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Yoik is Health-Promoting

What strikes me as I read from Soile Päivikki Hämäläinen’s dissertation “I sound” – Yoik as Embodied Health Knowledge is the overlap in cosmology and views on music between the Sámi indigenous people and other indigenous peoples worldwide. Within what the indigenous people call a more holistic worldview, music is part of everyday life, where musical expressions encompass both body and soul in close interaction with nature.


Colonialism and Health

Colonialism has significantly affected the health of indigenous peoples worldwide. However, studies of the Sámi show that they have better health status and do not suffer from the same high rates of substance abuse, suicide, or unemployment as comparable indigenous groups in polar regions. This also applies to several somatic illnesses. This can be explained by how Norwegian authorities invested in healthcare and education for all citizens after World War II, which reduced differences in public health and socioeconomic conditions. But it’s also possible that other significant factors are at play, writes Hämäläinen (Hämäläinen, et.al. 2017). For example, increased self-respect among the Sámi, both politically and culturally. This last point is precisely what is explored when Hämäläinen interviews people actively involved in yoik about its possible health effects.


Yoik as Communication

Yoik is a cultural means of communication among the Sámi, and its uniqueness lies in how personal yoiks convey core values in the lives of many Sámi, such as cultural identity, connection to the community, and personal dignity. This makes the Sámi yoik very special compared to other Norwegian or Scandinavian singing traditions. The yoik communicates deeply and directly about the Sámi’s place and significance in their social environment. A personal yoik is an important marker of social and cultural belonging—if someone yoiks your personal yoik, you know that you belong to a community.

This is also a feature of musical practices found among many other indigenous peoples and has inspired the postcolonial response in music therapy, which critiques Western dominance in the emerging global music therapy field (The Colonialism and Music Therapy Interlocutors (CAMTI) Collective, 2023).


Sámi Nursing Education

There is no similar critique against music therapy from the Sámi population, which is understandable as there is likely no large music therapy practice among them. However, in nursing science, we see that there has been a dedicated Sámi nursing education program since 2015, in collaboration between Sámi University College and UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Okstad, et. al. 2021). This initiative arose from issues related to linguistic and cultural barriers between patients and caregivers.


Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

The Sámi’s status as indigenous people is grounded in Norway’s ratification of ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries in 1990. The ILO Convention recognizes the need to preserve and develop identity, language, culture, and religion, as stated in the article by Okstad et al. This convention also stipulates that healthcare services for indigenous people should, as far as possible, be anchored in the local community, and that the Sámi, as indigenous people, have the right to health services that are based on their own language and cultural background. According to this convention, healthcare services should be planned and administered in collaboration with indigenous peoples and should consider the social and cultural factors that characterize indigenous communities. The convention also requires that traditional treatment practices and preventive methods be preserved.


ILO Convention

This convention refers to international agreements developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN organization that works to promote decent work and protect workers' rights globally. The convention covers many topics, and according to my Chat AI, ILO Convention No. 169 concerns culture and identity, indigenous peoples’ rights, and the importance of respecting indigenous peoples’ cultures, languages, and traditions. This naturally includes musical expressions, which I will comment later on in my review of Colonialism and Music Therapy.


Yoik as Regulation

Returning to Hämäläinen’s interviews with yoikers, we see that many of the general research findings and experiences from music therapy about the therapeutic effects of music are confirmed. Yoik seems to function as a continuous form of self-regulation. This applies to emotional regulation, used to manage painful and difficult emotions such as loss, anger, and sadness. Yoik, therefore, becomes a potential tool for emotional mastery. In other words, yoik can become the preferred musical form of communication in many music therapy situations, such as working with depression and anxiety, neurological rehabilitation, or, importantly, in elderly care and dementia treatment.


References

Hämäläinen, Soile Päivikki et. al. (2017). Yoik experiences and possible positive health outcomes: an explorative pilot study. International journal of Circumpolar Health, 76:1.


Hämäläinen, Soile Päivikki (2023). “I sound” – Yoik as embodied health knowledge. A dissertation for the degree of Doctor Philosophiae. Faculty of Health. UiT. The Arctic University of Norway.


Okstad, L. et. al. (2021). Samisk sykepleierutdanning: Målet er å utdanne kulturelt trygge sykepleiere. Sykepleien,12,2,2021ß


The Colonialism and Music Therapy Interlocutors (CAMTI) Collective, (2022). Colonialism and Music Therapy.Barcelona Publishers.

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