A ground-breaking 334-page publication “Eastern Sámi Altas” that tells the story of this little-known indigenous group will be released on
3rd February 2011 in Inari SIIDA SAAMI MUSEUM at 15.00.
Connected with this release there will be community workshops
2nd February 2011 Vuotso, Sapmi, FInland
3rd February 2011 Inari, Sapmi, Finland at the Siida Saami Museum at 15.00 – 19.00
5th – 6th February 2011 Lovozero, Murmansk, Russia
to commemorate this event.
The atlas is in English with over 60 maps many of which have never been published in an
international scholarly publication before.
Take contact as needed for orders, press copies and so forth. See below for more of Eastern Sámi Atlas.
The first genocide and destruction against the Sámi peoples and our society began in the 1500s and 1600s. Unless there are dramatic changes in the near future, the Sámi culture will die, disappear in my lifetime… Sámi knowledge is knowledge about how to be with your environment, how to have your relationships with humans and with the world. Therefore, the most effective ways of controlling a people involve destroying the things that comprise the reality of that people. In the North this ancient knowledge has been beaten and destroyed for centuries in order to make the Indigenous peoples forget this knowledge. If there is nothing else to do to stop this, at least we can try to prolong things. To buy us a bit more time to survive. We can try to gather traditional knowledge from the elders who are still holding on to it. We can try to create safe havens of ecosystems, which contain our knowledges – the fjells, forests, and lakes which remain in pristine condition.
– Pauliina Feodoroff, President of the Sámi
Council, Skolt Sámi Nation, Finland, January 2008
This unique publication tells the stories of the Eastern Sámi Peoples. Eastern Sámi Atlas provides a clear view of the histories, land use and occupancy on the lives of the Indigenous societies and peoples in the Eastern part of Sápmi. Book provides a unique basis for discussions and processes related to Indigenous uses of the land. Included are artworks, unique color and black and white photos, poems, songs and other cultural reflections of this region. This book documents changes from prehistory to events of the Soviet rule leading up to the contemporary post-Soviet context. Materials are drawn from early historical an ethnographic documents, explorer accounts, oral histories of the Sámi themselves and contemporary views. Materials here have been collected and produced since 1999. Over 60 maps portray the region in a clear manner. The Eastern Sámi communities who took part in the work during 1999-2010 have been able to influence the process at all stages of the project. Using these mechanisms the Sámi have been coresearcher owning their knowledges. Observations of environmental and weather changes are included.
Internationally renowed experts have contributed essays to the atlas: Paul Fryer from the Department of Geographical and Historical Studies at the University of Eastern Finland – Joensuu, Finland reflects upon one of the migrant communities of Russian North – the Kola Komi, or Iz’vatas (‘People of the Iz’va River’) people. A renowned expert of the Eastern Sámi Leif Rantala tells the story of the Äʹǩǩel (Akkala) Sámi. In “Premonitions of Change: Luujäuʹrr (Lovozero) Home Talk Twenty Years After” researcher Yulian Konstantinov from the University of Tromssø, Norway writes what can be considered a letter from contemporary Luujäuʹrr (Lovozero). The Kola Sámi demographic information drawn from Russian sources over the past decades is explored by Professor Sergey Zavalko from the Murmansk State Technical University, Russia.
The Snowchange Cooperative is an award-winning nonprofit independent research and cultural organisation based in Finland. Tero and Kaisu Mustonen are leading experts on the community-based research of climate and biodiversity changes in the Circumpolar Arctic.