2.3.6 The Sami as citizens
Description
This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
2.3.6 The Sami as citizens
Before the 1600s the Sami lived their own life more or less
undisturbed. They were gradually pushed further north by new
inhabitants but it happened peacefully. It is believed that the Sami
were mainly following reindeers and other wild animals which were also
retreating further north.
In the 1600s, and later, there were some "colonialistic" features in
the way the Sami were treated by the kingdoms ruling over their lands.
It was considered "natural" to subjugate cultures that were regarded
as "undeveloped" and "primitive". At that time the government of
Sweden-Finland had a political goal to have permanent agricultural
settlements in the Swedish Lapland instead of sparse nomad
inhabitation; it was thought that keeping the area within the state
would be easier that way. This is why many Finns were also encouraged
to move there. Although the same basic European colonialistic thinking
was also common in Scandinavia, it has to be noted that the attitude
towards the original people has never been as inhuman as it was in
many colonies elsewhere in the world.
As a general observation it can be said that as the Nordic countries
divided the Sami territories between states they failed to take into
account the Sami colonies and to let them develop naturally. Instead
the Sami people were forced to adapt to the cultural system of each
country.
The Swedish king Gustav Vasa declared that "all permanently
uninhabited land belongs to God, Us and the Swedish crown". This
declaration concerned also the territories where Sami lived. Because
of their nomad way of living they were not seen as "permanent
inhabitants". Later the Sami's right for land was stabilized as
certain "family areas". In 1867 in Sweden a new administrational
"cultivation border" was formed. It goes several tens of kilometers
from the Norwegian border all the way from Karesuando to Jämtlands
Län. All land in the Swedish territory was given to the Sami and only
Sami people were allowed to live there without a separate permission.
All activities that are done there need a permission and the money
goes to "Lapland fund". The money of this fund is used for
reindeering, building bridges, etc. in that area. All this is done by
the state and the Sami people have very little to say about how the
money is to be used.
There have been discussions about the Sami's right for the natural
resources in their areas between the Nordic Council and the Nordic
Sami Council but so far there has been little progress in this issue.
There have been several agreements between the Nordic countries and
the Sami people but they are beyond the scope of this document.
All in all, the Nordic countries have not been indifferent about Sami
but due to lack of ethnosociological knowledge the Sami have been
treated as "children who don't know what's best for them".
Because arctic occupations favour the individual mind, and the Sami
population is sparse, their own activities as Nordic citizens have
developed very slowly. Also, belonging to four different countries
doesn't make it easier - on the other hand crossing borders between
the Nordic countries has never been a problem. This belonging to
different countries has been one factor which has increased the common
sense of ethnicity among the Sami people during this century. Only a
few decades ago it was not desirable that Sami children spoke Sami
with each other in school whereas now, in principle, it's possible to
complete university degrees in Sami language.
How many Sami are there, then? Well, that depends on who is counted as
a Sami and who isn't, as there has been much assimilation and mixing
with the rest of the population. Some figures were presented in the
chapter concerning Sami languages. Another often presented statistic
tells that there are 25,000 Sami in Norway, 17,000 in Sweden, 4000 in
Finland and 2,000 in Russia. Yet another statistic which only counts
people who speak Sami languages as their mother tongue says: 10,000 in
Norway, 5,000 in Sweden, 3,000 in Finland and 1,000 in Russia.
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