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Sámicosmologies: Exploring Indigenous Knowledge Cultures and Practices of Star-Gazing

Project description

Studying Sámi cosmologies and climate change

Climate change has disrupted environments globally, particularly affecting Arctic regions where Indigenous communities face severe ecological impacts. Traditional knowledge systems, such as Sámi cosmologies, hold valuable environmental insights often overlooked in contemporary discussions. These cosmologies highlight intricate relationships between humans and nature, offering unique perspectives on environmental stewardship. The challenge lies in integrating this traditional wisdom into modern eco-philosophical and policy frameworks. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ExploringCosmologies project aims to alter people’s connection to nature by tracing the roles of human and non-human figures in Sámi stories, revealing how these entities symbolise vital nature-human relationships. Sámi artists use these stories to draw attention to cultural history and climate issues.

Objective

This project offers increased understanding of arctic Indigenous cosmologies as a form of environmental knowledge and traces their significance for communities in times of environmental crisis. With a special focus on traditional Sámi cosmologies and Sámi contemporary art, the goal is to explore and trace the appearance of human and non-human protagonists within Indigenous stories, especially about the starry polar night skies. By reappearing each night, these more-than-human figures became haunting entities which provided abstract nature-human relationships with a concrete, sensual and alluring form. Today, Sámi artists refer to these haunting figures to draw attention to their troubled cultural history and the present reality of climate-affected regions. The integration of traditional, recurring ghostly figures from Sámi storytelling – that migrate between the celestial and the earthly, as well as the human and the non-human – stresses the urgency of changing the way humans relate to nature. What is more, these fascinating, haunting and visionary figures provoke speculative futures, in which nature is regarded as a non-human subject. As this concept is becoming increasingly crucial in eco-philosophical debates and policy decisions on environmental justice, this project aims to show that Sámi cosmologies – especially when mediated through art – can play a vital role in changing humans’ perspective on nature.
In recent years, contemporary art has been called upon to give a sensual form to the abstract systematic connections of climate change; the extent of the current crisis is difficult for people to grasp. As a consequence, art is gaining a central role within our societies; it stands at the threshold between sciences, politics and culture. This project deals with art that is engaged in the severe environmental changes of this planet and that stands on the threshold between communicating urgency and being more than a mere messenger of environmental research.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 210 911,04
Address
KJELL ARHOLMS GATE 41
4021 Stavanger
Norway

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Region
Norge Vestlandet Rogaland
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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