After reading the “World Libraries: Sámi Library Services in Norway” article assigned for class last week, I found myself wondering how the Sámi population was represented in the museum world in Scandinavia and Russia. Do the Sámi have their own museum, similar to the National Museum of the American Indian? Are Sámi items and artifacts repatriated? Do Sámi people have a different approach to archives than their European counterparts? To answer these questions, I have focused my research on the National Museum of the Finnish Sámi or Siida.
Siida, which consists of both the “Nature Centre” and “Sami Museum”, which includes museum artifacts, a photo and archival collection, a reference library and museum space in which “the collections are connected with living and dwellings, movement and transportation, clothing and handicraft, as well as beliefs, religion and customs.”[1] In addition, the Siida Museum also houses the Sámi Art Museum. The Museum, whose main purpose is to “support the identity and cultural self-esteem of the Sámi,” was opened in 1959 and is headed by a Board of Trustees, 4 of whom are required to be Finnish citizens who are Sámi by birth.
Relating to the “World Libraries” article, Siida lists one of its “regional activities” as selling Sámi handicrafts and literature in the Heritage House, or Skolt Sámi. This resonated with me because of something I had read concerning library services to and for the Sámi people; “In libraries and bookstores, Sámi literature is in competition for visibility and acceptance as good literature among the majority literature. What is more, there are few books in the Sámi language (especially fiction), because it is not considered profitable to publish them”.[2] This quote struck me as very problematic, for attaching a profit or monetary level to the importance of a culture seems wrong in obvious reasons (although, it would be interesting to see how this same concept plays out in the United States with Native American literature, but that is another blog post for another time). While the previous statistic seems disheartening, the Finnish government appears to supportive of the Siida Museum, funding 40 cents to every dollar of its budget.[3]
One of the main goals of the museum was not to be an “ordinary” museum that puts artifacts in glass cases, but to display and celebrate the Sami culture by creating an “open air museum presenting typical dwellings of Sámi anglers, nomads and hunters. From my brief introduction to the museums, it seems that the Sámi people and the Finnish government have worked together to create a space that shares and speaks to Sami culture, but that the country as a whole still has work to do in the areas of Sámi literature.
Personally, I have never been to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D. C., but am interested to know if any readers have and, if so, how does it compare to the description of the Siida Museum? This has only been a brief glimpse into the representation of Sámi culture in Finland, but I hope that it acts as a stepping-stone in your search for knowledge on indigenous peoples all over the world. Thank you!
-Emily Swenson
Sources:
The National Musuem of the Finnish Sámi: http://www.siida.fi/contents/sami-museum
Sámi Library Services in Norway: http://www.worlib.org/vol12no1/lindi_v12n1.shtml#development
Scandinavian Museums and Cultural Diversity, edited by Katherine Goodnow and Haci Akman