Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T18:17:48.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Regional and indigenous identities in the high north: enacting social boundaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

Sidsel Saugestad
Sidsel Saugestad*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway (sidsel.saugestad@uit.no)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper addresses two processes of social and cultural mobilisation. The first example is a regional movement, as manifested in social and cultural expressions of a north Norwegian identity that was particularly marked in the 1970s and early 80s. The other is the Saami movement, coming out strongly at about the same time, and being part of a global process of indigenous mobilisation. It is argued that although they are similar in the way they articulate a sense of identity and belonging in contrast to an overarching and encompassing state, they are different in their stated objectives, in their relation to the state and the type of achievements gained. The north Norwegian regional movement strived for inclusion into a wider national cultural tradition, and integration has been achieved by broadening the definition of what is considered Norwegian culture. The objective of the Saami movement was the opposite: to gain recognition as a people with a distinct culture, different from but equal in value with the Norwegian culture. The article is introduced by a theoretical discussion of the issues involved, framing the analysis of communicative strategies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 48 , Issue 3: THEMED SECTION: CONTESTED BORDERS AND IDENTITIES , July 2012 , pp. 229 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Åhrén, M. 2010: The Saami traditional dress and beauty pageants: indigenous peoples’ rights of ownership and self-determination over their cultures. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Anaya, J. 2004. Indigenous peoples in international law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. 2009. Emerging indigeneities: cultural dynamic in northern Europe. Unpublished project outline. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Banks, M. 1996. Ethnicity: anthropological constructions. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brox, O. 1966. Hva skjer i Nord-Norge? [What is happening in northern Norway?]. Oslo: Pax.Google Scholar
Drivenes, E.A., Hauan, M., and Wold, H. (editors). 1994: Nordnorsk kulturhistorie [A cultural history of northern Norway]. Oslo: Gyldendal.Google Scholar
Edelman, M. 2001. Social movements: changing paradigms and forms of politics. Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 285–317.Google Scholar
Eidheim, H. 1971. Aspects of the Lappish minority situation. Oslo: University Press.Google Scholar
Eidheim, H. 1997. Ethno-political development among the Sami after World War II. In: Gaski, H. (editor). Sami culture in a new era. Karasjok: Davvi Girji: 29–61.Google Scholar
Fossbakk, O.B. 2010. Below the public policy surface: local reality and popular resistance against the Finnmark Act. Tromsø: University of Tromsø (Presentation. Forum for development cooperation with indigenous peoples, 25 October 2010).Google Scholar
Gaski, H. (editor). 1997. Sami culture in a new era. Karasjok: Davi Girji.Google Scholar
Gupta, A., and Ferguson, J.. 1992. Beyond ‘culture’: space, identity and politics of difference. CulturalAnthropology 7 (1): 6–23.Google Scholar
Henriksen, J. (editor). 2008. Sami self-determination. Scope and implementation. Gáldu Cala 2.Google Scholar
Hall, S. 1992. The west and the rest: discourse and power. In: Hall, S., and Gieben, B. (editors). Formations of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press: 275–331.Google Scholar
Ingold, T. 2000. The perception of the environment: essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kommunal- og regionaldepartementet [Ministry of municipal and regional affairs]. 2001. Om Samepolitikken [Policy on the Sami]. Oslo: Norwegian Government (Government white paper 55 (2000–2001)).Google Scholar
Kuper, A. 2003. The return of the native. Current Anthropology 44 (3): 389–402.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 1995. Multicultural citizenship. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 2001. Theorising indigenous rights. In: Kymlicka, W. (editor). Politics in the vernacular. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamont, M., and Molnár, V.. 2002. The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology 28: 167–195.Google Scholar
Minde, H. (editor). 2008. Indigenous peoples: self-determination, knowledge, indigeneity. Delft: Eburon.Google Scholar
Niezen, R. 2003. The origins of indigenism. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, K. 2003. The touristic construction of the ‘emblematic’ Saami. Acta Borealia 20 (1): 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saugestad, S. 2001. Dette besværlige urfolksbegrepet [The inconvenient concept ’indigenous’]. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift 12 (1): 34–41.Google Scholar
Saugestad, S. 2008. Beyond the ‘Columbus Context’. New challenges as the indigenous discourse is applied to Africa. In: Minde, H. (editor), Indigenous peoples: self-determination, knowledge, indigeneity. Delft: Eburon: 157–173.Google Scholar
Sissons, J. 2005. First peoples. Indigenous cultures and their futures. London: Reaction Books.Google Scholar
Thuen, T. 1995: Quest for equity: Norway and the Saami challenge. St.Johns: ISER.Google Scholar
Wold, H.A. 1985. Utvær. Bilder fra et nordnorsk hverdagslandskap [Outpost. Pictures from a commonplace north Norwegian landscape]. Oslo: Cappelens forlag.Google Scholar