Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 4, 1 April 2010 — Nordic indigenous leader to speak at UH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nordic indigenous leader to speak at UH

An indigenous rights pioneer and noted leader of the Nordic Sami peoples will be visiting the University of

Hawai'i-Mānoa campus April 23 to 26 to discuss native rights issues. The visit comes ahead of a trip to the United

Nations in May, where Magne Ove Varsi has

been invited to speak as part of Indigenous Peoples Month. Magne Ove Varsi is a Sami rights leader and founder and director of the Gāldu Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Kautokeino, Norway. One of several indigenous peoples of Northern Europe, the Sami thrived in their Arctic climate until the early 1900s when Norwegian authorities placed constraints on Sami language and culture. Despite years of oppression, pockets of the Sami peoples thrived, and in 1979, rallying around a controversial construction of a hydro-electric power station, their movement began to affect change leading to greater rights on their behalf, including having a voice in land administration. Magne Ove Varsi will visit with UH faculty and students to make several presentations on indigenous rights. The visit is hosted by the Hawai'inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, William S. Richardson School of Eaw and Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, John A. Burns School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene. For information on the presentation schedule, eall 956-0980 or 956-6402.

Magne Ove Varsi