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The Saami Council, a non-governmental group representing the Sámi folks of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia, are calling on Sq. Enix to take away the Far Northern Apparel DLC from Closing Fantasy 14. The council’s concern “shouldn’t be about sensitivity or whether or not the depiction is suitable,” it mentioned in an announcement (opens in new tab), however slightly that the objects depicted within the DLC are “Sámi cultural property,” and are infringing upon its rights.
“Our cultural property rights are usually not theoretical,” Saami Council president Áslat Holmberg mentioned in an announcement. “They’re protected and protectable underneath mental property legal guidelines, that are usually harmonised all through the world. Sq. Enix, as a media firm, is very conscious of mental property legal guidelines and has no excuse for this blatant violation of Sámi cultural property.”
The council mentioned the Sámi clothes is not simply an aesthetic, however carries “particular parts of Sámi identification with which means, content material, and context.” Together with it within the sport with out permission or acknowledgement allows hundreds of thousands of FF14 gamers “to decorate up as a Sámi folks, dress themselves within the Sámi identification with out our consent, and contribute to the erosion of our tradition.”
This is not the primary time the Saami Council has been vocal about defending the cultural heritage and rights of its folks. Holmberg mentioned the council’s place “has been made very clear prior to now,” and famous its 2019 settlement (opens in new tab) with Walt Disney Animation Studios, reached after Disney confronted allegations of cultural appropriation (opens in new tab) after its use of a Sámi choral chant within the first Frozen movie, by which Disney:
- Agreed to work with the Sámi to create a dubbed model of Frozen 2 within the Sámi language
- Thanked the Sámi folks for his or her cooperation and collaboration within the Frozen 2 credit
- Employed an advisory group of consultants to make sure that Frozen 2 content material impressed by the Sámi is “culturally delicate, applicable, and respectful of the Sámi and their tradition
- Invited Sámi representatives to the world premiere of Frozen 2 within the US
- Agreed to “pursue cross-learning alternatives” with the Sámi folks, and to “prepare for contributions again to the Sámi society.”
Sq. Enix, against this, “didn’t even calmly take into account the rights of the Sámi folks in relation to this product,” the council mentioned.
Holmberg did not point out what motion the council plans to take, if any, if Sq. Enix fails to abide by its request, solely that it “hopes that this example will advance the dialogue of the rights of indigenous folks to their cultural properties and appears ahead to a productive dialogue with all industries.”
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This is not the primary time Sq. Enix has run into controversy over Closing Fantasy 14 costumes. In 2019 it confronted criticism for including a fancy dress styled after a kind of gown imposed on Koreans in the course of the Japanese occupation of the nation, which lasted from 1910-1945. That criticism was considerably extra muted, nonetheless, as a result of the costume was solely launched in China.
I’ve reached out to Sq. Enix for touch upon the Saami Council’s demand and can replace if I obtain a reply. For now, the $18 Far Northern Apparel bundle (opens in new tab) stays out there for buy within the Closing Fantasy 14 on-line retailer.
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