Ethnic Minority Groups

Ethnic and Indigenous minority groups and communities have historically experienced several types of social exclusion, including restrictions on access to education, political participation and self-determination, and denial of rights to ancestral lands. For these types of groups, religion often provides an important source of collective identity, yet their religiosities have often been socially and culturally devalued by majority institutions and groups. RELEX focuses on four ethnic minorities and/or indigenous groups that are each associated with particular forms of religion and that each face several types of context-dependent social exclusion. These particular groups have been chosen in careful consultation with our international partners. 

The Sámi indigenous people have traditionally lived throughout northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola-peninsula Russia. In Finland, they currently number around 10,000. As a legally recognized Indigenous people in Finland, the Sámi have the right to preserve their language, culture, and traditional livelihoods, although their rights to ancestral lands remain contested. The forms of social exclusion that the Sámi face today mainly relate to their historical experience of forced assimilation, previous systematic efforts to degrade their indigenous culture and religion, and an enduring general lack of interest on the part of the Finnish state towards their land, language, and culture. The majority of the Sámi are nowadays members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, with many adhering to the conservative revivalist Laestadian movement.  

The Fulani pastoralists count among the dominant ethnic groups of Western Africa, and currently number around 300,000 in Ghana where they are designated as a “non-indigenous ethnic group.” The Fulani face multiple forms of both concrete and prejudice-based social exclusion, including denial of citizenship and restrictions on political participation, land ownership, access to healthcare, and education. While Ghana is predominantly Christian, the large majority of Fulani self-identify as Muslim, but also face additional ostracism for being associated with the practice of traditional “black magic” juju.