Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183-2803) 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 11-18 Doi: 10.17645/si.v4i1.359 Article Mediating Structures in Sámi Language Revitalisation Erika Sarivaara 1 and Pigga Keskitalo 2,* 1 Department of Education, University of Lapland, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland; E-Mail: [email protected] 2 Teepee of Duodji and Livelihood, Sámi University College, 9520 Kautokeino, Norway; E-Mail: [email protected] * Corresponding author Submitted: 2 June 2015 | Accepted: 15 November 2015 | Published: 15 February 2016 Abstract The revitalisation of the Sámi languages and support for language domains are central educational measures in the post-assimilation situation in Northern Europe. Taking critical indigenous education as the starting point, this meta- theoretical article discusses language revitalisation through mediating structures. Mediating structures provide the tools necessary to use language revitalisation as a means to counter the legacy of assimilation that has seriously affect- ed the Sámi languages and caused language change. The article brings together recent research on the revitalisation of the Sámi languages. These studies are oriented towards the present situation of the Sámi languages and efforts to re- vive the languages. Relying on previous studies as well as new research, the article presents a communal model of lan- guage recovery, which facilitates an increase in the number of language speakers and also supports language domains. Such a mediating language revitalisation model builds social harmony in a postcolonial situation. The article emphasises the key tasks involved in the recovery of endangered languages. Keywords assimilation; language shift; mediating structures; revitalisation; Sámi education; Sámi people Issue This article is part of the issue “Educating Nomadic People”, edited by Caroline Dyer (University of Leeds, UK). © 2016 by the author(s); licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attrib- ution 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction fishing, hunting, and semi-nomadic reindeer herding. However, currently about 10% of the Sámi are con- The Sámi people live in the north areas of Sweden, Fin- nected to reindeer herding (Solbakk, 2006). land, Norway and Russia’s Kola Peninsula. They are The Sámi have experienced the phase of colonial- recognised as indigenous peoples and thus protected ism, which is a central manifestation of assimilation, under various international conventions guaranteeing and refers to the active merging of minorities into the the rights as indigenous peoples. There are approxi- mainstream population (see Battiste, 2000). Due to mately 100,000 Sámi depending on the definition crite- centuries of assimilationist policies and, policy ria applied (Sarivaara, 2012). The Sámi were previously measures, Sámi languages are endangered, and have known as the Lappish, although this has now been re- lost partly their cultural and linguistic special features. placed by the Sámi’s own name, the Sámi people (sáp- Today, the Sámi have more or less embraced urbanisa- melaččat). According to current estimates, the Sámi tion, according to Finnish Sámi Parliament already 60% languages developed, at the latest, during the second of Sámi live outside Sámi homeland area. For example, millennium BC. Moreover, during that period Sámi cul- in capital of Finland, Helsinki, lives around 1000 Sámi ture have seen to arise (Aikio, 2004, 2012). Sámi liveli- (Lindgren, 2000). Moreover, today the Sámi are part of hoods traditionally base on nature. Hence originating the globalised world and its various cultural flows (Seu- from hunter-gather tribes, they have been involved in rujärvi-Kari, 2012). Social Inclusion, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 11-18 11 This article problematizes the indigenous people the exercise of power (Gilroy, 1993; Said, 1993; Spivak, group, the Sámi people, through the phenomenon of 1985). Fanon (1959, 1961, 1952/1967) initiated a de- assimilation and the concept of revitalisation. Further, bate on how colonisation affects people’s thoughts. In it looks at how mediating education could remedy the other words, he questioned the psychological effects of legacy of assimilation. The article is based on the re- colonisation. However, the views on this issue vary searchers’ extensive studies of assimilation, revitalisa- from one researcher to another. One can say that col- tion and education in Norway and Finland (see e.g. onisation has taken place in Sámiland on both psycho- Keskitalo, 2010; Keskitalo, Uusiautti, & Määttä, 2013; logical and practical levels because the Sámi have un- Sarivaara, 2012, in press; Sarivaara & Keskitalo, 2015). dergone psychological and cultural exploitation, their In addition to research work, they have long teaching traditional lands have become settled, and their social experience both elementary and higher education lev- and cultural structures have broken down (Kuokkanen, els, and thus have been able to follow and initiate the 1999; Lehtola, 2012; Minde, 2005). The colonisation development of Sámi education. Both researchers have process has long been a part of the governing authori- insider position due to research field, since besides the ties’ attempts to assimilate the indigenous peoples into researcher experience; they have Sámi background, majority cultures. and are speakers of Sámi language. Erika Sarivaara has As a consequence, the Sámi people have experi- been working with project that aims to explore the enced a long history of assimilation, first as the result Sámi identity, and level of assimilation and the revitalisa- of church activates since the 1600s and, second, due to tion process within assimilated Sámi areas. Pigga the nation schools of the 1800s (e.g. Keskitalo, Lehtola, Keskitalo has interviewed Sámi teachers and pupils, and & Paksuniemi, 2014). However, the assimilation meth- has observed school education in Norway and Finland. ods due to Sámi have varied from country to country. This article explores Sámi language revitalisation In Norway, the assimilation policy was formally con- based on the mediating structures theory and, fur- structed and the Sámi had to be “Norwegianized” thermore, explores the implementation of mediating (Norwegian fornorsking). This forced Norwegian period structures within language revitalisation in Sámi core lasted from approximately the 1850s to the 1980s. The area. It stresses that revitalisation is an abstract zone, aim was to eradicate the Sámi language and the Sámi which will empower the Sámi people and the language identity (Minde, 2005). Sweden, meanwhile, utilised environment. The article seeks, above all, to consider more passive segregation measures, namely the lapp- the limits of language revitalisation on the basis of me- ska-vara-lapp policy (The Lapp Should Stay Lapp poli- diating structures and Sámi education. Assimilation in cy), whereby Sámi children were sent to segregated this context is still little explored concept. hut schools (Henrysson, 1992). The situation of the The article begins by discussing the assimilation Sámi in Russia has been challenging because Sami processes in Sámi, which means the homeland area of schooling has been supported to a limited extent. Addi- Sámi people, in order to demonstrate how they have tionally, forced relocations have stretched the capacity affected the Sámi people. The effects are broad and of the Russian Sámi (Afanasyeva, 2013). In Finland, as- far-reaching, and vary from place to place and person similation has been more or less invisible when com- to person. Furthermore, the concept of mediating and pared to, for example, the situation in Norway, where the educational models based on it are explored. Final- forced Norwegianism was enshrined in official docu- ly, the article analyses the challenges associated with ments. This can make it challenging to recognise and revitalisation as well as the benefits of mediating ac- distinguish assimilation strategies and measures. In Fin- tions. land, the nationalist policy aim was to strengthen the position of the Finnish language and the Finnish identi- 2. The Legacy of Assimilation ty. The government prioritised the ideology of nation building and the needs of minorities were neglected In order to understand the current situation of the until the 1960s, when the indigenous revival began. For Sámi, it is necessary to look back at the long history of example, in Finland, the assimilation era began in the the assimilation processes. The demolition of such as- 1600s, and has not yet entirely stopped. similationist processes is necessary to improve the According to our studies and perceptions assimila- Sámi language situation going forward. Assimilation tion has thus inter alia somewhat weakened the Sámi has been followed by colonisation. According to Kuok- cultural identity and started the process of language kanen (2007), colonisation is based on ideologies and change. Such a process has resulted a complex situa- practices that were constructed during the Renais- tion that has also impacted on Sámi education. The re- sance. At the universal level, the goal of colonization in vitalisation has taken place recently following lengthy many places has been to dominate the area and start periods of assimilation. The Sámi language and identity exploiting the land and natural resources (Kuokkanen, have become popular topics, particularly due to the 2007). Although the forms and intentions of colonisa- improved situation. Some of the