Indigenous Spirituality in the Touristic Borderzone: Virtual Performances of Sámi Shamanism in Sápmi Park

For tourists travelling to the northernmost parts of Europe, the tour includes not only experiences of wild nature, Midnight Sun, and Aurora Borealis, but also encounters with the indigenous Sámi people who populate the area. Emblematically represented in tourist guidebooks as reindeer herders, the Sámi stand out as representatives of a life lived in close contact with nature, and as carriers of an indigenous spirituality that reflects a deep concern for the environment and for the powers found in nature. How can this insight be represented or performed in tourism? The article discusses the representation of this image of the Sámi in a theme park in the village of Kárášjohka, Norway. Transposed to the stage of the experience industry in the Sápmi Magic Theatre, a virtual Sámi shaman narrates to tourists the story of an ancient indigenous wise man. This narrative is on the one hand deeply embedded in Western imaginaries about the Noble Savage and about a prelapsarian, pre-colonial past. On the other hand, this myth is represented as something belonging to a more glorious past, and not as part of present-day indigenous life. From the point of view of ethno-politics, such narratives may support Sámi claims of representing a unique culture, while at the same time constituting a threat to the fight for an equal position in contemporary society

Fortellinger til kommisjonen

In the Norwegian truth and reconciliation commission («Kommisjonen for å granske fornorskingspolitikk og urett overfor samer, kvener og norskfinner, og skogfinner»), appointed 2018, much emphasis is on giving those affected by the so-called ‘politics of Norwegianization’ an opportunity to tell their narratives about the consequences of this policy (usually said to have taken place during the duration of 1850–1950). In the mandate, formulated by the Norwegian Parliament, the commission is urged to provide opportunities for those affected to share their personal experiences and narratives of the Norwegianization policy. The narratives are collected and documented through interviews and open meetings. Partly based on the work of other similar truth commissions, this article will examine how such collected narratives have been interpreted. From a folkloristic point of view, what kind of narratives can they be categorized as, and what happens when the context for dissemination changes from the private space to a public investigation? Can folkloristic research in any way support the understanding and appreciation of these narratives

Sted, etnisitet og fortelling

The article discusses conflicts connected to the location of ethnicity in a multicultural area of Northern Norway. After a history of heavy Norwegianization, the Sami history of this geographical area is hidden, or even suppressed. Hegemonic narratives refer to Sami history in the area as immigration, displacement, and subsequent acculturation into the Norwegian majority culture. Discourses related to Sami cultural heritage on one hand, and the choice of language for naming places and road signs on the other, show that Sami culture is associated with the past and marginalized, while Norwegian culture is associ­ated with modernity, development and future. It is also significant that contemporary discourses on the localization of ethnicity have textual references to contexts situated outside the places where conflicts actually are placed geographically

Mellom borealisme og orientalisme

The article takes as its point of departure a media narrative, relating that Northern Lights tourists from the East are not only visiting the northern areas to experience the celestial phenomenon, as their actual hope is to conceive under the Lights. According to alleged old beliefs in the East, this is supposed to give handsomer, healthier, and more intelligent children. The location of these beliefs in the touristic border zone, and relating it to modern tourism imaginaries and myths, opens new perspectives for the understanding of these narratives. Discussing one possible mediated background for what eventually turns into a migratory legend answers some questions. However, the further development and metamorphosis of the legend, and finally its materializations in the tourism industry opens new perspectives on narrated relations between hosts and guests

Nordlys, magi og turisme

Markedsføringen av naturfenomenet Aurora Borealis, eller nordlyset, har i de siste årene fått en særlig oppmerksomhet når det gjelder oppbyggingen av turisme som et vinterprodukt i Nord-Norge. I dette arbeidet benytter både markedsførerne og opplevelsesbedriftenes guider seg av ulike begreper og fortellinger. Formidlingen tar vanligvis utgangspunkt i det som oppfattes som to ytterpunkter. Som naturfenomen finnes det referanser til lysets naturvitenskapelige forklaring, og til den samtidige forskningen som pågår innenfor dette feltet. Men innenfor turismens markedsføring spiller likevel fortidens fortellinger om magiske og ekstraordinære opplevelser, spirituelle erfaringer, urfolksmyter og norrøn mytologi den viktigste rollen. ââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âMed utgangspunkt i noen historiske framstillinger som tidligere reisende har gjort av nordlyset, presenteres et utvalg av vår egen tids fortellinger om nordlyset slik de kommer fram i markedsføring og i guidenes fortellinger til turistene. Formålet er å komme fram til en forståelse av en langvarig interesse for de arktiske områdene og nordlyset hos tilreisende, og vise hvordan mytiske fortellinger og spirituelle erfaringer innenfor moderne turisme inngår i noen allerede etablerte forståelsesrammer

Barn av «tre stammers møte»: skiftende narrativer om ‘solgte’ kvenbarn i Nord-Norge

This article takes a closer look at a narrative motif relating how Kven children during famine in the Torne valley in the early 1800s Sweden and Finland were ‘sold’ to Norway. These narratives have been told, written, and performed in different media and varied versions from the time when the events took place, and up to the present. Because these versions can be tied to different contexts through a relatively long period of time, and appear in different social and historical surroundings, the genealogy of this specific narrative motif offer analytic challenges. This involves more specific examinations, looking at who told or documented the narratives, in what contexts, and for what purposes and intentions. The analysis reveals how the narrative motifs through time are connected to changing metanarratives concerning the position of ethnic and national minorities in the Norwegian nation state. This has the potential of broadening the understanding of minority relations often communicated through the metaphor of «the meeting of three tribes», as well as sharpening the focus at the history of Norwegianization politics related to ethnic minorities in the Norwegian north

Ulf Palmenfelt 2017. Berättade gemenskaper. Individuella livshistorier och kollektiva tankefigurer

Denne boken baserer seg på et omfattende intervjumateriale. Sommeren 1995 ble 132 pensjonister i Visby, Gotland intervjuet og bedt om å fortelle om sitt eget liv. Ideen og initiativet til dette omfattende prosjektet kom fra Ulf Palmenfelt selv og Folklivs­arkivet på Gotland, og det ble støttet økonomisk, materielt og med arbeidskraft av arbeidsformidlingen i Visby, Gotlands kommune, og Landsarkivet i Visby. De transkriberte intervjuene er det ene fun­damentet som danner grunnlaget for presentasjonene i boka. Fra det store materialet er noen fortellinger valgt ut og disse får en nærmere gjennomgang og drøfting. De er gruppert under kapitler som tar opp hvordan pensjonistene bruker livshistoriene til å plassere seg selv og sine opplevelser i en narrativ sammenheng: for eksempel kapitlene «Positioneringar», «Emotioner», og «Allmänmänskliga erfarenheter», eller etter de kontekstene som erfaringene framkommer i: «Minnen», «Dialoger», eller «De minsta kollektiven». Som man vil forstå, er samlingen ikke ment å være en vanlig eller konvensjonell folkeminnebok, der minnene grupperes i tematiske kapittel, for så å gi en slags samlet oversikt over de kulturelle, sosiale og økonomiske forholdene i et spesielt landskap, under en spesifikk tidsperiode. I stedet blir det pensjonistene formidler fra sitt eget liv og fra sin egen oppvekst et utgangspunkt for å forstå hvordan minnene blir en individuell innfallsvinkel til fortolkninger av opplevelser som vel kan deles av mange i lokalsamfunnet, men som likevel er personlige byggesteiner i forståelsen av det egne livet. En del av bokens prosjekt er også å vise at forholdet mellom individuelle minner og generell historie ikke på noen måte er ukomplisert og enkelt. Men for å få tak i dette må livsfortellingene fortolkes som ytringer som framkommer i en spesiell kontekst og sammenheng, og ikke som et reservoar av opplysninger fra en tidsperiode som i sin tur kan settes sammen til en ny og syntetiserende fortelling om det som skjedde i en bestemt tidsepoke

Representasjoner av kulturell forskjell

The article analyzes representations of Sámi culture in exhibitions and museums, as they have developed through history. Changing narratives and politics concerning the Sami can be identified, from the âVölkerschauâ with live Sami and reindeer at zoos and World Fairs, to the development of ethnographic collections and museums, and ending in present postcolonial reflections on the political consequences of the representing the âOtherâ. The colonial history of this field requires an ongoing reflection on how these exhibited narratives of the Sámi have been presented and told in specific contexts, and how they relate to other more generalized meta-narratives about indigenous people. The discussion tries to identify these narratives as they are told with the help of cultural objects in glass showcases, wax models in natural habitats, artificial dioramas in museums, and elaborated commentaries and texts. Exhibitors and museum professionals have not merely been descriptive in their work, but also interpretative. Current museum exhibitions about the Sámi must be understood in the light of the authority of earlier narratives, ethnographies, and politics of representation

Getting shot of elves: healing, witchcraft and fairies in the Scottish witchcraft trials

This paper re-examines the evidence of the Scottish witchcraft trials for beliefs associated by scholars with "elf-shot." Some supposed evidence for elf-shot is dismissed, but other material illuminates the interplay between illness, healing and fairy-lore in early modern Scotland, and the relationship of these beliefs to witchcraft itself