How war affects their existence

The Sami people were not faced with the issue of war, but instead were faced with the hardship of racism. It first began in 1800 when ideals of superior and inferior cultures came about. It was then viewed that nomads were inferior to farmers. The Sami were then deprived of land that was rightfully theirs. Since farmers knew that reindeer husbandry was their main resource, the Same were forced to pay for land that they was called their own. Farmers viewed the Sami as insignificant. They displayed such hatred by burning down forests and pastures to rid the Sami of one their main resources, cattle. By removing the cattle's place of gathering, it made it all the more difficult for the Sami to herd them. Only towards the middle of the 19th century did people finally begin to hurt over the suffering of the Sami people. Parliament attempted to ease the majority of the Sami struggles by suspending the transfer of Sami land to farmers in 1841. Eventually land was purchased specifically for the Sami only. This established act of legislation was hard to interpret at times with caused conflicts at times. During the last decades of the 19th century the biology of racial discrimination rose to the forefront of issues. Sami people were seen as born with "racial characteristics" that burdened them with an inability to live as civilized people. Parliament believed that they would neglect the reindeer and become beggars. therefore Sami lost the right to hunt and fish in treasured areas any longer. It was not only the agricultural area that was influenced by such racial discrimination, but the educational systems as well. Children who were unfortunate enough to be born of a Sami nomad were denied educational rights. Nomads were forced to protest on multiple occasions for their children to be treated fairly. After WWII in the 1930s the nomad schools were forced to teach the nomad children on the same standards as the Swedish educational system. The struggle for Sami rights continued as the battle of "racial biology" was consistent. It was clear that the Sami must fight long and hard to cherish their culture and traditions.

Kvarfordt, Karin, Nils-Henrik Sikku, Michael Teilus, and Robert Crofts. The Sámi: An Indigenous People in Sweden. Kiruna, Sweden: National Sámi Information Centre, 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.samer.se/2137>.