Vuostildanfearánat—Sámi stories of resistance

Project Spotlight: A new podcast sheds light on Sámi culture, activism and survivance. 

Indigenous Sovereignty uts’an kwäts’eden-ji uts’an kwäts’eden-ji
A person kneeling at the shore in an Arctic landscape, with water and mountains behind them. In the foreground a small fire is burning with a few small objects placed nearby, and just behind the person is a fluffy black dog, looking out towards the water.

Vuostildanfearánat—Sámi stories of resistance is a podcast about indigenizing—sámaidahttin—grounding and growing in Sámi ways of living. We talk about ways of keeping ourselves healthy and strong, protecting our lands, communities and culture amid new forms of colonial state incursion and infrastructures. Vuostildanfearánat is made in collaboration with the Arctic Silk Road research project.

A person kneeling at the shore in an Arctic landscape, with water and mountains behind them. In the foreground a small fire is burning with a few small objects placed nearby, and just behind the person is a fluffy black dog, looking out towards the water.
Vuostildanfearánat Episode 1: “I have chosen not to live in a colonized body” with Kristin Solberg, Sarakka Gaup and host Tuula Sharma Vassvik.

Podkástta sámaidahttima birra, man vuođđun ja šaddanbáikin leat sámeeallinvuogit. Mii ságastallat das mo doallat iežamet dearvan ja gievran, suodjalit min eatnamiid, servodagaid ja kultuvrraid kolonialasttalaš diliin. Vuostildanfearánat lea ráhkaduvvon ovttasbarggus Árktalaš Silkegeaidnu -dutkanprošeavttain.

Listeners can hear the first five episodes below, or follow the podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

Kristin Solberg, Sarakka Gaup and host Tuula Sharma Vassvik talk about their connections to nature, Sámi language and family—ways of strengthening our culture and knowledge. They also focus on the body and knowledge about movement and ritual, embodying resistance and survivance.

A conversation with Sámi water-protectors and artists Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, taking part in the movement to protect the fjord Riehppovuotna and its surrounding reindeer grazing lands from the Nussir ASA mining project.

An episode based on two conversations with Sámi politicians Ann Finnbog and Silje Karine Muotka, talking about the political issues closest to their hearts.

Music by: Torgeir Vassvik.

Mari Boine talks about her journey from the “shyest person in the world” to the carrier of a strong voice, listening to her ancestors and becoming an elder.

Music: Lihkahusat – Entranced, Mari Boine.

Ninthu Paramalingam from the podcast decolonize it and Vuostildanfearánat invited gender researcher and head of the Sámi queer organization Gármeres, Elisabeth Stubberud, and Timimie Gassko Märak (a Sámi poet, spoken word artist, protector of queer and Sámi rights and “professional homo”) to have a conversation about the many ways that Sámi culture relates to gender, sexuality and relations in what today can be called queer ways.

 

Credit: ALL AUDIO COURTESY VOSTILDANFEARÁNAT—SÁMI STORIES OF RESISTANCE.

A person shown from the shoulders up, with dark hair in a bun on top of their head, golden jewelry, and wearing a red, blue, and yellow appliquéd garment.
COURTESY TUULA SHARMA VASSVIK.

Contributor biography

Tuula Sharma Vassvik is an Indigenous Sámi researcher, activist and artist working within Indigenous methodologies, indigenization and traditional knowledge. She now works as advisor for Sámi museasearvi, the Sami museum association on the Norwegian side of Sápmi. 

“Vuostildanfearánat—Sámi stories of resistance” is a podcast made in collaboration with the research project Arctic Silkroad (UiT—The Arctic University of Norway). The podcast is in English to further facilitate connections with allies and other people affected by colonialism today, focusing on Sámi ways of resisting neo-colonial attacks on nature and Sámi ways of life.

This story is part of the Sámi Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.