Some Positive Moments in the Relations between Tromsø Sami and the Local Society

According to Informants 9 and 17, the Sami National Day is, perhaps, the only day in the year when Sami appear in mass media in the connection to some positive events.

In spite of the Tromsø Administrative Language Area conflict where the authorities of the municipality took the side of those who were against including Tromsø in the area, on the Sami National Day the mayor – who, as I have mentioned before, is not a Sami - addresses Tromsø Sami community in the Sami language (written for him) wearing the traditional Sami costume. I consider the mayor’s language and costume used for greeting the Sami people to be a sharp detail in the negotiations between the society and the Sami community. I believe that with the help of this detail, the mayor, as a representative of the Norwegian authorities, wants to show his respect to the Tromsø Sami community, his positive attitude towards them and the will to collaborate. Informant 17 considers the detail to be not only sharp but also strong: by using it “you bind yourself to the case”. “It is a dangerous symbol [as well],”

continues Informant 17, “because it is something which will be remembered: ‘You, guy, put on a Sami costume and said nice things!’ I mean it is strong, very strong. It is dangerous if you don’t follow it, and do something afterwards. You have to remember”.

Informant 6, a middle-aged Tromsø Sami activist, on the contrary, criticizes the mayor’s action: “There is something very double about being in that building [the City Hall]

because yes, in a way it shows respect, but why does then he say ‘no’ to Tromsø being a part of the Sami Administrative Language Area? He is only saying that his attitude [towards Sami]

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is very positive. Yes, it’s good. I am glad about it but what I would like to hear is: ‘Ok, what is Tromsø municipality REALLY doing and going to do politically about Sami issues?’”.

Actually, the informant is right: nice words will not be able to improve the Tromsø Sami situation.

Concerning the mayor’s speech and the arrangement of the celebration of the Sami National Day at the City Hall, Informant 6 says: “I think it takes too much of a place, because it’s in a way our day. I do not mean that we should exclude other people from attending, but it should be the Sami people and the Sami guests. He [the mayor] puts himself in the center and says: ‘Ok, these are the frames and you can do the celebration there’. And, maybe, for me it’s very important that we kind of define the framework ourselves”. I do not agree with this point of view as only with the involvement of the municipality in the arrangement and celebration of Sami Day the holiday became popular and attracted numerous participants, including the Sami people who decided to join Tromsø Sami community. In my mind, the involvement of the municipality in the celebration of the Sami National Day has a good effect on Tromsø Sami identity.

Conclusion to the Chapter

In this chapter I have dealt with the fourth and last level of my model and researched the acceptance of Tromsø Sami identity by the local Norwegian society. I found out that during the celebration of the Sami National Day, which nowadays takes the whole week, a lot of positive things are done by the municipality of Tromsø in terms of the support and promotion of Sami culture. Moreover, the events are visited by Norwegians, the number of which is slowly growing.

However, as another set of the results of my research shows, in everyday life most Norwegians are ignorant to the Sami and Sami issues, while others express their negative attitude towards the indigenous people. The reason for this, in my mind, is the remnants of the policy of Norwegianization that is still kept in the minds of some Norwegians. I should mention that the results of my research work can’t reflect the whole Norwegian society; they can only show some patterns of its development. For example, the words of Ravdna Buljo Gaup, a representative of NRK Sami Radio and Television, show us the existence of a different pattern in the Norwegian society: nowadays the highest ratings are obtained by

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programs about Sami culture in Norwegian. What is significant for my research is that the main listeners of these programs are Norwegians (Gaup 2013 [lecture]). This means that there ARE Norwegians that are interested in learning more about the Sami people and their culture.

Having researched the situation concerning the relations between Tromsø Sami community and Norwegians living in the city, I have come to the conclusion that the symbols of Tromsø Sami identity are not totally accepted by the local Norwegian society, in other words, Tromsø Sami identity has reached the last level of its development (according to my research model), but it has not covered it yet. An indicator of this is the big Sami Administrative Language Area conflict that happened in Tromsø in 2011 and revealed the inner tensions between the local Norwegians and Sami. This event that is still being debated in society shows that there is still some tension between the groups. I believe that it will take long time for the local Norwegian society to recognize the Sami as equal.

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