Luke Laframboise

(Me on one of the field trips during class, just outside of Kautokeino)

My name is Luke Laframboise, a third-year Ph.D. student at Umeå University in Northern Sweden, where I study the role of the Saami Council in Sámi politics. I’m originally from Northern Canada, but through a long and strange series of events I ended up in the Nordics, studying all things Sámi politics, and decided to make an academic career out of it.

The choice of Sámi Allaskuvla came about as a requirement in my study plan to learn at least a bit of one Sámi language. My research mostly deals with English language documents, so I chose North Sámi because of the greater base of learning material and the connection to the Saami Council itself.

As for Sámi Allaskuvla specifically, I had been recommended to go by my supervisor Anna-Lill Drugge. My department thought it was a good idea and put forward funding to see it happen.

So, once the pandemic eased up and travel became possible again, I got my documents together, applied for SÁÁL 1, and arrived in Guovdageainnu/Kautokeino in late August of 2022.

(My fellow classmates and I out to gather sedge, which traditionally is used to insulate footwear among the Sámi people)

Learning North Sámi itself is great, however, I think it was the people who made it most rewarding. Sámi Allaskuvla is like no other university I have attended, perhaps because it is so small, but also because of how connected it is to the Sámi community. Without everyone I met in my class or on campus, I doubt I would have gotten as far as I did.

I think the most difficult part of studying in Guovdageainnu/Kautokeino is also its most important feature, which is the isolation of being so north. Alta is three and a half hours away by car and there are no other larger communities that are closer. It took a bit of getting used to being back so far away from big cities, but once I did I found that it made me feel better connected with the language and the culture.

(Outside school, learning to throw a lasso the Sámi way, trying to hit the reindeer antlers lying on the ground)

I would highly recommend that anyone who wants to study Sámi languages or culture go to Sámi Allaskuvla. Even now whenever the topic comes up of learning North Sámi comes up, which happens surprisingly regularly in my studies, I say “find a way to get up to Guovdageainnu/Kautokeino and study at the university there. You will not regret it.”

Lastly I just want to say how much I miss studying up in Guovdageainnu/Kautokeino. Despite how long the hours of study were, and how hard North Sámi is to learn, I look back with a lot of fondness on my time at Sámi Allaskuvla. I am not sure when I will go back, but I know I will one day.