From: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo)
Subject: Re: What do the "Lapps" call themselves?
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 02:01:41 GMT

This article contains information on a U.S. publication about Sami life and
culture, as well as a bibliography.


In alt.native <1993Jan19.100929.1@sara.cc.utu.fi> riilai@sara.cc.utu.fi writes:

>  I don't know about the other countries but in Finland the Lapps call
> themselves samis (in Finnish actually it is saami (the language) and
> saamelaiset (the people)) and nowadays it is customary for other Finnish
> people to call them Samis too. The name Lapps is used too but not as much
> it was used earlier, and it is definetly not proper to use it in official
> or public matters.
>
>    Riitta


The following is from a friend in the U.S. who has been speaking the
Norwegian language all her life (both of her parents being from Norway):

| Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 19:13:39 EST
|
| On the subject of Sami or Lapps:  When I was a child the term I always
| heard was Lapps.  However, that was when Norwegians were not particularly
| conscious of the wishes or needs of their citizens in the north part of
| the land.  The Samis have sought rights for themselves more recently and
| one of the results has been that others have been told fairly forcefully
| that they should use the name Sami for this people.  (It is spelled "same"
| in Norwegian, but it is a two-syllable word.)   This is now the official
| name.  "Lapp" means a patch of cloth for mending, thus the name suggests
| that these people wore patched clothes, in all, a derogatory term and one
| that needs to be dropped today.


By the way, I have recently written to a woman who publishes a magazine on
the Sami people (in Sweden?), and will report if and when I get a reply.

Meanwhile, I'd like to mention that there is an English language publication
called "BAIKI: the North American Journal of Sami Living" published in the
United States.  A free sample copy can be obtained by writing to:

      BAIKI Subscriptions     (subscription rates are $10/year regular,
      2416 London Road #702    $6 seniors & students, $15 international
      Duluth, MN 55812         $50 sponsor [includes free T-shirt]
                                 four issues published annually)
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

  It is the purpose of _BAIKI: the American Journal of Sami Living_
  to serve as a medium of education and communication between Sami
  people from North America and Sami people worldwide.  We believe
  that our culture has survived the attempts to destroy it and that
  the publication of Sami art, literature and poetry, and the promo-
  tion of Sami music will help us to redefine our Sami identity for
  ourselves and for others.  We seek to reaffirm our cultural aware-
  ness as a source of pride in who we are and where we are from.  As
  the people of the sun we believe that our indigenous roots connect
  us to each other and to the earth.


Issue #5 (Fall, 1992) contains a bibliography:

  "The following titles will interest people who want to know more
   about Samiland and its people.  I doubt that many are still in
   print but a good second-hand bookstore may have copies.  And
   your public library will have some of the titles or can borrow
   them for you on interlibrary loan."

  CLASSICS

   Schefferus, Johannes.  _The History of Lapland_.  The first
   edition, in Latin, was published in 1673.  Much of the infor-
   mation about the early Sami came from this book.

   Turi, Johan.  _Turi's Book of Lapland_.  New York, 1931.  It
   could be called the Sami _Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions_.

  SCHOLARLY WORKS

   Bosi, Roberto.  _The Lapps_.  Praeger, 1960.

   Collinder, Bjorn.  _The Lapps_.  American Scandinavian Foun-
   dation, 1949.

   Gjessing, Guttom.  _The Changing Lapps_.  London, 1954.

   Hill, Rowland, editor.  _The Lapps Today in Finland, Norway
   and Sweden_.  Paris, 1960.

   Ingold, Tim.  _The Skolt Lapps Today_.  Cambridge, 1976.

   Nickul, Karl.  _The Lappish Nation_.  Indiana University, 1977.

   Spencer, Arthus.  _The Lapps_.  Crane, Russak, 1978.

   Vorren, O/mulv [the slash is through the "O"] and Ernst Manker.
   _Lapp Life and Customs_.  Oxford, 1962.

  PICTORAL WORKS

   Crottet, Robert.  _Lapland_.  Oslo, Dreyers, 1968.

   Huhtanen, Urpo.  _Porovuosi, Reindeer Year_.  Helsinki, Werner,
   1970.

   Jannes, Elly.  Photographs by Anna Riwkin-Brick.  _Nomads of the
   North_.  Stockholm, 1950.

   Manker, Ernst.  People of the Eight Seasons_.  Beautiful photo-
   graphs and drawings.  Viking, 1963.

   Marsden, Walter.  _Lapland_.  A Time-Life International Book,
   1976.

  FICTION

   Friis, Johan.  _Lajla_.  A popular romantic novel which was made
   into a movie.  Based on the story of a Sami girl with whom the
   author was madly in love.

   Frison-Roche, Roger.  _The Raid_.  Harper, 1964.  _The Last
   Migration_.  Harper, 1965.  Two popular novels about the struggle
   of a Sami girl to resist Norwegianization in a boarding school.

  Prepared by Rudolph Johnson.

--
    Gary S. Trujillo                            gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts              {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
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