Indigenizing Academia -Open program- 8 Dec, Romssa

Indigenizing Academia:
Examples, Prospects, Perspectives, Strategies
 
The Káfastallat research network
invites to an open program as part of the workshop Nubbe Káfastallam
​

​December 8, 2016, Romssa/Tromsö
 Program updated 2016-12-08 
​
Location: Auditorium E-0101, UiT. No registration necessary.
If Technology consents, the workshop will be livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEjHZLta9mOAAI2Z-eu0fg (May-Britt Öhman youtube channel). Want to join us for dinner? Please register latest by Dec 5 at 15.00 at https://goo.gl/forms/t3PBQvT5WfvT2nM02
 
12.15-12.30 Opening and introduction to open seminar (Káfastallat network organizers and host)
 
12.30 – 15.00  Chair: Camilla Brattland, UiT
 
May-Britt Öhman, Uppsala University/ Samelands fria universitet: Sámi research policies and ethical protocols: A work in progress on Swedish side of Sábme 
www.samelandsfriauniversitet.com/blogg/samisk-forskningspolicy-pa-remiss-till-samiska-samhallet

 Gunilla Larsson, Uppsala University /Samelands fria universitet: Making the invisible visible. Decolonizing history. 

(stretch break)

Krister Stoor, Umeå University: Sensing of Place. Forest Sámi stories of Grazing Land.
 
Astri Dankertsen, Nord University: Phenotype, racialization and belonging: An autoethnography of being and becoming a Sámi researcher
 
15.00-15.30 Coffee break
 
15.30 – 17.30 Chair: Astri Dankertsen, Nord University 
 
Lis-Mari Hjortfors, Laestadianism importance for Sami identity in the Lule Sami area
 
Ande Somby, UiT: When a Predator Culture meets a Prey Culture
 
Tuuli Miettunen, Univ. of Lapland, Rovaniemi:  Indigenizing the Academia: Experiences from Sára-project
 
19.30 Dinner with cultural program
 
Dinner is open to all participants outside the network at own cost, NOK 300. Please register latest by Dec. 5, at 15.00, at  https://goo.gl/forms/t3PBQvT5WfvT2nM02  

 
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About Káfastallat
 
Káfastallat means drinking coffee together in Lule Sámi and relates to an activity among Sámi (and others) the everyday casual conversations which are an important and integral part for maintenance and development of (Sámi) culture and social/kinship/intellectual/scientific relationships. Káfastallat is about developing relaxed conversations regarding important issues and research led by Sámi in relation to Sámi/Indigenous realities, aspects of livelihood, methodologies and decolonization. We emphasize in particular the wish/need to develop safe and nurturing spaces for Sámi persons for these discussions.
 
Káfastallat is a groundbreaking supradisciplinary gender and Indigenous methodology research network led by Dr. May-Britt Öhman, Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University and Sámiland Free University; Dr. Astri Dankertsen, associate prof. Social Sciences at the Univ. of Nordland and Dr. Sanna Valkonen, associate prof. of Sámi research, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi with the support of Professor Veli Pekka Lehtola, Univ. of Oulu; Dr. Gunilla Larsson, PhD, affiliated with Centre for Gender Research at Uppsala University and Sámiland Free University and Dr. Ketil Lenert Hansen, Dept. of Education, University of Tromsö.
 
Káfastallat is funded by NOS-HS - Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences which is a cooperation between the research councils in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden responsible for research within the Humanities and Social Sciences. The network is also sponsored by the departments/ universities in the network.
 
Káfastallat being a supradisciplinary gender and Indigenous methodology research project we address the ex-academia research partners not as stakeholders but as co-researchers. We (wish to) collaborate with Sámi associations, parliaments, reindeer herders, activists, yoikers and artists, as well as with Sámi allies, scholars, policy and decision makers within the majority societies.
 
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Abstracts

Ande Somby, UiT, Faculty of Law
 
When a Predator Culture meets a Prey Culture
 
What is the structure of the process when one culture weakens and eventually kills and consumes another culture? The presentation aims to outline a theoretical framework to analyze such a structure. One way to do structure is by using a goals and means model. The presentation is an illustration how it would look like if one divids the goals into sucessive sub goals and corresponding means.

Astri Dankertsen, Nord University, Bodö
 
Phenotype, racialization and belonging: An autoethnography of being and becoming a Sami researcher

In this presentation, I will explore how Sami racialization is a part of the process of being and becoming a Sami researcher. Through an autoethnographic approach, where I critically examine my own experiences as a Sami/Norwegian researcher, I will discuss how ideas of phenotype still haunts academia and indigenous research. Theoretically, I will use concepts from feminst, post-colonial and anti-racist theory to discuss how the social construction, categorization and embodied practice of “race” is a part of being a Sami researcher even today.
 
Eva-Lotta Päiviö, SLU, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences/ Department of Urban and Rural Development, Uppsala

Continuity and change in reindeer husbandry
 
Reindeer husbandry is both an important pillar upholding Sami culture and it contributes to a robust management of ecosystems in northern Fennoscandia. It is consequentially a system that is governed by both natural and social processes that are linked to feed-back mechanisms that are at the same time both continuous and dynamic. In this presentation I analyze the role of continuity and dynamics in social-ecological systems through studies of intergenerational transfer of knowledge among reindeer herders. Almost all Sami reindeer herders are children to reindeer herders and they started to participate in herding activities in early childhood. The process of becoming a reindeer herder is therefore so slow and gradual that many herders do not perceive it as an active choice. This long and continuous learning process is described as a prerequisite for gaining enough knowledge about ecological settings and adaption strategies to be able to manage a production systems that relies on highly unpredictable natural conditions. Many herders in fact see themselves as being in possession of a stewardship role, towards both nature and Sami culture, that they have inherited from their ancestors and should pass on to coming generations. That way the interplay between dynamic and continuous processes has been encoded in their ethical and cultural attitudes. To sum up, deciphering of the role of generational transfer in a social-ecological system reveals important aspects of how continuity and dynamics interplay which in turn is key for achieving ecologic and social robustness in the system.
 

Gunilla Larsson, Uppsala University, Centre for Gender Research/ Samelands fria universitet
 
Making the invisible visible. Decolonizing history
 
The paper discusses the work to make visible and reclaim Sámi cultural heritage and history, as a method for decolonizing history writing. The history of Sámi in general is absent in the schoolbooks and within historical narratives. Within the archaeology discipline people have for a long time been hesitant to speak about Sámi ancient monuments. Few scholars neither have knowledge about Sámi cultural heritage nor about the specific methodologies developed to discover them.  One of the consequences is that Sámi heritage in general, and Forest Sámi in particular, is a void in archeological studies. Currently limited archeological surveys are made only in view of coming industrial exploitations that ultimately destroy the remains in the ground. Thus the Sámi heritage and the possibility to tell our history is destroyed because of an ongoing aggressive industrial colonization. The new, developed methods to be used in Sámi archaeology are presented, methods that will be a part of a combined personal, academic, activist and archeological struggle to enlighten and reclaim our heritage and history.


Krister Stoor, Umeå University, Department of Language Studies

Sensing of Place. Forest Sámi stories of Grazing Land
 
Forest Sámi culture has been documented by Swedish researcher during the 1900s. There are lots of information about their life’s in the archives, but Sámi academia has not really detected it yet. By listening to the stories of reindeer herders can we understand their relationship to land. Their knowledge passing on from generation to generation, connects the past with the present. However, there are always obstacles to join the formal academic system with the intellectual traditions. How do we consider and recognise stories and traditions they shared and value the knowledge in the global society? This paper will discuss Indigenous intellectual tradition and the dynamics of the concept of culture and identity.
 
May-Britt Öhman, Uppsala University, Centre for Gender Research/ Samelands fria universitet
 
Sámi research policies and ethical protocols: A work in progress on Swedish side of Sábme 
 
Jag kommer prata om arbetet med en samisk forskningspolicy, riktlinjer  och rekommendationer till enskilda samer, sameföreningar, samebyar, samiska företag, på svensk sida av Sábme. Jag har arbetat med detta sedan 2014, då jag fick förfrågan från Svenska samernas riksförbund, där jag då var styrelseledamot. Paralellt har jag även ägnat mycket funderingar åt detta inom min egna forskningsverksamhet.  En första skiss är nu formulerad av mig på grundval av diskussioner inom min forskningsverksamhet och föreningsaktivitet  med enskilda samer, sameföreningar, samiska och samebyar. Jag sände ut den till hela det samiska samhället på svensk sida 19 september 2016,  per epost och via Facebook, med sista datum för svar 30 november. Den finns tillgänglig på http://www.samelandsfriauniversitet.com/blogg/samisk-forskningspolicy-pa-remiss-till-samiska-samhallet  I min presentation vill jag diskutera de behov för en dylik policy/riktlinjer som framkommit i samtal med berörda, samt att själva arbetet med policyn och riktlinjerna är en ”Indigenizing” verksamhet i sig.  En utmaning är hur den ska utformas så att den blir användbar och även kan uppdateras vid behov. Jag hoppas få ta del av egna erfarenheter, förslag, tankar.
 
Tuuli Miettunen, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi
Indigenizing the Academia: Experiences from SÁRA-project
 
The 3-year long research project SÁRA focuses on the welfare and welfare services of the Sámi living in cities outside the Sámi area in Finland. SÁRA was initiated by the Sámi Parliament and is funded by European social fund. The aim is to indigenize the research through community based participatory research methods.  In my presentation I will describe what kind of choices we are made in order to ensure that that the research is relevant to the community and that the Sámi communities in different cities can influence the whole research process. The communities are treated as research partners whose knowledge is equal to academic knowledge. The communities have participated in planning how to gather information, how to ask questions regarding Sámi welfare issues from the community, defining concepts, and finally they will participate in interpreting the results together with the researchers. In my presentation I will discuss the choices we have made in the SÁRA project, how the choices that we have made differ from the traditional academic way of doing research and what we have learned about indigenizing the academia in the process.
 
Sámáidahttimin akademiija: Vásáhusat SÁRA-fitnus
 
3-jahkásaš SÁRA-dutkanfidnu fáddán leat gávpotsápmelaččaid buresbirgen ja buresbirgenbálválusat Suoma bealde. Álgga fidnui bođii Sámedikkis ja dan ruhtada Eurohpá sosiálaruhtarádju. SÁRA ulbmilin lea sámáidahttit dutkamuša searvvušlaš doaibmavugiid bokte. Sáhkavuorustan muitalan, makkár válljejumiid mii leat bargan vai sihkkarastit ahte dutkamušas lea ávki sámeservošii ja ahte sierra gávpogiid sámeservošat sáhttet váikkuhit olles dutkanprosessii. Sámeservošat leat min dutkanguoimmit, geain diehtu lea dásseárvosaš akademalaš dieđuin. Servošat leamaš fárus plánemin, mo čoaggit dieđu, mo jearrat olbmuin sámiid buresbirgemii laktáseaddji áššiid, meroštallamin doahpagiid ja dutkamuša loahpas dat leat fárus maid dulkomin dutkanbohtosiid ovttas dutkiiguin. Sáhkavuorustan guorahalan makkár válljejumiid mii leat bargan SÁRA-fitnus, mo dutkamuša dahkan leamaš earálágan go dábálaš akademalaš doaibmavuohki ja maid mii leat dán proseassas oahppan akademiija sámáidahttimis.