Welcome to the Sámi Youth project!
Sámi Youth is a two-year interregional cooperative project between Sámi museums and Sámi youth from the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish parts of Sápmi. The Sámi museums which cooperate are Ájtte, Duottar ja Sámi Musea, Jåhkåmåhkke, Sámemusea Siida, Anár, Várjjat Sámi Musea, Vuonnabahta, as well as Saemien Sijte, Snåsa. Sámi youth and Sámi educational centres from the three countries participate in this project.
Background
The lives of children and youth are not reflected very much in the documentary material of the museums or collections. They are seldom involved in the work of the museums and the museums are not present in the virtual spaces where young people spend time. The project has its starting point in an earlier investigation and report “The Right to Participation and Influence for Sámi Children and Youth” done by the children’s ombudsmen in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The children’s ombudsmen’s results are positive to the fact that the youth they met were very proud of their culture and identity and felt comfortable in Sámi environments. The identity of Sámi youth is described in different ways depending on their background. In the report the Sámi language is pointed out to be an especially important factor which contributes to an identity with which they feel comfortable. The negative things that the Sámi youth describe deal with the lack of Sámi teaching material and Sámi language teachers. Furthermore, the youth told the children’s ombudsmen they met that the Sámi presented in the news and in schoolbooks do not always represent the reality in which they live. These experiences which presented both positive and negative aspects, led the Sámi museums to begin work on constructing a project which draws on the thoughts and opinions of youth with the goal of trying to change their activities accordingly.
About the Project
The reality among Sámi youth in Norway, Sweden and Finland varies significantly, even within each country, but at the same time the youth of the three countries have a lot in common. For many youth their Sámi identity is strong, while others do not master the Sámi language and have grown up in environments where the Sámi connection hasn’t been emphasized. However, common to them all, is the challenge they face when it comes to expressing their cultural belonging in a society dominated by a majority culture.
Youth grow up in varied environments with different experiences relating to being young today, but at the same time they have certain experiences in common. In the project the youth will share experiences and participate in creating a Sámi cultural heritage. The project aims at creating new ways of cooperation between museums and youth, as well as between museums and educational centres. The project will give Sámi youth the opportunity of participating in issues that relate to them.
About thirty youth participate in the project from the North Sámi, Lule Sámi and South Sámi areas. The young people have grown up in varied environments: some come from rural reindeer-herding families, others from coastal areas and some live in totally urban areas.
The main goal of the project is to increase the young people’s opportunities and facilitate their participation in creating their Sámi cultural heritage. This will happen by means of a common task of documenting what it means to be a young Sámi today. The material documented will be presented to the public in whatever way the project participants decide upon, probably by means of an exhibition, film or web site. The project will also increase the cooperation between Sámi youth in Sápmi and for that purpose organises two conferences where youth will meet and exchange experiences and work together. The project began in 2009 and the participating youth work in practical ways during the autumn of 2009 and spring of 2010. Their work will be presented in the spring or summer of 2010.
Activities
The Sámi youth are going to:
-participate and contribute at two conferences to be held within Sápmi. The first conference is a start-up meeting for all the youth, with seminars, workshops and group conversation and discussion. At the final conference for all the youth, there will be reports on all the different projects;
-participate and contribute at local meeting in each country with the national project staffer;
-participate and contribute at local training sessions where filming and editing is taught.
The Sámi youth:
Carry out a documentation project on ”Being Young Today” with the use of writing, video, camera, etc. The youth document their lives from the perspective of how it is to be young today. The youth also get other topics which they can work on from the museums. They receive the option of presenting their material on a web site relating to the project.