Šiuolaikinė samių kultūrinės tapatybės raiška Šiaurės šalyse

• Main Author: Janilionytė, Gabrielė
• Other Authors: Brandišauskas, Donatas
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: Lithuanian; English
• Published: Institutional Repository of Vilnius University 2018
• Subjects: Norway; reindeer husbandry; saami; sami
• Online Access: http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAETD35886365&prefLang=en_US

Contemporary Saami Cultural Identity in the Nordic Countries The Saami is an ethnic group of people living in northern Europe: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia and by the international law are considered as indigenous people. This Bachelor‘s thesis titled “The Contemporary Saami Cultural Identity in the Nordic Countries“ seeks to find out how certain traditional expressions of the Saami culture form the modern identity of the Saami people in the Nordic Countries. Therefore, the object of this thesis is the Sami indigeneity, which was studied through reindeer husbandry, handicraft and the performance of yoik. The ethnographic fieldwork research strategy was being used together with other qualitative research methods: informal conversations, interviews and narrative analysis. A thesis conclusion is that the identity of the Saami otherwise called Saminess is unclear definition since there is no common evident description characterizing the Saami people. The identity of the Saami is realized through Sami self-determination, a traditional way of life, handicrafts, traditional business and the traditional art which over the time changed. According to ethnographic fieldwork study analysis, the contemporary Saami cultural identity is the most clearly represented by the activities conformed criteria of both indigeneity and Saminess - reindeer husbandry, crafts (handicraft) and the music (yoik). In despite of reindeer husbandry has changed due to globalization and modern technology, reindeer herders argued that this still remains a traditional lifestyle for a part of Saami people. Meanwhile, duodji (the Saami handicrafts) in the Saami society is very important activity that acts as a trade, an additional occupation and a proponent of culture and identity. As well as, yoiking is a traditional singing of Saami from a few words and dominant syllables into a sound cycle. It considers as the oldest music form in Europe, for this reason, yoiking has a plenty of cultural and social meanings in the Saami‘s life: the expression of personal life, a way of memories, the retention of Saami community and has recently become a performative art. The Saami Culture is not static, it is changing because of the changing world. However, the Saami still trying to keep pace with their traditional culture.