2025

Ristaniemi, Helena

This article delves into the question of how young Sámi women's relationship with the Sámi cultural environment evolved from childhood to early adulthood and what kind of gendered features it may encompass. Sámi people are the Indigenous peoples of northernmost Europe, traditionally living in Sápmi. The area is noted to be within the region experiencing the most rapid effects of climate change, while simultaneously the green transition accelerates industrial interest in Arctic environments. Qualitative longitudinal research conducted in the Sámi Homeland of Finland focused on interviews with four Sámi young women, aged 15–20 years old, conducted over five years (2019–2023). Drawing on the theoretical concept of the Sámi cultural environment and on Sámi feminist thinking, I illustrate how nature is childhood's everyday environment and evolves towards a more politicized understanding of nature and culture. For these women, climate change and the industrial interests of Sápmi are tied into the questions of motherhood, belonging and the existence of their culture.