2. Background: a history of fire
2.3 Fire and Sami reindeer herding in Sweden
2.3.1 Historical livelihoods and the colonisation of Sápmi
Until recently, the idea of the boreal landscape as a “virgin” environment influenced by natural processes prevailed in the scientific community (See for example Hytteborn et al. 1987; Hofgaard 1993; Linder et al. 1997; Gu et
al. 2001). However, to the trained eye, the marks of historic land use by
indigenous Sami people, though subtle, are omnipresent in the boreal forest landscape, especially in forests that have been spared by forestry (Östlund & Bergman 2006; Berg et al. 2011; Rautio et al. 2014; Norstedt et al. 2017).
While the origins of the Sami people and the timing of their arrival in the area have long been a subject of research and debate, it is argued that Sami ethnicity developed in Fennoscandia between the second millennium BC (Östlund et al. 2004) or around 0-900 AD (Rautio 2014), depending on the sources. Within the Sami population, a gradual transition from a subsistence based on hunting, of principally moose and reindeer, towards reindeer husbandry occurred, implying a change in land use and settlement patterns (Bergman et al. 2013). The timing of this transition is still a subject of debate (Bergman et al. 2008; Rautio 2014). Aronsson (1991) situates the beginning of this transition around 2000 BP, while Bergman et al. (2008) obtained results indicating a transition around 1000 BP. It is also suggested that a tax decree established by the Swedish Crown in 1602 and requiring Sami people to pay taxes in reindeer meat would have led to an increase in wild reindeer hunting, thus reducing wild reindeer populations, and an increase in the domesticated reindeer herds as an alternative (Moen & Keskitalo 2010). Anyhow, reindeer have always been a central element of the Sami culture and livelihood, providing fur, a means of transportation, craft material, and food.
Some studies have suggested that the importance of other resources in the historical Sami livelihood has been underestimated. Notably, Rautio et al. (2014; 2016) showed the importance of plant food resources, such as Scots pine inner bark and Angelica archangelica in Sami subsistence. Norstedt and Östlund (2016) studied historical Sami settlement patterns, which, combined with ethnographic descriptions of forest-dwelling Sami, indicate a subsistence centred on fish. Norstedt (2018) also questions the dualistic categorisations that are often made concerning the dynamics and diversity of
the Sami livelihoods: hunting / herding, intensive herding / extensive herding, forest Sami / mountain Sami. She argues that, in reality, more complex relationships between these categories have been at play.
While the Sami had been in contact with Nordic farmers, traders and tax collectors established along the Scandinavian coasts for centuries, actual colonisation started with the progressive establishment of settlers coming from southern Fennoscandia from the 1500s. Agriculture started to expand from the Baltic coastal area towards the inner lands, and settlers progressively colonised lands occupied by the Sami (Marklund 2015). At that time, the Sami were organised in communities within delimited areas, autonomously governed (Norstedt 2018).
Although they had been paying taxes to the Swedish Crown since at least the 16th century, the active influence of the Swedish state on Sami land
governance only became significant from the late 17th century (Lantto 2000;
Norstedt 2018). The Swedish Crown implemented a colonisation policy that included the progressive transfer of Sami land-governing capacity to the Crown (Norstedt 2018). One objective was to establish a firmer control over the area and its resources (Lantto 2000). The Crown also encouraged the establishment of settlers in the area, in order to exploit lands that were considered unutilised (Lantto 2000). Contacts with the settlers and increasing pressure on reindeer herding lands led some Sami reindeer herders, especially those living all year round in forest areas, to adopt small-scale agriculture (Lantto 2000). They had goats or cows, which they kept on a farm, in addition to their reindeer. From the mid-18th century, the Swedish
Crown defined borders in northern Sweden to separate lands dedicated to agriculture from lands dedicated to reindeer husbandry, thus confining Sami herders to a smaller area within the western half of the region (Moen & Keskitalo 2010; Marklund 2015). Moreover, the Crown divided the forestlands into private lands allocated to farmers and state-owned lands, within areas previously under autonomous Sami governance. Sami herders only received a right of usage of the forestlands (Brännström 2017; Norstedt 2018).
In 1886, the first Reindeer Grazing Act was passed, meant to establish protection of the reindeer pasture rights for Sami herders (Norstedt 2018). Lantto (2011) argues that the Reindeer Grazing Act became an “instrument of control” over the Sami, who were considered to be inferior to general Swedish society. The Reindeer Grazing Act also entrusted the County
Administrative Boards with the task of delineating new Sami reindeer herding communities (Sw.: lappbyar, later samebyar) (Lantto 2000; Norstedt 2018). Although some of these new entities relied on traditional reindeer herding lands, they represent a colonial interference in Sami reindeer herding self-organisation (Norstedt 2018). This interference was strengthened by the establishment of the Lapp4 Administration, and its Lapp bailiffs (Sw.:
lappfogdar). Until 1971, these State agents were in charge of ensuring the
communication between the reindeer herding communities and the State, as well as ensuring that the Reindeer Grazing Act was respected. More generally, they exercised power over the Sami autonomous decision-making capability (Norstedt 2018).
Colonisation processes also had impacts on the languages spoken by the Sami. Currently, there are ten recognised Sami languages, five of them being spoken in Sweden. However, the assimilation into the Swedish culture that the Sami underwent profoundly affected the use of these languages (Huss 2001; Müller-Wille 2004). Until the 1950s, the Sami were forced to speak Swedish at school, and the Sami language progressively disappeared from some families (Huss 2001). Today, national legislation supports the protection of so-called minority languages. The Law on National Minorities and Minority Languages (Sveriges Riksdag, lag (2009: 724)) affirms the recognition of the Sami languages as national minority languages.
In Sweden, the Sami have been recognised as an indigenous people by the Swedish parliament since 1977 (Sametinget 2020a). Since 2010, the Swedish Constitution has recognised the duty of the State to ensure that the Sami are able to preserve their culture and maintain their livelihood (Larsen & Raitio 2019). However, the country has received criticism and warnings from international organisations, including the United Nations Committee of Racial Discrimination, and the Council of Europe, for its failure to comply with the obligation to protect Sami rights (Larsen & Raitio 2019). In January 2020, the outcome of the lawsuit initiated by the Girjas reindeer herding community against the Swedish State opened the way for a new recognition of Sami rights and autonomy over their traditional lands and resources. The Supreme Court of Sweden delivered a verdict in favour of the Girjas community, thus recognising its rights to control the hunting and fishing rights on the community’s lands (Östlund et al. 2020).
4
“ Lapps” (lappar in Swedish) was used by colonists as the name for Sami people until the 20th century. The word is considered pejorative by Sami people, and the word “ Sami” (Same in Swedish) is now used exclusively.