Browsing by Subject "Saamelaiset"

Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe Sámi people’s experiences at residence schools during the Second World War and 1950’s to 1960’s. In addition, the object is to examine what kind of shared history Sámi people construct by remembering their experiences in Inarilainen magazine. Educational history of the Sámi has been studied considerably, but Sami people’s experiences and survival strategies at the residence school have been examined less and they are still unknown for the majority of Finnish people. The beginning of Truth- and Reconciliation Commission in 2020 will make residence school experience studies even more essential to Sámi community. Methods. The material for this thesis consists of ten interviews and one memoir about resi-dence school life. They were published in Inarilainen magazine between 2018–2020. The study was conducted in the frameworks of oral history and narrative research. Thematic anal-ysis was applied. Results and conclusions. Residence school narratives were divided in three main themes that were home sickness, foreignness and coping. Home sickness narratives were connected es-pecially to first years at school and it was significant collective experience. Narrative of for-eignness depicted educational system’s assimilative ways which were told in memories of studying new language, new cuisine and bullying. Coping narrative reflected how Sámi want-ed residence schools to be remembered from present perspective. They emphasized how they managed to cope with foreign environment and take advantage of what they learned at school. Shared narrative of residence schools should emphasize coping narrative instead of victim narrative. These findings endorse previous studies that have exposed same experienc-es of home sickness and assimilation.