Maija Lassila - How do new mining projects impact reindeer and reindeer herders?

EXALT Podcast

This month we are delighted to welcome Maija Lassila back to the EXALT podcast for our second conversation. Maija is post-doctoral researcher at Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and recently received her doctorate from Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki. Maija takes to the North and gives us an overview of the work she did during her doctorate. We talk about reindeer herding and the impacts of resource extractivism (and the threat of future resource extractivism) on reindeer herding in Sápmi and Finnish Lapland. Maija “examines the contestations arising from the early stages of mining expansion in Utsjoki and Sodankylä.” Maija looks at the contestations the local community has to mining projects and traces out how this plays out in practice. Join us for this thought-provoking and wide-ranging conversation that gives deep insight into this world. Maija also reminds us how important it is to engage with post-extractivist alternatives as a way to reduce our dependence on the consumption.

• If you would like to learn more about Maija’s academic work https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/maija-lassila

• If you would like to read Maija’s doctoral thesis, Incommensurabilities of New Arctic Extractive Projects: Resistance to mining among Sámi, reindeer herders and local communities in Sápmi and Finnish Lapland, http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-9652-1 (links to the articles can be found in the dissertation)

• If you are interested to listen to Maija’s first appearance on the podcast, Extractivism Research and Breaking Away from the Written Word, https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/maija-lassila-extractivism-research-and-breaking-away/id1499621252?i=1000472526548