Borders

Authors

  • Lena Stenberg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/big_r71202522677

Abstract

This project arises from extensive photographic records documenting the lives of my Sámi ancestors in Tromsdalen, Norway, from 1875 to 1930—the period when Nordic national borders were tightened across the region and imposed on my people. When I began looking for images from digital archives, I realized that there were many more photographs than I anticipated and that these could be identified with the help of anthropological photo archives and other researchers. It was like finding binoculars to look back in time, to see my ancestors and their lives over a hundred years ago. Settler-colonial and nationalist policy forced my people from their lands to make way for Norwegian agricultural development, with profound and lasting impacts on our lives, affecting Sámi people and society even today. Borders themselves have been the primary instrument of displacement and fragmentation: since their imposition over a hundred years ago, a people that previously traversed the region, following seasonal migrations of reindeer herds, became confined to artificial territorial limits. All photos are my own, copyright reserved (except archival photos: public domain).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2026-05-29

How to Cite

Stenberg, Lena. 2026. “Borders”. Borders in Globalization Review 7 (1). Victoria, British Columbia, Canada:94-102. https://doi.org/10.18357/big_r71202522677.

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Portfolio

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Lena Stenberg

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

  • Unless otherwise specified, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This means that authors retain copyright and others may use the work non-commercially with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
  • Artists may discuss alternative copyrights with the editors.