A comparative analysis of the Norwegian and Swedish states Sami politics 1980-1999 : An examination of the two states view of Sami identities and how Sami politics was legitimised

• Main Author: Habbestad, Amalie Drage
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Historiska institutionen 2021
• Subjects: History; Historia; Norway; Finnmark; sami
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-445500

This thesis will analyse the framework of ideas that legitimised the new Sami politics from 1980-1990, and utilises a comparative analysis to explore how and why the similar states of Norway and Sweden, developed dissimilar Sami policies and had dissimilar official views of the Sami during this period. Sami policy and the states’ official view of Sami identity will be examined through three chosen themes: attitudes towards reindeer herding Sami identity, the establishment of the Sami Parliaments, and the different attitudes to the International Labour Convention no. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal peoples. This will explain the different trajectories Sami policy took during the period analysed, and will show that Norwegian Sami policy relied to a greater extent on international norms of indigenous rights, which meant that Sami policy was treated as indigenous policy only. Additionally, the Norwegian state developed a view on Sami identity as being more heterogenous, but focused on the geographical area of the county of Finnmark in order to resolve Sami demands on rights to land and natural resources. Comparatively, Swedish Sami policy will be shown to have relied on national norms of Sami policy that had been formed in the 19th century, based on the segregation of reindeer herding Sami and non-reindeer herding Sami. This will be shown to have affected the states’ view of the Sami as dually indigenous and a national ethnic minority, which to some extent hindered the Sami in Sweden from gaining national and international recognition as indigenous.