ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the interconnections between academic research and the government of the Sámi people and their territories in Norway from the 1850s to the turn of the new millennium. The study focuses on three interconnected questions: (1) What have been the central problems, issues and objectives have characterized the state’s interest in the Sámi at different times? (2) What kind of knowledge was needed to address those issues and objectives? and (3) How has the knowledge produced impacted upon governmental policies and the relationships between the Norwegians and the Sámi? According to Björklund, Sámi reindeer herding has been a primary concern for government-initiated research across the studied period, but since the establishment of the Sámi Parliament of Norway in 1989 and more recently, also the management of Sámi identities has become more central, as it is now the theme around which several political discourses relating to Sámi rights seem to collide.
