Marianne
Mariann Wollmann Magga lives with her family in Bjørnevatn outside Kirkenes. She is a reindeer herder, Sami politician, and a computer entrepreneur with the company Rein Data.
As a reindeer herder, Mariann is wary of the development of the petroleum industry and their search for land-based facilities in the area. This could damage the traditional areas for the reindeer. For her family, reindeer herding is the very foundation of culture and language.
Reindeer migrate from the interior to the coast, moving across vast areas. The land that has traditionally been the scene of these movements is now attracting investors and entrepreneurs who want to participate in the “new oil and gas adventure”.
… For her family, reindeer herding is the very foundation of culture and language …
The future of the Nordic region thus has a conflict of interest between those who have used the land in traditional ways and those who want to use it for industrial purposes. For Mariann and many others, this is seen as a threat to their existence as a Sami people.
Reindeer herding, and the various outcomes of nature, is for Mariann a natural basis also for Sami culture, language and traditions. Seeing how this culture is marginalized, Mariann chose to get involved in politics, and has been a member of the Norwegian Sami parliament.
She has also been very involved in the right of Sami children to learn their own language in kindergarten and school. Mariann herself learned the North Sami language as an adult, since her parents thought it wise not to learn the language in a Norwegian context. At the time, it was said that bilingualism would harm a child's cognitive development.