Guest Researcher at Várdduo – Centre for Sámi Research

Amanda Green from Eastern Kentucky University is returning to Várdduo – Centre for SámiResearch. During her previous visit, she examined discourses on Indigenous food rights and food sovereignty for her dissertation. She is now building on that work with a new studyexploring how Sweden’s landuse laws influence who is able to use land for food production.

Várdduo serves as a hub for doctoral students and researchers from various disciplines, aiming to create a positive research environment where creative encounters and diverse perspectives enrich academic work. As an important part of this mission, Várdduo invitesguest researchers to spend time at the centre. During the fall of 2025 and spring of 2026, Amanda Green from Eastern Kentucky University will be visiting.

Amanda Green is a cultural anthropologist with research interests in food and environmentalstudies. Her dissertation, completed at Oregon State University in 2016, focused on the foodactivism of Sámi participants and organizations.

“While conducting ethnographic research in Jokkmokk from 2013 to 2014, I documented howSámi participants reshaped both local and international discourse on Indigenous food rightsand food sovereignty,” Amanda explains.

Revisiting Jokkmokk
Now she has returned to Jokkmokk and to Várdduo – Centre for Sámi Research. Her new project aims to understand how Swedish laws—including Allemansrätten, the ReindeerGrazing Acts, work visas for berry pickers, hunting regulations, and rules governinghydropower, wind power, and timber—shape how people in Jokkmokk can use the land, and how this in turn affects their relationships with the natural world and with one another.

“This current study builds directly on my dissertation research. I observed that Sweden’sunique set of landuse laws influences who is able to use land for food production,” Amanda says.

“I hope this study will show how landrelated laws and regulations affect people’s land use, economic conditions, and sense of belonging, and that it may contribute to future landusepolicy in the region,” she continues.

An Incredible Opportunity to Work with Várdduo
Amanda first discovered Várdduo through the publications from researschers at the centre, and now she has returned to collaborate with the centre.

“Working with Umeå and Várdduo has been an incredible opportunity because of theirexpertise in Sámi and Indigenous research. I have always found it to be a welcoming and productive research environment,” Amanda says.