Marit Myrvoll

Marit Myrvoll (born 1953) is a Sami social anthropologist who is director of the Várdobáiki Museum at the Várdobáiki Sami Centre in Tjeldsund Municipality in the far north of Norway. As of 2020, she heads the Sami Research Steering Committee at the Research Council of Norway.[1][2] For the period 2020 to 2022, she has been appointed project leader for the SANKS (Sami Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Use) project Vold og overgrep i samiske samfunn (Violence and Abuse in Sami Communities).[3]

Marit Myrvoll (left) together with the Dalai Lama (centre) in 2014

Biography

Born on 8 December 1953, Marit Myrvoll was raised with her sister and her little brother in Bodø in Norland County by her Sami mother who came from Sør-Troms. As a child, she became familiar with some of the Sami traditions and expressions which she later studied in depth at university. While at Bodø High School, she wrote an essay about the Norwegianization of the Sami, aware that it was not ideal to be a Sami in the Norwegian town. After high school, while training to be a teacher she learnt a bit more about the Sami. She went on to work as a teacher from 1977 to 1987 apart from a couple of years when she studied Sami culture and ethnic relationships at the University of Tromsø. In 1980, she participated in the establishment of the Bodø Sami Association, later renamed the Sør-Salten Sami Association, a local branch of the Norwegian Sámi Association (NSR), becoming its first president.[4]

After becoming a mother in 1981, she reduced her political involvement until she attended a meeting of the National Sami Association in 1983, later being elected to the organization's student union, Sámi Oahppolihttu. In 1987, she was successful in applying for appointment as secretary of the NSR. Together with her six-year-old son she moved to Karasjok where she stayed for the next five years. After the Sami Act was adopted in 1987, she played an active part in preparing for the Sami parliamentary elections in 1989, speaking at information meetings around the country. In 1989, this led to her becoming a member of the Norwegian Sami Council in preparation for the opening of the Sami Parliament. For the next three years, she was an official for the administration of the Sami Parliament.[4]

While studying at the University of Tromsø in 1996, Myrvoll wrote a dissertation on the Dalai Lama's approach to democratization while living in exile. It was based on her 1994 field study at the Tibetan refugee settlements in India where she met the Dalai Lama on several occasions.[5] In March 2011, she earned a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Tromsø with a thesis titled "Bare gudsordet duger. Om kontinuitet og brudd i samisk virkelighetsforståelse" (Only the word of God counts. On continuity and change in the Sami's understanding of reality).[6]

As of August 2020, Myrvoll is director of the Várdobáiki Museum at the Várdobáiki Sami Centre in Tjeldsund Municipality in the far north of Norway. She heads the Sami Research Steering Committee at the Research Council of Norway.[1][2]

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References
  1. "Programplan 2017-2027: Program for samisk forskning III -P-SAMISK III" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Forskningsrådet. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  2. "Marit Myrvoll, Museumsleder" (in Norwegian). Várdobáiki. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. "Marit Myrvoll" (in Norwegian). Orkana Forlag. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  4. "Marit Myrvoll: 25. september 2017 ble Marit Myrvoll intervjuet på Várdobáiki" (in Norwegian). Várdobáiki. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  5. Ballovara, Mette (10 May 2014). "Dalai Lama ba vaktene hente Eldar" (in Danish). NRK. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  6. "Disputas - cand. polit. Marit Myrvoll" (in Norwegian). UIT. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
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