ABSTRACT
Aesthetics, from the Greek aesthesis, is a concept of great significance for the arts. Ever since the beginnings of Western philosophy the arts have been an important object of investigation. The Smi are the only indigenous people of north-western Europe and the Tornedalians are a national historical ethnic and linguistic minority in Sweden. The aim of this chapter is to examine interconnections between aesthetics and ethnicity in Smi and Tornedalian art. In this context art played a central role for creating ethnic identities which distinguishes the Smi and Tornedalians, respectively, from the majority populations of the nation states they inhabit. The Nordic countries have always been multiethnic and multilingual, and the borders which demarcate the Nordic nation states have changed through history. Ethnicity' is a controversial concept. The Norwegian anthropologist Fredrik Barth emphasizes the role of boundary-marking for the construction of ethnic identities.
