Meshup #12 – Camilla Brattland
This week, Camilla Brattland will give a short talk titled Enabling a prosperous future for Sámi yoik – with AI?.
Abstract
This talk relates to the RQ6.2: How can AI technologies be used ethically and inclusively to protect and nurture minority cultural expressions while considering AI’s broader impact on cultural practices? Based on examples from ongoing work with the Northern Norwegian Folk Music Collection and Yoik Archive at the Arctic Norwegian University of Museum of Tromsø, this talk reflects on the relevance and utility of AI as a tool as compared to other methods for protecting and nurturing the Sámi traditional yoik tradition. The double-edged dimension of AI on the contemporary music scene is the ease with which it is possible to create music based on recordings made available through digital media. This is both an advantage and a challenge for Sámi culture, as old recordings of yoik can gain renewed attention and appreciation, thus turning around the effects of Christianization and Norwegianization policies that cast yoik as a heathen expression by an uncivilized culture. The challenge is the risk of distortion and misuse by outsiders, as well as by Sámi themselves, of authentic musical expressions that belong collectively to the Sámi culture as well as individually to the artist that created the expression. By law and according to Sámi custom, the recordings of yoik are the property of the performer, and also belongs to the persons being characterized in personal yoiks, for at least 50 years after the time of the recording. How can these rights and customs be protected in an era where old recordings are as good as freely available online? Can AI help ascertain the rights and authenticity of yoiks used in new musical expressions? How do Sámi artists approach these challenges in their own work? These are some of the questions that you are invited to engage with after the introductory talk by Brattland and with contributions from yoiker and composer John André Eira.
Bio
Camilla Brattland is professor in Sámi cultural studies and works with the Norwegian Arctic University Museum’s archive of Northern Norwegian Folk Music and Yoik. She is a coastal Sámi person from Gáivuotna- Kåfjord and has a broad background from Indigenous studies, cultural heritage research and documentation of local and traditional ecological knowledge and use of land- and seascapes. She mediates from her research and the museum archives through a range of digital tools, with the aim to curate the folk music and yoik archives in an accessible and ethical way for Sámi users and the public at large. In the MishMash project, she works together with John André Eira to achieve these goals.
Access
MishMash MeetUps are short, informal meetings in the consortium where both early career and established researchers present ongoing projects. The events are open for everyone, but, for security reasons, Zoom links are only provided to people that are affiliated with a MishMash Work Package. If not, please ask for access.