Collecting Sápmi. Early modern collecting of Sámi material culture

Authors

  • Jonas M. Nordin
  • Carl-Gösta Ojala

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3052

Keywords:

Sámi, Sápmi, colonialism, collecting, globalization, identity, cultural heritage, early modern period, cultural rights, repatriation

Abstract

This paper presents the research project Collecting Sápmi. Early modern globalization of Sámi material culture and Sámi cultural heritage today, financed by the Swedish Research Council 2014–18. The aim of the project is to examine early modern collecting of Sámi material culture and early descriptions of Sámi culture, primarily in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We aim to study early modern networks of scholars and collectors interested in Sámi material culture, to investigate how and why the collecting was conducted, and to follow the movement of Sámi objects between collections and collectors around Europe. Furthermore, the project aims to discuss the importance of early modern collecting and the collected objects in today’s society. Here, critical issues are raised concerning colonial histories and relations in Sápmi, motivations and ideologies of collecting over time, as well as the rights to Sámi cultural heritage and its management today and in the future.

Downloads

Issue

Section

Projects