We Stopped Forgetting - Ebook

Ellen Marie Jensen

During the immigration period of 1880-1940 an unknown number of Sámi people left Sápmi (Samiland; "Lapland”) for North America alongside Nordic peoples. It has been estimated that there are at least 30,000 descendants of Sámi immigrants in North America and most of them are unaware of their Indigenous ancestry. The storytellers in this book give moving accounts of the history of their ancestors and tell their own life stories of cultural revitalization. They have consciously chosen to stop forgetting their lesser known and sometimes silenced Sámi ancestry by identifying with a cultural birthright. Further, their stories demonstrate a heartfelt commitment to both historical and contemporary Sápmi and the Indigenous world in their lives.

Ellen Marie Jensen
was born and raised in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota (USA). The child of a coastal Sámi immigrant from Finnmark, she has returned to live in the land of her ancestors where she is actively engaged in Sámi society. She has attained a Master’s in Indigenous Studies at the University of Tromsø and also studied Literature and Culture (English) with a focus on Indigenous literature. She currently lives in Deatnu/Tana with her two children and works as a teacher, freelance writer, and translator.

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