Publications

This chapter explores the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and it effects focusing on Norrbotten County, the largest county in Sweden, which occupies a quarter of the country, with 98,245 square kilometers and a population of 250,000.

Norrbotten has two international borders, Finland and Norway, crossing Indigenous Sámi territories and reindeer grazing and herding lands. The effects are linked to geography, cold climate, natural resource exploitation, industries, multicultural population, and sparsely populated areas with long journey times to access healthcare.

The county has a large Sami population and the largest number of reindeer and reindeer herders on the Swedish side of Sábme.

The research project “Pandemic in the (sub) Arctic North: A supra and cross-disciplinary data collection on experiences, resilience and social mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on Norrbotten county,” was initiated in March 2020 and ended by April 2022. The project was led by the author of this chapter, Dr. May-Britt Öhman, Associate Professor of Environmental History, Lule and Forest Sámi of the Lule River valley. Within the project, an important part was the participants’ own documentation of their everyday life, including reflections on the events and developments during the crisis management period. One of the project participants was Henrik Andersson, a reindeer herder in the Gällivare Forest Sámi community, Flakaberg group, and also a coauthor of this chapter. Gällivare Forest Sámi village is one of fifty-one reindeer herding Sámi villages on the Swedish side of Sábme. The reindeers’ land stretches from the inland around Gällivare city and out into the archipelago of Luleå city.

In wintertime the reindeer are in the area of the archipelago in the Gulf of Bothnia, and during the summer they move to the grazing lands in the inland.Andersson started documenting his everyday life in March 2020, when he first heard of the pandemic. He uses a first-person perspective bringing together situated knowledge and ego-histoire.

The diary contains written entries and photographs and thereby documents the experiences from Sámi reindeer herding throughout almost two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this chapter, May-Britt Öhman has made a selection of entries, starting from day one, covering from the first day when Henrik Andersson heard about Covid-19 in March 2020 to the end of August 2020. The entries thus follow half of the reindeer herding year, including winter season when the grazing is often hard to find, spring migration from the coastal areas toward the inland, the calving season and the calf marking season, and the short time of rest that follows in August before the herders’ work begins again.

In this article, we have only entered the first few months of Henrik Andersson’s corona diary, showing the initial thoughts, responses, and difficulties that emerged. As most are aware, the situation continued for very long. When this article was being finalized, in early 2023, the Covid-19 situation was far better, but still not completely over. 

There has been very little study on the situation of the reindeer herders during the Covid-19 pandemic, at least not on the Swedish side of Sábme. Our research project, which was mainly data collection, has contributed to highlight a few of the issues at stake and will hopefully result in more research and writing on this subject.

This article explores how "the left" meme and the character and emotional reception of taboo-breaking therein via the case of r/DankLeft—a USA-centric Marxist, Anarchist, and Democratic Socialist Internet meme community. It asks: what themes do popular r/DankLeft Internet memes relate to, how does taboo feature within popular r/DankLeft Internet memes, and can any differences in the ways in which taboo-related r/DankLeft Internet memes are received be discerned. In turn, it carries out a thematic analysis of 366 popular memes, a multimodal critical discourse analysis of 41 taboo-related popular memes, and a comparative sentiment analysis of the comments these and other memes have received in r/DankLeft. The article finds that popular memes in r/DankLeft primarily relate to perceived threats to its community of users. It also shows that taboo-breaking does feature in r/DankLeft memes and that when it does correlative patterns emerge in terms of popularity and emotional reception.

This position paper argues for an interdisciplinary agenda relating crises to on-going processes of normalization of anti- and post-democratic action. We call for exploring theoretically and empirically the ‘new normal’ logic introduced into public imagination on the back of various crises, including the recent ‘Refugee Crisis’ in Europe, COVID-19 pandemic, or the still ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gathering researchers of populism, extremism, discrimination, and other formats of anti- and post-democratic action, we propose investigating how, why, and under which conditions, discourses and practices underlying normalization processes re-emerge to challenge the liberal democratic order. We argue exploring the multiple variants of ‘the new normal’ related to crises, historically and more recently. We are interested in how and why these open pathways for politics of exclusion, inequality, xenophobia and other patterns of anti- and post-democratic action while deepening polarization and radicalization of society as well as propelling far-right politics and ideologies.

Evangelicalism’s role in shaping democracy and the modern welfare state of Sweden has been emphasized in scholarly literature, but few studies have analyzed ongoing developments within this movement. This article explores intersections of political thought and Evangelical Christianity in Sweden, focusing on the revivalist newspaper Världen idag. Through a thematic analysis of 379 editorials from 2022, the study introduces the concept of Evangelical Supremacy, a political-ideological development of Evangelicalism that emphasizes a) Christian unity in political outlook, b) a revivalism that extends from the individual to the nation, and c) an alternative elitism that calls for the replacement of the elites of society with persons of Christian values. By combining qualitative thematic analysis with corpus linguistic techniques, this research discloses how a prominent Swedish Christian revivalist actor frequently employs concepts associated with the political ideology of radical nationalism.

Why do white radical nationalists across the global north believe that (white) ‘native’ people are currently being ‘replaced’ with (nonwhite) ‘alien’ people? Why has an increasing number of individual white nationalists come to the conclusion that ‘resistance’ against this alleged ‘invasion’ of ‘their’ territory best is launched by them indiscriminately killing nonarmed people they do not even know the names of?  Why would such atrocities be hailed as exemplary acts of heroic masculinity? Building on ethnographic material and text analysis of white radical nationalist writings, this chapter explores these questions by 1) tracing the genealogy of the white genocide/great replacement theory to the history of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing and the replacement model white nationalists find in their historiography of the Spanish reconquista; 2) following the tracks of the lone wolf through the political landscape of white nationalism; 3) discussing the role of the hero, violence, eros, and death in fascist cultural production; and 4) investigating the role of the People as a political referent in different versions of post-1945 fascist revolutionary theory. 

The term “lone wolf” is a metaphor that began to be used by advocates of White radical nationalism in the United States in the 1970s to name unorganized individuals who committed violent crime, including murder, to further White racist and White radical nationalist aims. In the 1980s and 1990s, seminal radical nationalist thinkers, including James Mason, William Pierce, Louis Beam, Tom Metzger, and David Lane, incorporated lone wolf violence as part of decentralized revolutionary tactics, often, although not exclusively, named “leaderless resistance.” Contemplating the fact that White racist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan, had not been able to safeguard the privileges, resources, and powers long attached to Whiteness by US law, Mason, Pierce, Beam, Metzger, and Lane concluded that White racist organizations not only were too dysfunctional but also far too visible, and therefore easy to monitor, infiltrate, and neutralize. While the White nationalist cause still needed public figures and organizations to attract and educate new cadres, armed White racist resistance had to be decentralized and leaderless. White nationalist leaders should issue generalized calls to arms but give no direct orders and have no knowledge about who was planning to do what. The perpetrators would themselves be responsible for preparing and executing their violent crime and securing adequate resources. The lone wolf should go under the radar and melt into the general population by avoiding racist organizations and attributes and should never tell anyone about his—White racist lone wolves are so far predominantly male—opinions and activities. The perpetrator would risk his life or freedom but be awarded heroic status in the White nationalist hall of fame. To White nationalist leaders, the tactics are cost effective. Should the lone wolf succeed, the violence would benefit the cause; should he fail, he could bring down no one. During the Internet age, the lone wolf tactics spread through viral marketing and globalized media throughout what White nationalists call the “once White world” in America, Europe, South Africa, and Oceania. The tactics had by then evolved into two schools or types of lone wolves: the lone racist serial offender, who seeks to avoid getting caught and operates in the shadows for an extended period of time; and the mega-impact lone wolf, who wants to get everyone’s attention by one sensational attack, in which the perpetrator is more likely to die or get caught during, or immediately after, the big assault—a sacrifice that is likely to increase the fame of the perpetrator. Both lone wolf types count on the media to amplify their impact and heroic status, and to spread the message of the White revolution to which lone wolves seek to contribute. Lone wolves inspire copycats, and the number of attacks escalated during the first decades of the new millennium. In early 2020, the increase of lone wolf violence was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as restrictions closed attackers’ favorite targets, for example, mosques, synagogues, churches, and schools, and imposed curfews and banned public gatherings.

r, iakttagelser

I svensk grundlag SFS1974:152, lagarna SFS2009:724 respektive 2009:600  – fastställs sedan över ett decennium att de nationella minoriteterna - judar, romer, samer, sverigefinnar och tornedalingar, har särskilda rättigheter, skydd och stöd för såväl kultur som språk. 

Myndigheter, och därmed de statliga universiteten, har ett särskilt och omfattande ansvar. Det hänger nära samman med i synnerhet lärarutbildningen, där skolorna via läroplanerna har tydligt ansvar för att elever från förskola till och med gymnasium får kunskap om de nationella minoriteterna. Men det gäller även övriga utbildningar där de utbildade studenterna kommer att i kontakt med de nationella minoriteterna, det vill säga i praktiken alla utbildningar. Dessutom finns förstås även enskilda individer inom de nationella minoriteterna representerade som såväl studenter som personal vid lärosätena.

Frågan är då hur det ser det ut i verkligheten, i förhållande till undervisning, i synnerhet ifråga om lärarutbildningen?  Hur bör historieämnet förhålla sig till lagstiftningen? 

Vi diskuterar reflektioner, erfarenheter och iakttagelser utifrån egen verksamhet vid lärosäten över drygt två decennier, anordnande av Minnesdag Hundra år i skuggan av rasbiologiska institutet under 2021- 2022 -  samt samarbete med en artikel för en kommande Routledge antologi.

En iakttagelse för de universitet/institutioner där vi varit/är verksamma är att det antingen saknas resurser och kompetens, eller att i de fall som kompetens finns, så ges inte ett tydligt stöd från lärosätena för tillgängliggörande. En större fråga i sammanhanget är då varför det ser ut på det sättet, samt vad som krävs för en förändring ska kunna ske för att uppfylla lagstiftningen.  Vi utgår från teorier och metoder inom rasismstudier, bosättarkoloniala studier, genusstudier, urfolksmetodologi och ego-histoire, inklusive muntlig historia. Även begreppet metodologisk nationalism är användbart för analysen. 

Presentationen utarbetas med stöd av forskningsprojekten Leva utan olja?!  FORMAS Dnr2019-01975,  inom Nationella forskningsprogrammet om klimat, och 'Sijddaj máhttsat' betyder 'kommer hem' på lulesamiska, Vetenskapsrådet, Dnr2021-03080. 

In a socio-political context where antimuslim racism has gained momentum, this article aims to understand Muslim women's everyday life experiences of racialization in Sweden. More importantly, it aims to highlight what strategies are developed in order to navigate and counter these experiences. By using the concepts of double consciousness, orientations, and respectability together with an understanding of Muslims as a racialized category, the article shows how experiences of antimuslim racism are handled by the women in different ways, both on individual and collective level. Being a Muslim woman in Sweden requires developing strategies and sometimes engaging in respectability politics.

There are no magic wands. The current ongoing so called “green transition” is in reality environmentally destructive, fossil dependent and also aggressively colonial. May-Britt Öhman and Eva Charlotta Helsdotter will discuss the case of wind power, currently massively promoted by environmentalists, governments and large companies as part of the “green” transition. However, windpower plants come with the need for massive extraction and use of resources; rare earth metals, lime stone, steel, all which demand more mines. The wings, due to leading edge erosion, are according to a recent study (A. Solberg, B-E. Rimereit and J. E. Weinbach, 2021) emitting hormone and fertility disturbing micro- and nano plastics (Bisphenol A) polluting surface water and in the long term also ground water. 

Windpower plants need large areas. In the more populated regions it is politically difficult to reach acceptance. Therefore, in Sweden and in Norway, wind power is installed in the Sámi reindeer herding territories, where the Sámi Indigenous land and water rights are still not acknowledged.

May-Britt Öhman is Associate Professor in Environmental History, PhD in History of Technology. Öhman leads the research group “Dálkke: Indigenous Climate Change Studies”, funded within the Swedish National Research Program on Climate Change,( FORMAS Dnr  2017-01923, 2019-0197, 2021-01723) and is a researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, CEMFOR, Uppsala University. She is Lule and Forest Sámi of the Lule River valley, and has also Tornedalian heritage. Öhman is by the Swedish government appointed expert of the Committee on Reindeer Lands – Renmarkskommittén (N 2021:02) 2022—2025, on the mandate of the National Sámi Association Same Ätnam. Öhman has over the last two decades contributed to the work with the establishment and development of the research field Indigenous Climate Change Studies, centering Indigenous peoples’ experiences, perspectives and epistemologies, through publications, organization of meetings, and the building of networks. 

Eva Charlotta Helsdotter has a PhD in Land and Water Resources Management and is an Associate Professor in Water Security. She has been an international research leader in land and water related research, e.g. in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Kenya and Tanzania and in national environmental and sustainability projects. She has investigated drinking water supplies and designed protection needed to ensure good water quality. Since 2009 she has been involved in several research projects on the Swedish side of Sámi territories. Helsdotter is a researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, CEMFOR, Uppsala University and part of the research group Dálkke: Indigenous Climate Change Studies.

Öhman and Helsdotter have collaborated since 2009, and together with filmmaker Petri Storlöpare produced several films;  about the Talvivaara mining disaster in Finland The Talvivaara mine – Water consequences  and the film Ungreen windpower: Sámi Indigenous and scientific perspectives on fossil dependent and environmentally destructive designs, 2021. Other films are available at the youtube channel for the research group “Dálkke: Indigenous Climate Change Studies”.

Our research work is funded by FORMAS, Dnr 2019-0197 within the Swedish National Research Program on Climate Change, and FORMAS Dnr 2021-01723. Dálkke: Indigenous Climate Change Studies, at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism (CEMFOR), Uppsala University 

Whereas the sociology of food has drawn attention to differences between corporate and alternative foodways, the political imaginations underpinning the latter are often overlooked. This article distinguishes between different political imaginations of the community kitchen, a set of practices characterised by collective preparation and redistribution of food. The analysis builds on ethnographic and archive material in Sweden to outline how the folkkök (people’s kitchen) was once an institutional practice to address urban food insecurity, soon outsourced as altruistic soup kitchens, and then regenerated a century later by the anarchist movement. By distinguishing between altruistic and anarchistic imaginations in this analysis, the article adds another layer to the critical sociological study of alternative foodways. 

Radical nationalism is a political ideology centred on tying animagined people to a bordered territory. It grows from nationalism’sroot system into a diversity of political manifestations aimedat sealing the people-territory bond. By theorizing radical nationalism,this article outlines a political-ideological approach that opensnew pathways for studying the so-called far right. The article drawson Michael Freeden’s conceptual-morphological theory and delineateshow nationalism’s thin-centred conceptual core – people andterritory – can thicken into a full-bodied political ideology: fromfootball and flags to systemic discrimination, deportations, andmass violence. In response to the empirical observation that radicalnationalism nurtures historical and contemporary actors across theleft-right spectrum, the article offers a political-ideological lens fortranshistorical analyses of various political manifestations thatsprout and flourish from the exclusionary roots of the modernnation-state.

This article explores political discourse in the context of an online-mediated 2021 rapprochement between Swedish ‘mainstream’ and far-right parties paving the way for their eventual 2022 electoral success and later joint government coalition. The article analyses specifically how the above political accord on the Swedish right – often seen as breaking the long-term cordon sanitaire around Sweden’s far right – would be legitimised via discourses that carried significant elaboration and deepening of the ‘criminality’ and ‘immigration’ connection later recontextualised into the broader Swedish public discourse and public imagination. Using social media analytics and qualitative, critical discourse analysis, we explore in depth a ‘discursive shift’ wherein the focus on criminality would become a key ‘proxy discourse’, i.e., a public-wide implicature, which, while referring to and debating a potentially genuine social issue would be strategically instrumentalised to effectively pre-legitimise ‘moral panics’ around immigration and cultural diversity. The analysis highlights that the emergence as well as the later recontextualisation of the ‘proxy discourse’ in question – implicitly suggesting that criminality, immigration, and cultural diversity are ‘somehow’ inherently connected – not only supported the political mainstreaming of the Swedish far-right’s anti-immigration stance but also normalised the wider tenets of illiberal, nativist ‘politics of exclusion’.

This roundtable aims at presenting what the platform Sámi Land Free University (SFU) has achieved so far and to invite to a conversation on what SFU may achieve in the practice of decolonising research and education, while inviting interested to join forces for courses and joint or shared research over the colonial borders.

Over the last four decades, Indigenous Studies (IS) has been developed as an academic discipline within several settler colonial states and within colonial academia, the strongest presence in North America, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. So far Sweden is lagging behind. Yet, IS mainly turns the gaze towards the Indigenous peoples, while to achieve decolonization and long term sustainability, as well as good relations, there is a need for a 180 degrees shift in vision. What if there were several universities that centre Indigenous knowledges and expertise, as point of departure, while researching and teaching for the benefit of all?

In 2015, the SFU [www.samelandsfriauniversitet.com ] was created by Lule and Forest Sámi, Dr May-Britt Ӧhman with a vision and challenge of the mind to include the Sámi community and international Indigenous collaborations, having its base on the Swedish side of Sábme. SFU has co-hosted symposia and workshops. We now envision moving on, producing free to access online educational content, inviting earlier and new collaborators. Methods adopted are supra-disciplinary, giving voice to academics, artists, and practitioners of Indigenous ways of knowing and being, while also inviting other scientific methods. 

Commentator: Kim TallBear, Univ of Alberta, Faculty of Native Studies

1 May-Britt Öhman, Lule and Forest Sámi, with Tornedalian heritage, Sábme

Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, Uppsala University

Experiences from the last 7 years with the platform Sámi Land Free University – what has it done for my – and others – thinking and acting?

Introductory presentation on how the Sámi Land Free University came about as a website in 2015, followed by a Facebook page, a youtube channel, and some of the activities that has taken place, as well as some thoughts on possibilities to move ahead.

There are so far very little opportunities for Sámi to study our own history, culture, traditions, epistemologies at universities in Sweden. There are even less opportunities to have a place in academia for Sámi who are open with their Sámi identity. Hence, there is a need for a place to gather, to develop courses, and proposed ways to make this happen, as the (settler colonial) academia so far gives very little space to Sámi perspectives in Sweden. Yet, Swedish legislation states that the Sámi are a people, with rights, and that Sámi history, culture and tradition shall be taught to pupils in school and secondary school.Furthermore, at universities, there is almost no teaching on Indigenous peoples culture, history, traditions, around the world, while the settler colonial perspectives are taught in all university courses.

Thus, there is a need for a Sámi university, on Swedish side of Sábme, that will provide both Sámi and other Indigenous peoples history, traditions, culture, expertise, perspectives - the question is mainly how to organize this.

2 Frances Wyld, Martu woman (Aboriginal People of the Pilbara region of Australia) living on Kaurna land, Dr of Communication

Justice and Society, University of South Australia

All good thing are wild and free: the wild winds that carried me to Sámi Land Free University.

NAISA introduced me to the international cross fertilization of ideas within Indigenous research and education, specifically it created the opportunity to collaborate with Sámi Land Free University as an Australian Aboriginal scholar. The collaboration has included 6 visits to Sweden and Sápmi for symposia and workshops, publications, and freelance work on a climate change and Indigenous sustainability project. I am a storyteller; I write in the moment inspired by nature. I watch the news reporting on the damage done by wild winds on the weekend. The reporter is in front of a house where a tree has fallen onto it, the house is on my road. At the same time, through my open door, I hear the whine of the chainsaw cutting into this majestic ghost gum tree. Only weeks ago, I was riding my bicycle along the same road with a wild sense of freedom as my birds, the Rainbow Lorikeets who live in the avenue of trees, flew alongside me. Sámi Land Free University has given me the same sense of freedom to work as a decolonising scholar within Critical Indigenous Studies, gaining international perspectives and walking on two lands that are both rich is stories. The collaboration has given me opportunities, and now in the spirit of reciprocity, I lend my skills as a curriculum developer to create content for this grassroots university in another land inhabited by Indigenous people who have much in common with my own people, with knowledges to share for a sustainable future.

3 Anna Kajsa Aira and Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, Jokkmokk  in collaboration with Alma Linke Nilsen

Duv gábdde - Du gákti - Din kolt – Your Sámi dress

We are Sámi artisans, duojár. Anna Kajsa makes handicraft – duodje - in the Lule Sámi tradition, Jokkmokk area. Laila Susanna works within the North Sámi duodji tradition of the Karesuando area. We both live in Jokkmokk/Jåhkåmåhkke, a Sámi metropolis. Sámi heritage is passed down from generation to generation.

The traditional Sámi dress – gábbde/gákti/kolt - reveals one’s geographical area and is an important link to one’s roots and history. Many Sámi now reclaim their culture by wanting to wear the dress, but there is a gap of one generation in the transmission of knowledge about how to make them. Our project “your Sámi dress” is about providing this knowledge, both by making the gábbde for children and young people, for rent, and through making a digital platform with instructions and advice. It is just as important to be able to wear your gábbde as it is to handle it respectfully.  While there is a university in Sweden for textiles and fashion, there is no such for Sámi culture. We think maybe our work could find a place within the SFU, and thereby receive more support. 

4 Henrik Andersson and Hampus Andersson, Gällivare Forest Sámi village

Experiences of and reflections on the needs for education and higher education for and about Sámi reindeer herders

Reindeer husbandry is carried out on Sámi territories, on almost 50 percent of the territories of the colonial state of Sweden. It is is a tradition – a way of life – as well as a basis for livelihood, income, since several hundred of years. It is acknowledged as a national interest, to be protected, since 1987.

Yet, the knowledge and expertise of reindeer herding is mainly passed within the families. Learning demands spending time together with the older generations, from early childhood. As the school system requests pupils to be in school, this often come into conflict with the need to learn. Furthermore, for a reindeer herder, there are an increasing set of other skills than the actual herding – which is complex enough- that are of importance; economics, law, animal health, and one’s own history and culture etc. In school, secondary school, and at universities, there are no opportunities to study reindeer herding with the other skills thereto related. Another aspect of the education system’s lack of teaching on reindeer and reindeer herding, is that when persons within the reindeer herding meet with all parts of society – health care, police, teachers, social care, etc, they have to carry the burden of constantly educating them, and also facing discrimination and racism. 

Henrik , 42 years old, and Hampus , 20 years old, are two generations reindeer herders within the Gällivare Forest Sámi village, Flakaberg group. They will share their experiences and reflect on the need for education and higher education for Sámi reindeer herders.

5 Susanne Spik and Gun Aira, Jåhkåmåkke in collaboration with Alma Linke Nilsen

Lule Sámi culture and language on university level ? Experiences,  reflections and ideas 

Gun Aira is a Lule Sámi teacher and Susanne Spik, is an entrepreneur and innovator. Both live in Jåhkåmåhkke,   and are active within reindeer herding. Both have attended university – teacher’s education- at a Swedish university, in the 1980s. The Lule Sámi language and culture origin in the Lule River valley. Due to the by the Swedish state forced relocation of several North Sámi families, from the Karesuando area during in the 20th century, along with fierce Swedification politics, both the language and culture have become sidestepped. While there is a Lule Sámi centre on Norwegian side, there is no such on the Swedish. In general, there is vastly more support to Sámi culture and language in Norway, than in Sweden. We will present our experiences, reflections and ideas on how SFU could be of use to promote Lule Sámi language and culture, and wish to develop this with the others and the audience. 

Rasism har långtgående konsekvenser för människors livsvillkor och för samhällets demokratiska grund. Samtidigt är rasism inte en naturordning utan ett politiskt problem som kan påverkas och på sikt åtgärdas. För att förändra rasism krävs kunskapsbaserat arbete och ändamålsenliga uppföljningsverktyg. Vi behöver förstå vad rasism är, hur dess mekanismer fungerar och hur den inverkar på den ojämlika fördelningen av status, resurser, möjligheter och sårbarhet på befolkningsnivå.Att mäta rasism utan att reproducera rasism är dock en utmanande uppgift. Rasism refererar till raser, en form av social kategorisering som på vissa plan övergivits men som samtidigt har påtagliga effekter för olika gruppers ojämlika livsvillkor. Som objekt för mätning är raser besvärliga då ras definieras kontextuellt och relationellt och ständigt omförhandlas. Dessutom har raskategoriseringar och rasdifferentierad statistik ett mörkt förflutet som kärnan i den vetenskapliga rasismens och den statliga rashygienens historia. I denna bok undersöks frågan om att mäta rasism från en rad teoretiska och historiska synvinklar. Hur kan rasism definieras? Vad är rasbegreppets historia? Vilken roll har statistik spelat i statliga styrsystem? Är våra identiteter fasta, eller skiftande? Vad hände med försöken att införa jämlikhetsdata på kommunal nivå? Hur långt kan man komma med befintliga metoder för att mäta antisvart rasism på arbetsmarknaden? Boken avslutas med att presentera att konkret förslag på hur rasismens effekter för olika befolkningsgrupper skulle kunna mätas utan att först fastställa och utgå från förbestämda raskategorier: Balingsholmsmodellen. Denna metod kan användas för att återkommande undersöka hur rasism inverkar på människors livsvillkor på nationell och regional nivå.

Reindeer husbandry in Sweden is a traditional livelihood activity conducted (exclusively*) by the Sámi, an Indigenous people whose land – a region called Sápmi – is broadly understood to extend across northern Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland) and the Kola Peninsula in contemporary Russia. Reindeer husbandry in contemporary Sweden occurs in both the western mountainous regions and the eastern forests, but the concerns and challenges of reindeer herders in the forested regions are largely neglected in academic, political, economic, and other discourses. According to the traditional knowledge of Sámi reindeer herders, industrial forest landscape exploitation, including large-scale clear-cutting for timber and vast wind power developments, will have a profound impact on both reindeer and the herders themselves, threatening the viability of reindeer husbandry as a livelihood activity and a locus of Sámi cultural identity.

Research into the complex and compounding impacts of forest use projects and policies was undertaken under the auspices of the Dálkke: Indigenous Climate Change project, led by Dr. May-Britt Öhman, at Uppsala University’s Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism. It included four weeks of close collaboration between the first author and Henrik Andersson, a Sámi reindeer herder, activist, and board member from the Gällivare Skogssameby (Forest Sámi community). Fieldwork methodologies included participatory observation and semi-structured interviews and complexity theory was used as the basis to develop a case study, which was then contextualized within Sweden’s colonial history and contemporary political and economic paradigm. This research was based on the understanding that the structural limitations of the Swedish settler-colonial state hinder the ability of Sámi people to engage in the traditional livelihood of reindeer husbandry and benefit from traditional uses of non-timber forest products. The state promotes corporate intrusion onto reindeer grazing and calving land and seizure of natural forest resources and this is encouraged by a combination of anti-Sámi racism and a sense of entitlement to these resources.

The case study details the various compounding and interrelated system-level challenges to the survival of Henrik Andersson's reindeer and Indigenous way of life. These challenges and encroachments include (1) the development of vast wind power farms on calving and grazing land, (2) the devaluation of traditional knowledge in response to reindeer overpredation (particularly by bears), (3) industrial timber harvesting and unsuitable woodland plantation methods, (4) habitat fragmentation caused by transportation infrastructure, and (5) local hostility toward reindeer and the Sámi people. The impacts on traditional Sámi livelihood and cultural activities have been described individually in academic literature, but rarely as a complex system. Taken together, these encroachments may have impacts that are greater than the sum of their parts and must be addressed as interrelated expressions of a complex system rather than as a series of disparate and unrelated pressures.

How to cite: Mumford, E., Öhman, M.-B., and Andersson, H.: Contemporary Colonialism and Marginalized Indigenous Practice in Sweden’s Northern Forests: A Case Study on Reindeer Husbandry in Gällivare Forest Sámi Community, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10413, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10413, 2022.

* There is an exception to the exclusive Sámi reindeer herding rights in Sweden: In the eight so called concession villages in the northern most county, Norrbotten,, non-Sámi are allowed to pursue reindeer herding with special permission tby he County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen). 

Following the post-1945 fall of state-institutionalised fascism, a segment of the remaining faithful who refused to change skin sought to reconcile the expectations of fascism's infallibility with experienced reality by turning inwards into a world of esoteric mysticism. This chapter explores three articulations of occult Nordicism seminal to the wider political landscape of Nordic radical nationalism after 1945: (1) the Ario-Hindu pathworks of Miguel Serrano, the sage of hitlerismo esoterico, and Savitri Devi, “Hitler's Priestess”; (2) the retrotopian heathenry of racist Norse paganism; and (3) the dark undercurrent of extreme, black, occult pagan metal. The first two are esoteric ideologies, construing the Nordic through esoteric teachings and practice, while the third is an unruly scene of dark culture in which the Nordic is construed through arts and music. Beyond its empirical explorations, this chapter seeks to contribute to the conversation of comparative fascism studies by reflecting theoretically on populism, elitism, and the role of “the People” in fascist thought and practice.

May-Britt Öhman

Gulldal sielov, mihá ja gievrra

Tal vid Minnesdag - svensk samepolitik får inte glömmas, 29 oktober 2022, 14.00-17.00, Biograf Zita, Stockholm.

Arrangörer: 

Amnesty Sápmi; Centrum för mångvetenskaplig forskning om rasism, Uppsala universitet; Sameföreningen i Stockholm

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Gulldal sielov, mihá ja gievrra

Gut duosstel álggusittjat

Ja bälos gieladimev

Ane dal gielav, divna tjoavdá dån

Känn efter i själen, stolt och stark

Den som vågar säga något

Försvarar den stumme

Så använd rösten, och gör oss alla fria.

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Buoris, terve, hej,

Inledningsorden kommer från Mio Neggas, fina och starka popsång på lulesamiska, från 2013, Miha ja gievrra, Stolt och stark.

Nu i höst, har jag börjat lära mig lulesamiska, morfars språk. Jag tar tillbaka det som skulle raderas ut.

Denna Minnesdag sammanfaller ju med giellavahkko, språkveckan, etablerad 2019, under Förenta nationernas urfolksspråkår. 

Jag heter May-Britt Öhman, jag är skogssame, och lulesame, från Lule älvdal, och har även tornedalsk härkomst.

 Idag representerar jag Centrum för mångvetenskaplig forskning om rasism, Cemfor, vid Uppsala universitet, medarrangör till denna minnesdag, genom finansiering från ett forskningsprojekt;  Sijddaj máhttsat betyder "kommer hem" på lulesamiska, med stöd av Vetenskapsrådet. 

Jag är docent i miljöhistoria, och verksam som forskare vid CEMFOR. Jag är också gäst biträdande professor i historia vid Luleå tekniska universitet. 

I år är det alltså precis ett hundra år sedan Statens institut för rasbiologi öppnade. 

Beslutet togs av en enig svensk Riksdag, året innan, 1921. Det vill säga det år då vi brukar säga att det blev demokrati i Sverige. 

Rasismen och rasbiologin, diskrimineringen av samer, och av de som då kallades ”finnar”, dagens tornedalingar, kväner och lantalaiset, var direkt knuten till övertagandet och kontrollen av de samiska territorierna – de marker som samer hade ägt, vårdat och skattat för i flera hundra år, skattelanden.  

Sveriges elit, makthavarna, var inte framgångsrika i kolonisationen runtom i världen. Istället vände man blicken norrut, från 1500-talet.  Från att ha varit respekterade och viktiga partner, blev samer nu undanträngda, deporterade eller assimilerade, och markerna lade statsmakten beslag på genom olika tillvägagångssätt. Och började exploatera och förstöra utan hänsyn till människor, djur och natur.

Omkring 1840 argumenterade Anders Retzius, professor i anatomi, vid Karolinska institutet,  för att människor kunde delas in i raser utifrån formen på deras skallar-  ”kortskallar” respektive ”långskallar”. 

De långskalliga menade han var högre stående. Detta framfördes under några decennier som en vetenskaplig sanning. Det ”nordiska folket” var långskallar, högre stående.

Även andra verktyg användes. Såsom försvenskningen – att  alla skulle tala svenska, och att vi skulle glömma våra språk, de många olika samiska språken, och meänkieli.

Men varför skulle Sverige, som under några hundra år varit ett imperium, stormakt,  där det var en självklarhet med många olika språk och kulturer, där franska var kungamaktens språk, varför skulle vi alla nu bli enbart ”svenskar”? 

Jo, 1809 förlorade Sverige Finland till Ryssland. Hela östra halvan av Sverige försvann. 

Mindre än hundra år senare sa Norge tack och adjö, 1905 ville Norge inte längre vara i union med Sverige. Sveriges tid som stormakt var nu definitivt över. Det var svåra slag för självkänslan för maktens innehavare. Och det medförde rädsla att förlora ännu mer.  

För samtidigt pågick industrialiseringen – där tillgång till skog, malm, och snart även vattenkraft, de stora älvarna i norr – var av avgörande betydelse för ett då fattigt Sverige. 

De människor som lever i områden med rikliga naturresurser framhölls, som lägre stående, och i behov av styrning och kontroll, -  och en berättelse om att det var för nationens bästa, och för deras eget bästa, etablerades. 

Men, att det inte var för dessa människors eget bästa, det var och är ännu idag uppenbart. För resurserna, vinsterna, stannade aldrig där de togs ifrån, utan fördes till centrum, till  Stockholm, då som idag. Och de områden de tagits från blev och är ännu idag, fattiga. Och drabbade av allvarlig miljöförstöring. 

Rasism var – och är - ett verktyg för att ta kontroll över naturresurser. Utradering av språk är ett verktyg för kontroll. Och, har medfört och medför än idag, fattigdom. Och miljöförstöring.

Rasbiologiska institutet upphörde 1959. 

Verksamheten flyttades över till Institutionen för medicinsk genetik, vid Uppsala universitet. Rasbiologiska institutets dokument och de tusentals bilder som tagits, flyttades över till Uppsala universitetsbibliotek. 

Med Vetenskapen som alibi samlades även mänskliga kvarlevor in, och flera av dessa ligger ännu kvar i lådor, hos Uppsala universitet, men även på andra statliga myndigheter –institutioner – runtom i Sverige.  

Förenta Nationerna etablerades, och världens nationer har där gemensamt antagit ett stort antal konventioner och deklarationer, där man tar avstånd från rasism,-  där mångkultur, respekt för olikhet framhålls – för vi har lärt oss, den hårda vägen, att rasism och diskriminering, leder in på farliga vägar, och till fattigdom. Vi behöver istället arbeta tillsammans, för samhörighet, respekt, kärlek, för olika kulturer, för mångfalden, för samhällets bästa – allas bästa. 

För långsiktig hållbarhet.

Universiteten, lärosätena, har här en oerhört viktig roll, där utbildar sig idag alla som ska bli lärare, tjänstemän på olika nivåer, jurister, ja - väldigt många yrkesgrupper, här bedrivs även viktig forskning, som kan främja samhällets utveckling. 

Uppsala universitet har tagit ett oerhört viktigt steg i etablerandet av Centrum för mångvetenskaplig forskning om rasism, CEMFOR, för fem år sedan.  

Men det kan inte bara vara Uppsala universitet och CEMFOR, som gör detta arbete, eller andra enstaka institutioner, forskningsprojekt, enstaka engagerade forskare och universitetslärare. Alla universitet behöver engagera sig, och forskningsmedel tillskjutas, och kunskaperna bli en självklar del i all utbildning – ochvytterst ansvarig för att detta ska kunna ske är Sveriges lagstiftare, Riksdagen tillsammans med regeringen. Det är ju där som besluten tas över de skattemedel som samlas in, där en väldigt stor del kommer från de naturresurser som tas från samiska territorier, från de stulna markerna. 

Jag vill varmt tacka alla er som medverkar idag, som framför perspektiv och insikter, och tack till alla som lyssnar och som vill samverka för att minnas, utmana, förändra. Du och jag, vi har alla viktigt arbete att utföra. 

Gulldal sielov, mihá ja gievrra

Känn efter i själen, stolt och stark

Ane dal gielav, divna tjoavdá dån

Så använd rösten, och gör oss alla fria.

Gijtto, kiitos, tack! 

Although the myth of Atlantis is intimately linked to the “Nordic” in Nordic fascism, research on its ideological implications within the movement is lacking. This chapter analyses interwar Nordic esoteric fascist notions of a mythical continent once located in the extreme north as the origin of the Nordic race and how such ideas served to reconnect that race with the divine. It identifies the idea underlying this aspiration as the Hyperborean narrative, a racialised variant of the myth of Atlantis based on the divine unity of the Nordic race and its racial soul, and outlines the racialisation of interpretations of Atlantis from Plato through Blavatsky's Theosophy and the diverse racialised esoteric current of Ariosophy. It then highlights the Swedish Manhem Society [Samfundet Manhem] to show how this narrative was applied among Nordic fascist actors and in the early years of the National Socialist German Ahnenerbe research institute, in connection with its quest to find the Holy Grail. The chapter concludes that the Hyperborean narrative as delineated by esoteric fascists depicted Atlantis as both grandiose past and future utopia and that the “Nordic” in Nordic fascism refers to both a geographical region and an aspired re-instalment of a paradise lost.

CEMFOR is organizing a digital memorial day of 100 years in the shadow of the Institute for Racial Biology. It is a part of Sweden's History that must not be forgotten or hidden. 

Time: 17/2, 2022.  9.00-17.30 (In Swedish only)

The State Institute of Racial Biology was opened in Uppsala in 1922. In 1956/57 the Institute itself was discontinued and parts of the Institute were absorbed by Uppsala University, Department of Medical Genetics. The archives of the Institute of Racial Biology are held by the Uppsala University Library. 

In the spring of 2021, CEMFOR organised four dialogue seminars with interested groups. We focused on racial biology, the painful legacy and its consequences, and racism, which is still alive today. It is with these conversations that the work now moves forward. 

The memorial day is organized in cooperation with the Forum for Jewish Studies (UU) and the Center for Research Ethics and Bioethics (UU). Initiator and project leader: May-Britt Öhman. Financial support has been provided by the following research projects: 

"Sijddaj máhttsat means "coming home" in Lule Sámi, Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet, Dnr 2021-03080

"Living without oil?! - Rethinking relations with lands and waters with Indigenous Land Based Expertise for a transition towards a fossil free welfare Society, FORMAS Dnr 2019-01975, Within the National program on climate.