The Sámi Pathfinders: Addressing the Knowledge Gap in Norwegian Mainstream Education

Genealogy Pub Date : 2024-07-02 DOI:10.3390/genealogy8030086
Kimble Walsh-Knarvik
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Abstract

For at least two decades, lack of knowledge about the Sámi in Norway has been recognised as a reason for the perpetuation of stereotypes and discriminatory acts and hate speech towards them. Education about the Sámi, their lifeways, culture and rights is posited as a means of closing this gap, with the intention of influencing the majority Norwegian society’s attitudes towards the Sámi. The relatively new Norwegian curriculum (LK20) reflects this understanding. It requires teachers at every level of the educational system to include Sámi perspectives and themes in all subjects. This paper looks at how Indigenous Education is included in mainstream schools in Norway. It asks, if Indigenous Education can provide a counterbalance to existing stereotypes and discrimination of the Sámi People, then what kind of knowledge is sufficient to this end? To explore this, I specifically consider the efforts of the Sámi Pathfinders—a group of young Sámi adults (18–25 years) who visit and provide lectures about Sámi history, language and culture for Norwegian high school pupils. Through semi-structured interviews with five Pathfinders, I explored what kind of Indigenous Education they provide, how the Pathfinders interpret their role in relation to combatting stereotypes and discrimination, and their perception of the impact they have. Through reflexive thematic analysis, this study confirmed that there is a lack of knowledge about the Sámi in mainstream education. It also shows that most teachers did not prepare their pupils for the Pathfinders’ visit. Although the Pathfinders’ visit arguably improved pupils’ and teachers’ knowledge about the Sámi, this research suggests that how and how often knowledge is presented matters. It also suggests that who presents knowledge is a factor. Indigenous knowledge that is coupled with contact that is sufficiently close, positive and frequent has greater potential in altering discriminatory tendencies towards the Sámi.
萨米开拓者:缩小挪威主流教育的知识差距
至少二十年来,人们一直认为对挪威萨米人缺乏了解是造成对萨米人的成见、歧视行为和仇恨言论长期存在的原因。关于萨米人、其生活方式、文化和权利的教育被认为是缩小这一差距的一种手段,其目的是影响挪威社会大多数人对萨米人的态度。相对较新的挪威课程(LK20)反映了这一认识。它要求教育系统各个层次的教师在所有科目中纳入萨米人的观点和主题。本文探讨了挪威如何将土著教育纳入主流学校。本文提出的问题是,如果土著教育可以抵消目前对萨米人的成见和歧视,那么什么样的知识才足以达到这一目的?为了探讨这个问题,我特别考虑了萨米人探路者(Sámi Pathfinders)--一群年轻的萨米成年人(18-25岁)--所做的努力,他们访问萨米人,并为挪威中学生举办有关萨米历史、语言和文化的讲座。通过对五名 "开拓者 "进行半结构式访谈,我探讨了他们提供何种土著教育、"开拓者 "如何解释自己在消除陈规定型观念和歧视方面的作用,以及他们对自己所产生的影响的看法。通过反思性专题分析,这项研究证实,主流教育中缺乏有关萨米人的知识。研究还表明,大多数教师没有让学生为开拓者的访问做好准备。虽然开拓者之行可以说增进了学生和教师对萨米人的了解,但这项研究表明,如何以及多长时间介绍一次知识很重要。研究还表明,由谁介绍知识也是一个因素。土著知识加上足够密切、积极和频繁的接触,更有可能改变对萨米人的歧视倾向。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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