Ann-Helen Laestadius

A young woman struggles to defend her indigenous heritage in a world where xenophobia is on the rise, climate change is threatening reindeer herding, and young people choose suicide in the face of collective desperation.

A young woman struggles to defend her indigenous heritage in a world where xenophobia is on the rise, climate change is threatening reindeer herding, and young people choose suicide in the face of collective desperation.

The Sámi people (also spelled Sami or Saami) are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sámi, Ávvir. There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland. There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvas, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. The largest Sami Publishing house is Davvi Girji. In this program "Topic: Sámi" filmmaker Nils Gaup presents his latest production, "The Kautokeino Rebellion" (2008), author Ann-Helen Laestadius talks about to seek ones roots, and Isabel Pavval share how it is being a young Sámi and youth culture.