In the wake of the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission report (2023), there is an upsurge of “reconciliation talk” among Norwegian authorities, from ministries to municipalities. However, both the TRC and my own research (Åberg et al., 2024) point to a gap in ambition between public authorities and Saami communities, leading to the question of whether the ambitions of the public sector may be limited to “inclusion” (Hoskins and Jones, 2022): superficial, tokenistic and not challenging majority self-understandings. Norwegian self-understandings have been described as characterized by exceptionalism and ideas of colonial and racial innocence (Loftsdóttir & Jensen, 2016). The premise for both Saami and other minority topics in education has been described as othering (Eriksen, 2018). While the TRC calls for a massive raise of general knowledge about the presence, history, culture and historical assimilation of Saami communities in Norway, what happens when “everyone” suddenly wants to “learn about the Saami” in the name of reconciliation – if the ambition is mostly limited to inclusion? This question is epistemological and ethical (as my symposium colleagues will also touch upon), and speaks to dangers of repeating colonial knowledge patterns and exploitative relations between academia and the Saami. The dangers are far from theoretical: In sheer numbers, Saami are in extreme minority in most parts of Norway, and knowledge-bearers are now facing a growing overabundance of requests to act as de facto teachers, stakeholder alibis and last-minute reference group members. This calls for allies to find their role in lessening the burden: how to teach about Saami issues without overstepping in terms of what questions to engage with.

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