The Invisible Sami Population

Regional Public Healthcare in Northern Sweden 1863–1950

Authors

  • Anders Haglund Centre for Sami Research (CeSam) - Vaartoe, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Centre for Demography and Ageing Research (CEDAR), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Department for Historical Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, Sweden
  • Per Axelsson Centre for Sami Research (CeSam) - Vaartoe, Umeå University, Sweden; Centre for Population Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36368/jns.v10i2.850

Keywords:

colonization, Sami, history, county councils, Jämtland, Västerbotten, Norrbotten, Sápmi

Abstract

Medicine and public health provision have often been used as instruments of power that have shaped relations between the colonizer and the colonized. The county councils, established in 1862 as regional self-governing authorities, became (and have remained) the main architects of Swedish public healthcare services. In this paper, we investigate the political praxis in regional public healthcare development in the three northernmost counties of Sweden, during 1863–1950. Our study finds that the “Lapp shall remain Lapp” policy, which dominated Swedish Sami policy at the time, had little if any influence on regional public healthcare politics. During the focal period, there were no public healthcare facilities and virtually no specific policies or directives aimed at improving access to healthcare for the Sami population.

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Published

2017-05-29

How to Cite

Haglund, A. and Axelsson, P. (2017) “The Invisible Sami Population: Regional Public Healthcare in Northern Sweden 1863–1950”, Journal of Northern Studies, 10(2), pp. 123–145. doi: 10.36368/jns.v10i2.850.

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles