Ethically ethnic: the ethno-culturalization of the moral conduct of the Sámi and the Roma in the governance in Finland between the 1850s and 1930s

Abstract

Although there was no focused administration of ethnic minorities in Finland until the last decades of the twentieth century, there was a variety of rationalities, techniques and practices of governance used for their conduct. In this article, I analyse how the governance of the Roma and the Sámi – the two biggest minorities at the time – changed after the mid-1800s, when the new ethno-cultural understanding of population spread throughout administration and governing bodies. This Foucauldian analysis concentrates on the descent of this ‘event’, the social and political conditions of its emergence and the actual changes it entailed in the governance of these minorities.

Keywords:

• ethos
• genealogy
• governance
• the Roma
• the Sámi

Notes

1. The Sámi and the Roma are considered ‘traditional ethnic minorities’ in minority political discourses. ‘Traditional’ refers to a minority that has inhabited the areas of Finland already before the independence and managed to keep its culture alive despite assimilation attempts (Daher et al. 2012). In the light of present archaeological and linguistic knowledge, the first dwellers came to the areas of the present Sámi homeland from the east and south-east over 10,000 years ago. Genetic research has shown that they were the ancestors of the Sámi. However, their language was most probably not a Finno-Ugric language, variations of which the ancestors of both the Finns and the Sámi have spoken since approximately 4000–3000 years ago. The first administrative sources about the Sámi in the Swedish administration are from 1328, when their rights to the northern fishing and hunting lands were guaranteed by the Chancellor of Justice Knut Jonsson (Enbuske 2008, p. 156). The Sámi also have an official legal status of an indigenous minority and their rights to their own culture are mentioned in the Constitution of Finland. The size of the Sámi population is 9000 people in Finland today. Less than 50% of the Sámi live in their traditional Sámi homeland, which is constituted by the three northernmost municipalities of Finland and the northernmost part of the Sodankylä municipality. Most Sámi live in towns and cities in northern and southern parts of Finland, such as Helsinki (over 1000 Sámi) and Rovaniemi (over 600). There are three different Sámi languages in Finland: (i) Northern Sámi with some 2200 speakers, (ii) Skolt Sámi and (iii) Inari Sámi both with 400 speakers. The constitution also explicitly the Roma people and their rights to their own culture. Today, the Roma population numbers about 10,000. Although almost all the Roma understand the Romani language, only the elder population use it in their everyday communication. The exact number of speakers is not known, but the estimations vary between 2500 and 5000 people. The first literary sources of the Roma in the present territory of Finland are from the year 1559, when the Duke of Finland sent a commandment to the bailiff of the Åland islands (an archipelago between Finland and Sweden) with a strict command to end their ‘illegal trade’ (Pulma 2006, p. 32).

2. In Foucauldian analysis, ‘rationality’ or ‘political rationality’ or ‘governmental rationality’ means a leading idea of government, a historically constructed widespread discourse that government/governance is based on. Usual such rationalities in Foucauldian studies are political economy, liberalism, welfare of the population and security of the nation, for instance. ‘Technology’ or ‘technique’ refers to the practical implementations of rationalities, i.e. the means that are used in governance to gain certain ends in line with a certain rationality or rationalities (Dean 1999, pp. 38–43, Rose 1999, p. 52).

3. By ‘ethos manuscripts’ I mean relatively established ideal definitions of subjectivities and their ethos provided for certain group of people in practices and discourses of governance or government.

4. ‘Subjectification’ refers to the government of others and ‘subjectivation’ the government of one’s self (Hamann 2009, p. 38).

5. Discussed philanthropic technologies were Christian missionary work, childcare, foster homes and labour institutions. One of the most visible reactions to the suggestions of the Committee report was the foundation of an association called Mustalaislähetys (Gypsy Mission, GM) in 1905. GM was the first civic organization fully devoted to the assimilation and conversion of the Roma. GM was founded by actives from the Lutheran Church and revivalist movements, but there were also active Roma people involved in it from the very beginning.

6. Actually the first permanent schools were founded in the Sámi lands of Finland already in 1743 in Utsjoki. However, due to the lack of pupils and resources, this school functioned only until 1752. It was established as one of four boarding schools in Lapland financed by the Crown and organized by the Church, which taught a small number of the most ‘developed students’ of the Sámi villages located close to the schools. The purpose of the schools was that the children would first learn reading, religion, mathematics, natural sciences and moral education there for two years. Then these students would go back to their home villages and spread their knowledge there by teaching other children. The best students were nominated as catechists and hired by the Church to organize ambulatory teaching in remote Sámi villages where children did not speak Swedish or Finnish but only their native language (Lassila 2001, p. 103).