PhD project During the last decades renegotiations have been initiated where different groups of Sami have started to adapt their Christian faith and practices to a Sami cultural context. Churches in Sweden and Norway have among other things, opened up for yoik chanting, which was previously regarded as sinful, and clergy of Sami origin have brought typical Sami elements into church services and religious texts.
These processes of renegotiation and adaption of Christianity can be seen as a sign of disruption in the colonial history which encompassed the encounter between Christianity and the Sami people. Instead, several attempts and activities related to reconciliation and decolonization have been initiated. One specific example of this is the Sami confirmation camp which is organized by the Church of Sweden through the dioceses of Luleå and Härnösand.
The focus of my thesis are to survey and analyze the visions, teaching methods and constructions of identity at these camps in light of the colonial relations that characterized, and to some extent still characterizes, the meeting between the Church of Sweden and the Sami people.
First supervisor: Olle Sundström
Second supervisor: Karin Sporre
