The Gáivuona/ Kåfjord Elderly Care Project: Cultural Interventions for the Elderly in Indigenous Communities

Andreassen, Hege K.

Gàivouna/ Kåfjord is a multi-ethnical community in North Norway, with Sami, Norwegian and Kven people living in the village. Over the years, there has been different phases in the co-existence of the three groups. Contemporary challenges in the community relate to the colonial Norwegianization politics that characterized all state and public affairs in the area from approximately 1850, where the national goal was to assimilate the Sami population through a strict regime including a language-ban and compulsory boarding schooling for Sami children. Although since the late 1950`s this has not been official politics, a main consequence has been massive efforts across all levels of society to make traces of Sami culture and heritage invisible.

Many of those receiving municipal elderly care services in this community today, in the 2020s, were raised in the years of the most intense Norwegianization politics. In various ways they carry with them wounds inflicted by Norwegianization. The Gáivuona/ Kåfjord -elderly care project introduced cultural interventions opening for the elderly to explore and re-visit the Sami language and activities from their childhood. The aim was to foster meaningful and positive experiences for the individual care recipients, and at the same time contribute to community well-being through explicit and inclusive activities acknowledging and building on Sami knowledge.

In this presentation you will learn about the three main activities in The Gáivuona/ Kåfjord -elderly care project; a sami speaking language contact for elderly living in the nursing home, sami speaking school children visiting the nursing home, and daytrips to a sami family arranging events with food and music in their barn. Our discussion will explore these practices from a performative angle, opening for a sociological discussion on the potential of elderly care services to contribute to meaning and positivity for individuals and for the community.