Kola Sámi research and Arctic Anthropology lost a great friend

We are sad to spread the following news today: Leif Rantala, long time at the University of Lapland the grand old man of Sámi research, has passed away. From the very start of the anthropology team in Rovaniemi, he has been a benevolent, albeit quiet supporter, and joined with great interest some of our discussions. …

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New Article on Extractive Industries in Indigenous Areas in Canada and Sweden

New article "Effects of mining on reindeer/caribou populations and indigenous livelihoods: community-based monitoring by Sami reindeer herders in Sweden and First Nations in Canada" in The Polar Journal, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2014, by Thora Martina Herrmann, Per Sandström, Karin Granqvist, Natalie D'Astous, Jonas Vannar, Hugo Asselin, Nadia Saganash, John Mameamskum, George Guanish, Jean-Baptiste Loon & …

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”Shamanism, Symbolism and Culture”

”Shamanism, Symbolism and Culture. Role and function of art in the transmission of culture and cultural practices” The University of Lapland's Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi, Finland, is pleased to announce confirmation of a 2 day International Shamanism Seminar which will be held on 27th - 28th of November 2014. The key speaker is Mihaly Hoppal from …

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Sacred Sites of Indigenous Peoples: conference and discussion

Several colleagues at Arctic Centre Rovaniemi teamed up with our partners from Inari from the Sámi educational centre to organise a workshop on sacred sites in the Arctic. This was the second in a series of meetings on the topic, the first one having been a conference last September in Pyhätunturi and Rovaniemi. As participants …

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ORHELIA’s trip to Lovozero

Last weekend our almost complete research team of the ORHELIA project (only Roza was unfortunately missing) went to Lovozero, the Sami ‘capital’ of Russian Lapland. It was probably my shortest field trip ever, with only one full day at our disposal and almost two entire days spent in a car. The main goal this time …

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Report from two workshops at the Arctic Science Summit Week in Helsinki

“Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use” was the title of a two-day workshop at the Arctic Science Summit Week in Helsinki – which is still ongoing at the time of writing this post (5-11 April 2014). Organised by Joachim Otto Habeck and Hiroki Takakura, the workshop brought together scholars from different disciplines (from geosciences to …

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Sámi Contemporary – an exhibition at the local art museum Korundi in Rovaniemi

Sámi Contemporary hosts the art work of 20 Sámi artists. The exhibition opened yesterday with a day-long seminar, and started with an introduction by Hanna Horsberg Hansen on “traditions in transitions”, where she discussed different approaches to understanding contemporary Sámi art. Rather than insisting on a pure historical perspective – i.e. analysing traditions as they …

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