For several decades now, there have been calls to decolonize research on the Indigenous Sami people, and to make it accountable to the Sami society. While this has contributed to the rise of a vibrant Sami research community in the Nordic countries, less attention has been paid to what extent, and how the "Sami turn" in research has been implemented in practice. Written by prominent Nordic and Sami scholars anchored in the Sami research communities in Finland, Norway and Sweden, this volume explores not only the meanings and implications of this turn across disciplines, but also some of the challenges that efforts to create space for Sami voices, knowledges and perspectives still meet today. The book provides a timely, interdisciplinary engagement with the central themes that have framed the development of Sami research, and a critical appraisal of the impact that efforts to decolonize research in the Sami context have had upon Nordic societies and state policies so far. Sami Research in Transition is valuable for scholars and students interested in Sami history and society, Arctic and Circumpolar Indigenous studies and critical studies on the relationship between knowledge and social change.

Sami culture has undergone powerful changes recently. Traditions have been integrated with contemporary influences and perspectives. New kinds of Sami participation and activism have evolved including innovative politics, informative media, expressive art and literature. Accommodating internal and external changes is nothing novel to the Sami. The dialogue between what is traditional and what is modern is a natural part of their development towards the maintenance of Sami cultural distinctness.