Rhetorical Strategies of Unashamed Sámi Citizens

ABSTRACT This article explores the rhetorical strategies applied in two political debate books published in 1979 and 2021, respectively, advocating for the rights of the indigenous Sámi people. Writing in the early stages of the Sámi struggle for recognition, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää used the rhetorical trope of irony to provoke the majoritised population and give the Sámi population an opportunity to laugh at the prejudices they are faced with. In the 1970s, the struggle for the survival of Sami culture overshadowed all other issues, and in Valkeapää’s book there is no discussion of women-specific challenges or gender issues. Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen, however, writes in an era affected by the #MeToo movement and has herself been a victim of sexualized violence. In her book, she uses her own experiences of growing up as a Sámi girl in Norway as rhetorical examples in discussions about prejudices against the Sámi, but also in a critique of gender roles in Sámi culture.