Communities in DIGICHer
‘Digitisation of cultural heritage of minority communities for equity and renewed engagement’ (DIGICHer) aims to promote equitable, diverse and inclusive practices and the cultural communities are actively involved in the project from the beginning to the end. We see the contribution of the cultural and the linguistic communities as a key success factor to ensure the continuity of the project outcomes in a long term all over Europe. The project will co-design and pilot the framework in cooperation with three representative minority groups in Europe: the Sámi, the Jewish people and the Ladin people, and explore how to expand to other minority groups in other environments.
Sámi community
The Sámi Archives was opened in 2012 at the Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos in Inari. By preserving archival heritage, the Sámi Archives is part of the collective memory of the Sámi people. It supports and promotes Sámi research, increases historical knowledge about the Sámi people, and strengthens Sámi culture.
The Sámi Archives is part of the National Archives of Finland. In addition to the Sámi cultural heritage, the National Archives of Finland holds many other ethnic minorities’ archives, such as those of the Karelians, Ingrians, Jewish, and Romani. In the DIGICHer project, the National Archives of Finland focuses on the archival cultural heritage of the Sámi and the Karelians
The Sámi homeland, Sápmi in Northern Sámi language, is located in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The Sámi have inhabited this area even before the current state borders were formed. There are about 75 000-100 000 Sámi people. The Northern Sámi language is the most widely spoken, but in total there are nine Sámi languages.
The traditional livelihoods of the Sámi include fishing, reindeer herding, hunting, and Sámi handicrafts, and their modern forms remains an important cultural and economic activity for many Sámi today. In general, culture is characterised by a strong connection with nature.
The Sámi are the only indigenous people recognized within the European Union.
Read more (How Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders live traditional and modern lives | Europeana) on Europeana blog by Milla Suutari exploring how Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders came to live in houses and adapted new technologies, challenging the dichotomy of traditional and modern.
Images attached are of The Suenjel Skolt Sámi community archive, in the holding of Sámi Archive, Inari, Finland.
Jewish community
Jews have been living in Europe for more than two thousand years, continuously moving across the continent due to factors such as wars, persecution, and search for better life. The history of European Jewry is marked by both periods of flourishing communal, intellectual, and spiritual life, such as the golden age of Sephardic Jewry in medieval Spain and Turkey, and black chapters of violent pogroms, blood libels, and the Holocaust, which nearly wiped out the Jewish population in Europe. In the aftermath of World War II, there has been a limited revival of Jewish life in Europe, with the current population numbering around 1.5 million, mainly living in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine. The rich Jewish heritage in Europe, both tangible and intangible, covers a vast array of cultural forms and genres. Various efforts, initiated and supported by both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, are focused on digitising and preserving this heritage.
Jewish museums and other cultural heritage organizations in Europe are typically woven into the social, organizational, communication, and regulatory fabric of their respective states, regions, and cities. Consequently, they face the same characteristics and challenges as other heritage digitization initiatives in Europe. Nevertheless, there are specificities that apply to Jewish heritage organizations.
They often maintain strong and rich relationships with leading heritage organizations in Israel, such as the National Library or the Central Archive of the Jewish people in Jerusalem, which deal with the history and culture of Jewish people. These collaborations usually involve sharing responsibilities, with funding and operational responsibilities lying on the bigger and better-equipped Israeli counterparts and content responsibilities on European peers. Such joint projects add an important international dimension to the digitization work of Jewish museums but also present additional issues to manage - in copyright, project management, policies, and sometimes politics. Moreover, Israel is currently running an ambitious national program in digital transformation. Due to the many professional, personal, and content links between the Israeli heritage sector and Jewish museums in Europe, the museums typically seek to maintain working relationships with these programs and get involved in them as well. The audiences of Jewish museums in Europe are diverse, ranging from local and national visitors to European, Israeli, and international visitors interested in Jewish culture. Catering to these diverse audiences requires refined prioritization.
Ladin community
The Ladin Cultural Institute "majon di fascegn" - Museo Ladin de Fascia aims to preserve and give value and future to the Ladin linguistic and CH of this minority community. This entity works in 3 main research fields: linguistic infrastructures for the standardization of the Ladin language; Ladin library and archives; and ethnographic conservation (Museum). In the last 2 decades, this institution has been working on the digitalisation of all its patrimony in the mentioned fields. The activities of the Ladin Cultural Institute and the Ladin Museum in the field of digitalization are developed in synergy with other entities working for the safeguard of Ladin and paying attention to the needs of the local and touristic demand, considering that Fassa Valley, where the Institute and the Museum are located, has a massive touristic economy with which the cultural heritage has to constantly face. As main goal for the coming years, the Ladin Cultural Institute, Ladin Museum and the other entities working in synergy with them will need to map and better organize the several digital tools made available for users and to place them in a cultural, social and economic context that is shared and especially visible and recognizable as part of a unique mission of preservation and safeguarding of this heritage through the most modern technologies by respecting the values and visions of this minority. The possible tasks in which to work in order to reach the aforementioned aims and that the partner aims to pursue in DIGICHer are: 1) mapping of the several existing tools and actions; 2) creating a devoted recognizable platform gathering the digital patrimony in order to enhance its accessibility and usability; 3) digitizing other material; 4) conceiving and developing new digital tools to share and make available the linguistic and CH also in the economic and social field; 5) working on the legal and ethical aspects of sharing this heritage, keeping in mind that the minority’s representatives will have to be constantly involved, in order not to create a gap between stakeholders and researchers.
