About Giron Sámi Teáhter's work with theatre for young audiences
Professor Dirk Gindt has written an article in TDR: The Drama Review.
Photo: Emil Juuso / Giron Sámi Teáhter
The article is based on a longer research stay at Giron Sámi Teáhter. Dirk Gindt analyses both the pedagogical and political elements of Anna Åsdell and Paul Ol Jona Utsi's play Belážagat-Kusinerna.
Abstract
With Sámi mythology and storytelling as dramaturgical anchors, Giron Sámi Teáhter uses the key aesthetic elements of yoik (Sámi song) and duodji (Sámi arts and crafts) to revitalize and promote Sámi language and culture. The troupe’s work nourishes pride in young Sámi audiences in their rich cultural heritage, which for centuries was suppressed by settler colonialism across Sápmi, the land of the Sámi people, which stretches across the Northern part of Norway, Sweden, and Finland all the way to the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
Dirk Gindt is Professor of Theatre Studies at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics. He is currently working on the research project Circumpolar Performance Cultures, where he analyses the history and decolonial labour of contemporary Sámi performance in the Swedish part of Sápmi.
Circumpolar Performance Cultures, financed by a four-year grant from the Swedish Research Council, analyses the history and decolonial labour of contemporary Sámi performance in the Swedish part of Sápmi. It is conducted in consultation and close dialogue with Giron Sámi Teáhter in Kiruna/Giron.