autumn 2017 SOA-1006 Arctic Norway - Aspects of Culture - 10 ECTS

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June.

Applicants from outside the Nordic countries: 15 April


Type of course

The course can be taken as a singular course.

Bachelor students in Social Anthropology with exam from SOA-1005 (Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på samisk samfunn og kultur), will not be able to combine SOA-1005 with SOA-1006 due to 50% overlap in litterature.


Admission requirements

Nordic applicants: Generell studiekompetanse

 

International applicants: Higher Education Entrance Qualification and certified language requirements in English.

 

A list of the requirements for the Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway can be found on the web site from the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). For language requirements we refer to

NOKUT's GSU-list.

 

Application code: 9199 (Nordic applicants).


Course overlap

If you pass the examination in this course, you will get an reduction in credits (as stated below), if you previously have passed the following courses:

SVF-6011 Samisk kulturkunnskap med fokus på lulesamisk område 10 stp
SOA-1005 Anthropological perspectives on Saami society and culture 5 stp

Course content

The anthropological perspective in the course focuses on interethnic dynamics in the region as they unfold between people of Saami, Norwegian and Finnish origins with main focus on the Saami situation. Historical processes of mutual adaptations, and changing public policies, are related to contemporary manifestations of cultural variations and ethnic revitalisation.

After a period of Norwegian enforcement of Saami assimilation, the cultural and ethnic revitalisation now taking place signifies a major change in ethnic relationships in the North. Different aspects of this general political development will be debated.

The course considers social, cultural and religious characteristics that may have impact on the economic and political position of the minority, complexities in identity formation and different types of representations of the minorities.


Objectives of the course

Students who have successfully completed the course should have achieved the following learning outcome:

Knowledge:

  • have basic knowledge about the cultural complexity of Northern Norway with special focus on the historical and contemporary situation of the minorities of the region
  • have basic knowledge of the main ecological adaptive strategies over time, and some basic knowledge of the complexity and varying challenges in economics, cultural expressions and rights issues in a global context

Skills

  • have skills in reading ethnographic texts and other scientific papers and relating them analytically to each other
  • have skills in analysing different types of representations with special focus on museum exhibitions

Competences

  • improved analytical competence and particularly analytically understanding of processes related to cultural similarities and differences in the area of focus
  • have competence in communicating and discussing different explanations of social phenomena
  • be able to use concepts and theories related to ethnicity in their analysis in further studi


Language of instruction and examination

The teaching language is English. The examination should be written in English, but can also be written in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.

Teaching methods

Approximately 20 hours of lectures and one excursion to Tromsø Museum.

Assessment

The final exam is a take-home examination. The examination is based on a given topic at the end of the semester. Students have one week to complete the eximination. Approximate length: 3500 words (about 10 pages).

Marking is according to a grading scale from A to F, where F is fail. Examination results will be announced in the StudentWeb at the latest three weeks after submission of the examination paper.

The course is open for re-sit examination if there are students that due to sickness are entitled to a postponed examination.


Recommended reading/syllabus

Books to buy (or borrow at the library):

Lehtola Veli-Pekka (2004): The Sámi People. Traditions in transition. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. Chapters: Multifaceted Sápmi, Milestones of Sámi history, Participants in modern society (139 p.)

Henriksen; John B. (1999): Saami parliamentary co-operation. Guovdageaidno and Copenhagen: Nordic Sámi Institute, IWGIA Document No. 93. (57 p.)

Olsen, Kjell (2010): Identities, Ethnicities and Borderzones. Stamsund: Orkana Akademiske (244 p.)

Compendium to buy:

  • Aikio, Marjut (1989): "The Kven and Cultural Linguistic pluralism". Acta Borealia, 1: 86-96. (11 p.)
  • Anttonen, Marjut (1998): "The dilemma of some present-day Norwegians with Finnish-speaking ancestry." Acta Borealia, 15(1):43-58. (15 p.)
  • Bjerkli, Bjørn (2003): People-nature relations: Local ethos and ethnic consciousness. I Roepstorff, A., N. Bubandt & K. Kull (eds.): Imagining nature. Practices of cosmology and identity, Århus, Aarhus University Press. (21 p.)
  • Bjørklund, Ivar (1990): "Sami reindeer pastoralism as an indigenous resource management system in Northern Norway: A contribution to the common property debate." Development and Change, 21: 75-86. (11 p.)
  • Bull, Tove (1995): "Language maintenance and loss in an originally trilingual area in North Norway". International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 115: 125-134. (10 p.)
  • Eidheim, Harald (1971): "When ethnic identity is a social stigma." In Eidheim, H. Aspects of the Lappish Minority Situation. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. (17 p.)
  • Evjen, Bjørg (2007: Custodial reindeer and custodial goats - part of reindeer herding and animal husbandry. Rangifer, 27(2):79-91. (13 p.)
  • Jenkins, Richard (1997): "Anthropology, Ethnicity". In Rethinking Ethnicity. Arguments and Explorations. London: SAGE Publications. Chapter 1. (13 p.)
  • Kalstad, Johan Klemet Hætta (1997): "Aspects of managing renewable resources in Sami areas in Norway", in Gaski, Harald (ed.), Sami Culture in a New Era. The Norwegian Sami Experience. Kárásjohka: Davvi Girji OS. (18 p.)
  • Kramvig, Britt (2005): "The silent language of ethnicity", European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol 8 (1):45-64. (20 p.)
  • Minde, Henry (1998): "Constructing 'Læstadianism': A Case for Sami Survival?" Acta Borealia, vol. 15/1: 5-25. (20 p.)
  • Minde, Henry (2003): "Assimilation of the Samis - why, how, and with what consequences?" Acta Borealia, vol. 20. (20 p.)
  • Morin, Francoise and Bernard S. d¿Anglure (1997): "Ethnicity as a political tool for indigenous peoples". In Govers, Cora and Hans Vermeulen (eds.), The politics of ethnic consciousness. London: Macmillan Press Ltd. (36 p.)
  • Niemi, Einar (1997): "Sami history and the frontier myth: A perspective on the northern Sami spatial and rights history", in Gaski, Harald (ed.), Sami Culture in a New Era. The Norwegian Sami Experience. Kárásjohka: Davvi Girji OS. (24 p.)
  • Nyyssönen, Jukka (2008): "Between the global movement and national politics: Sami identity politics in Finland from the 1970s to the early 1990s". In Minde, Henry (ed.), Indigenous peoples. Self-determination, knowledge, indigeneity. Delft: Eburon. (19 p.)
  • Rydving, Håkan (2004): "Saami responses to Christianity: resistance and change". In Olupona, J.K.: Beyond primitivism: indigenous religious traditions and modernity. New York: Routledge. (9 p.)
  • Ryymin, Teemu (2001): "Creating Kvenness: identity building among the Arctic Finns in northern Norway". Acta Borealia 18(1): 51-67. (17 p.)
  • Ryymin, Teemu (2004): Narrating the Arctic finns: Samuli Paulaharju¿s representations of the kvens. Acta Borealia 21(1): 21-40. (20 p.)
  • Stordahl, Vigdis (1997): "Sami Generations", in Gaski, Harald (ed.), Sami Culture in a New Era. The Norwegian Sami Experience. Kárásjohka: Davvi Girji OS. (11 p.)
  • Thuen, Trond (2002): "Cultural policies on the North Calotte". Acta Borealia, vol. 19/2: 147-164. (17 p.)
    Total 722 p.

Error rendering component

  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 10
  • Course code: SOA-1006