Ten problems faced by a Sámi who studies her own community

Chapter thirteen is based on a speech that Saara Alakorva, a political scientist and Sámi from Finland, held originally at the University of Lapland in August 2020. In the speech, Alakorva brings up and discusses several issues and problems which relate to prevailing ideas of community-based research, and which Native Sámi scholars who study their own community are constantly faced with today. Alakorva’s thought-provoking contribution calls attention for a range of issues some of which are old, others new and specific to the contemporary society. Among the ten problems that Alakorva discusses are, for instance, the contradiction that at the same time as community-based research methods have become increasingly trendy within the mainstream academia, the expertise and voice of a Native scholars continues to be easily sidelined as politically biased, as inauthentic, or as an “opinion among others”. In addition, Alakorva discusses is such as, what “community-based” research might mean in the context of the Sámi world and why it is important, what are the concerns behind Sámi “silent refusal” towards research and researchers, and how the decreasing lack of appreciation for Sámi self-determination is impacting upon the development of Sámi research in Finland.