Jensen

Ellen Marie

Minnesota USA

E-mail
jens0500@umn.edu

Phone/Mobile
001-612-220-5298

Educational Background:

• Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies, 2003. University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts, Twin Cities Campus
• Senior Project Title: Prostitution in Finnmark: a Post- Cold War Analysis

Master"s of Indigenous Studies Thesis Title:

• We Stopped Forgetting: Diaspora Consciousness in the Narratives of Five Sami Americans

Thesis Topic/Question:

• How is Sámi identity materialized in third and forth generation Sámi-Americans within the indigenous context? Have the discourses of revitalization and the subsequent recovering of Sámi ancestry contributed to the third generation"s engagement with indigenousness? Can Sámi Americans be understood as a Diaspora, and if so, what does it mean to be diasporic of an indigenous people from Scandinavia within the American context? (That is in the context of the indigenous peoples of the Americas)  

Thesis work funded by a travel grant for Sámi students, Centre for Sámi Studies.

Motivations for applying to the MIS program:

• I chose to apply to this program for both academic and deeply personal reasons. As someone who considers herself both American and Sámi (Láhppi- Coastal Finnmark, Norwegian Sápmi) I care deeply about the issues affecting indigenous people and in particular the issues facing Sámi society today. I was particulary drawn to the MIS program because I wanted to learn more about the norwegian assimilation policy and the impact of WWII on coastal  Sámi idenity-topics that have scarce source material and expertice in the halls of American academia.