Writing-Weaving Sámi Feminisms

‘Sámi feminist inquiry is like the rivers journeying through Sábme, continuously shifting and moving. At times the rivers quiet and freeze over, yet they are never stagnant or dead. And in the spring, as the snow melts, they flow abundantly, transferring new vitality through the land.’

This study explores, illuminates, and analyses Sámi feminist knowledges conceptualised as diverse and fluid feminist knowledges that both arise within and create Sámi realities. The study focuses on feminist articulations, enactments, and dialogues from Sámi locations. Particular attention is paid to analyses of gendered settler colonialism and gendered epistemicide in Sweden and Indigenous feminist contributions to decolonisation and resurgence. By exploring the visions and strengths of Sámi feminisms, this study emphasises their significance to Indigenous healing, regeneration, and thriving.

The author foregrounds ways of knowing and writing beyond colonial world-making practices to move towards creating Sámi feminist knowledges starting from Indigenous epistemes, conceptualised as relational, interconnected, and response-able ways of knowing, being, and doing. By centring on Sámi perspectives, the study contributes to gender studies in Sweden and the broader scholarly project of developing an analysis of colonialisms in the Nordic region.

Ina Knobblock (born in Jiellevárre, 1981) is a Sámi and Tornedalian feminist scholar. Writing-weaving Sámi Feminisms: Stories and Conversations is her doctoral dissertation in gender studies.