The State of Sápmi marks the 70th anniversary of the Saami Council
This issue of the State of Sápmi, featuring 70 years of the Saami Council, is launched as a part of the Interreg Aurora funded project ReCap ASáp: Regaining capacity in a changing Sápmi. Photo: Saami Council / Piera Heaika Muotka
The latest issue of The State of Sápmi marks the 70th anniversary of the Saami Council, which was founded at the 2nd Saami Conference in Kárášjohka/Karasjok on 18 August 1956.
Katri Somby. Private photo.
The issue consists of an article by historian Katri Somby, tracing the history of the Saami Council and the Saami Conferences – from the early years of Sámi cooperation across state borders to the Council’s role in the international movement for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The article is titled “Mii fertet fas deaivvadit” – “We Must Meet Again” – and explores how Sámi cooperation developed through meetings, dialogue and organizing across the state borders that divide Sápmi.
Somby traces this development from early cooperation on duodji and culture to the emergence of a shared Sámi political voice. Over the decades, the Saami Conferences became important arenas for decisions on language, culture, political programmes, national symbols and international cooperation.
The article also shows how, from the 1970s onwards, the Saami Council took on an increasingly prominent international role, including through cooperation with other Indigenous Peoples and its work to advance Indigenous rights within the United Nations system.
“The Saami Council was founded on a simple but powerful idea: that we, the Sámi, are one People”
Per-Olof Nutti, President of the Saami Council. Photo: Saami Council / Piera Heaika Muotka
– The Saami Council was founded on a simple but powerful idea: that we, the Sámi, are one People, writes Per-Olof Nutti, President of the Saami Council, in the foreword.
This idea has remained central to the Saami Council’s work for 70 years: strengthening cooperation among Sámi across borders, languages and political realities, and advancing Sámi self-determination both in Sápmi and internationally.
The anniversary issue is part of The State of Sápmi, a popular science periodical published by the Saami Council.
This issue of the State of Sápmi, featuring 70 years of the Saami Council, is launched as a part of the Interreg Aurora funded project ReCap ASáp: Regaining capacity in a changing Sápmi, which aims to improve the knowledge base and to promote inclusion in decision making that affects the Sámi people.
The issue will be published digitally on 18 August, exactly 70 years after the Saami Council was established.
The latest issue of the State of Sápmi can be found here:
About the journal
The State of Sápmi is a Saami Council publication featuring research-based articles, essays and analysis on Sámi society, politics, history and the rights of the Sámi people.
The journal explores socio-political issues affecting the Sámi people across Sápmi, with a focus on self-determination, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, land use, governance, culture and the implementation of international human rights standards.
Published as thematic issues, The State of Sápmi brings together perspectives from researchers, experts, practitioners and Sámi knowledge holders. The publication aims to make complex questions accessible to a wider audience and to contribute to informed public debate.
The State of Sápmi builds on a broader tradition of Sámi knowledge production and scholarship concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including earlier platforms such as Gáldu Čála.