Learning the Sámi language outside of the Sámi core area in Norway

Abstract

We analyze how the implementation of the Norwegian policy on the Sámi language in school has shaped some Norwegian-speaking Sámi youths’ experiences and challenges of language learning. The research was conducted in Alta, Finnmark county. The youths interviewed in this study have had education in the Sámi language for the larger part, or for the entirety, of their primary and secondary education. Semi-structured interviews were used to cover important topics, in thematic narratives. In the youths’ narratives, “a hidden transcript” (Scott, James C. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance. Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) seems to permeate. They experienced Sámi language learning to be in Eidheim's ([1969. “When Ethnic Identity Is a Social Stigma.” In Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference, edited by Fredrik Barth, 39–57. Boston: Little, Brown and Company], 49) terms a “closed Sámi sphere”. We argue that in this particular context the schools’ institutional frames and practical implementation lead to sphering of what is considered Sámi and what is considered Norwegian. This makes it difficult, or maybe even impossible, for these youths to obtain the level of fluency in the North Sámi language that they strive for.