Circumpolar Lives and Livelihood: A Comparative Ethnoarchaeology of Gender and Subsistence

6. Sámi Society and Gender Relations

BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 158 / / Circumpolar Lives / Jarvenpa and Brumbach 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [First Page] [158], (1) Lines: 0 to 42 ——— 10.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [158], (1) 6. Sámi Society and Gender Relations Jukka Pennanen After the IceAge ended around 9500 bc in Fennoscandia and the climate became warmer, human populations began moving into modern-day Lapland, or Sámi Land, in four countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Russia) from two directions . Reindeer hunters from Denmark moved northward along the Norwegian coast, from where they also moved inland. Another group arrived from eastern Finland and Karelia to Finnish Lapland and the Kola Peninsula by following moose and wild reindeer, which moved northward following the coniferous zone, which was shifting northward. A gradual mixing of these ethnic elements occurred in a territory reaching from Norrbotten of Sweden to the Kola Peninsula . The roots of Sámi ethnicity derive from people who arrived from eastern Finland and spoke Proto-Sámi, which had diverged from Early Proto-Finnic. This period, which dates between 1900 bc and ad 250, can be referred to as the so-called Proto-Sámi period. These people were thus assimilated into people already resident in the North who spoke some ancient European or Uralic language. The Proto-Sámi period was followed by the Early Sámi period, which was associated with the development of reindeer husbandry as well as contacts with agricultural people living in the south and along the Arctic coast. According to historical sources, the actual Sámi period can be verified to have started around ad 1300. The development of “Sáminess” was greatly influenced by external factors such as the political power interests of surrounding states, economic and commercial contacts, taxation, and especially the spread of Christianity (Carpelan 1994, 2000:30–35; Halinen 1999). The modern Sámi territory reaches from central Sweden and central Norway following the fjeld (treeless alpine tundra) zone to the eastern parts of the Kola Peninsula. In this area as a whole the livelihood of Sámi groups was based on foraging, in which fishing often had the most important role. Other means BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 159 / / Circumpolar Lives / Jarvenpa and Brumbach 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [159], (2) Lines: 42 to 48 ——— 14.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [159], (2) of subsistence were archaic (pastoral but nonnomadic) reindeer husbandry, hunting, and gathering (Pennanen 2000a:50, 2000d:56). Environmental conditions and external cultural influences, however, caused gradual subsistence specializations that were more appropriate for the survival of the Sámi groups. The Reindeer or Mountain Sámi (Poro-eli Tunturisaamelaiset), who practiced nomadic reindeer herding, formed the most significant Sámi group. The Sea Sámi (Merisaamelaiset),who were fishermen and farmers,lived along theArctic coast of Norway. The Fisher Sámi (Kalastajasaamelaiset) lived in the region surrounding Lake Inari and in the valley of the Teno River and adapted cattle breeding and to a smaller extent small-scale agriculture beginning in the 1700s (Pennanen and Näkkäläjärvi 2000:58, 68). The Forest Sámi (Metsälappalaiset) of Finland’s Lapland practiced traditional foraging subsistence until the 1700s, when they were assimilated by Finnish settlers and became cattle herders. These Sámi who had become Finns practiced, in addition to Finnish subsistence patterns , traditional nomadic reindeer husbandry (Näkkäläjärvi 2000:142–143). The above-mentioned Sámi groups were converted to Lutheranism, but those living farther east—the Skolt Sámi of Petsamo and the Sámi of the Kola Peninsula—became Orthodox. Religion and the Karelian–Russian cultural traits have given a distinctive stamp to the Kola Sámi culture. Of these Sámi, the Skolt Sámi continued their archaic reindeer husbandry and foraging subsistence until World War Two, during which they were relocated farther west in Finland because Petsamo was taken by the Soviet Union. The Sámi of the Kola Peninsula began adapting in the 1930s the nomadic and commercial reindeer husbandry of the Komi people, who had...