Managing Laponia ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology no 47 Carina Green Managing Laponia A World Heritage as arena for Sami ethno-politics in Sweden Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Geijersalen, Thun- bergsväg 3H, Uppsala, Friday, December 18, 2009 at 10:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Green, C. 2009. Manging Laponia. A World Heritage Site as Arena for Sami Ethno-Politics in Sweden. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology 47. 221 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-7656-4. This study deals with the implications of implementing the World Heritage site of Laponia in northern Sweden. Laponia, consisting of previously well-known national parks such as Stora Sjöfallet and Sarek, obtained its World Heritage status in 1996. Both the biological and geological significance of the area and the local Sami reindeer herding culture are in- cluded in the justification for World Heritage status. This thesis explores how Laponia became an arena for the long-standing Sami ethno-political struggle for increased self- governance and autonomy. In many other parts of the world, various joint management schemes between indigenous groups and national environmental protection agencies are more and more common, but in Sweden no such agreements between the Swedish Envi- ronmental Protection Agency and the Sami community have been tested. The local Sami demanded to have a significant influence, not to say control, over the future management of Laponia. These were demands that were not initially acknowledged by the local and national authorities, and the negotiations about the management of Laponia continued over a period of ten years. This thesis shows how the local Sami initially were marginalized in the negotia- tions both because of their alleged “difference” and because of their alleged “similarity” to the majority population. By navigating through what can be described as “a politics of difference,” the Sami involved eventually succeeded in articulating their cultural and histori- cal difference in such a way that they were perceived as different but equal in relation to the other actors. By describing the many twist and turns of the negotiations between the local Sami and the local authorities, this thesis shows how the involvement of international agen- cies and global protection aspirations, such as the World Heritage Convention, might estab- lish a link between the local and international levels that to a certain extent bypasses the national level and empowers indigenous/local peoples and their ethno-political objectives. As such, this study demonstrates how local/indigenous peoples’ involvement in environmental protection work is above all a political issue that ultimately leads to a situation where their relation with the state authorities is reshaped and reassessed. Keywords: Laponia, World Heritage, Swedish Sami, ethnic mobilization, articulation, indige- neity, nature conservation management Carina Green, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Box 631, Uppsala University, SE-75126 Uppsala, Sweden © Carina Green 2009 ISSN 0348-5099 ISBN 978-91-554-7656-4 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-110256 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-110256) Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2009 To mother and father Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................11 1 Introduction ......................................................................................15 Background, purpose and theoretical point of departure...................17 A selection of earlier work................................................................23 Method ............................................................................................26 Explanation of some of the terms used .............................................33 Outline of thesis...............................................................................34 2 Ethnographic and historical background ............................................37 The setting .......................................................................................38 Who is Sami and who can be a reindeer herder? ...............................44 The reindeer herding right and the samebys.................................45 Inside and outside the samebys ....................................................48 Nature protection in the area – a background ...................................53 Political mobilization of the Swedish Sami .......................................57 The nation state grows stronger...................................................58 Political organization begins ........................................................59 The indigenous movement is formed ...........................................63 The Swedish Sami Parliament and the issue of “small game hunting”......................................................................................67 Examples of conflicts in the area before Laponia..........................69 3 The World Heritage Convention .......................................................73 Background......................................................................................74 The global eye – shared heritage sites, shared responsibility ..............82 Local implementations .....................................................................84 On the motives behind the World Heritage Convention...................87 The World Heritage Convention and the quest for identity ..............91 WHIPCOE......................................................................................97 4 Polarization and antagonism ............................................................101 The making of Laponia ..................................................................102 The pursuit of responsibility and influence.................................106 The helicopter ride.....................................................................107 From collaboration to disagreement ...............................................111 Fears and expectations ...............................................................111 “Why do they turn Laponia into something political?”...............114 Polarization and positioning...........................................................116 Throwing gavels and closing the ranks.......................................119 Correspondence and suspicion...................................................120 5 Going national and international......................................................124 The process continues….................................................................125 Us against them.........................................................................125 The 10% that mattered..............................................................128 Writing to the Government in 2001 ..........................................130 John the Wolf ................................................................................135 The debacle with the guide training................................................136 … And continues ...........................................................................140 The final proposal from the County Administration...................140 Writing to the Government in 2004 ..........................................143 Writing to UNESCO ................................................................145 Speaking with one voice.................................................................147 6 Indigenous positioning ....................................................................152 Accentuating difference ..................................................................153 Articulation ...............................................................................158 To be heard ...............................................................................164 Being indigenous in Brussels and being indigenous “back home” ...171 Indigenism as a global discourse ................................................172 Natural conservationists? ...........................................................175 Seeing “us” through “them”.......................................................182 7 The weight of the past .....................................................................185 Experiences of colonization ............................................................186 Collective and personal memory ................................................190 Forgetfullness ............................................................................194 Structural power and agents of power ............................................195 The normativity of Swedish environmental politics ........................198 Different “notions of nature?”....................................................199 Interpreting mandates and regulations .......................................201 Agency in the margins....................................................................203 8 The end of one process is the beginning of the next .........................206 A milestone reached - the real work begins.....................................206 Concluding remarks .......................................................................211 Bibliography.......................................................................................218 Acknowledgements Producing a doctoral