TechnoVisions of a Sámi Cyborg: Reclaiming Sámi Body-, Land-, and Waterscapes After a Century of Colonial Exploitations in Sábme

Abstract

I had reached the age of 42 when I was told that I am Sámi, of the indigenous people of Fenno-Scandia. This article draws on my personal experiences and insights since the day I learned about my hidden family history and started understanding the silences and shame as part of an aggressive colonization by the Swedish state towards my people, my culture, our lands, waters, memories, and bodies. In the article, I turn to the Sámi tradition of yoiking to narrate, remember, empower, and heal. I set out for a quest for my own voice, as a Sámi woman in academia, struggling in an aggressive natural resource exploiting colonial system which is a constant threat to Sámi culture, tradition, health, well-being, and long-term survival. Through the blending of feminist technoscience, storytelling, ego-histoire, and lived experiences -- a corporeality and the Sámi tradition of yoiking -- I create a space for my own version of the production of history and decolonization.