The Voice of the Colonizer Bridging the Cultural Barrier?

Encounters between the Swedish and the Sámi in literature for young readers from 1950 to 2000

Document identifier: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-76395
Keyword: Humanities and the Arts, Languages and Literature, General Literature Studies, Humaniora och konst, Språk och litteratur, Litteraturvetenskap, Swedish literature for young readers, 1950-2000, Non-Sámi writers, Encounters between the Swedish and the Sámi, Voice of the Colonizer, Svenska med didaktisk inriktning, Swedish and Education
Publication year: 2019
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Abstract:

Since Johannes Schefferus published the first Sámi poems in Lapponica in 1673, Sámi themes have been perceived as an aspect of Swedish literature. The vast majority of these literary texts, however, have not been written in Sámi or by writers of Sámi origin, and the early works reduced the Sámi and their cultures to extras or exoticized characters (cf. Lindskog 2005). This paper draws on a corpus of ten books for young readers, two from each decade from the 1950s till the millennium, to examine how Swedish writers of non-Sámi origin depict the relationship between the Swedish society and the Sámi peoples. Whilst post-colonial concepts such as ‘dominated and dominating’ and ‘colonizer and colonized’ are presented in simplistic binarisms in many of these works, there are also works that work towards addressing shame, and working towards apology and reconciliation (Ahmed 2014). The novels introduce plots where the Swedish protagonists are situated in Sápmi engaging in intercultural meetings Sámi characters. The young protagonists find ways of bridging cultural barriers, but the voice that readers hear is filtered through the non-Sámi writers. The paper concludes with reflections on how to approach such literature in a way that respects the histories, politics and cultures of the region without either essentializing or ignoring genuine attempts to promote reconciliation.  

Authors

Annbritt Palo

Luleå tekniska universitet; Pedagogik, språk och Ämnesdidaktik
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    header: 
        identifier: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-76395
        datestamp: 2021-05-11T23:04:16Z
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                version: 3.7
            recordInfo: 
                recordContentSource: ltu
                recordCreationDate: 2019-10-15
            identifier: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-76395
            titleInfo: 
                @attributes: 
                    lang: eng
                title: The Voice of the Colonizer Bridging the Cultural Barrier?
                subTitle: Encounters between the Swedish and the Sámi in literature for young readers from 1950 to 2000
            abstract: 
Since Johannes Schefferus published the first Sámi poems in Lapponica in 1673 Sámi themes have been perceived as an aspect of Swedish literature. The vast majority of these literary texts however have not been written in Sámi or by writers of Sámi origin and the early works reduced the Sámi and their cultures to extras or exoticized characters (cf. Lindskog 2005). This paper draws on a corpus of ten books for young readers two from each decade from the 1950s till the millennium to examine how Swedish writers of non-Sámi origin depict the relationship between the Swedish society and the Sámi peoples. Whilst post-colonial concepts such as ‘dominated and dominating’ and ‘colonizer and colonized’ are presented in simplistic binarisms in many of these works there are also works that work towards addressing shame and working towards apology and reconciliation (Ahmed 2014). The novels introduce plots where the Swedish protagonists are situated in Sápmi engaging in intercultural meetings Sámi characters. The young protagonists find ways of bridging cultural barriers but the voice that readers hear is filtered through the non-Sámi writers. The paper concludes with reflections on how to approach such literature in a way that respects the histories politics and cultures of the region without either essentializing or ignoring genuine attempts to promote reconciliation.  

            subject: 
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                        authority: uka.se
                    topic: 
                        Humanities and the Arts
                        Languages and Literature
                        General Literature Studies
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: swe
                        authority: uka.se
                    topic: 
                        Humaniora och konst
                        Språk och litteratur
                        Litteraturvetenskap
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                    topic: Swedish literature for young readers
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                    topic: 1950-2000
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                    topic: non-Sámi writers
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                    topic: Encounters between the Swedish and the Sámi
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                    topic: Voice of the Colonizer
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: swe
                        authority: ltu
                    topic: Svenska med didaktisk inriktning
                    genre: Research subject
                    @attributes: 
                        lang: eng
                        authority: ltu
                    topic: Swedish and Education
                    genre: Research subject
            language: 
                languageTerm: eng
            genre: 
                conference/other
                ref
            note: 
                Published
                1
            name: 
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                    type: personal
                    authority: ltu
                namePart: 
                    Palo
                    Annbritt
                role: 
                    roleTerm: aut
                affiliation: 
                    Luleå tekniska universitet
                    Pedagogik språk och Ämnesdidaktik
                nameIdentifier: 
                    anpa
                    0000-0002-8771-8597
            originInfo: 
                dateIssued: 2019
            physicalDescription: 
                form: print
            typeOfResource: text