“Det er kult å lære samisk”

Abstract

Through official language policy Norwegian schools have been given an important role in the process of language revitalization and language reclamation of Sámi languages in Norway. The topic of this article is Sámi language education policy and the school as a space for students to learn Sámi outside the administrative area for Sámi language when students have little access to Sámi language in the family and local community. To explore this topic, I examine the experiences of one student whom I call Sunniva, and her process of choosing and un-choosing Sámi at school. Sunniva studied North Sámi for six years, and in the analysis, I investigate what made studying Sámi desirable and possible, and later also difficult. The research question is what social and historical discourses that revolve in Sunniva’s decision to start learning Sámi and later quitting Sámi as a school subject. The data collection and analysis is situated within the frame of nexus analysis, and additional central theoretical perspectives are investment and affect. The analysis shows that despite Sunniva’s willingness to invest in studying Sámi, issues surrounding the Sámi subject create negative experiences, and she eventually decides to quit learning Sámi at school. It is the organizational issues that create affective reactions, and these issues show how the Sámi subject within a Norwegian school is influenced by the politics of Norwegianization.

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