ABSTRACT

Indigenous peoples live their modernity alongside majority populations and global change processes. This is the case with indigenous Saami who descend from a long lineage of nomadic reindeer-herding families and who now live and herd reindeer in and around the small tourism town of Kilpisjärvi (Gilbbesjávri), Finland. Saami reindeer nomadism was a highly mobile way of life at the turn of the twentieth century. However, as many Saami now live a more settled life, their culture is in constant danger of becoming engulfed by various developments, including tourism and the various forms of land use. This essay focuses on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in the region and on its dynamic changes. The essay illustrates the Saami struggle, not just with holding their ground with respect to other interest groups, but also with how their actions aim to maintain local visibility of their culture, while also ensuring a respect towards a right to agency and to culture change on their own terms. The essay’s methodological findings emphasise the importance of both long-term research partnerships and of participant observation in ethnographic work, stressing how attentive “loitering around” may lay the groundwork for other forms of research methodologies and auxiliary research materials.

摘要

土著人民与多数人口和全球变化进程一起过着现代生活。土著萨米人就是这种情况，他们来自长期的游牧驯鹿家庭世系，现在在旅游小镇基尔皮斯耶尔维 ( Gilbbesjávri)及其周围生活和放牧驯鹿。），芬兰。在 20 世纪之交，萨米人驯鹿游牧是一种高度流动的生活方式。然而，由于许多萨米人现在过着更加安定的生活，他们的文化不断面临被各种发展所吞没的危险，包括旅游业和各种形式的土地利用。本文重点关注该地区的纵向民族志田野调查及其动态变化。这篇文章阐述了萨米族人的斗争，不仅是为了在其他利益集团面前坚守阵地，而且还展示了他们的行动如何旨在保持其文化在当地的知名度，同时还确保尊重代理权和文化变革的权利他们自己的条件。这篇论文的方法论发现强调了长期研究伙伴关系和参与式观察在人种学工作中的重要性，