| Summary: | Abstract This ethnological bachelor level essay investigates how suicide is looked upon amongst the Sámi people (in Sweden) from cultural perspectives. The subject is studied by interviewing ten respondents who have experienced suicide in their closeness, mainly within their family at some point between 1980- 2020. Most respondents and all their deceased relatives are of Sámi origin. The study found that suicide has occurred amongst people with vastly different living conditions, all over the Swedish parts of Sápmi. The deceased consists of 7 men and 3 women, ages 20 – 60. The study analysis focuses upon how the respondents explain their relative’s mental ill-health and suicide, because from an ethnologic perspective a lot of knowledge about the cultural understanding of suicide can be found within their model of explanation. The results of the study show that the respondents first explanation on the direct question vary widely, it can be mental illness, alcoholism as well as a fragile persona. But by analysing the explanation in it´s cultural context a more complex picture evolves, where their shared experiences as Sámi occur. The study found potential reasons for mental ill-health amongst the Sami such as different postcolonial scars that still today occur in many contexts, ethnic discrimination as well as other difficulties as a minority population. The main issue why Sámi who experience mental ill-health do not seek professional help nor help from within their own group is explained by a tradition of silence within the Sámi culture.
|
|---|