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Sámi Language for All: Transformed Futures through Mediative Education

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Abstract

This chapter deals with the mediative role of Sámi education in Sámi language revitalization. Education, in the form of mediative structures, provides the tools necessary to effect language revitalization to counter the legacy of assimilation, which has deleteriously affected Sámi people on most social measures. Mediative education is significant because it creates transformation in Indigenous communities, helping arbitration, peacemaking, resolution, and negotiation practices to flourish. This chapter focuses on mediative contexts and their instances, as well as on the implementation of mediating pedagogy in the field of Sámi education research. The chapter is theoretically constructed on the authors’ respective research in Sámi education, assimilation and revitalization; it turns on the premise that language revitalization builds social harmony in a postcolonial situation, and that there are certain key tasks that need to be fulfilled to recover endangered languages. The revitalization process of the Sámi languages and moreover strengthening language domains are core aims in Sámi education in Northern Europe. Crucially, attempts to nurture these languages draw on broader practices of education and human rights.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Erika Katjaana Sarivaara

  2. Duodji and Teacher Education, Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Hannoluohkka 45, 9520, Kautokeino, Norway

    Pigga Keskitalo

  3. University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Pigga Keskitalo

Authors
  1. Erika Katjaana Sarivaara
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  2. Pigga Keskitalo
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Correspondence to Erika Katjaana Sarivaara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Elizabeth Ann McKinley

  2. Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

    Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Section Editor information

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Margie Hohepa

  2. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Carl Mika

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Sarivaara, E.K., Keskitalo, P. (2017). Sámi Language for All: Transformed Futures through Mediative Education. In: McKinley, E., Smith, L. (eds) Handbook of Indigenous Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1839-8_16-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1839-8_16-1

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