The Sámi cultural landscape as the scene of collective memory and identity — challenges in preserving

ABSTRACT

The cultural landscape carries symbolic values or at least narratives that inspire experiences and create identities. Landscape is not just what we see but also how we see it: we use our eyes but interpret with our minds and ascribe values to the landscape for intangible reasons. Heritage protection seeks to save cultural values. In the northernmost part of Europe there are strong non-visible local elements of the Sámi landscape, but they are not always visible to the professionals evaluating it. Understanding tangible and intangible values of the landscape is crucial for guiding planning and land use. For the Sámi people, their cultural landscape is created through interactions between humans and nature over the course of many generations. The general Finnish view emphasises a cultural landscape as something modified and built by humans, and the Sámi region has been interpreted as a wilderness in the regional or even the national cultural landscape inventories. Being able to identify important values in the landscape allows the Sámi cultural heritage to carry itself forward and, thus, to help maintain the vitality of the Sámi culture. This article presents a contribution for specific challenges connected with the Sámi cultural landscapes and land use in northern Finland.

Keywords:

• Cultural landscape
• inventory
• local communities
• place identity
• Sámi
• valuation