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“ Ii idja nu guhkki ahte beaivi ii boa đ e ” “The night is not so dark that the day never comes: ” How to read a Sámi wooden cup . Troy Storfjell Pacific Lutheran University storfjta@plu.edu. Sámi aesthetics, Sámi ethics. dáajmijes vuekie
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“Ii idja nu guhkkiahtebeaivi ii boađe”“The night is not so dark that the day never comes:” How to read a Sámi wooden cup Troy Storfjell Pacific Lutheran University storfjta@plu.edu
Sámi aesthetics, Sámi ethics • dáajmijesvuekie • What is beautiful is also functional, and made in an ethical way. • dáajmijesvoete • The most functional, beautiful and ethical • This is the ideal Sámi way to behave, but it demands knowledge. Lena Kappfjell, Romssauniversitehta (University of Tromsø)
Sámi agency and response Elsa Laula, 1917 Sámi protesters, 2011
My home is in my heart it migrates with me The yoik is alive in my home the happiness of children sounds there herd-bells ring dogs bark the lasso hums In my home the fluttering edges of gáktis the leggings of the Sámi girls warm smiles My home is in my heart it migrates with me
You know it brother you understand it sister but what do I say to strangers who spread out everywhere how shall I answer their questions that come from a different world How can I explain that I can not live in just one place and still live when I live among all these tundras You are standing in my bed my privy is behind the bushes the sun is my lamp The lake my wash bowl
How can I explain that my heart is my home that it moves with me How can I explain that others live there too my brothers and sisters
What shall I say brother what shall I say sister They come and ask where is your home they come with papers and say this belongs to nobody this is government land everything belongs to the State They bring out dingy fat books and say this is the law it applies to you too What shall I say sister what shall I say brother
You know brother you understand sister But when they ask where is your home do you answer them all this On Skuolfedievva we pitched our lávvu during the spring migration Čáppavuopmi is where we built our goahti during rut Our summmer camp is at Ittunjárga and during the winter our reindeer are in Dálvadas You know it sister you understand it brother
Our ancestors kept fires on Alllaorda on Stuorajeaggis’ tufts on Viidesčearru Grandfather drowned in the fjord while fishing Grandmother cut her shoe grass in Šelgesrohtu Father was born in Finjubákti in burning cold And still they ask where is your home
They come to me and show books Law books that they have written themselves This is the law and it applies to you too See here But I do not see brother I do not see sister I cannot I say nothing I only show them the tundra
All of this is my home these fjords rivers lakes the cold the sunlight the storms The night and day of the fjelds happiness and sorrow sisters and brothers All of this is my home and I carry it in my heart – Nils-AslakValkeapää, Trekways of the Wind, 1994
Putting dáajmijesvuekie into practice: Indigenous methodologies
Linda Tuhiwai SmithWaikato University, New Zealand • Indigenous methodology • Whose research is this? • Who owns it? • Whose interests does it serve? • Who will benefit from it? • Who has designed its questions and framed its scope? • Who will carry it out? • Who will write it up? • How will the results be disseminated?
JelenaPorsanger • Applying Linda Tuhiwai Smith to Sámi-related research. • Drawing on Maori concept of whanaungatanga (relationships). • Creating a Sámi-centered academic institution in Guovdageaidnu. Rector, Sámi allaskuvla/ Sámi University College
RaunaKuokkanenUniversity of Toronto • Accepting the gift of Indigenous epistemes • “Mainstream” Indigenous philosophies and worldviews, not students. • Failure of the university in its main objective: to produce knowledge • epistemic ignorance • Liberal complicity in colonization
Kristin (Kikki) Jernsletten • Reclaiming stories, knowledge, language • Fellism • Ságastallan • Transforming the academy by “stealing back the river”
Shawn WilsonNorthern Rivers University,Australia • Relational responsibility • Research as ceremony • Critique of “objectivity” and abstraction • “There should be no need for us to constantly justify, validate or change our work in order to fit foreign research paradigms. We have our own standards” (127).
HaraldGaski • Pan-Sámi cultural identity • Anders Fjellner’sBeijjienbaernieepic (The Son of the Sun) • Sámi Indigenism • The right to represent oneself • The need to Indigenize the academy • Survivance—survival through resistance Romssauniversitehta/ University of Tromsø
Lena Kappfjell • Back to dáajmijesvuekie and dáajmijesvoete • If the aesthetic, the useful, and the ethical are connected, how can we be useful in an ethical and aesthetic way? Romssauniversitehta/ University of Tromsø