#Sámi heritage and culture

[bigfrozenfan]

Unshaming my indigenous heritage | Mari Boine

Mari Boine grew up in a Sámi family in the North of Norway, where she was taught to be ashamed of her heritage and the close relation to nature. Growing up she found the opposite to be true, and turned the realisation into a life long musical career. Mari is a singer, musician and songwriter from Sápmi, Norway. Her music is infused with Sami roots (joik) in combination with jazz, rock and electronic sounds. Mari Boine has been one of the most outspoken and important representatives of the Sámi culture. As an artist and activist, she has worked tirelessly for the recognition and preservation of the indigenous Sámi culture and for the protection of Mother Earth among other causes. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

[mehilaiselokuva]

actually am i allowed to be angry about christian missionaries/general influence erasing so much finnish history and folklore. because i kinda am. i love learning about not just the finnish language but finland itself as a person with mainly nordic (finnish included) heritage looking to reconnect with their culture, and i felt like stumbling across a barren, black crater where rich history once stood

sorry if this is too off-topic/heavy for this blog i just saw that one ask you answered and saw red :p

Hi!

I am angry as well. There must have been so much culture and folklore lost during Christianization out here! I did a presentation about ancient Finnish traditions for my English class, and my (British) teacher wasn't even aware of what happened to the Finnish and other Uralic cultures in this area. Many of my Finnish classmates were unaware of ancient Finnish culture as well. (Unfortunately, that was expected, since people here aren't aware of cultural history that wasn't taught in school! Not many people know what Karelian culture is about. Not many know about the traditions of the Sámi or the Romani here. etc etc)

I feel like the study and preservation of culture, in general, is very important as it's so easy for the dominating population to kill the cultures of smaller populations. We could also put more effort into preserving languages and cultures and teaching languages to the young generations regardless of how "useful" the language is! While we cannot reverse time and stop our culture from being erased, we can still put time and resources into preserving languages and cultures of the world to possibly save them from this fate! Maybe with research and raising awareness lets us rediscover culture that was lost!

[inariedwards]

Museum news from Finland:

Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia donates its Sámi collection to the Sámi Museum Siida

The Sámi Museum Siida is the national museum with the responsibility for preserving the material and cultural heritage of Finland's Sámi people. The Sámi objects in the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia's collections were mainly acquired between 1900 and the 1960s with the last ones added to the collections in the 1980s.

The first part of the donation, which includes the textile items of the collection, will be transferred to representatives of the Sámi museum in the collection facilities of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia on Tuesday, 16 January 2024.

– As the new collection and exhibition facilities of the Sámi Museum Siida are now completed, this seemed like a good time to donate the objects of Sámi origin back to the Sámi community, says Pasi Kovalainen, Director of Cultural heritage work at the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia.

– The Sámi objects and their return have a profound meaning for the Sámi community. The donation is a significant addition to the oldest part of the Sámi Museum Siida's collections. We thank the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia for this important decision, says Taina Pieski, Siida's Museum Director.

The collections of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia that include objects of Sámi origin date back to the early days of the only professionally run museum in Northern Finland. The objects were collected by Samuli Paulaharju (1875–1944), a folklorist and museum curator from Oulu. The collection was destroyed almost completely by two fires in the museum buildings in 1929 and 1940. After both fires, replacement items were collected in Lapland.

The collection of approximately 400 items now donated consists of Sámi textiles and utensils, including a goahti (traditional Sámi hut) and several sledges. The oldest items include a cheese mould from Enontekiö dating back to 1797 and rare crossbow stocks, the oldest of which dates back to 1730.

As a large part of the Sámi cultural heritage is still held by museums outside the Sámi region, the transfer of the collection is important for the Sámi community.

The Sámi material culture is both practical and beautiful in its diversity, and the museum objects contain a wealth of intangible knowledge about their manufacture and use. This knowledge is best preserved in Sápmi by the Sámi themselves. Through the study of artefacts, it is possible to revive the old craft traditions and techniques of the Sámi community, knowledge of materials and the vocabulary related to the production and use of the objects. The revitalisation processes are a form of communal and intergenerational transfer of learning and knowledge, and they contribute to the transmission of Sámi material and immaterial culture to future generations.

The transfer of Sámi collections to the Sámi Museum Siida over the past decade is a concrete demonstration of genuine cooperation between museums and the increased understanding of the importance of cultural heritage for the Sámi community.

[prisonhannibal]

I didn't know anything about Sámi culture before following you but it's been an absolute pleasure hearing you take pride in your culture. I'm half Romani and I know how hard it is to be out and proud about your heritage and culture when it seems like everyone is against you. I've lost and forgotten a lot of my Romani language but I was wondering if you have any favourite Sámi words or phrases? I love seeing what words people keep close to their hearts

thank you so much ❤️ You have a beautiful culture you should be proud of, people are just horrible sometimes. I unfortunately don’t speak much davvisámegiella because the government tried to get rid of those languages so my áhkku wasn’t allowed to use it so my mom didn’t learn :( but she still uses like a mix language where she has sámi phrases in the middle of norwegian sentences and I love that I think it’s so cute. I love that she calls me biiga I think that’s very cute. also “vuoi vuoi” is definitely a good phrase because it can mean anything like vuoi vuoi…what else can I say. also jallasoaivi it means like dumb head basically haha I call people that jokingly a lot. would you like to tell me some of yours?

[scarlet--wiccan]

Idk if you know anything about Ice from dc, but I believe she is also a Romani character? Since you’ve shared thoughts on Dick Grayson and Zatanna, I was wondering if you had any on her.

I do have thoughts, and they're not kind. With DC Comics, it seems like Romani identity is something that is only ever applied retroactively to validate a character's exoticness, mysticism, or sexualization-- sometimes a combination of all three. I'm not going to say that Marvel is necessarily better, but their inclusion of Romani characters is definitely founded on a better understanding of our realities, particularly in the Silver and Bronze Age. When you look at characters like the Maximoffs or von Dooms, you get a sympathetic portrait of European Romani history that actually makes valid and helpful points, in spite of the problematic imagery. Characters like Ice, Zatanna, and Nightwing generally only make shallow references to a gypsy heritage that confirms certain stereotypes about their upbringing, but has no bearing on their adult lives.

DC also has a stronger tendency to portray portray Romani groups as organized crime families, as we see in Ice's revised backstory, first told in Justice League: Generation Lost #12. In my mind, this is a much more dangerous stereotype than the usual witches and fortunetellers. Romani communities are heavily impacted by racial profiling and over-policing, in Europe and in America. It's one thing for media to present gypsies as a fictional race of fairy-tale spellcasters; it's quite another thing to validate very real state violence against a very real people by parroting racist propaganda.

Anyways, Tora Olafsdotter, formerly known as "Icemaiden", now known as simply "Ice," was originally depicted as a member of a reclusive tribe of magic wielders from Norway. I don't know how overt this is in the original material, but I would hazard that she is actually based on stereotypes about the Sámi people. "Fixing" this backstory by making her Romani-- just in time to maker her family into overt villains-- is very similar to what happened with Magneto in the 90s.

The Romanifolket are a real Romani group, based primarily in Norway and Sweden. DC gets points for naming an actual vitsa-- most Romani characters don't have one at all, or if they do, it's fictional, like Doom's "Zefiro clan." The name "Is Bygd" is made-up, though, as are the clan politics of Tora's family. DC loses what little credibility they'd earned by representing the Romanifolket as an extensive crime ring who uphold scamming and thievery as a cultural practice. That's completely fallacious, and extremely harmful.

In her revised origin, Tora is a metahuman, meaning her powers are a genetic quirk, similar to that of X-Men's mutants. Her fanatical forebears believe that she is a reincarnated goddess, and they wish to use her powers to, you guessed it, do more crimes. This reinforces the narrative that Romani people are ruled by their arcane superstitions and pagan beliefs, as well as the pervasive notion that we abuse children and force them into early labor and/or marriage for profit. Sound familiar? Everyone's favorite X-Factor writer loves that one. [x]

Ultimately, Tora denounces her entire community as "very bad people." Generation Lost frames her Romani upbringing as a traumatic experience Tora wishes to distance herself from, and Romani culture as an inherent evil for which she seeks redemption. In that regard, she's not unlike Marvel's Amanda Sefton, but unlike Amanda, Tora's story is told without an ounce of nuance, and it was written recently. In the age of digital research, there's no excuse for this level of ignorance. The story of Ice is probably the worst Romani narrative I have ever witnessed in a superhero comic.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Sami blood is a very important film. It portrays how we treated the sámi through history, about injustice, indoctrination, when you don't accept your own identity...

It's a film I recommend for everyone to watch. But I refuse to ever rewatch it.

The thing is, the things you'd be expected to get uncomfortable with, I didn't react as strongly to. For example, this scene

In this scene, the main character is getting examined for "race study". This is a dark spot in our history. There is an entire building in my hometown who used to be for race biology - they looked at sámi people, romani people, anyone that wasn't a white fullblood scandinavian, measured their heads, photographed them naked, to show how they were different, inferior.

This scene is uncomfortable, but it also feels like it's so far from reality from us now, as they don't do these race studies anymore.

But the scenes in this movie that really DOES hit for me. Scenes that... while the movie is set in the 1930s, feels like they could happen today.

When the main character Elle Marja is asked by some swedish girls if, since she's sámi, can't she joik for them? So Elle Marja does stand up and joik, and instead of people applauding, they just... laugh at her.

When Elle Marja has internalized all of the things the non-sámi have said, and starts to hate her own family, her own heritage, her own culture, because she only sees the prejudice cast upon them, and believes it to be correct.

When she stays at a boy's house, and his parents immediately are dismissive because they know she's sámi. The immediate prejudice and disgust because she's of "that kind", "she's not like us".

When Elle Marja is an adult and back for her sister's funeral. She hears some women talk about the sámi, and while they seem more "accepting" towards them in the modern age, this "acceptance" is only hidden through politeness. They still make passive aggressive comments like "but do they HAVE to take up so much space? They can have their scooters and reindeer, but they don't need to show off so much". It's a pretty powerful moment, realizing things aren't magically ok now just because people are more "accepting" as a society.

This film has been used for discussion twice in different uni classes I've taken. But I've only seen it once. Because you more or less only need to see it once, because it just has that impact. It's not a happy film, but it is important.

It focuses a lot specifically how the sámi were treated in Sweden - they were forced to go to schools where they were only allowed to speak swedish. This was to make them more "civilized". But they were only allowed to get educated to a certain degree. They could never become a swedish citizen. They're still sámi.

But these schools were very much active in Norway and in Finland too, where they were forced to learn the language to be "civilized", as well as also be active in the church, sing a lot of psalms and recite the bible.

And they did not teach us about it in school. In school, at least for me, we learned "the Sámi live up north and they have a form of song called joik." We did not learn about the race biology, the forced assimilation, the prejudice and the history of them. This movie tbh was when some schools actually started talking about it more. And I did not even see it until now in uni!

Anyway. I also recommend it to people who are not nordic, as it shows a part of our history that we don't often bring up, if at all.

[aaknopf]

A multi-generational saga courses across the pages of Ædnan, by Sámi-Swedish author Linnea Axelsson, translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel. The verse epic follows an Indigenous Sámi family who have herded reindeer for generations, as the forces of colonialism and modern development of their ancestral lands threaten their culture and livelihood. The story is told by a small chorus of characters from the 1910s through the current day, and we become especially close to Lise, who left her Sámi family, following her brother Jon-Henrik, to be educated at a residential school for “Nomad” children. This excerpt from Chapter XII takes place in the early 1970s, along the Great Lule River Valley, where the state-owned Vattenfall company was developing hydroelectric resources, and Lise is graduating into a world unimaginable to her parents.

. .

The river climbed silently up the hills

as soon as Vattenfall whistled it came creeping:

–

Streamed backwards up its deep channel and drowned the earth

When the great Suorva Dam for the third time was to be regulated

–

Entreaty

shone from Mama’s eyes

–

She explained clearly to the Swedes 

that the fishing will suffer if the water rises

–

There was probably no one who understood what she was saying

– –

After the social studies lesson I went with the others to sit on the gymnasium floor

–

Almost all of Malmberget’s students had been dismissed from class

– To participate in the miners’ strike meeting

 –

Someone had heard that Olof Palme was coming

that he would travel all the way up here 

–

To the mining company’s and Vattenfall’s world the one that he himself had helped build

–

It is what he is guarding

It is all that he can see

–

The mine boss’s voice

flowed wildly above the crowded hall which was hot with bodies

–

His voice was so robust his conviction so intense

–

I glanced at Anne who was sitting beside me leaning against the wall bars

and she smiled back at me

–

Soon we would be leaving school too 

–

And could start working join the union

–

You took the job you wanted that’s all there was to it 

– 

Switchboard cleaner or cook

with the old folks at the Pioneer or the children in day care

– –

I spend the weekend up at Mama and Papa’s 

–

I stand with Jon-Henrik

 –

Watching the river flow murky across the slope

–

That brushy slope

where he and I used to go it’s underwater now

 –

How are our tracks ever to be heard Among the Swedes’ roads and power stations

–

It’s Jon-Henrik who says this he had also been drawn down to the dam

–

To work for Vattenfall as soon as school was done

 –

I’m surprised when he says

That he’d preferred to have taken up with the reindeer

–

Been elected into the Sámi community

And learned to guide that wandering gray soft ocean across the world of the fells

–

Just as the lot of us were once taught at the Nomad School that this is what the Sámi do

that this is how we all live

–

He laughs and says:

–

Who knows what the spring flood will bring with it

this drowned  earth may yet be fertile

More on this book and author:

Learn more about Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson.

Check out The Rumpus for a conversation between Linnea Axelsson and Susan Devan Harness about Axelsson's Sámi heritage and the decision to write Ædnan in verse. 

Click here to read Linnea Axelsson's op-ed piece for LitHub on Scandinavia’s hidden history of Indigenous oppression.

Visit our Tumblr to peruse poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in the Knopf poem-a-day series.

To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link.

[folketro]

bunad-daily -> folketro

new blog name!

I realized that having the word "bunad" in my url was limiting me.

In reality, I'm not too fond of the bunad. I have my own, and I love wearing it, but the fact that it is a bunad specifically doesn't mean anything to me.

I may be biased because I have Sámi and Tater heritage, but to me the ideal of the bunad feels borderline opressive. the bunad is the standardization of culture. In search of identity, the norwegians went looking for folk art. They found thriving, diverse craftmanship made by individuals. They then took the parts they found appealing, and made "one true bunad" for each region. In a way, that shows off the same ideal that was behind the assimilation politics; the want for a mono-cultural nation.

Of course there is nuance. Of course there are good aspects of the bunad. It did help preserve traditions in many areas where it was about to get washed out by industrialization. It helped norwegians reconnect with their culture after being ruled by other nations for centuries. Of course.

But, the bunad does not represent what draws me to Norwegian folk fashion. The bunad is kept behind paywalls and trademarked designs. The bunad wants you to choose a single place of origin. Folk fashion isn't about that. It's art made by living people. It's about survival and creativity. At least that's the parts of it I find interesting.

So I'm changing this blog's name to "folketro", which is the Norwegian word for folklore. Literally it translates to "folk-faith" or "beliefs of the people". The word "tro" can also mean "true", which I think lends itself to a fitting double meaning.

I don't want to view Norwegian folk fashion through the rose tinted glasses of bunad, I want this blog to be true to the spirit of the people. I want to both promote the positives and discuss the negatives of my culture. the new name also gives me more wriggle room in the sense that it allows me to talk about more cultures than just one.

I post about Norwegian folk fashion a lot because that's what I know and specialize in, but I'd love to learn about folk fashion from other places as well. I'd also like to talk about other cultures within Norway, but I would feel weird bringing up Sámi doudje on a bunad-centric blog. I wouldn't want to feed into the misconception that Sámi gappte are bunads.

So, in conclusion: I will keep posting about bunad, because it really is a cornerstone of Norwegian folk fashion, but I didn't want to feel obligated to only talk about bunad, so I changed the blog name.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi. I just want to send some love and let you know that your page really inspire me. I am of Sami heritage, living in Norway and I relate a lot to the catalan experience. Our language is constantly under threat and so is our culture. I know a lot of Sami groups that collaborate with other causes. I have a study circle with some students from Palestine, and I know theres a lot of good relationship between Catalonia and Palestine (when I visited Ramallah everyones favorite team is Barcelona, haha, i think people connect it to resistance). I think a lot of Sami activists can learn a lot from Catalan ones. Especially regarding language rights. May your people gain independence (or, at least, the right to make your own democratic choice about it). All the best!

Thank you, it means a lot to see this message.

It's true for decades there's been a very strong connection between Palestine and Catalonia. Besides them, we have a strong alliance with the other cultures under Spanish rule (Basque and Galician) and to a lesser extent Corsica and Occitania. Others like Brittany are also well known but we rarely organize together and meet as often as with these ones.

I wish there was more connection with Sápmi as well. There was a short-lived widespread talk about support to the Sami people when Mikko Kärnä (MP in Finland for Sápmi constituency) voiced his support for accepting Catalonia's vote on independence, many people had never heard about Sami people before. Mikko Kärnä was the only foreign MP outside of Basque and Galician ones who gave us so much support, so people were very thankful. Sadly, after that I haven't heard much more... Only every so often they talk about it in Vilaweb (a pro-independence leftist newspaper that often talks about other occupied nations), just this week they published about the Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš and I remember a while ago they talked about the mines they wanted to build there that would destroy the land. But there isn't a widespread conscience and shared organizations like with the other stateless countries under Spain.

It's a shame, I wish there was more contact. After all, it's the same fight, and we would all gain from forming stronger alliances with all minoritized cultures who are in a similar position.

[anonperegrine]

Do you research what you put in Libertango or does it just come out of your head? Also I’m so obsessed with that universe so much, married royal tntduo my beloved *giggles and kicks my feet*

It's a mix of both!!

You'll probably notice Pogtopia is very obviously Scandinavian inspired: particularly Finnish, with a little bit of Sweden and (Kola) Russia thrown in for spice.

The Yrimi are based on a real life indigenous group in Scandinavia called the Saami (also spelled Sami and Sámi)! I have a special attachment to this part of the Libertango universe because of my ancestry. My family can definitely no longer be considered Saami as we do not participate in the culture and have lost our heritage, because my most recent Saami ancestor was sent to residential schooling in Sweden and erased his culture.

So as follows, the Yrimi culture and language are heavily Saami inspired! I would love to be able to use my ancestral language Skolt Saami as inspiration, but unfortunately, this language is severely endangered, with less than 1,000 speakers in the Skolt/Inari region :( and thus it's very difficult to find information on.

So instead, the Yrimi language is based on the Northern Saami language (or Davvisámegiella). This is easier to find resources for, as it continues to be the lingua-franca of all Saami people, sitting at about 25,000 speakers.

As far as like, technology and history goes, obviously Libertango is set in a fictional 1830s. I've purposefully put myself in 1832 for the beginning of the novel, as it perfectly contains all the technology I want (IVs, trains, widespread steam power, etc) but also all the "historical" feels of the regency era. The fashion and culture of non-Saami pogtopia is meant to be reminiscent of Romanov-Russia. (Oh no, they Alexander Romanov II-ified my Wilbur Soot oh fuck)

I love when people question my technology usage because it gives me the opportunity to infodump! Like did you know the first documented attempt at intravenous medicine was in the 17th century? That's crazy! And wheelchairs have been documented in early forms as far back as 600BC China?

But additionally, some things, like the Northern Lights lore, are partially my own. In real Saami culture, the Northern Lights are the souls of our dead, but the bit about the meaning of the colors of the Lights? Like how the green Lights are "reaching down" to claim another sould? That's my own personal thing. Not rooted in Saami lore, but definitely related to it.

Hmmmmm what else... ah! You can't have my eighth grade hyperfixation on Napoleon and never use it for anything! The whole conflict the novel is centered around is very Napoleonic-wars-era inspired. Especially the bits of scorched earth, the encirclement movements, allowing the enemy to believe they've won before hitting them at full force.

Okay I need to stop no one is gonna read all of this

Thank you for the ask! Infodumping has been completed (for now)

[saamiriikka]

I know you haven’t uploaded in a while but what do you think of Sámi Americans, especially those who do not have all Sámi heritage or have a Sámi grandparent?

I would like to remind everyone that what I think is not important. I think individuals talk on behalf of the whole too often. I can talk on topics where there is a general community consensus to explain what that consensus is.

No person has all Sámi heritage and even in Sápmi many people have been separated from their culture by more than one generation. Those are not problems. Americans who do not care to learn their culture or will not come to Sápmi but say they are Sámi, that is a problem.

[uralic-canvas-culture]

The Controversy of Uralic Peoples as Mongoloids

During the age of European nationalism, Finns, Hungarians, and Estonians have often had the concept of their Whiteness challenged. Some individuals have even gone out of their way to classify these three collectives as a part of the Mongoloid (East Asian) race. The strongest evidence for this claim had to do with linguistics. In the 21st century, many individuals only recognize language to be a fluid construct that has no indication of race. However, Europeans of the late 19th and early 20th century perceived language as an ethno-racial marker.

Some Western Chauvinists theorized that their shared identity of whiteness was partly ingrained in their common linguistic heritage. A broad language family identified as "Indo-European" is what loosely bound the white race together. The Finnish and Estonian tongues, however, are derived from the "Finno-Ugric" or "Uralic" language family. Because of this discrepancy, the Uralic peoples were considered Orientalized by their lack of linguistic kinship. In addition to a difference in language, certain Uralic populations also possessed physical features similar to that of East Asians. Most notably, ethnic groups like the Khanty and Mansi have pronounced epicanthic folds and maintain distinct linguistic ties with the Hungarians. These linguistic and phenotypic attributes indicated that, although the Finns, Hungarians, and Estonians appeared to be white Europeans, they were, in actuality, descendants of the Mongoloid race. These racial designations were not merely trivial ideological conflicts either. We see its impacts demonstrated when, in the United States, early Finnish immigrants were not considered white. In their book, Peter Kivisto and Johanna Leinonen note how a Finnish gentleman was denied American citizenship due to his Mongoloid origins.

This condescending view of the Finns was even shared by their fellow kin from Central Europe, the Hungarians. But why? Why would the Hungarians, a fellow Uralic-speaking people, deny any sort of linguistic/lineage tie with the Finns? This rejection is rooted in several factors tied to race, culture, and politics. In terms of politics, Hungarians have often tried to ease themselves into the sphere of pan-Turkism. This was especially prominent during the era of European nationalism when pan-Slavism was perceived as a threat to Hungary. In a reaction to Pan-Slavism, the Hungarians have often hearkened to their steppe ancestry as proof to be included as a part of a Turkic union. In addition to political factors, Hungarian history has instilled a strong sense of pride in their descent from hardened steppe warriors. The Hungarian nationalists envision themselves as the perfect syncretism of equestrian valor and . However, this romantic imagery is removed by asserting that Hungarians are related to the Uralic people. Uralic people, who were not steppe warriors, but lowly fishermen from the baron reaches of northern Europe.  

The Nordicists sought to reinforce Hungary's shared origin with the Finns by emphasizing their cranial similarities. In his work Intra-Nordic Differences, Suvi Keskinen writes:   

"Anders Retzius, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology,

developed a skull index to investigate “longskulls” and “shortskulls,”

coming to the conclusion that the Finns, the Sámi, and Hungarians

were to be placed among the Turanian type, understood as of Asian

origin" 

Finland's history of being colonized by Sweden only added to the narrative that Uralic people were naturally meant to exist as subjugated people. This was in no way appealing to the Hungarians who sought independence from the Austrian Empire. This degrading portrayal of Finns as a subjugated and primitive race caused Hungarians to distance themselves from any sort of shared identity. In the book Languages and Publics, by Susan Gal and Kathryn Woolard, the authors note that a certain linguist was disgusted at the notion of having any sort of ancestral lineage to the Finns. In contemporary times, however, Hungarians have largely come to accept their place as members of the Uralic language family. Though others may stress the possibility of Turkic roots, one cannot deny the distant Siberian influence present across all Uralic peoples.  

As the era of nationalism waned, the focus on race and ethnicity also diminished. The tumultuous aftermath of World War 2 prompted European nations to reconsider their relationships with neighboring countries. This shifting landscape gradually relieved the burden on Finns, Hungarians, and Estonians to constantly affirm their place within the Western sphere. The post-war period brought a nuanced perspective, allowing these nations a respite from the need to continually assert their Western identities.

Book Sources:

Kivisto, Peter, and Johanna Leinonen. “Representing Race: Ongoing Uncertainties about Finnish American Racial Identity.” Journal of American Ethnic History 31, no. 1 (2011): 11–33. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerethnhist.31.1.0011.

Map Sources:

Morton, Samuel George. 1839. Crania americana or, A comparative view of the skulls of various aboriginal nations of North and South America. To which is prefixed an essay on the varieties of the human species. Illustrated byseventy-eight plates and a colored map., Philadelphia : J. Dobson; London : Simpkin.Marshall & co.

Map of human races (Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1885–1890)

[irawhiti]

this isnt helpful but im in the same boat. my mum and her grandmother have very probable sámi heritage/family but during the norwegianisation everything was hidden and our family assimilated really well. and now its sort of just.

i feel inappropriate publicly or even privately claiming anything when its all hearsay within the family thats also has been confirmed by a sámi neighbour. but what if its just totally false and im being a typical settler cunt with exoticism fantasies.

and indigeneity is more than blood ! obviously. but id like to know for sure. anyways. 🤝 us

hey, you're right anon. i'm struggling a bit mentally with this sort of thing but it really is confusing and kinda... yeah. difficult. i guess my lived advice is to say that it's very easy to think "well what if i'm wrong? what if this is offensive?" but i'll say from experience with other stuff i guess, if you get caught in the idea of maybe being wrong, you'll find excuse after excuse after excuse to continue to say you might be wrong. this got so intense for awhile that i refused to identify as anything but white and i cut off every aspect of māori culture from my identity (including stuff i was raised doing) for a long time and it was absolutely fucking miserable. i let white people walk all over me because i refused to call any of my lived experiences racism. i've put that part of my life behind me but it still haunts me and i feel pretty negative about it all (mostly anger at how i let white people treat me lol.)

wanting to respect and talk about your close family and refuse to let their history die after colonisation while not wanting to walk on the toes of people who know more about their heritage is a horrible thing to get stuck in i guess. i hope you can figure out more about your heritage and i hope i can too

[risingshine]

Androgyne, in their 30's, 5'2, mixed ( Sámi, Norwegian, Finnish, Rroma/Desi ), jet black hair, charcoal black eyes that can turn teal, bony but toned. Harsh, cold, independent, sarcastic and aloof. Asshole with a heart of gold

Likes: Nature, black clothes, music, knives, coffee, anything spooky, gloomy weathers, horror genre, mortuary science and pathology, weird and creepy animals, vulture culture

Dislikes: Authority figures, being touched, socializing, most people, themself, mirrors, confined spaces, clowns, mouth sounds, overhead lights, raw tomatoes, greasy food

( sry if double repost bc idk if i forgot to put anon on the prev ask lol )

"I didn't know Eerie was part romani and desi! Or are they one heritage?? Anyways! I think that nature and knives are also really cool, pathology is always interesting when ya talk about it, and vulture culture is quite fun!

And don't worry, I already know ya ain't a fan of being too touchy, and I ain't a big fan of authority or overhead lights either. I also know ya can't take gluten well, so I'll add grease and tomatos to the stuff ta watch out for when cooking.

they used ta think tomatoes were toxic, anyways.

It's funny how differnt we are on paper, but I still think ya wonderful, ne? Goes ta show ya can't tell how you'll manage with someone until ya give it a shot."

[prisonhannibal]

Where I’m living currently has a huge investment in indigenous cultures and languages especially endangered communities so there’s a row of flags along our coastline from these areas and I always see the Sámi flag when going to the beach and it reminds me of the posts you’ve made about your culture and heritage so thank you :)

that’s lovely thank you for telling me ❤️💚💛💙 such a pretty flag right?? I love it

[pratiwheee]

Connecting Practice with Society (CTS-B Wk3)

Although I was unable to attend the class on "Connecting Practice with Society," I had the opportunity to watch the videos my friends created, which creatively explored this theme. . The clever humour highlighted the role of art and design in commenting on social issues, encouraging reflection on current economic challenges in an engaging and thought-provoking way. This video reminded me that design, when done thoughtfully, can move beyond aesthetics to raise awareness and inspire meaningful conversations.

This theme of "Connecting Practice with Society" especially reminded me of my experiences in the module Craft Materiality & Techniques. In this module, I selected weaving as my primary technique and explored how it connects not only with culture but also with community and history.

In recent years, the Sámi people of Sweden have faced increasing pressure from climate change and industrial development, particularly the expansion of mining operations on their ancestral lands. This has prompted a group of Sámi artists to use their work as a form of protest and a way to raise awareness about the threats to their culture and environment.

This connection between design, tradition, and societal responsibility has deepened my understanding of how art and design can do more than just represent the world around us; they can also influence its future. By using design to tell stories of cultural heritage and the urgency of preserving it, I hope to create work that not only celebrates the beauty of traditional arts but also raises critical awareness about the potential consequences of letting these practices die out.

Word Count: 256 words References

Åhlén, Christoffer. "Sámi Artists in Sweden Fight for Ancestral Lands." Adventure, 15 Nov. 2023, www.adventure.com/sami-artists-indigenous-sweden-climate-change-reindeer-photography/.

Baudrillard, Jean. The System of Objects. Verso, 1996.

Friedman, Ken. Design as a Tool for Social Change. The University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Sillman, Charles. Design as a Reflection of Society. MIT Press, 2011.