Recording Sámi Heritage in European Museums

Abstract

The Sámi are the only Indigenous people living in the European Union. During the last 15 years, three larger surveys have been conducted on Sámi collections in Nordic and European museums. Today, Sámi museums have collections of at least 25,000 objects, but, according to our current knowledge, almost 50,000 objects – for example the sacred drums – are in the hands of others. The majority of objects are in Nordic collections, but other European museums house at least 4,000 objects; about 1,600 of these are for example in German museums. In this paper, I wish to reflect upon the experiences we have had during the surveys. I will discuss some challenges we faced and suggest what kind of proceedings could be useful for both sides – for museums in order to get an understanding of the relevance of the objects they guard in their collections and the Indigenous contemporary knowledge about them, and for the Indigenous people who are looking for their cultural heritage in museums across Europe.