Cultural Amnesia: Imagining Alternatives to the Dystopian Future of Norrland

• Main Author: Jerlei, Epp
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Arkitekthögskolan vid Umeå universitet 2015
• Subjects: Cultural Amnesia; Norland; Territorial Plannning; Architetural Intervention; Sapmi; Architecture; Arkitektur; Sámi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-108596

By the term “Cultural Amnesia” I refer to a diagnosis of a condition that has been caused by external damage or trauma. This may result in a society forced to forget about their roots, culture and connection to the landscape, once been embraced by a community as a whole but now been forgotten and replaced by different ideals that are displaced from context. It is an assumption that something is missing or is about to be forgotten, that would have disastrous consequences. The causes of the amnesia need to be diagnosed and identified and their possible effects imagined. The term “Culture” here can refers simply to the way how have been done and developed in a specific context from the beginning of times. Cultural amnesia, then, would be the widespread ignorance of and indifference to what used to be important but has now fallen into forced displacement, resulting in a possible “dystopian future”. The aim of the research is to analyse the recent developments in Norrland and the Sápmi areas that are largely affected by capitalist space production. It highlights also the story of displacement and injustice the Sámi have suffered. There has been an exploitation of the Sámi rights by the government and evidence of the Swedish state land theft from the Sámi. The real repression began with the modernization of society, where the causes lay in factors like the need for forest, agricultural efficiency and new definitions of land ownership. Today the indigenous people find themselves fighting a battle against the state and multinational mining companies, while their land, cultural heritage and their way of life is at stake. Can we imagine a cure, a plan of care or an antidote to Cultural Amnesia?