Research project The aim of this PhD project is to analyse assemblages of municipal arenas for dialogue. The project is a critical assemblage analysis that is with the help of ethnography carried out in parts of the Sámie language administrative area on the Swedish side of Sábmie.
The implementation of language policy is a process of many stages and a diversity of actors influence language policy processes and practices in different ways. The aim of this project is to analyse language policy processes and practices during part of the ongoing transformation of municipal operations. Conversations with local actors, participation in various arenas for dialogue, the minutes of a the arenas for dialogue, and photographs of public sites, serve as data in this critical assemblage analysis study.
The possibility for minoritized Peoples to influence and participate in administrative and political processes is a key element of minority rights. Municipalities in Sweden are obliged to be in dialogue with national minorities since the Minorities Act entered into force in 2010. This obligation led to the arenas for dialogue wherein I participate during this critical assemblage study, which aims to investigate assemblages of municipal arenas for dialogue in the Sámie language administrative area. A diversity of interlocutors shared experiences and understandings of the possibility for Sámie people to influence and participate in decision-making processes, and the conditions wherein transformative processes take place. These processes are in this PhD project regarded as part of the cultural endurance of an Indigenous People.
The project connects with UN Sustainable Development Goal nr. 10 (Reduce inequality within and among countries) and nr. 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable).
