Page Sec1:17 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

Isak Saba, Anders Larsen
and Per Fokstad were
national strategists for the
Sami.
“They felt that their political
and ideological project was
a part of the Norwegian
nation building. It was a
project against hegemony, a
project that represented an
alternative to the dominant
social order, which occa-
sionally broke through and
managed to establish itself
in the national debate. Even
though the strategies did
not succeed with the Sami's
demands at that time, it
was still fully a part of the
nation-building process,”
says Ketil Zachariassen.
Longitudinal analysis
Zachariassen recently
defended his dissertation in
the Department of ­History
and Religious Studies,
which deals with the Sami
political opposition in
Finnmark between 1900
and 1940.
“I have extended the
research field by includ-
ing cultural, political and
scientific perspective in a
longitudinal analysis over
forty years. It is not enough
to look at school policy
discussions and results of
these discussions in the
Storting if you want to un-
derstand the Sami opposi-
tion. In what other venues
were the Sami able to break
through? Newspapers, fic-
tion - and scientific surveys
and research must also be
­included. The backdrop is
of course Norwegianiza-
tion, but I was interested
in the Sami actors and how
they argued - in the Sami
language debate in Finn-
mark, the Norwegian-lan-
guage debate in Finnmark
and in the national debate.”
Two phases
The political mobilization
of the Sami in the first half
of the 1900s took place in
two phases in particular,
from 1904-1912 and from
1917-1924. In the first
period, Isak Saba from
Nesseby, a Member of
Parliament, and Anders
Larsen, a newspaper editor
from Kvænangen, were in
the lead on the issues – the
parlia­ment election, Sami
as the language of instruc­
tion in schools and their
own Sami language news-
paper, Sagai Muitalægje.
“They gained ground
because they succeeded in
creating an alliance with
another project against
hegemony: fish farmer so-
cialism in the labour move-
ment,” Zachariassen said.
The first Sami congress in
Trondheim in 1917 marks
The early Sami opposition challenged established policies and conceptions
of a budding Norwegian society. But they felt also as a part of the
Norwegian nation building in the early 20th century.
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 17
Text: Sigrun Høgetveit Berg
Isak Saba was the first Sami MP (1906-1912). Photo: G. Gustafson. Tromsø Museum
- the University Museum