The indigenous voice in majority media. South Saami representations in Norwegian Regional Press 1880-1990

Abstract

This chapter presents a study of how South Saami people and Saami affairs are represented in central Norwegian regional newspapers from around 1880 to 1990. Papers published in Steinkjer, the regional capital of Nord-Trøndelag County, constitute the bulk of the material. To what extent and how are Saami affairs represented in the newspapers? How do the papers represent South Saami identity? How and why do these representations change and to what extent and how are South Saami voices represented? The predominant topics are Reindeer herding, Saami politics, Education and language, History and culture. The period of my study coincides with the culmination and, from around 1970, the gradual elimination of the Norwegian assimilation policy practised on the Saami population. Social Darwinist or racial biological views are practically non-existent in my material, although quite common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries topographical literature about the Saami. There are examples of stereotyping and othering, mostly before the 1960s, but in general, the regional newspapers inmy study take a respectful interest in Saami affairs, although Saami affairs do not make up a substantial part of the newspaper content until the 1970s.