Allemann, L. The sami of the Kola Peninsula : about the life of an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union / Lukas Allemann ; [transl. by Michael Lomax]. - Rovaniemi : University of Lapland Printing Centre, 2013. - 151 p. : ill., map, portr. ; 25 см. - (Senter for samiske studier, Skriftserie ; 19).

The Sami of the Kola Peninsula While quantitatively the Russian Sami can hardly be spoken of as a 'mass', the above description applies especially to them, given that in the Soviet era they had even less opportunity to express themselves than the dominant ethnic group of Russians. And if allowed to, then as Soviet people, as kolkhoz employees, with little attention paid to their pre-Soviet, Sami traditions. "Research into everyday history focuses on the actions and sufferings of those who are often labelled as 'little people', a term that is as eloquent as it is inaccu­ rate. [...] In everyday history, attention is directed no longer only to the deeds (and misdeeds) [...] of the 'big people'. "27 Today we have clearly moved away from the claim to want to write history objective­ ly. The simple fact that all of us - both historians and witnesses - are children of our time influences the questions and perspectives of informants and their interpreters alike .28 This recognition explains in part the general trend towards qualitative research, which is not alien to the present work. Whereas in the quantitative approach the tendency is to start with a hypothesis which, it is hoped, the research will verify, with qualitative methods most hypotheses develop in the course of the research from the constant questions arising from the informant narratives. The present work is also organized in this way. Without denying that there are areas in which quantitative research makes sense - for example in identifying demographic or economic chang­ es - the following points can be enumerated to which a qualitative approach may be better suited than a quantitative one: - The full impact of social phenomena can be fully captured only by including indi­ vidual input. The investigation of reactions at the individual level is important for the understanding of broad contexts. - Social facts have to be evaluated variously in the context of different situations. There is no one objective truth. 27Ludtke 1989, 9. 28Cf.: Gerbel/Sieder 1988, 193. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 11