Let the River Flow: An Indigenous Uprising and its Legacy in Art, Ecology and Politics

On an exemplary case of Indigenous and non-Indigenous conflict and its legacies The People’s Action against the Nordic Áltá-Guovdageaidnu Waterway (c. 1978-82) radically shook the course of history in the region. Its call to “let the river live” clamored against the construction of a large dam across the Alltáeatnu river in Norway. The action grew to an unexpectedly broad movement of solidarity across civil society—Sámi and Norwegian, as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples internationally—in which Sámi artists played a pivotal role.Let the River Flow takes this eco-Indigenous rebellion, the first in Europe and inspirational worldwide, to reflect on events at the time and their correlations with international artists’ eco actions today. It is conceived as a reader, and addresses innovations in political organizing, new influences of Indigenous thinking on contemporary politics and the centrality of artists within the constellation of these activities. It also considers other