The Consequences of Swedish National Law on Sámi Self-Constitution—The Shift from a Relational Understanding of Who Is Sámi Toward a Rights-Based Understanding

Abstract

According to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their own collective customs and traditions. However, what is left of indigenous customary ways of applying membership rules after decades of state intervention? In this article, I show that Swedish national legislation has moved Sámi society away from a relational and responsibilitybased understanding of who is Sámi toward a rights-based understanding. I argue that we need to see how national legislation has affected the way in which indigenous nations themselves apply their customary membership governance.

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

“…Outsiders' formal delimitations of Indigenous ethnicity have come to influence many colonized peoples' own discourses on insiderness and outsiderness (Andersen, 2015;Nilsson, 2020;Palmater, 2011). How much do contemporary self-definitions differ from pre-colonial self-definitions?…”

“…How much do contemporary self-definitions differ from pre-colonial self-definitions? In the words of Nilsson (2020), in her article about changing Sámi views on Sáminess in Sweden: 'what is actually left of customary Sámi ways of determining membership after decades of state control and regulations? '…”

“…One such possible influence is the accentuation of genetic descent. Colonizing states and the dominant groups' academic communities have often focused on 'race' as a defining aspect of Indigenous group membership, and the Sámi have certainly not been spared this (Dankertsen, 2019;deCosta, 2015;Kyllingstad, 2012;Nilsson, 2020). Concepts such as 'races', 'genes', or 'DNA' are not part of any Indigenous group's traditional self-definitions: these are terms that come from modern scientific terminology-or in the case of 'race', from what we now see as pseudo-scientific jargon.…”

“…These are questions of relevance for the Sámi of yesterday and today. Nilsson's (2020) study of articulations in a Swedish Sámi magazine 1919-1993 found that during this period, emphasis shifted from what she calls a relational understanding of Sáminess to a more individual understanding. The first emphasized being part of a social and cultural community, the other individual rights based on descendancy.…”

Global Mapping of Indigenous Resilience Facing the Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…* Note: the construction of the table was carried out based on contributions from various authors. Sources:[11,[134][135][136][137][138].…”