Mines and missions : Early modern Swedish colonialism in Sápmi and its legacies today

• Main Author: Ojala, Carl-Gösta
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Arkeologi 2020
• Subjects: Colonialism; extractive industries; collecting; Indigenous land and cultural rights; Sápmi; Kolonialism; gruvbrytning; insamling; urfolks landrättigheter och kulturella rättigheter; Archaeology; Arkeologi; saami; Lapland
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-429848

This paper discusses issues relating to the contested colonial history and heritage in Sápmi, focusing on the situation in Sweden, as well as some of the challenges – but also possibilities – that archaeologists and other scholars are facing when dealing with this field of tension. In particular, the discussion focuses on early modern mining and collecting of Saami material objects in Sápmi, the collecting of Saami human remains in the 19th and early 20th centuries and current debates on repatriation and reburial. The paper takes its starting point in two interrelated research projects, funded by the Swedish Research Council, A Colonial Arena, dealing with early modern extractive industries in Sápmi, and Collecting Sápmi, dealing with early modern collecting of Saami material culture and its legacies today. In the paper it is argued that Swedish colonialism in Sápmi needs to be explored more in-depth, and that archaeologists need to deal with issues of Saami self-determination in heritage management and recognize and consider cultural rights movements and decolonization processes in Sápmi. Collecting Sápmi: Early modern globalization of Sámi material culture and Sámi cultural heritage today Understanding the cultural impact and issues of Lapland mining: A long-term perspective on sustainable mining policies in the North