The Decolonial Labour and the Gift of Contemporary Sámi Performance

Abstract

In February 2017, Sweden’s oldest and largest professional Sámi ensemble, Giron Sámi Teáhter, produced the politically outspoken production CO2lonialNATION – A Theatrical Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a collective documentary theatre project that assembled anonymized witness testimonies from all over Sápmi. Using CO2lonialNATION as a highly representative example of Giron Sámi Teáhter’s repertoire, this essay highlights the decolonial labour of contemporary Sámi performance. It teases out the dramaturgical implications of mounting a theatrical truth and reconciliation commission by exploring the preparation and research process, the embodied performance onstage including the script, spatial arrangement, and relationship between performers and audiences, as well as the production’s roots in Sámi visual, material, and musical culture. Indebted to the work of political sciences and Indigenous studies scholar Rauna Kuokkanen, the essay’s core argument suggests that Sámi performance constitutes a gift that foregrounds Indigenous knowledges, rehearses and enacts political change and social justice, and engenders relationships that are characterized by respect, responsibility, and reciprocity. Finally, the essay ponders some of the ethical responsibilities and methodological challenges that a non-Sámi spectator faces when witnessing a performance that outlines the manifold legacies of settler colonialism.