Don’t miss this free lecture! Troy is not only incredibly knowledgeable and perceptive, he’s a great guy.

Professor Troy Storfjell

Scandinavian Colonialism and Sámi Resilience
Thursday, November 29, 2012
7:00 PM

From the Scandinavian Cultural Center’s newsletter:

Pacific Lutheran University’s Professor Troy Storfjell presents a stirring lecture that’s not to be missed. For five centuries the Scandinavian and Russian states have colonized the indigenous Sámi people, taking their land, suppressing their religion, and attempting to destroy their language, identity, and way of life. As part of that project the colonizers have invested enormous efforts into defining the Sámi as an inferior race and creating an understanding of this arctic people as subordinate and doomed to extinction. Yet, despite this onslaught, Sámi language, culture, and identity continue to thrive. Even in the face of increasing racism, hostility and violence today, Sámi cultural workers, scholars, and politicians continue to build on the gains of past decades in the struggle for language preservation, self-determination, and cultural autonomy. Because despite the pervasiveness of the colonizing cultures, Sámi ways of doing things have tremendous staying power, and Sámi culture tremendous resilience.

I couldn’t find the address on their website, but Mapquest says the Scandinavian Cultural Center is located at 12598 Park Avenue South, Tacoma, WA. If you want to carpool or hang out with others before or after the lecture, leave a comment on the Facebook event page.

Troy will be teaching a 5-week class on Sámi culture this January, the first course of its kind (at least to my knowledge) in the Pacific Northwest. The catalog description: “Through a variety of media students will be introduced to the Indigenous Sámi of northern Scandinavia and Russia, and will develop an understanding of Sámi culture, history, and worldviews, as well as of contemporary issues concerning the Sámi and other Indigenous peoples, including peoples in the United States. In English.” Look for SCAN 286 on the course schedule here.

Moai gulahalle! (We’ll be in touch!)

—Julie