From Lapland to Sápmi

Barbara Sjoholm is a writer, editor, and translator of Danish and Norwegian literature. Her translations include By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends, also from Minnesota. She is the author of several works of fiction and nonfiction, including Black Fox: A Life of Emilie Demant Hatt, Artist and Ethnographer.

"An important contribution to SÁmi stories of loss, recovery, and the struggle for equality, as well as the right to manage one’s own cultural heritage on one’s own terms. As Barbara Sjoholm charts the transformation of Lapland to SÁpmi in objects, joiks, and storytelling, SÁmi voices emerge to share essential aspects of their history. As we say in SÁpmi, ‘ČÁlli giehta ollÁ guhkÁs-A writing hand reaches far.’"-KÁren Elle Gaup, coeditor of BÅÅstede: The Return of SÁmi Cultural Heritage"Barbara Sjoholm’s From Lapland to SÁpmi chronicles in vivid words and images the colonial encounters of SÁmi and non-SÁmi as told through the objects, images, and recordings that eventually became sequestered in Nordic museums and archives. It also tells the inspiring story of efforts to recover and return these items to their rightful communities as part of SÁmi decolonization and self-determination."-Thomas A. DuBois, coauthor of SÁmi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North"Fascinating and important, From Lapland to SÁpmi presents a nuanced and enlightening look at the cultural history of objects and collections originating in SÁpmi. With rich detail and riveting storytelling, Barbara Sjoholm presents a diverse picture of the north and its entangled histories of collecting in SÁpmi. I heartily recommend it for students and scholars."-Trude Fonneland, The Arctic University Museum of TromsØ "Barbara Sjoholm's new book takes you on a remarkable journey. What emerges from this insightful study is an important cultural history of the Indigenous SÁmi people in northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. This book traces how scholars, clergy, and other collectors actively worked to shape how we understand (and misunderstand) the SÁmi people and their world. By exploring how the materials crafted by the SÁmi have been gathered, studied, and displayed, Sjoholm offers a glimpse into how knowledge has been constructed, controlled, and disseminated over time. People have been writing about the SÁmi since the 1500s, but as From Lapland to SÁpmi demonstrates, the SÁmi culture became a testing ground for emergent sciences like ethnography and archaeology, fields that encouraged participants to gather objects for museums across Europe and beyond. This is a story with important ramifications for the world today."-Samuel J. Redman, author of The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilience and Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology"There is much of great interest that readers can learn from this book."-UP Book Review"Many will find From Lapland to SÁpmi to be a sensitive, engaging, and informative work by an author with a deep, apparent love of SÁmi culture and solid experience in museum and archival research."-Art Libraries Society of North America"In sum, From Lapland to SÁpmi is a much needed work that shines a light on the many lives of colonial objects and the ways that Scandinavian countries have made attempts at repatriation. Sjoholm's book makes considerable ground in understanding the ways that indigenous people can become the arbiters once again of their own cultural property while telling a long-spanning and multifaceted history of colonization."-H-Net Reviews"A thoughtful book that addresses difficult questions about the symbolic and physical power of both intangible and tangible SÁmi cultural heritage that was collected, and importantly, recollected, throughout the past 400 years."-H-Soz-Kult"Sjoholm presents a sophisticated but accessible approach to addressing complex questions regarding SÁmi-made objects, handicraft, and collecting practices that will undoubtedly resonate with anthropological scholars, museum professionals, students, and cultural enthusiasts alike. This book provides valuable insights into the broader discourse on cultural preservation, repatriation, and Indigenous agency within the fields of museum studies, anthropology, and history of circumpolar peoples."-Museum Anthropology"For those with an interest in the SÁmi people, their craft, and their culture, this book will make a very interesting read as Ms. Sjoholm does a masterful job of sharing the story of the acquisition, distribution, and recovery of the objects and artifacts belonging to the SÁmi people."-Swedish American Genealogist"With rich detail, a large cast of characters, and riveting storytelling, Sjoholm presents a multifaceted picture of the history of collecting in SÁmi areas, with an emphasis on Norway and Sweden. In an inspiring effort to provide a more symmetrical account, Sjoholm also draws attention to Nordic colonialism and the ways collecting has been entangled with the different policies toward the SÁmi put in place by the Lutheran Church and state authorities in these countries and the SÁmi’s struggle to counteract such forces.... [From Lapland to SÁpmi] is thoroughly researched, refreshing in its perspectives, and a pleasure to read."-Scandinavian Studies"Always a gifted writer, Sjoholm weaves together compelling stories of the people involved with these processes of extraction, exhibition, and return." -Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal"The book is clearly written, and impeccably researched, drawing equally on primary and secondary print sources, and augmented with interviews the author conducted during her travels through SÁpmi." -Journal of Folklore Research"A well-researched and engagingly written scholarly work about the SÁmi people and their cultural beliefs and artifacts." -The Norwegian American