Jelena Porsanger

Jelena Porsanger is currently working as the head of the Indigenous Sámi Museum in Northern Norway. She holds the title of Docent in Indigenous Studies at the University of Helsinki in Finland and is Senior Researcher at the Center of Excellence in Multibeing Justice in Indigenous Societies run by the University of Lapland and the University of Helsinki.

The project

Title: Re-enchanting the University? Educational and Ethical Challenges of Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into the University

"The objective is to entangle Indigenous knowledges in the main missions of universities: scientific research, teaching and community outreach. Jelena Porsanger participates in Work Package 6 that promotes the ethical, pedagogical, and language dimensions of Indigenous epistemologies in academia, focusing on the educational dimension of universities and the problematic inclusion of alternative knowledges in formal (and informal) education systems. The challenges of dialogue between non-Indigenous and Indigenous scholars, and among Indigenous peoples, to address the evolvement of Indigenous knowledges in academic structures, and how to make research relevant to Indigenous peoples and a healthier planet, is paramount to WP6 and the project as a whole.The researchers in WP6 have extensive experience in Indigenous education, knowledge production, and languages. Transmission of knowledge and education can be performed through orality, land-based practices, rituality, and spirituality. Attention is paid to ethical issues, such as authority, knowledge ownership, and intellectual property rights. These reflections allow for furthering notions of epistemology from the Eurocentric vortex to expanding the educational, knowledge-production environment, leading to a healthier and more sustainable planet. The fundamentals of educational systems, such as schools, and their connections to local place-based knowledge can be reframed through a deeper understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and learning. ."

Hosting institution: Université Paris Nanterre

Selective Bibliography

• (2025). Magnani, M., Porsanger, J. The Three-Dimensional Revolution in Sápmi: Decolonising Emergent Technological Domains for Sustainable Museum Futures. In: Linkola-Aikio, IA., Keskitalo, P., Ballardini, R., Sarantou, M. (eds.) Digital Indigenous Cultural Heritage. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Pp.23-42
• (2023). Small collections remembered: Sámi material culture and community-based digitization at the Smithsonian Institution. – 92-105 in Museum Anthropology, Volume46, Issue2 Fall 2023. By: Matthew Magnani, Jelena Porsanger, Sami Laiti, Natalia Magnani, Anne May Olli, Paula Rauhala, Samuel Valkeapää, Eric Hollinger.
• (2022). Le rapatriement d’un tambour sámi du XVIIe siècle dans un musée autochtone sámi. – Recherches amérindiennes au Québec 2021-2022, vol.51, no.1. Note de recherche : le rapatriement d’un tambour … – Revue d’études autochtones – Érudit (erudit.org)
• 4. (2021 a). Porsanger, J., I. Seurujärvi-Kari & R. Nystad. ‘Shared Remembering’ as a relational Indigenous method in conceptualization of Sámi women’s leadership. – 144–174 in Indigenous Research Methodologies in Sámi and Global Contexts. P. Keskitalo, T. Olsen, PK. Virtanen (Eds.). Leiden: Brill.
• 5. (2021 b). Porsanger, J. & I. Seurujärvi-Kari. Sámi dutkama máttut: The forerunners of Sámi methodological thinking. – 33–64 in Indigenous Research Methodologies in Sámi and Global Contexts. P. Keskitalo, T. Olsen, PK. Virtanen (Eds.). Leiden: Brill.