Stereotypification of Sami religion. : A study of Sami religion in digital teaching materials intended for secondary school.

The purpose of this essay is to analyse how Samí religion is portrayed in three digital teaching materials. The three teaching materials are intended for secondary school according to the latest curriculum from the year of 2011. This comparative study aims to investigate whether the Samí religion is stereotyped, and as well to present similarities and differences between the presentations of Sami religion. Therefore, a qualitative content analysis has been used to achieve the purpose of the study. The information regarding Samí religion in the digital teaching materials has been divided into four categories. The categories have been created along the common information that the materials present, including history of religion, rituals, beliefs and comparing. Thereafter, the categories have been analysed one by one, through six converted theoretical perspectives of orientalistic stereotypifications. The study shows that the stereotypification of Samí religion is mostly shown as ‘passive’ and ‘generalized’. That means, for example, that the publishers of the teaching materials present facts about the minority group, as an unresisting group to the Christian mission. Most of the religious central parts of Samí religion are also generalized and don’t show variety within the religion or within the group of Samí people. The study also shows that the teaching materials have a similar way of generalizing the content, especially regarding the Christian evangelize and the religious division of responsibilities among the sexes. The difference though is how the content is presented and the further detailed facts are very unequal