More than just a job: exploring the meanings of tourism work among Indigenous Sami tourist entrepreneurs

摘要

In northern Sweden, the positive effects of tourism involvement by Sami Indigenous people are mostly shown in terms of employment, yet at times have been shown to go beyond economic ones and include other equally important benefits. Only when all components are seen at the same time can we get a true understanding of tourism as a livelihood strategy. This paper uses a sustainable rural livelihoods approach to investigate the different roles and meanings of tourism among Sami tourist entrepreneurs in northern Sweden. It does so using data from 13 semi-structured interviews with Sami Indigenous tourist entrepreneurs. The results indicate that there are many goals and objectives tourism jobs serve among Sami Indigenous people in the Swedish north. For example, the tourism business is at times seen as a more sustainable way of using reindeer. Tourism was also a way for Sami to express themselves and keep certain traditions alive. Another leading conclusion relates to tourist entrepreneurs as cultural ambassadors for Sami issues. By presenting factual information about Sami people, challenging stereotypes and by making others aware of the many hardships reindeer herders face, Sami tourist entrepreneurs attribute to their work meanings that are social, cultural and even political.