Bridging Divides

Ethno-Political Leadership among the Russian Sámi

Indra Overland, Mikkel Berg-Nordlie

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781782389194, 9780857456670
• eBook ISBN: 9780857456687
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Russian History
• Index: Social Sciences

The Sámi are a Northern indigenous people whose land, Sápmi, covers territory in Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. For the Nordic Sámi, the last decades of the twentieth century saw their indigenous rights partially recognized, a cultural and linguistic revival, and the establishment of Sámi parliaments. The Russian Sámi, however, did not have the same opportunities and were isolated behind the closed border until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This book examines the following two decades and the Russian Sámi's attempt to achieve a linguistic revival, to mend the Cold War scars, and to establish their own independent ethno-political organizations.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Maps
• Transcription
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Who Are the Russian Sami?
• Chapter 3. Lost Land, Broken Culture?
• Chapter 4. Language Revival
• Chapter 5. Educational Reorientation
• Chapter 6. Political Representation
• Chapter 7. Conclusions
• Appendix I. Glossary and Abbreviations
• Appendix II. Sami Population Estimates
• Appendix III. Nuclear Bomb Testing
• Appendix IV. Interethnic Relations
• Appendix V. Language
• Appendix VI. Three Intertwined Social Problems
• Appendix VII. Complexity of Ethinc Identity
• Bibliography
• Index