A rare coming together of Indigenous peoples from opposite ends of the Earth has laid bare their common struggles and shared values.
Depicted in the recently-released film Common Ground: The Power of Coming Together, Sápmi to Country, Sámi reindeer herders, artists and activists from Finland and Sweden spent several days camping on Darug Country with Darug custodians at Yarramundi in Western Sydney.
Brought together by research collaborators from Sweden and Australia, including Macquarie University, the Sámi and Darug representatives found similarities on many fronts: the struggles they face as Indigenous peoples and traditional land custodians; their deep and distinctive connections to nature; and their cultural resilience against the impacts of colonialism, mining, tourism and infrastructure developments.
“Getting such insight into the soul of other Indigenous peoples is a truly humbling experience,” reindeer herder and research collaborator Jonas Vannar tells Australia-based Swedish filmmaker Klas Eriksson.
The majority culture displaces the Indigenous culture, so our problems are the same.
“The biggest takeaway for me has been how similar our problems are; it’s about displacement, simple as that. The majority culture displaces the Indigenous culture, so our problems are the same.”
Reindeer herder and PhD researcher Anna-Maria Fjellstrom highlights the similar ways in which the Sámi and Australia’s Indigenous peoples have been denied their culture by mainstream society: “We encounter a lot of resistance but our cultural background keeps us empowered.”
Says camp host and senior Darug custodian Uncle Lex Dadd: “Our Indigenous cultures even though so far away, have so many similarities, about looking after Mother Earth, about looking after the animals, about using every part of the animal we can, about honouring everything.”
A sharing of stories
The camp at Yarramundi was hosted by the Yanama budyari gumada (‘Walk with good spirit’) collective. The collective is led by Uncle Lex, an Adjunct Fellow in Macquarie’s Discipline of Geography and Planning, and was awarded the 2020 National Trust NSW Aboriginal Heritage Award.
Connection: Australia-based Swedish filmmaker Klas Eriksson at work during the camp for the film Common Ground. Photo credit: Sandie Suchet-Pearson
The Macquarie-supported collective has welcomed more than 700 people to culture camps on the banks of the Deerubbin (the Hawkesbury-Nepean River), and this camp with Sámi visitors was something special.
“It was a coming together to share culture and stories,” collective member Dr Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Associate Professor in Geography and Planning at Macquarie, tells The Lighthouse.
“As researchers, there is an awareness that colonising processes have impacted in different but also similar ways in a range of places around the world, but being able to actually get together and hear how that has manifested in Scandinavia, or seeing how it has manifested in Western Sydney, brought it to life for everyone. “
That solidarity in bringing people together, and knowing that other people are experiencing and fighting similar challenges is really powerful.
Together, the Sámi visitors and Darug custodians walked on Country, shared meals and music around the campfire, and signed-in to Country by spraying their handprints on casuarina trees using ochre.
The Sámi visitors shared their concerns about the precarious future for young reindeer herders as their traditional lands are subject to increasing development pressures, from wind farms and dams to mines, tourism and forestry, in addition to an ever-expanding infrastructure.
Says herder and activist Sanna Vannar: “We need to stop further natural resource developments for them to have a future at all.”
Minorities in solidarity
Dr Marnie Graham, a post-doctoral fellow at Stockholm University and Honorary Associate in Macquarie’s Discipline of Geography and Planning, says bringing Indigenous peoples together can create a sense of solidarity in the struggles they face.
Tradition: The Indigenous practice of reindeer herding in Sápmi is under threat from natural resource development. Photo credit: Arto Liiti/Visit Finland
“Being part of a minority that is often up against large corporations or governments, that solidarity in bringing people together, and knowing that other people are experiencing and fighting similar challenges is really powerful,” she says.
For filmmaker Klas Eriksson, no less than the survival of the planet depends on more people opening their eyes to Indigenous cultures and practices.
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“It was just awesome to see two groups of people that I’ve gotten to know from opposite ends of the planet interact and share these perspectives with each other, and seeing them find common ground and connecting almost instantly on the core issues and challenges they both face,” Eriksson says.
“I hope that the wider population will start to realise that the preservation of Indigenous culture, traditions and rights are important not just for Indigenous communities, but for society as a whole.”
Dr Sandie Suchet-Pearson is Associate Professor in Geography and Planning at Macquarie University.
Dr Marnie Graham is a post-doctoral fellow at Stockholm University and Honorary Associate in Macquarie’s Discipline of Geography and Planning.
Uncle Lex Dadd is leader of the Yanama budyari gumada collective and an Adjunct Fellow in Macquarie’s Discipline of Geography and Planning.
From the researchers: Huge thanks to our colleague, Dr Rebecca Lawrence of Stockholm University and Sydney Environment Institute, who led this research exchange visit. The ‘Common Ground’ film was funded by FORMAS, The Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, REXSAC 'Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities – A Nordic Centre of Excellence', and The Research Council of Norway.
This project was supported by Macquarie University, Griffith University, Luleå Technical University, Stockholm University, Stockholm Environment Institute, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sydney Environment Institute (The University of Sydney), University of Newcastle and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. A NSW Environmental Trust grant supports the Darug-Caring-as-Country project led by the Yanama budyari gumada research collective.
