Threats to an indigenous culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Threats to an indigenous culture - Essay Example The SÃ ¡mi culture encompasses various unique activities carried out by the SÃ ¡mi people for many decades. However, this precious culture faces external threats that interfere with the core activities and beliefs carried out by the SÃ ¡mi people. The SÃ ¡mi people rely greatly on natural resources for their livelihood hence making the SÃ ¡mi culture to be associated with nature. According to the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Sami people were initially categorized depending on the characteristic of the natural environment they occupied (1). This means that different Sami people depended on different natural resources for their livelihood depending on their location. Firstly, the Sami people living in the coast of the Arctic Ocean are categorized as the Sea SÃ ¡mi (Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2). Due to the closer location to Arctic Ocean, the livelihood of the Sea SÃ ¡mi mainly depended on resources from the ocean. This means that the main economic activity that was associated with this category was fishing from the ocean. The second category of the SÃ ¡mi people is called the forest SÃ ¡mi. This category of SÃ ¡mi people relied heavily on hunting and gathering as th e source of their livelihood. However, it is worth noting that the SÃ ¡mi people are nomadic and relied heavily in the reindeer in addition to other resources offered by nature. Historical background of the SÃ ¡mi people provides important clues about various activities carried valued in the SÃ ¡mi culture. According to Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the SÃ ¡mi people descended from people who inhabited the Northern Fennoscandia after the ice age period (1). This indicates that the SÃ ¡mi people are the original landowners in the arctic region. In addition, the ancestry of the SÃ ¡mi people indicates that they had already adapted to the living conditions in the arctic regions. Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples further