South Saami Ethnobotany

The South Saami region is located between Elgå (east of the lake Femunden) up north to the river Ranelva (Mo i Rana). Information will primarily be collected by interviewing South Saami people that have experience with and knowledge of traditional use of plants and mushrooms.

Little have been published within this ethnobotanical field and one outcome will be increased knowledge of the South Saami culture and way of living. In addition, a second goal will be to develop a textbook supporting teaching and learning in schools regarding South Saami culture and identity. 

It is likely that the number of people with this kind of ethnobotanical knowledge is decreasing, and it is thus of great importance to implement such studies in the near future. Systematically collection of South Saami botanical tradition now would give a contribution to increase and conserve information that otherwise might be increasingly more difficult to obtain.

Final goals of the project is to publish in ethnobotanical scientific journals and to write a textbook about South Saami ethnobotany – texted in both the Norwegian and South Saami language.