“My Hard-Earned (Sámi) Identity”: The Hard Work of Uncomfortable Reading

Abstract

In the above, untitled, poem taken from Niillas Holmberg's collection Jos itseni pelastan itseltäni (2015, If I Save Myself from Myself), the speaker neutrally observes that he is frequently asked to comment on Sámi identity and on their relationship with nature. Holmberg, too, is Sámi: the indigenous people of the northernmost regions of Europe. Formerly referred to by the pejorative "Lapp," the Sámi are comprised of a number of smaller ethnic groups with different traditions, practices, and even languages which are for the most part mutually comprehensible. The Sámi languages, cultures and identity have been threatened by educational policies promoting national languages (Finnish, Swedish, Russian, and Norwegian) at the expense of the indigenous languages. In addition, mining, energy production, agriculture, forestry, and tourism, both from abroad and from Southern Finland, have had a major impact on the region, and negatively impacted in traditional Sámi lifestyles and cultural practices (e.g. Frandy 2017). The poem also indicates that the speaker frequently has to "explain" Sámi culture, a point Holmberg has also noted in interviews (e.g. Mikkonen 2016, n.p.). The need to "explain" indicates the power imbalance that allows the Finnish majority to remain ignorant about the indigenous population but not vice versa.Holmberg composes his poetry and songs in North Sámi and Finnish, and his work has been translated into more than ten languages. In an interview, he explained that "in my first books, my poems were almost as if from a diary. I wrote about the things that were on my mind each day" (Rasmus, 2018 n.p.). His more recent works, like Juolgevuođđu, are more overtly political, reflecting Holmberg's increasing activism in campaigns protesting against infringements of traditional Sámi practices such as herding reindeer, hunting and fishing in Sápmi. Holmberg's home is Ohcejohka (Utsjoki), which he describes as beings in "Saamiland (occupied by Finland)" on his website. For readers unfamiliar with the geography of the region, Western maps would situate Ohcejohka as Finland's northernmost town on the banks of the Deatnu River (River Teno) that marks the border between Finland and Norway. For the Sámi, the river is not a border, but rather a natural highway connecting areas within Sápmi which also provides water and fish. In short, Holmberg has all the credentials for being a spokesperson for the Sámi; his poetry and music are easily read through this lens. In interviews, in YouTube clips and on his website, he encourages readers to respond to his works in this way. Indeed, this viewpoint is so dominant we refer to it as the "Sámi script." Scripts are our default, habituated ways of behaving; they are inherently lazy. Racial prejudices follow scripts: rather than seeing the individual, we use scripts related to ethnicity, nationality, body shape, and so on to form lenses for interpreting behaviors. First articulated by Schank and Abelson (1977), scripts describe the way in which knowledge is stored, created, and a...