Ethnic representations and social exclusion: Saminess in Finnish Lapland tourism promotion

This paper discusses the complexity and multidimensionality of ethnic representations in tourism promotion. In existing studies of indigenous tourism it has been emphasized how the representations of ethnicity are created, implemented and filtered through certain cultural and ideological structures, connected to wider political processes of othering and marginalization. This paper analyzes the representations of Saminess in Finnish Lapland tourism brochures by counter-reading material against the theoretical viewpoints in which Sami culture and people are perceived as othered discourses within Finnish Lapland tourism promotion. Through the analyses of Sami representations it is demonstrated how tourism brochures not only promote places but that they can also produce politically loaded discourses and present power issues that reflect the political structures of the surrounding society. The paper also discusses the social aspects of the prevalent media climate in ethnic and indigenous issues from a wider perspective and, furthermore, ponders in what ways these touristic representations reflect the general discourse of minority and indigenous issues.