Anthropological Portraits of the Sámi People by Roland Bonaparte

[Pallantides]

In 1884 Roland Bonaparte led an ethnographic expedition to Sápmi, were he and his team set out to photograph and anotomically measure the Sámi inhabitants, Bonaparte's work was grounded in the anthropology of his time wich focused on the documentation of physical characteristics and the shape and dimensions of the skull as a means of establishing relations between the human races, the scientific conclusion was that the 'Lapps' were "brachycephalic,"( a large and short broad head) and that their cranial shape was of a 'mongoloid' type, they were also described as having a short stature and having inflatile facial features with sparse or little facial hair, the expedition produced 100 anthropological portraits and the collection was finished and exhibited in 1886 .


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Roland_Bonaparte.jpg
Prince Roland Bonaparte

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7949/fd08frontis.jpg
Bonaparte and his team measuring the 'Laplanders'


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[Majar]

There's a lot of variety in their looks, and probably always has been. The man with the very curly hair (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4349/fd0848.jpg) is certainly unusual and was likely chosen by Bonaparte because of his unusual looks. He almost looks like a Tuareg from North Africa lost in the great frosty North.

Here is something interesting using a photo from this series: a man compared with his great-grandfather (http://www.flickr.com/photos/perivar/3376473007/). It must be interesting to find one's ancestor as a subject in a 19th century anthropology study. I hope the people in these photographs were not mistreated. They almost certainly were not paid for their participation, so it can be considered an act of exploitation. In most physical anthropology studies of the day soldiers were used because they were going through physical exams anyway and it was a good opportunity for a study. These photos are different in that they show women, elders, nomads/semi-nomads, and people in different social classes (many are finely dressed, others look a bit disheveled).

[Jarl]

Indeed! That man with curly hair looks odd.

[Grumpy Cat]

A lot of these people look like what we in Canada would call Métis, which is a mix of white (mainly French and Scottish) and Amerindian (mainly Cree).

http://www.epl.ca/edmontonacitycalledhome/Images/edmonton_history/donor/gosche/donald_family.jpg

And that guy with the curly hair looks Hispanic to me. He reminds me a lot of RATM singer Zack de la Rocha.

http://www.nndb.com/people/207/000098910/zack-de-la-rocha-1-sized.jpg

[Brännvin]

A lot of these people look like what we in Canada would call Métis, which is a mix of white (mainly French and Scottish) and Amerindian (mainly Cree).


Post photos in colors.. Because I doubt it, that photos are in black and white, Saami have very different pigmentation and facial structure

[Grumpy Cat]

Here's some colour photo of Metis people. They vary in skin colour but most are quite light.

http://www.festivalvoyageur.mb.ca/backend/images/ashamstompers.jpg

http://www.metisnation.org/voyageur/articles/pow/assets/07_AUG_20_Roland.jpg

It would be cool if you could find me some coloured photos of Sami people. They are generally light complected, I am assuming?

[Brännvin]

They look mestizo, I don't see any relation there.. they do to have dark pigmentation and different facial structure in relation to the Saamis

Swede saamis;

http://www.vbm.se/assets/images/samiska/samemarsch.jpg

http://www.samer.se/images/350px/080705_do_samer_350.jpg

http://img.imageshop.no/itest/9BA65/12/fi06gargia049-001f42-wm.JPG/fi06gargia049.jpeg

[Brännvin]

Here you can to find more photos;
http://www.samer.se/

[Grumpy Cat]

Some of them look white to me, and still others look like white/Amerindian mixes you'd find in Canada (like that girl on the right in the second picture). Not like mestizos, mestizos are a lot darker than Metis... I guess it would vary from person to person.

[Pallantides]

Norwegian Sami
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[Grumpy Cat]

The ninth person down looks like Jake Gyllenhaal

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2238/1706777313_be3c35a052.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z188/rich23434565/550x600_jake_gyllenhaal_5.jpg

... and I think I saw Gary Sinise in there too.

[Brännvin]

Some of them look white to me, and still others look like white/Amerindian mixes you'd find in Canada (like that girl on the right in the second picture).

White, not white, well contradictory for many here who mocked some members for trying to define the term white :D :D.. however, I don't see any relation in both, Saami are their own look shaped to their own involvement. Metis are metis, Saamis are saamis product of different ethogenesis..



Not like mestizos, mestizos are a lot darker than Metis... I guess it would vary from person to person.

Well, aren't they Amerindian (mongoloid) and European admixture the term for mestizo in Americas?

[Pallantides]

Those Metis look more like Norwegian Sogndal types from Vestlandet. :p

[Grumpy Cat]

White, not white, well contradictory for many here who mocked some members for trying to define the term white :D :D.. however, I don't see any relation in both, Saami are their own look shaped to their own involvement. Metis are metis, Saamis are saamis product of different ethogenesis..

When I say white I mean Caucasian. White is easier to type than Caucasian. And I'm saying they look alike, not saying they're related. Of course they have completely different ethnogenesis, I never said they didn't.


Well, aren't they Amerindian (mongoloid) and European admixture the term for mestizo in Americas?

Mestizo applies to a mix of Spanish and Uto-Aztecan (Mexican/Latin American Indians), Métis means French and Algonquian (Eastern/Central Canadian Indians). They don't look alike at all. Mestizos are a lot darker than Metis... probably because Aztecs are darker than Algonquians and the Spanish are darker than the French.

[Brännvin]

The ninth person down looks like Jake Gyllenhaal


Gamst Pedersen, Saami footballer from Finnmark

http://ext.pimg.tw/junichi96/48cf53b1e7b05.jpg

http://img.skysports.com/08/10/218x298/Morten-Gamst-Pedersen-Blackburn-Rovers-Hull-C_1273226.jpg

[Dombra]

Most of them look Finnish/Scandinavian and suddenly some noneuropean guys show up. It´s pretty cool. IMO there had to be have been lot of different looking samis who mixed when they they where pushed up.