Citation

Andresen A. Acta Boreal. 2007; 24(2): 130-142.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08003830701661746

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An unprecedented drama took place in the village of Kautokeino in Northern Norway on a November night in 1852: members of the parish attacked the village, set houses on fire and murdered the tradesman and the bailiff. The aim of this article is not to explain the event, but to look into the extent to which notions of mental illness were brought into the following trial, and furthermore, if such illness was perceived as pertaining to a specific Sámi character or mentality. The article also investigates the ways in which changing perceptions of the Sámi and mental illness made for new interpretations of the 1852 event. Throughout the period from the 1850s until the 1960s, claims were made that the Kautokeino ringleaders were mad or insane, but the ways in which madness was connected to being Sámi changed, as did the specific reasons for making these claims. However, whether the diagnosis came from physicians, the clergy or other interested parties, it seems more often than not to have had at its heart to make the best possible excuse for those who participated in the Kautokeino event. The inevitable result was to emphasize the lack of civilization or later, the otherness, of the Sámi people as compared with Norwegians.