Jelena Porsanger (born 1967) is a Russian-born Norwegian
Sami
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
ethnographer
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
who researches Sami culture and history. From 2011 to 2015, she was the
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
Sámi University of Applied Sciences
Sámi University of Applied Sciences ( se, Sámi allaskuvla, no, Samisk høgskole) is a university that is located in the village of Kautokeino in Kautokeino Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It was established in 1989 and has about 20 ...
in
Kautokeino
Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other village ...
, Norway.
Early life and education
Jelena Sergeyevna Semyjashkina was born in
Loparskaya
Loparskaya (russian: Лопарская) is a rural locality (a railway station) in Pushnovsky Territorial Okrug of Kolsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the Kola Peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle at a height of above sea level. ...
, Soviet Union in 1967, the same
rural locality
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
she grew up in on the
Kola Peninsula
sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк
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, map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...
,
in the
Kildin Saami area. However, her family background is from the
Skolt Sami area near the border between Russia and Finland, and her father must have spoken Skolt Sami. Her parents were researchers of the
Northern Lights at the
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
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,
Kola Science Centre under the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...
, and therefore, Porsanger was influenced at an early age to develop an academic career.
In the Soviet Union, the ideal of equality was so strong that cultural background was destroyed, and teaching in Sami had been banned since the 1930s. However, during the 1970s, there was growing interest in Sami, and when a Sami-Russian dictionary was developed, Porsanger learned Sami on her own.
She also learned
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
from her grandmother and later went to
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
to study, where she also learned
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 ...
.
Career
In 1998, Porsanger began working as an associate professor at the Center for Sami Studies at the
University of Tromsø
The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway an ...
. In 2000, she was promoted to researcher and lecturer, and in 2005, became a senior researcher. Her research on oral and written sources of the Eastern Sami indigenous religion from the 16th to the 20th centuries led to her doctoral dissertation, ''"Bassejoga čáhci": Gáldut nuortasámiid eamioskkoldaga birra álgoálbmotmetodologiijaid olis'' (Indigenous Methodology), which she defended at the University of Tromsø in January 2006. It was the first public defense to have taken place in a Sami language in Norway.
Porsanger has said that the inspiration for the assignment came from being frustrated at how little has been written about the Eastern Sami culture and religion, and that what was written was "unjustly generalized".
Porsanger's research interests include the decolonization of research, the design of indigenous methodology, research ethics, Sami research history, and the history and spiritual culture of the Eastern Sami. She was subsequently employed at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, where, since 2010, she has led a research project for the development of methodology, documentation, preservation, protection and storage of
Årbediehtu (traditional Sami knowledge). On August 1, 2011, she became rector at the college, a position she held until 2015. Porsanger has also been a member of the panel of experts for the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porsanger, Jelena
1967 births
Living people
Russian ethnographers
Skolts
Russian emigrants to Norway
People from Kolsky District
Rectors of universities and colleges in Norway
Women heads of universities and colleges
Academic staff of the University of Tromsø
Norwegian ethnographers
Academic staff of the Sámi University of Applied Sciences