Sámi Archaeology and the Fear of Political Involvement: Finnish Archaeologists’ Perspectives on Ethnicity and the Repatriation of Sámi Cultural Heritage

Abstract

In recent years, there have been remarkable developments in the repatriation of Sámi ethnographic objects in Finland. The repatriation of large archaeological collections excavated from Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi people (the only indigenous people in the European Union), however, has not been discussed. Based on thirteen interviews, this article examines Finnish archaeologists’ views on the repatriation of the Sámi cultural heritage. The research shows that there is suspicion or wariness towards questions of ethnicity in Finnish archaeology and a fear of political involvement, which makes the matter of repatriation an uncomfortable issue. Nonetheless, the practices of doing research in Sápmi or studying Sámi materials are changing as a result of the Sámi gradually taking a stronger role and engaging in and governing research in Finland, too, especially with the stronger role, through the Sámi parliament and the Sámi Museum, in the administration of archaeological heritage in Sápmi.

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