Diss.--Helsinki. / Bibliography: v. 1, p. [356]-364.

Diss.--Helsinki. / Bibliography: v. 1, p. [356]-364.

Thesis--Helsinki. / "Eripainos Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia 160:stä." Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English and Lapp. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 256-264.

Thesis--Helsinki. / "Eripainos Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia 160:stä." Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English and Lapp. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 256-264.

<p>Revoicing Sámi narratives investigates the relationship between storytellers, contexts and collective tradition, based on an analysis of North Sámi narratives published in the early 1900s. This dissertation “revoices” narratives by highlighting the coexistence of different voices or socio-ideological languages in repertoires and by considering Sámi narratives as utterances by storytellers rather than autonomous products of tradition. Thus, this study serves as an act of “revoicing,” of recovering voices that had been silenced by the scientific discourse which enveloped their passage into print.</p><p>Narrators considered “tradition bearers” were interviewed or wrote down folk narratives that were interpreted as representative of a static, dying culture. The approach chosen in this thesis highlights the dynamic and conscious choices of narrative strategies made by these storytellers and the implications of the discourses expressed in narration. By taking into account the intense context of social change going on in Sápmi at the time the narratives emerged, as well as the context that includes narrators, ethnographers and tradition, the analysis demonstrates that storytelling is an elaboration that takes place in negotiation with tradition, genres and individual preferences.</p><p>The repertoires of four storytellers are studied according to a methodological framework consisting in critical discourse analysis from a folkloristic perspective. The analysis underscores the polyphony of the narratives by Johan Turi, who related with skillfulness of tradition by taking position as a conscious social actor. This study also investigates the repertoires of storytellers Ellen Utsi, Per Bær and Isak Eira who were interviewed by the</p><p>Norwegian “lappologist” Just K. Qvigstad. Their contributions to his extensive collection of Sámi narratives express their relation to tradition and to the heteroglossia that surrounded them. Based on a receptionalist approach, this dissertation investigates the implications of these narratives for the North Sámi community at the turn of the twentieth century.</p><p>Storytelling appears to have had a set of functions for community members, from the normative as regards socialization, information and warning against dangers to the defensive with the elaboration of a discourse about solidarity, identity and empowerment.</p>

Revoicing Sámi narratives investigates the relationship between storytellers, contexts and collective tradition, based on an analysis of North Sámi narratives published in the early 1900s. This dissertation “revoices” narratives by highlighting the coexistence of different voices or socio-ideological languages in repertoires and by considering Sámi narratives as utterances by storytellers rather than autonomous products of tradition. Thus, this study serves as an act of “revoicing,” of recovering voices that had been silenced by the scientific discourse which enveloped their passage into print. Narrators considered “tradition bearers” were interviewed or wrote down folk narratives that were interpreted as representative of a static, dying culture. The approach chosen in this thesis highlights the dynamic and conscious choices of narrative strategies made by these storytellers and the implications of the discourses expressed in narration. By taking into account the intense context of social change going on in Sápmi at the time the narratives emerged, as well as the context that includes narrators, ethnographers and tradition, the analysis demonstrates that storytelling is an elaboration that takes place in negotiation with tradition, genres and individual preferences. The repertoires of four storytellers are studied according to a methodological framework consisting in critical discourse analysis from a folkloristic perspective. The analysis underscores the polyphony of the narratives by Johan Turi, who related with skillfulness of tradition by taking position as a conscious social actor. This study also investigates the repertoires of storytellers Ellen Utsi, Per Bær and Isak Eira who were interviewed by the Norwegian “lappologist” Just K. Qvigstad. Their contributions to his extensive collection of Sámi narratives express their relation to tradition and to the heteroglossia that surrounded them. Based on a receptionalist approach, this dissertation investigates the implications of these narratives for the North Sámi community at the turn of the twentieth century. Storytelling appears to have had a set of functions for community members, from the normative as regards socialization, information and warning against dangers to the defensive with the elaboration of a discourse about solidarity, identity and empowerment.

Thesis (doctoral)--Oulun yliopisto, 1992. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-258).

The aim of this study is to show how some persons with one of the Swedish national minority languages as mother tongue use a library with regard to their mother tongue and culture. The research questions are: How do Sami-speaking, Finnish-speaking and Meänkieli-speaking (Tornedalen Finnish-speaking) persons use a library with regard to their mother tongue and their culture? What aspects do they find important in this use? As a theoretical frame I have used Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the functions of the local library and Will Kymlicka’s theory of the value of maintenance of minority cultures. The study is a qualitative user study. Deep interviews have been conducted with 9 persons with Finnish, Meänkieli or Sami as mother tongue.The results show that the main use of the library is as a cultural centre and the most frequently used service is borrowing of literature. Most Finnish-speaking persons use the library this way and find it satisfactory. The Sami-speaking persons who read in Sami use the library but the small supply of Sami literature at the libraries is partly a limiting factor. The literature available in Meänkieli is limited, but some use the library to get access to this literature. Exhibitions and cultural arrangements are not attended very frequently and the library’s social function is not very prominent. Some persons use the library in their studies or in their profession to get access to literature in Finnish or Sami. The use of the library as information centre is minimal.The access to literature, the possibility to speak their mother tongue with the library staff and the highlighting of the literature and culture at the library are factors that are important and contribute to language-maintenance and strengthening of the identity. The accessibility to the literature itself and the children’s possibilities to use the library are also important factors. The study is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

<p>The focus of the dissertation is on the performance of the yoiks, what the yoikers tell the audience and what the yoikers mean with their narratives. The results demonstrate that the verbal art of yoik includes both song and spoken messages. The analysis of the yoik tradition is couched within performance theory. The discussions of the performance give keys to understanding storytelling, oral history, verbal art and a means to recognize when a yoiksong, vuolle, begins or when it stops and why the performer yoiks its vuolle the way he or she does. I argue that an inside perspective in conjunction with performance theory, provides a highly fruitful method to research in yoik tradition. In order to understand the tacit knowledge in the performance, it has been highly relevant to discuss the seminal work by the Sami author Johan Turi and to compare his theories with Sami scholars like Israel Ruong, Nils Jernsletten and Harald Gaski.</p><p>In the 1900s there were three broader documentation projects of yoik tradition in Sweden. The first one was conducted in the 1910s by Karl Tirén, who used the phonograph and wax cylinders. In the 1940s the Institute of Language and Folklore (ULMA/SOFI) undertook a documentation project and in the 1950s the Swedish Radio did so too. Now, it was now possible, with the modern technology, to analyse the yoik tradition in new ways. It enables re-listening to the stories that was told and to see them in a context where the performers’ artistic skill, together with their social background and their relation to their audience is made visible.</p><p>It has been discussed if there was an epic yoik tradition in South Sami areas. One hypothesis says that epic yoik was found only in northern areas in close connection to Finnish culture. However, this study shows that there was an epic yoik tradition in southern Lapland and probably the last of these epic singers passed away in the 1960s. The yoikers presented here are all good representatives of an epic yoik tradition. Sara Maria Norsa, Nils Petter Svensson, Jonas Eriksson Steggo and Knut Sjaunja are my main informants in the archive material, where their performances are described with accuracy. This makes it possible to analyse the events they are participating in. They are all in fact telling their lives’ stories by describing reindeer herding.</p><p>This dissertation demonstrates the yoik tradition in its context, and I show that the vuolle has a structure where one can recognize when it begins and when it ends. The yoik tradition is not only music or song, the story that is told is equally important. The way of presenting a vuolle is also a part of the yoik tradition and one has to consider both the spoken and the sung messages in order to understand what the performer means. In short, yoik must be recognized as verbal art or storytelling.</p>

The focus of the dissertation is on the performance of the yoiks, what the yoikers tell the audience and what the yoikers mean with their narratives. The results demonstrate that the verbal art of yoik includes both song and spoken messages. The analysis of the yoik tradition is couched within performance theory. The discussions of the performance give keys to understanding storytelling, oral history, verbal art and a means to recognize when a yoiksong, vuolle, begins or when it stops and why the performer yoiks its vuolle the way he or she does. I argue that an inside perspective in conjunction with performance theory, provides a highly fruitful method to research in yoik tradition. In order to understand the tacit knowledge in the performance, it has been highly relevant to discuss the seminal work by the Sami author Johan Turi and to compare his theories with Sami scholars like Israel Ruong, Nils Jernsletten and Harald Gaski. In the 1900s there were three broader documentation projects of yoik tradition in Sweden. The first one was conducted in the 1910s by Karl Tirén, who used the phonograph and wax cylinders. In the 1940s the Institute of Language and Folklore (ULMA/SOFI) undertook a documentation project and in the 1950s the Swedish Radio did so too. Now, it was now possible, with the modern technology, to analyse the yoik tradition in new ways. It enables re-listening to the stories that was told and to see them in a context where the performers’ artistic skill, together with their social background and their relation to their audience is made visible. It has been discussed if there was an epic yoik tradition in South Sami areas. One hypothesis says that epic yoik was found only in northern areas in close connection to Finnish culture. However, this study shows that there was an epic yoik tradition in southern Lapland and probably the last of these epic singers passed away in the 1960s. The yoikers presented here are all good representatives of an epic yoik tradition. Sara Maria Norsa, Nils Petter Svensson, Jonas Eriksson Steggo and Knut Sjaunja are my main informants in the archive material, where their performances are described with accuracy. This makes it possible to analyse the events they are participating in. They are all in fact telling their lives’ stories by describing reindeer herding. This dissertation demonstrates the yoik tradition in its context, and I show that the vuolle has a structure where one can recognize when it begins and when it ends. The yoik tradition is not only music or song, the story that is told is equally important. The way of presenting a vuolle is also a part of the yoik tradition and one has to consider both the spoken and the sung messages in order to understand what the performer means. In short, yoik must be recognized as verbal art or storytelling.