scandinavian sport studies forum issn 2000-088x volume two, 2011, 45–73 © helge chr. pedersen 2011 www.sportstudies.org Sport, Ethno-Politics and Sámi Identity in Northern Norway The Organizing of the Sámi Sports Movement Helge Chr. Pedersen Finnmark University College <
[email protected]> Abstract Although Sámi sport has not attracted a huge sports following, SVL’s activities have been of importance for the individual athlete’s understanding of his/her own (Sámi) identity, and for the collective understanding of what Sámi sports identity entails. In about 2000, Sámi sport also became an important arena for asserting that Sápmi belonged to the international society of indigenous peoples. Through the Viva World Cup and through participation in the Arctic Winter Games (AWG), self-understanding of the Sámi as an indigenous people was strengthened. These international competitions stressed fellow- ship with other minorities and indigenous peoples, at the same time as marking the contrast with ‘Norwegian’ sport. Thus I would maintain that the traditional view of sport as cementing pre-existing differences between competitors does not apply to the inter- national environments in which the Sámi sports movement participate. On the contrary, these competitions helped to create an understanding of fellowship and a sense of be- longing among the competitors. The Viva World Cup and AWG were experienced as events in which competition was characterized by cultural and historical fellowship. This in turn emphasized the contrast with ‘Norwegian’ sport and helped to strengthen the understanding of the Norwegians as “the others”. Key words:Sápmi, sport, indigenous identity, politics, ethnicity 187 45 187 HELGE CHR.