‘Sámi in the Heart’: Kinship, Culture, and Community as Foundations for Indigenous Sámi Identity in Norway

Abstract

The article demonstrates broad variation regarding what is considered to be at the 'core' of Sámi ethnicity by different people. The differences are here typologized as kinship-, culture-or community-based 'foundations' for Sámi ethnicity. Ideas about individual Sámi ethnicity tended to focus on individual traits more than individuals' social relationships. This may be influenced by non-Sámi authorities' focus on individual descendancy, but also by certain aspects of modern Indigenous politics. The article discusses the distinction between relational and individual foundations for ethnicity, pointing to their interconnectedness. It also discusses the difference between genetics and kinship, and potential consequences of a genetics-focused definition of Sáminess.

Samis in the city. A qualitative study of mental health and well-being among Samis in Stockholm

“…The reasons for being questioned internally were said to be not living in the north, coming from families that had not been reindeer herders for generations but small landholders, or not knowing the language. Some of them drew the same conclusions as researchers who have stressed the strong role of the state intervening in the definitions of Saminess as a source of internal conflicts [ 34 , 35 ]. The most important way of claiming or reclaiming their Sami identity was without any doubt the wish and efforts to learn the Sami language – an effort that could be seen as strengthening the sociocentric self.…”

The art of balance: Indigenous sport governance between traditional government and self-governance

“…Moreover, the overall governance of the Sámi people is exercised at the interface between broader national politics and policy in the specific nation-state and their self-governmental practices realised through their own governmental body, the Sámi Parliament, installed in the three Nordic countries; however, there is no Sámi parliament in Russia. As a result, the Sámi people's sport and leisure-time activities are also affected by national minority policies and not least by the self-governance practices exercised by their own governing body (Berg-Nordlie, 2015).…”

Sametingsvalget 2017: Velgere, kretser, partier og politikk

“…(K1R0, utlandet, 2019) Dette utsagnet gjenspeiler et syn på samiskhet som setter likhet mellom det å vaere av samisk aett og det å vaere same, uavhengig av identitet. Et slikt syn er ikke nødvendigvis utbredt, men det er absolutt til stede både i samisk og ikke-samisk befolkning (Berg-Nordlie, 2021). Dette kan hindre noen i å erklaere sin samiskhet i form av det å melde seg inn i valgmanntallet, fordi det kan komme negative reaksjoner fra personer i slekta som da vil føle seg «outa» som samer.…”

“…Til syvende og sist handler dette ofte om en følelse av å for svakt oppfylle de Costas (2015) kulturelle kriterier. Det er mange som anser at genealogisk forbindelse må til for å kunne kalles same, men det er også utbredt å anse at noen form for kulturell forbindelse er nødvendig (Berg-Nordlie, 2021). For de som selv mener at «blodet» deres ikke er nok, er det viktig å få økt mulighet til å styrke sin samiske kulturelle eller samfunnsmessig integrasjon, slik at identiteten deres blir sterk nok til at de føler det er rimelig å registrere seg.…”