This week, we have a podcast for you. Lost Cultures: Living Legacies, we explore the rich history of the Sámi. Host Alisha Prakash, Travel + LeisureThree members of the local community join’s editorial director as they help carry the story and culture of their people into the future.
You may not be familiar with Sápmi, a region that spans Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northwest Russia, but this large swath of land has always been special to the Sámi, the Indigenous community of the area. The Sámi are made up subgroups who speak different languages, but share a unique history and culture, including through song.
“Joik is a traditional Sámi singing method. It’s an expression of feelings. It can refer to a person or animal. Jon Mikkel Eirá, a Sámi guide, chef, and reindeer herder, shared in the episode. “When I am joiking, I always close my eyes and visualize the person, place or happening.” Eirá goes on to share an emotional joik of his mother, who passed away when he was just 14.
Though the history of the Sámi spans thousands of years, making them one of the oldest Indigenous groups in Europe, it hasn’t always been a happy history. As Astri Dankertsen, a professor of sociology at Nord University in Norway who specializes in Sámi-related issues, explains, their history is complex due to just how widespread they are.
“Different states have had different policies toward the Sámi. “You have colonization in the different areas. [that] Dankertsen stated that the policies of assimilation in different countries have differed historically. Several Scandinavian countries have attempted to force assimilation on the Sámi, including periods when their language and culture were prohibited. In the second half of the 20th Century, the Sami began to be recognized and protected, especially for their important reindeer pastures. In 2020, the Sámi in Sweden won a three-decade-long court battle To regain their exclusive hunting and fishing right on ancestral lands. “It’s quite a socially and culturally complex area when talking about the Sámi today,” Dankertsen said. It’s a people who have lived in the north for centuries.”
As for why it’s critical we learn about the Sámi, Mari Boine, a member of the Sámi community and a recording artist, shared it’s important the “knowledge that Indigenous people have all over the world doesn’t disappear because we are carrying the torch and the wisdom that our cultures had with how to survive in nature, how not to take more than you need, how to live in a sustainable way with nature.” Boine said, “This wisdom is more important than ever.”
Learn more about the Sámi, and how you can visit and interact with the community on your next trip to this wide northern region, on this week’s episode of The Lost Cultures of Living Legacies—available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Player FMYou can also listen to the podcasts wherever you like.
