Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1003

Part of Session 166: Indigenous Minority Languages in Urban Areas (Other abstracts in this session)

Stigma and Pride. Negotiations of Sami identity in late modern Norwegian society

Authors: Mæhlum, Brit
Submitted by: Mæhlum, Brit (University of Trondheim (NTNU), Norway, Norway)

This paper explores the unusually harsh rhetoric employed in the debates around the possible inclusion of the northern city of Tromsø in the Sami language administrative district. This would have made Tromsø, the main urban centre of Northern Norway, officially bilingual. The discussion will relate the classical Sami idiom to an urban–rural dichotomy, and attempt to recapture some of the ideological principles that once governed minority politics in Norway.

During the last decades Norway has been considered a leading nation with respect to the official ethnolinguistic rights of indigenous minority groups. There exists, for example, an independent Sami parliament, and since 1992 Sami has been recognized as an official language of Norway. However, concrete rights entailed by this status is restricted to the so-called Sami language administrative district, which consists of 8 municipalities situated – with one exception – in Northern Norway. These developments in legal status are accompanied by changes in the perception of Sami language and culture, both among the majority population and within the Sami population itself. After a long period of vigorous assimilation politics, enforced by various official agencies, the stigma and shame connected to the Sami identity is gradually replaced by openness and genuine pride in being of Sami heritage (e.g. Johansen 2009, Mæhlum 2007).

The Tromsø case, which exploded in the media during the winter 2010/2011, seriously undermines this progressive narrative. In 2010 the elected city council of Tromsø began to review the possibility of applying for inclusion of the municipality in the Sami language administrative district, and in June 2011 the application was deposited. While a council majority took a favourable view, it turned out that the majority of the population in Tromsø dissented strongly. Local newspapers and websites were filled with aggressive and harsh comments on the proposal. The least aggressive opposition was expressed by headlines such as, ”We must prevent Tromsø from becoming a Sami city”, and ”Let us keep our identity”. Procedurally the case came to an (preliminary) end in September 2011, when the opposition fought and won the local election on an agenda which included withdrawing the application. This act, however, resulted in a new wave of aggressive wrangling in the media.

In my paper I will inquire the rhetoric that appear in this concrete case, partly by recapitulating some of the ideological principles that once conducted minority politics in Norway. One significant theoretical dimension will be to relate the classical Sami idiom to an urban–rural dichotomy (cf. e.g. Makoni & Pennycook 2007). But first and foremost the ongoing discourse has to be analysed within an overarching post-colonial frame.

References:

Johansen, Å.M. (2009): ”Velkommen te’ våres Norge”. En kvalitativ studie av språkbytte og språkbevaring i Manndalen i Gáivuotna/Kåfjord. Oslo: Novus.

Makoni, S. & A. Pennycook (2007): “Disinventing and reconstituting languages”. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (eds.) Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1–41.

Mæhlum, B. (2007): Konfrontasjoner. Når språk møtes. Oslo: Novus.

Sociolinguistics Symposium 19

Programme: accepted abstracts

Stigma and Pride. Negotiations of Sami identity in late modern Norwegian society