Page 156 - 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. 156
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
explanation here is that the poor needed several income sources to make
ends meet.
Another important activity for the Mountain Sami, stemming from
their large-scale reindeer husbandry, relates to transport. In order to sell
products they needed to transport goods to the winter markets in the
Swedish inland and to the summer and autumn markets in Norway. They
also earned income by transporting merchants and their goods between
the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia and the inland markets and vice versa. The
Sami are also known to have transported post, people and goods outside
the market season, not least to church and mining centres.
Fishing was the main resource base for the Forest Sami, but they also
engaged in small-scale reindeer husbandry. Even though the Forest Sami
sold dried fish to merchants, and exchanged dried fish with Mountain Sami
in return for reindeer cheese and meat, they still depended on a wide range
of other sources of income besides fishing. For example they collected sea-
bird eggs and plucked down and feathers from seabirds and wood grouse.
Hunting too seems to have been important for the Forest Sami, for the writ-
ten sources describe them as better marksmen than the Mountain Sami.
The sources also note that the Mountain Sami seldom owned rifles. For the
Forest Sami, hunting, which provided hides, furs and meat to be used in the
household and sold at market, was an important income source.
The illustration in Diagram 6.1 shows that household subsistence for
Mountain Sami and Forest Sami during this time was made up of a wide
range of activities such as handcrafting, hunting, farming, gathering, trade
and transport. Based on the study it is however apparent that Forest Sami,
generally being less self-sufficient than Mountain Sami, were more reliant
on multiple income sources. The same goes for poor Mountain Sami as
they are described in the sources as being more engaged in hunting, fishing
and handcrafts than rich Mountain Sami.
To sum up, it seems the analytical concept of the integrated peasant
economy (Panjek 2015) is also useful for understanding early modern Sami
economy. In compliance with this concept Early Modern Sami households
combined primary production, in this case reindeer husbandry and fishing,
and market-oriented activities such as handcrafts and transports to make
a living. Diversification activities in Early Modern Sami households were
part of an economic system and not just as occasional tasks performed ran-
domly. This economic system offered dynamic possibilities for Sami house-
holds to adapt to changing settings over time and space with regards to for
154
explanation here is that the poor needed several income sources to make
ends meet.
Another important activity for the Mountain Sami, stemming from
their large-scale reindeer husbandry, relates to transport. In order to sell
products they needed to transport goods to the winter markets in the
Swedish inland and to the summer and autumn markets in Norway. They
also earned income by transporting merchants and their goods between
the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia and the inland markets and vice versa. The
Sami are also known to have transported post, people and goods outside
the market season, not least to church and mining centres.
Fishing was the main resource base for the Forest Sami, but they also
engaged in small-scale reindeer husbandry. Even though the Forest Sami
sold dried fish to merchants, and exchanged dried fish with Mountain Sami
in return for reindeer cheese and meat, they still depended on a wide range
of other sources of income besides fishing. For example they collected sea-
bird eggs and plucked down and feathers from seabirds and wood grouse.
Hunting too seems to have been important for the Forest Sami, for the writ-
ten sources describe them as better marksmen than the Mountain Sami.
The sources also note that the Mountain Sami seldom owned rifles. For the
Forest Sami, hunting, which provided hides, furs and meat to be used in the
household and sold at market, was an important income source.
The illustration in Diagram 6.1 shows that household subsistence for
Mountain Sami and Forest Sami during this time was made up of a wide
range of activities such as handcrafting, hunting, farming, gathering, trade
and transport. Based on the study it is however apparent that Forest Sami,
generally being less self-sufficient than Mountain Sami, were more reliant
on multiple income sources. The same goes for poor Mountain Sami as
they are described in the sources as being more engaged in hunting, fishing
and handcrafts than rich Mountain Sami.
To sum up, it seems the analytical concept of the integrated peasant
economy (Panjek 2015) is also useful for understanding early modern Sami
economy. In compliance with this concept Early Modern Sami households
combined primary production, in this case reindeer husbandry and fishing,
and market-oriented activities such as handcrafts and transports to make
a living. Diversification activities in Early Modern Sami households were
part of an economic system and not just as occasional tasks performed ran-
domly. This economic system offered dynamic possibilities for Sami house-
holds to adapt to changing settings over time and space with regards to for
154
