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

Abstract

The present article is devoted to an analysis of language policy towards the Sami people and the Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden and Norway from the end of the nineteenth century until ca. 1940. After the 1880s, the language policy in both countries turned into a nationalistic phase. The common underlying doctrine was to transmit the majority language and culture to the minorities, in order to make them melt into an imagined homogeneous national culture. The minority policy was relatively similar in character in the two countries up to the end of the First World War. After that time it started to diverge. While Norway continued with an assimilative policy without compromises, Sweden adopted a somewhat modified policy. This altered policy in Sweden was partly due to the long continuity and minority status of the Sami and Torne Valley people in the Swedish nation state, but also to elements of modernization and international political change.