ABSTRACT
Eeva-Kristiina Harlin and Veli-Pekka Lehtola show in different, but complementary ways, there are ambiguities and paradoxes hovering over the quests for autonomy characteristic of northern peoples everywhere. Debates over oil drilling and mining concessions in fast warming Greenland similarly show the difficulty of being in the modern world and simultaneously insisting on autonomy. Although people of the North want cultural autonomy, they also want recognition, but preferably on their own terms. Sometimes, the state and its accomplices enters the Indigenous world with the good intentions of bringing civilisation and development to people who have as yet missed the boat; comparable to missionary projects in the tropical south. Many Sami are proud and feel vitiated by the fact that their history is now, finally, being included in standard Finnish history. Yet the feeling lingers that it does not happen on their own terms; they are being seen by others, and learn to see themselves through the gaze of the other.
