A Place in the Memory of Nation. Minority Policy towards the Finnish Speakers in Sweden and Norway

Elenius, Lars

doi:10.1080/080038302321117542

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Both in Norway and Sweden, the Samis and the Kven appeared in this period as clearly distinct peoples who lived in certain places in such concentrated communities that their existence was considered a problem which called for a special national policy (see Elenius 2002). The breakthrough for the policy of assimilation was not unique in the world in the nineteenth century.…”

Section: The Legacymentioning

confidence: 97%

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹

Minde¹

2003

Acta Borealia

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: The Legacymentioning

confidence: 97%

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹

Minde¹

2003

Acta Borealia

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…From the late 19 th century until the middle of the 20 th century, the Finnish-speaking regional minority on the Swedish side of the Torne Valley was under pressure towards linguistic and cultural integration (e.g. Huss 1999;Elenius 2002). The condition of being a linguistic minority began to develop into an issue of social 'othering' in the late 19 th century when the Swedish national 'försvenskningspolitik' entailed the exercising of powerful political pressure on marginal groups in order to integrate them linguistically and culturally into the modern nation-state.…”

Section: The Socio-historical Background Of Meänkielimentioning

confidence: 99%

Why save a minority language? Meänkieli and rationales of language revitalization

Ridanpää

2018

Fennia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the rationales for language revitalization and their materialization on a local scale. The starting premise is that, due to specific social, cultural, as well as spatial circumstances, there exists a wide variety of rationalizations for why saving endangered languages is important. The complexity of the matter is discussed with regard to Meänkieli, a minority language spoken in northern Sweden, which has a long and unique history of marginalization. The article bases on group discussions conducted with Meänkieli speaking cultural activists in northern Sweden during the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016. The present examination of the group discussions reveals how the rationales of saving the language are inherently interrelated with questions concerning identity formation, educational principles and the sovereignty of minority groups. The analysis also reveals how, due to the complex nature of local history, there is no consensus on whether the recent progress in language revitalization is unanimously a positive change or not.

show abstract

“…"Försvenskningnspolitik" with its aims of national security effected a practical categorical distinction with Russia, which during the era meant Finland, in all fields of human life, for the benefit of national security. Finnish-speaking people were perceived as an ethnically inferior population, an internal "other", compared to the Swedish-speaking majority (Huss, 1999;Elenius, 2002) -"a fact" that was ostensibly "proved" by the racial studies of Swedish anthropologists (Heith, 2012). Through institutional control, especially related to the school system, the marginalization of the Swedish Torne Valley became a concrete and mundane part of people's lives.…”

Section: Torne Valley and Meänkieli: Revitalizing An Othered Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Narrativizing (and laughing) spatial identities together in Meänkieli-speaking minorities

Ridanpää

2017

Geoforum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highlights• Humor is a creative way to make sense of, produce and contest socio-spatial relations.• For linguistic minorities humor functions as a means to contest hegemonic discourses.• Laughter is a narrative method for approaching spatial identities.• Meänkieli-speaking minorities utilize humor in their language revitalization work. AbstractThis paper scrutinizes how the Meänkieli-speaking minority in The Torne Valley, northern Sweden, use humor in the process of narrativizing their shifting spatial identities, as well as in maintaining and contesting prevailing power relations. A great deal of the research focusing on the social and political nature of humor, and its geographical dimensions, has concerned the humor directed at ethnic and national minorities, with minority groups typically being approached as targets of laughter. However, less interest has been paid to how minorities use and experience humor in their everyday lives and environments. Humor is approached here as an integral part of how people make sense of culture and society in a creative manner and cope with and challenge subordinating power-relations and social inequality. In terms of methodology, laughing together operates as a (research) approach through which spatial identities of linguistic minorities can be renegotiated. The study is based on group discussions held with local culture workers and activists between September 2015 and February 2016 in Swedish Torne Valley. The paper produces new theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning how humor is used in a creative manner to make sense of, produce and contest socio-spatial relations.

show abstract

A Place in the Memory of Nation. Minority Policy towards the Finnish Speakers in Sweden and Norway

Cited by 19 publications

References 2 publications

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹

Why save a minority language? Meänkieli and rationales of language revitalization

Narrativizing (and laughing) spatial identities together in Meänkieli-speaking minorities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

A Place in the Memory of Nation. Minority Policy towards the Finnish Speakers in Sweden and Norway

Cited by 19 publications

References 2 publications

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences1

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences1

Why save a minority language? Meänkieli and rationales of language revitalization

Narrativizing (and laughing) spatial identities together in Meänkieli-speaking minorities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹

Assimilation of the Sami – Implementation and Consequences¹