Early Modern Sámi Education
In his lecture, Professor Daniel Lindmark will focus on the educational efforts that the Swedish church directed towards the Sámi in the 17th and 18th centuries. In spite of the increased presence of the church and the establishment of the Skyttean School in Lycksele in 1632, in the 1680s it was obvious that the Christianization of the Sámi had not progressed very far. The lecture will present the attempts at extinguishing Sámi views and customs, as well as Sámi resistance. Intensified teaching of religion was the major means resorted to by the bishop and consistory of Härnösand, both in their action plan and in their practical handling during a visitation to the Sámi parishes in 1688.
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However, reports on continued use of Sámi religious practices paved the way for a school system that was instituted through a decision at the Diet of 1723. By the middle of the 18th century, a residential school for six Sámi students was in operation in each of the Sámi parishes. The “Lapp Schools” became significant tools for increasing reading skills and catechetical knowledge among the Sámi, not least because of its dissemination effect. From about 1740, the schools started to educate itinerant Sámi catechists and accept female students.
The lecture will also provide an inside picture from the Jokkmokk Lapp School of the 1760s, where Schoolmaster Theophilus Gran put a lot of effort in his attempts at converting a student named Anders. The story about “the conversion of a Sámi youngster” gives voice to Sámi resistance to Christianization. At the same time it demonstrates the schools’ potential for influencing the Sámi students. While the Sámi in the 17th century were asked collectively to abandon Sámi views and rituals and acquire Christian knowledge, the Lapp School of the 18th century aimed at an individual conversion that integrated Christian values with the personality.
The lecture will also provide an inside picture from the Jokkmokk Lapp School of the 1760s, where Schoolmaster Theophilus Gran put a lot of effort in his attempts at converting a student named Anders. The story about “the conversion of a Sámi youngster” gives voice to Sámi resistance to Christianization. At the same time it demonstrates the schools’ potential for influencing the Sámi students. While the Sámi in the 17th century were asked collectively to abandon Sámi views and rituals and acquire Christian knowledge, the Lapp School of the 18th century aimed at an individual conversion that integrated Christian values with the personality.
Daniel Lindmark
Daniel Lindmark earned his PhD in History in 1995 and received the title of docent in History in 1999 and in Church History in 2007. Since 2004 he holds a professorship in Educational History and History Education at Umeå University, Sweden, where he serves as a research leader of the Umeå History and Education Group. This group has hosted Session 28 of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (2006) and the Fifth Nordic Conference on Educational History (2012). In 2014 the group launched the Nordic Journal of Educational History. Lindmark has been coordinating the research project “History beyond Borders: The International History Textbook Revision, 1919–2009”, and the postgraduate school “Historical Media: Postgraduate School in History Education (ForHiM)”, both funded by the Swedish Research Council.
From 2012 Lindmark has also been partially engaged in the Religious Studies Unit, where he holds a professorship in Church History since 2014. He is currently serving as moderator of the “Values, Diversity, and Religion” postgraduate school funded by school authorities in the Dalarna region. He is also directing the research project “Sámi Voices and Sorry Churches: Use of History in Church-Sámi Reconciliation Processes”, financed by the Swedish Research Council Formas, and “The Church of Sweden and the Sámi – A White Book Project” funded by the Church of Sweden Research Unit. He has recently initiated the Religious History of the North network (RHEN), an offspring of the “Ecclesiastical and Educational History of Northern Sweden” project.
Lindmark’s research interests include educational history, religious history, literacy studies, Saami studies and history education. Among his most recent publications should be mentioned De historiska relationerna mellan Svenska kyrkan och samerna: En vetenskaplig antologi, red. Daniel Lindmark & Olle Sundström (Skellefteå: Artos, 2016), and Gränsöverskridande kyrkohistoria: De språkliga minoriteterna på Nordkalotten, red. Daniel Lindmark (Umeå: RHEN, 2016).
See more: http://www.arcum.umu.se/affilierade-forskare/humaniora/daniel-lindmark/
From 2012 Lindmark has also been partially engaged in the Religious Studies Unit, where he holds a professorship in Church History since 2014. He is currently serving as moderator of the “Values, Diversity, and Religion” postgraduate school funded by school authorities in the Dalarna region. He is also directing the research project “Sámi Voices and Sorry Churches: Use of History in Church-Sámi Reconciliation Processes”, financed by the Swedish Research Council Formas, and “The Church of Sweden and the Sámi – A White Book Project” funded by the Church of Sweden Research Unit. He has recently initiated the Religious History of the North network (RHEN), an offspring of the “Ecclesiastical and Educational History of Northern Sweden” project.
Lindmark’s research interests include educational history, religious history, literacy studies, Saami studies and history education. Among his most recent publications should be mentioned De historiska relationerna mellan Svenska kyrkan och samerna: En vetenskaplig antologi, red. Daniel Lindmark & Olle Sundström (Skellefteå: Artos, 2016), and Gränsöverskridande kyrkohistoria: De språkliga minoriteterna på Nordkalotten, red. Daniel Lindmark (Umeå: RHEN, 2016).
See more: http://www.arcum.umu.se/affilierade-forskare/humaniora/daniel-lindmark/