Bridging Divides

The Sami are a Northern indigenous people whose land, Sapmi, covers territory in Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. For the Nordic Sami, the last decades of the twentieth century saw their indigenous rights partially recognized, a cultural and linguistic revival, and the establishment of Sami parliaments. The Russian Sami, however, did not have the same opportunities and were isolated behind the closed border until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This book examines the following two decades and the Russian Sami s attempt to achieve a linguistic revival, to mend the Cold War scars, and to establish their own independent ethno-political organizations.