On Teachers’ Education in Sweden, School Curriculums, and the Sámi People

This article discusses the intersection of Teachers’ Education and the Swedish society with regards to Sámi religion, history and culture. It aims at a renewed understanding of present premises for construction of curriculums in courses on Sámi history, culture and religion. An important back drop is the Swedish State’s regulation of Teachers Education, their inclusion of indigenous peoples’ inte- rests, and the general demand for research based and reflexive academic teaching. I argue that Teachers’ Education and Swedish bookstores present research based knowledge on the Sámi People’s religion, history and culture in a weak and accidental manner. For a better understanding, I discuss Anthony Giddens’ description of society as regionalized into “back stage” and “front stage” regions structured by different rules – back stage rules being loosely structured and characterized by feelings, subjectivity and bodily activities, while front stage rules are strictly disciplined, and not characterized by personal feelings or bodily excursion. Universities and Colleges fit front stage characteristics, though Teachers’ Education, as well as Swedish bookstores, seems to be structured by back stage rules when it comes to the Sámi People. Giddens emphasizes how social encounters between people contribute to the construction of social institutions and their organization. As such, the loose link between research based teaching and Teachers Education regarding the Sámi people, generates societal consequences. If reflexivity is a major feature of present academic life, we should expect universities to change present premises for research based new curriculums regarding Sámi history, culture and religion. The argument forwarded in this article is thus that, first of all, this situation needs to be made visible. The blind spot has to be identified and targeted. Qualified and reflexive knowledge and competence in Sámi religion, history and culture need to be integrated within all disciplines of academic education. Secondly, I argue that there is an urgent need for the (re-)establishment of the discipline of Native Studies – Indigenous Studies headed and fronted by Sámi scholars – which would have the responsibility of developing and renewing research-based curriculums on Sámi culture, history and religion. To be able to reach the full extent and depth of Sámi religion, culture and history, this discipline needs to be directed by Sámi scholars