Bures eatnehat First -- Rájit Boundaries -- Mearráriikkas In the Realm of the Sea -- Gaskaija vuostá in vuolgge I Will Not Travel toward Midnight -- Goahtoeanan, báze dearván Farewell, My Homeland -- Stuoranjárga The Last Summer but One -- Ná dat lea ipmil gohččun neavrri dahkat God Gave This Job to the Devil Himself -- Hearráváldi Subjugation -- Dat lávii juoigat Sárevuomi How the Joiking Faded Away -- Amas riikkas A Strange Land -- Dáppe láidestit eará jienain, gilljot iežá huvkimiin They Lead the Reindeer in a Different Language Here -- Oappát ja vieljat Last -- Giittán Acknowledgments -- Appendix: Translated documents -- Glossary -- Photography captions and credits.
Summary:
"In a remarkable blend of historical reportage, memoir, and lyrical reimagining, Elin Anna Labba travels to northern Norway and Sweden, the lost homeland of her ancestors, to tell of the forced displacement of the Indigenous Sámi in the early twentieth century. Through stories, photographs, letters, and joik lyrics, she gathers a chorus of Sámi expression that resonates across the years, evoking the nomadic life they were required to abandon and the immense hardship they endured"-- Provided by publisher. "The deep and personal story-told through history, poetry, and images-of the forced displacement of the Sámi people from their homeland in northern Norway and Sweden and its reverberations today More than a hundred years have passed since the Sámi were forcibly displaced from their homes in northern Norway and Sweden, a hundred years since Elin Anna Labba's ancestors and relations drove their reindeer over the strait to the mainland for the last time. The place where they lived has remained empty ever since. We carry our homes in our hearts, Labba shares, citing the Sámi poet Áillohaš. How do you bear that weight if you were forced to leave? In a remarkable blend of historical reportage, memoir, and lyrical reimagining, Labba travels to the lost homeland of her ancestors to tell of the forced removal of the Sámi in the early twentieth century and to reclaim a place in history, and in today's world, for these Indigenous people of northern Scandinavia. When Norway became a country independent from Sweden in 1905, the two nations came to an agreement that called for the displacement of the Northern Sámi, who spent summers on the Norwegian coast and winters in Sweden. This "dislocation," as the authorities called it, gave rise to a new word in Sámi language, bággojohtin, forced displacement. The first of the sirdolaččat, or "the displaced," left their homes fully believing they would soon return. Through stories, photographs, letters, and joik lyrics, Labba gathers a chorus of Sámi expression that resonates across the years, evoking the nomadic life they were required to abandon and the immense hardship and challenges they endured: children left behind with relatives, reindeer lost when they returned to familiar territory, sorrow and estrangement that linger through generations. Starkly poetic and emotionally heart-wrenching, this dark history is told through the voices of the sirdolaččat, echoing the displacements of other Indigenous people around the world as it depicts the singular experience of the Northern Sámi. For her extraordinary work, Labba was awarded Sweden's most important national book prize in 2020, the August Prize for Best Nonfiction. "-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.