Nam Aonar ri Taobh na Tuinne

I'm a Swedish South Saami and Scottish Gaelic man based in the part of Saepmie currently occupied by the Swedish State. I guess I could best describe myself as an Indigenous scholar, activist, language rights advocate, translator and teacher.

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land acknowledgement

we acknowledge that the lands on which we gather are the unceded territories of those we still other

we acknowledge these lands with

pipelines mines and neocolonial ventures

this autumn we’ll host a conference on reconciliation

aye, it’s important to acknowledge these lands

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Snow

As a teenager, I started to collect South Saami words related to snow, ice and wintry conditions.

Call it an obsession, but I’ve got 570 words so far, describing everything from your visible breath when it’s cold outside - aajngehtasse - to the part of a reindeer’s antler that it uses as a make-shift shovel, in order to get to the lichen it eats - åvte-skaarese.

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Gïele lea faamoe - Language is Power

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Margo’s Revenge

Earlier this year, my EFL students had to read Paper Towns by John Green, and then choose a character from the novel, in order to write a poem as a response to the novel.

In order to get started, we decided that the entire class would first write a poem together, focusing on Margo, and this is what they ended up with in the end. 

MARGO’S REVENGE

I decided on the catfish, the lack of scales coupled with shame, three in the name of conflict and resolution, long before he slithered his way into her bed. 

It only seemed fitting to call down divine wrath from behind bushes, to break kashrut and offer fire in exchange for broken trust.

An eye for an eyebrow, reciprocal justice, vaseline and veet to start this Exodus of mine. 

Our ancestors walked through scorching deserts for forty years to find peace.

A stolen night  spent at SeaWorld pales in comparison to a lifetime of walking.

And yet, snakebite or not, I’d gladly return to Egypt once more, locusts and all, to watch the remnants of my paper town  dissolve into the morning sun, to let his cheating Rhode Island  burn to the ground. 

¬

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Here’s a book - Bágos Báhkuj - full of essays and translations to and from different Saami languages, that I’ve co-edited.

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I’m really looking forward to this film. 

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Not to be like that

but I guess I’m here for Tumblr’s glow-up

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Guess you've all heard about nuimos? Anyway, made these traditional South Saami clothes for Donald Duck because of reasons.

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Hope you're all okay, everyone!

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I hope the pandemic is treating you well

I am tired and over it.

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Apparently I'm growing tatties now

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Made a notebook, using bark tanned reindeer leather and sinew.

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Laska jah såaja - manne laskab vïeveme jah Per-Stefan Idivuoma lea såajab munnjien dorjeme.

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Beading the stress away.

Yes, that is indeed a lemming and a half finished self portrait.

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Last year, I translated a new poem by BIPOC/LGBTQ+ and Minority Language poets every day for a full year and anyway, I made a book so that I'd remember what kept me going through 2020, and this is what it looks like.

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A rigid heddle made by Amy Leake that arrived just in time for my birthday.

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A close-up of a miniature shoeband for Saami men that I got as a birthday gift.