Per Frånberg, Umeå University

The initiative aimed to establish a strong research arena for Sami research at the national and international levels. The application contained four main activities:

* Research networks
* An interactive platform for digitised research resources, virtual information and electronic publications 
* A Sami netbased dictionary for research and educational purposes 
* A Sami population data base 

The work with establishing CeSam as a strong platform for Sami research has been most successful. The research at CeSam is today acknowledged to be a strong resource in Sweden and the researchers are leading in the fields in the country. The budget has increased substantively over the past six years, CeSam is part of a number of important collaborations and is responsible for several research projects. Several new graduate students and research positions have been incorporated. The international cooperation within indigenous research has developed and CeSam is today a central actor at a number of arenas and is annually visited by several guest researchers.

Extensive efforts to strengthen the national and international networks have been carried out. The centre director was in 2006 appointed by the central government as one of three members of expert group with the task to produce a knowledge overview and analysis of reindeer herding and other Sami related research in Sweden. CeSam is responsible for the cooperation in a Nordic academic network for Sami research that has arrange large international conferences and specific workshops during several years. CeSam is also responsible for a collaborative project with the Russian Academy in Moscow; Native People: Health & Culture and is furthermore leading the project State, Religion and Ethnicity in the North, a cooperation with Pomore State University, Arkhangelsk, Russia.

CeSam took the initiative to a strategic Nordic collaboration together with Sami Centre at the University of Tromsö, Nordic Sami Institute in Kautokeino and Giellagas Institute in Oulu. The Modernisation Process in the Barents Region is another network with historians from the universities in Luleå, Umeå, Tromsø, Oulu, Archangelsk, Petrozavodsk and Syktyvkar. Moreover, CeSam was responsible for the research and education work package within the Barents 2010 project, with a total EU funding of SEK 20 million. It includes thirteen regions in four countries with a great indigenous representation. The center director is in this connection also member of the Editorial Board of the Barents Journal, published by Pomor State University. A cooperative agreement has been sign with South Sami Centre in Snåsa, Norway.

CeSam has an extensive responsibility within the University of the Arctic (UArctic), which has more than 110 universities and university colleges in the circumpolar area as members, today including the five Nordic countries, Canada, USA and Russia. The activities include several programs of which education and research are the most prominent. The centre is also a part of the leading group for UArctic's student travel program North2North. CeSam is moreover represented in the Nordic Council for Reindeer herding, appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Within the circumpolar research context CeSam has a member of the 2nd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II), with the purpose to perform strategic planning of arctic research for the forthcoming decade. CeSam has also a member of the International Directory of Arctic Social Sciences) IDASS. The centre has also a leading position in the European Social Science History Association and is responsible for the largest network with 40 sessions during the last conference in Lisboa, Portugal. CeSam is also a part of the North Atlantic Population Project, under leadership of IPUMS in Minnesota, USA and in the large international research programme BOREAS that is one of the Eurocore programmes in the European Science Foundations.

CeSam has made strong efforts to become a leading part within Sami population research. In February 2005 the Research Council of Sweden announced that the Centre for Population Studies, where CeSam is an important part, had been appointed as one of only ten strong research environments in Sweden. The centre director is one of the three members in the leadership for the project that received SEK 22 million. The experts especially pointed out that the Sami related research projects had a great potential. During the following year the multidisciplinary research environment Ageing and Living Conditions received funding within the Linneaus program, with totally SEK 94 million. The centre director was one of ten in the applying research group and CeSam is responsible for one important indigenous project that recently was strengthened with a postdoc position from the Faculty of Arts at Umeå University, as part of their quality based resource distribution.

CeSam is responsible for several large scale research projects; The Consequenses of Colonization - cultural and demographic Explanations to the Mortality Development in Sápmi 1750-1900 (SEK 2,4 million from FAS), Analysis of Sami Reindeer Herding Economy Adoption (SEK 2,1 million from EU), Traditional Knowledge in Conservation Policy - Global Concerns and Local Politics: the Case of Sami Management Initiatives in Vindelfjällen Nature Reserve, Sweden (SEK 3 million from Formas). Moreover, Cesam has leading positions in the project Adaptions of Natural Resource-Based Communities to Climatic and Societal Changes -Sami Reindeer Herding in the Past, Present and Future (SEK 7,8 million from Formas). CeSam has also received funding from the Sami Parliament in Sweden for the establishment of two annual student stipends and a scientific prize. Furthermore, a Nordic network program for Sami research has been approved by the Sami Parliament.

In order to overcome a lack of Sami-Swedish, Swedish-Sami dictionaries a part of the infrastructure application included the work with Báhkogirjje : julevsámes dárruj, dáros julevsábmáj, a Lule Sami-Swedish, Swedish-Lule Sami dictionary written by professor emeritus Olavi Korhonen. It contains 472 pages and was published in 2006.

A most positive response was given by the Research Council of Sweden when they announced that the project Population Data Base Sápmi 1750-1900 was appointed SEK 3,k million for the years 2005-2007, with CeSam as an active and important part. It was the single largest amount that the Research Council approved for longitudinal data bases. Together with the support from the current infrastructure project an internationally unique research potential has been established (www.ddb.umu.se). It is now an important base for several of the research projects described above.

In conclusion it is stated that the efforts to establish CeSam as a strong actor and centre for Sami research has been most successful. The development of the centre has been most positive and the strategies for the next phase include the ambition to receive national and permanent support for the activities. This is also a key question for the centre board. CeSam is today an established name with good academic market value and one of the profiles within the Faculty of Arts. The research at CeSam is part of two of the twelve prioritized research areas at Umeå University and the forthcoming work has good prerequisites to continue the positive trend.

Research based knowledge has gained in importance within a number of society areas. In many contexts a lack of knowledge concerning Sami culture and society has been stressed. Therefore, it is is necessary that academic research pay respect to this. Better information and a better implemented knowledge about the relation between minority and majority societies in Sweden is requested. Politicians, administrators, researchers, teachers, and many others in both the Swedish and the Sami societies often lack sufficient knowledge for an approved handling of Sami questions. This a central challenge for the research but in order to achieve a real change Sami research need more resources, coordination and development. 

The forthcoming Sami research must moreover have as a leading star to show the complexity of the Sami culture and society. The Sami have never had one common opinion. Circumstances and prerequisites have separated many parts of Sápmi from each other, and do so still today. Sami interests have sometimes been contradictive and the Sami culture includes a variation that research has not been able to demonstrate. Sápmi of tomorrow will furthermore be part of an international context. The global aspects will affect also research structures and the ambition is that Sami research will give important contributions. This is some of the most important ambitions for the future, and hopefully it will be carried on with many partners and activities.

CeSam has been active within many contexts, in order to distribute research results and initiate cooperation. The own publication series includes eleven works and the researchers at CeSam has a high level of publication, nationally as well as internationally. More than 40 appearances have occurred in radio and television. CeSam arranges annual conferences and seminars. Since the start eight major Nordic conferences has been arranged with 40-70 researchers. Moreover, seminars are traditionally arranged during the Sami Week in Umeå together with international workshops with participants from a variety of countries. Sessions have also been arranged at a number of the world congresses for history and population research. For a further insight into the activities at CeSam see the web page at www.cesam.umu.se.