fredag 11. mai 2018

A VERY PERSONAL INTERVIEW

This week an issue of iPorsanger was published with a 6 page long interview with me.
This interview was done because of the Johan Kaaven 100 year anniversary event this summer in Lakselv. Johan Kaaven was my great granduncle and a famous shaman.

I was a bit nervous about this interview because it would be the first time I would speak about my realtionship with him, and how I feel about the shamanistic ways that he is famous for.
This interview became really personal and I talked about things I have never talked about before in interviews the same way. I have mentioned things, but not in a such personal way as this time.

The journalist Ann-Helen Gjernumdsen was the perfect woman to interview me because I felt like she understood me. She knew what I was talking about and was interested in the topic, and knew much about the topic. Then it was easier for me to talk freely, cause I knew there was a big chance she would actually understand me correctly - and not just write what she thought I meant. It was a great thing to experience this kind of juornalism, and hopefully I would be able to do more interviews like this in the future.
The pictures turned up great also! I love the background of the fjord in Porsanger and the cold weather.

You can read the interview here. It´s in Norwegian:

https://issuu.com/trykkeriservice/docs/iporsanger_1-2018 



søndag 6. mai 2018

NORWEGIANS DON`T KNOW THEIR OWN HISTORY

It´s strange how many people in Norway think about the Sami history as something that only
concerns the Sami people - and us only. 
They don´t think it´s important for them to learn anything about it. They don´t think its relevant to them,
 becuase they are not Sami…   
But why wouldn´t it? It  concerns everyone, espescially them!. 
This happened in Norway - so its a part of Norwegian history as well. 
Some people have called it “The dark part of Norwegian history” the part that hasn´t been talked about.  
And the same happened is Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Norwegian kids don´t learn about their own history in shcool, it´s actaully NOT a part of their syllabus 
- they learn about other indigneous peoples more then about the indigenous peoples in their own country.

When I talk to people from abroad they have always thought of Norway as a country that cares about 
peoples right, the environment, and are nice, open, and understanding people. 
That we are kind and have alot of understanding and compassion for all people and that we 
don´t discriminate and all is good and so on.
They are shocked to hear what has happened in Norway regarding the Sami people.

Everything sami has been forbidden! The clothes, the language, the culture, they burned the drums and 
clothing and banned joiking and the sami culture! They wanted us to become Norwegian 
-  good Norwegians.
This is called colonisation and we are not yet decolonised unfortunately.  
We just celebrated the 100 years annivarsary since the first poltical Sami meeting. 
Colonisation started long before that, it´s hard to say excatly when - but its hundreds of years ago 
- and we are still misunderstood and discriminated in many ways. Colonisation is still happening.

The first step for us to get closer to a co-exsistence is knowledge. The schools and the whole society 
has the responsability to learn about the history of Norway. What acutally happened and 
why things are like they are now. And we have the right to learn about our own culture and live it!

Many kids growing up don´t even know they are Sami, and as they become adults and do 
some genealogy to find their ancestors, they find out they are Sami, but don´t know anything 
about how to be a Sami person.

I hope for the future that all nordic children get to learn about the Sami people in shcool, 
so that they will have a understanding about our common history, so that we can at least find 
a common ground to stand on and understand each other, so we all have the opportunity 
to live how we want to live.  

Are you surprised to hear that Norwegian kids don´t learn much about Sami people?

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