Roche Gerald, Maruyama Hiroshi, Kroik Åsa V. (Eds.). Indigenous Efflorescence: Beyond Revitalisation in Sapmi and Ainu Mosir

ANU Press, 2018. — 236 p.Indigenous efflorescence refers to the surprising economic prosperity, demographic increase and cultural renaissance currently found amongst many Indigenous communities around the world. This book moves beyond a more familiar focus on ‘revitalisation’ to situate these developments within their broader political and economic contexts. The materials in this volume also examine the everyday practices and subjectivities of Indigenous efflorescence and how these exist in tension with ongoing colonisation of Indigenous lands, and the destabilising impacts of global neoliberal capitalism. Contributions to this volume include both research articles and shorter case studies, and are drawn from amongst the Ainu and Sami (Saami/Sámi) peoples (in Ainu Mosir in northern Japan, and Sapmi in northern Europe, respectively). This volume will be of use to scholars working on contemporary Indigenous issues, as well as to Indigenous peoples engaged in linguistic and cultural revitalisation, and other aspects of Indigenous efflorescence.Gerald Roche is an anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University. His research looks at issues of language endangerment, maintenance and revitalisation. He has conducted extensive research in Tibet, examining the predicament of the region’s minority languages. His recent publications include the Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization (Routledge, 2018) and Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English (Open Book Publishers, 2017).Hiroshi Maruyama is Professor Emeritus, Muroran Institute of Technology and Honorary Doctor, Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University. He is currently researching policies towards Indigenous peoples. He first began working with Japanese policy towards the Ainu people in 2007, in the context of the construction of huge dams on the Saru River in Hokkaido. Moving regularly between Japan and Sweden, Hiroshi Maruyama is now engaged in conducting comparative research between the Indigenous policies of these two countries.Åsa Virdi Kroik was born and raised in a reindeer-herding family in the mountainous inland of south Sapmi. She is an author and has also taught and conducted research on a variety of Saami matters. The revitalisation of language and culture has played a significant role in her life, and she has spent a lot of time fighting, and making room, for the Saami’s rich culture, and for the joy of hearing and using South Saami language.