Stories of reconciliation enacted in the everyday lives of Sámi tourism entrepreneurs

Abstract

Reconciliation has gained political interest in Norway, where a commission was established in 2018 to investigate the injustices committed in the past towards the Sámi and Kven. In this article, we argue that reconciliation can also be found in the small stories and events enacted in everyday life. Our analyses are based on a collaboration with a Sámi reindeer herding family who, through objects, food and tales, invite visitors to get “A taste of Sápmi”. Through storytelling events, they bring the colonial past into the present. In communicating that “nature is our culture”, these events have become a way to explore and express the interdependency between Sámi practices and landscape. We seek to explore how the act of telling locally embedded stories enables the Sámi entrepreneurs to reconcile with their colonial past. The storytelling events also offer a space for engagement in which visitors can reconcile with their own participation in these encounters.