8</sup>Riksarkivet Sweden, Lycksele kyrkoarkiv, husförhörslängder 1790–1824 (SE/HLA/1010118/A I/5). Retrieved 26 March, 2018 at https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0034135\_00097?c=0& m=0&s=0&cv=0#?cv=96&z=-450.9444%2C-15.6516%2C4408.8889%2C2511.3031.

<sup>9</sup>RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1820P Alstahaug prestegjeld, 1801, pp. 125b–126a. Retrieved 2 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090807310318.

from church registers that there were Saami who were not included in the census, even though they were in the area, for example, the servant Magnild Andersdatter who gave birth to a girl out of wedlock in March 1802. The father was a young boy, and the child must have been conceived in mid-1801. Furthermore, the church register states that this was her second liaison out of wedlock. The first one had been with a man from one of the central farms in the parish. Thus, she most likely was in the parish when the census was made, and she was well known. I cannot find her in the census.10 Another example is Randi Pedersdatter Sjaaberget. She was buried in July 1801, but I cannot find her in the census either.11

### *4.2.6 Brønnøy*

Brønnøy parish is to the west of Vefsn and south of Alstahaug. Traces of old Saami history can be found in the area through toponyms dating back to Medieval times (Bergsland 1994, p. 202), as well as historical sources such as information about the Saami boycott of clerical services in 1734.12 Therefore, it is remarkable to find that the 1801 census does not include any identifiable Saami.<sup>13</sup>

The church registers can tell a different story. It is evident that the priests knew of a Saami population, sedentary and nomadic, that they just did not include in the census (e.g. Hermanstrand 2008, pp. 82–83). A particularly interesting example is the couple Sari Jørgensen and Malena Pedersdatter. In Easter 1801, they baptized their youngest child, Bendict, in Vassås in Brønnøy. Bendict was written as 'Lappebarn' (Lap child), and his mother as 'Lape quinde' (Lap woman), so evidently there was no doubt about their ethnicity.14 This is just a short time after the census, and they had baptized several children in the same church over the years before and used various areas and churches in the parish during their seasonal migrations. They are not included in the census. However, they are mentioned in Overhalla (see below) without children.

<sup>10</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim), Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbøker og fødselsregistre—Nordland, 830/L0444: Ministerialbok nr. 830A08, 1801–1819, p. 4. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb20050427020249.

<sup>11</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim), Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbøker og fødselsregistre—Nordland, 830/L0444: Ministerialbok nr. 830A08, 1801–1819, p. 2. Retrieved 2 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb20050427020247.

<sup>12</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim), Trondhjems biskops visitatsprotokoll 1732–1770, Visitas i Brønø 1734.

<sup>13</sup>RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1814P Brønnøy prestegjeld, 1801, pp. 753b–754a. Retrieved 2 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090807310178.

<sup>14</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim), Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbøker og fødselsregistre—Nordland, 810/L0137: Ministerialbok nr. 810A01, 1752–1817, p. 143. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb20071002630236.

### *4.2.7 Nærøy*

South of Brønnøy and in present-day Trøndelag was the parish of Nærøy. Much of the same is to be said for Nærøy as for Brønnøy when it comes to older Saami history. Additionally, it is important to note that one of the most important sources of old Saami religion, the *Nærøymanuskript*, was written there in the 1720s. However, there are no identifiable Saami in the 1801 census for Nærøy either.<sup>15</sup>

Nærøy is one of the parishes I have studied in greater detail, and through the church registers it is clear that quite a number of Saami families lived in the area but were not included in the census. Moreover, there are some examples of Saami who are included but not identified in the census (Hermanstrand 2008, pp. 79–87, Hermanstrand 2014).

### *4.2.8 Overhalla*

To the east of Nærøy and south of Vefsn was the parish of Overhalla. This was a missionary district from the 1700s just as Vefsn. Covering interior regions of Trøndelag, it is a central Saami area today as well.

The 1801 census for Overhalla resembles that of Vefsn. The Saami are placed at the end. Instead of the name of the community (*bygd*), the expression *Lapperne i Overhalden* (The Lapps of Overhalla) is used.16 As in Vefsn, the Saami are associated with mountains or mountain areas where they probably did not live at the time of the census. Known migratory patterns for reindeer herders suggest that they were in Sweden or on the Norwegian coast.

Furthermore, there are other factual errors. Some Saami who were included were not in Overhalla but in Brønnøy (Sari Jørgensen and Malena Pedersdatter), where they were not registered at all. However, in a missionary register from 1789, they are registered in the same way as in the lists of the 1801 census.<sup>17</sup> I have a strong suspicion that the 1789 register was used to obtain or check information for the 1801 census. The registration of Sari Jørgensen and Malena Pedersdatter here cannot be well explained unless this is the case. In other words, the census was not always carried out as prescribed.

As with Nærøy, I have studied Overhalla in detail, and it seems that there was a sedentary or semi-sedentary Saami population that was not included. Mission-

<sup>15</sup>RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1751P Nærøy prestegjeld, 1801, pp. 679b–680a. Retrieved 2 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090807310104. 16RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1744P Overhalla prestegjeld, 1801,

pp. 646b–647a. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090807310070. 17SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim): *Opteignelse på de finner som sig opholder i Over-*

*haldens Præestegield* (…) *1789*, Nidaros biskop, pakke nr. 55.

ary registers of 178218 and 1789 include several Saami households and individuals labelled *I Bøygden* (or similarly), which translates to *In the community*, <sup>19</sup> i.e. there were Saami who were more or less sedentary. In the 1801 census, no households are labelled like this, even though individuals are. I find it unlikely that these individuals or similar households had disappeared between 1789 and 1801, and I suspect that they were either omitted or included as Norwegians.

### *4.2.9 Snåsa*

Southeast of Overhalla was Snåsa parish, again a missionary district from the 1700s. Bearing Vefsn and Overhalla in mind, a reasonable assumption would be to find the Saami at the end of the census for that parish. On the contrary, there are no identifiable Saami at all in the 1801 census for Snåsa.20

Again, judging from knowledge about pastures and the yearly cycles of the reindeer herders, it would be reasonable to assume that the area was used as winter pasture at the time of the census. If the pattern from Vefsn and Overhalla had been followed, several Saami in the eastern parts of Snåsa should have been associated with certain mountain areas, even though they probably were in Sweden for the winter.

A check with the church register for Snåsa confirms that the clergy knew of the Saami, and had, for example, performed three burials in 1800 and 1801. Among them were a 5-year-old child and an 80-year-old woman.<sup>21</sup> They died in June and May 1801, and therefore should have been in the census, but are not. Moreover, by piecing together family histories as well as information from other sources, it is clear that the Saami were excluded from the census in Snåsa (Hermanstrand and Kosmo 2009, pp. 92–93).

### *4.2.10 The 1801 Census Summarized*

My study shows that the 1801 census does not reflect the Saami population of the area. It is clear that even though there are several examples of inclusion of the

<sup>18</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim): *Opteignelse på de finner som sig opholder i Overhaldens Præestegield* (…) *1782*, Nidaros biskop, pakke nr. 55.

<sup>19</sup>*Bøygden* (*bygden* in modern writing) is hard to translate into English. It refers to a social and geographical entity of Norwegian rural settlement, but since farms rarely form clusters of settlements, *village* does not reflect the actual situation.

<sup>20</sup>RA (The National Archives), Folketelling 1801 for 1736P Snåsa prestegjeld, 1801, pp. 548b–549a. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/ft20090806360766.

<sup>21</sup>SAT (Regional State Archives in Trondheim), Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbøker og fødselsregistre—Nord-Trøndelag, 749/L0468: Ministerialbok nr. 749A02, 1787–1817, pp. 442–443. Retrieved 1 November, 2017 at https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb20070928610593.

Saami population, there are several flaws and challenges connected to the census as a historical source.

The clergy performed the census. They undoubtedly knew of a Saami population in the area of study, even though they probably lacked any intimate knowledge of the people. The census offered no instructions as how to deal with different ethnic groups or nationalities, and the forms were ill-adapted to register the totality of the Saami population. The clergy then chose different strategies as to how to include the Saami.

There are examples of factual errors connected to the Saami population in the census. The nomadic Saami were likely not in the places the census has registered them in. Even in the places where a Saami population was registered, there are omissions. In several parishes, there was quite a large Saami population, but it was not mentioned in the census at all. There are also examples of Saami in the census without any ethnic markers, i.e. they were included as Norwegians.

### **4.3 Discussion**

First, I think my study of the Saami in the 1801 census undermines two of the important foundations of the hypothesis of late Saami immigration into South Saami areas. My study clearly shows the invalidity of the assumption that a lack of sources mentioning the Saami is equivalent to a lack of Saami presence. My study also shows the fallibility of the assumption that Saami were always connected to ethnonyms in written sources. These two assumptions were grounds on which the hypothesis of late Saami immigration into South Saami areas was based.

Furthermore, this also shows that the problem of sources is not only a problem of lack of sources but also a problem of theory and methodology. When sources like a census, or church registers for that matter, do not directly reflect a Saami population, how can that be understood? The census' variable inclusion of the Saami population can be reasonably connected to the lack of clear instructions on how to conduct it. Thus, the census reflects how the clerics performed their task according to their own judgement or attitude.

First, the census, its forms and instructions were not adapted to include a Saami population. The state and its tools reflected the agricultural ethnic Danish and Norwegian way of life as the norm. However, the bureaucracy and the clerics had knowledge about the Saami. This was knowledge that was perhaps limited or erroneous, judging from the errors found in the census, but they were at least aware of this ethnic group. Obviously, the clerics had to actively find ways to process their presence in connection with the census. I think it is a valid assumption that the variety of ways the Saami are registered and identified reflects the attitudes of the priests and their assistants when it comes to the Saami group. This in turn reflects the attitudes on the local and national levels, and it could be argued, also the contemporary international attitudes about 'the Other'. However, and perhaps surprisingly, the census thus reflects the fact that the Saami were an ethnic group and a people even though the officials could not quite label them.

The most radical way of dealing with the Saami population was to exclude it altogether. I interpret this as an expression of an attitude that did not see the Saami as belonging to the population of the kingdom. Therefore, it was a natural conclusion to leave them out of the census. The otherness was complete. It is almost impossible, though, to be sure that all Saami were excluded, for example, in Snåsa, because another possibility was to include those Saami with quite a Norwegian-like lifestyle in the census like everyone else in the kingdom's population. The individuals were included with no ethnonyms at all, i.e. they can only be identified in the census through comparison with other sources on an individual level. However, this tells us about a major ethnic marker. If your livelihood and lifestyle did not differ or stand out, you belonged.

A less inclusive way of covering the Saami was to include Saami with a Norwegian-like lifestyle in the census alongside everyone else within the frames of the census, but with the ethnic marker *lap* connected to the person in question. This again does not exclude that others were excluded or included without ethnonyms. I interpret this to mean that even though your livelihood or lifestyle did not stand out that much and you belonged in a wider society, other factors confirmed the individuals as different, for example, ancestry or language. In other words, ethnicity played a role.

Then comes the solution from Overhalla and Vefsn. The Lapps were put at the end. This could of course be a pragmatic solution, but if so, why were they not placed in the beginning? Most probably, these Saami were reindeer herders or closely connected to the reindeer economy. The geographical areas they were ascribed to were mountains rather than farms but did not reflect the total area they would have used for seasonal herding, for example, closer to the Norwegian farms or in Sweden. The herders were probably not in those areas at the time of the census, and there were errors in the registration. Thus, this group of Saami was placed well outside the communities of the Norwegian settlements. They were placed in the 'wilderness', and associated with the missionary efforts of the 1700s, as illustrated by the fact that the missionary registers were probably used to complete the census of Overhalla. At the end of the end, so to speak, came other Saami considered 'Lapp-ish'. In Overhalla, this meant a number of unmarried individuals and widows who worked on Norwegian farms and in communities. They could have been placed in the ordinary census lists for the farm they worked on but were placed at the end of the census' list of Lapps. In Vefsn, this meant a list of crofters and servants who lived more like Norwegians and who could have been in the ordinary census lists for the farm where they belonged. I interpret the lists from Overhalla and Vefsn as an expression of a clear dichotomy the clerics perceived between the Saami and the rest of the population, and an expression of the dichotomy they perceived between the non-reindeer herders and the reindeer herders, as well as the Norwegians. To place more or less sedentary Saami after the reindeer herders could be understood as an expression of a judgement about some Saami being more Saami than others, or rather more *lap* than others, to use the contemporary term.

I believe that this identification of the Saami provides the opportunity to study a step in the process of how this identification developed. The contemporary concepts were *fin(d)* and lapp. It is also clear that missionaries and officials tended to differentiate between fin(d)s and lapps, and they had more interest vested in the religious life of and sovereignty over the lapps. That term became more and more connected to reindeer herders. In some sources, the distinction between the reindeer herders and the others is made quite explicitly. The Lappecodicill of 1751 also vested certain rights with lapps, not fin(d)s. The word *fin(d)* is not used in the Lappecodicill. I suggest that the census itself played an important part in defining ethnicity and must be interpreted accordingly. A census can be connected to the development and the conceptualization of the national state (Soltvedt 2004a, pp. 11–12). I understand the 1801 census as a source that in its making was part of a process of ethnic identification and part of a colonial process, where it is an expression of the process of identification, exclusion and inclusion of the Saami by others.

According to modern standards, there are certain criteria for censuses. If these are not met, there is an agreement that a certain statistical material does not meet the standards of a census. For example, a census should be complete, encompass a defined area and be carried out by an efficient apparatus with support in laws and government (Soltvedt 2004a, p. 6). I doubt that the Norwegian 1801 census meets the modern standards of a census for the Saami population. I find it hard to say it is complete in the sense that we can be sure that every Saami individual has been included. It encompasses a defined area, but not a defined area from a Saami point of view. The apparatus that conducted it had its support in government, but was it efficient when it came to the Saami population? Perhaps, the census has to be treated in another way as a historical source for Saami history, i.e. not as a census? This points to the need for a much more complex methodology when non-Saami sources are to be used for (South-)Saami history.

### **Bibliography**


Haarstad, K. 1992. *Sørsamisk historie*. Trondheim: Tapir.


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### **Chapter 5 The Meaning of Words and the Power of Silence**

**Erik Norberg**

**Abstract** This chapter calls for a dialogue on Saami history with a higher degree of cooperation between archaeologists and historians than what has been the case up to now, which is necessary if we are to trying to understand the gaps in time. Today there is a gap between Saami history produced according to written sources and Saami history based on archaeological material. This only increases the already asymmetric relations for the Saami and keeps teachers, politicians and other people in the majority societies in the dark when it comes to the long lines of Saami history on the Scandinavian Peninsula, what I call a power of silence. This silence makes or contributes to keeping old myths about Saami history from the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries alive in the majority society today. The aim of this chapter is to look across national borders to provide a brief summary of history based on what we (think we) know and have discussed as important for the understanding of the South Saami's prehistory from 4000 BC to 1000 AD. Another aim is to reflect on different strategies and interactions between Saami societies and agricultural communities.

**Iktedimmie** Daate tjaalege akten digkiedæmman haasta saemien histovrijen bïjre aktine sagke stuerebe laavenjostojne arkeologi jïh histovrihkeri gaskem goh lea daan raajan orreme, naakede mij lea daerpies jis edtjebe pryövedh joekehtsem guarkedh nuekie varke. Daan biejjien akte joekehtse gaskem dam saemien histovrijem man våarome lea doh tjaaleldh gaaltijh jïh saemien histovrijem man våarome lea dïhte arkeologeles materijaale. Daate ajve lissehte doh ij loktes tsiehkieh saemide, jïh lohkehtæjjah, politihkerh jïh jeatjah almetjh dejnie jeanatjommes siebriedahkine jemhkielisnie hööltie gosse lea dan guhkies saemien histovrijen bïjre skandinavijen njaarkesne, naakede maam manne gohtjem akte straejmie sjeavohthvoeteste. Daan sjeavohthvoeten gaavhtan dle båeries mytah saemien histovrijen bïjre luhkieåktseden jïh tjuateden jaepietjuetien minngiemossen raejeste åadtjoeh jåerhkedh jieledh jienebelåhkoen siebriedahkesne daan biejjien. Ulmie daejnie tjaaleginie lea laanter-

© The Author(s) 2019

E. Norberg (B)

Saemien Sijte—South Saami Museum and Cultural Centre, Snåsa, Norway e-mail: erik.norberg@saemiensijte.no

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_5

aastaj dåaresth vuartasjidh, juktie åenehks iktedimmiem vedtedh histovrijistie dan bïjre mijjieh (vïenhtebe) jaehkebe jïh libie digkiedamme goh vihkeles jis edtja åarjelsaemien åvtehistovrijem guarkedh 4000 Kr. å. raejeste 1000 Kr. M. raajan. Akte jeatjah ulmie lea ussjedadtedh ovmessie strategiji jïh ektiedahkoej bijjeli saemien siebriedahken jïh laanteburriesiebriedahken gaskem.

### **5.1 Introduction and Background**

Written records alone do not provide a wide historical perspective nor do they deepen our understanding of how the indigenous, circumpolar cultures have evolved. This too is true for the history of the Saami society. There are few written sources and, until recently, they were mainly produced by non-Saami authors. For this reason, Saami history is only partially found in traditional archives. Their history is instead, to some degree, preserved in other sources, such as archaeological and paleobotanic records, oral traditions, in understanding the landscape and by studying the actions of other relevant figures in Saami areas. By placing the different sources into a context, including the actions, reactions and interactions of neighbouring communities, interesting possibilities for discussing and understanding historical relations and how they evolve over time appear.

As Damm and Forsberg (2014, p. 838) have pointed out, the prehistory, and I would also add, the history of Fennoscandia is unique in many respects. In this geographical area, a hunting, fishing and gathering economy and culture survived into the twentieth century, side by side with the northernmost farming economies for nearly 6000 years. For us today, this offers interesting possibilities for studying social relations and interactions, social change and strategies over time. The way of life and the economy largely form people's identities. Changes in the way of life for a group, or for that matter perhaps only for a part of the group, will affect their identity, customs and use within one or several generations. This way of life occurs as a consequence of reorganizations that are implemented when the group adapts to a new way of life. The exchange of material, or cultural loans, does not have the same degree of influence on a group's identity, at least as long as the exchange does not affect the way of life and social relations within the group. In 1997, Inger Zachrisson presented results from the interdisciplinary 'South Saami Project' in her book 'Encounters in Border Country' (*Möten i gränsland*). This work was of great importance for the coming generation of archaeologists and others interested in South Saami history. Since then, several Ph.D. dissertations focusing on the southern areas with Saami settlements have been written in Norway, for example, Bergstøl (2008) and Gerde (2016), and also one Ph.D. dissertation focusing on the hunting and gathering societies in southern Norway from the Neolithic to the pre-Roman Iron Age (Amundsen 2011). They have all critically challenged much of the earlier archaeological research and written history and have contributed to a new discussion on Saami history and prehistory in the southern part of Scandinavia. In 2004, Lars Ivar Hansen and Bjørnar Olsen published their book entitled *Samernas* *historie fram til 1750* ('The history of the Saami up to 1750'). This is one of the few books collaboratively written by a historian and an archaeologist about Saami history and prehistory. It is an important work because the interdisciplinary use of material concerning Saami history creates a bridge for understanding the development of Saami history and prehistory. Another interesting example of contributions that have been made comes from Carl-Gösta Ojala and his studies of Saami prehistory from a research historical perspective and a contemporary political perspective (2009).

One of the aims of this paper is to encourage a dialogue on Saami history with cooperation between archaeologists and historians, and to encourage the discussion of each other's results on a broader scale. Another aim is to encourage work across national borders so we can gain a better understanding of Saami history and prehistory. A third aim is to enhance reflection on common strategies and interactions between Saami societies and agricultural communities.

### **5.2 The Mindset**

Interpretations are not possible before they have already started, and to some degree, some generalization is necessary to be able to understand societies. Researchers are schooled in critical thinking but also into a system with theoretical boundaries. These are often invisible and difficult to even identify as being present in any given situation. There seems to be some form of an unprecedented agreement about the definition of useful source material and what perspectives, issues or angles are relevant, recognized or even permitted. Some of these unspoken boundaries are constituted by research results that are so well established that few reflect over them. This is the way it is, this is the way we do it, this is the point where we have to start asking 'new' questions and this is our source material. However, it is easier to think without reflecting, following an established structure based on the educational system. If we are to produce new research interest, this contradiction must be resolved. The most common strategies are to find new source material, ask new questions for a particular source material and/or dig deeper than anyone else has done before and analyse small details. Another alternative is to try to identify the established boundaries, identify weak points in these boundaries and try to shake, move or break through them and make ourselves and others aware of them by problematizing them. Since the end of the 1990s, postcolonial theories and indigenous methodology have been used by some researchers as tools to see through existing frameworks when it comes to understanding conditions in minority communities and the already written history about them (Porsanger 2004, pp. 106–107). While I am probably influenced by these theories, I am not that deeply familiar with them.

### **5.3 Early Drafts in Saami History**

Three main questions have been focused on by archaeologists working with Saami prehistory: When did the Saami come to Scandinavia? How far back in history and prehistory can the Saami as an ethnic group be traced? And when did the Saami start herding reindeer? The second and third questions are considered closely related to each other. Today, many archaeologists share the opinion that Saami identity is the result of a process that took place in Fennoscandia during the second or first millennia BC (Forsberg 1996 p. 166; Hansen and Olsen 2006). In other words, the Saami people and the Saami identity are results of events that took place within this geographic area over an extended period of time.

Archaeology's strength is said to be its ability to study history in a specific geographic area over long periods of time (Hodder 1998 p. 130). Research in a particular area that spans over multiple eras enables a study of social change reflected in material culture. One major difference on the Scandinavian Peninsula that I believe we can see and follow is between the hunter-gatherer and the agrarian communities. The life they lived, with different economies and social strategies, has left different traces in material culture. In the beginning, following the post-glacial era when this area became ice-free, there was only one type of economy throughout the Scandinavian Peninsula for over 6000 years, an economy based on hunting and gathering, with a nomadic lifestyle, allowing movement between different areas and habitats. Around 4000 BC this relationship changed; agriculture and a farming economy started in southern Scandinavian and farming spread relatively quickly up to Uppland in the north, westwards to the coastal areas outside of the Oslofjord and a bit further along the coast (see Fig. 5.1). Agrarian groups in the southern part of the Baltic Sea and in Denmark had already existed for around 1000 years before agriculture appeared in what is known as modern-day southern Sweden and Norway (Persson 1999, p. 165, Welinder et al. 2004, p. 13, 56, Josefsson et al. 2014, p. 821). A number of questions have arisen concerning why the agrarian settlement and expansion paused in northern Denmark and Germany for more than 1000 years before continuing its expansion over to southern Sweden; how could the agrarian settlement expand with such speed until it reached northern Uppland; and finally, why did the agrarian settlement cease to expand there? These questions are still under discussion. One suggestion is that it was a matter of choice and identity as agriculture spread to neighbouring areas at this time (Hallgren 2008, p. 274). Another is that the climate was optimal for starting farming on the southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula at the time. According to this conclusion, the first farmers were immigrants, since they seem to have had knowledge of a complete farming technology and this can also explain their quick expansion into the area. Some of the researchers who see it as a result of immigration argue that both the immigrating farmers and the indigenous population were involved in the creation of the agrarian societies in southern Scandinavia (Sørensen 2014, pp. 263–265). However, the hunting-gathering communities were still in the majority over the peninsula. The fact that they did not turn to agriculture and funnel beaker pottery at this time could also be interpreted or understood as a conscious choice not to do so (Hallgren 2008, p. 274). This view makes it possible to see the area between these two economies as a border between two different ethnic groups. Hallgren (2008 p. 253, 277) also shows that the northern border for agriculture at this time was not necessarily formed or determined by ecological obstacles, since in northeastern Poland there seems to have been a similar border, where agriculture was not adopted or established at this point either. This area in Poland is situated 600 km southeast of the Mälar Valley, in a warmer climate (see Fig. 5.1).

With the exception of growing crops and livestock farming, the farming economy and the farmers lived according to a more hierarchical ideology compared to the hunter-gatherers. The farmers were also more specialized in their production and consumption. One visible trace, indicating that the diet changed in the early Neolithic period, is shown in results of the 13C value from skeletons and ceramic food crusts in the comparison of older and younger material. The 13C value is much higher in human remains and ceramic food crusts from hunter-gatherer settlements during the late Mesolithic than for the early farming settlements from the Neolithic period in the same area. High 13C values seem to come from consuming large quantities of a marine-based diet. Living on a terrestrial-based diet is expressed in a lower value. These values indicate that a change in diet took place during the early Neolithic period when farming also commenced (Persson 1999, pp. 69–70; Sørensen 2014, p. 23).

**Fig. 5.1** Map of northwest Europe with various techno-complexes and economies visible around 4000 BC. 1. Hunter-gatherer area where the colour red is of importance and visible in rock art, tools made of red slate, red ochre in graves and on settlements. 2. Hunter-gatherers with so-called comb ceramics, stone tools produced by the bifacial flaking technique and ember jewellery. 3. Early farming settlements. 4. Other hunter-gatherer groups with ceramic production. The map is based on a number of maps presented in Hallgren (2008, p. 251, 257 and 261)

### **5.4 Neolithic Hunters**

The archaeological material from the hunting and gathering communities during the Neolithic period, 4000–2000 BC, that lived north of the farmers shows local and regional differences between geographic areas. This is both from a material culture and economic perspective, where it can be generalized that from around 4000 BC, coastal communities focused on marine resources, such as fish and seal, and communities located inland focused on the hunting of both big (elk and reindeer) and small (beaver) game. Freshwater fishing was probably of great importance as well. For the inland groups in northern Finland and Norway, reindeer constituted the main prey, while for groups further south, elk constituted their most common big game (Lundberg 1997; Räihälä 1999, p. 205; Pesonen 2002, p. 27). Some of the northeastern societies in the inner part of the Bothnian Bay and along the Kalix and Torne river valleys seem at this time to be a part of an eastern group of hunter-gatherers. They differed from other societies because of the use of comb-ware ceramics, amber and flint objects of eastern origin and a tradition of semi-subterranean houses in smaller or larger villages (see Fig. 5.1 and area No. 2). A significant part of the material culture and the raw material at these sites in the inner part of the Bothnian Bay and along the Kalix and Torne river valleys is otherwise found at this time at settlements further to the east, in the Karelia and Baltic Areas. However, the most western sites that we know of so far with comb-ware ceramics are very rich in their material culture when it comes to these typical eastern objects. The technique for producing stone tools is also different at these sites, indicating that something more than just the exchange of goods was taking place. This material culture formed a distinct border to the west starting around 4500 BC around the Kalix river valley (Baudou 1992, p. 71; Halén 1994; Norberg 2008). The comb-ware ceramic groups had another distinct border from the Alandic archipelago (Sw. Åländska skärgården) to the agrarian groups on the mainland on the Swedish side—Mälardalen (Hallgren 2008, p. 265).

The borders between different hunter-gatherer societies appear to be just as visible in archaeological records as the borders revealing the spread of the first agrarian groups at the same time in southern Sweden and Norway. The southern border for this material culture, the Pit–comb-ware culture/Comb ceramic culture, spans to northeastern Poland. By this time, the hunter-gatherer societies in central and northern Scandinavia were surrounded by farmers in the south and Pit–comb-ware huntergatherers to the east of the Bothnian Bay and for a time also in the northeast around 4000 BC (see Fig. 5.1).

Depending on how many researchers interpret the meaning of material culture and economies, these differences can also be interpreted as different ethnic groups coexisting in prehistoric times (Hallgren 2008). When the differences in material culture suddenly become more prominent after the establishment of agriculture in one area, this is an indication that these different ethnic identities probably already existed earlier. They were perhaps not seen as relevant to point out or emphasize until the social relationships were changed to a considerable degree, which was what might have happened when the farming economy was adopted in the neighbouring areas.

On the Swedish side of the border, in what later became South Saami and forest Saami areas, the beaver and elk largely dominate as prey in the archaeological material from the Neolithic period. The elk is considered to have had a special position and probably also spiritual meaning, and the animal figures are common in the known rock art and on tools, especially tools made of red slate, from this era. The elk, based on this evidence, is interpreted as an animal of great symbolic value (Lundberg 1997 p. 2; Lindgren 2002). Reindeer, bears, snakes, salmon, humans and dogs are also depicted in the rock art but to a lesser degree compared to the elk. The colour red has also been of importance. The painted rock art found in this area is also always red. Red ochre is found on settlements and sometimes in the few known graves. The colour red seems to have been of importance in a symbolic sense (Lundberg 1997, pp. 2, 167–168). Tools made from red slate have been of particular interest to these people, slate is found in many colours, such as grey, black and green, whereas red slate is far scarcer than the other colours. In spite of this, tools of red slate have been used to a much larger degree although being of no better quality than slate of other colours. Red slate is found naturally in some areas upstream of the river Ångermanälven, for example, around the small rivers Sjoutälven and Saxån. Red slate is also found on the coast in one area in Nordingrå and in Skellefteå (Lundberg 1997, pp. 162–163).

The spread of this material in the form of tools made from it covers most nonpottery and non-farming areas in the central and northern parts of Sweden and Norway during the Neolithic period. Bones found in the settlements show that reindeer, beaver, elk, bear, forest birds and different species of fish have been hunted and caught. The most common identified animal in the bone material is, however, the beaver, and the second most common bones are from elk found in and around the winter dwellings (Lundberg 1997, p. 146).

During the third and fourth millennium BC, agriculture continued to spread. From what has been documented through pollen databases, the dispersal appears to be irregular, starting in different places along the coast. Some researchers say that the palynology records do not yet provide knowledge about early adaption of cereal cultivation or how it was spread through northern Fennoscandia, only that it started in coastal areas (Josefsson et al. 2014, p. 8). The northern area for agriculture during the Neolithic period reaches up to Lofoten in Norway and on the east coast up to the areas north of Skellefteå, for example, Bjurselet in Sweden. Here, a short period of agrarian settlement appeared around 2500 BC (Knutsson 1988; Baudou 1992, pp. 71–73). The cultivation appears to be of small-scale and livestock farming may have been more important than the cultivation of crops. Farming along the coast seems to have been spread in two ways, by groups from southern Scandinavia and by inclusion in existing hunter-gatherer communities in the area (Norberg 2008, p. 177; Damm and Forsberg 2014, p. 850). In the northernmost areas in which these early agrarian groups were established, there seems to have been a conflict with the huntergatherers (Knutsson 1988, p. 196, 199). The spread of farming also stopped here, farming does not reach the inner parts of the Gulf of Bothnia until during the late Iron Age or in the early medieval era. In many of the northern areas, the establishment of agriculture also seems to have been short projects to begin with; they were abandoned soon after they started and did not return again until the Bronze or Iron Ages.

After a decline in the agrarian settlement at the end of the Neolithic period all over Scandinavia, when the hunter-gatherers seem to have taken back some lost terrain in southern Scandinavia, the farming economies return with strength during the Bronze Age, 1800 BC–500 BC. The early Bronze Age is associated with religious and social change and also the beginning of what Goldhahn (2017, pp. 10–11) has called the second 'rock art boom'. According to Goldhahn (2017) and other researchers, the new set of figurative rock art articulated a new order of social and cultural hierarchies and a shift in the cult among the farmers, from an earlier cult associated with ancestors, to a cult honouring daily life and the yearly rebirth of the sun. Much of the rock art features maritime and martial themes: key symbols are boats, weapons, sun symbols, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures and '*it has been argued that many rock art images were made before, during, or after maritime and martial affairs*' (Goldhahn 2017, pp. 11–12).

During the Bronze Age, a well-developed network of trading in tin and copper was established over large areas. Tin and copper make up the elements of the alloy bronze, which is seen as an important contributor to the observed social change and lends its name to the era. This alloy seems to have been of great interest since the various regions usually only were rich in one of these two metals. People interested in producing bronze had to travel long distances to obtain the raw material even if there were cultural differences to deal with (Kristiansen and Larsson 2005, p. 5; Goldhahn 2017, p. 12).

One aspect separating the Bronze Age from earlier farming economy periods is probably the degree of organization of the society into different units. Compared to the neighbouring hunter-gatherers in Scandinavia, Bronze Age communities probably had more specialists for different tasks, and leaders for different events. Among hunter-gatherer societies, the common knowledge, or know-how, for all production was usually more widely spread among the members. Leaders here are also known to have been of a more temporary nature and were chosen according to their knowledge and authority in the field, from spiritual knowledge to practical knowledge.

The Bronze Age community is assumed to have been organized into chiefdoms in a hierarchy with formal leaders, priests, officers, warriors, peasants, slaves and so on. The ability to control and coordinate groups and maintain power may have increased significantly during this time. The basis for this is that control over people had been facilitated. There are no longer any alternatives to an agricultural way of living for a majority of the people in most areas. This development ties people to an area and to permanent settlements, making it easier for those who can exercise power to control them. The settlements needed, in turn, protection from rival elites so the farmers fed and were being led by chiefs and warriors. During this period, farmers might have become more ideologically and subconsciously bound to agriculture and livestock farming since it was widely practised for generations, and they can, therefore, have seen this farming as the best or only way of living. This suggests that alternatives, such as hunting and fishing, may have lost status and value, perhaps seen as something not for them, or something that belonged only to the elite (the hunting) and fishing was seen as something exercised only by poor people without land or alternatives. The alternatives to farming were also most visible for people living in the border areas, which probably undermined the ability to see through the existing regime and ideology for a majority of the people. For a deeper presentation of ideology and how it works in more or less complex societies, see for example Bourdieu (1999, p. 109) or Giddens (1988, p. 187).

Communications and contact probably also improved during the Bronze Age and accelerated through the use of horses and through increased shipping, beneficial to the Bronze Age elite and their control over people, production and resources. Improved communications might also have helped to speed up the 'growth of the economy' and increased the ability to build up bigger army units than earlier. The Indo-European languages have been assumed to have spread over northern Europe by around 2800 BC, or even earlier with the first farmers (Burenhult 1999, p. 145). The spread of the Indo-European languages might have made communications between different groups easier and beneficial for trade transactions. Perhaps some of the trade was more standardized and faster. Trade might also have lost a part of its former meaning in the creation of alliances in some areas, which is assumed to have been a major part of the reason for the exchange of goods before. A number of researchers consider the development of the chiefdom and agrarian societies on the European continent during the Bronze Age, to be one of the greatest social changes documented in relation to prehistoric time. It manifests itself materially in the archaeological record through standardized bronze ornamental objects showing gender, status and ethnicity (Goldhahn 2013, pp. 250–251). In the symbolic language and import of goods, large groups turn to a similar understanding of the world and a material culture that exists in the Mediterranean area simultaneously. It is also to a high degree believed that the Bronze Age elite in Scandinavia was involved and also dependent on trade and on other forms of exchanges with the Mediterranean areas in order to maintain power and prestige at home (Kristiansen and Larsson, 2005, p. 17). When the exchange of bronze finally ceases and is replaced by locally produced iron, the construction of mega structures like large burial monuments also ends temporarily. The long-term exchange of other goods also seems to decrease for a while or no longer leaves the same impression in the archaeological material.

In Sweden, Norway and Finland, the agrarian Bronze Age settlement with this cultural concept has been traced to the coast in the northern areas. There are only a few known two- and three-axle long houses in northern Norway and Sweden, but they are found up to Troms and Umeå in Västerbotten (Arntzen 2015; Lindqvist and Granholm 2016). The southern Scandinavian building tradition indicates a high degree of identification with the southern areas among these groups. Concentrations of Bronze Age graves, cairns, are found regularly along the coast and up to Jävre parish in Västerbotten. In Finland, this type of settlement seems to reach up to the Pyhäjoki River according to the finds of burial cairns from the period (Okkonen 2003 p. 241; Holmblad 2010, pp. 152–153). In Norway, they reach at least up to Harstad in Troms (Andreassen 2002, p. 96).

The tradition of Bronze Age cairns has been connected with a southern Scandinavian influence along the northern coast. However, questions have been raised as to whether they are of southern Scandinavian origin or not, since it is not possible to say that the cairns tradition is older in the south compared to the tradition in the north (see for example Damm and Forsberg 2014, p. 846; Ramqvist 2017, pp. 107–108). There is, however, a clear connection with farming societies and these graves at some of the sites. In Finnmark and in the inner part of the Gulf of Bothnia, between the Piteälven and Pyhäjoki Rivers, these types of graves and farming settlements do not seem to have existed during the Bronze Age (Norberg 2008, p. 139, 165, 174). In the interior on the Scandinavian Peninsula, these settlements and burial cairns are unusual or seem to be non-existent north of Örebro County, in the interior of Gävleborg and Dalarna Counties in Sweden and in lager parts of the interior of Norway, such as Hedmark and the interior of Trøndelag. The border zone for the settlements seems generally to be about the same in many areas with respect to how the farming settlements had expanded during the middle and late Neolithic era.

### **5.5 The Need for a Saami Identity**

The Bronze Age also marks what is considered, from the general perspective of archaeologists and linguists, the beginning of what is to become Saami culture and language. The Proto-Saami and Proto-Indo-European languages may, at least initially, have been connected to the two economies and ways of living in Scandinavia as well as to the many alliances that existed and that had developed over time. The development of a Saami identity was probably also connected to the social strategies concerning how the interaction with the farmers was organized.

According to Barth's (1969, p. 19) theory and research, these cultural differences will to a large degree be communicated along the borders between different ethnic groups. However, if the group occupied distinct niches with low competition for resources over time, which probably was very much the case here in Scandinavia, Barth (1969, p. 19) suggests that the articulation would mainly be through trade and in the ceremonial-ritual sector. Some of this may have occurred unconsciously from whatever type of relations there were with the farmers. This might be due to their being neighbours during times of peace and conflict and during periods of trust and mistrust. A more formalized ideology that promoted a certain way of living as hunter-gatherers may have been rooted in this interaction since lifestyle is a very important cohesive element for building identity, according to many researchers (see, for example, Giddens 1988, p. 179, 187; Bourdieu 1991, p. 20). To survive as a culture, must there not be benefits, practical and perhaps theoretical that promote and encourage a certain way of living? Perhaps external forces and interests also helped to maintain this way of living?

As seen further south, all hunter-gatherer societies north of the Alps up to the Scandinavian Peninsula, were, by the Bronze Age, long gone from the landscape. In Scandinavia, they remained up to historic times and to some degree even into the present time. In the end, hunter-gatherers ended up as a part of the Saami society where reindeer herding, small-scale farming, handicrafts, fishing or a combination of these ways of living are somewhat more familiar to the surrounding societies today (Marek 1992, p. 42).

How were the relationships between different ethnic groups in Fennoscandia during prehistoric times? The answer to this question probably differs according to time and place. Some researchers, for example, as Sognnes (2005, p. 11), argue that during the Bronze Age, the Trøndelag region might have been a border area between hunter-gatherers and Bronze Age farmers. Sognnes suggests that an intense competition for the land and the social interaction in the Trøndelag region may have resulted in the creation of two different groups and that a Saami identity developed earlier in this area compared to the areas to the north and east of Trøndelag (Sognnes 2005, p. 105).

Traces of what can be interpreted as conflicts during the Bronze Age in the Trøndelag region have been found in the form of the rock carvings at Bardal in Nord-Trøndelag with hunter-gatherer motifs having been carved over by farming or agricultural carvings typical of the Bronze Age (Fig. 5.2). This can be interpreted as a symbolic action suggesting that the area became inhabited by a new group. Another example from what clearly appears to be the outcome of conflict is a site in Sund from the early Bronze Age. In 1967 and 1968, a large number of human and animal skeletal remains were discovered in the gravel immediately below the humus and topsoil in Sund on the inlet to Borgenfjorden. This appears to have been some sort of mass grave, and possibly some sort of sacrifice to the gods for victory over the defeated. The skeletal remains were grouped in a number of piles, where the human bones had been placed in no particular anatomic order (Farbregd et al. 1974). The number of individuals may have been higher since the find was made close to an actively worked gravel pit. Analyses showed that between 22 and 30 individuals, men, women and children had been killed and placed together. Half of the remains belonged to children. The distribution of age among the dead is similar to what one could expect in a small community of two or three families (Fyllingen 2003, p. 27, 29). Traces of violence on the preserved skeletons indicated that they had been cut and stabbed to death (Sognnes 2005, p. 101) and the massacre probably took part somewhere between 1250 and 930 BC according to 14C-dating of the skeletons (Fyllingen 2003, p. 38 Table 4).

Further analysis of the remains of the victims from the Sund massacre identify them as belonging to a Bronze Age farming community, and they showed no signs of having consumed any larger quantities of food from the sea, although they lived next to it. They suffered from vitamin D deficiency and their bones bore traces of repeated periods of starvation (Fyllingen 2003, p. 33). Half of them also had evidence of old healed defensive injuries on their arms, suggesting that these people had experienced severe violence long before the massacre took place.

The overall impression resulting from the analysis was a society in distress. State of health was not good. In addition, at Sund (and Kråkerøy) there was evidence of violent trauma—both before death and healed (antemortem) and at the time of death (perimortem). (Fyllingen 2003, p. 31)

**Fig. 5.2** Part of the rock carving field at Bardal in Nord-Trøndelag with a hunter-gatherer motif (large wild animals, yellow) which has been carved over by typical farming carvings (boats, footprints, domesticated animals, etc., red). Photo by Erik Norberg

Signs of rickets, a result of vitamin D deficiency, lack of fish oil, animal fat and ultraviolet light, have been discovered from Nordland in the north to Østfold in the southeast. Fyllingen (2003, p. 33), therefore, interpreted this as a result of nutritional deficiency caused by restricted access to various types of food. Despite the nearby marine resources, it is possible that some groups, for cultural or other reasons, did not consume seafood or that seafood was a very small part of their diet. The skeletons from Sund and the older graves at Tonnes-Holan, not far from Sund, show a similar lack of vitamin D and also repeated periods of starvation (Fyllingen 2003, p. 33).

There are few clues that can help us to ascertain who is responsible for the Sund massacre. Perhaps there might have been a conflict between two farming communities. The type of cut marks on the victims was caused by swords, axes or lances, indicating face-to-face combat (Fyllingen 2003, p. 36). There are also no signs of bow and arrows being used. The use of swords, however, indicates that another farming community might have been involved in the attack, as swords are seldom found in hunter-gatherer contexts at any time in history or prehistory.

The example above illustrates the occurrence of conflicts and social stress in these agrarian societies. Conflicts like these have a structuring effect on society, defining a us-and-them mentality, and creating a moral code that keeps the community united (Fyllingen 2003, p. 38). The finds from Sund and other areas indicate, however, that there may have been room for other groups, geographically close but outside of the conflict because they were active in other niches. In this particular case, it was at least theoretically possible to be in this position by being oriented towards marine resources in the area, thus avoiding the competition with the farmers for other resources and/or interests.

The hunter-gatherer communities' reply to the Bronze Age farmer's orientation to the south is interpreted as a number of reorganizations. The settlements during the Bronze Age become more mobile and nomadic compared to Neolithic period, both in the interior and along the shore (Forsberg 1985; Norberg 2008). An increase in the influence from the east on hunter-gatherer societies also seems to have been significant. Metal, in the form of bronze, imported through their eastern contacts, is of great interest and importance to these communities. Skills and knowledge about metal casting were present and are visible through a number of finds of casting moulds from archaeological sites from this time. From the material exchange, it seems like the hunter-gatherers maintained contact with the farming communities, with settlements sometimes located close to each other in coastal areas. Huntergatherer and farming settlements have, however, not been found close to each other in the interior of Scandinavia after 60° north, where it seems that the hunter-gatherer communities have had some advantages over the farming communities, or the interest in farming has been low. One such advantage could have been the fact that crop farming and cattle rearing become more complicated the further north one goes due to the colder climate. The farmers' crops and cattle came from much warmer climate zones originally (see Broadbent 2010, p. 22). The cattle and the grain needed time to adapt to the climate in the north, buildings had to be constructed for the cattle and fields had to be prepared. This may have been the reason behind the low degree of interest in expanding farming to the north and into the interior areas. How attractive farming was at the time as a way of living here, considering practical and ideological reasons, is crucial for understanding how the region developed. However, products coming from the farmers and through their network of contacts might have been of interest, while it is perhaps also possible that the farmers had a greater or similar interest in products supplied by the hunter-gatherers.

When the Bronze Age culture took hold, the farmers' way of living may have been well known to the hunting communities as small-scale farming had been present since the Neolithic period. Profound disapproval may have developed over the extended amount of time the groups coexisted, for example, disliking the subordinating hierarchical structure that existed in these peasant communities. Their own way of living, their alliances with other hunter-gatherers in the east, their social strategies, belief system and philosophy might have been strong and attractive enough for them to keep, value, respect and protect. Together with the topography, landscape, climate and vegetation, they may have considered their way of life not just good, but favourable. This lifestyle may have been the most adaptable to the climate and landscape and also a well-integrated and coordinated way for the residents to understand their world. Material culture from the time shows a large geographical spread of asbestos-ware ceramics, bronze axes, casting moulds and bifacial arrowheads with a straight base in the areas that later in history are partly or totally inhabited by the Saami. The most widespread traditions from among these objects are probably the bifacial arrows with their straight base and the flaking technique behind it (see Fig. 5.3).

**Fig. 5.3** Geographical distribution of three different late Neolithic and early Bronze Age pressureflaked arrowhead traditions (from Apel 2012, p. 157 Fig. 13.1.). 1. Northern tradition with bifacial arrowheads made of local material mainly quartz and quartzite. 2. Central Scandinavian bifacial arrowheads produced from imported flint flakes from southern Scandinavia. 3. Southern tradition, bifacial arrowheads made of local high-quality flint. To the right, arrowhead of the northern tradition type (nr 1.)

### **5.6 Early Written Sources, Linguistics Research and Archaeology**

In his book 'Germania', Tacitus, a Roman senator and historian, describes the Scandinavian people in writing for the first time in 98 AD (Hansen and Olsen 2006, p. 47). Tacitus describes different groups of peoples dwelling north of the Roman lines, mainly Germanic tribes that formed farming communities, as well as descriptions of hunter-gatherers whom he calls the 'Fenni', that dwell in the vicinity of several of the Germanic tribes. One of these tribes, the Suiones, according to researchers, who lived in and around the lakes of Mälaren and Hjälmaren in Sweden are described by Tacitus as being devoted to agriculture, having slaves and an appreciation for wealth and material belongings. In contrast, Tacitus describes the Fenni as people living in poverty north of the Suiones, with a lifestyle, economy and ideology that differs greatly from their neighbours. According to Tacitus, the Fenni lived by hunting game and foraging herbs, they did not cultivate the earth or build houses, and were not worried about their own or others' property and were happy with their life. Many researchers today believe that the Fenni are the Saami. Later, several Mediterranean writers during the first millennia AD regularly return to this description and the details on differences in the way the Fenni and the farmers lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula (Zachrisson 1997, pp. 159–160 and 169–170; Hansen and Olsen 2006, pp. 47–48).

Linguistic evolution and development are difficult to trace and describe retroactively when there are no written sources. In northern Europe, the first texts appear around 200 AD. As early Germanic texts from this era are very similar from a linguistic perspective, in the geographic area from northern Germany all the way up to Scandinavia, the language is considered to be new to the area at the time (Burenhult 1999, p. 145). By comparing related words from different geographical areas, researchers can form an understanding of the development and growth of language in that area. However, the notable spread and changes in languages are often related to well-known research in archaeology that shows important events in human history. If this is not fully stated, archaeologists can then support themselves using linguistic data to confirm their findings. Some linguists have come to the conclusion that the Uralic language family has had a much stronger influence in Scandinavia compared to what earlier research has suggested (Burenhult 1999 p. 145). The linguistics researcher, Knut Bergsland, found that around 400 AD, a large number of words of Germanic origin entered the South Saami language as borrowed words, with Saami words also appearing in the Germanic-Norse language at the same time. According to Bergsland, this language exchange is the result of a high degree of trading interaction between the Saami and Norse societies (Bergsland 1995, p. 9).

The common Saami language unit is believed to divide sometime after the 800s. Borrowed terms from Old Nordic are common in all modern-day Saami languages from the South Saami area up to the territory of the Kola Peninsula (Hansen and Olsen 2006, p. 145). According to linguistic research, one of the southern dialects of the South Saami language, a dialect spoken south of Røros and Idre down to at least Gävle in Sweden, and in the area of Jotunheimen in Norway, has been lost (Strade 1997, p. 177).

During the final decades BC and first decades AD, there are several archaeological indications of interaction between the same groups. One example is a grave field in Storsjö parish in Härjedalen, called Krankmårtenhögen, that was in use from 200 BC to 200 AD and which has signs of burial traditions from both Saami and Germanic traditions (Ambrosiani et al. 1984). Another, later, but similar example from a burial context is found on Långön in the northwest area of Ångermanland, a grave field from the Viking and early Medieval Age (Hvarfner 1957; Zachrisson 1997). Traces from what is believed to be settlements where trade took place are present at several sites, consisting of different types of weights used to determine the value of products in a certain amount of silver (Hedman 2003, pp. 161–163). These types of weights are found both along the coast and in the interior and suggest what could have been an accepted trading system when one exchanged goods in these areas, see Fig. 5.4.

The archaeological material shows that during the centuries at the beginning of our era, various economic and social strategies are evident between a settled agricultural population along the coast in Trøndelag and Nordland. On the Swedish side, this corresponds to a similar permanent farming culture around Storsjöbygden in Jämtland, established around 300 AD, and along the coast up to northern Ångermanland. Scattered throughout these settlements, and in the outlying areas, there was a coastal-bound hunter-gatherer population that may have practised reindeer herding to some degree, simultaneously with hunting and fishing. Supporting this, traces of

**Fig. 5.4** Distribution of finds of similar types of spherical weights assumed to have been used for trade and transactions during the late Iron Age (from Hedman 2003, p. 164)

early small-scale forest reindeer husbandry is documented in pollen data from the inland region of Norrbotten (Aronsson 1991, p. 114).

Both in the interior and coastal areas of Norrbotten, archaeological findings show early, small-scale iron and steel production with distinct parallels to an eastern form of iron production that had existed in Finland and Karelia and that had been established during the centuries BC (Bennerhag 2009, 2012). During the Migration Period, 400–550 AD, iron production in Trøndelag, Jämtland and Dalarna increases (Magnusson 1988, p. 129–131; 1989, p. 2). This was probably part of a comprehensive trading system and geographically the production was carried out in the middle of the South Saami area. The small-scale iron production that existed in Norrbotten's Saami hunter-gatherer communities ceased around 400 AD (Bennerhag 2012). This may have been due to the more large-scale production of iron and the subsequent trade and exchange of iron from this area. The first introduction of iron production to Jämtland may have been made by the Saami through their eastern contacts with the Ananyino culture (Ramqvist 2001, p. 3; 2012, p. 45). The production of iron in Trøndelag also rose dramatically at this time and was probably also a part of the trade. The increased production of iron around 400 AD also occurred when the use of asbestos-ware ceramics and the production of stone tools ceased (Bennerhag 2012, pp. 60–61). This does not mean that there was a sudden disappearance of the users of stone tools and asbestos-ware pottery, since the settlements were still there, rather this was likely due to a change in the use of raw materials for tool production. Most probably, the reason for this disappearance is the fact that stone tools and ceramic containers were replaced by tools and containers made of iron. From this, one can draw the conclusion that the Saami had a role in metal processing at the time. As mentioned above, the Saami may have even introduced the knowledge of and started the first iron production in Jämtland, perhaps even further south into neighbouring areas. In Finland, the oldest known iron production in the country is found in the northern parts of the country and has connections with the Ananyino culture further east in Russia (Forsberg 1996, p. 174). An attempt to more fully understand the Saami role in iron production, and their transporting and trading in iron, would be interesting since Magnusson's (1986, 1988) research clearly shows that the extent of production for a period of time was greater than the need for the local societies around Storsjön in Jämtland.

From the eighth century, the settlement patterns in parts of the inland seem to be more adapted to reindeer needs, and settlements were located on dry pine moors, near small lakes and peat bogs. This type of Saami settlement location is well known from historic reindeer herding. It seems probable that this type of new site was also associated with domestic reindeer herding (Hedman 2003; 2005, pp. 27–28). Pollen analyses also show increased grazing in the mountain area during the 700s, in the South Saami area of Jämtland–Härjedalen, believed to be related to reindeer herding (Aronsson 2005, p. 119, Ljungdahl 2007, p. 35). In the Pite Saami area, a similar change is seen. Hedman (2003; 2005, pp. 15–16) interprets the change for the Lule and Pite Saami areas as indicating that part of the society shifts from being hunter-gatherer based to focus on reindeer herding, hunting, fishing and trade.

The Saga literature, for example, the Egil Skallagrimsson story, contains quite detailed stories about how he traded with the Saami and in what geographic areas this trade took part. The story also mentions that he had competitors and that he was in conflict with other tradesmen coming from the east to engage in trade with the Saami (Zachrisson 1997, pp. 169–170).

From the ninth century, there is a new type of Saami settlement documented in the border areas between the birch forest and the areas above the tree limit zone, at the altitude between 600–700 m above sea level. The structures have often been organized in rows. When excavated, the floor area seems to have been organized similarly to later known Saami houses (South Saami *gåetieh*), although the floor area has been partially dug down into the ground so the construction was semi-subterranean. Their location in the terrain and associated facilities in the form of storage pits and bone deposits are similar to the later, historically known Saami settlement in the mountain region. This leads most researchers today to put them together with early Saami reindeer herding in the mountains (Storli 1991; Hedman 2003; Bergman et al. 2008). From the end of the ninth century, there is also a written source 'Ottar's Story' which refers to Saami and reindeer herding in the area of Helgeland, although Ottar claimed that he was the owner of the reindeer that the Saami were tending (Hansen and Olsen 2006, pp. 63–67).

### **5.7 The Medieval Era**

Following the Christianization of the agrarian societies, Saami societies in the south seem to have been able, to a large degree, to maintain their traditional way of living. Examples of this have been found at the South Saami grave field in Vivallen, Tännäs parish, from the 1100s, where the dead were shrouded in birch bark or hides in a custom similar to both earlier and later Saami graves. They were also buried with their personal items and even with grave gifts. One man buried at Vivallen seems to have been dressed in female-coded clothing and female-coded jewellery which can be interpreted as perhaps being a sign that he had the role of shaman (South Saami—*nåetie*). This is not the only example where objects receive another gender in a Saami context (Zachrisson 1997, p. 80; Mulk 1994, p. 225). Since the *nåetie* were said to be able to travel, go beyond boundaries and visit other worlds, this transgender ability and symbolization were important. Later sources also mention that the reindeer that drew the sled of a *nåetie* also should be of neither male nor female gender (in south Saami this reindeer is called *staajne*). The *staajne* took the *nåetie* to their destinations in the fastest way of all the reindeers and the *staajne* also drew the sled carrying the drum—*gievrie* (Drake 1918, p. 27). From these contexts, it seems that a lot of the material around a *nåetie* was loaded with transgender signals, fully visible to those in the surroundings that understood them.

The Saami groups were probably well aware of the Christian religion and some also considered themselves as Christian at this point, as we can see from the preserved letters from the Saami woman Margareta at the end of the fourteenth—and early fifteenth centuries (Eriksson 1992, p. 278). Two medieval law texts, however, the Eidsivathinglagen and Borgarthingslag, also point to an increasing distance to the Saami culture, forbidding people to seek advice or fortune telling from the Saami (Zachrisson 1997, p. 165). During the Iron Age, however, the social and religious differences between the Saami and the Norse and Swedish chiefdom societies, and the laws against asking Saami for help during the Medieval era did not put a stop to the trading, but may have affected other interaction negatively and caused stigmatization and exclusion.

From the Medieval era there is, unlike earlier eras, well-known written Scandinavian material about the Saami (Bergman and Edlund 2016). A number of non-Saami authors describe the geographic area with Saami settlements, writing about how they live, the skills they possess, their religion, with whom and what they trade and how the Saami are required to pay taxes for living on their own land to various kings and lords.

It is during this period that the word 'Same' for Saami people also appears for the first time in written records (Zachrisson 1997, p. 157, 159, 167; Hansen and Olsen 2006, p. 48). During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, several letters mention where the border to 'Finnmark' is referring to the land inhabited exclusively by the Saami to the north. This border went approximately through today's northwest Ångermanland, Strömsund, Lierne, Grong and Namsos (Zachrisson 1997, p. 170; Skevik 2005, p. 277; Hansen and Olsen 2006, pp. 48–49). Far more south of this border, Saami people and communities were living close to the farming settlements in both Norway and Sweden. During this time, the name 'finnakonugr' Møttull in Trøndelag is mentioned, meaning a Saami king (Zachrisson 1997, p. 170). This might indicate a more hierarchical organization among some of the Saami groups or perhaps it refers to a more well-known spokesman for this group, and therefore is referred to as king by the Norse.

One known possible battle between the Saami and Norse is mentioned in the texts. According to Snorri Sturlasson's story, Heimskringla, Saint Olav's third battle was an attack against the Saami living in Herdalir—Härjedalen (Zachrisson 1997, pp. 168–169). However, there are other stories that mention the use of force against the Saami (Zachrisson 1997, p. 167). In Saami oral tradition, there are also several stories about hostile attacks on the Saami, where mainly the so-called '*rabpmere*'—small bands of robbers—are the perpetrators (Marek 1992, pp. 203–206).

The colonization of northern Norway and the inner parts of the Gulf of Bothnia occurs from the thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries. Religious and central powers in Sweden and Norway attempt to increase their control over the northern and interior areas at this time. Fortifications and churches are built and farmers move into the area. Ownership of land is obtained by it being sold, bought, given and taken away. From this time, there are written sources that describe a special group of traders, 'Birkarlar', who are often referred to as those who traded with the Saami. Although the Birkarlar appear to have been in the area before mention in written sources, they were not the only ones trading with the Saami. Already from the period 800–1300, many objects came into the Saami areas from surrounding societies, for example, bronze pendants, bracelets, brooches, coins and different objects made of tin, silver and copper. These objects are found at Saami settlements, in graves, but most commonly on the sacrificial sites (Serning 1956; Zachrisson 1984; Mulk 1994; Fossum 2006). This trading system was probably created during the Iron Age or late Iron Age, 700–1050 AD. The written sources indicate that the trade goes even further back, as Bergman and Edlund (2016, p. 22) have pointed out, and the archaeological material also gives similar indications of this trade being carried out for a very long time (Hedman 2003, see Fig. 5.3). The oldest known source in which the term Birkarlar is mentioned is in the so-called Tälje Charter (Tälje stadga) from 1328. There the trade with the Saami is regulated and protected for these tradesmen in an area from the Gulf of Bothnia to the east and out to the Atlantic to the west. From the letters that exist, they appear to have had a strong trading position until the mid-1550s when the Swedish King Gustav Vasa rescinded their privileges. The ancient Saami contacts and exchange of goods to the east with Novgorod, Karelian and other groups in the eastern areas seem to have diminished from around the thirteenth century and onwards (Mulk 1994, p. 227).

### **5.8 Discussion and Conclusion**

The fact that this geographic area has a long history of hunter-gatherers and that large areas were unsuitable for agriculture has been the strong foundation for an ideology that remains in close contact with the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The inherent animistic belief system, with stories closely connected to the surrounding landscape, was a way of understanding the world that strengthened the society and the lifestyle. The topography and the climate have been beneficial for small, flexible, nomadic huntergatherers, which is important and worth emphasizing. It is also significant that the landscape would have been disadvantageous to those who would want to exercise control over people and large areas, in comparison to the accessibility of landscape in most parts of central Europe. This background, combined with successful social strategies from the Saami ancestors, could be part of the general understanding of how multiple economies and cultures came to coexist until the modern era.

Social strategies change and evolve over time, however, and paleoecological data increasingly indicate that cultivated cereals appear in the Saami inland areas during the late Iron Age and early Medieval era, thus suggesting that some small-scale farming took place (Josefsson et al. 2014). This has also been documented in slightly earlier Saami contexts in Østerdalen, southern Norway (Bergstøl 2009, pp. 183–184). It is well known that surrounding communities attempted to exert influence over the Saami community, primarily through trade, taxation and later through Christian mission and legislation. The Saami, as a society, managed to adapt to this and had successful strategies for dealing with these external influences. Later, in historic time, one can also see that Saami reindeer herders often owned goats and cows. Many South Saami had a mixed economy, combining small-scale reindeer herding, small-scale farming, hunting and gathering. This was not due to the climate being more suitable for farming and livestock than earlier in history. Growing potatoes also became important for many Saami at the same time as it became popular among the Swedish and Norse population. According to the Bible, the farmer is said to be closer to God than the shepherd, and far closer to God than 'the wild man'—the nomadic hunter-gatherer. These ideas are visible in texts created by priests when they defend or try to defend Saami land losses to farming and the subsequent loss of Saami identity. For example, Priest Petrus Læstadius (1833), at the time active in Lycksele parish, writes that the best thing that could happen to the Saami would be to become farmers, as they would then come closer to God, and would subsequently become Swedes after only one generation. In order to be considered as human beings close to the Christian God, and to protect the land as the righteous owners, one can perhaps also understand some of the earliest farming among the Saami from this perspective. The medieval and also later laws saw land as someone's property based on permanent settlement and agrarian economy. Most of the Saami at the time probably had a different view on land rights and probably connected their rights to the land used by their forefathers.

Contemporary research strongly indicates that there has been and still is a link between economy, identity, social organization and languages in Scandinavia. The Bronze Age chiefdoms identified themselves ideologically and linguistically with the communities further south on the continent. Researchers believe they have found signs of this in the remaining material from these societies. The hunter-gatherer communities' underlying strategy, I propose, was based on defensive considerations, at least this seems to be the case from a long-term perspective. Both groups most likely cultivated tension fields based on a number of repertoires, for example, different belief systems, different languages and the creation and maintenance of different gender roles within the cultures. Some differences may have impeded competition and perhaps even fuelled aggression between groups and their different economies. The use of different ecological areas and production that was suitable for mutual exchange of attractive products between both parties may, on the other hand, also have increased tolerance for one other. The elite in the surrounding agrarian societies probably had a need for the hunter-gatherers' production of furs, tools, baskets, rope, dried fish, spiritual knowledge and other things, as seen later on in history, and the other way around, salt, fabrics and farming products, such as meat, flour and grain, may have been of interest to the Saami.

During historic times, it is well known that in some areas the agrarian society had great use of Saami handicraft, such as rope making, ski making, furs (tanning and maintenance), and they used Saami as advisers, for spiritual knowledge, animal castration and butchering horses (Svanberg 1999). The Saami also hunted predators, such as bears and wolves that attacked domestic cattle. This was knowledge and expertise that was in demand into the nineteenth century and likely ceased with the industrialization of hide manufacturers, slaughterhouses, the reduction of predators and the development of other specialist industries and new professions.

More things could of course be mentioned. What has been presented above establishes that throughout all prehistory and into historic time, a continuous huntergatherer society existed on the Scandinavian Peninsula with a slow degree of change but highly adaptable and able to survive. When we finally encounter them in the written sources, these people are the Saami, and therefore there were also Saami present before they appeared in written text. How far back this name has existed is difficult to say, but as there are only Saami people in Fennoscandia and on the Kola Peninsula, the identity has started there and from the interaction with other cultures. According to Barth, ethnic awareness becomes strongest in the border zone between different cultures (Barth 1969). From what I have seen in the archaeological record in Fennoscandia, I, too, believe this is the case.

As mentioned in the introduction, this paper has aimed to create possibilities for understanding and enabling a fusion of historical and archaeological science. This has been done through examples, mainly an archaeological perspective, where some fragments are used to create an understanding for Southern Sámi cultural change over a long period of time and in the light of surrounding contexts, other communities or societies of hunter-gatherers and farming cultures.

Due to the fact that we archaeologists rarely feel the demand to answer questions when asked about how the Saami culture has changed as it moved into historic time, a strange gap has emerged between Saami history based on written sources and Saami history based on archaeological material. This gap creates or is often just filled with silence. The silence of the subject is thus not neutral and non-political in a relation that already from the outset was asymmetric concerning who has produced the history for this geographic area. This silence is instead an advantage for the one who can exploit it against the other. This silence is of no profit to the Saami people today. The power of silence, from this perspective, is beneficial only to the one who has had the pen and the written word the longest. Do not forget that.

### **Bibliography**


Sørensen, Lasse. 2014. From hunter to farmer in Northern Europe.Migration and adaption during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. *Acta Archaeologica vol. 85:1, 2014. Acta Archaeologica supplementa XV:1.* Centre of World Archaeology (WA)—Publications 11. Oxford.

Storli, Inger. 1991. *"Stallo"*-*boplassene*. Et tolkningsforslag basert på undersøkelser i Lønsdalen,.


**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

### Part IV Text and Representation

### **Chapter 6 Puncturing Parts of History's Blindness: South Saami and South Saami Culture in Early Picture Postcards**

### **Cathrine Baglo**

**Abstract** In this chapter, I discuss early picture postcards of South Saami and South Saami culture from approximately 1880–1950. The point of departure is Tromsø University Museum's collection of more than 3800 postcards with Saami motives as well as the postcard exhibition 'With an eye for the Sámi' at Perspektivet Museum in the same city. While postcards of Saami have a bad reputation as objects of contempt or symbols of oppression, I emphasize their potential as historical sources. How picture postcards are technologies of memory that may help reclaim a hidden or lost past, providing both personal and collective value as they open up discussions related to colonization and decolonization.

**Iktedimmie** Daennie tjaalegisnie digkedem aareh påastekåarhth ovrehte jaepijste 1880–1950 åarjelsaemijste jïh åarjelsaemien kultuvreste. Våarome lea Romsan universiteeten museumen våarhkoe vielie goh 3800 påastekåarhtigujmie saemien motijvigujmie jïh aaj dïhte påastekåarhtevuasahtalleme man nomme 'Med blikk for det samiske' Perspektivet Museumisnie seamma staaresne. Mearan påastekåarhth saemijste aktem nåake såaltjem utnieh goh ålkoestamme objekth jallh goh dïedtelamme symbovlh manne dejtie nuhtjem goh histovrijen gaaltijh. Manne goerehtem guktie påastekåarhth leah mojhtesekåarhth mah maehtieh viehkiehtidh aktem tjeakoes jallh teehpeme åvtetje aejkiem bååstede åadtjodh, jïh dovne persovneles jïh ektie aarvoem vedtieh gosse dah digkiedimmine åtnasuvvieh mah leah kolonialiseradimmien jïh dekoloniaseradimmien bïjre.

### **6.1 Invisibility and Ignorance**

In February 2018, the same week as the Saami National Day, the popular Friday night TV show *Nytt på nytt* (Norwegian version of 'Have I Got News for You') on the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation (NRK) featured a Saami commentator for the first time. The commentator, Ronald Pulk, a North Saami jour-

© The Author(s) 2019

C. Baglo (B)

Tromsø University Museum, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway e-mail: cathrine.baglo@uit.no

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_6

nalist and comedian, is known to Saami speaking TV audiences as the host of the talk show *Studio Sápmi.* The Norwegian audience, however, may have recognized him from *Reinflytting minutt for minutt* (Reindeer-herd migration minute by minute), a live slow TV show produced by NRK Sápmi in 2017 which also made media history by drawing an unexpectedly large number of viewers, Saami and non-Saami alike, to the screen. While the *Nytt på Nytt* cast celebrated Pulk's guest appearance, other TV channels and programmes paid more or less successful tributes to Saami culture, language and history the same week, and also expressed embarrassment over Norwegian ignorance of anything Saami. 'I know how to order a beer in all kinds of languages, even Eritrean,' one of the hosts pointed out, 'but I have no idea how to order a beer in Saami'.

The Saami language in question is of course North Saami. The North Saami constitutes the majority population among the Saami indigenous minorities within the Norwegian state. Public knowledge of South Saami culture, language and history is even less. This lack of knowledge also includes South Saami imagery. Before *Tråante* in 2017, the centennial for the opening of the first Saami congress in Trondheim on 6 February 1917, a date that has since become the Saami National Day, many Norwegians had never before seen a South Saami costume. During *Tråante,* Trondheim was swamped by festively dressed Saami, and the activities that took place were broadcasted both nationally and internationally. The purpose of *Tråante* was to give people a better understanding of the Saami and their culture and history over the 100 years that had passed. *Tråante* is a watershed moment in the history of both Norwegians and Saami, South Saami in particular, as they became visible for the first time on the national stage.

Images of South Saami and South Saami culture are the subject of this chapter. The images in question are early picture postcards from approximately 1880–1950, a historical period heavily marked in Norway by the nation state's systematic and intensifying cultural assimilation of the Saami (Minde 2005, 7–12).<sup>1</sup> In Sweden, a segregation policy focused on the Saami was implemented in the same period, more precisely focusing on the nomadic reindeer herding mountain Saami. Reindeer herding forest Saami, Saami who fell out of the industry or subsisted on other means were not considered Saami and attempts were made to assimilate them into the Swedish population (Lantto 2000, 41–47). Picture postcards, however, have a bad reputation, and in particular, picture postcards which may loosely be lumped together as 'ethnographic' or 'anthropological'. The above-mentioned period was also the heyday of postcard production. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, millions of picture postcards of exotic cultures were produced for Western consumption (Geary and Webb 1998). This commercial production notwithstanding, picture postcards have an often unacknowledged potential as culture historical sources bringing back incidents, old encounters, stories of individuals and cultural expressions that have been overlooked or lost, and can also disrupt dominant colonial narratives

<sup>1</sup>According to Minde, the Norwegianization of the Sámi is divided into four phases, three of which are of importance here: 1870/1905, (introduction and) consolidation, 1905–1950, culmination, 1950–1980, dissolution.

attached to colonial ways of looking at and representing the Saami. It is this potential I intend to explore in this chapter: How picture postcards are technologies of memory that may help reclaim a hidden or lost past, providing both personal and collective value as they open for discussions relating to colonization and decolonization.

The point of departure is the Saami postcard collection at Tromsø University Museum.<sup>2</sup> The collection consists of 3840 postcards, both picture postcards and illustrated postcards, which I curated for digital use in 2011–2012. The collection was assembled by Haakon Kierulf, a lawyer settled in Alta and Oslo, Norway, and is available through the Norwegian University Museum's photo website.3 The motifs are from Norway, Sweden and Finland, a few are from Russia, and they date from the late 1860s until approximately 2000. I have identified a little over 200 postcards out of the total number of 3840 as South Saami. Almost all of them were produced in Sweden, a point I will return to below. The low number reflects the fact that the South Saami are a minority within the minority and their associated lack of public visibility. In addition, I will draw on postcards with South Saami motives from the Alan Borvo collection owned by Jelena and Nils John Porsanger in Kautokeino.<sup>4</sup> In November 2017, Perspektivet Museum in Tromsø, northern Norway, opened the exhibition 'With an eye for the Saami' (Med blikk for det samiske) based on Borvo's postcard collection.<sup>5</sup> The objective is to identify motifs I find to be prevailing, but I also point to differences and similarities within the collection as a whole and in comparison with other postcards or photographs. As is the case for most ethnographic photographs, the majority of Saami picture postcards are based on photographs taken by outsiders. There are, however, some significant exceptions, such as the South Saami photographer Nils Thomasson. In fact, Thomasson is accountable for more than half the postcards in the Tromsø Museum collection with South Saami motifs. A closer look at Thomasson's activities is therefore justified. For this reason, the postcards testify not only to the majority society's popular perception of South Saami identity and culture of the time, perceptions that might resonate, or not, with dominant public and scientific perceptions problematized in this volume, they may also reveal information about Saami self-expression.

### **6.2 The Bad Reputation of Picture Postcards**

The bad reputation of picture postcards is of course due to photographs' colonial role as technologies of cultural appropriation, racism, denigration, sexual exploitation, assimilation and misrepresentation (see for example, Alloula 1986; Edwards

<sup>2</sup>The collection was assembled by Haakon Kierulf, a lawyer settled in Alta and Oslo, Norway, and is available through the Norwegian University Museum's photo website (www.unimus.no). 3https://www.unimus.no.

<sup>4</sup>Alan Borvo (1933–2002) was a Frenchman who over a period of many years collected thousands of postcards from all over the Sámi area after having visited Finnmark as a young student in the 1950s. He later gave the collection to Elena and Nils Porsanger.

<sup>5</sup>https://www.perspektivet.no/utstillinger/med-blikk-for-det-samiske/.

1992; Faris 2003; King and Lidchi 1998), but also due to their connection to commercialism and popular culture (see for example, Rydell 1998; Maxwell 1999). It seems indicative of this negative understanding that postcards have not been considered historically significant and information has not been collected, catalogued or housed as with other historical material until recently (see for example, Woody 1998, 22). As pointed out by art historian Sigrid Lien, taking into consideration the Saami ethnopolitical movement that began to take form in the 1960s and 1970s, postcard representations came to be considered as objects of contempt or symbols of oppression (Lien 2017, 210). 'Postcard-Saami is a notion, you know,' a curator later explained to her and social anthropologist Hilde Nielssen during their study of the use of photography at RiddoDuoattarMuseat-Saamiid Vuorká-Dávvirat in Karasjok, Northern Norway (Lien and Nielsen 2012, 299). 'For the Saami, "postcard" used to be a term of abuse,' the curator continued referring to the way photography has been misused in the name of science, 'you know, with measuring skulls and so on'. One of the first to voice this view was the Saami multimedia artist Nils Aslak Valkeapää. Commenting on the irony in the title of his book, *Greetings from Lapland* (originally published in Finnish in 1970) and the practice of producing postcards masquerading non-Saami as Saami, Valkeapää explains: 'The title comes from the innumerable postcards which attempt to depict Samiland and the Samis. Almost all of them are dreadful, insulting: non-Samis in thoroughly tasteless, ugly imitations of Sami dress' (Valkeapää 1983, 1; Lien 2017, 10).

### **6.3 Producing Imagined Saaminess**

There are indeed postcards in the Tromsø Museum collection that fit Valkeapää's description. Perspektivet Museum plays on this by showing the worst card first, having a highly caricatured, spiteful postcard manipulated beyond recognition by the publisher introducing the exhibition, as if to disarm the visitor and confront their expectations right away. Especially noticeable in relation to South Saami motifs in both collections, and quite substantial in numbers, is a series of hand-tinted postcards of attractive young girls and women in South Saami *gapta*, or costumes resembling the *gapta*, a belted woollen dress with a v-shaped opening, in these cases festively decorated with silver jewellery.6 Some of the girls and women have braids, many have curls, on some the hair hangs loose. The hats resemble but deviate from traditional South Saami hats. Almost all the postcards carry the inscription 'Lappland' (Land of the Saami) or 'Sweden, province of Lappland'.

The postcards in this series are based on studio photographs, most likely cabinet cards produced around 1880 or 1890, perhaps a little later. The cabinet card was

<sup>6</sup>At the Tromsø University Museum collection, see for example, tslp13186, 12431, 12430, 10596, 10954, 10948, 10945, 10944, 10943, 10942, 10941, 10940, 10931, 10930, 10928, 10923, 10921, 10919, 10918, 10769. These are colourized postcards, some exist in several versions, including black and white.

a format widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. The large size made them easy to work with and suitable for retouching. Colourizing was especially used to highlight such details as the costumes. Where the publishers are known, they are Swedish, such as John Fröberg, Sweden's first mail order company established in south-eastern Sweden in 1879, and Paul Heckscher, a dealer in cards and art reproductions based in Stockholm from 1900 to 1917. The sitters pose in a dignified manner in accordance with the conventions of late nineteenth-century bourgeois studio photography. Many of them appear winter fresh and self-assured; ready to conquer the world. They pose with skis, ski poles or walking sticks, with snowballs ready to throw or are holding the rail fence typical of the outdoor environment. Not surprisingly, many of the postcards with wintery motifs have been used as Christmas cards. Although postcards were also bought as souvenirs and collectibles, the majority of Norwegian and Swedish postcards produced in this period were used as Christmas or New Year's cards, a fact that influenced the development of the motifs (Ulvestad 2005). Other sitters are smoking a pipe or reading fortunes in coffee grounds. Interestingly, however, the women are probably not Saami. Rather, they are non-Saami pretending to dress as Saami (Fig. 6.1).

In her article 'Assimilating the wild and primitive: Lajla and other Saami heroines in Norwegian fin-de-siècle photography', Sigrid Lien identifies a practice where

**Fig. 6.1** Women and girls posing in South Saami-like costumes. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp10954 and tslp10924)

Norwegian middle-class women at the turn of the nineteenth century visited photographic studios where they would have their image produced wearing Saami costumes or costumes reminiscent of the Saami (Lien 2017, 211–212). One such place was the photographic studio established by the Persen sisters7 in Bergen, Norway in the 1880s, another the studio of the photographer Solveig Lund in Moss and Kristiania (Oslo), where she worked until 1906. After that, she limited her business to colourizing photographs and postcards based on her previous glass plate negatives.<sup>8</sup> Particularly, interesting in relation to my investigation are the Persen sisters, who were born in Stavanger but trained as photographers in Stockholm. Their signature products, directed at the booming tourism industry and local middle-class consumers, were images of hand-tinted photographs of attractive young girls and women wearing Norwegian national costumes (Bonge 1980, 325 in Lien 2017, 212).

As pointed out by Lien, this repertoire also included Saami costumes, more specifically, the South Saami costume as demonstrated in a cabinet photograph the Persen sisters produced in 1896.9 The use of costumes reminiscent of the South Saami may of course be related to geographical circumstances. The South Saami population was closest to Bergen where the Persen sisters had their studio. More important perhaps was the fact that South Saami images, not North Saami images as today, seem to have dominated the postcard market around the turn of the century, generated not least by mass-producing publishers in Southern Sweden and Stockholm where the Persen sisters had trained. Moreover, and as also pointed out by Lien, a ski suit with elements that referred to the South Saami costume were in vogue for Norwegian middle-class women around the same time. Eva Nansen, the wife of the famous arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, was important in this regard. She captured public attention in 1890, when she skied with her husband wearing this suit. The incident was preserved for posterity in a series of photographs Ludwik Szacinski produced of Eva Nansen alone and with her husband.10

### **6.4 Cultural Assimilation as Women's Liberation**

Lien interprets the photographs of non-Saami women in Saami-like costumes in light of a larger romantic but also inherently discriminating movement fuelled in particular by a story published in 1881 by Jens Andreas Friis, the first professor of the Saami language in Norway. The main protagonist was Lajla, a Norwegian merchant's daughter who grew up among the North Saami in Finnmark. As a young woman, Lajla had to choose between marrying a Saami or a Norwegian. Typical of the time, Friis

<sup>7</sup>Jenny (1863–?) and Thoma Henrikke Persen (1867–1913). Lien (2017, 212). 8https://norskfolkemuseum.no/solveig-lund.

<sup>9</sup>*Young Girl in Sámi Costume, approx. 1896*. Cabinet card photograph. Lien (2017, 209).

<sup>10&</sup>quot;Eva og Fridtjof Nansen på ski, 1890". Photo: L. Szacinski/National Library, Norway, bldsa\_7a006. "Eva Nansen på ski, 1889". Photo: L. Szacinski/National Library, Norway, bldsa\_7a013.

emphasizes the racial inferiority of the Saami, while simultaneously idealizing the reindeer herding life. The effect of Saami culture on Lajla, however, is portrayed as solely beneficial. The story was adapted for the cinema three times, in 1929, 1937 and 1958. In the 1929 silent film by Danish–Finnish director George Schneevoigt, Lajla beats male competitors in reindeer races, canoes steep river falls and climbs trees with ease and grace. While the story of Lajla was translated into English, Swedish, Dutch and French, the 'Lajla fascination', Lien convincingly argues, was supported and substantiated both nationally and internationally by a massive production of visuals, including photographs, postcards and film (Lien 2017, 221).<sup>11</sup>

These visuals not only contributed to turn Saaminess and Saami culture into a commodity, Lien also sees the postcards or photographs of non-Saami women wearing Saami costumes as a particular kind of cultural appropriation. In this case, the colonial tropes worked as metonymy of freedom for part of the colonizing population, the socially and politically restricted Norwegian middle-class women. At the same time that the Norwegian state promoted a politics of assimilation as part of the nationbuilding process, photographers, some of them women, were making a living selling pictures of women and children dressed as Saami, while female sitters would pay to have such a photograph taken. Paradoxically, they were doing this at a time when the Norwegian government was doing its best to erase the Saami people's Saaminess (Lien 2017, 215).

### **6.5 Producing Picturesque Types**

As pointed out at the Perspektivet exhibition, exaggerations and stereotypes dominated the early postcard industry. Geographic and cultural distance left their mark on the motif, as did political and ideological conditions. Postcards produced by international publishers for tourists and collectors tended to be particularly conventionalized and stereotypical, while national or local postcards were more idiosyncratic in their depiction of various themes of importance to consumers (Geary and Webb 1998, 2).

A postcard comparable to the women in South Saami and South Saami-like costumes is a hand-tinted studio postcard from approximately the same period (Fig. 6.2). It shows two men reading books in front of an idyllic forest scene with a burbling creek. The atmosphere of the image is again one of dignity. The men are completely absorbed in their reading. One of them is leaning against the trunk of a tree and the other is casually lounging on the (reindeer) hide they are sitting on. The postcard has been used as a Christmas card and the publisher is again Fröberg in Finspång. A black-and-white version exists as well as a modern remake advertising for Dundret Ski Resort in Gällivare in Norrbotten in Sweden, in other words outside the South

<sup>11</sup>In 1929, the Danish–Finnish director George Schneevoigt adapted the story for the silent screen, in 1937, the same director made a Swedish–Danish version, while a third version, a Swedish–German co-production, was made in 1958 by Rolf Husberg. Regarding the Lajla fascination reflected in postcards, see also Ulvestad (2005, 25). Six postcards with motifs from the 1929 and 1937 versions are in the Tromsø Museum collection.

**Fig. 6.2** "Lappar" (Laplanders). Postcard published by Fröberg, probably around 1880–1890. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp 10953)

Saami area. The remake carries the following inscription translated from Swedish: 'The original. Waiting for After-Ski. Dundret—so laid back'.

In contrast to the costumes of the women and young girls in the previous postcards, this postcard shows authentic South Saami costumes. The hand-tinting makes the men's different breast cloths, *boenge*-*skuvmie*, easily distinguishable. The motif may in part be understood as a costume picture, a cataloguing of different kinds of costume styles in different regions. This was already an established genre which started in painting but became popularized in Norway through travelling photographers, such as Marcus Selmer (1819–1900) from the 1850s, and then it was closely related to a romantic nationalist wave and the construction of a national identity (Larsen and Lien 2007, 82–89). Selmer was a Danish-born photographer and the first to open a studio in Bergen. As pointed out by Lien, by the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, the postcard became a major arena for the visual rhetoric of nationalism (Lien 2017, 213).

An example of Selmer's photographic costume study is the cartes de visite 'Fin from Helgeland in Nordland'.12 Helgeland is an area in the northern part of Norwegian South Saami lands. The photograph, however, was not taken in Helgeland. It was taken in Bergen where Selmer had his studio, and the sitter had most likely travelled the more than 1000 km to sell fish or pursue other business. Similar to the photographer behind the postcard published by Fröberg, Selmer used props to add local character to the picture, such as the stick which also features on the postcard

<sup>12</sup>https://digitaltmuseum.no/011013410241/52-fin-fra-helgeland-i-nordland.

of the two men. In contrast to the postcard, however, the costume-dressed man from Nordland is posing against a neutral background. Only the carpet on Selmer's studio floor is visible. In the studio postcard, the sitters are presented in front of a painted background considered correct or fitting to 'root' the documentation, in this case a forest. This is also typical of the time as the construction of identity was largely connected to landscape, which was considered a key to understanding the characters of the people (Larsen and Lien 2007, 85). In Norwegian costume photographs for example, landscape paintings of mountains were frequently used as backgrounds. At the fin de siècle, mountain people or people of the outdoors, the peasants, but the Saami too, were considered unspoiled, healthy, strong and good-natured.

It is, however, tempting to interpret the motif in light of the missionary efforts by the Swedish church. It is probably not just any random books they are reading, but the bible and the catechism. Every member in a congregation would be examined in the catechism on a regular basis. In Sweden, the results were reported in the *husförhörslängd* (house enquiry register) and in Norway in the parish register, both important historical sources and especially with respect to investigations of Saami communities where such sources are sparse. The stick in the postcard might of course indicate that they are reindeer herders, a popular motif in the representation of the Saami,13 but it might also double as an allegory for piety. At any rate, there is more going on in this postcard than the documentation of costumes or a national type. As mentioned above, this also included at the time the Saami. They were one among several peoples that formed part of a composite kingdom (Kjeldstadli 2010, 24). As pointed out by Lien, in their photographic conquest of Norway, the first generation of travelling photographers, such as Selmer, represented the lower social classes, farmers and fishermen through the same kind of ethnographically or typologically classifying gaze (Lien 2017, 215). Later it was proposed that the Saami were a foreign race that did not belong in Scandinavia (see for example, Baglo 2001a, b).

The postcard of the two men may also be perceived as an expression of a coexisting sentimental genre of a more international character where picturesque types of different kinds became popular motifs. In her book on European and South American depictions of Andean indigenous groups from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries, anthropologist Deborah Poole identifies the Indian brigand, the water carrier, the porter and the lice-picker as recurring types (Poole 1997). The typologically classifying gaze on the postcard of the two South Sámi men is supported by the caption. While the caption on Selmer's cartes de visite, 'Fin from Helgeland in Nordland', is typologizing, it at least mentions roughly the origin of the sitter. The origin of the sitters of the postcard is not specified at all. They are just Sámi—or 'Lappar' which also for contemporary viewers has served to obscure cultural variety and reduce the Sámi communities to one undifferentiated group. Quite significant differences, such as the fact that a North Sámi speaker can barely understand a South Sámi, are removed with the brush of a pen. Other recurring picturesque types which often overlap with the ethnographically classifying types, or they feed off each other,

<sup>13</sup>A search using "herder" (gjeter) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 22 hits but more motifs should probably be classified with this entry word.

include Saami children, especially girls,14 Saami mothers holding small children in the Saami cradle made of a trunk of a tree, in South Saami *gïerhkeme*, <sup>15</sup> Saami women weaving shoe ribbons,<sup>16</sup> Saamis working the hay or grass as insulation in the shoe,<sup>17</sup> Saami weddings,<sup>18</sup> Saamis drinking coffee19 and Saamis smoking pipes, both men and women.<sup>20</sup> Sometimes the types turn into the grotesque. This is especially the case for the popular pipe-smoking motif, easily identified in other parts of the world and with other people. While this juxtaposition of indigeneity with technologies associated with modernity is a typical colonial trope, Lien demonstrates that the female stereotypes of northern colonialism included both the charming backwardness of the innocent child of nature, the noble savage, but also 'the unruly, gender-transgressive, pipe-smoking, wild-woman' (Lien 2017, 217).

Another postcard within the staged studio portrait of the fin de siècle shows two men, a woman and a child drinking coffee (Fig. 6.3). They are sitting on the ground with legs crossed holding their china cups. The woman is ready to pour coffee from a copper kettle centrally placed on a make-believe open fire. The boy is looking at her in anticipation. The woman's *sïlpe*-*gåahke*, silver collar, is another salient feature, as well as the shoe ribbons, the men's two types of breasts cloths and two types of hats, the s*nijpetjohpe* with the visor to the right and the *stielietjohpe* to the left, which have been colourized. The backdrop illustrates a forest. Another postcard in the collection features the same group, but in different poses.21 While the photographer is unknown, the postcard was published by Ernst G. Svanström in Stockholm.

The motif of the coffee drinking Saami invokes a similar kind of portrait typical to the photographic bourgeois aesthetics of the time, where the coffee table and other furniture were carried into the garden outside the villa or the farmhouse (Larsen and Lien 2007, 56). While these kinds of photographs express the tension between the traditional and the modern in a way similar to the smoking Saami, the difference between the bourgeois aesthetics and the postcard of the South Saami is of course the lack of a house, furniture and cultivated landscape. Moreover, similar

<sup>14</sup>A search using "girl" in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 419 hits but not all of these are portraits.

<sup>15</sup>A search using "woman" (kvinne) and "cradle" (komse) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave approximately 40 hits when I excluded the photographs that show larger groups or families and are not focused on the mother and child only. A South Sámi example that seems to feature the fathers is tslp10855.

<sup>16</sup>A search using "woman" (kvinne) and "weaving" (veving) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 11 hits, a few of them are different versions of the same postcard.

<sup>17</sup>A search using "blister sedge" (sennegress) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 18 hits, a few of them are different versions of the same postcard. A South Sámi example is tslp10855, "Lappkvinna med skohöi".

<sup>18</sup>A search using "bridal couple" (brudepar) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 33 hits, a South Sámi example seems to be tslp12335, "Lappbröllop".

<sup>19</sup>A search using "coffee cup" (kaffekopp) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 14 hits.

<sup>20</sup>A search using "pipe" (pipe) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 102 hits, a little less than half show women smokers.

<sup>21</sup>Tslp10926.

**Fig. 6.3** *'*Lappland'. Hand-tinted postcard. Publisher unknown. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp 10119)

photographs of Swedish and Norwegian sitters were only by exception turned into a postcard, and in this case a greeting card: to 'Ivar' from 'Ester N'. The image is visually interesting. While the males' and the boy's gazes are disengaged or looking elsewhere, the woman calmly meets the look of the viewer. She appears confident, expectant and in charge. In an article on the Greenlandic photographer John Møller (1867–1935), the art historian Ingeborg Høvik has discussed the enactment of gender in photography, including Szacinski's above-mentioned portrait of the Nansens. Although Eva Nansen is included in the portrait of her husband, she is clearly a sideshow—an attribute. His physical and psychological presence in the photograph is much stronger (Høvik 2016, 177). In the South Saami postcard, gender is acted out differently.

### **6.6 Idiosyncratic Depictions**

There are also examples in the collection of postcards of a more idiosyncratic and specific character. One example is 'Lappläger vid Kolåsen' (Saami camp at Kolåsen) based on a photograph by the Stockholm photographer Gösta Florman (Fig. 6.4). The photograph, from the 1890s, shows a large group of Saami from Offerdalen, a highland region situated 50 km north-west of Östersund, attending mass at Kolåsen Saami Chapel in Kall. The caption, Saami camp at Kolåsen, is in other words at best

**Fig. 6.4** *'*Lappläger vid Kolåsen' (Saami camp at Kolåsen). *Photo* Gösta Florman. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp10803)

inaccurate. 'Saami camp' is perhaps one of the most frequent captions used on early Saami picture postcards. In most cases, it demonstrates a failure to understand the actual context.

The Kolås mass, which was held twice every summer, attracted Saami from far and near. Usually, the families would spend the weekend at Kolåsen. The church services, however, and all the Saami dressed in their festively coloured garments also attracted people from outside the congregation. The motif is recurrent in photographs and postcards, as were the other Saami chapels in Jämtland, such as Ankarede, Kolåsen, Jänmässholmen, Handöl and Vallbo. These chapels and Saami congregations, or *lappförsamling*, which is the Swedish term, were part of the Swedish Church's missionary policy towards the Saami in Jämtland and Härjedalen, which was initiated in the mid-1700s (Thomasson 2016). The congregations were non-territorial and the splitting up of the Swedish population meant that the Saami were excluded from belonging to the parish in which they lived. They could not vote locally as they were neither members of the local congregation nor the parish, their children could not go to local schools but were referred to *nomadskolor* (schools for nomads) and perhaps most importantly, according to Lars Thomasson who has studied the social and economic impact of the lappförsamling institution over 200 years and what it meant in terms of segregation, they were excluded from the local system of poor relief (Thomasson 2016, 855). The State and the Saami congregation were responsible for poor relief. I will return to this below as it has produced another photo motif particular to Sweden. There are different versions of the postcard of the people at the Kolåsen mass, both colourized and in black and white, and the people depicted have been identified by Lars Thomasson. The man in the suit and hat to the right in the photograph for example, is Anton Ådén, chaplain in Kall and *pastores lapponum* in Undersåker's *lappförsamling* between 1892 and 1909.

### **6.7 Tourism, Live Ethnographic Displays and Postcards of South Saami**

Today, the ultimate Saami postcard features North Saamis in colourful costumes as represented in a Finnish postcard from the 1980s or 1990s by the Italian photographer Dino Sassi.<sup>22</sup> Reindeer grazing on the marsh, the midnight sun, a boat pulled onto the shore of a lake, a couple in colourful North Saami costumes in front of a traditional Saami storage house on pillars surround the portrait of a man in the Enontekiö *gákti* which is basically the same as in Kautokeino in Norway. The characteristic starshaped hat and the sitter's weather-beaten and sunburnt face is the eye-catcher in the photograph. In Norway, festively dressed Saami from the interior of the county of Finnmark are particularly popular as a photo motif and especially from Kautokeino where the *gákti* has become more and more elaborate. The Kautokeino *gákti* with its highly pleated woollen dress and extensive use of thin and wide ribands is the most multi-coloured in all of Saepmie (Hætta 2013). A search using 'Kautokeino' in the Tromsø Museum Saami postcard collection resulted in 121 hits, most of them modern colour prints. At the turn of the nineteenth century, however, it is very likely that the person depicted would have been South Saami, like the anonymous young man captioned as *Lappgosse* (Saami boy) in a postcard from around 1900 (Fig. 6.5). As demonstrated below, the portrait is highly suggestive of personality and attitude. When I posted it on Facebook in an attempt to identify the sitter, several women commented on his beauty and how he resembled Erlend Elias Bragstad, a profiled Lule Saami stylist and gay activist.

One of the reasons for the public visibility of the South Saami at this time was the booming tourism industry and the extent to which the South Saami became involved in it, especially after the establishment of railroads in the 1880s, which made it easier to get into—and out of—parts of the South Saami area. As suggested by previous postcards, South Saami culture, or specific parts of it, was considered interesting and picturesque by outsiders due to the reindeer herding nomadic life style, the eyecatching costumes and the elaborate hats, such as the *snijpetjohpe* the young man is wearing, which stands out so nicely in the black-and-white photo along with the textures of the dress. Surely, the photographer was aware of this effect. For many years, the South Saami hats went out of style and have just recently been revitalized, mainly on the basis of photographs and postcards.

During the nineteenth century, South Saami who practised or engaged in nomadic reindeer husbandry became attractive to entrepreneurs who sought them out as subjects of 'live ethnographic displays' in Europe and the United States (Broberg 1981;

<sup>22</sup>Tslp11841.

**Fig. 6.5** *'*Lappgosse' (Saami boy). Postcard photographed and published by Nils Thomasson, Köfra. *Source* Tromsø Universitiy Museum (tslp10917)

Gjestrum 1995; Baglo 2017). In the 1870s, when these displays became widespread, the attraction was directed towards the north, the reindeer herding North Saami, and places such as the Saami camp at Tromsdalen outside Tromsø, which was accessible by boat only. In the 1880s and 1890s, due to the establishment of the railway, but also the increasingly challenging economic, political and cultural situation for the South Saami, they became dominant in this market which comprised exotic-appearing and so-called natural peoples from all over the globe. One of the many South Saami families that were involved in this business was Thomas Andersson, a South Saami born in Mosvika by the Trondheimsfjord in Norway. His parents had settled there after losing their reindeer in the mountains (Thomasson 1946, 265), a term frequently used in reference to the challenges that arose through colonial processes, but which obscures what this really meant in terms of the real sacrifice. At the age of 13, the family sent Thomas to a Saami school run by the Swedish Church Mission in Laxsjö in Jämtland. Later he settled in Oviken, south of Laxsjö, where he was able to make use of the reindeer mark he had inherited from his grandfather. The reindeer were few and herded by a neighbour but they were an important household supplement to the family which also ran a small farm in Svedje (Thomasson 1946, 266). Thomas Andersson's son, the photographer Nils Thomasson (1880–1975), produced the picture of the young Saami man and published the postcard from his studio in Kövra (Köfra) in Oviken.

### **6.8 Nils Thomasson the South Saami Photographer**

By the time Thomasson produced and published the postcard *Lappgosse*, he had travelled extensively with his family in Europe, especially Germany and Southern Sweden as part of these types of live ethnographic displays where the Saami participants demonstrated the reindeer herding way of life in reconstructed settings. Thomasson was a boy and adolescent when this took place. On a postcard from one of the family's tours, Nils Thomasson is standing outside the *låavth*-*gåetie* (tent house) holding a pair of skis (Fig. 6.6). The caption reads 'A part of Lapland', which it is not, but who can tell? The background has been removed in compliance with the 'ethnographic convention' (Smith and Joppien 1985), and what has been removed is most likely an urban setting in Hamburg, Schneidemühl (Piła in Polish), Visby or some other city or town the group is known to have visited.

The purpose of the live ethnographic displays was to recreate a 'true copy of natural life' (Hagenbeck 1911, 49). The ethnographic convention in images was driven by a scientific interest in the sitter, employing neutral backgrounds and full-length, facingforward views to convey knowledge about the dress and material culture of distant peoples. The sitters in such imagery, together with their clothing and tools with which they are pictured, are typically meant to stand in for their cultures at large. By erasing the background, however, the sitters appear disconnected from time and space. The experiences of the Thomasson family abroad become invisible.

As pointed out by James Clifford (2007), the conception of indigenous cultures as invariable and static has obscured travelling, contact and migration even though the fact is that geographic mobility—self-elected or forced—has always taken place. Much like postcards, the live ethnographic displays are often perceived in negative terms as technologies of exploitation and oppression only, but they also represented access to social, political and economic means in a colonial situation (see for example, Moses 1996; Raibmon 2005; Penny 2013; Baglo 2017). Beyond doubt, the presenters' travels and encounters had great impact on them as well as their native communities. It would be fair to say that among the lessons learned, they must have gained particular knowledge about how to present their culture and cultural distinctiveness to an outside public. Just like the displays, postcards and photography represented means of conveying something you were proud of, something you wanted to let the world know about. The Saami and the Saami way of life were of key importance in Nils Thomasson's work as a photographer. Indeed, Thomasson's photography has been paramount to Swedish Saami self-esteem (Silvén 2018). He

**Fig. 6.6** *'*Parti från Lappland' (A part of Lapland). The young Nils Thomasson (1880–1975) is holding a pair of skis. Most of the people depicted are Thomasson's family, including his father, brother and stepmother. *Source* Tromsø Universitity Museum (tslp10812)

received apprenticeship training with the photographer Olof Östling in Gävle, a city by the Baltic Sea, in the late 1890s. Afterwards, he moved back to Kövra where his father had built a studio for him. Thomasson later moved his studio to Åre, a village and growing mountain resort some 100 km NW of Kövra, where he settled permanently in 1916 (Utsi 1997).

The tropes of Saami postcards from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the tropes and configurations of the live ethnographic displays in the same period are strikingly similar. They both dramatize the authentic, the picturesque, the radically different but also universally similar, and the family unit, the reindeer herding life with its seasonal migration, work, handicrafts and daily life were important elements in both modes of representation (for the presentation of Saaminess in the live ethnographic displays, see Baglo 2017, 190–202). Moreover, live ethnographic displays often became motifs on postcards. The organizer, but very often the Saami presenters themselves, would sell postcards and photographs to spectators as souvenirs or as advertisements for the show in addition to the sale of Saami handicraft (Baglo 2008, 33). The Saami camp<sup>23</sup> and the different kinds of housing for the various

<sup>23</sup>A search using "camp" in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 49 hits, a search using "settlement" gave the same (many overlaps). A search using "Sami camp" gave 62 hits. When classifying, the term was used to distinguish commercial camps from other camps such as camps organised by Norwegian mountain hotels.

seasons<sup>24</sup> constitute a prevailing motif. The camps were located on Saami lands or transported and reconstructed outside mountain resorts such as Grotli Hotel in Sjåk in Central Norway,25 in cities and in exhibition spaces in Sweden or Norway or in cities and exhibition grounds abroad. These were some of the possibilities tourism and modern society generated. The concurrent motifs testify of course to the existence of an international genre in the representation of indigenous cultures independent of historical and geographical contexts. Although cultural distinctiveness fuelled the industry, the representations were simultaneously streamlined in the same colonial machinery.

The family was an important trope, providing a cognitive framework that had the great advantage of being understood by all potential spectators and audiences and was a recurrent motif on postcards, in addition to serving as a category of live ethnographic display. Sometimes, the category was imposed. The postcard 'Lappefamilie' (Saami family) shows in fact a South Saami troupe during a tour, probably in Germany (Fig. 6.7). Many, but not all of the Saami presenters were related. The young girl in the *tjurrietjohpe* and shawl is Maria Thomina Thomassen from Anaris Mountains. Later, she moved to Bydalen mountains in what is now Åre municipality in Jämtland in central Sweden. Her parents and some of her siblings are probably in the photograph as well. The family participated in several live ethnographic displays abroad in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In 1890, her father was listed as poor in the house enquiry register of Undersåker Saami Congregation in 1890. The family was at this point lodging with the congregation's catechist.

Maria Thomasson became a recurring motif on postcards and photographs. One who took her portrait was Nils Thomasson from his studios in both Åre and Köfra.26 Köfra is not far from Anaris and the mountain resort of Bydalen whereMaria Thomasson resided. Either he or some other entrepreneur has sought her out, or she has appointed him to produce the photograph. In addition to his work as a portrait photographer, Thomasson produced pictures for tourists, not least the yearly journal of the Swedish Tourist Association where he contributed regularly. One of his portraits of Maria Thomasson is taken from the side resembling anthropological photographs where the profile of the face and head was important. More important, however, seems to be the fact that a picture in profile pays justice to the hat and the characteristic *tjurrie*—the crest or comb. A less emphasized side to Thomasson's work is his collaboration with Herman Lundborg and the Swedish State Institute for Racial Biology in the 1910s and 1920s (Broberg 1990, 138; Silvén 2018). Lundborg was the head of the institute, and recently he has been portrayed in the critically acclaimed

<sup>24</sup>A search using "tent" (lavvu) in the Tromsø Museum Sámi postcard collection gave 162 hits, a search using "buesperretelt" (a tent rafted a particular kind of way) gave 102 hits, "gamme", a Norwegian term derived from North Sámi referring to the turf hut gave 319 hits, "kåte", the same word in Swedish but derived from South Sàmi gave 247 hits, a search using "stillas" or "luovve" (scaffold) gave 72 hits, a search using "stabbur", "njalla" or "aitti" (small storage house, often on pillars) gave 119, 38 and 1 hits, respectively. Many of these hits overlap.

<sup>2518</sup> postcards in the Tromsø Museum collection are from Grotli. Many of them have been photographed by I.K. Maurseth and show the North Saami family Partapuoli.

<sup>26</sup>See for example, pp. 40, 58 and 64 in *Samefotografen Nils Thomasson* (1997).

**Fig. 6.7** *'*Lappefamilie' (Saami family). Maria Thomina Thomassen (1873–1935) to the right with shawl and hands folded in her lap. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp13267)

movie *Sameblod* (Saami blood) by Amanda Kernell (2017). Among other tasks, Thomasson delivered or produced photographs for Lundborg's book *Swedish Folk Types* (Svenska folktyper) published in 1919, and in 1925 he contributed to one of Lundborg's physical anthropological examinations (Jonsson 2008, 116–120). One of the eight photographs by Thomasson in *Swedish Folk Types* is the same photograph as the postcard 'Lappgosse'. In the book, it bears the title 'Jämtlandsk lappgosse' (Saami boy from Jämtland) (Fig. 6.8). As pointed out by Swedish ethnologist Eva Silvén, more than anything else, this demonstrates the hegemonic position of racial biology as normal science, both at the time and much later (Silvén 2018).

While Thomasson in many ways, and particularly in the early phase, reproduced ethnographic conventions and stereotypical, romanticizing ideas about the Saami, his photographs also helped to create a Saami identity and positive sense of self. His photographs are intimate and personal in nature and often his own children—he had eight—constituted the sitters. This is the case with a postcard based on a photograph from around 1933–1934 (Fig. 6.10). The girl holding the young reindeer calf is Aina Thomasson (b. 1923) while the young boy gently caressing it is the already mentioned Lars Thomasson (b. 1928), later a profiled scholar and a driving force in Saami organizational life in Sweden since the post-war period (see for example, Frånberg et al. 2007). After 1920, and with the improvement of photographic technology, the compositions of photographic postcards became livelier and more visually interesting (Ulvestad 2005). One example is Thomasson's postcard 'Fjellfåglar' (the mountain birds) where two cheerful South Saami boys have climbed up a tree (tslp11115). The landscape often added a dramatic dimension to the portraits as well as the play with

**Fig. 6.8** Photographs by Nils Thomasson in H. Lundborg's *'*Swedish Folk Types' (1919)

light, shade and textures. The picture postcard, 'Renvaktare' (the reindeer herder) showing a young boy with his lasso, backpack and herding dog, both looking into the distance, can be interpreted as a demonstration of the vitality of Saami culture (Fig. 6.9). It is not vanishing. The new generation is being prepared to take over.

Another motif particular to Swedish postcards has been the nomadic school. According to the authorities, it should be in a *gåatie* (a circular or oval dwelling with framework of wood and tree trunks and covered with turf). Particular buildings resembling the *gåetie* were sometimes constructed for the purpose (see tslp10358, the nomadic school in Kiruna). The children stayed at the school for periods of time, after the 1896 regulation, 36 weeks a year for 5 years (Blind 2015, 74). In some areas, classes were divided between different schools so that siblings could be separated from each other. In Jämtland in the 1940s and 50s for example, the children's first 2 years took place in Mittådalen, the middle years at Jänsmässholmen and the last years at Änge (Thomasson 2015, 123). Initially, the nomadic school was an attempt by the authorities to make Saami who had become sedentary to return to the nomadic life and the kind of reindeer herding they considered appropriate for the Saami, and in other words, the mountain Saami way of herding, not the forest Saami, who were also more in conflict with agricultural and lumbering interests. The nomadic school, just as the Lap-should-be-Lap ideology developed by the Swedish authorities from the last part of the nineteenth century and coined for the first time in 1906 by Vitalis Karnell, a vicar working in Karesuando, created some, at best, absurd scenarios, such as the bewilderment of a young girl from Leaváš sameby in the outskirts of Kiruna. Her family had just moved into a timber house with beds and linens, but at the

**Fig. 6.9** Postcards produced by Nils Thomasson. The photograph to the left show two of the photographer's own children, Aina (b. 1923) and Lars Thomasson (b. 1928). *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp12590 and tslp12650)

nomadic school she had to sleep on birch branches on a dirt floor (Huuva 2015, 35). In the article, 'Lapparna och civilisationen' (The Lapps and civilization) in *Dagny*, a journal for the Swedish women's movement, Karnell wrote the following:

When a Lapp man or a Lapp woman starts walking around in Stockholm in more or less mismanaged Lapp costumes, when the Lapps start establishing their own organisations and their own newspaper, when they start acquiring elementary school education, then their days as Lapps are over and they become the most miserable people you can possibly imagine. (Karnell 1909 in Huuva and Blind 2015, 83)

Although an arduous and painful experience for many families and children (see for example, Huuva and Blind, ed. 2015), the schools also contributed to bolstering Saami traditions. Two postcards of nomadic schools in the Tromsø Museum collection have been photographed and produced by Nils Thomasson. Both show playful, happy children. Another, at least to an outsider, peculiar motif among Thomasson's postcards is the old people's home 'Fjällgård' (Mountain homestead) in Hålland built by the Female Missionary Workers Association in 1908 for the Saami exclusively (Fig. 6.10). Several variations of this motif exist as a postcard, almost all of them produced by Thomasson, perhaps to raise money for the organization. Most of them carry the same caption: 'Fjällgård. K.M.A:s Ålderdomshem för Jämtlandslappar, Hålland'. The institution was discontinued in 1981 and judging by Nils Thomasson's many renderings of the building and activities related to it during all these years among the 11,408 photographs in his collection at Jamtli in Østersund,<sup>27</sup> it was an important part of the Saami community. In the postcards, the old people's home is brand new and evidently something to be proud of and grateful for. In one postcard, three women are sitting outside on benches along the timber wall. It is a sunny summer day. The women are all dressed in Saami costumes, their hands are resting folded in their laps. The latticed white windows are wide open.28 It seems like a good place to be.

The atmosphere is quite different in the postcard 'Bofasta lappar från Stensele' (Sedentary Saami from Stensele) despite the summery motif (Fig. 6.11). Stensele is a locality in Storuman municipality in Västerbotten in Sweden. The postcard belongs to the series 'Sverigebilder' (Swedish images) published by the Swedish Tourist Association in 1926 and shows a large family standing on the stairs of their timber house. None of the seven children are wearing shoes. Apart from the grandfather, all are wearing ordinary clothes, although the father is wearing Saami shoes. In contrast to for example, the photographs of Nils Thomasson, the postcard leave little doubt regarding the relations of power separating the photographer, G. Sandgren, from his subjects. The mother stares with suspicion into the camera lens. One girl is peeping out from behind her sisters standing close to her mother. Some of the children are bending their necks out of modesty or shame. Only the grandfather seems to be at ease with the situation. This is a portrait of poverty and the fait accompli of a public policy that would create a large 'underclass' of Saami without reindeer, a situation that still impacts the identity of young Saami today (Åhren 2008).

<sup>27</sup>http://bildarkivet.jamtli.com/sok.aspx?fenamn=nils+thomasson.

<sup>28</sup>Tslp10292. The motif is found in Alain Borvo's collection as well.

**Fig. 6.10** Fjällgård. K.M.A:s Ålderdomshem för Jämtlandslappar, Hålland. Photo: N. Thomasson. (Mountain farmstead in Hålland. The old people's home for Saami from Jämtland run by The Female Missionary Workers Association). *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp10292)

**Fig. 6.11** *'*Bofasta lappar från Stensele' (Sedentary Lapps from Stensele). *Photo* G. Sandgren. *Source* Tromsø University Museum (tslp10168)

### **6.9 Postcards to Puncture Blindness and Lessen Loss**

In this chapter, I have shown motifs and tropes in picture postcards of South Saami from approximately 1880–1950. While the South Saami was highly visible on postcards during this time, especially the first decades, they gradually vanished out of sight. At this time, the postcard market was primarily oriented towards the Swedish South Saami. Just like the live ethnographic exhibitions, race is for the most part articulated through the use of typologies and typologically classifying gazes and poses. On occasion, the motif itself, such as 'Lappgosse', undermined the racial message by suggesting personality and attitude. Moreover, the gradual assimilation and obliteration of South Saami culture has taken place hand in hand with the romanticizing of it. It has also been demonstrated here how early picture postcards of South Saami articulate the same tropes and aesthetics as identified across a wide range of colonial visuals, including the live ethnographic displays. Common denominators for these are the construction of stereotypes and erasure of difference. While landscape was considered a key to understanding the characters of both peasants and 'natural peoples' in the nineteenth century, this perception would persist only in relation to the latter. Savage peoples were per definition subjected to or living in harmony with nature, while civilization and progress was synonymous with severance. The strong focus on nature in the postcards of South Saami granted both authenticity and identity to the sitters. It is important to acknowledge, however, that the postcard industry had its own dynamic, which was to a great extent related to other—and partly concurrent—perceptions of nature and culture than those asserted by science, such as the emphasis on families and sameness. What I have also aimed to demonstrate in this chapter is the importance of early picture postcards to reclaim stories, imagery and knowledge that have remained hidden or lost and consequently open for discussions of colonization and decolonization. Due precisely to their 'unruliness', early picture postcards may diversify, expand and complicate our perception of northern colonialism and the Saami response to it. The large number and variety of postcards adds to the unruliness, which has gained particular momentum due to digitization. In recent years, a more nuanced perception of ethnographic photography and early picture postcards has surfaced, fuelled by such theoreticians as Elizabeth Edwards, who emphasize the importance of photographs as material entities with qualities and agency of their own, rather than being just signs or symbols of ideologies and social structures (see for example, Edwards 2002, 2005, 2010; Baglo 2012). While photographs are images, they are also objects, and this materiality is integral to their meaning and use (Edwards and Hart 2004). As pointed out by Nuño Porto, the possibility of thinking about ethnographic photographs rests on the elemental fact that they are things—'they are made, used, kept, and stored for specific reasons which do not coincide […] they can be transported, relocated, dispersed, are damaged, torn and cropped, and because viewing implies one or several physical interactions' (Porto 2001, 38). In an article on processes of repatriation of Saami photographs from Finnish archives and museums, Saami historian Veli Pekka Lehtola demonstrates that contemporary Saami approaches to historical photographs emphasize subjective, localized experiences and the way they evoke memories of 'intraethnic' relationships (Saami-Saami) or 'our histories', where previous interpretations emphasized power relations and what he identifies as 'inter-ethnic' (Finnish-Saami) relationships (Lehtola, forthcoming). In doing so, the Saami often look beyond the photograph's historical context. The Finnish and colonial 'mark' on the photography is not ignored, but it is subordinate to what the photographs might reveal in terms of Saami history. As Lehtola has done, a growing body of research has strived to 'flip the lens' back to overshadowed photographic practices (Pedri-Spade 2016). By grounding photography within indigenous peoples' creative practices, the picture postcards have become an expression of agency that indigenous communities use, and have used, to achieve different goals linked to confronting and countering colonialism and its ongoing legacy. 'Our pictures are good medicine,' anthropologist Celeste Pedri-Spade recently expressed in an article on the role of historical photographs in her Anishinabe community in Ontario in Canada (Petri-Spade 2016). For non-Saami or non-indigenous community members, encounters with ethnographic photographs and picture postcards from our collective past may also have important effects.

### **Bibliography**


Ulvestad, Ivar. 2005. *Norske Postkort. Kulturhistorie og samleobjekter*. Oslo: N.W. Damm & Søn.


**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

### **Chapter 7 The Indigenous Voice in Majority Media. South Saami Representations in Norwegian Regional Press 1880–1990**

#### **Asbjørn Kolberg**

**Abstract** This chapter presents a study of how South Saami people and Saami affairs are represented in central Norwegian regional newspapers from around 1880 to 1990. Papers published in Steinkjer, the regional capital of Nord-Trøndelag County, constitute the bulk of the material. To what extent and how are Saami affairs represented in the newspapers? How do the papers represent South Saami identity? How and why do these representations change and to what extent and how are South Saami voices represented? The predominant topics are Reindeer herding, Saami politics, Education and language, History and culture. The period of my study coincides with the culmination and, from around 1970, the gradual elimination of the Norwegian assimilation policy practised on the Saami population. Social Darwinist or racial biological views are practically non-existent in my material, although quite common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries topographical literature about the Saami. There are examples of stereotyping and othering, mostly before the 1960s, but in general, the regional newspapers in my study take a respectful interest in Saami affairs, although Saami affairs do not make up a substantial part of the newspaper content until the 1970s.

**Iktedimmieh** Daate tjaalege aktem goerehtimmiem åehpiedahta guktie lea åarjelsaemiej jïh saemien aamhtesi bïjre tjaalasovveme vihkeles nöörjen regijonaale plaerine jaepiej 1880–1990. Tjaalegh mah leah bæjhkoehtamme plaerine Stïentjesne, dajven åejviestaare Noerhte-Trööndelagen fylhkesne, leah åejviebielie materijaaleste. Mennie mieresne jïh guktie saemien aamhtesi bïjre tjaaleme plaerine? Guktie plaerieh dam åarjelsaemien identiteetem åehpiedehtieh? Guktie jïh man åvteste daah åehpiedehtemh jarkesieh, jïh mennie mieresne jïh guktie åarjelsaemien gïelh våajnoes dorjesovveme? Doh aamhtesh mej bïjre jeenjemes tjaelieh leah båatsoe, saemien politihke, ööhpehtimmie jïh gïele, histovrije jïh kultuvre. Manne lim studente don baelien gosse ïedtje lij læsseneminie, jïh ovrehte 1970 raejeste dïhte

A. Kolberg (B)

© The Author(s) 2019

This chapter is an elaboration of an article published in the Norwegian journal *Heimen* (Kolberg in *Heimen*, 2018).

The Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway e-mail: asbjorn.kolberg@nord.no

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_7

ånnetji ånnetji nåhkehtimmie nöörjen assimilasjovnepolitihkeste lissiehtamme dejtie saemien årroejidie. Sosijaaledarwinisteles jallh biologeles vuajnoeh naelien bïjre eah mov materijaalesne gååvnesh gænnah, men lea naa sïejhme topografeles lidteratuvresne saemiej bïjre 1800-låhkoen raejeste jïh aareh 20. tjuetiejaepien raajan. Vuesiehtimmieh gååvnesieh stereotypijde jïh jeatjabidie, jeenjemes 1960-låhkoen åvtelen, men mov goerehtimmesne gujht regijovnaale plaerieh aktem eensi ïedtjem utnieh saemien aamhtesidie, jalhts saemien aamhtesh eah leah akte stoerre bielie plaerien sisvegistie 1970-låhkoen.

### **7.1 Introduction**

When the small market town of Levanger in central Norway celebrated its millennium in 2011, there was no mention of the Saami people in the official documents or the official events. Even the publication describing the traditional winter market fails to mention a single word about the Saami (Eliassen et al. 2007). This is quite odd as the Saami were significant participants in the market (documented by, e.g. Hammond 1787; Allingham 1807; Trapness 2002). In my view, this is a striking example of how time and again Saami presence has been obscured in regional and national history throughout the twentieth century, even till this day.

Levanger is one of the municipalities in the Innherred region of Trøndelag county. Trøndelag is in the southernmost part of Saepmie, the traditional Saami homeland. For the past century, Saami presence has not been very visible in the Innherred municipalities even though all have reindeer grazing districts. Growing up in Levanger in the 1960s, I frequently came across herds of reindeer on my skiing trips in the hills east of town. I knew that the Saami owned the reindeer, but I did not know who the reindeer herders were and where they lived. As a boy, I had the idea that the local Saami did not express their 'Saaminess' the way the Saami of the far north did. My idea of Saami culture was based on mass media representations of the Saami, e.g. in films like *Same Jakki* (1957) and *Laila* (1958); both set in Finnmark, in the very north.1

Was Saami presence generally as invisible in my county as I experienced it to be in my hometown? The answer is that the presence was indeed more significant in some municipalities, especially along the Swedish border, but my majority mindset was not calibrated to perceive this Saami presence. Even if I *saw* the reindeer and the reindeer fences, I did not realize the significance of Saami culture and history in my county. In this respect, I think I can speak for many of my generation.

It is interesting, then, that the first national congress of the Saami people took place in our regional capital, Trondheim, 100 years ago from 6 to 9 February 1917. The key participants in the meeting were all from the South Saami area, as were also most of the delegates. This means that though being relatively few in number,

<sup>1</sup>Even though *Same Jakki* was expressively made to counterbalance the exotic image of the Saami, there is still a subtext of "romantic primitivism" according to Christensen (2012, p. 14).

the South Saami played a significant role in the early political manifestation of the Saami—in a context of assimilation policy, national restriction of reindeer herding and a Social Darwinist view of the Saami as an inferior people (Lundmark 2008; Fjellheim 2012; Jordheim 2015, 34–41; Salvesen 2017). The Trondheim newspapers and the national press covered the congress (Lien 2011). What about the small-town papers of the Innherred region? Did they cover the 1917 congress? Did they give any space at all to Saami affairs before and after the meeting? In fact, they did, but the scope and significance vary throughout the century.

In this chapter, I will seek to answer the following questions: To what extent and *how* are Saami people and Saami affairs represented in the regional newspapers of Innherred from the latter part of the nineteenth century until 1990? To what extent and how are the Saami voices represented? Furthermore, I will discuss how (South) Saami identity has been constituted, negotiated and represented in the various newspaper texts of my research. As a backdrop, I have also analysed texts that represent what I choose to call the Social Darwinist influenced discourse of racial biology around 1900; e.g. contemporary topographical literature presenting the Saami people (Helland 1899; Nielsen 1883, 1900, 1909; Nissen 1914). Thus, another question I ask is whether there is any echo of this racial biological discourse in the local/regional newspapers of my study.

### **7.2 Material and Method**

The great bulk of my material comprises texts from the regional newspaper *Trønder*-*Avisa* (*TA*) and its predecessors published in Steinkjer and Levanger from the latter part of the nineteenth century to 1990.2 Over the past decades, *TA* has become the largest newspaper in Nord-Trøndelag County and is generally considered to serve as a mouthpiece for farming interests.<sup>3</sup>

The only Saami newspaper published in the South Saami region of Norway in the period, *Waren Sardne* (1910–13 and 1922–27) played an important role in the political manifestation of the Saami in the early twentieth century. The need for a Saami newspaper is mentioned in the agenda of the early Saami meetings referred to in my material, but only once have I registered that any of the majority papers refer

<sup>2</sup>*Indherreds*-*Posten* (1862–1924), *Nordenfjeldsk Tidende* (1874–1921), *Indtrøndelagen* (1900–1940), *Indherred* (1910–1919) which changed its name to *Nord*-*Trøndelag* in 1919. In 1922, it was merged with *Nordenfjeldsk Tidende*; named *Nord*-*Trøndelag og Nordenfjeldsk Tidende*. All the papers are predecessors of *Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen*, established in 1940, and which changed its name to *Trønder*-*Avisa* in 1952.

<sup>3</sup>Politically, all the papers have represented the Norwegian Liberal Party (Venstre) or offshoots of the liberal party. Thus from 1920, *Nord*-*Trøndelag* represented the agrarian Centre Party (Bondepartiet/Senterpartiet). Until 1996, *TA* had political editors for both Venstre and Senterpartiet.

to *Waren Sardne* as a news source.<sup>4</sup> This indicates how difficult it could be for Saami media to have a voice in society through their own channels.

I have registered the occurrence of Saami-related news items, articles, interviews and other texts in the newspapers and studied the texts from the perspective of critical text analysis and media history. My approach is a combination of quantitative and qualitative contents analysis.5 I have quantified the various texts according to genre and topics and analysed how the texts reflect opinion and attitudes, perspective and bias throughout the period studied. As my timespan is quite long, the material has given me the opportunity to observe changing trends in how the newspapers cover Saami affairs, not least in the light of the changing majority policy for the Saami in the period covered.

The text material is analysed in the light of contemporary social, cultural and political discourses and genre conventions. I have taken into consideration the development of Norwegian newspapers from the 1880s until the contemporary time to avoid the obvious pitfall of reading the old newspapers solely through the glasses of our own time. Genre conventions are not static. Nonetheless, the genres as we know them in present-day Norwegian newspapers seem to find their main characteristics by the end of the 1930s (Ottosen 2010, 153–173). In the next two sections, I will present previous research on Saami media representations and then account briefly for how I have categorized and systematized my material according to genres and topics.

### **7.3 Previous Research**

There are a few studies on Saami media. Skogerbø (2003) analyses the coverage of Saami affairs in national and regional news media during two given weeks in 1999. In her conclusion, she states that the Norwegian media tend to represent Saami affairs in a stereotypical or conflict-oriented way (Skogerbø 2003, 395). Ijäs (2012, 2015) has explored the coverage of news stories with a Saami focus in the northern Norwegian regional paper *Nordlys* (Tromsø) and the national TV daily news broadcast *Dagsrevyen* (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) during the period 1970–2000. He shows how the Saami, from being almost invisible in *Nordlys* until the end of the 70s, became significantly more visible before and after the so-called Alta conflict.6 After this event, the number of Saami news items dropped again. However, in the wake of the conflict, *Nordlys* took a greater interest in matters relating to Saami culture and society (Ijäs 2015, 91).

<sup>4</sup>In *Inntrøndelagen* 21/01/1927, there is a short news item about a young reindeer herder found frozen to death in the mountains. The source referred to is *Waren Sardne*.

<sup>5</sup>Although Krippendorff (2004, 16) disputes the distinction between quantitative and qualitative content analysis as all reading of texts is ultimately qualitative, I use the distinction to show how the occurrence of Saami-related texts changes throughout the period which I have studied.

<sup>6</sup>The political struggle against the building of the hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway (Minde 2008, 67–68; Kent 2014, 67–68).

Pietikäinen (2003) has conducted a critical discourse analysis of Saami representations in the Finnish national newspaper *Helsingin Sanomat* in the period 1985–1993. Critical discourse analysis is also Anna-Lill Ledman's main approach in her doctoral dissertation of 2012 in which she studies how Saami women are represented in the Swedish and Saami press. Lien and Stenhammer (2017) discuss how minorities and indigenous people are represented in Norwegian media from 1900 to WWII. Their time span is relatively long, in that way partly concurrent with my study. Even though the Saami are somewhat overshadowed by other minorities in their study, the comparative perspective is important. The same is the case for Eide and Simonsen (2007) who study how Norwegian newspapers cover minorities (mainly Jews, Romani, Roma, Finns and Saami) in the period 1902–2002. Some of the findings from these studies coincide with mine, but there are also differences.

Virtually, nothing has been written about South Saami representations in the news media. Certainly, Lars Lien has studied how the 'Trøndelag press' cover the first national congress of the Saami in 1917 and his results shed some light on some of the questions I ask. However, in Lien's work, 'Trøndelag press' means the major newspapers of Trøndelag which were all published in Trondheim.<sup>7</sup> The small-town papers are not included. A few of these papers are included in Skogerbø's survey (2003), among them *Trønder*-*Avisa*, Steinkjer, one of the main sources in my study. I will return to some of the studies mentioned above in the concluding parts of my chapter. The objective of my project is to show how the Innherred press covers Saami affairs.

### **7.4 Genres and Topics**

Throughout the period as a whole, texts on Saami or Saami-related issues are not prevalent in the papers I have studied. There are about 10 texts per year on average.8 However, the number of texts varies to a high degree from one period to the next depending on the general media interest in Saami affairs. The relatively high number of texts in 1917 and 1919 reflects the Saami meetings and Saami political issues in the wake of these meetings. Likewise, around 1980, there is a dramatic increase in the number of texts following the political turmoil connected to the so-called Alta conflict, a turning point for Saami political rights in Norway (see Table 7.1).<sup>9</sup>

As the total number of texts is quite high, I have categorized them according to genre and topic. I have found it beneficial to use the traditional classification into

<sup>7</sup>Trøndelag is the central Norwegian region; as of 2018, also the name of the new county replacing the two counties of Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag after they merged.

<sup>8</sup>As a comparison, according to Pietikäinen (2003, 592), there were less than six news items per year on average in *Helsingin Sanomat* 1985–1993. Ijäs (2015) shows much higher figures for *Nordlys* 1970–2000; not surprisingly, as *Nordlys* is a major newspaper in Troms county with a relatively large Saami population.

<sup>9</sup>The political struggle against the building of the hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway (Minde 2008, 67–68; Kent 2014, 67–68).


**Table 7.1** Overview of topics (number of texts distributed along periodical timeline)

This table gives an indication of how the various texts/topics are distributed throughout the period covered by my study. I have included criminal cases and curiosities as categories, as well as texts significantly characterized by othering and/or exoticizing (cf. similar table in Eide and Simonsen 2007, 30). The high number of texts in the period stretching from 1967 to 1990 is due to the media focus on the Alta conflict, protests against an artillery range in a reindeer grazing area at Fosen, the first Saami parliament election and, not least, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, which had serious impact on South Saami reindeer herding. The relatively high number in the Criminal cases category 1901–21 is mainly due to the Nordfjell case and the Finn-Paal case (The Nordfjell case: A reindeer owner was convicted for not looking after his own herd according to the law and for shooting reindeer belonging to others. The Finn-Paal case: The Saami Finn-Paal was found dead under suspicious conditions. A Swedish national was charged with murder)

the following three main genre groups (Ottosen 2010, 153–154): *News*, *Opinion* and *Feature*. <sup>10</sup> Of the 990 texts in my material, 70% can be classified as *News*, 10% as belonging to the *Opinion* category and around 20% can be classified as *Feature* texts. Obviously, there are no clear borders between the genres, so the division is based on my personal judgement in the light of historical conventions. Changing objectivity norms in journalism clearly challenge the division between news and opinion, especially in the oldest newspapers.

Furthermore, I have chosen to categorize the texts into four main topics, with the proportion of the various topics in percentage of the total number of texts:


<sup>10</sup>News: from small news items to extensive news stories; Opinion: editorials, commentaries, letters to the editor, etc.; Feature: feature articles, in-depth interviews, etc.

Here again, there are clearly overlapping categories. A news report from a Saami meeting may belong to both the reindeer herding category and the Saami politics category. When in doubt, I have used the historical context and editorial angle as selection criteria. Most of the texts in my material are about matters related to the South Saami area but a few are about Saami affairs in other parts of Fennoscandia.

Reindeer herding is an oft-recurring topic all through the period of my study. Saami politics is an important topic in the decade from 1910 to 1920 and then, it turns up again around 1960 in the wake of the so-called Saami Committee Recommendation 195911 (Minde 2003, 77). Throughout the twentieth century, another recurring topic was the struggle to establish a South Saami school. The status of the South Saami language is closely tied to the education topic. This is reflected in several newspaper texts, from the Saami meeting in 1911 to the founding of the South Saami School in Snåsa in 1968 and later. The fourth category, History and Culture, is relatively comprehensive, from popular education articles about South Saami history and culture to sheer curiosities, i.e. news highlighting Saami life as peculiar and strange. Later in the chapter, I will go more deeply into the content, language and meaning of the texts of the four topic areas. Let us first have a look at the ethnonyms used to designate the Saami people throughout history, and how the ethnonym topic is referred to in some of the newspapers as a political issue.

### **7.5 Lap, Finn or Saami?**

The way a majority population names a minority reflects power and attitudes. Throughout history, the Saami population has been called Finns, Laps, even Finlaps (*Finlapper*), often in a derogatory way. The ethnonym question arises early as an important political issue among the Saami. Their own name is Saemie/Sámi. At the Saami meeting in Steinkjer in 1911, there is a 'lively discussion' about the 'Finn name' according to *Indtrøndelagen.*<sup>12</sup> The majority voted in favour of changing the subtitle of *Waren Sardne* from 'Finnernes organ' (The Finns' Voice) to 'Samernes organ' (The Saami's Voice). A few days later, the discussion is referred to in *Ranens Tidende*<sup>13</sup> under the headline 'The name is not good enough'. The headline as well as the body text is quite sarcastic, which is not the case for *Indtrøndelagen*'s report, probably reflecting a different editorial policy.

Some years later, in 1929, the folklorist Nils Lagli criticizes the increasing use of the term 'Saami'. In his article 'Lapper eller samer' (Laps or Saami) in *Nordlands*

<sup>11</sup>A Committee, appointed by the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget); the committee's mandate was to report on the so-called "Saami question". The report has been seen as a turning point in Norwegian policies aimed at the Saami (Sametinget 2017; Minde 2003).

<sup>12</sup>*Indtrøndelagen* 10/3/1911. «Lappemøtet» (The Lap Meeting).

<sup>13</sup>*Ranens Tidende* 15/3/1911 (Hemnesberget, Nordland county): «Navnet ikke fint nok» (Name not good enough).

*Avis*<sup>14</sup> he denounces this usage as a matter of fashion and argues historically and 'scientifically' for the Lap ethnonym. Nils Lagli represents the majority population. It is obvious that the ethnonym question stirs up strong emotions, not only among the Saami. The question appears several times in my material. At the Saami national congress in Trondheim in 1921, a resolution is passed demanding the legal right to the Saami ethnonym. Both *Indtrøndelagen* and*Nord*-*Trøndelag*<sup>15</sup> print news items about the resolution stating that this has great significance for the Saami. Both papers, as well as*Indhereds*-*Posten,*start to use the Saami ethnonym more and more throughout the 1920s (see Fig. 7.1). By the late 1930s, the Lap or Finn ethnonym is used very rarely in my main material.

*South Saami* as an ethnonym does not seem to be common until the 1950s or 60s.16 The first time I find it in my newspaper material is in 1960.17 However, a book about the Saami people published in Oslo in 1948 states that the initiative for a Saami national organization came from 'the so-called "South-Saami"' (Guttormsen 1948, 70). The wording and the use of quotation marks indicate that the reading public in Norway did not yet commonly know the 'South Saami' term. In any case, the use of the South Saami ethnonym is clearly an important factor when it comes to highlighting the Saami presence in the southern part of Saepmie.

**Fig. 7.1** Facsimile from *Indherred*, 20 March 1919: The heading of the interview with Sanna Jonassen showing an early example of the use of the Saami ethnonym. Note the spelling of 'Samehfolket' (the Saami people). At the time, the word 'same' was not included in Norwegian encyclopedias and dictionaries, and hence no official Norwegian spelling of the term Saami, commonly spelt 'same'. It is interesting that in the depicted headline the word 'Sameh' with the h-ending seems to correspond with the plural form in South Saami: 'saemieh'

<sup>14</sup>Nils Lagli: «Lapper eller samer» (Laps or Saami), *Nordlands Avis* 20/08/1929.

<sup>15</sup>Both papers print news items about the resolution 2/7/1921.

<sup>16</sup>My oldest registration of South Saami used as an ethnonym is in Gustaf von Dübens: *Om Lappland och Lapparne* [About Lapland and the Laps) where he uses the term 'Syd-lapparne' [the south-Laps] (1873, 442–443).

<sup>17</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 19/12/1960.

### **7.6 Majority Voices Speaking About or for the Saami**

Only a very few of the texts I have studied can be said to reflect the Saami voice, in the sense that a member of the Saami community is the writer. In quite a few texts, though, we can see that Saami voices are referred to or reported in a relatively objective way. To put it simply, the great bulk of the texts are about Saami affairs in various ways, while some also speak *for* the Saami. Especially by the 1970s, journalists try to see things from a Saami perspective. In the texts from around 1900 until the 1940s, I have found instances of patronizing attitudes, othering and texts that represent Saami people as exotic, although most texts seem to abide to the current ideals of objectivity. In this and the following sections, I will show how this picture varies throughout the period I have studied, depending on genre, topic and context. The text excerpts used to illustrate my findings have been translated from Norwegian into English. I use the ethnonym Finn, Lap or Sami as used in the source quoted.

### *7.6.1 Reindeer Herding*

In 1875, a news story in *Indherreds*-*Posten* reflects on the clash of interests between local farmers and the Saami.<sup>18</sup> What makes the story interesting is that the conflict described in the text is solved through negotiation and goodwill on both sides. We read about a Saami family that has moved with their reindeer herd to a mountain area near Trondheim because of a problem with wolves in the area they left. A local farmer visits the Saami couple to request compensation for damages done to his haystacks by the reindeer. After some disagreement, the Saami wife intervenes with some 'gentle words' and it all ends with an amicable settlement. Although presented as a news story, to a modern reader it appears more as a moral anecdote. The Saami are represented as friendly and hospitable, the underlying message is that conflicts can be solved through dialogue and appropriate compensation.

Is this a typical representation of the relationship between Saami and farmers in the regional press towards the end of the nineteenth century? The expanding farming activities needed more grazing land and there is increasing tension between reindeer herders and farmers by the end of the nineteenth century, not least in the South Saami area (Fjellheim 2012; Salvesen 2017, 43). In 1883, laws were passed in Norway and Sweden to control and restrict reindeer herding in favour of farmers' needs (the socalled *Felleslappeloven*, the Common Lap Act). The Act introduced state-controlled reindeer grazing districts and corporative responsibility for grazing damage. It made it virtually impossible to reach out-of-court settlements, like the one we can read about in the 1875 text (Jernsletten 1998, 8–10).

As many as one-third of the texts in my material are about reindeer herding in some way or another. Some are about the conflict of interests between farming and

<sup>18</sup>*Indherreds*-*Posten* 28/5/1875: «Fjeldfinnerne ved Trondhjem» [The mountain Laps near Trondheim]. The text was originally printed in *Trondhjems Stiftsavis.*

reindeer herders; others are about problems connected to the big carnivores. A typical example is the following short news item from 1917: 'The wolf has recently visited Nikolaus Flaatefjeld's reindeer herd in Spandfjeldet […] The Laps immediately had to start moving the herd and found 8 killed reindeer.'19 In these few words, we are told about the harsh realities the reindeer herders faced. In my material, the carnivore problems dominate the reindeer herding category until the 1970s, then other threats receive more attention for example, hydropower developments and artillery ranges. The clash of interests between agriculture and reindeer husbandry is also represented, although relatively few texts in my material are about local conflicts.

Certainly, some texts indicate a clash of interests for example, this front-page story in 1957: 'The Saami tore down 300 metres of the sheep farmers' fences in Verdal.' In the subheading and body text, however, it appears that it was not obvious that the complaining sheep farmers had a legal right to put up the fences in the first place. At any rate, the Saami are blamed for their actions.

The Saami Committee's report in 1959 recommended a revitalization of Saami language and culture, and a strengthening of traditional Saami trade and livelihood. In a written statement in 1960, The County Farming Association20 is critical to some of the views in the report. In *Trønder*-*Avisa* their statement is reported across four columns on the editorial page: 'Reindeer herding interests must not prevent good utilization of the mountain pastures.'<sup>21</sup> The news item has a clear farming perspective, not surprising taking into account that *TA*, until 1996, was partly a political organ for Senterpartiet (the agrarian party). The following year a representative of the reindeer herders, Else Jåma, writes a letter to the editor criticizing the Farming Association's proposal to expand the sheep pastures at the expense of the reindeer pastures.22 Does her letter indicate that the Saami need to speak out themselves to be heard in the majority media, in this case in a newspaper that traditionally has been seen as a mouthpiece for farming interests?

Still, judging from my material, the press generally represents reindeer herding as something that naturally belongs in the region, and that the main threats are carnivores, hydropower plant construction and other infrastructure issues, not the grazing interests of farmers. In fact, in 1945, a front-page article states that reindeer herding is a commercial interest of great importance to Nord-Trøndelag County.<sup>23</sup>

### *7.6.2 Saami Politics*

The backdrop for the political manifestation among the Saami around 1900 was the past 100 years of expanding farming settlements on Saami land, followed by

<sup>19</sup>*Indtrøndelagen* 6/3/1917.

<sup>20</sup>Nord-Trøndelag Landbruksselskap.

<sup>21</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 27/6/1960.

<sup>22</sup>Elsa Jåma: «Skal reinbeitene tas til beiter for sau?», *Trønder*-*Avisa* 26/10/1961.

<sup>23</sup>*Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen* 17/1/1945.

laws and regulations restricting reindeer herding and the official assimilation policy that threatened to eradicate Saami culture and language (Lundmark 2008; Fjellheim 2012). The assimilation policy was largely the effect of administrative measures, based on political consensus among majority politicians (Salvesen 2017, 47–48). However, it is possible to trace critical voices in the press. In my material, the first instance is in 1906 in the news item 'The Laps complain about their "fellow citizens"' (the last phrase is clearly ironic). The text is about Ole Thomassen who has made the journey to Kristiania (Oslo) on behalf of the 'Mountain Laps' to plead the cause of the Saami. The background is the unreasonable compensation legislation in the Reindeer Herding Acts (1883 and 1897) that threatens to impoverish the Saami in dramatic ways. Thomassen's statements are reported: 'We are a homeless people. Still, we are the rightful owners of the land they now, little by little, have taken away from us.'<sup>24</sup> It is the first instance of a Saami voice quoted in my material. A similar statement at the Saami meeting in Namsos 1913 is given a rather patronizing comment by a journalist for *Trondhjems Adresseavis* (Trondheim) as shown below. Although *Indtrøndelagen* a decade later prints an article by the journalist Ellen Lie of *Dagsposten* stating that 'the nomadic people' are treated badly in our 'common fatherland',25 it is not until the 1960s and later that critical views on the Norwegian state's Saami policy are expressed in plain words by the editor.26

A news report on a Saami meeting is printed in 1909. In the text, we can read about all the issues that are raised in the later meetings of the early 1900s: The newspaper issue, the reindeer pasture issue and the school issue. The newspapers in my study have quite extensive reports from the other meetings held in Nord-Trøndelag County, Steinkjer 1911, Namsos 1913 and Steinkjer 1919. The issues mentioned are also among the focal points of the first national Saami congress in Trondheim in 1917 (Borgen 1997). The longest and most extensive reports are from the meeting in Namsos in 1913. The reports 'Lap and Farmer' 1 and 2 appear in two issues of *Indherreds*-*Posten*, copied from *Trondhjems Adresseavis.*<sup>27</sup> The newspaper reports are basically unbiased and fair, although there is a tendency to othering in the latter. Part 1 is mainly a rendering of Jon Eliassen's opening speech. In part 2, the discussion following the speech is reported. Here, we can trace a patronizing tone, as in the following remark: 'Be that as it may, whether or not we Norwegians agree with the Laps that they are the aboriginal people of this country. They believe it themselves. Belief is the main thing here. And based on this belief the topic is repeated again and again.'<sup>28</sup> Then, Reindeer Inspector Nissen's speech is reported.29 As a reader, I am left with the impression that Nissen represents common sense and

<sup>24</sup>*Indtrøndelagen* 19/2/1906.

<sup>25«</sup>Dramaet i Snaasen-fjeldene» [The Drama in the Snåsa Mountains] (About the Finn-Paal-case), *Indtrøndelagen* 11/12/1919.

<sup>26</sup>E.g. in *TA*'s leading article 10/7/1967 (see Epilogue).

<sup>27</sup>*Indhereds*-*Posten* 17/2 and 19/2/1913: «Lap og bumand».

<sup>28</sup>*Trondhjems Adresseavis* 16/2/1913 and *Indhereds*-*Posten* 19/2/1913.

<sup>29</sup>Nils Kristian Nissen (1879–1968) was appointed Reindeer Herding Inspector by the government in 1912.

moderation compared to the somewhat infantile and single-minded commitment of the Saami.

The first national Saami congress in Trondheim in 1917 is to a lesser degree covered in the regional papers of Nord-Trøndelag. There are a few short news items, but no news stories of any length in the papers in my study. However, the national congress is covered quite extensively in the Trondheim papers and the national press (Lien 2011). That the Trondheim congress receives relatively little attention in the papers of the neighbouring county might be due to their regional profile. In addition, of course, comes the fact that the smaller newspapers could not afford special correspondents in the same way as today. The solution was widespread copying from other newspapers, as we see in the case of the above-mentioned 'Lap and Farmer' reports. Nonetheless, this copy practice is also part of the news selection process of the editorial staff and subsequently, the *agenda*-*setting* of the newspaper.

### *7.6.3 Education and Language*

The wish for a public Saami School in the South Saami area appears for the first time in my material in 1909.<sup>30</sup> The school question occurs quite frequently in the newspaper texts until 1921, then more sporadically through the 1940s and 50s, until it becomes a more pronounced issue again in the 1960s, until the opening of the South Saami School in Snåsa in 1968. During the 1970s, the Snåsa school is given a fairly high degree of space, e.g. concerning new buildings, South Saami school books and so on.

The first Saami School in Southern Saepmie was in fact established as early as 1910. Haviken Boarding School for Lap Children was founded in Namsos by two Christian organizations, one of which was the so-called Finn (Saami) Mission.31 The language of tuition was Norwegian (the children were not supposed to speak their Saami language). The school was run until 1951 when the first state boarding school for South Saami children was opened in Hattfjelldal. According to *Indtrøndelagen*'s report from the 1917 meeting, Sanna and Anton Jonassen criticized the Haviken school for bad hygiene and for not listening to the Saami representatives in the school supervisory committee.<sup>32</sup> The Jonassen couple was prominent members of the South Saami community actively participating in the early Saami political manifestation. They wanted a state-funded boarding school for Saami children, with as many Saami teachers as possible. Even if the language of tuition had to be Norwegian (at this point there was not yet an official written norm of South Saami), Saami should be maintained (implicitly: as an oral language), as Sanna Jonassen puts it in an interview with *Indherred* in 1919. I will return to this interview in another context later.

<sup>30</sup>In the news report «Lappernes krav» [The Demands of the Laps], *Indhereds*-*Posten* 10/12/1909.

<sup>31</sup>Trondhjems Indremisjonsforenig (Home Mission Society) and the Finn Mission (a national evangelism organization dedicated to work for and by the Saami).

<sup>32«</sup>Lappeskolen i Haviken», [The Lap school in Haviken], *Indtrøndelagen* 15/2/1917.

As we can see from the sources, there is a strong wish for a state school. In 1921, the topic is raised again in the regional papers. *Indtrøndelagen* gives a brief historic account of the 'School Question' and says that although there is a mission school in Haviken, the Saami in our region want to be treated on equal terms with the Saami in Finnmark (in the far north) and the Norwegians and 'acquire an education in public/state schools and not through gifts of grace'.33 Later, the same year *Nord*-*Trøndelag* launches Snåsa as the location for a public Saami school by 1924.<sup>34</sup> More specifically, that is what the headline states, in the body text we find a more modified version. The county director of education, Thomassen, says that it is likely that the school will be located in Snåsa because of the soon-to-be-opened new railway line. In retrospect, we can certainly see that this was way too optimistic. It took almost 45 years until the plans were implemented and Åarjel-saemiej skuvle, the South Saami School, was established in 1968. Thomassen emphasizes the need for a Saami School in Trøndelag. As most of the children live in nomadic families, it is difficult to keep them in ordinary schools. He also says that in spite of their way of life, the 'Trønder-Saami' has 'reached an intellectual level that amazes me, and they are strongly distinguished by a joyous urge for enlightenment.' The language question is also mentioned. According to Thomassen, it has to be Norwegian because the 'Trønder-Saami' do not have their own written language, and they do not understand 'Finnmark-Saami' (i.e. North Saami). However, he adds that a couple of the employees should know the 'Trønder-Saami language' in order to establish the best possible contact with the children.35

There was a certain disagreement about the language question. At the 1917 congress, Elsa Laula Renberg, one of the initiators of the meeting, spoke about the importance of Saami in school. The other prominent Saami politician and initiator, Daniel Mortenson, pointed out that Saami children should acquire their education in the public folk schools and learn Norwegian; Saami had to be the second priority (Borgen 1997, 64). Not until the establishment of the South Saami School in Snåsa in 1968 is South Saami offered as a school subject. It was the result of the process, mainly in the 1950s and 60s, of developing a written standard for the South Saami language. The key people in this process were Professor Knut Bergsland, teacher Ella Holm Bull and the linguist Gustav Hasselbrink (Sweden). Several of the newspaper texts from the time of the opening of the South Saami school in 1968 and the following decade are about the language topic, in-service courses for South Saami teachers and the development of learning material in South Saami. The coverage is relatively wide and has a positive editorial angle, partly also connected to the development of the South Saami Museum and Cultural Centre at Snåsa, *Saemien Sijte*, which started as a cultural society in 1964.36

<sup>33«…</sup>faa sin undervisning gjennem statsskoler og ikke gjennem naadegaver», «Skolespørsmålet for lapperne», *Indtrøndelagen* 25/6/1921.

<sup>34«</sup>Sameskolen for Trøndelag skal bygges på Sem i Snåsa», *Nord*-*Trøndelag*, 22/10/1921. 35Ibid.

<sup>36</sup>Saemien Sijte's history: https://saemiensijte.no/om-saemien-sijte/historikk/.

### *7.6.4 History, Culture—and Curiosities*

Regional (South) Saami culture and history is the topic in quite a few newspaper articles, mostly feature articles, in particular through the 1950s and later. There are a few instances of othering, e.g. in the form of exoticizing, mostly in the first part of the period I have studied, from the late 1800s to around 1950. This tendency can be spotted in curiosity items copied from other papers, travelogues or fiction; the latter are often serialized.<sup>37</sup>

Some articles refer to the question of Saami presence in the Trøndelag counties in former times. In fact, one controversial topic is the immigration theory launched by the ethnologist and geographer, Professor Yngvar Nielsen (1891). He claimed that the Saami inhabited the areas south of Namdalen as late as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He based his theory on what he found to be an absence of Saami place names, tombs and places of religious worship, e.g. in the Røros area. Later historical and archaeological research has proven him wrong (Bergstøl and Reitan 2008; Norberg and Fossum 2011). In lawsuits brought before the courts as late as the 1990s, lawyers have held Nielsen's immigration theory against the Saami claim that they have used the land since time immemorial and thus have legal right on their side.

We can find echoes of the immigration theory in some of the historical articles in *Trønder*-*Avisa*. In 1954, there is an extensive feature article about Røyrvik municipality, an area with a solely Saami presence until the first farmers settled around 1800. The article states that the Saami arrived with their reindeer in the area in the seventeenth century. According to the article, the first people arrived in prehistoric times but the author does not connect these people to the Saami. The article has a clear farming perspective when it says that 'Røyrvik was the last mountain district between Trøndelag and Jämtland to be colonized.'38 There is no doubt that *colonize* is used in a positive sense in this context. The general impression is that the *TA* article is a tribute to the settlers, and 'the colonization that took place at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.'<sup>39</sup>

In 1981, the historian and Associate Professor Kjell Haarstad (the University of Trondheim) published a book about Saami migration in southern Norway. Haarstad claims that there are no written sources to prove that Nielsen's immigration theory is wrong. Sverre Fjellheim, Curator of *Saemien sijte*, writes a critical review of Haarstad's book in *TA.*<sup>40</sup> Haarstad responds a month later.<sup>41</sup> In 1984, there is a critical article on Haarstad's book by a local writer and historian.42 Apart from these

<sup>37</sup>An example is «Storjord», a family saga from Nordland by Andreas Haukland, *Nordenfjeldsk Tidende* 16/9/ 1901. In «Storjord» the Saami are characterized by heathenism, ecstasy and savagery (for similar myths about the Saami, see Hermanstrand, 2009, 182–183).

<sup>38</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 21/8/1954.

<sup>39</sup>Ibid.

<sup>40&</sup>quot;Haarstads vandringer i sørsamisk historie", *Trønder*-*Avisa* 28/11/1981.

<sup>41«</sup>Samiske vandringer i Trøndelag», Trønder-Avisa 23/12/1981.

<sup>42</sup>Bjørn Devik: «Apropos til 'Samiske vandringer i Sør-Norge'», 19/9/1984.

articles, there was no debate in *TA* about Haarstad's book, as far as I have been able to find. In 1985, however, a headline in *TA* states that the South Saami is not the indigenous people of Trøndelag. The article is referring to a lecture held by Haarstad at the Verdal Historical Society. The essence of the lecture was that the Saami have not been in Trøndelag for more than 300 years.43

In fact, already in 1972, there is an article in *TA* dealing with this apparently 'conventional wisdom' in the wake of Nielsen's theory. The vicar Kåre G. Rogstad, who dedicated much of his time to South Saami history, states that it is a misconception that the Saami came to the Trøndelag Mountains as late as in the 1600s. He bases his view on linguistics, written sources, mythology, place names and archaeological findings.<sup>44</sup> We can note the echo of the contemporary academic debate on the immigration theory, as Haarstad (1992) and the archaeologists Bergstøl and Reitan (2008) describe it in retrospect, although there are no references to this debate in Rogstad's article.

In the 1960s, there are a few feature articles and stories in *TA* revealing the Saami presence in former times. One of them, a narrative printed in 1963, even reveals a Saami presence along parts of the Trondheim fjord a couple of 100 years ago, unknown to most members of the majority population today.<sup>45</sup>

On the other hand, there are also articles in the regional newspapers where the Saami absence is striking, as in the following example. In 1936, *Nord*-*Trøndelag og Nordenfjeldsk Tidende* presents a double page feature about Namdalen, the northern part of Nord-Trøndelag county, based on a lecture by Adolf Ribsskog, a Steinkjer politician and headmaster. It might be relevant to mention that the lecture was held at a 'Namdal evening' in *Bondeungdomslaget*, the Agrarian Youth Association. The newspaper feature is about industry, geography and history. The Saami are not mentioned, not even in connection with Namsskogan and Røyrvik which had exclusively Saami settlements until around 1800.46 If nothing else, the feature article shows that Saami inclusion was not self-evident, in neither regional nor national historical contexts at the time.<sup>47</sup> Is it possible that this perspective has been passed on as a mindset until this very day? The ongoing debate about *Trøndelags historie* [The History of Trøndelag], published in 2005, bears witness to this. The history work has been criticized for obscuring Saami history in key parts of the text, even though the expressed intention was to include regional Saami history (Sem 2017).

The overall picture changes in the post-war period. In the 1960s and 70s, *TA* prints articles that can be characterized as genuine enlightenment of the people. Worth mentioning is the series of articles in 1976 by journalist Ola Hjulstad. The

<sup>43«</sup>Samene ikke urfolk i Trøndealg».

<sup>44</sup>K. G. Rogstad: «Samene til Trøndelagsfjella – truleg misoppfatning at dei kom hit på 1600 hundretalet», Trønder-Avisa 21/6/1972.

<sup>45«</sup>Pengesekken» (unsigned) [the Money Bag], *Trønder*-*Avisa*, 24/12/1963.

<sup>46«</sup>Et og annet om og fra Namdalen», *Nord*-*Trøndelag og Nordenfjelsk Tidende*, 18/6/1936.

<sup>47</sup>An illustrative example of the time is the Norwegian National Curriculum for Primary School (the Folk School) 1939. It reflects the contemporary conception of Norway as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society. There is no mention of Saami people or Saami culture. On the other hand, it says: "Our ancestors belonged to the Germanic tribe."

illustrated full-page articles, 15 in number, about the Saami community in Nord-Trøndelag, consist of reports and interviews with a pro-Saami perspective. A decade later, we find a number of articles in *TA* by Åke Jünge with an even more critical view on how the South Saami people have been treated by the majority of society throughout the past century.48

### **7.7 The Saami Voice**

Although the Saami voice cannot be said to be very significant in the Innherred newspapers in the decades following the 1917 Saami National Congress, there are instances where Saami voices come to the fore in various ways, also in contexts not relating to reindeer husbandry. A person who was not among the well-known Saami profiles of the time, Martin Sivertsen, writes a letter to the editor of *Indtrøndelagen* in 1918. In his letter, he reacts to the abusive language he had been exposed to by 'a well-behaved man'.<sup>49</sup> Sivertsen's letter bears witness to the fact that there indeed was a certain 'popular' antagonism against the Saami that normally was not clearly expressed in the newspapers. Sivertsen cannot understand that an adult male can express himself in such a childish manner and put his honour in doubt by abusing the Saami: 'Even though we belong to the poor nation, we are still a people who have emotions just like you Norwegians'. The letter has a seemingly humble tone but there is a clear ironic touch when he compares those who insult the Saami to 'talking automats'. He concludes by stating that in a way it is good 'that you can see and hear the volcanic elements that appear and how they are turned on and play their music'.<sup>50</sup>

In a later letter, Sivertsen refers to the school question discussed at the Saami meeting a few days earlier, 19–21 March 1919 (see Fig. 7.2).<sup>51</sup> His letter can be interpreted as an example of identity negotiation. 'Saami is our rightful national name,' he writes, 'Laps or Finns are merely borrowed names' [which] 'our brothers, the Norwegians' are tempted to use as nicknames.52 The letter concludes with an appeal for inclusion in the Norwegian community: 'We believe that our beloved Mother Norway also has a mother's heart for her stepchildren who live in the mountains so that they also can exist as nomads with their reindeer, which also have a national value for our country.'53 According to the 1910 Census, Martin Sivertsen is

<sup>48</sup>*TA* 1989. Åke Jünge, Social Geographer, a significant researcher on South Saami history in the Innherred region.

<sup>49«</sup>En talende automat» [A Talking Automat], *Indtrøndelagen* 22/11/1918. 50Ibid.

<sup>51«</sup>Statsskole for samerne» [State School for the Saami], *Indtrøndelagen* 26/3/1919.

<sup>52</sup>Ibid.

<sup>53</sup>Ibid.

**Fig. 7.2** Facsimile from *Indherred*, 15 April 1919. The photo shows some of the participants in the Saami meeting in Steinkjer 19–21 March. The person standing to the left is probably Martin Sivertsen. In the caption, the following are mentioned (my translation): First row No. 3 from the left: Nils Andersen (the chairman of the meeting). Second row No. 3 from the left: Miss Ellen Lie (Secretary). In the back row, from the left: Sanna Jonassen, Anton Jonassen and Lap Bailiff (lappefogd) Brede

a day worker living not far from Steinkjer town.54 His letter is about Saami identity and Saami rights, not primarily about reindeer husbandry or other Saami sustenance.

In 1919, the following headline appears in one of the Steinkjer papers (see Fig. 7.1): 'Sameh-folket' [The Saami People"]. The subheadings indicate the content: 'The School Issue—The Newspaper Issue—The Language—The Reindeer Pastures. A Fine Winter in the Mountains. A Talk with Sanna Jonassen'.55 The issues listed in the subheading are the important issues in all the Saami meetings also covered by the regional newspapers: Steinkjer 1911, Namsos 1913, Trondheim 1917 and Steinkjer 1919. Sanna Jonassen and her husband Anton Jonassen were both significant voices and initiators of the meetings. The 1919 interview with Sanna Jonassen is an early and unique instance of a Saami voice being referred to in an objective, respectful and

<sup>541910</sup> Census: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01036874001763.

<sup>55</sup>*Indherred* 20/3/1919.

empathic way. In that way, it anticipates several interviews and articles in *TA* some decades later. In 1957, there is a news report about a meeting in Steinkjer Women's Institute with Anna Dærga as the main speaker. The topic is Saami cooking and way of life but questions concerning the school topic and identity are also mentioned. In the article, Anna Dærga is presented as the 'Saami First Lady' of the county.<sup>56</sup>

However, in the 1970s, we see the great change when it comes to giving space to the Saami voice in the newspapers in my study; mainly in Ola Hjulstad's series about the Saami in Nord-Trøndelag County and later in the articles by Åke Jünge. Thus, it might be said that it is by the 1970s through around 1990 that *TA* really begins to present Saami culture and history in a tentative Saami perspective. The backdrop is increased attention for the Saami people's situation in the post-war period following a new period of Saami political manifestation. The Reindeer Herders Association of Norway (NRL) is founded in 1948, the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) appoints the Saami Committee in 1956, the same year the Nordic Saami Council is established and in 1968, the Norwegian Saami Association (*Norske Samers Riksforbund*) is founded. In the 1970s, we see an upsurge of important Saami and environmental issues nationally and locally, like the Alta conflict and the campaign against the artillery range at Fosen.

### **7.8 Negotiating Identity**

Saami identity as it is represented in the newspaper texts before the 1970s is mainly defined through the majority society's perspective, with a few exceptions, among them the interviews and the letters to the editor as mentioned above. What images of the Saami do we see, then, in the newspaper texts throughout the period of my study? A major image until the 1970s is the Saami as reindeer herders living in the outskirts of society. In addition, the Saami appear as highly competent mountain people and hunters. In 1893, a small news item begins like this: 'Two Bears shot by Lap Tomas Eliassen.'<sup>57</sup> The text is typical; the ethnonym is commonly used in relation to the Saami, especially in the oldest texts, more as a vocational designation than purely an ethnonym, parallel to 'farmer' or 'cotter', in line with the conventions of the premodern class society. There are also instances of 'Saami' used as a positive epithet, e.g. 'the well-known Saami […]'.58

The Saami as an able hunter is a recurring topic throughout the period of my study. As hunters of the big predators, the Saami play a positive role, also seen from the point of view of the farming community. Whether you are a sheep farmer or a reindeer herder, the predators are a collective threat. The following headline from

<sup>56«</sup>Vi foretrekker også en menneskeverdig tilværelse» [We also prefer a decent life], *Trønder*-*Avisa* 14/3/1957.

<sup>57</sup>*Indherreds*-*Posten* 16/8/1893.

<sup>58</sup>E.g. «Den kjente same Bengt Jåma», *Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen*, 10/5/1944, «Den kjente samen Peder Jåma» in *Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen*, 22/3/1945. «Den kjente reinsamen Nils O. Kappfjell», *TA* 19/1/1967.

1973 illustrates the point: 'Reindeer owners and sheep farmers joined in battle against eagle and lynx'.59

In Trøndelag, reindeer herding has been the significant cultural marker of the Saami. Consequently, the image of the Saami living in the outskirts is not surprising. At the same time, this positioning might be seen in metaphorical terms: As an expression of the fact that the Saami were almost made invisible as a result of the Norwegianization process of the first decades of the twentieth century. The problem of the traditional conception of the Saami as it appears in some of the newspaper texts is that it is reductionist and tends to promote stereotyping. That Saami people could have other occupations than reindeer herding hardly appears in the newspaper texts until the 1970s. Then the traditional picture of the hunter and reindeer herder is supplemented with Saami teachers, students, historians, politicians and so on. Alternatively, there may be a combination of the traditional livelihood and other occupations, as we see in an interview with Martha Jåma in 1984. In the text, it appears that she is trained as a teacher, works with Saami handicraft and reindeer herding as well as being the Reindeer Herders Association of Norway's representative in the Sami Rights Commission.<sup>60</sup> A decade earlier we can read about the reindeer owner Paul Jåma from Verdal studying tourism at the University College of Lillehammer.<sup>61</sup> In 1975, he and a fellow student present a report about tourism in the reindeer grazing districts.<sup>62</sup> An in-depth interview in 1977 with the young Arvid Jåma epitomizes the modern reindeer owner, with business plans, cost estimations and arguments in favour of the nutritional values of reindeer meat.63

In several of the texts, there are elements that can be interpreted as negotiations of identity, mainly through descriptions and reflections in texts written by the journalists or other representatives of the majority society. We see this clearly in the 1913 news report 'Lap og bumand' [Lap and Farmer] where the writer definitely shows empathy with the Saami, but they are still 'the others'. In Hjulstad's and Jünge's articles, the Saami is given a voice and the perspective is intentionally Saami. The Saami's own voices are expressed mainly in interviews and letters to the editor. Martin Sivertsen's two texts are particularly interesting. In his texts, we can see that identity is negotiated through both apparent humbleness and a critique of the majority society. In 1977, the question of Saami identity is made explicit in the interview with Arvid Jåma: 'I'm proud of my identity'.<sup>64</sup> The 71-year-old Sofie Stenfjell says in an interview in 1988: 'I'm a Saami, and I'm proud of my family and my people. We have managed to maintain ourselves where most Norwegians would have given up'.65

Identity negotiation can be seen in an interview with Lars Børgefjell in 1957. He accuses the legislators of having a stereotyped conception of the Saami: 'We

<sup>59</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 15/6/1973: «Reineiere og småfeholdere til felles kamp mot ørn og gaupe».

<sup>60</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 6/7/1984.

<sup>61</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 20/10/1973.

<sup>62</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 22/3/1975.

<sup>63</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 26/2/1977.

<sup>64</sup>Ibid.

<sup>65</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 26/3/1988.

Saami seem to be obliged to live in turf huts with an open fire […] as in days of old'.<sup>66</sup> He is criticizing the conservation regulations for the Børgefjell Mountains prohibiting the Saami from building cabins. He makes a point out of the fact that the reindeer herders are running a business like everybody else in the country, and that the Saami need to run their business in the best possible way based on the given conditions, which they know better than the lawmakers do. The future of reindeer husbandry and South Saami culture is also the topic in a feature article signed Ola (Hjulstad?) in 1968. He interviews Elsa and Anselm Joma at Høylandet. They miss the good administrative regulations and counselling for reindeer herding that the agricultural and forestry industries have. The couple point to the old Saami councils who negotiated in cases of disagreement. The article gives the impression of a trade at a crossroads between tradition and modernity. Joma claims that the reindeer business is in a critical situation.

Saami handicraft is the main topic of a double page in-depth interview with Anna and Lars Dunfjell in 1971.<sup>67</sup> The interview acts as an introduction to South Saami history and cultural traditions. The Dunfjells situate themselves geographically, culturally and historically as South Saami, thus contributing to complementing the uniform conception of Saami culture that many members of the majority society had, and possibly still have. A conception influenced by such films as *Laila* and *Same Jakki*, as mentioned in the introduction, and later even by the children's television series *Ante* (1975), all depicting North Saami reindeer herding communities in Finnmark County.

The interview with Martha Jåma in *TA* in 1984 is also about Saami identity. The Saami Rights Commission's Recommendation to the Storting<sup>68</sup> and Jåma's role in the Commission is the background of the interview. She makes a point of the fact that the Saami will now be legally defined as a people. Norway has not been leading the way when it comes to minority rights until now, Jåma says, however, if the Storting follows up the recommendation, Saami rights will be established by the Constitution. Earlier only the reindeer herders have been treated as a group in the legal system. 'After all, we in the reindeer trade only form a small part of the Saami people.' At the end of the interview, Jåma speaks about what it is like to be a Saami nowadays compared to earlier times. She thinks that in some fields:

[…] we in the South-Saami area have had it better than the North Saami. We have largely been reindeer herders and consequently had a strong cultural foundation and confidence from home. Moreover, in Nord-Trøndelag there have been few land disputes with farmers. We have large areas in relation to the population.<sup>69</sup>

Finally, Jåma points out the importance of carrying the Saami culture over to the next generations. The interview shows an authoritative, reflective and politically aware representative of the Saami people. It shows that Saami women take an active part

<sup>66</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 21/2/1957.

<sup>67</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 22/12/1971.

<sup>68</sup>The Norwegian Parliament.

<sup>69«–</sup> Først nå blir samene et eget folk etter norsk lov» [Only now the Saami are a people according to Norwegian law], *Trønder*-*Avisa* 6/7/1984.

in working life and community life. In that way, there is an interesting link in my material from Sanna Jonassen in 1919 and Martha Jåma in 1984, two interviews that can be seen as antitheses to the tendencies of othering or exoticizing, which are indeed also represented in some of the newspaper texts that I have studied.

### **7.9 The Saami as the Other**

In *Indherreds*-*Posten* 1891, we find an unsigned Letter to the Editor from Ogndal valley not far from Steinkjer.<sup>70</sup> The writer claims that the farmers feel almost powerless in relation to the 'Laps, who are lazing about in their huts, letting their reindeer ravage freely with the farmer's property.' An obviously generalizing statement, not on the part of the editor, to be sure, but it reveals an attitude that we can also see traces of in some of the later newspaper texts, though not as explicit as in the letter quoted above. The following example from 1937 is characteristic. A small news item with the heading '27 reindeer on tour to Oslo' tells about Georg Moe from Grong who has planned a tour with some reindeer: 'With Moe there will be five Saami.'<sup>71</sup> They are neither named nor given any address.

In a news item mentioned earlier, we can also see how the Saami are othered through language. In *TA*1957: 'The Saami tore down 300 metres of the sheep farmers' fences in Verdal.' Likewise, in a *TA* news report in 1963 stating that a '[h]erd of reindeer is making trouble on infields in Skogn.'<sup>72</sup> In the first example, we see that the ethnonym is used in the definite plural, which shows the typical negative generalizing frequently used about the 'others'. In the news report from 1963, the farmer affected is named and appears in a photo. The Saami only appear in the text as 'those who own the reindeer.' Thus, the report is clearly biased; the view of the reindeer owners is not given attention. For the farmer, the reindeer is obviously a problem but the way the case is presented turns the Saami as a group into suspects. They are neither named nor given a voice in the matter. In all the examples, the ethnonym is used in an objectifying way where the subtext implies a collectivizing of guilt.

In *Nord*-*Trøndelag* 1920, there is a news report from a trial against a Saami defendant.<sup>73</sup> The report is fairly objective and to the point but in the end, we can read the following: 'This case has the peculiarity of involving only Laps. And they have [as we know] their own way of expressing their thoughts and views. Also in that way the case is of special interest.' Thus, the report is concluded without any further clarification. On July 5 1948, the South Saami community was stricken by a tragic accident. A bus with delegates on their way home from the foundation meeting of

<sup>70</sup>*Indherreds*-*Posten* 23/12/1891: «Fra Ongdalen [sic]».

<sup>71</sup>*Nord Trøndelag og Nordenfjeldsk Tidende* 16/1/1937.

<sup>72</sup>Trønder-Avisa 29.4.1963 «Reinsdyrflokk er plagsom på innmark i Skogn».

<sup>73«</sup>Saken mot Peder Dærgafjell» [The Case against Peder Dærgafjell], *Nord*-*Trøndelag* 6/2/1920.

the NRL74 in Tromsø drove off the road in Dunderlandsdalen and 16 passengers lost their lives. The fatal accident made a deep impression on people all over the country and was broadly covered by the media. The day after the accident, *Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen* writes that the accident is 'doubly tragic because it is very seldom that these people of the mountains use the modern means of communication like cars and buses'.<sup>75</sup> Here, we see how the stereotypical conception of the Saami as 'children of nature' appears in an otherwise well-intentioned utterance. The othering is expressed both morphologically (*these* people) and semantically (seldom [using] modern means of communication). Thus, we see until around 1950, a patronizing tone in many texts that are otherwise seemingly pro-Saami; in other words, they are characterized by various degrees of othering.

In places where Saami and farmers have lived together as neighbours, or in other ways have had close contact, objectifying group generalizing should, of course, give way for individual identities. Some interesting evidence of this can be seen in relation to the so-called Finn-Paal case in Snåsa 1919. The Saami Finn-Paal was found dead in the forest, the case was investigated and a Swede was charged with murder. There had apparently been rumours going around about Finn-Paal in the wake of the case. A Letter to the Editor by a 'Mountain Farmer [Fjeldbonde]' in *Dagsposten* (Trondheim), later copied in *Indtrøndelagen*, deals with the 'the slander' because 'he knows Paal very well'. The writer describes Paal as an able hunter and an enlightened man with insight into nature and herbal medicine.<sup>76</sup> A couple of months later the editor of *Indtrøndelagen* prints an article by Ellen Lie, *Dagsposten*, about the outrageous deed done to Finn-Paal. The article concludes by stating that Finn-Paal belonged to a people that have been treated miserably throughout the times 'in our common fatherland': '[…Those are to be blamed] that have kept the nomadic people in thraldom and ignorance'.77 In spite of the tendency of othering, the article is an explicit criticism of the majority society's political approach to the Saami.

An undercurrent in the Norwegian assimilation policy from around 1850 until the 1940s was the view of the Saami as a racially inferior people. However, I have not found that such racial biological attitudes connected to the Saami appear in the editorial articles and news items in the regional papers of my study. On the other hand, I have found a text that can be seen as criticism of the racial biological view of the time. The text 'Samerne [the Saami]' signed Erik E. Erke, Polmak (eastern Finnmark), is printed in *Indhereds*-*Posten* in 1919.78 The text must be seen in the light of an implied premise for the reindeer herding legislation of 1883 and later, to the effect of the idea that the Saami were a people on the brink of extinction (Eriksen and Niemi 1981, 325–326; Ravna 2007, 221). What is interesting, though, is that the editor of *Indhereds*-*Posten* chooses to print Eriksen's text in a prominent place in his paper, in a time when Social Darwinist and racial biological conceptions were

<sup>74</sup>Norske Reindriftssamers Landsforbund (Reindeer Herders Association of Norway).

<sup>75</sup>*Nord*-*Trøndelag & Inntrøndelagen,* 6/7/1948.

<sup>76</sup>*Indtrøndelagen* 16/10/1919.

<sup>77«</sup>Dramaet i Snaasen-fjeldene» [The Drama in the Snåsa Mountains], *Indtrøndelagen* 11/12/1919.

<sup>78</sup>*Indhereds*-*Posten* 29/8/1919, originally printed in *Østfinmarkens Folkeblad.*

still part of the current discourse concerning the Saami and their reindeer herding. It *could* be interpreted as a critical view on the part of the editor towards these ideas.<sup>79</sup>

In my material, then, there are hardly any examples of explicit racial biological sentiments, as expressed, e.g. in topographical-ethnographical works like Amund Helland's *Norges land og folk* (1885–1921). In spite of varying degrees of othering and a few cases of exoticizing, the main impression is still that the regional papers in the Innherred region represent the Saami with respect and understanding. My hypothesis is that the Social Darwinist and racial biological ideas were more widespread among anthropologists, natural scientists and other academics than among liberal newspaper editors of the province (Zachariassen 2012, 130).

However, even in seemingly pro-Saami contexts, a generally patronizing attitude is quite common, at least until the 1940s, as we see it in the following excerpt from an interview in 1922 about educating the Saami. In the text, there is even criticism of the prevailing Norwegianization policy 'which has never been as systematic as now', as it says in the introduction. The interviewee is Peter Astrup, Vicar in Lyngen, Northern Norway, who, 'together with a Saami', is planning a folk high school for Saami youth, to compensate for the fact that: 'They [the Saami] have no history, no heroes, no great men to look back on. They have no culture. They only live on loan.'<sup>80</sup>

### **7.10 Discussion in the Light of Other Studies**

Ijäs (2015) shows how the coverage of Saami matters in *Nordlys* corresponds to the 'developmental phases' of majority media attention experienced by minority groups in the USA (Native Americans and Blacks) as described by Wilson and Gutiérrez (1985, 133–142). After the so-called 'Exclusionary Phase', the Alta conflict resulted in increased press coverage comparable to the 'Threatening-Issue Phase' and subsequent 'Confrontation Phase', according to Ijäs. The press coverage of the Saami meetings in my material follows to a certain degree the same pattern. After the Saami meetings in the period 1917–1921, there is increased media attention, followed by a period of relatively few texts annually until the 1960s. Although the American and Norwegian experiences are different in many ways, we see some of the same structures at work concerning the attention the majority media give to indigenous minority people, in Norway, most significantly in the wake of the protest movement sparked by the Alta conflict around 1980. After the 'Confrontation Phase', we see a restoration of social order, what Wilson and Gutiérrez describe as the 'Stereotypical Selection Phase'. This implies, in their view, a restoration of social

<sup>79</sup>The editor of Indhereds-Posten at the time was O.L. Elnan (1887–1957) who was an active member of the Det Radikale Folkeparti (Arbeiderdemokratene) [The Radical People's Party (the Labour Democrats)], a non-socialist, liberal, Labour Party.

<sup>80«</sup>Også et misjonsarbeide. [Also a Mission Task], *Nord Trøndelag og Nordenfjeldsk Tidende*, 12/12/1922.

order and transformation 'into a post-conflict period' whereby the majority public is reassured that the minorities are still in 'their place' and not a threat to society (1985, 138–139). There are considerably fewer texts about Saami affairs in *TA* after 1980, just as in *Nordlys* (Ijäs 2015, 91). However, I would not generally say that the texts in *TA* 'reinforce existing stereotypes' by way of presenting 'ethnics' as 'people who either *have* problems or cause problems for society', as Wilson and Gutiérrez describe typical traits of the Stereotypical Selection Phase (Wilson and Gutiérrez 1985, 139). As far as I can see, *TA* presents Saami affairs in a relatively balanced way, focusing on problems as well as positive news, in line with the editorial angle on news in general.

According to Pietikäinen (2003), the Saami are almost invisible in the news coverage of *Helsingin Sanomat* 1985–1993. The news coverage of the Saami is coloured by their role as victims of majority politics. Their own voice is hardly heard. The Saami are generally represented as a homogenous group connected to nature and traditional trades, whereas the members of the majority population actively represent the governmental system. Her study is not quite comparable to mine, neither in timespan nor context (regional newspapers vs. national newspaper, etc.). While some of the same tendencies are also found in the regional newspapers of my study, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, here we see to a greater extent than in Pietikäinen's study that the Saami are represented as active citizens who are heard by politicians, editors and other authorities, especially from the 1970s.

Pietikäinen (2003) refers to international research on media representation of ethnic minorities where the typical picture is 'a context of problems, crime and disturbance' (p. 587). She points out, however, that this is not adequate for the representation of the Saami; it is rather the case for the newer minorities (in her study: Rom, Russians and Somalians). This also seems to coincide with the findings of my study. There are disputes on grazing rights and reductions of pastures due to watercourse regulations and so on, but the Saami affairs are not more connected to conflict than other groups when it comes to the overall mass media focus on conflict in general. This might be due to what Skogerbø (2003, 367) mentions as a characteristic of local journalism, namely a downscaling of conflict and local identity building. Concerning the latter, throughout the post-war period, *TA* presents the Saami people and Saami culture as a natural part of the regional identity.

Lien and Stenhamar (2017) state in the conclusion of their article on the Norwegian press' representation of minorities 1900–1940 that 'Jews, Saami, Romani and Rom [were] connected to crime and [National] disloyalty' (ibid., 59). That the Saami were particularly connected to crime does not agree with my study. When it comes to criminal cases, I have only found three texts about cases in the South Saami area in which Saami people are charged and prosecuted. In other cases, Saami people are the victims of criminal acts.<sup>81</sup> The press coverage is not sensational, but rather subdued. Locally, only in the coverage of the Nordfjell case have I found subtexts implying

<sup>81</sup>In two cases, Saami girls are the victims of rape by a "tramp" (1913) and a Russian hotel owner in Trondheim (1920). In the "Finn-Paal case" (1919), a Swedish national was convicted of contributing to the death of Finn-Paal.

a possible connection between Saami and criminal. Such a connection can also be traced in this national news item in 1955 when *TA* prints the following headline: 'Three Saami confess to the murder of a mentally ill escapee on Finnmarksvidda'.<sup>82</sup> The use of the ethnonym reflects othering and negative group identification. The explanation might be that the Saami in question are not local. The news source is the Norwegian news agency NTB (cf. the characteristics of local journalism according to Skogerbø 2003, cited above).

That the Saami people are associated with nature and reindeer herding ('these people of the mountains') is prevalent in the newspaper coverage until the 1960s, then this traditionally essentialist view is replaced by a more open and flexible conception of Saami identity. That the Saami are represented as a people in their own right, different from the majority population, is not negative in itself, of course. On the other hand, this might be the case in contexts where ethnonym or group designation appears as othering; i.e. the use of a certain set of ethnic markers functioning as stereotyping, and consequently reductionist. Ledman (2012, 44) discusses stereotypes and ethnic markers in the light of the cultural theorist Stuart Hall and the social anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen.<sup>83</sup> Hylland Eriksen's point is that stereotypes in a certain sense may, in fact, mean making visible, and thus paradoxically having a positive function. In our context that would imply, to put it bluntly, that it is better that the Saami are represented as 'the other' than not being seen or mentioned at all, as in the feature article about Namdalen in 1936. On the other hand, as Ledman expresses in accordance with Hall's view, stereotyping is exclusionary and reduces the individual to his/her 'natural properties' instead of being a socially created and changeable subject. The representation of the Saami in *Trønder*-*Avisa* and its predecessors varies between othering and inclusion. In some cases, the othering is subtle, baked into the choice of words and syntax, in other cases obvious. To decide whether it is the one or the other is a question of interpretation based on context and perspective.

### **7.11 Epilogue**

When reading a relatively large amount of disparate texts distributed along a time axis, as with the newspaper texts of my study, the texts will easily appear as episodes of a narrative with a plot. The historian Hayden White ([1973] 2014) describes and discusses this phenomenon, which he calls *emplotment*. Obviously, this might turn out to be a possible simplism, an interpretative pitfall, in a project like my own. Still, taking this reservation into consideration and in spite of the objection, if you read the newspaper texts as scenes of a novel about the South Saami in Innherred, what would the plot be?

<sup>82</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 24/11/1955.

<sup>83</sup>Ledman refers to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Etnicitet och nationalism. Nya Doxa, Nora 1998 and Stuart Hall, "The Work of Representation" and "The Spectacle of the Other" in Stuart Hall (ed.), Representation. Cultural representations and signifying practices. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Singapore 2011 [1997].

It starts with a harmonious rendering of a meeting between a farmer and a Saami couple in 1875, then a degree of attention by the press in the wake of the early Saami meetings, until it all ends with the Saami becoming gradually more visible and even given a voice in *Trønder*-*Avisa* a 100 years later. From seeming harmony via near obscurity to visibility. The circle completed, as it were. It is probably more accurate to say that the media attention and story angle develop according to societal attitudes and governmental politics concerning the Saami. Perhaps a new consciousness about the Saami is heralded in 1967 when the *TA* editor criticizes the Norwegian state's policy towards the Saami and the public's lack of engagement.84 He writes that all Norwegians have been aware of the criticism of the Saami for decades but nobody has protested. He points out the great concern among Norwegians for the Blacks in the USA but that we need to put our own house in order before criticizing others. In the period 1977–1980, there are several pro-Saami editorials in *Trønder*-*Avisa*, including some opposing the regulation of the Alta-Kautokeino river system.

My conclusion is that the representation of South Saami culture, language and community life in *Trønder*-*Avisa* during the 1970s and 1980s has come a considerable way towards Saami inclusion and a Saami perspective. Whether today's editorial staff is closer to that goal is an interesting question, but beyond the frame of this study.

Wilson and Gutiérrez (1985, 139) talk about the goal of 'the integrated Coverage Phase'; at the time of their writing, this was 'still largely a vision' in the US. Indigenizing the majority mind is still somewhere in the future, also in Norway. However, in 2017, there was considerable attention, among politicians and in the media, around the centennial of the first Saami National Congress in Trondheim in 1917—and in 2017, the Saami were again present at the Levanger winter market.

### **Bibliography**


<sup>84</sup>*Trønder*-*Avisa* 10/7/1967.


Wilson, Clint C., and Félix Gutiérrez. 1985. *Minorities and media*. London: Sage.

Zachariassen, Ketil. 2012. *Samiske nasjonale strategar. Samepolitikk og nasjonsbygging 1900–*1940 [Saami national strategies. Saami politics and nation building]. Karasjok: CálliidLágádus. ˇ

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### Part V Hegemony and Current Conflicts

### **Chapter 8 Out of Print. A Historiography of the South Saami in Regional and National Works of History**

#### **Leiv Sem**

**Abstract** This chapter discusses how the relationship between the Saami and majority non-Saami population in Norway is negotiated in the public domain, and what premises and assumptions that currently govern these negotiations. The point of departure is a three-volume history of the Trøndelag region. This 2005 publication resulted in a heated public and academic debate, as representatives of the Saami population criticized the volumes for writing the Saami people out of the history of the region. Both the three-volume history work and the ensuing debate are examples of how national and cultural identities are products of cultural and textual practices. They are not fixed and final, but under constant negotiation, and a continuation of a process that may be traced back to mediaeval times and beyond, and similar processes may be found across the globe. Against this backdrop, the academic and public debate of this work of regional history is analysed applying methods adopted from critical discourse analysis.

**Iktedimmie** Jaepien 2005 Trööndelage-dajven histovrije bæjhkoehtamme sjïdti 3 gærjine jïh destie akte baahkes byögkeles jïh akademihkeles digkiedimmie sjïdti, dan åvteste tjirkijh dejstie saemien årroejijstie leejhtin daah gærjah saemide histovrijen sistie tjeelin. Tjaelijh jïh bertijh daan barkoen duekesne vaestiedin saemieh lin meatan vaaltasovveme dan gåhkese doh gaavnoes gaaltijh dam luhpiedin. Vååjnoe goh daate vuajnoe lea aktene vihties sjïere dåehkesne mij åajvahkommes siebriedahkem goh krïevenassh akten akademihkeles histovrijasse. Ajve dah mah leah tjaaleldh gaaltijh tjaaleme meatan vaaltasuvvieh dej tjaaleldh gaaltiji sïjse. Dovne dïhte vierhkie 3 gærjajgujmie jïh minngebe digkiedimmie vuesiehtieh guktie nasjovnaale jïh kultuvrelle identiteeth leah illedahkh kultuvrelle jïh tjaaleldh praksiseste. Dah eah leah staeries jïh ihkuve, men aktene ahkedh rååresjimmesne, jïh guhkiedimmie aktede prosesseste maam maahta dåeriedidh bååstede gaskoehaaltarasse jïh guhkiebasse, jïh plearoeh prosessh maahta abpe veartenisnie gaavnedh. Daan duekien vööste edtja dam akademihkeles jïh byögkeles digkiedimmiem Trööndelagen histovrijen bïjre analyseradidh, jïh vuekieh nuhtjedh mah leah nænnoestamme aktede laejhtehks tjaalegeanalyjseste. Dan mænngan daate gyhtjelasse jarngesne: guktie tsiehkiem

L. Sem (B)

Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway e-mail: leiv.sem@nord.no

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2019

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_8

rååresje gaskem saemieh jïh jienebelåhkoen daaroeh Nöörjesne byögkeles suerkesne, jïh mah premissh jïh nuepieh rååresjimmide daelie stuvrieh?

### **8.1 Introduction**

When a new three-volume work on the history of the Trøndelag region was launched in Norway in 2005, the volumes were received with ovations. The county officials who had ordered the work three years earlier were delighted and encouraged all citizens to read it to understand 'how we have become who we are' (Engen 2005). The chief editor, historian Ida Bull, presented the volumes thus: 'This work of history is written for everyone interested in Trøndelag's history' (ibid.). There were some opposing voices, however. Most prominent among these was the Saami historian Sverre Fjellheim, who accused the editors of lacking basic knowledge, and for having constructed a narrative based on lies, myths and prejudice. From a Saami point of view, it would have been better if they had not been included at all in this work of history, he exclaimed (Fjellheim 2005). Saemien Sijte, the South Saami cultural centre concurred: 'The treatment of the South Saami in [this work of history] undermines everything we are working on. We are outraged, sad and disheartened over the publication of such a text today. This work of history will stand on the bookshelves in the region and contribute to knowledge and attitudes towards Saamis for generations to come' (Saemien Sijte 2005). The aim of this chapter is to analyse some of the conditions that underlie the presence of two such opposing views in a relatively small community such as the Trøndelag region, and to analyse the machinations of the discourse of history through a reading of 'The History of Trøndelag' as a negotiation of identity, belonging, and power.

To the South Saami community, it was no surprise that the publication of these volumes would leave them intensely dissatisfied. As soon as the decision was made to have an 'official' history of the region written, Fjellheim and other Saami historians had made it known that they wanted to be a part of this project (Skjesol 2002; Fjellheim 2005). All too often they had experienced that works of history sided against the Saami, downplaying their role in the development of Norwegian culture, and neglecting or even disputing their continuous habitation of these territories. In some cases, historians had even been called as witnesses in court trials, investing all their professional authority in farmer's claims to land used as reindeer pastures by the Saami (Hermanstrand 2009, 487). The professional historians were not equipped to write a total history of the region, the Saami historians claimed. However, this was turned down by the editors and the working group appointed to do the work. They felt they had necessary and sufficient expertise. Furthermore, they added, what they wanted was a comprehensive and full account, not biased and partial stories (Bull 2002; Fjellheim 2005). To give such an account, the professional, academically trained historians were the best and ablest. This was certainly the attitude of the editors, who obviously regarded themselves unquestionably capable of handling this part of the history. In fact, it was stated as the very goal and purpose of these volumes to try to discuss the history of the region as a multitude of different cultures and identities. When the commissioning of the book was presented to the public of this region, it was with the words: 'One main goal of the book is to illuminate the identity of the 'Trønder' [i.e. the inhabitants of the Trøndelag region]' (Skjesol 2002). In the preface to the book, the editor, Ida Bull, states that the authors did not intend to give a final answer to the question of the 'Trønder identity', but rather to scrutinize and question this identity. The goal is: to 'express what it has been like to be man or woman, child or elder, fisher, farmer or Saami in Trøndelag at different points in time' (Bull 2005a, b, 12). As late as 17 February 2017, when the question of the absence of Saami history was raised again in conjunction with the Centennial for the first National Saami congress, the editors yet again took to the newspapers, advocating that ideologies or perspectives had nothing to do with this: 'the problem here is the lack of sources in a period before the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries […] The answer to what happened in this period lies not in political decisions but in extended research' (Bull 2017).

It is probably a fair assumption to make that Fjellheim's harsh criticism, as well as his suggestions of Saami cooperatives, would strike most non-Saami readers as unreasonable, unfair and biased. To the degree that one gives the Saami some thought at all, most Norwegians would most likely be inclined to consider the unfair treatment of the indigenous Saami population as a thing of the past. Do the Saami not have their own Parliament? Did not His Majesty King Harald V apologize for the way the Saami have been treated by the Norwegian government at the opening of this Saami Parliament in 1997? The King then uttered: 'The Norwegian state is founded on the territory of two peoples—Norwegians and Saami. Saami history is tightly interwoven with Norwegian history. Today we must apologize for the wrongs inflicted by the Norwegian state onto the Saami people through a harsh policy of Norwegianization'.<sup>1</sup> For most Norwegians, such apologetic words and actions represented a perhaps exaggerated atonement for past mistreatment. These words also marked a general benevolence towards the Saami, and probably strengthened an already established self-image of Norwegians as progressive, liberal and observant of the rights of indigenous peoples, both at home and abroad. According to the political scientist Øyvind Østerud, the unclear links between a colonizing history and an apparent selfless policy of foreign engagement has promoted the idea that 'the Norwegian self-image is intrinsically *innocent*' (2009, 140, italics in orig.) This self-perception is nurtured by the images and reports of how other societies are treating their own indigenous populations. In a shrewd manoeuvre, the apologetic gesture towards the Saami people makes it possible for Norwegians to profit on the progressive-liberal recent history, without taking into account the content and the historical background of it. This is a manoeuvre of the blind eye, and in this chapter, I will show how this blind eye works, even in Norway, and even to this very day.

<sup>1</sup>See https://www.nrk.no/sapmi/\_-kongens-ord-betyr-mye-for-samene-1.11966176. This and all translations from Norwegian by LS. Orig.: «Den norske stat er grunnlagt på territoriet til to folk—nordmenn og samer. Samisk historie er tett flettet sammen med norsk historie. I dag må vi beklage den urett den norske stat tidligere har påført det samiske folk gjennom en hard fornorskningspolitikk.».

In the following, I intend to investigate which role and status the South Saami are given in the textual totality of word choices, arguments and thematical priorities in *Trøndelags historie* (hereafter TH 1–3).2 I read this as a rhetorical structure and political document, while also considering the societal context within which it is written. Methodologically, I apply the Critical Discourse Analysis approach developed by Norman Fairclough (2003). This school of thought aims to investigate the ideologies that lie behind the text, hidden in the structure and patterns, and the way the text works upon the social, outer reality. As the text in question is a historical narrative, I have supplemented Fairclough's terms with perspectives and terms from narratology (Bal 1997). I have read the three volumes closely, paying particular attention to the mentioning and omitting of the South Saami. I have studied the hermeneutic interplay between details of the text and the larger structure, with the aim of identifying the ideologies and suppositions that inform, support and frame the text—and guide the readers through the history and through the Trøndelag of today. I must also confess I at times have read these volumes with a degree of suspicion. I find this fully justified, because if there is a potential in the text for readers to see it as, for example, claiming that the Saami arrived in certain areas just recently, well—then one can assume that this potential will in fact be realized by many readers. Therefore, a kind of consciously malevolent reading may be in order to bring about reflections on the potential effects of the text. I wish to point out that my interest here will not be directed at the intentions or attitudes of the individual authors. My focus will be to question the effects the rhetorical patterns of details and structures may inflict or confer on the readers. What I am addressing here is therefore a certain historiographical discourse. The term *discourse* is an attempt to grasp the basic, often unsaid suppositions that make some concepts uncontested, evident and natural, and out of reach of the political domain. In this way, these suppositions determine what one may think or utter on a given subject, as they also determine who is given authority to speak or be heard (Fairclough 2003, 58). I am not saying that the ideology of the writers is not important here. However, in the perspective of discourse analysis, the text is not merely an impression of the writer's ideologies or intentions; it is to a large degree governed by the institutionalized concepts and practices of the historians and their guilds, e.g. their routines for work organization, recruitment and quality assessment. The *Trøndelags historie* volumes are not an isolated work, but a specimen of a genre and the expression of a scholarly culture and a national culture. These are the real subjects of this study.

<sup>2</sup>This chapter is an elaboration of an article published in the Norwegian journal *Heimen* (Sem 2017).

### **8.2 A Historiographical Context**

The topic of the eradication of indigenous populations in works of history is, obviously, not an exclusive Norwegian phenomenon. Rather, it has its parallels across the globe. The writing of history is in fact a very powerful and therefore central way of establishing rights and taking control over territory.Writing about indigenous history, the New Zealander Linda Tuhiwai Smith points out how the systematic exclusion in the writing of this history worked alongside the actual material redefinition that took place 'simultaneously through such things as the renaming and 'breaking in' of the land, the alienation and fragmentation of lands through legislation, the forced movement of people off their lands, and the social consequences which resulted in high sickness and mortality rates' (Smith 2012, 34). In her study of New England historiography, historian Jean O'Brien identifies four main narrative strategies for erasing indigenous populations, thereby making the writing of history a primary means of asserting authority and control over colonialized land (O'Brien 2010). The first strategy is to present the colonialist as the first to ever establish institutions and so on, e.g. the first to 'really' take hold of the land. In this way, the indigenous population is not merely erased, as a basic premise, but a certain presumption of 'modernity' is also established which implicitly denies non-Westerners a place in the history. The second strategy is the 'replacement narrative' which insists that the colonizers have replaced the indigenous people, typically by 'remembering' them through erecting monuments or applying place names. Such a move places the original inhabitants in a far-off past, but also structures the space and landscape and readies it for the colonizer's rule. The third strategy is the constant preoccupation with the 'last of its kind'. This insistence, often elegiac, on a vanishing culture is typified by Fenimore Cooper's *Last of the Mohicans*, and seemingly demonstrates the extinction of a culture and implicitly argues that any descendants are not real or authentic. These strategies are sometimes carried on the sleeves of the texts through explicit statements. At other times they are hidden, perhaps even to the authors themselves, carried by unconscious suppositions. Often the texts are a mesh of conflicting statements, e.g. reports of Native American attendance at events commemorating the lost people (O'Brien 2010, p. 145f). 'Strategy', then, does not necessarily entail conscious manoeuvring in order to achieve an objective, at least not on the level of each individual writer. On a structural level, though, one has to discuss the way that the overall patterns produced by the large bodies of texts serve the interests of the non-indigenous peoples.

Moving to the Norwegian context, many works of history explicitly deny a Saami presence or try to delineate it in time or space. There is a steady stream of historical accounts claiming that the Saami people have arrived relatively recently within the borders of Norway of today, or that they 'originally' have occupied but a small area, and only in fairly recent times have widened their territory. Accounts such as these are published on a weekly basis as part of an ongoing debate on rights to land and resources on websites, the debate columns of newspapers and even books from more or less established publishers. In our context, it is of more interest to see how these themes are handled by historical authorities in the field. In the tradition of the nation-builders of the romantic period, Norwegian historians of the twentieth century have conventionally focused their narratives of the past on the free, independent farmer. This thematic bias led two of the most prominent historical scholars of central Norway, Jørn Sandnes and his disciple Kjell Haarstad, to write several works where they argued for the primacy of the farmers over the Saamis' longevity and rights to land (e.g. Sandnes 1972; Haarstad 1992). It was their support of the so-called 'advancement of the Saami' theory that was used as evidence in the court of law in the case referred to above. This perspective also guides the accounts in more recent works of authoritative history, and on a national level. Take, for instance, the six-volume work *Norsk historie* ['Norwegian history'] published by the esteemed publishing house Det Norske Samlaget in 1999. The first volume, covering the period from 800 to 1300 CE, does not mention the Saami at all; neither 'same' nor 'finn' is listed in the index (Sigurðsson 1999). The second volume mentions the Saami ['samar'] four times, each time merely in passing, and each time regarding the northernmost parts of Norway, never Trøndelag (Ersland and Sandvik 1999). The third volume covering the period 1625–1814, devotes one single page of about three hundred to the Saami population, and apart from this, they are hardly mentioned at all (Dyrvik 1999, 80 et pass.). The index for the fourth volume covering the short period following independence and to the constitution (1814–1860) mentions the Saami ten times. The author of this volume makes a point out of the regrettable lack of sources on Saami history (Pryser 1999, 70). However, he does not seem to have made use of the most of those that actually do exist as he never tries to portray their lives or perspectives on life in the Norwegian state. The fifth volume, dealing with the period up to 1914, follows the history almost until the first National meeting of the Saami in 1917, but does not mention the Saami community or their predicaments at all (Nerbøvik 1999). Only in the last volume covering the years up to 2000 are the Saami mentioned in a number of sub-themes encompassing the establishment of Saami organizations, Acts and institutions (Furre 1999, 606). This fairly recent and comprehensive work of history was written in part for university students and in part for the general public. It has been revised several times, the last revised edition being the one cited above, and has been widely used at the most prestigious Norwegian universities. As such, it may be said to represent a common and general conception of the national history—and of the Saami people's place in it.

### **8.3 The Three-Volume Work Trøndelags Historie**

How does the work of history, *Trøndelags historie*, fit into this picture? Recently written, and dedicated to a region with a vital and culturally distinct indigenous population, one ought to expect quite another take on history. Are the Saami, then, indeed recognized as an integral part of the community? Are they seen and treated as Saami? As Norwegians? Or as both concurrently—is that possible? And may one surmise the status of the South Saami in Norwegian society today from reading this book?

The volumes were written on the joint request of the county authorities in both North and South Trøndelag.3 Upon this request, NTNU University in Trondheim put together a team of historians and archaeologists to write the text, and to support them a reference board of experts was established. Fatefully, as mentioned above, they declined Saami requests to be represented among the writers or on the board. It was therefore quite predictable that the volumes were met with harsh criticism both within academic and popular forums as soon as it was published. The criticism from Fjellheim quoted above was followed by historians and archaeologists Jostein Bergstøl and Gaute Reitan, among others. These scholars claimed that the South Saami were written almost entirely out of the history of the region, and that the volumes tended to support the theory of late advancement of the Saami, which, they argued, was ideologically biased and empirically outdated (Bergstøl and Reitan 2008, 10). The editors of *Trøndelags historie*, Ida Bull and Ola Svein Stugu, responded to the criticism by pointing out that the South Saami were in fact included in the work, 'as far as the historical sources permitted'. The critics raised doubts about the presence of the South Saami in these volumes by singling out and quoting sentences out of their proper context, the editors claimed, while 'reading the full paragraphs will give a more balanced picture' (Bull and Stugu 2008, 659).

To be fair: The volumes comprise a collaborative work using 11 authors. These authors treat the matter in question differently. Especially the first part of the first volume and the last part of the third volume obviously have indeed given a fair share of attention to questions of identity and coexistence, and to Saami culture. However, this is not the case throughout the three volumes and the history as a whole. While this division of labour has its upside in gaining variety in both perspective and style, this way of organizing the writing, and such a textual structure, can have its costs. Most notably, the overall responsibility for the representation of certain subjects may be totally undermined. Furthermore, tensions might arise in the totality of the text where the reader is led in unforeseen or unwanted directions. Even if the individual authors do write their part responsibly, the impression of the text as a whole may still do the Saami community injustice.

Let us start with a quick shorthand quantitative analysis. From the index, we see that the Saami are mentioned in only one page out of every 28. Of course, this does not say that the rest of the pages do not relate to or are not relevant to the Saami. But in many instances, the failure to mention the Saami would indeed represent a cleansing of them from history. In the work as a whole, one becomes after a while quite accustomed to the Saami not being mentioned in contexts that could defend, profit or even demand a discussion of them as well as their non-Saami neighbours. One seeks in vain for the Saami in, for example, the chapter on 'Social differences' in the first volume. Likewise, the chapter on 'Economy, Work and Occupation' in the volume on the Middle Ages does not mention the Saami at all. Neither does the chapter on 'Housing and Foodstuff' in the nineteenth century (TH1, pp. 147–152;

<sup>3</sup>As of 1 January 2018 the two Trøndelag counties have been merged into one county: Trøndelag.

TH2, pp. 39–53; TH3, pp. 145–169). From the reader's point of view, the specific Saami way of life would of course offer weight and depth, as well as a widened perspective of the concept of society and culture if the accounts of the non-Saami customs had been supplied. Furthermore, the exclusion of this information obviously affects the reader's conception of whether the Saami are part of a 'Trønder' identity.

On the other hand, there are some conjunctural points that are reiterated several times. Possibly this is one of the effects of dividing the writing between multiple authors, or possibly this stems from a wish from the authors' part to make the most of scant sources. Regardless of the reason why one may very well assume that such reiterations might have some sort of impact on the readers. A repetition of a theme may, for instance, be read as a stressing of important points in the narrative, or it may simply function as mnemonic overkill. If so, it would be of interest to check which motif is reiterated. Ominously, the one subject that is most striking among these is the question of conflict between the Saami and peasants. This point is repeated so often that it must have an effect on the reader. In volume II, the conflict motif is found no less than nine times out of the 17 entries on the topic 'Saami' in the index (TH2, pp. 156–57, 159, 265, 287, 300, 303, 306, 352). That is, every second time the Saami are mentioned it is as a party in conflict with the farmers. It seems fair to assume out of these sheer numbers that any reader would have an overwhelming impression of a conflicted and troublesome relationship to say the least, and it would perhaps not be a stretch to surmise that many readers would be inclined to think of the Saami as something of a problem.

And this is the characteristic trait of this piece of history: Large parts of the volumes are written from a clear and far-reaching peasant's perspective. This perspective is expressed not only through the relative amount of representations but also in the type of representations, especially in the second volume. Here the farmers emerge on the pages through close and thick descriptions of their tools, city streets, quarters and their daily lives. Several authors speculate eagerly and vividly about their living customs and social relations. In contrast, the discussion of other people than peasants is purely theoretical. If such people are mentioned at all, it is even more rarely mentioned how they have organized their society and lives. While the omnipresent farmers are almost tangible, the Saami remain a theoretical and vague construct, far less frequently given life and actual representation, and discussed with far less curiosity about what they could be capable of, and with far less interest in pursuing answers. Were the Saami, for instance, interested in building elaborate dwellings? Not likely, according to these writers. Or in tumuli? Also not likely, it is offhandedly stated (TH1, 89 and 248).

It is likewise telling how the authors have structured the paragraphs dedicated to the Saami, few as these paragraphs are. How does one, for instance, open the passage on 'the shift in Saami economics' in the second volume? The very first sentence reads: 'It is particularly in conjunction with the use of uncultivated pastures and the establishment of mountain shielings that the farmers came into conflict with the Saami in the mountains' (TH2, 306). The choice of the farmers as the point of departure or point of perspective in the paragraph reveals where the actual interest of the text lies, as does the grammatical choice of agency. The paragraph continues: '[p]arts of the background of the conflict between farmers and Saami at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries stems from the change in Saami economy […]' (ibid.). Due to lack of space, we must here leave aside the simplistic dichotomy between 'farmer' and 'Saami' as clean-cut, mutually exclusive categories, a use of terms that most of the writers of TH apply even though it rests on an illogical mix of economic and ethnic–cultural categories. Again the sparse information on the Saami is framed by the degree and manner in which they were relevant to the farmers. This not only guides the interpretation of the information, but it also defines the very value of the Saami. They are not portrayed as interesting in and of themselves. What really goes on in paragraphs such as this one is that while it allegedly is about the Saami, the Saami are actually registered among the infrastructural conditions under which the farmers are living. In the deep structure of the narrative, the Saami are at best likened with the forest in which the peasants log timber or the soil the farmers plough. At worst they are portrayed as hindrances or enemies to the farmers, the true protagonists of the tale (cf., e.g. TH2, 300 and 303).

This omnipresent farmer's perspective on the history is strikingly visible in an illustration in the second volume. This illustration is significant because as the Saami are given so little space, there are of course also few illustrations for this topic. The ones that are in fact dedicated to Saami affairs are therefore of interest. The illustration is placed in one of the few articles that discuss the Saami in the second volume, and the caption reads: 'Much suggests that the characteristic Heimdalhaugen mountain in Harran was the border between agriculture and hunter culture in the Middle Ages. Further into the Namdalen Valley lay the 'Finnmark' [lit. 'Saami land'] where the Saami ruled' (TH1, 249). The photograph in full colour depicts a farmland with farms houses, cultivated fields and a church in the foreground and far away in the background lies 'the characteristic mountain'—with the landscape in which the Saami lived on the far side of the mountain, and so not depicted at all. What really is depicted here is in fact the peasant perspective itself, the very way of seeing the world that underpins the entire book (Fig. 8.1).

The domination of this peasant perspective may be understood as a reflection of how Norwegians in general, and the Norwegian historians in particular, are thinking. This way of thinking is also evident on a linguistic level.<sup>4</sup> Due to historical conditions, the Norwegian language is dependent on certain economic and social suppositions that have implications for identity policy. These tendencies are heightened and sharpened by some of the writers in this volume. A key concept in the narrative is the term 'bebygd/bebyggelse'. This is used throughout the volumes, with the basic function of delineating the thematically relevant parts of the geography. At the same time, this concept has clear connotations which work to close off and exclude a nomadic culture. In English, this term is most usually translated into 'inhabited/habitation', but the Norwegian term or concept 'bebygd/bebyggelse' is more closely linked to buildings and permanent dwellings. However, an area may be inhabited even if there are no permanent buildings, and the landscape may be in use even if nobody actually resides there. In *Trøndelags historie*, however, the question is reduced to whether

<sup>4</sup>For an extended discussion of this, see Sem (2017).

**Fig. 8.1** Facsimile from *Trøndelags historie*, Vol. 1, p. 249. This is one of the very few illustrations dedicated to Saami topics in the volume. Ironically, the Saami landscape is located on the far side of the mountain in the background and therefore not depicted at all

farms are built there or not. This exclusive language is used and affects the minds of both readers and writers, probably without many of them even being aware of this. In some cases, though, the writers allow themselves to be taken captive and led astray by the language without giving any resistance or afterthought. The writers may, for instance, discuss an unsetteled area, or an area abandoned by farmers due to the Black Plague in the fourteenth century, and thoughtlessly slip over to referring to it as 'desolate' ['folketom']: 'By the Big Lake, called *þórkvislir* by the Norse, a tiny settlement was established in the Viking Age or perhaps a bit sooner […]. Here no man lived the first few hundred years after the Black Plague. And such was also the case for the highlands between Snåsa and Grong' (TH1, p. 233).5 These areas are today Saami heartland, and it is questionable if this area, well suited to reindeer husbandry and a natural road to travel, really was so totally desolate, even if farming had been abandoned. However, this is taken for granted, and so is the total correlation between farming and living.

The Saami are also excluded from other concepts that work as a basis for the thinking of the text and its understanding of what constitutes a society. The term 'jordbruk' ['agriculture'] is one such example. Here this is invariably synonymous with farming/farms, with the cultivation of crops and husbandry of cattle (e.g. TH3, p. 39; TH2, p. 299). The chapter entitled '"Trønder" agriculture' fails to mention the Saami. Here it is unclear whether this is because the Saami are not 'Trønders' or that they are not agriculturalists. At any rate, the effect is that one characteristic feature that may very well define the agriculture of the region of Middle Norway from other regions is erased: the existence of reindeer husbandry. These examples show how deeply the farmer's perspective is woven into not only this book, but into the very Norwegian language itself. It is more than a red thread throughout the book. Indeed, it is actually the very wool of which the yarn is spun.

On the grammatical level too, the peasant perspective permeates the language. In paragraphs where both Saami and non-Saamis are described, the grammatical structures of the sentences underline that the farmers are the ones who act, as they are the subjects in the sentences. The Saami on the other hand, are usually objects, grammatically speaking. Sentences such as the following are typical: 'Demographic increase, re-clearing of farming soil and expansion of settlements […] brought the *Trønder* farmers into closer contact with the Saami in the area'. Another example is: 'In Snåsa the farmer traded with the mountain Saami' (TH2, p. 264 and p. 325). This almost invariable grammatical pattern serves to underline the role of the Saami as dominated and passive, mere objects to be handled.6

In a remarkably large portion of the references to trading of customs and knowledge over the cultural borders, this is depicted as one-way traffic, and it is the Saami who have adopted from the Norsemen. For instance, it is explained how 'the Saami population could get hold of objects from the Norse settlers that they could use in their own pursuit of a livelihood', or 'there are examples of Saami annexing Norse burial customs' (TH1, p. 126).<sup>7</sup> Not being a historian, I cannot repudiate these particular examples, but one can certainly point out that it is peculiar how unilaterally this communication is portrayed here. No symbiosis is suggested, nor is it suggested that the Saami invented things that the Norsemen have adopted. The narrative is stuck in

<sup>5</sup>Orig.: «Inne ved Storvatnet, det gamle þórkvislir, mellom Rissa og Leksvika oppstod det ei lita grend i vikingtida eller kanskje litt før […]. I denne grenda budde det ikke folk de første hundreåra etter svartedauden. Det gjorde det heller ikke på Snåsaheia mellom Snåsa og Grong».

<sup>6</sup>Orig.: «Folkeveksten, gjenryddingen av gårder og ny utvidet bosetning inn mot gammel utmark og opp mot fjellet brakte trønderske bønder i nærmere kontakt med samene i distriktet»; «I Snåsa handlet bøndene med fjellsamene».

<sup>7</sup>Orig.: «en samisk befolkning kunne få tak i gjenstander i det norrøne miljøet som de kunne bruke i sin næringsutøvelse», eller at «[d]et fins eksempler på at samer har annektert norrøne gravskikker».

firm figures of thought that lock the interpretations—and most probably affect the readers in turn.

The Saami, to a significant extent, are robbed of power and agency in many ways, and even erased from the history in many contexts. At one point, Volume II cites a 1683 source about the historic Levanger market, which mentions that this border market attracted about 1500–1600 'Swedes' from the far side of the border. The source then goes on to specify 56 different trading items, including reindeer skins, so-called finn dresses, finn boots, finn gloves and so on. The Finns/Saami themselves, however, are omitted from the story. The cleansing of the Saami in this more than 330-year-old source is important, but hardly surprising. However, more ought to be expected in a 2005 book written to give a comprehensive account of the multifarious history and identity of the region. But never mind, their trading goods are still left to enrich the culture of the Trønders even as the Saami as human beings are erased from the history.

Consider another example, this time an illustration in the third volume, which covers the period from 1850 until the present day. I would like to point out here that the authors of this volume clearly and explicitly are more conscious of and sympathetic to the inclusion of Saami history. However, these authors are also—in the practice of their history writing—restricted, or restrict themselves, according to the tradition and conventions of historians. This volume includes an illustration of a man conducting a phrenological examination (i.e. a skull measurement) on a Saami family, allegedly during the 1920s (Fig. 8.2).

The caption ends: 'Dr. Jon Alfred Hansen Mjøen is second from the right' (TH3, p. 206). None of the other individuals depicted are named. Of course, there are many things to be said about this picture, let alone the historical motif. And of course, the writer of this part of the volume clearly is a critic of this practice. For instance, she writes: 'the Saami were among those exposed to such examinations',8 pointing out how humiliating and abusive this anthropological practice was. Nevertheless, it is not inconsequential that the scientist, a well-known Norwegian racial biologist, is the only one mentioned by name in this 2005 account. Even if the scientist is mentioned to shame him, this caption nevertheless reiterates a historical practice where the people in the Saami family are treated as specimens. They are presented here as victims, but at the same time as representatives of the Saami people—still robbed of their individuality. The reason why is to be found in the conventions of the handicraft of the historians. As powerful as this picture and these words are within this volume, the impact would probably be even greater if the author had given them their names.

<sup>8</sup>Orig.: «Samane var blant dei som vart utsette for slike målingar».

**Fig. 8.2** Facsimile from *Trøndelags historie*, Vol. 3, p. 206. The illustration shows phrenological examinations of a Saami family in the 1920s

### **8.4 A Question of Sources?**

As mentioned above, the lack of sources on Saami history has been used by the editors as a defence against criticism. This defence or explanation is also reiterated time and time again throughout the volumes. Several of the writers point out that as an oral, nomadic culture, it is very hard to trace both their dwellings and their way of thinking (e.g. TH1, p. 277; TH2, p. 156). It is clear that this way of thinking is not entirely without grounds. However, these reiterations point away from the sources that actually *do* exist, and that very well could have been used more thoroughly and exhaustively. Some of these sources are mentioned in the pages of the three volumes without really being used to the full. And while large parts of the early agricultural history rest upon examination of Norse farm and place names, no validity is given to the many Saami topographical names, nor is any interest shown in them. Furthermore, a growing group of scholars has come to believe that many Saami dwellings actually have been found, but that they have been interpreted to be Norse dwellings due to the naturalized peasant perspective (Hermanstrand 2009, p. 489). When it comes to the hardships in finding sources: such is the case with every underprivileged group, e.g. women. In the latter case, great initiative is shown in digging up new source material. In the case of the Saami, however, one is content with stating the source problem as if it were a law of nature.

This invalidation of the voices of the Saami is also prominent when it comes to the contemporary, secondary sources. The question of who has rights to possess and use land is hotly debated, as mentioned above. The crux of this discussion is 'who came here first?' As stated above, the volumes have been criticized for promoting the advancement of the Saami theory. The editors protested on this point in the ensuing debate: 'Read as a whole, the volumes do not unequivocally take sides when it comes to the one or other theory. Instead, we take a discussion position, aware of what may be read out of the written sources, while on the other hand aware that a lack of such sources does not necessarily mean a lack of people' (Stugu 2005).<sup>9</sup> Stugu, in his position as co-editor, is correct in pointing out that different interpretations are referred to, but this is not the whole story. The place where this question is discussed in length is the second volume, and this discussion is clearly based on the works of Kjell Haarstad and Jørn Sandnes—the two most prominent and unequivocal advocates of advancement theory during the latter half-century. The writer does not, however, mention that their work has been severely criticized by others, neither is the reader presented to alternative explanations, other than a short comment saying: 'South Saami history has been eagerly debated in recent years' (TH2, p. 156).<sup>10</sup> No alternative voices are heard or represented in the text, no alternative views are presented. The views of Haarstad and Sandnes are the basis of the account, and their

<sup>9</sup>Orig.: «Les ein bokverket Trøndelags historie som heilskap, tek ikkje det eintydig stilling for den eine eller den andre teorien, men inntek ein drøftande posisjon som på ei side tek omsyn til kva som er mogleg å lese ut av skriftlege kjelder, på den andre sida tek atterhald i at fråver av skriftlege kjelder ikkje treng bety fråver av menneske.».

<sup>10</sup>Orig.: «sørsamisk historie [har] blitt flittig debattert i de senere år».

conclusions sum up the paragraph. The list of references for this paragraph also shows that of all the literature in this 'eager debate', only Haarstad and Sandnes are used (TH2, p. 441f). The thesis of Saami advancement may be said to have been somewhat modified, but it is equally true that this controversial theory that has laid the grounds for Saami losing rights to land in favour of farmer, is rendered without challenge in *Trøndelags historie*.

### **8.5 Conclusion**

If the volumes are read carefully and critically, paying particular attention to how the writers treat the question of Saami people and culture, it seems obvious that the problem is not primarily a matter of sources, or the lack thereof. I would rather claim, as opposed to the editors, that the issue is indeed about political choices, in the sense of choices made on an ideological basis. It quite clearly is a question of power, and of the attribution of interest, value and belonging to the community. There is, on the other hand, little reason to suspect this political practice is malevolent, not even conscious. It is precisely this indifference that explains the discrepancy between the explicitly stated intentions to include the Saami in the *Trønder* history, and the way the text acts and actually works. The information and attitudes in the text, then, are dubious or shifting.

It is of course important to emphasize that this book is not alone in this attitude, indeed examples abound. To be sure, and as pointed out above, the libraries are replete with such history books, both regional like these, or local or national histories. However, it is especially worrisome to find this attitude in this particular work of history. It is especially worrisome because this work is of a recent date. I must confess that I myself have been a bit baffled during my research, as I would think most Norwegians would be when they are made aware of such textual practices still being applied in scholarly work in Norway today. Another reason for worrying is that the very intention of this book was to scrutinize the identity of the people of this particular region. Questions of identity and of belonging were at the heart of the project from the very outset. A book such as this is not only showing what a group of authors was thinking back in 2005, it has been written to create or strengthen a regional identity—in fact, a worldview. And I think it is fair to believe that to some extent it has been and still is effective. It has been widely read since its publication and has been used as a frame of reference and kind of state of the art by school teachers and county administrators in their work, to mention but a few. Last and not least this work of history gives us reason to worry because of the repeated requests made by the Saami stakeholders, including historians, archaeologists and the South Saami cultural centre, to be a part of this project. Their requests were denied from the outset, and still to this day, the authors, editors and the book committee have insisted on the adequacy of their treatment of South Saami history. Even when the text was criticized after it was published, they continue to insist that their way of including South Saami history and delineating the Trønder identity has not only been adequate but is the correct and proper way to go about it. In the debate about South Saami history, and specifically in this work of history, South Saami voices are seen as representatives of special interests, while non-Saami voices in contrast have been understood to represent a higher truth. The Saami are denied a platform from where to speak, and without a place in history, they are denied a platform for voicing their political demands and their very identity. In this piece of history, and therefore *through* this piece of history, the Saami population is placed on the very margin of society, not only geographically speaking. This book firmly establishes them as an outgroup. *Trøndelag history* indeed speaks volumes about the status and role allotted to the South Saami people within the region, partly through the story on the pages, partly through the story of the birth of the book.

By omitting Saami life in large parts of the history, the Saami are robbed of their identity and their links to the landscape and to society as a whole. In addition, the non-Saami are also robbed. Their lives and lifeworlds have also been shaped by the coexistence with a different group of people, both in tangible and intangible ways. Making visible the role that Saami culture and history have played in this region is important not only for the Saami communities, but is also of great value for the people outside the Saami communities. We will obtain a deeper understanding of our common history and of how the different identities have been constituted in different ways, but always in correlation to and in communication with each other.

As the editors of the three volumes of Trøndelags historie themselves point out, no work of history can ever tell the whole truth. The ambition of writing the whole story of the Trøndelag region can never be fulfilled. The pretence of giving a full and complete account is misleading, to put it mildly. There will always be details and perspectives that are omitted, and at all levels, alternative accounts and interpretations could be offered. The past itself has no beginning, nor an end, nor any other given demarcations. The very title of the volumes is an ideological stretching of any truth, as the name of the region is anachronistically superimposed on a terrain of the distant past, void of the political and ethnographic structures of today, in order to create a sense of narrative cohesion and of political effect. However, as a narrative figure and political tool, this claim is a kind of truth. As a political work, as a bedrock of identity, as a physical text, this claim is actively forming the minds of the 'Trønders' of today and of the future. As such, this work of history is the very foundation on which the truth and reality of future generations will be built.

### **Bibliography**


Bull, Ida. 2005b. Trøndelags historie og sørsamene. In *Adressavisen [Trondheim daily]* 29/11/2005. Bull, Ida. 2017. Samisk historie i Trøndelag. In *Adresseavisen* 17/02/2017.


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### **Chapter 9 South Saami Cultural Landscape Under Pressure**

#### **Trond Risto Nilssen**

**Abstract** This chapter will analyse the debate over the use and management of the South Saami cultural landscape where the construction of a large number of windmills in South Saami land has drawn the front line between the reindeer herders and commercial interests. More specifically, I will examine how culture and the indigenous people's own history have been activated and are used to influence political decisions. For centuries, South Saami life and business have been integrated in their traditional landscape, where the relationships between people, economic activities and the landscape represent important core values for the South Saami community. The South Saami themselves point out that reindeer husbandry is an important prerequisite for the preservation and continuation of South Saami knowledge and traditions, and that language and culture are at stake if reindeer husbandry is threatened. The continuous use of the South Saami cultural landscape involves sources of knowledge, insight and identification because traditions and rituals are key cultural concepts and important identity markers in the modern South Saami self-understanding. Hence, this chapter seeks to shed light on how the South Saami society relates to the cultural landscape in this struggle, and how landscape, history and traditions act as an important point of departure in the historical and political negotiations with the majority society.

**Iktedimmie** Daate tjaalege sæjhta digkiedimmiem analyseradidh åtnoen jïh reeremen bïjre åarjelsaemien kultuvreeatnamistie, gusnie bigkeme aktede stoerre låhkoste bïegkejårrehtsijstie åarjelsaemien dajvesne lea joekehtsem mïerhkesjamme båatsoen jïh kommersijelle ïedtji gaskem. Manne sïjhtem goerehtidh guktie kultuvre jïh aalkoealmetji histovrije åtnasåvva juktie politihkeles sjæjsjalimmieh tsevtsedh. Gellie tjuetie jaepieh åarjelsaemiej jielede jïh jieleme akte iemie bielie sjïdteme dennie aerpievuekien eatnamisnie, gusnie tsiehkie gaskem almetjh, ekonomeles darjomh jïh eatneme leah vihkeles åejvie-aarvoeh dan åarjelsaemien siebriedahkese. Åarjelsaemieh jïjtjh tjïertestieh båatsoe lea joekoen vihkeles jis edtja åarjelsaemien

T. R. Nilssen (B)

T. R. Nilssen

© The Author(s) 2019

Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway e-mail: trond.nilssen@ntnu.no; trond.r.nilssen@nord.no

Department of Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

H. Hermanstrand et al. (eds.), *The Indigenous Identity of the South Saami*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05029-0\_9

daajroem jïh aerpievuekieh vaarjelidh jïh guhkiedidh, jïh gïele jïh kultuvre maehtieh gaarvanidh jis båatsoe lea håvhtadamme. Dennie ahkedh åtnosne åarjelsaemien kultuvreeatnamistie daajroegaaltijh, goerkese jïh identifikasjovne gååvnesieh dan åvteste aerpievuekieh jïh vuekieh leah vihkeles kultuvrelle biehkieh jïh vihkeles identiteetevæhtah dennie daajbaaletje åarjelsaemien jïjtjegoerkesisnie. Daate tjaalege sæjhta dan åvteste buerkiestidh guktie åarjelsaemien siebriedahke aktem ektiedimmiem åtna kultuvreeatnamasse daennie gæmhposne, jïh guktie eatneme, histovrije jïh aerpievuekieh våaroeminie sjidtieh dejnie histovrijes jïh politihkeles rååresjimmine jienebelåhkoen siebriedahkine.

### **9.1 Introduction**

This chapter has been written while the debate on constructing wind turbines in South Saami reindeer-grazing regions on the Fosen peninsula has been prominent in the media. The South Saami legal argument is centred on the claim that the studies prior to the decision to build the wind turbines had shortcomings and were inadequate, and on the claim that the decision is in contravention of international law when it comes to the protection of indigenous peoples. The courts have made decisions by the valuation tribunal in June 2017, where the *Åarjel*-*Fovsen sijte* [reindeer herding districts in Fosen] lost (Inntrøndelag district court). Fosen reindeer herding district then applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court against the District Court's judgment of 15 August 2017. The decision of the Supreme Court came on December 4, 2017, which concluded that the appeal committee unanimously found that the conditions for granting permission were not fulfilled, cf. Section 30-2 of the Dispute Act, and to appeal directly to the Supreme Court is denied (Norwegian Supreme Court 2018).

The case before the valuation tribunal provides a good platform for studying what I will call *Historical and political negotiations about the culture and identity of the South Saami*. The chapter aims to examine the negotiation conditions for the South Saami in light of the conflict with the authorities and business interests. Wind turbine construction in South Saami lands raises issues of major importance for the South Saami as a group. This is about rights and the South Saami language. More so, many South Saami believe that reindeer herding is the most important culture carrier where the threats against the grazing regions is a threat against an entire culture.

The ongoing conflict between the wind-power developers and the South Saami is relevant for the discussions about the validity of building wind turbines, not only for the region dealt with in this chapter, but in practice for all land areas used by the Saami (Inntrøndelag district court, page 42). Large headlines about huge investments in areas with little industry have in some cases overshadowed the objections that have been raised. Both ignorance and lack of knowledge appear to dominate the debate. It is particularly striking when the Director General of the NHO (the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise) under a visit to the construction site of the wind park argued, according to the newspaper report, that wind power will be less of a nuisance for many people when located in the mountains: 'It would have been worse if the windmills had been placed in densely populated areas where people could see them all the time' (Adresseavisen 26.08.17).

Aesthetics appear to be the main argument, not which consequences such an intervention in nature will have for the landscape and the Saami. The objections raised by the Saami appear to be treated like background noise, and they are apparently doomed to lose the battle against business development and huge investments. The NHO Director General is not familiar with the conflict with the Saami, and cannot comment on it, it is asserted, but points out that '[…] we have a good system for impact studies in Norway, and I trust that the authorities have considered all the aspects and done their due diligence' (Adresseavisen 26.08.17). The Saami are not a special interest group in the traditional sense, rather a group with statutory protection and with special rights. This demands special treatment by the authorities.

Even though there is a stated intention to provide a transparent and balanced assessment of the consequences, it is astounding how the Saami in the Fosen case have been rendered invisible. A major problem for the South Saami is that business and industry interests, politicians and the general public are insufficiently aware of the pressure the Saami have been under and are subjected to. The public discussion shows that only a minority of politicians and others outside the South Saami community have expressed support for the South Saami case. Traditional Saami lifestyles operate on the outskirts of society and apparently have to surrender to progress. Is this a continuation of Norwegianization and marginalization? (Adresseavisen 13.07.17). What will the consequences be for the South Saami if their cultural and memory landscape vanishes and reindeer herding has to be terminated? These are vital questions I will return to. First, I will shed light on the material and the importance and function of the cultural and memory landscape in the South Saami society.

### **9.2 The Landscape of the South Saami—Tradition, Community and Identity**

The material consists of editorial texts, chronicles and opinions published by various newspapers and other media, as well as case documents from the courts. Interviews with reindeer herding Saami are important sources and provide personal perspectives on the debate. In connection with the study of South Saami cultural and memory landscape it is interesting to examine how the landscape can be understood as a component in the South Saami culture, and how traditions, history and memories are maintained by the use of the landscape.

It is often asserted that reindeer herding is important for promoting and continuing the South Saami culture, language and traditions; in other words, it is one of the necessary conditions for the survival of South Saami culture. History, location and continuity are key aspects where material cultural expressions and identity markers define and frame the South Saami community (Aarekol 2009: 11). Here lies the key to the link between the use of the landscape, history and traditions, where South Saami identities have been formed through meetings and negotiations with the majority society, but first and foremost through their own culture and their management of it. This also relates to the connection to the culture, for example, through language, the performing arts, social customs, rituals, knowledge and artisan skills (Aarekol 2009: 11). Events, places, family, material and immaterial representations impact how the South Saami collective is administered and expressed. This is about the importance of reference points in the culture and in the landscape for the people who make up these communities.

Socialization into communities means adopting not only common norms but also acquiring the group's past. Groups will transform key events and interpretations of their own existence in the culture in different ways (Jernsletten 2009: 166). Group affiliation may be created by symbolizing the values and ambitions of the group, and by uncovering and classifying elements in the social life of people as bridgeheads to establish collective memories (Misztal 2003: 50 ff). Reindeer herding as a livelihood cannot represent all the South Saami, but the threats this South Saami livelihood is facing are used to show the marginalization of all South Saami. Joining the fight for grazing lands is thus not the exclusive calling of the people whose livelihood is at stake. Rather it may be something shared by many in the South Saami community.

Stable reference frames in the culture enable the South Saami to identify their own past in their contemporary time and will be able, therefore, to establish a sense of continuity and community. For example, physical and symbolic places and actions will be important as key identity markers. Bearing this in mind, the relationship between the South Saami and their cultural and memory landscape will be important, as will the roles that such things as landscapes, places and traditions play for the South Saami community. Reindeer herding may in some contexts be understood as the core element for communication and learning between the generations, where knowledge is passed on and managed within the social and cultural frames of dayto-day communication. The landscape and the activities relating to reindeer herding represent both material and immaterial frames, and are also 'locations' for a preserved and managed past. This is where the concept *communicative memory* finds its real content, referring to a type of relationship to the past which is created, regulated and carried forward through direct personal discourse. Communicative memory is shared by social groups, circulating in families from one generation to the next. The communicative memory is not restricted to direct communication between individuals, but also takes place within social, cultural and political frames (Assmann 1999).

The past, family relationships, representations of the past and the landscape will therefore have great importance for self-perceptions, value issues and power relationships in a group, collective or society. Various mechanisms are used to connect this special past to identity construction and to processing of contemporary challenges. Important events in culture frame the self-awareness of the South Saami, and defeats and victories in conflicts have also consolidated the framework for how such 'memories' function and interact. The mobilization for preserving the South Saami culture and memory landscape highlights features of the community, where the culture and memory environments, understanding of time and the representations give substance to the formation of identity, and to the South Saami orientation in the present and the future. The relationship to the landscape and its management changes its character and becomes clearer when the threats against it are concrete and comprehensive. For those South Saami who are immediately subjected to the wind-power development, the threats may be perceived as an epochal change in their life and culture in the long term. There are few expressed personal agendas in this debate. Consideration of the collective and coming generations of South Saami is the aspect that is generally highlighted, or in the words of a South Saami: 'This is not about me, it is about the future for my descendants' (Adresseavisen 05.03.17).

In light of the ongoing negotiations about the lands of the South Saami, it will be possible to see how the arguments in the conflict between the South Saami and the greater society may be understood according to the concept of 'strategic essentialism' (Morton 2007, 126). In brief, this is about how special features of minority societies are displayed and used so the society in question will be heard and understood. In our context, the unique character of the culture is used by the South Saami to promote their political goals. In a South Saami context, it is argued that livelihood, traditions and language are closely related to culture and thus should be given statutory protection. However, the emphasis on reindeer herding as a political measure and a strategic identity marker for all may create internal tensions because not all in the South Saami community are directly involved in this practice as a business and livelihood, and it will appear distant to some. A critical point of view on such an approach is that it may lead to stereotypical simplifications of the South Saami as a group.

This danger of simplification notwithstanding strong forces argues that reindeer herding functions as a symbol for the whole South Saami culture and for the sense of community and coexistence among the members. Reindeer grazing and all activities connected to it therefore are very important for the South Saami identity and social life, not just for the reindeer herding Saami. This is the case even if people live in dispersed locations, only few master the language and not everyone are involved in reindeer husbandry. The cultural importance of reindeer herding is reinforced by the description of the reindeer herding community as separate communities within a *sijte* (a South Saami reindeer-grazing district or Saami village) (UiT, dictionary), as a union of several households with common duties for the herding (Bergland 2005). The families are bound together by common interests, coordination of duties and mobilization when necessary. Here historical and more recent threats have impacted today's negotiation climate, where the vulnerability of the South Saami community is a crucial point for Saami spokespersons and activists.

### **9.3 Celebration and New Battles**

Tame reindeer herding has been carried out in Trøndelag by the Saami for many centuries. When reindeer herding actually became the primary livelihood is difficult to determine, but most researchers believe that it started around the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries (Fjellheim 1995: 58; Justis-og beredskapsdepartementet 2007). The cultural landscape used by the South Saami since that time continued throughout most of the nineteenth century (Fjellheim 1995, 58–82). Everything comprised by Saami cultural heritage and cultural landscape is called 'the Saami room' by the historian Sverre Fjellheim (Fjellheim 1995, 65 ff.). Even though there has been necessary modernization to keep up with the times, today's forms of reindeer herding are an important culture carrier. The relationship between the people and the landscape has left many cultural traces, and this particularly applies to the reindeer herding nomadism. Reindeer herding and its regions, and the narrative relating to the relationships between people and territory, are part of important socialization processes and have helped create a sense of belonging to the Saami community (Fjellheim 1995, 72, and interview 15 March 2016).

Today's threats are one of the many conflicts about regions the South Saami have been forced into over the last century, and are about more than just access to grazing lands. The right to nurture one's own culture also includes special livelihoods that are connected to the use of land and land resources. This means that ensuring that the South Saami have the opportunity to use natural resources is protected by international law (Inntrøndelag district court, 43). Article 15 of ILO's Convention relating to Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries is used as the platform for legitimizing the Saami demands.

The documents from the valuation tribunal in Inntrøndelag district court (June 2017) about the wind turbines in Fosen provide insight into the case. Even though the parties agree that Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (FN-sambandet) confers international protection of reindeer herding, the conclusions differ. With support from Article 27, the South Saami have long argued against building wind turbines on their grazing land in several locations. The presentation of the most recent interventions has a historical backdrop where conflicts and loss of land over several generations dominate today's negotiation climate. The centenary celebration in 2017 of the first Saami congress, Tråante 2017, contributed to renewed media interest in the South Saami cause.

The celebration mobilized large crowds in Trondheim at the centenary of the first Saami congress on 6 February 1917. Saami from all of Saepmie (the lands of the Saami in South Saami language) dominated the streets throughout the anniversary week. Concerts and art exhibitions were arranged, in addition to theme exhibitions, presentations, political rallies and other meetings between Saami interest organizations. During the celebration on the 6th of February, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg denounced the Norwegianization policy, and President of the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) Olemic Thommesen followed this by stating that the Norwegianization policy was unwise, prejudiced, suppressive and a great loss for Norway (Adresseavisen 07.02.17).

Prior to the anniversary, the President of the Finnish Saami General Assembly stated that it would strengthen border-transcending Saami collaboration, and that it could offer the Saami political progress (NRK Sápmi 16.02.17). Tråante 2017 was therefore a particularly important arena for the South Saami and the entire Saami community, not only in Norway but in all of Saepmie. The fact that the event was arranged in the South Saami region was used to put more focus on a minority in the Saami community. The experiences from this comprehensive mobilization have contributed to a stronger focus on the Saami as a group, their history, culture and language.

The celebration may be understood as a token of respect to the Saami organization pioneers from 1917 (Norsk biografisk leksikon and Johansen 2015), and how 1917 was a watershed year as the congress started a process that involved the struggle for participation through politician representation, rights and issues relating to language and education on the Saami's own premises. Bearing this in mind, it is of striking that the conflict level has reached new heights in the anniversary year, and that the fight over the regions took place only a few miles from the headquarters of Tråante 2017 and the speech by the Prime Minister on 6 February 2017.

Building wind turbines will mean the beginning of the end for reindeer herding and the Saami culture in Fosen, a spokesperson for the reindeer herding Saami asserts (Adresseavisen 05.03.17). The central authorities have, on the other hand, claimed that the advantages of renewable energy production must weigh heavily in the assessments, and that building a wind park in Fosen is not in contravention of Article 27 (the UN International Covenant on *Civil and Political Rights*) (Inntrøndelag district court, 26). The reindeer herding Saami have attempted to argue that the disadvantages are greater than the advantages, and that their arguments are supported by international law.

Attention generated by the case may be a double-edged sword. Many disputes and legal cases in recent years have led to negative attitudes to the Saami as a group. These worries emerge in an interview with a young reindeer herding Saami (Interview I. T. S 2016). The choice of strategy is based on culture having greater impact and understanding than technical matters concerning reindeer herding and economics. The premises for the communication with politicians and public opinion therefore appear to follow one particular track.

The Saami General Assembly has adopted such a line of thinking. A statement made in October 2009 states that 'the Saami General Assembly underlines the importance of reindeer herding for Saami culture and social life', and adds that weakening or obliterating reindeer herding will have 'negative effects on the South Saami culture in Fosen' (Inntrøndelag district court 2017, 7). The same arguments are pointed out in an expert report from 2008 which analyses the consequences of introducing windpark and power-line projects in the same area (ASK Rådgivning AS and SWECO Norge AS 2008).

The life and activities of the South Saami have for centuries been integrated in the landscape through the lifecycle and migration of the reindeer, where the relationships between the people, the reindeer herd and the landscape have a special position linguistically, culturally and materially. The negotiations that are still ongoing about the landscape are perceived as a threat against the very core of the South Saami culture. The concession rights have important conditions connected to the basis for wind-power facilities and power lines, which state that it must be rational in a social sense, and that the advantages must be balanced against the disadvantages (Inntrøndelag district court, 13). The premises for what is socially rational and the underpinning for balancing advantages against disadvantages are placed with other people than the Saami.

Thus, much is at stake, and not only for the reindeer herding Saami. Heavy commercial interests have already invested substantially in preparatory work for the wind park, and political gains are glimmering in the distance with the talk of renewable energy. The former Saami General Assembly President Vibeke Larsen has said that the state authorities must bear the responsibility for eradicating the South Saami language if the wind park becomes a reality (Sagat 23.08.17). These harsh words raised the conflict level and hardened the frontlines in the period following the evaluation tribunal's decision.

The emphasis on language and culture is pervasive, and not only from the Saami side. International law provisions have been introduced in the debate to find support for the South Saami arguments. A member of the Storting (Parliament) asserted in an interview 'we as a nation' are obliged to preserve the Saami indigenous population, their language, culture and livelihood, and for this reason, the herding of tame reindeer cannot be reduced (Trønder-Avisa 03.09.17). Several politicians have been concerned about preserving the South Saami culture, and a small group of politicians and South Saami spokespersons highlight culture and language as the most important aspects in the debate. Saying that the lines of conflict are drawn between *culture/language* and *wind power* may be seen as a simplification, but this is in fact an effective indicator of what is at stake.

The wind turbine park in Fosen is one of the biggest industrial investments in this part of Norway in recent decades. Approximately NOK 11 billion will be spent on the project, in addition to significant amounts to be used for building the required infrastructure. Spokespersons for the project have claimed that it will generate growth in an area with limited business opportunities and with negative population development. Politicians on different levels and the developers have argued that new workplaces will be created and long-term investments will have ripple effects for businesses and the municipal economy. A complicating factor, which is an interesting and demanding political issue, is that the industrial developers have won on their arguments about economic gain and environmental advantages with the general public and the authorities.

In a letter dated 14 April 2011, the reindeer herding Saami in South Fosen asserted that little intervention is needed before it is in contravention of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and that the sum total of earlier interventions is so large that any new intervention will be in violation of international law (Inntrøndelag district court, 16). In response to this, the wind-power developers claim that the ILO Convention (on indigenous and tribal peoples in independent states) has not been embedded in Norwegian legislation, and that the Saami thus cannot base rights directly on this platform (Inntrøndelag district court, 31). This has been an important and contentious issue where the Saami people have believed that the ILO Convention confers special rights and protection.

The developers have stated that the intervention will not prevent the practice of Saami culture in the region, but that the intervention is planned in such a way that it will permit 'the minority to continue to have financial gain from the activity' (Inntrøndelag district court, 33). It is not clear what is meant by the formulation 'continue to have financial gain'. The core issue is that in referring to the same legislation the Saami are using, *Fosen Vind* and *Statnett* find that the assessment of the scope and consequences of the interventions is that they will not prevent reindeer herding in the area. The objections from the Saami have included the importance of the lands for the exercise of their culture and the possibility of carrying forward a traditional livelihood (Inntrøndelag district court, 37).

Will the external pressure the Saami are experiencing cause the internal sense of community to be strengthened, and the South Saami society to also include South Saami that are not engaged in reindeer herding? The historical backdrop of marginalization and displacement is not only a part of our history that is behind us, but, according to the reindeer herders, it also appears to continue under new conditions and with new actors. Today's conflicts must also be considered in connection with earlier actions and mobilizations for Saami interests. In the South Saami's area, the protests against an artillery range have been important because they established an alliance between environmentalists and the reindeer herding Saami. The plans to develop an artillery range in Fosen in the 1970s and the hydropower dam in Alta/Kautokeino in the 1980s (Fylkesmannen i Nord-Trøndelag 1982), which both involved substantial interventions in Saami lands, have coloured all later regional conflicts between the Saami and the greater society, and the plans for development have both divided and brought together local communities across political parties and alliances. Where landowners and municipal politicians have seen financial gains and workplaces, others have seen destruction of nature and harmful interventions.

On 11 November 2016, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy decided to reject the applications for wind-power development by Fred. Olsen Renewable AS—Kalvvatnan vindkraftverk (wind-power facility) in Bindal and Namsskogan municipalities. The Ministry clearly stated that reindeer herding is of decisive importance for carrying forward the South Saami culture and the South Saami language. The two reindeer herding districts in question are among the few districts where South Saami is used as a native language and as a working language. The Ministry therefore concluded that reindeer herding enjoys a special position based on the principles in international law about material protection of indigenous peoples, and that no concession could be granted for the Kalvvatnan wind-power facility (Olje-og energidepartementet 2017). The outcome in this case may turn out to be important in other cases in the South Saami area.

The Ministry's conclusions have been supported by recent research reports from Norway and Sweden (Coleman et al. 2014; Skarin 2016). The documentation from Sweden and the many reservations that appear in the Norwegian study give grounds for agreeing with the critics of wind power in grazing areas; it is harmful to reindeer. The case has a human aspect that reveals how brutal the situation is. An area report cannot possibly capture all the circumstances and factors that adversely impact a small community. The reindeer herding Saami Arvid Jåma has complained several times about the situation, but in spite of support from several quarters and from expertise on the rights of indigenous peoples (Åhrén 2016), he is beginning to give up: I am disgusted by society, that they are so vulgar that they are willing to crush so small an ethnic minority, so brutally. Now they have harassed us for several years with this decision. […] Several of us will be forced to stop herding reindeer if the project is realized, it will be the end of many of us. We need large areas of land for the reindeer, and for us this is a question of resources. […] It does not only concern me personally, but also adults and children in many families. Our grazing lands will be destroyed. (Fosna-folket 23.02.16)

Several South Saami say that the ongoing battle to make the case heard and protect their rights and interests is draining them of energy. One reindeer herding Saami in an interview claimed that the importance of reindeer herding for the South Saami community is underscored by the fact that people from various districts show their support in the fight against development through active participation (Interview M. K. J. 2016). The solidarity that comes to light between the South Saami is vital for maintaining the will to fight through community action and having faith that resistance will bring positive results. The Saami General Assembly has on a number of occasions supported the South Saami, and there is a dawning interest internationally which shows that the core of the case is more than simply reindeer herding (Artic Deeply 2016). This is apparently completely in accordance with the South Saami's own media strategy. The threats against identity and community are highlighted and used to show what is at stake, and become more tangible as in the following:

The feeling you get when you get up there and you know that this is mine – this is where I belong. Here generations of my family have lived far back in time. I feel I belong in the mountains, and it's an important part of my identity that I feel at home there. […] I feel that it's very difficult because the mountains are where we are allowed to be ourselves, and without experiencing prejudices and day-to-day racism against the Saami. You feel that you are seen as being different. But when we go into the mountains, where you live and herd the reindeer, then there are no questions. Then you can be yourself. Knowing that it is being taken away from us is so painful, and we see that it is destroyed right in front of my eyes. (Interview with I. T. S 2016)

Identity is connected to the personal self-image and the individual self-understanding and position in social communities. In social and cultural communities these will be events, landscapes, objects, rituals and actions that the community recognizes as authorized carriers of traditions in the culture. But what characterizes South Saami identity? Everybody I have been in contact with points to the language, culture, landscape and the community connected to it. The Saami reindeer herders highlight the work, the mountains and the landscape as identity-forming, and as a hub of the Saami community.

A global ecological movement is working to respect, cherish and preserve environments, where the interests of indigenous peoples are incorporated into this way of thinking (Spruce and Trasher 2008). It is therefore a paradox that wind power, which basically is sustainable, clashes with the rights and interests of indigenous peoples. Saami cultural heritage and landscapes are under threat and are being violated. The history of the Saami and their presence and use of a region are not necessarily concurrent with the perception the majority society has of the region. This is a key element in the discussion about the right to use, customs, rights and co-determination. Issues connected to this have been on the agenda repeatedly, where representatives of the South Saami have argued with the authorities and the greater society over the rights to the landscape of indigenous peoples. Political and emotionally charged concepts are taken into use, such as 'invasion', 'occupation' and 'survival' when describing the threats against the South Saami region (Letter to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security from Åarjel Fovsen Sijte 2009).

For the South Saami, the development of wind parks is only one of many attacks. 'We have fought before, but always lost', says one of the reindeer owners in Fosen. She is referring to the many previous interventions in the grazing lands that have put pressure on grazing and reindeer from all sides. There is no more space to lose, it is claimed (Interview with I. T. S. 2016). Developing more and more regions into infrastructure has made it more difficult to herd reindeer, and the consequences of further encroachments will be ruinous for sustainable operations. It has also been pointed out that the total calculations have not included ruined nature and other social expenses, and that for this reason, the project cannot be profitable. The developers disagree with this analysis (NRK Trøndelag 28.05.15).

### **9.4 Conclusion**

During the annual South Saami culture festival under the direction of *Saemien Sijte* (South Saami museum and cultural centre in Snåsa) it was decided on 29 September 2017 to submit a statement to the Saami General Assembly, the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) and the Government about the lack of recognition of the Saami right to lands and natural resources (Saemien Sijte 2017). This statement connects South Saami culture and reindeer herding closely to each other. The letter states that the material basis for South Saami culture has already been marginalized, and that this is very serious when it comes to 'preserving and developing the South Saami culture and the South Saami community' (Saemien Sijte 2017). The importance of the landscape and reindeer herding for preserving and developing culture and society is thus being raised as a point to be heard in the land dispute.

On the local and regional levels, the conflicts in the South Saami region refer to managing the inheritance passed down by their forefathers, an inheritance that clashes with economic interests and infrastructure requirements. In a larger context, this issue is about whether indigenous peoples should be given opportunities to maintain their culture through the practice of the culture, work and livelihood. This is also part of a larger international discourse on indigenous people where parallel issues to what is now taking place in Fosen supply perspectives on domestic matters. The conflicts between grazing land and wind power are tangible evidence of the vulnerability of the South Saami culture, and also show that this land has a special position in a Saami context. But what we have also learned is that many South Saami can mobilize and stand together against political decisions. Mobilization and alliance-building led to victory in Namdal/Bindal, and convincing arguments have been given by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy about vulnerability and threats to the South Saami culture which may be used in future cases.

In a larger perspective, the situations of the indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada and the USA have been studied and analysed (Vickers 2002). The inheritance after the colonists is a heavy burden, and many indigenous nations are today fighting for recognition and acceptance of their demand for the right to lost lands and restitution after being marginalized. The conflict where Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota in the autumn of 2016 and into 2017 protested against a pipeline which was planned to cross their only source of drinking water is an interesting parallel. This case, as the one in Fosen, is about much more than preserving the landscape, the danger of ruining important cultural heritage and culture landscapes and issues relating to conflicts of interest and rights. On the surface, it is about the fight for natural resources, but at the heart of the conflict it is about preservation of culture and strengthening the opportunities of indigenous peoples to live in their traditional ways and to practice their culture through rights to land and autonomy. The commercial interests of the majority society, affluence and utility put much pressure on marginalized groups. This is a recurring topic in official UN reports on the situation for indigenous peoples, where many are fighting to manage and develop their traditional territories and resources (UN). The remaining indigenous peoples of the world lose ground steadily, not just losing area, but also losing in political, financial and health and culture terms. In a report from 2015, the UN concludes that indigenous peoples suffer from political marginalization and loss of autonomy (UN 2015, 53). How this is addressed by concrete measures varies. In Norway, it appears as if the authorities are pursuing a dual give-and-take strategy. In such a context the negotiations over Fosen and Namdal/Bindal reindeer-grazing districts are interesting cases. The issues raised in both cases are strikingly similar, but the outcomes are different. Why is it so? It appears that the timing of case processing has been decisive for the outcome of the two cases. It is likely that the knowledge about the South Saami community, its challenges with the reindeer herding and the threats against the culture, was broader in the public society and the ministry after the first case in 2013. Because of this, the political will to constructing wind turbines in South Saami reindeer-grazing regions has perhaps changed from 2013 to 2016.

The strategy of keeping business and livelihood in the background and rather highlighting the importance of reindeer and grazing lands or preserving the culture and language may have shifted the power relationship in favour of the South Saami in some cases. In the debate about development in Fosen the arguments about heavy investments in an area with little industry are suppressed and environmental policy arguments are received positively by politicians, landowners and industrial developers. It is thus striking how economic arguments and arguments about the need for renewable power by developers silence the Saami and push them far into the background. This was seen in the Trondheim newspaper *Adresseavisen* on 23 September 2017 when a letter on behalf of the developers on the effect of wind power did not mention the reindeer herding Saami at all (Adresseavisen 21.09.17). Despite the fact that the trial regarding compensation for the loss of grazing lands occurred simultaneously (Adresseavisen 01.05.18 and 16.05.18), the same was seen in another regional newspaper, Trønder-Avisa, on 16 May 2018, where the wind-power project was described without mentioning the reindeer herders perspectives (Trønder-Avisa 16.05.18). According to *Adresseavisen*, in June 2018, the High Court (*Lagmannsretten*) was worried about the wind-power developer's situation because a stop in the construction work, which the Saami believed was reasonable while the question of compensation was being considered, would have significant financial consequences for the company. This means that the 81 turbines will be in place in the South Saami pastures before the case has been processed in the judicial system (*Adresseavisen* 06/06/18). The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.

To keep social communities together it is important to be able to communicate, act in harmony and share common experiences. In my judgment, the various connections the South Saami have to reindeer grazing play an important role through work as cultural manifestations. A significant proportion of the South Saami people are currently engaged in reindeer husbandry (about 170 man-years and more than 500 people in 2016 in the counties of Nordland, Trøndelag and Hedmark, the Norwegian Agriculture Agency 2017). The debate about establishing wind power in the grazing lands shows that there is close interaction between those working for the Saami case and how cultural tools are put into play. If so, it may be perceived as unfortunate that there are disagreements between the reindeer herding groups in Fosen. Internal disagreement may nevertheless be understood as the result of heavy and long-term pressure from the greater society. This puts the cooperation to difficult tests and makes it hard to stand together when major commercial actors and state institutions argue for the planned interventions. A rift benefits the developers and is also used as an advantageous argument in the courts.

However, many things indicate that reindeer herding and the land in a wide sense are key cultural points for many South Saami and their self-understanding, a fact that mobilizes them to fight for their culture and language. The efforts to engage and move opinion and politicians by highlighting the importance of the reindeer for the practice of the Saami culture have probably led to increased awareness of the Saami in southern Sápmi. Tråante 2017 has thus helped enormously to raise awareness of Saami culture and the Saami community. The reindeer herding Saami in Fosen have attempted to benefit from the relatively large media interest in Saami culture both before and during the celebrations. Terms such as 'cultural genocide', 'racism' and 'occupation' are used by some South Saami to describe new conflicts with the greater society. An application to the UN Comittee on the elimination of racial discrimination was in October 2018 submitted as an urgent request for interim measures to halt the construction of the Power Plant (Saami Council 2018). This application was not processed upon completion of this article. In spite of the harsh words and references to the injustice of previous times and waning future prospects, it appears that the South Saami will encounter more pressure and new demands to yield grazing lands for their reindeer in the years ahead.

### **Bibliography**


Assembly, the Storting and the Government via the Saemien Sijtes website: http://saemiensijte. no/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/utalelse-etter-smeinar.pdf. Accessed on 2 February 2018.


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