Sometimes the most terrible stories are hidden in the most beautiful and peaceful corners of our memory. In Lapland, for example, for most of us home to Santa Claus, his elves and Rudolf the reindeer. A place that changes complexion when discovering that “Lapp” is a derogatory term for the native population, the Sami, who have suffered persecution for decades, and that the reindeer that dragged the magic sleigh are, in real life, tortured and killed like shows rejection to the same sami. “You can’t shoot the Sami, but you can shoot the reindeer, so they show how much they hate them,” explains Ann-Helén Laestadius (Kiruna, 1971), author of Robo (Navona), a novel that opens the doors to a tiny town that has made reindeer herding its hallmark.
Laestadius attends us by videoconference from the outskirts of Stockholm, although he remembers that his home is much further north, in Sapmi territory, “where I write and collect ideas for my books, I consider it my true home.” It is also the place where this journalist and author of juvenile novels locates the events of her first work for adults of hers.
Theft is the story of Elsa, a Sami who as a child assists in the cruel murder of her reindeer, Nástegallu. Thus begins a journey through the daily life of reindeer herders, with their colorful gáktis, their northern lights nights, their ski rides and, also, their extremely high suicide rate, a consequence of the many difficulties they must face to maintain their Lifestyle. In this environment, little Elsa must learn to live with the hatred of those who reject the Sami population and the obstacles that her own culture poses for her to achieve the dream of having her own herd of reindeer, something forbidden to women by law. tradition.
The author, who has experienced the problem of suicide very closely, does not hesitate to state that “every Sami knows someone who has committed suicide, be it a family member, a co-worker, or a friend.” The reindeer slaughter, added to the problems derived from predators such as foxes or bears or the pressure from mining companies “leads many men, especially young men, to feel pressured because they have to be very strong, very macho, and not talk to anyone about their problems. Added to these difficulties in recent years is climate change, whose presence is palpable throughout the novel through the eyes of the áhkku, the grandmother who does not understand how it is possible for it to rain in winter or be hot. ahead of time, a situation that fully affects reindeer herders and that, if it does not change, “could spell the end of it.”
The origin of this tragedy, a mixture of racism and technological shock, dates back to the 1930s when the Swedish government forced Sami families to place their children in centers where they were educated in Swedish culture while being “de-educated”. ” on that of his ancestors, a theme that is the focus of Laestadius’s next book, Punishment. “My mother did not teach me to speak Sami, she was one of the girls forcibly interned when she was 7 years old. She was separated from the family, she spent months without seeing her parents while she suffered physical and psychological abuse and they pressured her to be ashamed of her language and culture. That is why it is so important for Laestadius to use the Sami language, listing for example the chapters of the book with this language. “Many of those who went through these schools decided not to teach their children Sami” to avoid the suffering caused to them by speaking a language “that they taught us to keep secret.”
The novel has shaken Sweden’s bad conscience hard enough to make Robo a cross-border bestseller and attract the attention of Netflix, which has started filming a film based on the book. “It is being shot in a house next to my parents’”, explains Laestadius with a smile, happy and confident that the book will fulfill its role in lightening the burden that the Sami people carry “from generation to generation”.
