Sámi Events at Scandinavia House in New York and online, April 2023

First of all, a quick reminder that I'm doing a virtual talk with slides from my new book, From Lapland to Sápmi TUE—April 18—7 PM EST from Scandinavia House in New York. It's a free on Zoom, but you'll need to register at https://scandinaviahouse.org/events/from-lapland-to-sapmi/. It will later be available on their YouTube channel.

 

 This is a big week for Scandinavia House in their efforts to highlight Sámi and Indigenous people. On April 15 the exhibition, "Arctic Highways: Works by by Twelve Indigenous Artists from Sápmi, Canada, and Alaska opens there. Running through July, the exhibition is curated by Indigenous artists Tomas Colbengtson, Gunvor Guttorm, Dan Jåma and Britta Marakatt-Labba, the exhibition includes their own works alongside those of artists Matti Aikio, Marja Helander, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, Olof Marsja, Máret Ánne Sara, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Maureen Gruben and Meryl McMaster.

As a special opening event on Saturday, April 15,there will be a performance and film screening. Greenlandic dancer Elisabeth Heilmann Blind will  perform “UaaJeerneq – the Greenlandic Mask Dance,” followed by a screening of Historjá – Stitches For Sápmi (dir. Thomas Jackson), depicting artist Britta Marakatt-Labba’s battle for her culture against the threats of climate change. Next, Sámi Yoiker Lars-Henrik Blind will perform, followed by a panel with Britta Marakatt-Labba, Thomas Jackson, Elisabeth Heilmann Blind and Tomas Colbengston. Learn more and register.

On April 21 & 22, American-Scandinavian Foundation and the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund AIFF present a special film event “Climate Action — Future Changes,” exploring the Arctic Indigenous peoples’ fight against climate change through films and media. The program will begin with a panel discussion and reception on Friday, April 21, followed by film screenings on Saturday, April 22.

[From their website] "Arctic Indigenous peoples have a vivid and active storytelling tradition, with stories that have played an essential role in maintaining sustainable living in the Sámi and other Indigenous people’s traditional living areas. By telling their own stories and being in charge of their narratives, they create a new future for their people. This is why all Indigenous peoples must have the ultimate right to tell their own stories about climate change in the Arctic tipping points — ice caps melting, permafrost collapsing, and changing the Oceans and vanishing the snow. How we can fight back?

"In this two-day program held in coordination with the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues 2023, tonight will feature a panel discussion with film director Elle Máijá Tailfeathers (Sámi/Blackfoot, Canada), film producer Emile Hertling Péronard (Inuk, Greenland), director Anna Hoover (Unangax̂,  USA), and AIFF’s Liisa Holmberg (Sápmi), moderated by Jason Ryle (Canada). Welcoming notes to the program will be provided by Dariio Mejia Montalvo (Chair of the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues), Aslak Holmberg (President, Saami Council), and Petteri Vuorimäki (Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland). The discussion will be followed by a screening of the documentary short Salmon Reflection (dir. Anna Hoover, Alaska, 2022), and a reception. "

 

 

From Lapland to Sápmi: Collecting and Returning Sámi Craft and Culture

 

 

From Lapland to Sápmi

Collecting and Returning Sámi Craft and Culture

 

It's been over three years since I first began to write this book, during a time before the pandemic, when I imagined long days in libraries and even a research trip to Scandinavia. How differently it turned out! Six months or so into the book the libraries closed and I postponed my trip, as it turned out, indefinitely. But through colleagues, friends, and complete strangers in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, as well as librarians and booksellers, I managed to get the materials I needed and keep going. In fact, sometimes the marvelous things I learned and read made up for the fact that I was stuck at home for months, like most of you.

Yesterday, I finished reviewing the substantial index, and soon the book is off to the printers, with a publication date of March 19, 2023. I am so thrilled to think of this project in final form. The University of Minnesota Press has once again been such a delight to work with, and they have really expended a lot of time and resources on adding b/w and color illustrations and coming up with a fantastic cover design based on Sámi artist Britta Marakatt-Labba's textile art, History.  

Look for more about the contents in coming blog posts. Meanwhile, here's some of the advance publicity:

[from the catalog] The story of the Indigenous Sámi living in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia unfolds across borders and centuries, in museums and private collections. Deftly written and amply illustrated, From Lapland to Sápmi brings to light the history of collecting, displaying, and returning Sámi material culture, as well as the story of Sámi creativity and individual and collective agency.

"An important contribution to Sámi stories of loss, recovery, and the struggle for equality, as well as the right to manage one’s own cultural heritage on one’s own terms. As Barbara Sjoholm charts the transformation of Lapland to Sápmi in objects, joiks, and storytelling, Sámi voices emerge to share essential aspects of their history. As we say in Sápmi, ‘Čálli giehta ollá guhkás—A writing hand reaches far.’" —Káren Elle Gaup, coeditor of Bååstede: The Return of Sámi Cultural Heritage

"Barbara Sjoholm’s From Lapland to Sápmi chronicles in vivid words and images the colonial encounters of Sámi and non-Sámi as told through the objects, images, and recordings that eventually became sequestered in Nordic museums and archives. It also tells the inspiring story of efforts to recover and return these items to their rightful communities as part of Sámi decolonization and self-determination." —Thomas Dubois, coauthor of Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North

"Fascinating and important, From Lapland to Sápmi presents a nuanced and enlightening look at the cultural history of objects and collections originating in Sápmi. With rich detail and riveting storytelling, Barbara Sjoholm presents a diverse picture of the north and its entangled histories of collecting in Sápmi. I heartily recommend it for students and scholars." —Trude Fonneland, The Arctic University Museum of Tromsø

"Barbara Sjoholm's new book takes you on a remarkable journey. What emerges from this insightful study is an important cultural history of the Indigenous Sámi people in northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. This book traces how scholars, clergy, and other collectors actively worked to shape how we understand (and misunderstand) the Sámi people and their world. By exploring how the materials crafted by the Sámi have been gathered, studied, and displayed, Sjoholm offers a glimpse into how knowledge has been constructed, controlled, and disseminated over time. People have been writing about the Sámi since the 1500s, but as From Lapland to Sápmi demonstrates, the Sámi culture became a testing ground for emergent sciences like ethnography and archaeology, fields that encouraged participants to gather objects for museums across Europe and beyond. This is a story with important ramifications for the world today." —Samuel J. Redman, author of The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilience and Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology