The presentation deals with the indigenous and ethnic differentiation in postcolonial Lapland. Different intersections involved in this struggle of belonging create novel forms of identification, subjectivity, agency – and indigenous citizenship. Since the Sámi of Finland have constitutionally recognized position as an indigenous people, their traditional practices of self-identification are challenged by diverse interpretations of indigenousness. We argue that in this struggle for recognition, categorical thinking has inflamed the situation because it is deeply rooted in national discourse presupposing thus fixed identities, whereas locally the ethnic and other relations are based on the interaction between people. By examining what kinds of novel subjectivities, identifications and agencies different categorizations, most importantly indigenousness, enable when they intersect with different, un-predetermined and mobile axes of differentiation, the presentation develops a subject-oriented intersectional approach which, instead of stressing the multiple oppressions constantly present within minority groups, examines the intersections as productive and creative spaces.
