Johan Sandberg McGuinne - The Indigenous SAAMI People of the Nordic Countries

In this very special 1 hour episode meet Johan Sandberg, a truly unique Swedish Indigenous Saami & Scottish Gaelic.

He is an Indigenous scholar, language rights activist and a teacher, translator and academic (linguistics, literature and indigeneity) currently residing in Liksjoe, Sweden.

He is the Head of the Department of English and Saami Studies at Finnbacken Secondary School at Lycksele Kommun. 

As of May 2018, I am the President of the Saami Writers’ Centre in Jokkmokk, and I am passionate about making sure that Saami literature is afforded the space and resources it deserves to thrive.

He introduces himself on his wordpress website

(https://johansandbergmcguinne.wordpress.com/)

As a member of an indigenous community and a minority culture, I’m also passionate about decolonisation, education and endangered languages, as well as questions of authenticity and identity politics from an indigenous perspective.

The South Saami’s ancestral lands cover Sweden and Norway from Dalarna in the south to Dearna and Raane in the north, and my own family hails from Vualtjere in the northern parts of our territory. In South Saami, which is only spoken by between 500 and 1000 people today, our country – unlawfully colonised by the Swedish and Norwegian settler states since the late 16th century – is called Saepmie. I was raised in Ubmeje and later moved to Linköping, before attending university in Gothenburg, Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Germany) and Sruighlea (Scotland).

My Gaelic family comes from Nìs on the Isle of Lewis, and as part of a reclamation process of the second of my two endangered languages, I taught Gaelic and was a member of a Scottish Gaelic choir in Sruighlea where I was resident until mid-2013.

I intend to use this space to write long, as well as shorter posts about the following subjects in English, Swedish and, occasionally, South Saami and Scottish Gaelic:

• Decolonisation
• Education
• Linguistics
• Endangered Languages
• Indigeneity
• Post-colonialism
• Poetry

Johan's Profile and Linkedin contact,

linkedin.com/in/johan-sandberg-mcguinne-84029115b

Author

“Duan is Dàn – I Occupy the Liminal Spaces in Between”, (kommande)

“Ett koloniserat sinne sjunger inte“ för Provins 2:2018, ed. Åkerlund, (2018)

“Elsa i Saajvoe-Kungens Rike” (Barnradioteater) 2017

Editor /redaktör

Noerh Tjaelieh / Nuarah Tjállieh – Unga Samer Skriver, (2018)

Sápmi 2.0 – Subaltern No More, (2016)

Translator/översättare

Mojhtestasse, Marja Helena Fjellheim Mortensson (2018)

Tråante 2017 – The Centenary Year in pictures, ed. Morten Olsen Haugen, (2018)

Aarehgïjre, Marja Helena Fjellheim Mortensson (2017)

Jielemen Aavoe – The Joy of Life, Rawdna Carita Eira (2017)

Goevtegæjnoste Gaelpiedualjan / From Kautokeino to Kalvskinnet (2017)

Orda – This is My Land, Sofia Jannok, (2016)

Lådtjies vïlluojde, Thea Viklund (2016)

Languages: Sydsamiska, Swedish, English and German

Other Interesting Webpages relating to indigenous issues:

Samediggi (2025) Home Page of Sami Parliament Sweden https://www.sametinget.se/

UN (2021) The Sámi: We are the natives of this country

https://unric.org/en/sami-we-are-the-natives-of-this-country/#:~:text=They%20have%20been%20subjected%20to,with%20abuses%2C%20violations%20and%20racism.