ALUMNI
Through the Fulbright Finland Foundation, I’m able to sit with the decision makers at the head of the table.
Vice-President Max Angerholzer, among others,
desk is right next to the postdoctoral staff, and my
from the Institute of International Education (IIE),
main boss is one desk away from me. He doesn’t
an organization that works with the Fulbright Fin-
have a separate office, he works alongside us. I
land Foundation to help universities work together
don’t feel that I’m just this little guy.”
across international boundaries.
“When you study abroad, you can see the dif-
“It just blows my mind that I was there, sitting
ferences but also the similarities between cultures
alongside these people. I’m someone who grew
and institutions. I think we need this kind of inter-
up on a farm, a first-generation college student.
national and cultural exchange to show we’re not
My parents were working middle class jobs; they
actually that different, that these borders we put
weren’t into politics or international relations. Now
up are not real borders. I think more people should
I’m in Finland, I’m not only living here, but through
believe in it. It’s showed me that I could achieve
the Fulbright Finland Foundation, I’m able to sit
more than I thought I could.”
with the decision makers at the head of the table.” Andrew suggests this accessibility is typical of Finnish institutions. “I’m a PhD student but my
Arctic Materialities and Indigenous Articulations
For the past 5 years, I have been engaged in research in the Finnish Sámi regions. The Sámi are Europe’s only recognized indigenous group who inhabit the transborder regions of Finland and neighboring Nordic countries. Since the 1970s, there have been waves of out-migration from northern Sámi villages to southern Finnish cities, and recently, younger generations have been returning north to reconnect with their heritage and reconcile colonial histories of assimilation. Craft production provides a vehicle for such reconnections. As a Fulbright Fellow, I explored the revitalization of Sámi craft making and return migration to northern homelands, seeking to understand intangible engagements with the environment that create indigenous ties to land. As a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Department of Anthro-
tive representations and depict Sáminess beyond
pology, I have been conducting further fieldwork
racialized narratives. In contrast, wood, reindeer
in northern Finland to elucidate the underlying
antler, and fur products are produced more widely
mechanisms of these connections, and how they
by Sámi and non-Sámi, and allow people to artic-
challenge national narratives and representations.
ulate indigenous relationships to land through the
From August to October 2018, I carried out inter-
process of making itself. This establishes Sámi land
views exploring properties of silver, cloth, wood,
rights and cultural distinctiveness despite histories
and reindeer products used in contemporary Sámi
of assimilation and urban migration. My Fulbright
craft production, their historical transformations,
was instrumental to developing and synthesizing
and current role in indigenous politics of self-de-
these ideas by giving me the opportunity to return
termination and representation. The research,
to Finland after my initial dissertation research.
which is being developed into a book, finds that
The new book will demonstrate how everyday,
silver jewellery and dress form visible markers of
seemingly mundane material practices, can be
Sámi identity that counter culturally appropria-
mobilized to enact social change.
16 | www.fulbright.fi
Natalia Magnani is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. In 2016–2017 she conducted research in Inari in northern Finland on a Fulbright-EDUFI Fellowship.