Indigenous identity in demography is the main theme of an international workshop held at and organised by the Centre for Sami Research and the Centre for Populations Studies, Umeå University, September 29 – 30, 2006.

In censuses or parish records ethnic markers show great differences between nations, regions and parishes and over time. The reasons for adding or not adding, ethnic markers have sometimes been forthright, sometimes been veiled. And put into practise the registration has been dependent on various circumstances. Colonization, political and cultural processes have excluded or devalued representations of indigenous people in official statistics. When we as researchers want to study indigenous populations we are depending on the highly variable way in which states or territories enumerate, categorize and differentiate indigenous people. One of the intentions with this workshop is to discuss the statistical construct of “the indigenous people”. We welcome theoretical approaches on how to handle differences between genealogical or cultural markers, groups and individuals and subjective and objective opinions of ethnic identity. How have different social and institutional systems defined indigenous groups, in terms of inclusion and exclusion? What were the reasons for these decisions and how is this mirrored in the demographic sources?

It is also needed to move beyond simplistic models of ‘which people’ arrived first or second, as is often discussed in circumpolar areas, in the press and in some academic work. Instead, we encourage contributors to discuss how a set of ethno demographic tools can be developed which can be used to categorize how households build themselves within complex ethnic and economic environments. Along with how these factors can be read into statistical data. To what extent can historical identity markers also mark social status and profession? How reliable are the data and how do we control the reliability?

The workshop committee welcomes qualitative and quantitative approaches based on historical as well as contemporary material. The Centre for Sami Research and the Centre for Population Studies at Umeå University, Sweden invites scholars in the field to submit a 200 word abstract and Curriculum Vitae before May 2, 2006. The number of participants is restricted to 25. The committee has limited funding and encourages participants to cover for travel expenses while the organisers will pay for accommodation.

Abstracts/CV and enquiries should be sent electronically to Per Axelsson per.axelsson@cesam.umu.se

Workshop Committee:
Anders Brändström, Peter Sköld and Per Axelsson, Umeå University and Gunnar Thorvaldsen, University of Tromsø