Anna Jacobsen (

Southern Sami Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

: Jaahkenelkien Aanna; 30 October 1924 – 2 April 2004) was a champion of Southern Sami language and culture in Norway.Åke Jünge. "Foregangskvinna". Klassekampen, 22.4.2004. Også i Adresseavisen, 15.4.2004 (in Norwegian)Åke Jünge. «Til minne om Anna Jacobsen - Jaahkenelkien Aanna : (30.10.1924-2.4-2004)». Årbok for Namdalen 2006Åke Jünge. "Den sørsamiske stemmen : portrett av Anna Jacobsen"
I Samar i sør : artiklar om sørsamiske forhold
Utgitt av Høgskolen i Nord-Trøndelag, 2000. Først trykt i Namdal arbeiderblad, 15.4.1992 (in Norwegian) She started her own publishing company and was a recipient of the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

Biography

Anna Johanna Jacobsen was born in Kappfjell, 30 October 1924. Her southern Sami family was involved with

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

herding, and her father was a pioneer in organizing the Sami community. At home, the family spoke southern Sami, and she did not learn

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

until she started at the Sami school in Havika outside

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

in the late 1930s. Her interest in the South Sami language was aroused while attending school. When she took the

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

at an early age, she had Southern Sami as a second language instead of

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

. Jacobsen went on to study

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

, German and South Sami at the university level, and became the first to be examined in South Sami. At her home in

Majavatn Majavatn ( South Sámi: Maajehjaevrie) is a village in the municipality of Grane in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the eastern shore of the lake Majavatnet, just west of the boundary of Børgefjell National Park. The village of Lei ...

, Jacobsen organized a language group to grow the Sami language. The participants were only allowed to speak Sami. She also taught Sami in several schools. In the 1970s, she was active in preserving the Sami school in

Hattfjelldal Hattfjelldal ( sma, Aarborte) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hattfjelldal. Other villages include Grubben, Svenskvo ...

, and she was also the spokeswoman for an action to create a Sami cultural center in the village, known later as Sijti Jarnge. She was also active in the work to start a Southern Sami theater. Jacobsen was a language consultant for the Sami Education Council from 1987 to 1991, and worked actively on publishing dictionaries. Samiske stedsnavn. Grane og Hattfjelldal. Anna Jacobsen intervjuet av Trond Raaum; NRK, 1988 (in Norwegian) For several years, she was responsible for South Sami at

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

. The children's book, ''Åvla'' (2013), is based on

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s she told in NRK

Sápmi (, smj, Sábme / Sámeednam, sma, Saepmie, sju, Sábmie, , , sjd, Са̄мь е̄ммьне, Saam' jiemm'n'e) is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi is in Northern and Eastern Europe and includes the ...

. Interviews and other audio recordings of Jacobsen are published by the

National Archives of Norway The National Archives of Norway (''Riksarkivet'') is the institution responsible for preserving archive material from Norwegian state institutions, as well as contributing to the preservation of private archives. It does this work in cooperation wi ...

. Jacobsen started her own publishing company where she published several texts. Together with Bierna Bientie, she translated the Gospel of St. Mark into Southern Sami. This was published by the

Norwegian Bible Society The Norwegian Bible Society (Norwegian: ) is a Norwegian Christian foundation which translates, produces, and distributes the Bible in Norway. It is the official Bible society of Norway. The Norwegian Bible Society is organized as a publishing c ...

in 1993 under the title, ''Jupmelen rijhke lea castskes'' (Kingdom of God is near). In ''

Salmer 1997 ''Salmer 1997'' (1997 Hymns) is an official supplement to the Church of Norway's 1985 hymnal that was published in 1997.Wentz-Janacek, Elisabet. 2000. Nordeuropäiche Länder. In: Wolfgang Fischer (ed.), ''Werkbuch zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch'', ...

'', there are four texts, which she translated into Southern Sami, and in '' Norsk salmebok 2013'', she has four translations and a distinctive text. Jacobsen died 2 April 2004.

Awards and honors

in silver *

Nordland fylkes kulturpris Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, No ...

culture prize * Bibelprisen * Honorary lecturer at

Nesna University College Nesna University College ( no, Høgskolen i Nesna or ) was a university college, a Norwegian state institution of higher education, until it became part of Nord University in 2016. Its campus was in the village of Nesna in Nesna Municipality. In ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobsen, Anna 1924 births 2004 deaths Southern Sámi people Norwegian hymnwriters Sámi-language writers People from Hattfjelldal Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in silver Norwegian Sámi people 20th-century Norwegian women writers