The Cosmopolitical Dynamics of S谩mi Oral Stories
Join us for our next talk in the UAF Anthropology Colloquium Series featuring L茅opold Beyaert on 鈥淭he Cosmopolitical Dynamics of S谩mi Oral Stories鈥! Discover how storytelling and yoiks (traditional S谩mi songs) shape the S谩mi's engagement with their territory and culture, while facing modern challenges like climate change and industrial pressure. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about S谩mi traditions and contemporary life!
This event is brought to you by the UAF Department of Anthropology. All are welcome to attend this event, it is free and open to the public.
Abstract
How does storytelling enable the S谩mi to know and reinterpret their territory, and thus engage with the contemporary world as S谩mi? For many young S谩mi, the relationship with S谩mi stories and yoiks (S谩mi songs) is a precious source of meaning and personality at a time when industrial pressure on the Arctic territory is increasing and climate change is darkening the horizon. The S谩mi are dealing with modernity in an innovative and pragmatic way, in the spirit of S谩mi traditions, in order to pursue and renew their territoriality and defend their cultural identity. S谩mi oral literature is not so much apprehended by the S谩mi as archival documents outside the present time, but rather is actively reinterpreted and rearticulated into the actions of their daily lives and their projects. From oral narratives to S谩mi music and yoiks, S谩mi oral literature thus feeds into the S谩mi鈥檚 most current practical and cosmopolitical fields.
L茅opold Beyaert
L茅opold Beyaert is a PhD candidate in social anthropology at UCLouvain in Belgium.