Abstract
It is widely agreed that sport and national identity are two interwoven phenomena. Recently, researchers have taken an interest in how sport has been used for nation-building purposes among groups not defined in terms of nation-states. These include the Sámi, an Indigenous people living in an area that extends over the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Sámi championships and a Sámi national football team have been important elements in shaping a Sámi national identity across the state borders. Against this background, the historical development that led to the formation in 1990 of a Sámi National Sports Federation was highly complicated. The period from 1970 to 1990 was fraught by the dilemma of how sport was to be organized – based on the division of the Sámi by state borders or through a transnational Sámi sports organization. The outcome was a compromise in that the Sámi National Sports Federation was founded as an umbrella organization under which Sámi in Norway, Sámi in Finland, and Sámi in Sweden established separate and autonomous Sámi ‘district associations’.
Highlights
The outcome was a compromise in that the Sami National Sports Federation was founded as an umbrella organization under which Sami in Norway, Sami in Finland, and Sami in Sweden established separate and autonomous Sami ‘district associations’
The Sami are an Indigenous people without a state of their own, inhabiting an area named Sapmi, which comprises the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia
By detaching nation from state in international sports contexts, Hywel Iorwerth, Alun Hardman, and Carwyn Rhys Jones have sought to shed light on groups that do not define themselves in terms of citizenship but rather with respect to ethnic-cultural identity.[13]. The latter applies in large measure to the Sami with their status as an Indigenous people, a non-dominant group within a state with an acknowledged claim to Indigenous status within a geographical area
Summary
Submit your article to this journal Article views: 66 View related articles View Crossmark data. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF SPORT 2019, VOL.
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