Koloniala spöken i arkiven : en kvalitativ undersökning av den samiska arkivfrågan i Sverige
(2024) ABMM34 20241Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
- Abstract
- The purpose of my essay is to examine how the archival world in Sweden is handling the
question of sami archives. The Sami people are the Indigenous people of Sweden, as well as
of Norway, Finland, and Russia, and have historically been subjugated to assimilation politics
and restrictive policies regarding their land and rights, and the consequences can still be seen
today. This is also reflected in the archival world in Sweden, where no one is appointed with
the official responsibility of taking care of Sami archival documents. This means that there is
no one to make sure that the sami cultural heritage is kept safe for the future. This is something
that is changing and is under discussion today however and there have been... (More) - The purpose of my essay is to examine how the archival world in Sweden is handling the
question of sami archives. The Sami people are the Indigenous people of Sweden, as well as
of Norway, Finland, and Russia, and have historically been subjugated to assimilation politics
and restrictive policies regarding their land and rights, and the consequences can still be seen
today. This is also reflected in the archival world in Sweden, where no one is appointed with
the official responsibility of taking care of Sami archival documents. This means that there is
no one to make sure that the sami cultural heritage is kept safe for the future. This is something
that is changing and is under discussion today however and there have been initiatives to try
and meet the needs that exist regarding Sami archives. My study has focused on two of these
initiatives, one of which is a search portal called Nuohtti, where you can search for digitized
archival material with Sami connections around Europe. The other initiative is the planned
archival course with a Sami focus at Mittuniversitetet. I have done both a text analysis on the
search portal and official documents from the government and done interviews with a
representative from the Mittuniversitetet as well as with two researchers in sami history and an
archivist working at a larger sami archival institution here in Sweden. By analysing these two
case studies with a postcolonial theory and institutional theory my ambition is to examine how
the Swedish archival world is handling the sami archival question today and what purpose these
two specific cases have.
The findings of this study are that the two chosen initiatives for this paper both serves important
purposes and fill essential functions when it comes to the Sami archival situation. They both
have their challenges and limitations, especially regarding the limited economic support and
the fragmentation of Sami archival materials. The Swedish archival world still has a lot of work
to do regarding the minority archives but the findings point to a promising future, given that
Sweden is prepared to properly deal with the colonial ghosts that still haunt their archives. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9155333
- author
- Ekberg, Anna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Colonial Ghosts in the Archives : a qualitative Investigation of the Sami Archive Issue in Sweden
- course
- ABMM34 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Archives, Archival Science, Sami, Minority, Minority Archives, Ethnic Minority
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9155333
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-19 09:08:28
- date last changed
- 2024-06-19 09:08:28
@misc{9155333,
abstract = {{The purpose of my essay is to examine how the archival world in Sweden is handling the
question of sami archives. The Sami people are the Indigenous people of Sweden, as well as
of Norway, Finland, and Russia, and have historically been subjugated to assimilation politics
and restrictive policies regarding their land and rights, and the consequences can still be seen
today. This is also reflected in the archival world in Sweden, where no one is appointed with
the official responsibility of taking care of Sami archival documents. This means that there is
no one to make sure that the sami cultural heritage is kept safe for the future. This is something
that is changing and is under discussion today however and there have been initiatives to try
and meet the needs that exist regarding Sami archives. My study has focused on two of these
initiatives, one of which is a search portal called Nuohtti, where you can search for digitized
archival material with Sami connections around Europe. The other initiative is the planned
archival course with a Sami focus at Mittuniversitetet. I have done both a text analysis on the
search portal and official documents from the government and done interviews with a
representative from the Mittuniversitetet as well as with two researchers in sami history and an
archivist working at a larger sami archival institution here in Sweden. By analysing these two
case studies with a postcolonial theory and institutional theory my ambition is to examine how
the Swedish archival world is handling the sami archival question today and what purpose these
two specific cases have.
The findings of this study are that the two chosen initiatives for this paper both serves important
purposes and fill essential functions when it comes to the Sami archival situation. They both
have their challenges and limitations, especially regarding the limited economic support and
the fragmentation of Sami archival materials. The Swedish archival world still has a lot of work
to do regarding the minority archives but the findings point to a promising future, given that
Sweden is prepared to properly deal with the colonial ghosts that still haunt their archives.}},
author = {{Ekberg, Anna}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Koloniala spöken i arkiven : en kvalitativ undersökning av den samiska arkivfrågan i Sverige}},
year = {{2024}},
}