Today I saw someone on the internet say that Sámi people aren't indigenous, therefore I'd like to encourage everyone to read about Sámi people 😊 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1...
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This was brilliantly eye-opening and interesting to read! Thanks for sharing to get everyone on the same page, Kats!
may 17, 2025, 2:50 pm • 1 0 • view
may 17, 2025, 11:19 am • 2 0 • view
Also, I highly recommend the book Liberating Sápmi. It was made by a non-Sámi but mostly includes interviews and input from Sámi.
jul 8, 2025, 3:44 am • 1 0 • view
This is interesting! Over the years, I've heard ppl discuss Lapland & going there to visit. I never knew exactly where it was, but I guess it's actually called Sápmi now? And the Sámi ppl are sometimes called Laplanders, which they find offensive. How long has it been called Sápmi?
may 17, 2025, 2:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Lappland and Sápmi are overlapping regions, but they're not the same and didn't change names, so that's one reason to why Sámi people find it offensive to be called Lapp (Laplander) and another reason is that they didn't pick that name themselves.
may 17, 2025, 3:30 pm • 1 0 • view
Sápmi is called different things in the different Sámi languages (there are nine). Swedish Lappland is a province in Sweden and Finnish Lappland is a province in Finland. Both provinces are called Lappland in Swedish and Lappi in Finnish.
may 17, 2025, 3:30 pm • 1 0 • view
Sápmi spans over the northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway and a small part of Russia, and they have their own Sámi parliaments (one in Sweden, one in Finland and one in Norway). So Sápmi is bigger than Swedish Lappland and Finnish Lappland combined, and also has different borders.
may 17, 2025, 3:30 pm • 1 0 • view
Sápmi isn't autonomous, and a lot of non-Sámi people also live in Sápmi, but Sámi people do have say in some things, most prominently things regarding their culture and languages.
may 17, 2025, 3:30 pm • 1 0 • view
This is all so interesting! I read it twice to take it all in. I guess this also explains why the ppl I've heard talk about Lapland, who I'm pretty sure were Finnish, called it that and not Sápmi.
may 17, 2025, 6:38 pm • 0 0 • view
In Sweden I never hear anyone say they'll visit Lappland, it's more of a word you'd hear in geography class. People usually say that they'll visit a specific city, village or mountain chain, or just that they're going north or to fjällen ("the mountains"). It's probably different in Finland.
may 18, 2025, 10:59 am • 1 0 • view
I'd say Sápmi is a bit like that too, you don't really say that you'll travel to Sápmi. Since a lot of non-Sámi people live in Sápmi too, you probably only refer to it as Sápmi when talking about specific Sámi villages or things like reindeer herding regions, or politics.
may 18, 2025, 10:59 am • 1 0 • view
It's very common to refer to specific cities, villages and mountain chains instead. For example I've been to Vilhemina, which is in Sápmi but I wouldn't say that I'll visit Sápmi if I go to Vilhelmina, since most people who live in Vilhelmina aren't Sámi. So it's a bit of a case to case thing.
may 18, 2025, 10:59 am • 1 0 • view
@pomelosims.bsky.social, how does this work in Finland?
may 18, 2025, 10:59 am • 0 0 • view