The viability of the forthcoming Norwegian Sami Parliament: an assessment ...

• Main Author: Schild, Ingrid
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 1989
• Subjects: sami
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.23945; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/276647

In 1987, the Norwegian Government passed the Sámi Law, which expressly protected the interests of the Norwegian Sámi as an ethnic group and provided for the establishment of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, a representative body to be elected by and among the Norwegian Sámi. This body will replace the current Norwegian Sámi Council. Although the reform reflects Government response to Sámi demands for greater ethnic self-determination, the Sámi Parliament can, as yet, only act in an advisory capacity. The passage of the Sámi Law has exacerbated the division between Sámi ethnopolitical factions, as reflected in the polarization of the three Norwegian Sámi organizations vis-a-vis ethnic self-determination. The Sámi organizations project different versions of a Sámi ethnic identity as shown in the way they manipulate ethnic symbols. These differences in approach towards ethnic identity management reflect differing experiences of Norwegian/Sámi relations. Thus the essence of a Sámi ethnic identity is no longer ...