Nina Afanasyeva Interview 2006 (cropped)

Nina Yeliseyevna Afanasyeva (russian: Нина Елисеевна Афанасьева;

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

, sjd, Е̄льцэ Нӣна Афанасьева, Jeel'ce Niina Afanas'jeva; born February 1, 1939) is a Russian-

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 ...

politician and language activist.

Biography

Nina Yeliseyevna Afanasyeva was born on February 29, 1939 in the village of Varsino. Her parents were Sami, and she grew up with the

Kildin Sámi language Kildin may refer to: * Kildin Island * Kildin class destroyer * Kildin Sami * Ostrov (air base) Ostrov (Russian: ''Веретье'' ("Veret"); also Ostrov-5, Gorokhovka) is a Russian Air Force air base

as her mother tongue. In 1963, she completed her studies in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

at the

Institute of the Peoples of the North The Institute of the Peoples of the North (russian: Институт Народов Севера) is a research and later educationary institute based in Saint Petersburg. Its objective is to examine topics related to the northern minorities in th ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and worked until 1983 as a teacher of Russian language and literature as well as German in adult education in the cities of

Apatity Apatity ( rus, Апатиты, p=əpɐˈtʲitɨ, lit. apatites) is a town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located along the Murman Railway, west of Kirovsk and south of Murmansk, the administrative center of the oblast. The town is named after one ...

and

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...

. Since 1980, Afanasyeva has been working on the conservation and development of the endangered Sami languages on the

Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...

. She is co-author of the first Kildin Sami-Russian dictionary, which was published in 1985 under the editorship of Rimma Kurutsch. In addition to the dictionary, Afanasyeva co-authored the publication of a series of textbooks and didactic materials for the Kildin language. She is also the author of a Kildin Sami-Russian phrasebook (2010). Since the time of perestroika, Afanasyeva has been active as a Sami politician and minority activist. She was instrumental in founding the Association of Sámi in Murmansk Oblast in 1998 and headed this

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

from 1990 to 2010, serving as president. Afanasyeva is fluent not only in Kildin Sami and Russian, but also in

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 ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. She has been working publishing a dictionary for her native dialect, which has hardly been documented by linguists so far. For this purpose, she has been working for several years on the systematization of the familiar vocabulary and collects, with the help of the few surviving speakers, new words, phrases, and place names from the area of their forcibly-displaced birthplace. On November 23, 2012, Afanasyeva and Alexandra Antonova were awarded the Sami Language Prize Gollegiella ("Golden Language") together during the session of the Norwegian Parliament in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. The award was presented on December 19 at the Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk. The rationale for the joint award of Afanasyeva and Antonova was their leading role in the revitalization of the Kildin Sámi language as a teacher, politician, writer and translator. Afanasyeva lives and works in Murmansk.

Selected works

*1985 ''Саамско-русский словарь'' *1988 ''Saamʼ kīll: razrabotki po saamskomu jazyku dlja natsjalʼnoj shkoly'' *1990 ''Metoditsjeskoje rukovodstvo po obutsjeniju saamskomu jazyku: primernyje pourotsjnyje razrabotki k utsjebniku saamskogo jazyka dlja I-go klassa'' *1990, ''Metoditsjeskoje rukovodstvo po obutsjeniju saamskomu jazyku: primernyje pourotsjnyje razrabotki k utsjebniku saamskogo jazyka dlja 2-ogo klassa'' *1990, ''Metoditsjeskoje rukovodstvo po obutsjeniju saamskomu jazyku v natsjal’noj shkole'' *1990, ''Saamskij jazyk v kartinah: utsjebnik po razvitiju retsji v 1-om klasse saamskoj shkoly'' *1990, ''Sam’ kill: utsjebnik saamskogo jazyka dlja 2-go klassa'' *1991, ''Pudz’jench: kniga dlja dopolnitel’nogo tsjtenija v saamskoj natsional’noj shkole'' *1991, ''Sam’ kill: utsjebnik saamskogo jazyka dlja 3-ogo klassa'' *1991, ''Soagknehk’: saamsko-russkij i russko-saamskij slovar’ dlja natsjal’noj shkoly'' *1995, ''Pravila orfografii i punktuacii saamskogo jazyka'' *2000, "Hilferuf vom Rande des Eismeers", in: ''Die Saami,'' hrsg. von Wolf-Dieter Seiwert. Leipzig *2008, ''Ла̄зер ка̄ллса моаййнас. Кырьха лӣ Е̄льцэ Нӣна'' *2009, ''Severnoe sijanie: saamskij jazyk v kartinkah'' *2010, ''Самь-рушш соарнънэгк'' *2012, "Современное состояние саамского языка", in: ''Коренные народы евро-арктического региона''

Awards

* 2012, International Sami Language Award Gollegiella (together with Aleksandra Andreevna Antonova)

References

Bibliography

* Øverland, Indre & Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel. ''Bridging the Divides: Ethno-Political Leadership among the Russian Sámi''. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012. * Wolf-Dieter Seiwert (ed.) ''Die Saami. Indigenes Volk am Anfang Europas.''. Leipzig: German-Russian Center, 2000. (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Afanasyeva, Nina 1939 births Living people People from Lovozersky District Russian educational theorists Soviet educators Russian Sámi politicians Women linguists Language activists Linguists of Kildin Sámi 20th-century Russian writers 20th-century Russian women writers 21st-century Russian writers 21st-century Russian women writers Soviet educational theorists