“Gii lea sápmelaš ja mo galgá dovdat su (Who’s a sami and how do we know they are?", Ammon Johnskareng sang in the early 80s. 

Over 50 years later, in 2023, one of our greatest Indigenous artists ever, Buffy Sainte-Marie, was accused of not being Indigenous. In North America, we see a growing problem that people pretend to be Indigenous without having any Indigenous background. A new designation has been created for these people, so called "Pretendians". 

At the same time, Indigenous people are becoming more and more accepted in majority societies worldwide, including in the Nordic countries. More people want to be part of different Indigenous cultures, also in Sápmi. Is this unproblematic or does it also bring with it some challenges? In this conversation, we get to hear different perspectives from four different voices from Sápmi on what the Sami is and should be.

Moderator: Katri Somby. 

Panel: Andrei Danilov, Ronny Wilhelmsen and Petra Laiti. 

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