ABSTRACT
The Internet has become a locus for the adaptation of traditional cultural practices as well as the production and emergence of new ones. This chapter investigates the Internet as a venue for expressive culture in a context of revitalization. It focuses on the specific case of the Sámi, indigenous people of Scandinavia. Today, a strong process of revitalization is taking place within the Sámi communities, a movement that is a “deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture” (Wallace, 1956: 265). Revitalization requires changing community attitudes, a process initiated and put into practice on many scenes, and the Internet is certainly one of them. Examining Sámi practices in digital environments, this study investigates the intersection, overlap, and tensions that result from the interplay between the online and the offline.
