Decolonizing Dictionaries: The Telling Agendas of North Sámi Dictionaries

Abstract

The role of lexicographers of Davvisámegiella (North Sámi) in the historical colonization and present-day decolonization of Sámi society is examined. The careers and agendas of dictionary makers—both Sámi and non-Sámi—from the late eighteenth century until the present are surveyed, with attention to the ways they include and portray elements of folklore in their dictionaries and other works—including items of belief, traditional knowledge, and custom. Where the earliest Sámi dictionaries were intended as tools for missionaries and for the suppression of Sámi belief traditions, the dictionaries of today seek to equip users of North Sámi with the bureaucratic, professional, and cultural lexicon needed for effective functioning in modern Nordic societies, in which North Sámi has gained recognition as an official state language.