My Grandfather’s Language

Inari Sámi Ulpu’s home language was Finnish. Inari Sámi was not spoken in the family after her grandfather went to an orphanage in the 1920s, where speaking his native language was forbidden. As she is becoming a mother, Ulpu begins to wonder about her culture, her linguistic identity, and the generational trauma inherited from her grandfather from a new point of view. Learning Inari Sámi and passing the language to her children seems like a challenging but empowering process, which has the power to open generational knots.