Sámi Art and Literature as Peaceful Pillar of Sámi Civil Society

The relationship between the indigenous Sámi people and the Fennoscandian nation-states (in various and changing constitutions) has for centuries been of the ambiguous variety. After a long period of marginalization and assimilation, post–Second World War decolonization processes and international treaties paved the way for a rethinking of Sámi policy. Nevertheless, conflicting interests concerning land rights continue to challenge the legal position of the Sámi, something which is strongly criticized by Sámi artists and writers. The chapter argues how Sámi contemporary twenty-first-century art and literature can function not only as an expression, but as an important foundation of Sámi civil society as well. More specifically, it examines how a new generation of Sámi visual artists, film makers, musicians, and writers with politically charged works not only mirrors Sámi life and (cultural) history, but at the same time questions and criticizes continuing marginalizing practices of the nation-state authorities. By articulating Sámi experience and giving that experience public identity, they inscribe those experiences on the (national) discursive agenda and contribute to debunking the myth of the Nordic welfare states, while simultaneously inviting the creation of a more inclusive, solidary, human imagination of the welfare states in the Nordic area.