In her latest book Vuovddesáme – forest Sami in Flakaberg, Kerstin Andersson has written a story about her grandmother and grandfather from Gällivare forest Sami village.
– I have tried to focus on what has happened to the Forest Sami. It was a tough assimilation policy that was carried out in Sweden, says Kerstin Andersson, who lives in Stockholm but grew up in the village of Lillsaivis, Gällivare municipality.
She has written in both Lule Sami and Swedish about her family history, which is not seen in Swedish history.
– The book’s Lule Sami texts can be a contribution to those who learn Lule Sami at school today, says Kerstin Andersson.
The first Forest Sami settlers
She also highlights women’s suffrage, Sami women’s champions, Laestadianism and the reindeer herding law.
Kerstin is the fifth generation on her grandfather’s side, after Nils “Massa” Matthsson Åsjåkk and his wife Brita Phersdotter Saivitz. They were the first Forest Sami settlers in Råne Flakaberg who built a homestead in 1836. The family had a farm, land, animals and engaged in reindeer husbandry.
– The home network has been inherited from generation to generation. My relatives still live in the village, says Kerstin.
Old Lule Sami forest dialect
It means a lot to her that parts of the book are in Lule Sami, as translated by Per-Eric Kuoljok. Although she does not speak the language herself, she wants to contribute to the development and preservation of the Lule Sami language.
– There is today a very old Lule Sami dialect in Gällivare Skogssameby which is spoken by a few people in the area, says Kerstin Andersson.
