Sámi Identity across Generations: From Passing for Nordics to Sámi Self-Exposure

• Published in: Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies
• Main Author: Dancus, Adriana Margareta
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2022
• Subjects: Sámi identity; Nordic film; Nordic scientific racism; passing; biology; genetics; DNA tests; self-exposure; sami
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/09n1x9wz; https://escholarship.org/content/qt09n1x9wz/qt09n1x9wz.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5070/C81258342

Following histories of racism and abuse at the hands of Norwegian and Swedish authorities, many Indigenous Sámi have chosen to disconnect from everything Sámi and instead pass for ethnic Norwegians and Swedes. As a result, their children and grandchildren have grown up with no or little knowledge of their Sámi heritage. In the 2000s, several of these children and grandchildren, who were born after the Second World War, are eager to reconnect with their Sámi identity. This article fleshes out the entangled road back to Sáminess through a close analysis of two Norwegian documentaries—Suddenly Sami (Min mors hemmelighet) (2009) and My Family Portrait (Familiebildet) (2013)—in which the women directors discover their Sámi identity in front of the camera. A central point in the discussion is how the directors use discourses of biology and genetics to recuperate their Sámi identity in the 2000s. The article raises several explanations as to why they retreat to these discourses byputting the two Norwegian documentaries in conversation with the Swedish feature film Sami Blood (Sameblod) (2016).