Interpretations of Patterns and Actors in the Lapp Fund Documents

Abstract

The Lapp Fund (“Finnefondet” in Norwegian) was an important instrument in the norwegianization policy toward the Sámi and Finnish minorities between 1852 – 1921. Two studies, one from the midst 1950s (Dahl 1957) and one from the early 1980s (Eriksen & Niemi 1981), have been the standard works on this period. Recent archival studies (Grenersen N.d. & Maliniemi 2009, 2010) prove the need for a new look at the Lapp Fund documents. Through a detailed archival study Maliniemi has shown that the Sámi and the Finnish languages was much used in a local political administration. But the documents written in these languages were not ordered properly in the municipal archive. In this way the minority voices were silenced also in the archive. Grenersen has shown the importance of an ”actors point of view” in reading and interpreting documents about the Lapp Fund from teachers and school administrators. Instructions from state and regional authorities were not followed strictly in the classrooms. New perspective on the Lapp Fund documents are needed.

Keywords

• archive
• documents
• ethnic minorities
• norwegianization policy
• sámi