Sámi children as thought herders: philosophy of death and storytelling as radical hope in early childhood education

Viktor Johansson

doi:10.1177/14782103211031413

Abstract

This article follows a story played out by children at a Sámi early childhood centre in north Sweden. It does so by reflecting on the children’s story as a form of Critical Indigenous Philosophy. In particular it explores what it could mean for a child to be a philosopher in a Sámi context by developing the concept of jurddavázzi, or thought herder, in conversation with Wittgenstein’s method of ‘leading’, and Cavell’s of ‘shepherding’, ‘words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use’. The children’s play story – involving themes of death, struggles with natural surroundings, and interconnectivity through seeing life in nature – is read in relation to questions about traditional stories raised in the poetry of the Sámi poet, artist and philosopher, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, or Áillohaš. The article ends by discussing how the children’s invitation to follow their story can be seen as a decolonizing pedagogical gesture of the child that requires a particular kind of philosophical listening by the teacher or adult. The article is in its style an attempt to demonstrate a form of philosophical storytelling the children are engaged in.

Highlights

Beside a pile of snow, looking at a pool of water, three four- and five-year-old boys are talking intensely to one another, completely absolved in something, but my Davvisamigiella is not good enough
The Sami child taking my hand, leading me into his world, and involving me in the story that he and his friends are creating shows a different way to engage in Critical Indigenous Philosophy
I want to say that what resonates in the encounters with these children is philosophy, but only if there are ways to think of philosophy in which the Sami children’s articulations of the world, their approaches to the conditions of life, are taken seriously, where they can be considered philosophers on their own terms

Summary

Introduction

Beside a pile of snow, looking at a pool of water, three four- and five-year-old boys are talking intensely to one another, completely absolved in something, but my Davvisamigiella (the North Sami language) is not good enough. The Sami child taking my hand, leading me into his (play) world, and involving me in the story that he and his friends are creating shows a different way to engage in Critical Indigenous Philosophy.

Results

Conclusion