Page 144 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 144
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
1983). All in all, this compilation is made up of accounts by six missionari-
es: Samuel Rheen (Rheen 1983), Olaus Graan (Graan 1983), Johannes Torna-
eus (Tornaeus 1983), Olaus Petri Niurenius (Niurenius 1983), Nicolai Lun-
dius (Lundius 1983) and Gabriel Tuderus (Tuderus 1983). In the early 1740s
another detailed description of Sami life and customs was written and pu-
blished by the missionary Pehr Högström (Högström 1980). Högström had
become well-acquainted with both Sami livelihood and language through
his work as a missionary and priest in the Lule lappmark. In his book he re-
fers quite often to Schefferus’ Lapponia, commenting on and correcting in-
formation that he considers to be at fault.
Even though missionary accounts provide many valuable insights into
Sami history they are also associated with source-critical problems. Firstly,
they are inevitably coloured by the Swedish context in which their authors
were raised and educated, and moreover by the ideals of the Christian Lu-
theran Church that brought them to the lappmark in the first place. In fact,
only one of the missionaries, Nicolai Lundius, was Sami and thereby also
part of the Sami context (Fjellström 1983). His Sami background is however
not especially apparent in his accounts. The primary task of the many mis-
sionaries was to spread the Christian Lutheran faith and customs among
the Sami through preaching and travelling in the Swedish lappmark. This
would certainly have provided many valuable insights into Sami subsis-
tence, and the missionaries would surely have developed a relatively close,
albeit unequal, relationship with the Sami they describe. As a result, the
strength of the accounts as source material is that the authors actually in-
teracted with the Sami of northern Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries.
They thereby provide us with a unique window into Sami history, albeit
with various problematic filters.
Secondly, another source criticism is that some missionaries seem to
have copied parts of other’s texts, incorporating them into their own ac-
counts. This calls for careful reading and analysis in order to identify each
author’s independent contribution. The third problem concerns how well
the priests and the Sami could communicate with one another, given that
they spoke different languages. According to contemporary sources, some
Sami, at least in the southern lappmark, understood Swedish quite well, and
similarly some Sami in the eastern lappmark understood Finnish (Hög-
ström 1980, 77; Rheen 1983, 52). These language skills are described as espe-
cially good among the Sami who took part in trade. There are also said to
have been plenty of interpreters in the lappmark whom priests for example
142
1983). All in all, this compilation is made up of accounts by six missionari-
es: Samuel Rheen (Rheen 1983), Olaus Graan (Graan 1983), Johannes Torna-
eus (Tornaeus 1983), Olaus Petri Niurenius (Niurenius 1983), Nicolai Lun-
dius (Lundius 1983) and Gabriel Tuderus (Tuderus 1983). In the early 1740s
another detailed description of Sami life and customs was written and pu-
blished by the missionary Pehr Högström (Högström 1980). Högström had
become well-acquainted with both Sami livelihood and language through
his work as a missionary and priest in the Lule lappmark. In his book he re-
fers quite often to Schefferus’ Lapponia, commenting on and correcting in-
formation that he considers to be at fault.
Even though missionary accounts provide many valuable insights into
Sami history they are also associated with source-critical problems. Firstly,
they are inevitably coloured by the Swedish context in which their authors
were raised and educated, and moreover by the ideals of the Christian Lu-
theran Church that brought them to the lappmark in the first place. In fact,
only one of the missionaries, Nicolai Lundius, was Sami and thereby also
part of the Sami context (Fjellström 1983). His Sami background is however
not especially apparent in his accounts. The primary task of the many mis-
sionaries was to spread the Christian Lutheran faith and customs among
the Sami through preaching and travelling in the Swedish lappmark. This
would certainly have provided many valuable insights into Sami subsis-
tence, and the missionaries would surely have developed a relatively close,
albeit unequal, relationship with the Sami they describe. As a result, the
strength of the accounts as source material is that the authors actually in-
teracted with the Sami of northern Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries.
They thereby provide us with a unique window into Sami history, albeit
with various problematic filters.
Secondly, another source criticism is that some missionaries seem to
have copied parts of other’s texts, incorporating them into their own ac-
counts. This calls for careful reading and analysis in order to identify each
author’s independent contribution. The third problem concerns how well
the priests and the Sami could communicate with one another, given that
they spoke different languages. According to contemporary sources, some
Sami, at least in the southern lappmark, understood Swedish quite well, and
similarly some Sami in the eastern lappmark understood Finnish (Hög-
ström 1980, 77; Rheen 1983, 52). These language skills are described as espe-
cially good among the Sami who took part in trade. There are also said to
have been plenty of interpreters in the lappmark whom priests for example
142
