Master's in Indigenous Studies Alumni

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Tag Archives: 2014

Trapped in the net of circumstances. Nature use practices of the Sami people of Lovozero in the changing socio-economic, administrative and environmental settings

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Thesis by: Shavrina, Olga

Abstract:

This thesis is a local community study, which examines the issues of nature use by the Sami people in the settlement of Lovozero – a community situated in circumpolar Russia, where nature use is mainly presented by reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, and gathering. Leaning on the extensive list of references and combining information from various information sources, this interdisciplinary research pursues descriptive and exploratory purpose. The research is based on fieldwork carried out in Lovozero in May 2013. Through the qualitative research methods, namely ten semi-structured interviews and short-term participant observation, the study explores local people’s experiences of the circumstances that impact nature use in Lovozero, and point out their responses to the challenges in this regard. In addition, this thesis attempts to identify the categories of meaning of nature use practices for the Sami residents of Lovozero. The findings of the study reflect that though nature use has a significant importance for the Sami residents of Lovozero as both material and cultural elements, nature use by the Sami in the Murmansk Region is associated with a number of problems related to the socio-economic, administrative and environmental circumstances. The present-day responses to the challenges in this regard are represented by short-term coping strategies, which do not prove to be efficient in the current situation of persistent stress. The thesis argues that developing resilience in Lovozero would require building long-term adaptive strategies, based on cooperation between the local Sami institutes and the regional authorities, and assuming involvement of the local people into the decision-making process. The study additionally highlights the presence of local Sami officials in the picture and gives voices to their suggestions of possible solutions to the existing challenges in regard to nature use. The thesis, thus, might have some relevance in the framework of the Sami political movement.

 

Thesis available

The silence in Sápmi – and the queer Sami breaking it

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Thesis by: Løvold, Ane Hedvig Heidrundsdotter

Abstract:

This thesis is an investigation of the silence of queerness in Sápmi, and is empirically based on three fieldworks and eight interviews. The thesis will question the silence within a historical perspective, and explore different aspects of the silence in Sápmi today. The main focus will be on queer Sami in Norway, but will also voice queer Sami from Sweden and Finland. I will therefore include a discussion on the silence in the queer community in Norway, but the main focus will be on the silence in Sápmi. My research will also look into what was revealed when the queer Sami in this thesis break the silence. A central finding in my research is the impact of heteronormativity’s position in Sápmi, and I will discuss two of the ideals that this system of norms seems to uphold, the masculine ideal for Sami men and the Christian/læstadian ideal. The thesis will also look into the different strategies that queer Sami use in order to break the silence and gain more visibility and acceptance in Sápmi. One of the strategies is to mirror in, and identify with other indigenous people who don’t confirm the heteronormative Western gender binary, like the two- spirit movement in the US and Canada. I will also look into Stefan Mikaelssons’, the queer major of the Sami Parliament in Sweden, personal strategy to decolonize from the masculine ideal, and the coining of the term “bonju” in the north Sami language. Key Words: Queer Sami, Silence, Sápmi, Queer Theory, Heteronormativity, Intersectionality, Two-Spirit, Decolonization, Visibility, Strategies, Bonju.

Thesis available

“Taking Our Language back home” – Motivation and Challenges in the South Sami area.

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Author

Steinfjell, Risten Birje
Abstract
The South Sami language was the daily language of the South Sami before Norwegianisation and assimilation made it less used among the South Sami themselves and useless in the Norwegian society. The language was then not transmitted to the next generation anymore and UNESCO listed the language as severely endangered. The topic of this thesis is the revival that has taken place in the South Sami area for the last decade and which is still ongoing. As a result of this, the status of the South Sami language has changed and it is now equalized with Norwegian in two municipalities after they were incorporated into the Sami administrative language area. Institutions have been established to keep the culture and the language alive. My focus is the home as an arena for language revitalization. Many South Sami have after becoming parents made the South Sami language their home language, though Norwegian was their daily language when growing up. I look closer at what the motivation is for these parents and what kind of challenges regards to the language shift in making the children functionally bilingual. It is difficult to make the children functionally bilingual only by using the language at home. The Intergenerational language transmission is important, in connection that the language is in use in other domains. The future of the language is brighter because of the positive changes.
Thesis in Munin

Sami traditions: Márkomeannu’s contribution to the revitalization of sami Food traditions.

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Author

Berg, Elisabeth
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the Márkomeannu festival’s contribution to the revitalization of food traditions. The study was conducted on the Márkomeannu festival in Skånland in Troms County, specifically in the Markasami areas in the rural hills of Skånland. The festival was chosen because it is an important arena for expression of indigeneity and culture. Many areas within the Sami community have suffered from assimilation and have afterwards gone through a process of revitalization. The process of revitalization of the culture, language, politics and history has been thoroughly studied and written about, but the revitalization of Sami traditional food has not been studied in detail. Food is an important cultural marker which works as building stones of each cultural foundation. Food can be both symbolic and be a purely practical necessity for a culture. The thesis establishes that some traditional dishes are adopted and adapted from international dishes. The results shows that traditional dishes are used to articulate the Sami culture, and that traditions can be adapted to a modern outlook, and also adapted to fit a Sami cultural profile. Márkomeannu as a cultural arena contributes to revitalization of food by creating a platform for cultural expression which can lead to a stronger Sami identity and a feeling of safety in expressing culture.
Thesis in Munin

Knives of Sebei: Women, ritual and Power. Sabiny perception on female genital mutilation and advocacy programs.

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Author

Nalaaki, Ritah
Abstract
For hundreds of years, the Sabiny have performed female circumcision as a cultural practice that initiates adolescent girls into adulthood/womanhood. However in the recent past, the community has come under sharp criticism from the Ugandan government and other concerned parties such as non-governmental organizations. The government has even gone a step further and criminalized the practice. Nevertheless, this has not deterred the Sabiny from performing female circumcision every even year. Therefore, in this study I explore the reasons why female circumcision is continually practiced among the Sabiny despite the sensitization done by the government and different non-governmental organizations to show this community the dangers of the practice. Among the Sabiny, the practice is termed as wonsetibik while the WHO describes the practice as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female genitalia whether for cultural or other therapeutic reasons”. The research was guided by three goals which included, analysing the power dynamics behind female circumcision, examining the perception of the Sabiny towards female circumcision and finally to analyse the conflict between traditional societal structures and external forces such as the Ugandan Law and Advocacy programs. The study was carried out in May-June 2013 in Kapchorwa district in Uganda among the Sabiny residents of London Bridge. The informants included the clergy (Church leaders), advocacy programs (REACH), women, men and a focused group discussion of students from Kapchorwa PTC. The data was collected using methods like interviews, document analysis and participant observation. In this study, I argue that indeed female circumcision is part of the Sabiny culture and it is their right to preserve it. However, given the dangers and risks that are associated with the practice, I propose that both government and the Sabiny community should come to a round table and discuss alternative cultural practices that can serve as rites of passage for the girl child without putting her life at risk, and to put into consideration the girl child’s future.
Thesis in Munin

Mind the Gap Greenland: Is there a gap between educational goals of the government and the aspirations of young People in Narsaq?

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Author

Fridfinnsdottir, Elin Thora
Abstract
Mind the gap is a thesis based on fieldwork conducted in Narsaq, Greenland in July 2013 and compares the rationale behind the government’s high priority to increase educational standards of the population with the reluctance of young people in Narsaq to answer that call. Young people in Narsaq, like the population of rest of Greenland are going through a period of great changes, both environmentally and politically. This thesis examines how these changes will affect the young people in Narsaq and their educational prospects and aspirations. The findings of this study are in line with a mixture of Alan Barnard’s general hypothesis on foraging mode of thought and Merete Watt Boolsen’s social inheritance theory. Some of the findings can be explained by applying Barnard’s hypothesis on foraging mode of thought as there is still a strong sense of the traditional life style of Inuit hunter and gatherers among Greenlanders even if they now live in towns. And Merete Wall Boolsen’s theory of social inheritance helps explain how hard it is to go against your culture when it comes to education, as the parents of many young people in Narsaq lack higher education and there are few positive role models in the area who do.
Thesis in Munin

Trapped in the net of circumstances. Nature use practices of Sami People of Lovozero in the changing socio-economic, administrative and environmental settings

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Author

Shavrina, Olga
Abstract
This thesis is a local community study, which examines the issues of nature use by the Sami people in the settlement of Lovozero – a community situated in circumpolar Russia, where nature use is mainly presented by reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, and gathering. Leaning on the extensive list of references and combining information from various information sources, this interdisciplinary research pursues descriptive and exploratory purpose. The research is based on fieldwork carried out in Lovozero in May 2013. Through the qualitative research methods, namely ten semi-structured interviews and short-term participant observation, the study explores local people’s experiences of the circumstances that impact nature use in Lovozero, and point out their responses to the challenges in this regard. In addition, this thesis attempts to identify the categories of meaning of nature use practices for the Sami residents of Lovozero. The findings of the study reflect that though nature use has a significant importance for the Sami residents of Lovozero as both material and cultural elements, nature use by the Sami in the Murmansk Region is associated with a number of problems related to the socio-economic, administrative and environmental circumstances. The present-day responses to the challenges in this regard are represented by short-term coping strategies, which do not prove to be efficient in the current situation of persistent stress. The thesis argues that developing resilience in Lovozero would require building long-term adaptive strategies, based on cooperation between the local Sami institutes and the regional authorities, and assuming involvement of the local people into the decision-making process. The study additionally highlights the presence of local Sami officials in the picture and gives voices to their suggestions of possible solutions to the existing challenges in regard to nature use. The thesis, thus, might have some relevance in the framework of the Sami political movement.
Thesis in Munin

X’atsull Heritage village: A Case Study in Indigenous Tourism

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Author

Jennings, Helen
Abstract
This thesis is an anthropological case study of the work of the X’atsull Heritage Village in British Columbia, Canada. The village is run by members of the Shuswap Nation and is accredited by the Aboriginal Tourism of British Columbia (AtBC). The research is based on fieldwork conducted at the site for a short period in the summer of 2013; the author was essentially a participant observer. The questions that drove this research centred on: concerns about authenticity, the nature of spiritual experiences on offer, and the wider benefits of the cultural encounters that ensued between hosts and guests. The thesis argues that theorist from various disciplines over state concerns about authenticity, and that matters of spirituality are dealt with very sensitively and largely driven by the guests. The key finding is that the cultural encounters between hosts and guests seem to be of great benefit to all concerned; this is not a process by which visitors somehow control their hosts. Indeed, hosts find the experience of running the heritage site to be beneficial in a variety of ways beyond economics: the resuscitation and maintenance of traditions, building of self confidence and playing an active part in their local economy. This thesis is hopefully making an interesting contribution to debates surrounding the nature of cultural tourism, encompassing as it does special features pertaining to indigenous tourism.
Thesis in Munin

The role of affirmative action in higher education for indigenous People: The case of Yakutsk (Russia) and Tromsø (Norway

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Author

Nikanorova, Liudmila
Abstract
This thesis is dedicated to the issue of affirmative action in higher education for indigenous people. It includes two case studies that cover the research topic in two areas Yakutsk in Far-East Russia (The North-Eastern Federal University) and Tromsø (The Arctic University of Norway) in Northern Norway. The motivation for the study and for the choice of the cases comes from my personal experience. I personally was declined admission in favor of an indigenous representative in one case, and also I was granted a scholarship on the quota-program in another case. Indigenous people in Norway and in Russia are granted by special scholarships and quota programs for admission to the Universities, where a number of seats are preserved for them. This study examines the intentions, regulations, scope and the results of these mechanisms. It also discusses definition of indigenous people, the role of affirmative action for the state, the meaning of higher education for indigenous people, and, in general, the need for affirmative action in higher education for indigenous people. The main finding of this thesis is the mismatch of the intents and implementations of affirmative action. Affirmative action was aimed to equalize opportunities of indigenous people to majority people, which justify regulations of affirmative action that may seem to be discriminatory at the first glance. However, practices of affirmative action in higher education in case of Norway and Russia are not large scale and did not bring as notable results as I would have expect from the intents of it.
Thesis in Munin

Beaivvás- an institution for Sámi cuBeaivvás – an institution for Sámi culture management or mainstream entertainment?: The Sámi National Theater’s role in the Sámi community of Norway

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Author

Kvernmo, Marie

Abstract
After the Sámi awakening movement in the 1970’s which culminated in the Alta conflict in 1981, the Sámi theater Beaivváš was created to highlight the Sámi language and culture in Norway. The theater became a success and was at first one of the main spokesmen for the Sámi people in the political and cultural contexts. As Sámi rights were recognized, Beaivváš and several Sámi institutions were established as a piece in the Sámi nation building process. In the process where Beaivváš went from a free theater group to a fixed item on the state budget, the Western theater form became applicable to the Sámi theater. Beaivváš has faced huge challenges in the management of the institution and has now come to a critical point in the development where the choice seems to be between commercialization of ancient Sámi arts- and cultural expressions or a closing of the Sámi national theater. This thesis’ purpose is to describe and analyze Beaivváš’ past and present role in the Sámi community in Norway and discuss a prospective solution for the theater’s role in the future. To look how other Indigenous peoples solve their culture preserving challenges, I have visited TIPA – the successful Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamshala, India. The exile-Tibetans’ strategy for culture management is examined and discussed to determine whether TIPA is a possible model for how to conduct the Sámi culture institution Beaivváš in the future.
Thesis in Munin