When in Tromsø, I came across many students who claimed to be of Sami ancestry. Many of them wore colourful (tribal) outfits when attending their graduation event. They were proud and I generally admired them:they had not forgotten their probably not so glorious past.

When visiting Tromsø’s Art Museum, I was quite impressed by the above picture by French Romantic painter François Auguste Biard (1799-1882). I learned that Biard was known for his detailed travel scenes, genre paintings, and powerful depictions of social issues like slavery, famously seen in his “Slave Trade” series, stemming from extensive travels to the Arctic, Egypt, Brazil, and the US. 

The picture shows a Sami family. It is titled, Læstadius preker for samene, Læstadius preaches to the Sami. Læstadius is Lars Levi Laestadius (1800–1861), a Swedish Lutheran pastor, botanist, and influential religious reformer who started a pietistic revival movement known as Laestadianism in the mid-19th century. Sami were living under miserable conditions in Lapland, the area of northern-most Norway, Sweden Finland and Russia. Life was extremely harsh. Look at the picture, their faces, their dwelling.

I first had a feeling that proselyting indigenous people is a bad thing. In particular converting them to the Protestant faith. I later learned that Læstadius was popular among the Sami in the 19th century.

Sami suffered a long history of severe discrimination in Norway. Until the late 1960s, Norway implemented policies to assimilate the Sami, suppressing their language and culture. There were conflicts over Sami rights to traditional lands, grazing areas (reindeer herding), and water resources. Children were forbidden to speak their native language in schools.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian government had issued formal apologies for its discriminatory policies of the past. Laws exist to protect the Sami language (one of three official languages in Norway) and rights, but challenges remain in enforcement and addressing systemic issues.

21 January 2026 @ 10:37 am.

Last modified January 21, 2026.