| This dissertation examines the contemporary Sami revitalization in a historical perspective, with a focus on the Sami Artist's call for recognition of Sami existence and right to exist. Chapter 1 introduces the topic, and Chapter 2 illuminates the assimilative pressures regarding language, religion and music that Sami people have experienced from four different governments. In reverse chronology, a journey from artist to artist begins in Chapter 3 by accounting for contemporary musician Mari Boine's realization of this suppression and the transformation of her initial anger. Nils Gaup's successes with his films Pathfinder (1988) and The Kautokeino Rebellion 1852 (2008) are further discussed in this Chapter. Chapter 4 discusses the content of The Kautokeino Rebellion 1852 and forces that threatened Sami livelihoods during the time of this first Sami uprising.;Chapter 5 is devoted to Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa's important popularization of Sami culture. His poetry relates, for example, how settlers with "dingy fat books" replaced ancient Sami rights with law, thus stealing the land. In Chapter 6, about the Forefathers of the Sami artistic struggle, Paulus Utsi's poems from the 1970s show that conveniences achieved in the name of progress cannot keep our human hearts warm. "Painful is the walk on hard stone roads. Silent cry the people of the mountains," is a quote from Utsi's poem "As long", which warns humankind that only "as long as we have water where the fish can swim (...) are we safe on this earth.";In 1910 Johan Turi wrote the first book in Sami. In his Muittalus Samid Birra (Story of the Sami people), the narrator points to the Sami people's need for being in nature when making choices, and not in murky rooms. The book ends on a sad note, likening the Sami to unknown and unwanted animals in Sapmi, homeland of the Sami. The journey from artist to artist ends with Nineteenth Century poet Anders Fjellner who collected material for creating a Sami epic, producing mythical texts that have influenced later Sami authors. Finally, in Chapter 7, parallels are drawn between all these Sami artists, important for the revitalization of Sami culture. |
