Kunglig makt och samiska bosättingsmønster. Studier kring Väinö Tanners vinterbyteori

Abstract

Kunglig makt och samiska bosättingsmønster. Studier kring Väinö Tanners vinterbyteori (Royal Power and Sámi Settlement Patterns. Studies concerning Väinö Tanner’s Winter Camp Theory) is a multi-disciplinary historical-archaeological book written by Swedish archaeologist Thomas Wallerström, with contributions from palynologists Ulf Sägerström and Eva-Marie Nordström (chapters 3 and 4). The book is organised in four sections: the Introductory Section (Chapter 1); the Winter Camp Problem (Chapters 2–5); Royal Power in Swedish Lapland (Chapters 6 and 7); and Concluding Reflections (Chapter 8) (as translated to English in the Summary p. 313–322). According to Wallerström, the book focuses on the geographical area of ‘northern Scandinavia’ although ‘northern Fennoscandia with a focus on present-day northern Sweden’ would be more correct. The main objective of the book is a ‘critical investigation into the validity of the “Winter Camp Theory” formulated by the Finnish scholar Väinö Tanner’ (p. 5). The book is a result of a research project led by the author, where the Winter Camp Theory was central to the project’s main hypothesis and research questions. The project’s results seemed to contradict the basic premises of the theory and Wallerström thus positions himself as an apostate to the Winter Camp Theory in the introduction. Wallerström considers the effects of the implementations of royal supremacy (‘the state’) in the north during the early modern period as an alternative and more promising path of inquiry (Chapter 1). The Winter Camp Theory is ascribed to Väinö Tanner and his synthesis of eastern Sámi societies (‘Skolt Laps’) in his cultural-geographical studies of the Petsamo district (Tanner 1929). Tanner’s theory is presented in the Introduction, and scrutinised in detail in Chapter 2. According to Tanner, the winter camp was essential to the eastern Sámi. While otherwise extensively dispersed in base camps in the siidas’ geographical area during the spring, summer and autumn seasons, all households belonging to the siida gathered in nucleated settlements during the four winter months, from late December to late March/early April. The eastern Sámi winter camp was the arena where the norraz, an assembly of family elders with a formal leader, decided legal matters and siida policies. The settlement pattern and societal organisation of the eastern Sámi in the 1920s were considered to be the last, decaying relict of an ancient pan-Sámi way of life. Tanner claimed that his synthesis gave insight into Sámi societies untarnished by influence of the modern national states. He also claimed that similar societies had existed in all parts of Sápmi. Wallerström’s investigation was carried out as a review of the Winter Camp Theory’s genealogy, its subsequent history of impact on the scientific study of Sámi (pre-) history, as well as being an assessment of the theory’s overall validity (Section 1 and 2). Sections 3 and 4 are devoted to Wallerström’s own case study where the Winter Camp Theory is more or less declared invalid. Tanner’s Winter Camp Theory was, in part, formulated in dialogue with ideas presented by the Swedish lappologist K.B. Wiklund in 1922 (p. 53). The Finnish historian and ethnologist, Helmer Tegengren published his seminal work on the ‘extinct’ Kemi Lappmark siidas in present day Finland in 1952. His historical reconstruction implicitly relied on Tanner’s Winter Camp model, although he hardly found references to Tanner necessary (p. 65). Wallerström’s description of the theory’s genealogy focuses on these three pivotal stages, Wiklunds sketchy