“The North Chose Us”: Selected Poems by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää as Expressions of Sami Cultural Ecology and Indigenous Rights Concerns

• Main Author: Greiner, Christopher
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Pennsylvania State University Libraries 2015
• Subjects: poetry; poems; Nils-Aslak Valkeapää; Sami; identity; geography; ecology; Fennoscandia; Sweden; Norway; Finland; northwestern Russia; aesthetic; indigenous rights; cultural practices; reindeer; fish; birds; Nils; Norway; Fennoscandia; sami
• Online Access: https://journals.psu.edu/ik/article/view/59699; https://doi.org/10.18113/P8ik159699

This article analyzes three poems by acclaimed Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. The author examines poetic language to underscore its ability to evoke Sami identity and the geography and ecology found where the Sami live in Fennoscandia (the far north of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and northwestern Russ...