Smi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North

Digital mediaGIFs, films, TED Talks, tweets, and morehave become integral to daily life and, unsurprisingly, to Indigenous peoples strategies for addressing the historical and ongoing effects of colonization. In Smi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North, Thomas DuBois and Copplie Cocq examine how Smi people of Norway, Finland, and Sweden use media to advance a social, cultural, and political agenda anchored in notions of cultural continuity and self-determination. Beginning in the 1970s, Smi have used Smi-language mediaincluding commercially produced musical recordings, feature and documentary films, books of literature and poetry, and magazinesto communicate a sense of identity both within the Smi community and within broader Nordic and international arenas. In more contemporary contextsfrom YouTube music videos that combine rock and joik (a traditional Smi musical genre) to Twitter hashtags that publicize protests against mining projects in Smi landsSmi activists, artists, and cultural workers have used the media to undo layers of ignorance surrounding Smi livelihoods and rights to self-determination. Downloadable songs, music festivals, films, videos, social media posts, images, and tweets are just some of the diverse media through which Smi activists transform how Nordic majority populations view and understand Smi minority communities and, more globally, how modern states regard and treat Indigenous populations.