Displaying the Samis (Tromsø)

Focal Point North (FPN) has a core focus on strengthening the relationship between UiT and other institutions in Sápmi. 

Seminar title: Displaying the Samis.

As a part of this effort, the museum seminar aims to put a searchlight on new knowledge in museum work and research and the role of museums in the Sami society and in local Sami communities. Protection of Sami cultural heritage and repatriation processes as the Bååstede project will be a core focus, including questions of copyright and ownership. The seminar will cover the whole of Sápmi and as well, address international experiences on these topics. What is a museum in the global era? Thus, the seminar will cover themes like the significance of repatriation, identity building and the global-local interface in indigenous contexts.

The following sections will structure the program of the seminar:

New knowledge in museum work and research

Protection of Sami cultural heritage, repatriation processes

The role of museums in the Sami society and local communities

What is a Sami museum in the global era?

Presentations can be given in Norwegian, Northern Sami and English. Interpretation: Northern Sami to English, Norwegian to English and English to Norwegian/Swedish.

The seminar is a cooperation between the Centre for Sami Studies, the Tromsø University Museum and the Sami Museum Association.  

No entrance-fee, but please use the register form to the right to register for the seminar and the meals. Deadline for registration is October 1, 2018.

Practical arrangement:

Wednesday 10.10.18

19:00: Reception and registration at Tromsø University Museum. Presentation of Sami religiosity through the drum of the noaidi by Trude Fonneland, Tromsø University Museum. (Only in English)

11.10.18:  Exhibitions open.

Thursday 11.10.18: Seminar at Tromsø University Museum

0830-0845:  Welcome and coffee

0845-0915: From Samekulturen, through Sapmi becoming a nation to Sami Stories - exhibiting Samis in transition, Rosella Ragazzi, Tromsø University Museum

First session: New knowledge in museum work and research
Chair: Hans-Kristian Hernes

0915-0935: Indigeneity in a Digital Age, Matthew Magnani, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

0935-0955: Ute av øye ute av sinn. Å ta historien tilbake: formidling av muntlig og materiell kulturarv i urfolksperspektiv, Kjellaug Isaksen, Center of Northern Peoples

0955-1015: Looking for Sami art (duodji and dáidda) in Oslo museums, Monica Grini, Department of language and literature, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

1015-1035: Images of the Kola Sami everyday life at the turn of the 1920-1930s: drawings of Sami pupils in ethnographer V. Charnoluskiy`s archive from Murmansk Museum of Regional Studies, Konstantin Kotkin, Murmansk Museum of Regional Studies

1035-1100: Discussion and coffee break

Second session: Protection and management of Sami cultural heritage, repatriation processes
Chair: Marit Anne Hauan

1100-1120: Vásáhusat repatriašuvnnas Sámemusea Siiddas, Anni Guttorm, Sami museum Enare

1120-1140: The Bååstede project, Marit Myrvoll, Várdobáiki museum

1140-1200: Discussion

1200-1300: Lunch

Third session: The role of museums in the Sami society and local communities - identity building and cooperation between museums
Chairs: Oddmund Andersen and Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård

1300-1320: Starting from me – let me tell you who I will be, Jerker Bexelius, Gaaltije

1320-1340: What significance does the return of old Sámi objects to local museums hold for contemporary Sámi communities? Eva Johansen, Alta Museum

1340-1415 Discussion

1415-1430:  Coffee break

Forth session: What is a Sami museum in the global era?
Chair: Else Grete Broderstad

1430-1450: From living exhibitions to living in the Arctic. Sami representations at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Eva Silvén

1450-1510: The Future Was Now: Performing an alternative backstory for a global Sámi (art) museum, Jérémie Michael McGowan, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum

1510-1530: Ájtte og verden, Elisabeth Pirak Kuoljok, Ájtte Sami Museum

1530-1550: Sametinget og museene. Erfaringer og framtidige utfordringer, Henrik Olsen, Sami Parliament, Norway

1550-1615: Discussion

1615-1630: Summing up and conclusion

1700-1800: Reception and guided tour in the exhibit of Rose-Marie Huuva‘s art, Nordnorsk kunstmuseum

Program may be subject to change.

We also call attention to the seminar Museene og Sannhetskommisjonen, arranged 10.10.18 at Sydspissen hotel, Tromsø.