Rovaniemi, a city of nearly 61,000 that straddles the Arctic Circle in northern Finland, markets itself as 鈥�.鈥� Here visitors can meet Santa and his elves, take a reindeer sleigh ride through the snowy landscape, and buy local products.
But Santa鈥檚 Village isn鈥檛 all fun and games. The site has been the subject of many protests by Sami, the Indigenous peoples of northern Scandinavia, who claim that their culture is being appropriated by the Finnish tourism industry for its own gain. A number of complaints have been directed at Santa and his elves: elements of Sami dress are inappropriately incorporated into the uniforms of non-Sami employees or 鈥渆lves鈥�; items sold as genuine Sami handicrafts are often cheap imitations made by non-Sami; the Sami are depicted in gift shop merchandise as drunken fools (highly offensive playing cards show the Sami as both the King and Joker characters); and finally, an 鈥淎rctic Circle-crossing ceremony鈥� is marketed to tourists as an ancient 鈥淟appish鈥� tradition, but in reality has no precedents in Sami culture.
Over two days in December of 1996, Sami from the three Scandinavian nations protested the commercialization and exploitation of their culture by the Finnish tourist industry. A traditional Sami camp was built in the city for tourists to see real Sami culture. Over 50 protesters, many of them from the Sami youth groups, distributed more than 2,500 English-language brochures to international tourists arriving at the airports and visiting the attractions in Rovaniemi. Souvenir shops and tourists were given pamphlets on how to distinguish a genuine Sami handicraft from imitations.
Three years later, in an update from March 1999, the website for the Finnish Sami youth group (SSN), 鈥溾��, asked, 鈥淒id the protests change anything?!? No, it鈥檚 鈥榖usiness as usual.鈥欌��
As Jeff Taylor, Professor of Media Analysis at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, has written: 鈥淭he derogatory and racist playing cards mocking Sami and the offensive 鈥楽ami鈥� dolls are still for sale at Santa Claus Village鈥�.The ceremony is still for sale鈥nd as further part of the tourism package, my non-Sami Finnish students working part-time in tourism are still required to dress up as Sami to greet tourists on arrival for their Christmas visit to Lapland and Santa鈥� (pg. 17). The current website for Santa鈥檚 Village gives one the impression that very little progress has been made on these issues.
The association made between Santa鈥檚 elves and the Sami at Santa鈥檚 Village is incredibly belittling鈥攁nd yet it is merely one of many instances of 鈥渙thering鈥� that the Sami have had to challenge over the centuries.
And while for many visitors to Santa鈥檚 hometown the element of 鈥渃ultural tourism鈥� is secondary, the increasing use of digital technologies results in a rapid and circuitous misrepresentation. As one TripAdvisor user says: 鈥渓ooking to visit Lapland and want to spend time with the Sami, don鈥檛 want to visit Santa, or ski鈥�all I can find involves elves and grottos!?鈥� (, viewed Oct. 14, 2012). TripAdvisor is just one of many avenues through which the international dialogue on Sami culture takes place. In these types of fora, the cultural 鈥渒nowledge鈥� obtained from a variety of tourist experiences is modified further through individual bias and opinion. What results is an often selective and distorted image of what constitutes Sami culture, an image that is then further perpetuated through reposting, blogging, and the like.
As the SSN website states in relation to Santa鈥檚 Village: 鈥淭o be the target of ridicule can mean life-long departures from Sami roots鈥攆or example in the case of Sami youth at a sensitive age.鈥�
Sami concerns related to the commodification of their culture, including the disproportionate distribution of economic return and the lack of control over cultural representation, are shared by many Indigenous communities dealing with increasing cultural tourism development in their own regions. Though there is no single solution to these issues, many groups, including the Sami, are exploring different approaches to cultural tourism that serve both to educate visitors and to empower the host community.
Further Reading:
George, Jane. 1996. 鈥溾�� Nunatsiaq News.
Hayes, John R. 1997.
Nicholas, George P. and Wylie, Alison. 2013. 鈥溾�楧o no do unto others鈥︹��: Cultural Misrecognition and the Harms of Appropriation in an Open-Source World.鈥� In Appropriating The Past: Philosophical Perspectives on the Practice of Archaeology, edited by Geoffrey Scarre and Robin Coningham, 195-221. Cambridge University Press, New York.
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Taylor, Jeff. . University of Lapland.
The Appropriation (?) of the Month feature, written by IPinCH team members, highlights examples of uses of intellectual property that might be considered appropriations.