The colonization of Sápmi and the processes and practices of decolonization
Panel discussion
Colonialism has become an almost everyday word in discussions concerning the situation in Saami homeland- Sápmi. What are we talking about when discussing colonial histories and decolonization processes in Sápmi? And how do the relations to the state occur for the Sámi themselves? The concept of settler colonialism is a new term. What new perspectives it offers to the debate?
Chair: Veli-Pekka Lehtola, Professor of Sámi Cultural Studies, University of Oulu
Panelists:
Niillas Holmberg, Author, Musician, Ohcejohka/Utsjoki
Rauna Kuokkanen, Research Professor, University of Lapland
Anne-Maria Magga, PhD Researcher, University of Lapland
Veli-pekka Lehtola
Veli-Pekka Lehtola is Professor of Sámi cultural studies in the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu. As a researcher, Lehtola is specialized in the cultural and political history of the Sámi and Lapland, modern Sámi art as well as in the development of the Sámi representations.
nIILLAS hOLMBERG
Jalvvi Anna-Liissá Niillas, Niillas Holmberg (born 1990) is a musician and an author from Ochejohka/Utsjoki. He has written six collections of poems and two plays. His debut novel Halla Helle was published 2021. As a musician Holmberg works as a singer-song writer. Holmberg is known as an advocate for autonomy of Sámi people.
www.niillas.com
photo: Marek Sabogal
rAUNA kUOKKANEN
Rauna Kuokkanen is Research Professor of Arctic Indigenous Studies at the University of Lapland (Finland) and Adjunct Professor of Indigenous Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on comparative Indigenous politics and law, Indigenous feminist theory, Arctic governance and settler colonialism. She is a Fulbright Arctic Initiative Fellow for 2021-2022.
aNNE-mARIA mAGGA
Anne-Maria Magga is a PhD student at the faculty of social sciences at the University of Lapland. She is also a Sámi reindeer herder from Enontekiö. Her dissertation examines the role of traditional siida system in Sámi reindeer herding in Finland. Previously, Magga has acted as the chair of Suoma Sámi Nuorat (Finnish Sámi Youth association).