Thursday, August 29
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
All My Relations Art Gallery
1414 East Franklin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55404
This event is free and open to the public.
Being Sami no longer means making a living by herding reindeer in the far northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In a Finnish documentary, The Sami (Sapmelas) many Sami who have followed work to the big cities of northern Europe reflect on changes they have experienced within their lifetimes, as they have become musicians, store clerks, a film director, a school kid, an artist, a young mother, and, as a counterpoint, a couple engaged in traditional reindeer-herding.
Co-directors Anastasia Lapsui (a radio journalist in Salekhard, and part of a Nenets language program) and Markku Lehmuskallio (Seven Songs from the Tundra, 1999, Mothers of Life, 2001, and A Bride of the Seventh Heaven, 2004) explore the Sami diaspora, ask if the change of life-style and surroundings has transformed the uniquely Sami way of looking at the world. Sami speak candidly of what "being Sami" means to them, in ways that show the adaptiveness of tradition despite the hardships
The film will be screened in Sami, Finnish and Swedish with English subtitles.
After the film we will have discussion and Q&A with two leading Sami scholars from Finland. Professor Veli-Pekka Lehtola (University of Oulu) has authored 12 books and about 70 scientific articles on the history of the Sami and Lapland and on contemporary Sami art. Dr. Irja Seurujärvi-Kari is a lecturer and the director of multidisciplinary Sami studies program at the University of Helsinki. In addition to her academic career, Seurujärvi-Kari has been a member of the Sami Parliament.
Sponsored by: The Institute for Global Studies, All My Relations Art Gallery, The American Swedish Institute, Government of Finland/David and Nancy Speer Visiting Professorship in Finnish Studies, European Studies Consortium
