Indigenous people and national minorities

Question 1

Strategy in State Encounter with Minorities in Norway

Answer 1

Historical movement from assimilation to integration

Assimilation: To make similar, a dominant form to follow to be accepted by majority

Integration: Fostering diversity and multiculturism/live together in mutual respect

Question 2

Indiginous People or National Minority

Answer 2

Indiginous people:
- people inhabitating a geographical region befor it was colonised/integrated into by a state dominated by other ethnic groups

National Minority: Minority groups with more than 100 years attachement to Norway protected by international laws, enabling them to preserve and develop their own culture and identity

Question 3

Sami and the Period of Political “Norwegianization” (1850-1950)

Answer 3

• Assimilation policy as a nation building/patriotic concept
• Schools used to norwegianize children, general prohibition of presenting Sami culture generally
• Dramatic loss of Sami culture/language

Question 4

Elsa Laula Renberg

Answer 4

• Pioner of the Sami resistance
• Fought for language rights, culture and territories during period of norwegianization politcs
• Initiated first Pan Sami meeting in Trondheim on Feburary 6th 1917

Question 5

“Old” Minorities

Answer 5

Indigenous people
- Sami

National Minorities
- Jews
- Roma
- Romani
- Kvens
- Forest Finns

Question 6

“New” Minorities

Answer 6

• A diverse group: Cititens from about 200 countries
• “Working immigrants”
• Refugees
• Asylum seekers
• Free labour market in Europe (EEA)

Question 7

Gains for Sami

Answer 7

• State commitment
• 1989: Sami parliment opens (Great symbolic effect)
• Revitalization of culture, traditions, other identity related objects
• February 6th Sami day
• Two official flags
• Sami dimensions in school curricula

Question 8

The Romani

Answer 8

• A nordic way of living: horses, boats, traditionally craftsmen (“travellers”)
• Historic roots in Hungary, Romania, migrated through Sweden in 1500s
• Unwanted group in 20th century, today 4 - 10 000 people
• Were put in ghettos and got sterilised to “cure” them

Today:
- Complex minority group, different location, level of education, background
- Massive language loss during norwegianization –> most’s mothertongue is norwegian
- Travelling still important part of identity

Question 9

The Kvens

Answer 9

• Finnish speaking, migrated in 1700s (population growth, demographic pressure in Finnland)
• Populated in Finnmark
• Today: Ca. 10 - 15 000, revitalized culture and language

Question 10

The Roma

Answer 10

• Migrated end 19th/after WWII
• Dramatic forms of discrimination, esp. before/during WWII (Got expelled, wanted to return but denied)
• Majority is bilingual (Norwegian, Romanes)
• Today ca. 500 - 700, most around Oslo

Question 11

The Jews

Answer 11

• Young minority
• Lived in little villages
• Deeply religious community
• Life between Market place, synagoge, home
• Wave of migration around 1900
• Norwegianized (No mixed marriages, new names/language, school used as instrument)
• Social mobility within city
• Genozide also in Norway
• Today: Ca. 1500