Portraying another culture, especially an indigenous and oppressed culture, is not something to be taken lightly. I approached this project initially after research from visits to both the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo and Skansen Open-Air Museum in Stockholm which both captured my imagination and taught me about a people I’d not heard of before. The knowledge of the Sámi in the UK, from conversations with friends and family, is virtually non-existent, and my hope with Njálla is to give a brief insight into the incredibly interesting and deeply historical culture of the Sámi and inspire people to learn more. This insight is teamed with a story of my own creation, based loosely around a Finnish myth of the Arctic fox and the Aurora Borealis.
In researching the Sámi, both prior to and during creation of this comic, I have done everything within my means to represent the Sámi with the utmost dignity and respect. Any mention of the Sámi in the past tense within the prelude pages are simply referrals to the historical time period in which the story is set, in contrast to the modern day Sámi. This story only touches on a small area of historic Sámi livelihood, and I would urge you to research the Sámi further for yourself, and discover their rich ancestral history and constant battle to maintain their way of life and religious beliefs.
All links present and correct at last check: 24th April 2016
All links found via online Google searches.
The words and phrases used within the book and comic are of Northern Sámi dialect, and have been researched and checked via the following websites. Any grammatical or spelling errors are wholly unintentional.
Norwegian to North Saami Dictionary: http://sanit.oahpa.no/
Department of Linguistics at Ohio State University online word list: http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~odden/saamidict/Saami%20Online%20Words.htm
Saami Grammar – Vocabulary word list: http://people.uta.fi/~km56049/same/svocab.html
Memrise – Basic Northern Sami I (davvisámegiella): http://www.memrise.com/course/117197/basic-northern-sami-i-davvisamegiella/
Nordic Names – Sámi Female Names: http://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Category:Sami_Female_Names
Political and Cultural Information:
Saami Council: http://www.saamicouncil.net
Arctic Council: http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/about-us/permanent-participants/sc
Nordic Sami Institute: http://samas.no/en
Norwegian Sami Parliament: http://www.samediggi.no
Swedish Sami Parliament: http://www.sametinget.se
Finnish Sami Parliament: http://www.samediggi.fi
Further research points:
World Culture Encyclopedia – Sami: http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Norway-to-Russia/Sami.html
An Overview of Sami Clothing: http://folkcostume.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/overview-of-saami-costume.html
Traditions and Customs of the Sami people: http://traditionscustoms.com/people/sami-people
Visit Sweden – Sápmi and the Sami: http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Things-to-do/Culture-heritage–arts/Sapmi-and-the-Sami/
Visit Norway – Land of the Sami: http://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/northern-norway/land-of-sami/
Visit Finland: – Chill out with the Sámi people: http://www.visitfinland.com/article/chill-out-with-the-sami-people/