Habitus and social space: some suggestions about meaning in the Saami (Lapp) tent ca. 1700–1900

This chapter discusses the tents (kåhte) of the mountain Saami (Lapps) over the period ca. 1700–1900. These dates are arbitrary, defined respectively by Scheffer’s History of Lapland published in 1704 (but drawing upon 17th century sources) and the memoirs of Johan Turi, a Saami from Kautokeino, Norway, originally published in 1910. Over this period continuity in the form and structure of the kåhte space is demonstrable, and analysis will concentrate on defining the fundamental structures (Habitus) that account for this continuity.