The purpose of this thesis is to study how the Sámi people are portrayed in the swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter’s two publications of climate change and the forest industry. The aim of this study is to identify whether power structures are reproduced or challenged. To do so, I applied critical discourse analysis as a method. The theoretical framework is composed of media theories, theories of institution and hegemony, and also by theories of stereotypingand “the other”. The results showed that one could crystallize a Sámi identity discourse order and a Sámi journalistic discourse order in the empirical material. On the one hand, the hegemony was reproduced by the way the Sámi people were described as a people with a lot of stereotypical perceptions, like being primitive, a victim and living close to nature. But on the other hand the power structures were challenged by the way the Sámi people were portrayed as active and fighting for their rights. The Sámi people were also given a position of power in comparison to the industry and the state, where the Sámi people are assigned a new epithet as a goodhearted climate hero. That identity description is constructed in relation to the industry and the state who are assigned the role of the oppressor. The conclusion that can be made out of this essay is that regardless of being described with positive stereotypical perceptions, the Sámi people’s subordinate position will always be reproduced. Furthermore, it will give birth to new stereotypes, like: The Sámi people = The climate hero of our time.

The Sámi people are an indigenous people that live in the northern region of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia (O’Dowd 2015, 187). They have been subjects of oppression and abuse by the majority culture for centuries. The sámi people were recognized as an indigenous people by the Swedish government in 1977 (Kvarfordt et al. 2004, 11). In Norway, they were recognized in 1989 whereas in Finland that year was 1995 (Förenta Nationerna u.å; O’Dowd 2015, 202). Therefore, the national governments of Sweden, Norway and Finland are obliged to follow a range of international treaties regarding the sámi peoples’ rights as an indigenous people (FN 2021). Nevertheless, the UN and EU have criticized the same governments for un-dermining sámi rights. This paper intends to investigate the cultural rights of the Sámi people in school with a comparison between Norway, Sweden, and Finland’s educational system. More specifically, the paper examines how the school system of Norway, Sweden, and Finland can help preserve sámi culture. In doing so, the essay explores three different cultural aspects from a sámi perspective, namely: the possibility to learn a sámi language in school, to learn sámi handicraft, and to learn about reindeer husbandry. Furthermore, the essay explores how these aspects are approached in the different nations by analyzing national school law and regulation. The material is then analyzed through the concepts of enculturation and socialization. In short, enculturation deals with different processes that aims to preserve and appropriate one’s own culture whereas socialization deals with processes that aims to assimilate people into the main culture. The results of the study show that all three nations have tendencies of preserving sami culture depending on which aspect that is studied. For instance, all countries support sámi language education but to what degree, varies between the nations. In contrast, only the Swedish educational system explicitly supports education in sámi handicraft and reindeer husbandry. Even though the results indicate differences between the countries’ educational system they also in-dicate that their national law on the matter of sámi rights are mostly similar in writing. Finally,

Abstract Sápmi, located in the North of Fennoscandia, including Finland, Sweden, Norway and parts of Russia, is the home of the majority of the indigenous Sámi people. With a high amount of natural resources in the shape of minerals, forests, and energy extraction, Sápmi is a place of a dispute between different actors such as the Nordic governments, corporations, locals, and Europe’s only indigenous people, the Sámis. On 22 March 2022, the Swedish Government granted a mining license to mobilize an iron ore mine in Gállok, the Swedish side of Sápmi, which has contributed to land-use conflicts and discrimination against the Sámi people. Thus, this issue continues today, making it vital to continue research on the land-use conflict in Sápmi. This qualitative study method uses an abductive approach and case study design. The interview method used is semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling to collect Sámi interviewees. Indigenous methodologies are used to conduct ethical research and apply Johan Galtung's violence triangle as a theory. The study's objective is to understand the land-use conflict in Gállok through the Sámi perspective. The study looks at the methods external actors use to access Gállok and the consequences of a mine in the area. The thesis findings showed that the three violences are visible in the land-use conflict in Gállok. The study presents that the methods used to access Gállok originates from education and media, furthers the laws and regulations by the Swedish authorities and the use of language to promote a green transition and civilization. The consequences found was the negative impact on the Sámi development through their perspective, hindering the chances to continue Sámi livelihood and an effect on Sámi well-being and identity. Additionally, the findings showed that the violences were differently dominating. However, cultural violence has shown to be the core contribution to structural and direct violence. Future research can focus on an intersectional impact on the mining establishment Sámis experience and furthering a decolonizing process.

In 1993, Sweden instituted the Sámi Parliament (Sámediggi) as a state agency with the main purpose of representing the indigenous Sámi people externally, as well as monitoring internal cultural affairs, governed by a popularly elected assembly. In the absence of official statistics on the Sámi population, or any formally recognized approaches to define who should count as Sámi, one of the challenging tasks was to create an accurate register of all those who would be eligible to take part in the elections. The idea was to design an electoral roll that would be normatively neutral and have no other functions beyond its core function of being a list of eligible voters, a concept that had already been put in use during the previous initiations of the Sámi Parliaments in Norway and Finland. Previous research from similar contexts, most prominently Norway, shows that electoral rolls of this sort might be attributed other functions by indigenous populations, especially in the absence of other formal devices that can be used to confirm their indigenous identity. It appears that the electoral roll might, under certain circumstances, assume an important and far-reaching role in indigenous institution building. In Sweden, however, similar research is missing. In this study, I examine perceptions within the indigenous Sámi community regarding the central functions of the electoral roll using a constructivist, discourse-theoretic approach. A systematic mapping out of the discourse surrounding the electoral roll, as reflected in public records from within the political sphere of the Sámi Parliament and relevant accounts in Sámi media, reveals that the electoral roll is attributed functions by the Sámi population that go far beyond its original, formalistic design. The act of formally defining a people, regardless of the limitations of the purpose, can seemingly cause unintended and far-reaching consequences, especially when the people itself does not control the definition. The analysis shows a fundamental conflict regarding the competing functions of the electoral roll as both an instrument of representation and a mechanism of identity validation. This influences the power structures between the Sámi people and the Swedish state as well as within the people itself, and affects the ability of the Sámi Parliament to gain legitimacy as an indigenous institution and instrument of self-determination.

This essay investigates sami thematics within the national school curricula of Sweden, Norway and Finland. It is a comparative essay with a focus on how the Sami are represented, using Olsen’s (2017) theoretical concepts of absence, inclusion, and indigenization. The essay is limited to studying sami representation within the subjects of social science, religion and history. Furthermore, the study aims to find possible causes of variation in the result. The results show that the Norwegian curricula have a broader inclusion of sami thematics compared to the Swedish and Finnish curricula. Additionally, the Norwegian curricula show more content of indigenization than that of the Swedish and Finnish curricula.

I have in this thesis problematized the Swedish climate transition potentially making Sweden one of the first fossil free welfare states in the world. The forest industry has been designated as one of the central components of climate transition in that it will help replace fossil fuels and other unsustainable materials. One group being affected by the increased forestry is that of the Sámi reindeer herders. Not only are they already affected by the effects of climate change to a great extent, but the forest industry in turn causes problems for reindeer husbandry and is a direct source of reduced quality in forests which provide lichen, the primary food source for reindeer. I have conducted interviews with five reindeer herders in the Malå forest Sámi village, in Västerbotten, in northern Sweden, to gain a keener understanding of the effects of climate change and the forest industry on reindeer herding, from a security perspective. The results show that the interviewees perceive climate change and large-scale forestry as a threat to their livelihood connected to reindeer husbandry and, in turn, a significant part of Sámi culture and existence, and that the two exacerbate the effects of each other. Among the effects, are the loss of forest that provides shelter and sustenance for reindeer, as well as the wellbeing and spirituality of the reindeer herders. Using theories drawn from Anthropocene and postcolonial literature, I hereby problematize the climate transition in Sweden in that it is based on a particular way of viewing the relationship between humans and nature. This causes problems for reindeer husbandry, and ultimately a reduction in security for reindeer herders that is reminiscent of and upholding the frictional and colonial bonds between Sweden and Sápmi (the region inhabited by Sámi people).

Indigenous peoples are living all over the world. In Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, live the last indigenous peoples of Europe, the Sámi people. Just like many other indigenous peoples in the world they need to find a way to coexist with the majority population in their home state. The coexistence creates many conflicts of interests between the state and the Sámi people. One of the biggest issues that the Sámi people face is regarding land use and self-determination. Norway and Sweden have been selected as the analysis units and this study deals with how the Sámi parliaments and the county administrations view and work with these matters. This study is based on a qualitative method, using semi-structured interviews with representatives from two different county administrations in Sweden, and one in Norway, as well as one from each Sámi parliament. The result will be analyzed by using the theories of Will Kymlika: “Multicultural citizenship: a liberal theory of minority rights” and Amartya Sen: “Development of freedom”. We have reached the conclusion that the county administrations are advocating for the rights of the Sámi people and they receive assignments from the state to handle it. Although it is not done with enough resources and tools to ensure a sustainable future for them. This issue is related to the historical and judicial factors coupled with the green transition industry.