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Question about Scandinavian "Sami" people?
I heard a woman talking on NPR yesterday and she referred to the Sami as being "aboriginal" or some such term that implied to me that they were the native people in Scandinavia and the Scandinavian people were what? interlopers or something. I know their language is different and their lifestyle is different, but in the first place, haven't the Scandinavians been in Norway for a long time too? In America we usually have to have visual cues to be prejudiced against anyone, and to me the Sami look identical to any other northern European. Please explain the cultural and class issues and why they are considered more "native" than the Scandinavians.
Just to clarify -- what I don't understand is what makes the Sami indigenous. Were the Sami all living happily when the Swedes and Norwegians came from some distant land and settled? I think the Swedes and Norwegians ( and Danes) were there all along too.
I don't know how long "all along" is, but this is my question. My ancestors came from northern Norway and there was some talk once that my great (or great great) grandmother was a Lapplander, but otherwise they're Scandinavian, by which I mean Norwegian speaking.
Just to clarify -- what I don't understand is what makes the Sami indigenous. Were the Sami all living happily when the Swedes and Norwegians came from some distant land and settled? I think the Swedes and Norwegians ( and Danes) were there all along too.
I don't know how long "all along" is. I probably know more, although vaguely, about England than Norway -- Celts invaded Angles, invaded by the Saxons, with influences by the Romans and French along the way. So where were the Scandinavians before they came north, and when did the Sami get there?
1 Answer
- hopflowerLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people
It is not at all prejudiced to point out that some people are the indigenous ones in an area. You are a bit confused there.
