| Summary: | This dissertation is an analysis of the cultural meeting between the Church and the Crown on the one hand, and the Sami community on the other, in a lappmark in the north of Sweden during the seventeenth century. The authorities viewed and acted towards the Sami from the standpoint of their normative system, incorporating the political/ideological discourse that existed at this time. This was implemented by means of judicial machinery that represented the Sami as indulging in immoral sexual behavior and idolatry. This was due to the fact the authorities nurtured an interest in the different: the Sami became the Other, representing an antithesis of the authorities’ own existence. The authorities’ need to create this antithesis led to a representation of the Sami as sexually immoral and idolatrous that endured throughout the period of this research, with results that have both qualitative and quantitative foundations in two categories of crimes: those against religion, and sexual offences. The Sami, for their part, exhibited cultural manifestations that, when detached from the court rolls’ narrative structure, clearly distinguish themselves from the normative system represented and implemented by the authorities. Conciliation in court was common amongst the Sami; their views on theft, murder or manslaughter, and sexual offences never coincided with the perspective maintained by the authorities on these issues, which was based on laws and ordinances. There were two reasons for this: the first was that the Sami did not stigmatize as criminals individuals who had committed unlawful deeds, as was the case with the authorities, who operated within the framework of the Swedish legal system; the second reason was that the Sami had other traditions concerning marriage and religious practice. The Sami interacted not only with each other, but also in relation to other groups of people outside the community, such as visiting farmers, townspeople, merchants and ironworkers. Judicial matters were raised for different reasons: ...
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