Thesis (Ph.D.)--Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 30, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-234).

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 1981. / One map on one folded leaf tipped in on cover p. 3. Additional (corrected) p. 97 inserted. Included bibliographical references (p. 511-526).

This essay aims to gain a deeper understanding for the beliefs and identity of the sami people in Sápmi, northern Scandinavia through observation of their material culture. More specifically the object of interest is different types of jewellery made from materials like horn, silver and tin dat- ed to iron age 500 BC to 1300 AD. Metal deposits, or places of sacrifices used by sami are key interest to understand the usage of jewellery and the symbolism behind it, if there is any. The discussion is based on earlier research made by archaeologists and other scientists. The purpose being to understand and illuminate a culture with a long history that’s still alive. This will be conducted with an archaeological perspective.

The Sami has lived of reindeer husbandry for more than a thousand years, but the reindeer has also been an important prey for predators as wolverines, bears, lynx’ and wolfs. For the reindeer and their own survival, the Sami therefor have developed a unique knowledge regarding predators they must avoid, of which the wolf is the worst of them all. This thesis attempts to point out in which ways the wolf has effected the reindeer husbandry in Sweden, and how the problems has been presented through three periods during the last hundred years, in one of the Sami’s own media channels, the magazine called Samefolket. The thesis also attempts to clarify the implemented and proposed solutions, and the changing of them, and even to find out how the reindeer herder’s, and people in general, have looked at the occurrence of wolves, now and then. The Swedish wolf population has increased considerably during the last hundred years, but the occurrence of wolves has been a significant problem for the reindeer husbandry during all the treated periods. The wolves chases, sores, aches and kills all kinds of reindeers, and spreads the reindeer herds, and scares them and makes them difficult to work with. In addition, this create great frustration, stress and a lot of extra work for those who work with the reindeers. Several measures to solve the problem has been proposed, and with different results. In previous years, hunting with different methods was common, and good hunting performances was prized. From 1966, killing wolves is illegal. The development of good compensation systems is therefore one of the tried solutions of the problems after that. In recent years, it has also been decided that the wolf population should not exceed a particular number of individuals in the reindeer pastry areas.

This master’s degree essays aim was to analyse and to compare the descriptions of Sami people in three different types of sagas: Legendary Sagas, Sagas of Icelanders and Kings’ sagas. For this contribution, four Legendary Sagas, two Sagas of Icelanders and two Kings’ sagas were examined. The working hypothesis was, that sagas that were written closer to the narrative time were to be more realistic than episodes in sagas that were written significantly later. The results of the analysis of these sagas indicate that there are no significant differences between the different types of sagas and that the presentation of Sami people in these sagas is more affected by the writers worldview and intentions than the time they were written. / Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die Beschreibungen der samischen Bevölkerung in drei verschiedenen Sagagattungen ­ Vorzeitsagas, Isländersagas und Königsagas ­ zu analysieren und zu vergleichen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden jeweils vier Vorzeitsagas, zwei Isländersagas und zwei Königsagas untersucht. Die aufgestellte Arbeitshypothese für die Untersuchung besagte, dass Sagas, die zeitlich näher zur Erzählzeit verfasst wurden, realistischer sein müssten als Sagas, deren Abfassungszeit deutlich später als die Erzählzeit ist. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung und Analyse zeigen jedoch, dass es keine signifikanten Unterschiede in der Beschreibung der samischen Bevölkerung zwischen den verschiedenen Sagagattungen gibt, und dass die Weltanschauung und die Intentionen der Sagaautoren einen stärkeren Einfluss auf die Beschreibungen haben als die Abfassungszeit.

Inspired by the contrapuntal and relational critiques of Edward Said and Ella Shohat, this thesis conducts a comparative analysis of the literature and film of Arab Jews in order to deconstruct discourses on Jewish identity that privilege the dichotomies of Israel-diaspora and Arab-Jew. Sami Michael’s novel Refuge, Naim Kattan’s memoir Farewell, Babylon, Karin Albou’s film Little Jerusalem and b.h. Yael’s video documentary Fresh Blood: a Consideration of Belonging reveal the complexities and interconnections of Sephardic, Mizrahi and Arab Jewish experiences across multiple geographies that are often silenced under dominant Eurocentric, Ashkenazi or Zionist interpretations of Jewish history. Drawing from these texts, Jewish identity is explored through four philosophical themes: Jewish beginnings vs. origins, boundaries between Arab and Jew, the construction of Jewish identities in place and space, and, the concept of diaspora and the importance Jewish difference. As a double-diaspora, with the two poles of their identities seen as enemies in the ongoing conflict between Israel-Palestine, Arab Jews challenge the conception of a single Jewish nation, ethnicity, identity or culture. Jewishness can better be understood as a rhizome, a system without a centre and made of heterogeneous component, that is able to create, recreate and move through multiple territories, rather than ever settling in, or being confined to a single form that seeks to dominate over others. This dissertation contributes a unique theoretical reading of Jewish cultures in the plural, and includes an examination of lesser known Arab Jewish writing and experimental documentary in Canada in relation to Iraq, France and Israel.

We live in a complex, interconnected and constantly changing world. Human driven global climate change is now a local reality that reinforces the inherent need for adaptability in human systems. Adaptability, the capacity to adapt to disturbance and change and navigate system transformation, can be understood as a function of socio-political interactions. The capacity of governing systems to deal with novel challenges through novel forms of interaction is a key issue in the governance literature, but which is only beginning to be explored. We therefore know little of how global change will impact the local level and how institutions and governing systems will respond. The need for adaptability is likely to be more pronounced for tightly coupled human-environmental systems. Indigenous and natural resource dependent communities in general, and in the Northern hemisphere in particular, are among the most exposed to ongoing and projected climate change. In Sweden, reindeer husbandry is an Indigenous Sami livelihood and extensive land-use practice highly exposed to weather conditions and increasing competition over land and resources. Whereas herders struggle to deal with the challenges that now confront them, the practice is also known as resilient and sustainable, having withstood large-scale social, ecological and economic change before. The aim with this thesis is to explore adaptability from a governancetheoretical perspective in the case of Sami reindeer husbandry in Sweden. The thesis thereby contributes to the emerging literatures on governance and adaptability and addresses empirically identified needs. Theoretically, the thesis draws on Kooiman’s interactive governance framework, which offers a multidimensional approach to governance analysis where structural aspects are addressed through modes (self-, coand hierarchical governing) and intentional aspects through governing elements (images, instruments and action). While conceptually encompassing, the framework has rarely been employed in empirical analyses. In advancing an operationalisation of the framework based on governing orders (operational, institutional and meta-order), the thesis thereby makes a theoretical contribution. Designed as a qualitative case study, the thesis explores how reindeer husbandry is governed and how governing has changed over time (institutional and meta-order); how the governing system restricts or facilitates adaptation and transformation (operational order); and how a governance-theoretical perspective can contribute to our understanding of adaptability. Methods include document analysis, focus groups, interviews and participatory observation. Studies focussing the operational order have been conducted in collaboration with Vilhelmina North reindeer herding community in Västerbotten county, Sweden. The results show that only marginal change has occurred over time and state actors still dominate governing interactions. The governing system is riddled with inconsistencies among governing elements and particularly problematic is the lack of coherence between different meta-order images and between different actors. This gives rise to divergent and conflicting views as to ‘what’ the system of reindeer husbandry is and explains some of the observed governing inaction and limited problem-solving capacity of the governing system. Herders are currently highly restricted in their opportunities for adaptation and transformation and the governing system therefore acts restricting rather than facilitating on adaptability. By adopting a governance-theoretical approach, adaptability as a system quality has been decomposed and challenged and the important role of governing images and power in determining adaptability has been highlighted. It has called attention to questions such as who is forced to adapt, how images and governing interactions are constructed, and how different socio-political actors can exercise influence over the governing system and interactions taking place therein. The thesis calls for more critical and empirical research on adaptability and argues that future studies need to situate and balance adaptability against other fundamental values and rights. In the case of reindeer husbandry, efforts are needed to create a better internal fit between governing elements as well as between involved socio-political actors. This could enable more equal governing interactions with other land-users and thereby contribute to mitigating conflicts as well as increasing adaptability.

The intention with this essay is to illustrate the conflicts that might occur when states implement renewable energy strategies on lands that have traditionally belonged to indigenous peoples. To do so I have analysed case studies from Sweden as well as Latin America regarding renewable energy projects in areas that could be claimed to belong to indigenous groups and compared the conclusions from these studies to what the existing legal framework on the topic of the rights of indigenous peoples dictates. The results show that the main international legislation on the topic is very clear in expressing that states should grant indigenous peoples access to lands and territories that have traditionally been occupied by them, as well as granting them participation in the exploitation of natural resources. The analysis of the case studies shows that there exists a tendency among states to bypass what is stipulated in the international regulations when executing renewable energy projects, as well as using the term “sustainable development” as a cover-up when violating the rights of indigenous peoples. Although the international legislation on the topic is very precise, the majority of the world’s countries have not ratified the main legally binding convention. I conclude that one reason for this could be that states would find it hard to reach environmental objectives while at the same time complying with the legislation on the rights of indigenous peoples, i.e. states face difficulties in fulfilling sustainable environmental and economic objectives with sustainable social objectives.

A global mining boom has recently occurred and conflicts due to mineral extraction in the context of environmental justice is visible all over the world. A recent conflict in Sweden, is in Gállok where mining exploration has been conducted on the traditional lands of the indigenous Sámi. Activists protested the exploration by occupying the site during three months in 2013. The conflict has received media attention and since media have influence on the public discourse and while Sami rights have received little official recognition in Sweden, this thesis aims at analysing the mining exploitation discourse by scrutinising the media coverage of the activism and conflict in Gállok. Mining advocates emphasise social effects like economic gain, jobs and future prospect and the importance of working co-existence between different stakeholder, while the mining critics stresses the importance of respecting and recognising Sami rights, long-term sustainability and negative social and environmental impacts from mining. The Government and the mining industry are dominant actors within the mining exploration discourse and truth claims of sustainable mining and the green economy, working co-existence and minerals as essential for and a prerequisite for sustainable development supports their interest. The activism and the Sami’s struggles for justice and recognition in Gállok can be regarded as part of the global environmental justice movement. Finally, the Swedish mining policies can be argued to be based on previous colonial politics, contributing to a continued marginalisation and oppression of the Sami people.

This master´s degree essay aims to analyze and confront two travel memoirs on the Sami people, an indigenous group living in the geographical area of Northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland and Kola Peninsula in Russia. The descriptions were taken out of a Swedish work by Gustaf von Düben Om Lappland och lapparne, företrädesvis de svenske (1852) and a Polish one written by Faustyna Morzycka Z dalekiej północy: Norwegja, Szwecja, Danja, Islandja i Laponja (1896). The study focuses on the narrative aspects of the actual human representations on the examined topic. The working hypothesis is that the images of Sami people vary strongly depending on the specific bias of the writer i. e. nationality, background or gender. Additionally, the study points out the specification of two different political, social and historical contexts and shortly discusses the model reader´s role in the writing process. The results of the study indicate that there are several differences appearing in the examined travel literature depending on the author.