Colonial Encounters Reflected by the Contemporary Material Culture – Or What Happened When Miss Finland Wore a Sámi Clothing

Summary

In the studies of colonial relations, historical archaeology usually concentrates on the early encounters between European settlers and indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, colonial relations are evident in the contemporary culture too, e.g. in the use of indigenous symbols in commercial connections and in tourism. Archaeology can study also this contemporary colonialism through material culture. In this paper, I first give some background on the topic of the session, comparative indigenism – a theoretical approach that includes both emic and etic interpretations and aims to reflect Indigenous peoples’ understandings. I then present some cases from Finland in which Sámi or mock Sámi material culture is used in a way that can be approached from a colonial discourse. Here material culture with Sámi connotations is used to build picture of Finland as a mythic land. Whereas from Sámi perspective these events can be seen as a continuation of colonial cultural exploitation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017   •
• Indigenous Perspectives on Historical Archaeology of Colonialism

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 130