Marginalized Indigenous Knowledge and Contemporary Swedish Colonialism: The Case of Reindeer Husbandry in Gällivare Forest Sámi Community

• Main Author: Mumford, Elaine
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, CEMUS 2021
• Subjects: Sustainable Development; Indigenous Knowledge; Traditional Knowledge; Sámi; Colonialism; Land Use; hållbar utveckling; traditionell kunskap; ursprunglig kunskap; samer; kolonialism; markanvändning; Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap; Arctic; Gällivare; reindeer husbandry
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-445273

In the Forest Sámi community (Skogssameby) of Gällivare in northeastern Sweden, reindeer husbandry is in peril as commercial interests degrade viable reindeer habitat. Among clear-cut forest and young plantations, between highways and railroad tracks, reindeer seek dwindling food. Pressed into smaller and smaller patches of land, they become easier targets for large predators and run out of food more rapidly, forcing greater intervention by herders to ensure the survival of the reindeer. Two large wind power development projects, which, if built, will dominate the landscape, could catalyze a collapse in reindeer husbandry in Gällivare Sameby (Sámi community) from which reindeer herders and the reindeer population may struggle to recover. This loss would be catastrophic from human rights, ecological, and sustainability perspectives. Reindeer husbandry is a key cultural activity for the Sámi people, Europe’s only recognized Indigenous group; reindeer are also native to Sweden, and even a localized collapse in the population could have far-reaching ramifications for the local ecosystem; and reindeer are a critical source of sustainable food in the harsh arctic and sub-arctic climate of Sápmi. This case study is concerned with the pressures and encroachments on reindeer husbandry that have been observed by Henrik Andersson, a reindeer herder, activist, and board member of Gällivare Forest Sámi community. Through four weeks of fieldwork, including participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, I determined the issues that Henrik considered most pressing and attempted to gain a holistic understanding of the socio-ecological system. In this paper, I have examined the main challenges to the viability of reindeer husbandry in Gällivare Skogssameby and their relationship to one another and discussed the extent to which these challenges are caused and exacerbated by ongoing colonization of Swedish Sápmi and based in Sweden’s colonial history in the region. Dálkke