Conducting Archaeology in Swedish Sápmi : Policies, Implementations and Challenges in a Postcolonial Context

Sammanfattning: Since the 1980s, there has been a growing consciousness among heritage workers and policy makers about the management of indigenous heritage. Museums, universities, and other cultural institutions around the world have acknowledged that old work practices must be exchanged for new ones, where the indigenous peoples are allowed influence, stewardship, and interpretative prerogative. One result of these efforts is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).With the breakthrough of public archaeology and community archaeology in the 1990s, these ambitions have also been put into practice in multiple archaeological projects around the globe. In my research, I examine the heritage management system of Sweden, and how this system works in relation to the indigenous Sámi. Despite being on the retreat geographically for the past few centuries, the Sámi still dispose of about 50% of the area of Sweden for the grazing of their reindeer, which means the historical and cultural landscape of the Sámi is vast and the archaeological traces of their activities are spread over a large area.In Sweden, about 90% of all archaeological projects are due to land development projects and conducted by archaeological companies operating on a commercial market. The remaining 10% are research projects financed by public funding and mostly conducted by museums and universities. Investigating the Swedish county of Jämtland as a case study and drawing on interviews with ten actors with different perspectives on Sámi heritage, I study what happens when policy meets practice. The indigenous perspective appears to be considered less in contract archaeology than in research projects. Legislation, money, old habits, and the realities of everyday life obstruct indigenous influence. But my research results suggest that there are also ways of improving the system.