Speaker
Description
Objectives
This paper explores the relationship between different groups of the same Indigenous people and discusses if and how sport activities originating from traditional industry symbolizes the Indigenous people as a whole. The reindeer symbolizes the Indigenous people of the North Calotte (the northern part of the Nordic countries Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as the Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia) – in media coverage, as tourist attraction, in education, etc. Although only approximately 10 per cent of the Sámis are involved in reindeer husbandry, it occurs as vital among “all” Sámi sports actors including sports clubs outside reindeer husbandry areas.
Methods and Findings
Empirically, several observations reinforce each other and the symbolic value of the reindeer originating sports disciplines: (i) the Norwegian state’s reasons for subsidizing Sámi sports is the role as bearers of Sámi tradition and culture; (ii) the Sámi parliament’s focus on reindeer racing – despite small in number of participants – when proposing a new organization for Sámi sport all together; (iii) interviews of representatives in Sámi sport clubs. In this chapter, I analyze the symbolism of reindeer originating disciplines of Sámi sports. Disciplines originating in reindeer husbandry refer to reindeer racing and lassoing.
Discussion and Conclusion
Employing Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, I discuss how some Sámi groups position themselves in an interior position versus other groups (referred to as “real Sámi” by the inferiors) because they live closer to the reindeer and some of the reindeer sports.
