''Don’t Wake the Rávga of Repparfjord'' Sámi Storytelling to Discuss Nussir ASA’s Mining Waste Disposal Apostolos Tsiouvalas Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Master’s Thesis in Indigenous Studies IND-3904 Spring 2020 i ''Don’t Wake the Rávga of Repparfjord'' Sámi Storytelling to Discuss Nussir ASA’s Mining Waste Disposal Apostolos Tsiouvalas Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education UiT The Arctic University of Norway Spring 2020 Supervised by Else Grete Broderstad (Senter for samiske studier) & Torjer Andreas Olsen (Senter for samiske studier) Cover paint: Theodor Kittelsen, ‘Sjøtroll’, illustration (Nasjonalmuseet Oslo 1887). i ii Acknowledgements Writing a master’s thesis in the times of confinement due to the COVID-19 outbreak has certainly not been a cakewalk for me, nor the most pleasant and productive time of my life. Too much free time abruptly made me afraid of ending up doing nothing. Particularly, when this quarantine period was followed by losing my full-time job and one of the hardest winters ever recorded in Tromsø, the whole writing process became rather challenging. Fortunately, I was not alone in this endeavor and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people, without whom it would not have been easy to complete this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Else Grete Broderstad and Torjer Andreas Olsen for offering to supervise this project just two months before the submission deadline. Your comments and guidance have been crucial for finalizing this project and reaching the desirable result. Additionally, I would like to thank the Centre for Sami Studies (SESAM) and its staff for their advice, material, and seminars, as well as all my fellow-students for sharing the journey in Indigenous Studies for the last two years. I am so much looking forward to reading your projects! Great thanks to Ánde Somby for introducing me to the world of Sami storytelling and sharing with me the story discussed in Chapter 5. I would like to say thank you also to my neighbors Tamara and Mona for their help with the translation of some Norwegian texts as well as for their delicious goodies throughout this journey. I would also like to express my gratitude to my friend Chloe for the final proof-reading of my thesis. Not least, I would like to thank my friends in Tromsø, and my family and friends in Greece for their love and support. I hope we will be able to see each other soon again! My partner Daniela, for her love, support and mostly patience during this thesis, especially for managing to work in the same room with me 24/7 for the last few months. Finally, I would like to thank my parents Dimitris and Domna, my brother Grigoris and my dog Klio for their love and ongoing support to everything I do in my life. This thesis is dedicated to all coastal communities around the globe that fight for their waters and resources. iii iv Abstract Over the last few decades, mineral resource extraction has been rapidly growing in the Arctic, often taking place within indigenous territories. One of the most controversial project developments in Northern Fennoscandia is the Nussir copper mine. Since its conception, the project has faced opposition, and different actors have voiced their concerns and actively protested, arguing that the mine will disturb reindeer herding activities and damage the local environment, in particular polluting Repparfjord in which the mining tailings will be deposited. The implications of the project on the marine environment of Repparfjord have given rise to questions as to the project’s compliance with Norway’s international commitments toward environmental law and indigenous peoples’ rights. Accordingly, this master’s thesis follows the course of the ongoing mining developments in Kvalsund and attempts to approach the issue of mineral waste disposal in Repparfjord from an indigenous rights-based, an environmental law and a pluralistic perspective of law and resource management that critically interrogates the existing legal system’s ability to accommodate traditional knowledge systems. For this purpose, aside from doctrinal analysis of legal domains which is widely used in projects relevant to law and resource management, this thesis presents three Coastal Sámi stories as a starting point of research in order to articulate legal discourses related to the case study. As long as this thesis focuses on the marine-related issue of mining waste disposal in Repparfjord, it was considered useful to touch upon the case study through the paradigm of Sámi stories from the region. The selected stories refer to Sámi spirits known as rávga which live in the sea and often interact with fishermen and coastal communities. Each of the three selected stories has been used in a different legal approach and, methodologically, is interpreted in a different way to discuss the case and the fields of law that revolve around it. The thesis concludes with recommendations for further research and policy-making. v vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Project Summary ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Objectives ................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Background of Study Area: The Nussir Case in a Nutshell ....................................... 4 1.4 Relevance ................................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Positionality, Reflexivity and Preliminary Results .................................................... 9 1.6 Definitions of Concepts and Terminological Preferences ........................................ 11 1.6.1 (Coastal) Sámi .................................................................................................. 11 1.6.2 Mining Waste Disposal .................................................................................... 13 1.6.3 Rávga ................................................................................................................ 14 1.6.4 Traditional Knowledge ..................................................................................... 16 1.7 Thesis Outline .......................................................................................................... 18 2 Methodological Concerns and Chosen Methods .............................................................. 19 2.1 Indigenous Research Paradigm ................................................................................ 19 2.2 Storytelling as Source of Knowledge ....................................................................... 20 2.2.1 Storytelling in Sámi Societies ........................................................................... 21 2.2.2 Coastal Sámi Stories ........................................................................................ 22 2.3 Research Methods: A Law in Context Approach ..................................................... 23 2.3.1 Storytelling as Analytical Tool ......................................................................... 23 2.3.2 Legal Doctrinal Analysis .................................................................................. 25 2.3.3 Literature .......................................................................................................... 26 3 An Indigenous Rights Approach to Mineral Waste Disposal in Repparfjord .................. 27 3.1 Introductory Remarks and Methodological Reflections .......................................... 27 vii 3.2 Discussion: Tailings Disposal within a Sámi Territory ........................................... 29 3.2.1 Sámi Rights in Norwegian Mining Law ........................................................... 30 3.2.2 Consultations .................................................................................................... 34 3.2.3 Finnmark Act .................................................................................................... 36 3.2.4 Coastal Sámi Rights in Repparfjord? ............................................................... 38 3.3 Analysis .................................................................................................................... 41 3.4 Conclusory Remarks ................................................................................................ 43 4 An Environmental Law Approach to Mining Waste Disposal in Repparfjord ................ 45 4.1 Introductory Remarks and Methodological Reflections .......................................... 45 4.2 Discussion: Mining Waste Disposal in Norwegian Law ......................................... 47 4.2.1 Minerals Act ..................................................................................................... 47 4.2.2 Plan and Building Act ...................................................................................... 48 4.2.3 Pollution Control Act ....................................................................................... 50 4.2.4 Nature Diversity Act