ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 differs from the previous chapters, focusing on Sami issues as both an area of policy and as having implications for the reindeer husbandry sector (in Sweden pre-eminently and by regulation Sami-based). The chapter illustrates how changes from early Swedish policy respecting Sami rights shifted with external influences (or discourse) that aimed to separate the indigenous population from others. Concurrent policy changes since then have placed large groups outside the defined Sami group at each point in time, made the Sami out to be a more unitary and profession-based (reindeer husbandry) group than they actually are, and even prohibited the general population from taking part in reindeer herding (although this prohibition continues to be disregarded in some places to this day). Thereby, the chapter illustrates how present conflicts can be seen as resulting from policy legacies instituted based on assumptions made in the 1800s.
