]> 2024-06-13T10:37:26+00:00 Saami movement: revitalisation 0 05145 englanti 2014-08-07T09:29:45Z

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Saami movement: revitalisation In the period from the 1940s to the 1970s the Saami still lacked any organization for cooperative activities and generally any collective identity. They did not have a recognized position as a minority people. Ethnicity between Saamis on the one hand and Finns, Swedes and Norwegians on the other hand functioned at the level of the individual. Attempts to strengthen the Saami identity and the concept of Saaminess were subsequently made by integration into modern society, which in turn made it possible for the Saami to mobilize their political resources and to function as a imagined community . The Saami identity came into being as a result of contact with other groups, not in isolation. There was a fear of being assimilated into the majority group and of a loss of identity. The modernization of the Saami region in Finland did not begin until much later after the Second World War than in the rest of the country. Modernization, and later globalization, also encouraged integration and thus the reinforcement of the Saamis' own identity. In the 1960s and 1970s there was a strong global minority and revitalization movement. The revitalization of a traditional culture within a modern context implies that cultural symbols and practices which have lain dormant for some time are revived. However, a revived culture is always different from the original one. Revitalization movements like Saami movement, are traditionalist because they attempt to restore traditions in a modern context, which itself is no longer traditional. At the local level, Saami language and culture began to be reassessed, and thus Saami minority languages and culture also came into conflict with those of majorities. The ethnic Saami movement also grew in strength as a reaction against the prevailing intensive assimilationist policies of the national governments and their paternalistic attitude towards small and indigenous peoples. The original goal of the Saami Movement was to raise the level of education by means of an educational system that had its foundations in the Saami language and culture; a campaign was waged for the adoption of the Saami language in schools, teacher training colleges and universities, and Saami quota were demanded for vocational and other education. Further education grew strongly, and publication and radio broadcasting in the Saami language increased. In 1973 the Saamis own research institute (Sámi Instituhtta) was established in [[Kautokeino|Kautokeino]] in Norway. There, too, a Saami University College (Sámi Allaskuvla) opened in 1989. A Saami political agenda was adopted at the Saami Conference in Tromsø in 1980, the preamble of which speaks of the Saami people as a separate ethnic group with "its own territory, culture and social structure". The Alta Dispute was an event of great significance in raising the Saami conscience in the years 1979-1981 when the Saami activists organized themselves to oppose the plans of damming the Alta- Kautokeino river. They were strongly supported both nationally and internationally especially by the environmental movements. This dispute was followed by a period of committee reports, and the results began to show in the late 1980s in the form of important changes in legislation. At the end of the 1980s, organizational activities had noticeably succeeded in creating conditions for a redefinition of the Saami identity (Definition of a Saami) within the Saami community and for a new political unity. The Saami are today also recognised in the Nordic states as an indigenous people. The national governments are obliged to ensure conditions whereby the Saami can through their own representative organ, the Saami Parliament manage their own affairs and practise self-determination. Otsikko 102