INDHOME

We will explore how Sámi and Inuit homem​​aking as an everyday life practice is a form of cultural resilience after the effects of assimilation, colonization and post-war welfare policies in the Scandinavian countries. While there has been extensive research on the direct assimilation policies, much less attention has been given to often well-meaning welfare and housing policies and its impact on the further elimination of Indigenous cultures.

In addition to sharing some basic features regarding history, language, culture, welfare and politics, the Scandinavian countries also are similar in the sense that the debates regarding colonization have mostly been concerned with cultures and societies in former colonies in non-European territories. This "innocent" image has silenced the internal colonization and assimilation of the Indigenous Sámi and Inuits. We will conduct research about post-war welfare and housing policies and its impact on Indigenous everyday life, and how homemaking as a practice in the past and present can be analyzed through the lenses of cultural resilience, survivance and decolonization.