Joik as the Golden Thread of Sami Revitalization

• Main Author: Bateman, Tori
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita 2016
• Subjects: Scandinavia; Russia; Indigenous people; Oldest musical tradition; Ethnomusicology; Music; sami
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/221; https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1222&context=honors_theses

When studying music, it is important to understand its role in the change and continuity of culture. This understanding can be achieved by studying music as an element of peoples' collective identity and how it affects the variability of this identity. Through this, we can discern specific aspects of ethnicity, origination, and nationalism in an ever-changing globalized society. As seen in the Sami people of northern Scandinavia and Russia, where joik tradition is practiced, the relationship between the social identity of indigenous people and music is especially important, as these cultures are rapidly changing and adapting to a globalized society. Definitively Sami, joik may be the oldest European musical tradition which, in the last forty years, has contributed to a Sami cultural revival. Despite the increasing globalization of world cultures, the Sami nation persists in their specific social identity, and music significantly contributes to this cultural renewal.