The Return of Sámi Cultural Heritage

 

The Bååstede project to return 1600 Sami objects from the Museum of Cultural History  in Oslo to Sami museums in Norway has been going on for almost ten years now. I first wrote about it on this blog six years ago, and have since explored the subject further in my forthcoming book, From Lapland to Sapmi: Collecting and Returning Sami Craft and Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 2023). As well as writing about the Norwegian repatriation project, I've also discussed similar initiatives in Finland and Sweden.

Last year, Bååstede: The Return of Sámi Cultural Heritage, profusely illustrated with photos of some of the beautiful objects from Sami history, was published in Norway by Museumsforlaget. You can read my review of it as well as more about the background of the decision to return the objects and the long process in this article from the Norwegian-American .

The subject of repatriation has also been explored in a recent virtual panel sponsored by Scandinavia House in New York. Scandinavia House has done a terrific job during the pandemic with making readings, panels, and films available online. They have a You Tube Channel where you can still catch a lot of the offerings.

Last November, they sponsored a great panel, "Repatriation and Restitution in the Nordic Countries" with Martin Appelt (Senior Researcher and Curator, National Museum of Denmark), Eero Ehanti (Head of the Conservation Department, National Museum of Finland), Eeva-Kristiina Harlin (Archeologist & Osteoarchaeologist), & Daniel Thorleifsen (Director, Greenland National Museum and Archives). In this program, they discuss topics including the restitution of Greenlandic and Sámi collections from the National Museum of Denmark and National Museum of Finland.

 Photo: Gro Ween
Some of the artifacts shown in the traveling exhibition “Bååstede—Hjemkomst—Homecoming” from 2017 – 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the Long Absence

 Hello Again!  Hei!  Bures!

It seems strange to me now that I didn't publish any new posts for such a long time, but of course as I look back over the past two years plus I see a few reasons. I was very busy in 2019 with two new books from the University of Minnesota Press, By the Fire and Clearing Out. While in Minneapolis promoting them, my editor at the press and I got talking, and by the end of the summer I was embarked on a new project for UMP, one that I'm still very excited about. I was away in Europe traveling that fall, and the next thing I knew Covid had changed all our lives. 

But you know all about that. 

It was good to have a book project to focus on intensely, but I admit I slumped on the blogging front.

It's not over yet, but I'm still feeling a bit more hopeful. Or maybe it's just the promise of 2022. At any rate my resolution is to return to writing about books and other related subjects in a more regular way and to mentioning podcasts and Zoom panels that have to do with Scandinavia and Sapmi. I've changed the title of the blog from "Lapponia" to "Northwords" to suggest a larger focus.

My new book, From Lapland to Sapmi: Collecting and Returning Sami Craft and Culture , is moving soon to the production stage, with a publication date in February, 2023. It's been a complicated but enormously satisfying project to work on over the past months. For a long time the libraries were closed, and it was challenging to gather all the research material and books I needed. I had expected to be able to visit or revisit some museums in the Nordic countries. Nope. Fortunately, colleagues and kind librarians and scholars in Scandinavia and England were helpful, as well as curators at many Sami museums. I came in contact with dozens of helpful people along the way and made some new connections and friendships. 

Now that this book is beginning to wrap up, I hope to share here some of the research and reading I've done over the past months. 

ONWARD! (from Olaus Magnus, A History of the Northern Peoples, 1555)