LET THE RIVER FLOW—AN ECO-INDIGENOUS UPRISING

– a valuable source book about the influences of indigenous activism on contemporary politics and the central place of artists in social change processes
– takes eco-indigenous rebellion as a starting point and looks at current indigenous discourses
– reflects on the events of the Álta action and their correlations with the current eco-actions of international artists

The Áltá Action (c. 1978–82) radically shook the course of history in the Nordic region. Its call to ‘let the river live’ rallied against the construction of a large dam across the Álttáeatnu river on the Norwegian side of Sápmi, the Sámi homeland. The Action catapulted the demands for Indigenous sovereignty to the forefront of the politics of the time, and grew into an unexpectedly broad movement of solidarity in which Sámi artists played a central role. Many key questions raised by the Áltá Action pertinent in the region and beyond remain unresolved today.

Let the River Flow makes essential reading for any discussion regarding how governments, artists and citizens will act upon these questions within the frame of today’s worldwide call for decolonization and Indigenization.

New essays by 24 leading Indigenous artists, writers and scholars as well as allies, together with key existing texts, focus on the significant political and artistic reverberations of the Action past and present. These include current Indigenous discourses and protests across Sápmi, and internationally.

Let the River Flow addresses readers with an interest in decolonial, Indigenous, solidarity and environmental questions within artistic practice and beyond.

240 pages, paperback, English

Published by Valiz