From the Gold Road to the Golden River of Ivalo and its People (June 2013)

(text by Terhi Vuojala-Magga, photos Stephan Dudeck) Visiting Terhi in Kuttura was an adventure, once again – and meeting Stephan was a joy, once again (or Steppa, as we call him, in a more familiar way). We don‘t know how much anthropology plays a role in our lives, or the other way around, are we …

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Mining or golfing? Or both? Or nothing? – A perspective to mining in the north of Sweden

In a small newspaper named LKAB Framtid Luleå [LKAB Future Luleå] with a special February issue this year published by the Swedish mining company Loussavaara Kirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB), can an article with the headline "Critics are wrong: 'We need more mines'" be found. That issue was a special one for the town of Luleå that is …

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People and Gold in Finnish Lapland

As a part of our advanced course on the anthropological study of resources in the North we screen a rare film tomorrow Thursday, 18 April at 16:30 in the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, in the POLARIUM room. Kultajoki - Gold River is a careful portrait of several individual characters who found their dedication in small …

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RAIPON indigenous peoples association new president

For those interested, the Russian Indigenous Peoples Association (RAIPON) got a new president a week ago, at a very important time in the organisation's biography, because it had been closed down for formal reasons by Russian authorities late last year. Now elections for the presidency had been held in Salekhard, the capital of my prime …

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Effects of Mining on Reindeer Herding Grounds in Jokkmokk in Sweden

Prospecting for minerals and stones has exploded in Sweden. Many foreign prospecting and/or mining companies come to Sweden in search for a new Klondike - even though in a more modern "suit" than the historical one at Dawson City in Canada at the end of the 19th century. Many people and groups today get affected because of …

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Mining and local people in the North

Some of our team were recently at the Jokkmokk winter conference, which is held in connection to the famous Jokkmokk winter market, an important event in the Sámi yearly cycle for the last 400 years. The Jokkmokk winter market has been held already more than 400 years. Now mining comes closer to this place too, …

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Adventure Siberia, 90 minutes documentary

TV channel ZDF (second German state channel) screened over the holiday a two-part documentary on Siberia and the fascination that this huge land mass has had on researchers, business people and other adventurers. The programme can be watched online via the media library of the TV channel as PART ONE and PART TWO. The film …

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