View Message

Well, there's a lot to say about the Sámi. The short answer is that they're an indigenous people living in the northern parts of Finland (here the Sámi population is around 9000 people), Norway and Sweden and also in the Kola Peninsula in Russia. They have various livelihoods such as reindeer herding, fishing, fur trapping and nowadays tourism, and their own culture, for example traditional clothing (Gákti) and handicraft (Duodji), and of course own languages. The Sámi have for centuries, even today, been the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures claiming possession of their lands: for example, the Sámi children were forbidden to use their own languages at school even in the 1950's. Lately they've got more respect: for example, the filmmakers of Frozen II consulted with a Sámi working group on elements within the film and a special Northern Sámi dubbing will be released for the film.

---

And no, I don't know any Sámi person myself.

---

Formerly known as Remora L.