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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 21:6 (2022) ► pp.827–846

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“First forced displacements, then slaughter”

Discursive regulations of nature by the state and Sami in a Swedish TV documentary

ORCiD logo with link | Uppsala University
ORCiD logo with link | Charles University in Prague
Published online: 3 June 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22003.fil
Abstract
This article examines the discursive construction of nature as represented by the Swedish TV documentary Tvångsförflyttningar – Bággojohtin, which narrates the history of forced displacements of the indigenous people of Sami in northern Sweden in the early 20th century. Our discursive-material analysis highlights the role of nature in these displacements, and how, in these tragic historical developments, nature was regulated by the antagonistically positioned discursive frameworks of the state and the Sami, both of which, in very different ways, sought to integrate it into their respective systems of meaning. By bringing attention to the interconnection of the discursive and the material, we argue that nature, through a series of subversive acts, resisted both the environmental governmentality of the state and the counter-hegemonic environmental knowledge of the Sami. Thus, the article contributes to the understanding of the multiple discursive struggles around flora and fauna, but also nature’s own agency and voice.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse and regulation
  • 3.Nature as an object of struggles for regulation
    • 3.1The state as a source of regulatory frameworks (on nature)
    • 3.2Indigenous people as providers of counter-hegemonic regulatory frameworks on nature
  • 4.The Sami and the Scandinavian nation-states
    • 4.1Sápmi as a transnational cultural region
    • 4.2Sami in the context of Nordic-Russian cross-border relations
  • 5.Data and method
  • 6.Discursive struggles over the regulation of nature
    • 6.1The representations of the state vs nature: Violence and exploitation in self-interest
    • 6.2The co-dependencies of the Sami and nature
    • 6.3The resistance of nature
  • 7.Conclusion: The multiplicity of nature significations and nature’s voice
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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