| Summary: | Abstract In this dissertation, I study the many aspects related to the return or repatriation of Sámi heritage, especially in Finland. For a long time, repatriation was a subject that was not openly discussed in Finland. In a process that seemed sudden, the National Museum of Finland decided to repatriate the Sámi collection to the Sámi Museum Siida in Inari in 2017. My dissertation examines contexts for this turn. I ask what kind of processes have led to the birth of the collections and to their repatriation. Why were objects collected, of what kind, and how do these collections differ between Europe and the Nordic countries and between the Nordic countries? How does the repatriation situation differ from one Nordic country to another, and finally, what is the situation in Europe? What have been the opinions and views of Western museums and cultural heritage workers about repatriation? This contextual knowledge helps to understand the slow process in understanding the meaning of repatriation and the reasons that triggered the rapid change. I also ask why is repatriation important to Sámi people? Is repatriation a sufficient concept when the meaning of this phenomenon is considered from the Sámi perspective? I approach the subject in four different articles which deal with the perspectives of majority museums and researchers on the one hand and with the Sámi on the other. I examine the difficulties of repatriation through the eyes of Finnish archaeologists, the many ontologies of the Sámi collections of the National Museum of Finland, and the history of the collecting of Sámi culture through one collector, T. I. Itkonen. Two articles especially study the meaning of these collections for today’s Sámi society, including the research and revival project concerning a Sámi hat used by Sámi women in certain areas between 1750 and 1910. I see repatriation as a decolonialisation process between the Sámi and the majority museum, in which both parties must face a “shared” unpleasant history, which is a process that is ...
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