Sámi film production and ‘constituted precarity’

Abstract

This article seeks to both understand and characterize the intrinsic power relationships at the centre of the contemporary Sámi media industries. In the case of the Sámi, the Finno-Ugric indigenous minority who primarily inhabit the northernmost regions of Europe, the need to establish visibility through a variety of film and media channels is amplified by their ongoing constitutional marginalization in both political and economic forums. However, this article asks whether the Sámi face uniquely precarious barriers as indigenous media producers by introducing the concepts of ‘constituted precarity’ and ‘symbolic cultural labour’. Specifically, it frames the idea of constituted precarity as a type of ideological power relationship where the ‘host’ nations strategically engineer the precariousness of Sámi media platforms, primarily through policy. By examining the Sámi film industry’s position in Norway’s regional film funding infrastructure, we can identify different forms of precarity and manifestations of indigenous cultural labour that will help us determine whose interests are represented in the ongoing debates over cultural ownership and Sámi self-determination.