Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Abstract

As King Harald of Norway declared at the opening of Sámediggi (The Sámi Parliament) in 1997: “Den norske stat er grunnlagt på territoriet til to folk—nordmenn og samer” (Kongen 1997) [The state of Norway was founded on the territory of two peoples—Norwegians and the Sámi]. During the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, however, the Indigenous Sámi languages and culture were actively repressed by the Norwegian government. This was similar to how Indigenous people have been treated in the United States (Evjen and Beck 2015) and numerous countries around the world. In the 1850s, Norway adopted the Norwegianization policy (fornorskingspolitikken), an assimilation policy directed at both the Sámi and the Kvens, a minority population of Finnish descent. According to this policy, only citizens who could speak and write in Norwegian were allowed to buy land, and in schools, the use of other languages than Norwegian was verboten (Sollid and Olsen 2019; Weinstock 2013). The policy toward the Sámi changed gradually after World War II, and in 1988, a Sámi paragraph was added to the Norwegian constitution, declaring that the “authorities of the state shall create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life” (Grunnloven). Furthermore, in 1990, Norway was the first country to ratify the ILO Convention no. 169 (International Labour Organization 1989) on Indigenous peoples and tribal peoples in independent countries, thereby guaranteeing the rights of the Sámi as an Indigenous people.This policy change had implications for education in Norway. According to Hilde Sollid and Torjer A. Olsen, Norway has, since the 1980s, adopted a “dual approach” to Indigenous education (Sollid and Olsen 2019, 32). On the one hand, the Sámi have the right to education, as well as the authority to govern their own education. On the other hand, all students in Norway are required to learn about the Indigenous Sámi people, including their culture, languages, and civic rights. In the context of Norwegian language arts, this involves learning about and reading Sámi literature as part of the nation's literary heritage (Aamotsbakken 2015).How Sámi literature is to be included in Norwegian language arts education, however, is a complicated question, and the answer may also involve changing how Norwegian literature is taught. The creation of Norwegian language arts as a school subject, as well as the literary canon and the literary history that this subject conveys, were parts of the same Norwegian nation-building processes that galvanized the assimilation of the Sámi. Norwegian language arts teachers are today faced with the challenge of merging Norwegian literature with the literature and language culture of the Sámi—as well as the Kven and other minoritized groups in contemporary Norwegian society.Norway's dual approach to Indigenous education requires that Sámi issues be represented in the textbooks used in Norway's public schools. Studies suggest, however, that this demand is not fulfilled to a satisfactory degree. Sámi issues occupy only a marginal position in the textbooks, and the textbook authors offer stereotypical and exotifying portrayals of Sámi culture, establishing a dichotomy between the Sámi and the majority population (Mortensen-Buan 2016). In a study of Norwegian language arts in lower-secondary school (grades 8–10), Bente Aamotsbakken (2015) demonstrated that only a handful of Sámi texts are included in these textbooks. Furthermore, Amotsbakken argues that Sámi literature is primarily presented as an expression of Sámi culture rather than as literary works with inherent aesthetic qualities.Little is known, however, about the status of Sámi literature at the highest level in the Norwegian school system: upper-secondary school (grades 11–13). At this level, the inclusion of Sámi literature may be particularly challenging. Ever since the national curriculum was formed in 1911, students in upper-secondary school have read a broad selection of texts from the Norwegian literary canon and studied Norwegian literary history from the Middle Ages to the present (Steinfeld 2001). In this canon and this historical narrative, there has traditionally been no place for Sámi literature. Thus, Norwegian language arts exemplifies how Sámi languages and culture have been repressed and excluded in Norwegian society. As a contribution to the discussion of how Sámi literature could be taught to all students in Norway, this article explores the portrayal of Sámi literature in textbooks for Norwegian language arts in upper-secondary schools (grades 11–13). My analysis is guided by the following research questions: (1) Which Sámi texts are included in the text anthologies and quoted in the main text? (2) How is Sámi literature presented to the students in introductions and assignments to the texts and in the chapters on literary history?The main assertion in this article is that both the Sámi and the Norwegians—at different points in history—have used literature to construct cultural identities. An education focusing on this similarity may foster a mutual understanding between students of different heritage, as well as a greater awareness of the tensions between Sámi and Norwegian culture that still exist in today's society. The analysis will illustrate, however, that the textbooks only describe Norwegian culture as a historical construction, while they adopt a more essentialist view of the Sámi. The consequence of this approach may be that the majority of students experience Sámi literature as something that does not relate to them.According to Harald Gaski, “Sami literature has its foundations in an old oral literary legacy” (Gaski 1996, 12). From as far back as the 1600s, there are written records of traditional Sámi yoik poetry as well as narratives such as fairy tales, legends, and religious myths. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ethnologists, folklorists, and linguists documented the Sámi oral literary tradition in a more systematic manner (Pollan 1997). Among these were the Norwegian ethnologist Just Qvigstad, who published Lappiske eventyr og sagn (Sámi Folktales and Legends) in four volumes (1927–1929), and the Sámi teacher and politician Isak Saba (2019), who also wrote the poem “Sámi soga lávlla” (1906; Song of the Sámi People), the official national anthem of the Sámi people (Gaski 2020).The first book written by a Sámi in a Sámi language was Johan Turi's Muitalus sámiid birra (An Account of the Sámi) from 1910, describing Sámi culture and folklore and criticizing the Norwegianization policy (Svonni 2011). It was not until the 1970s, however, that literature in Sámi languages flourished, parallel to and as a part of the Sámi's political struggle for recognition as an Indigenous people (Gaski 2011; Heith, 2010). Vuokko Hirvonen (2008) and Anne Heith (2010) have posited that the poetry of pioneer Sámi authors such as Paulus Utsi, Inger Huuva-Utsi, and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää is characterized by an anti-colonial critique. According to Sámi activists, the Norwegianization policy involved the colonization of Sámi land as well as cultural colonization resulting in a loss of language and identity (Heith 2010, 338), and Sámi literature from the 1970s onward often depicts acts of repression by the Norwegians and mourns their consequences. A particularly important topic in Sámi literature is the Alta conflict from 1978 to 1982, in which Marry Ailonieida Somby, Ailo Gaup, Synnøve Persen, and other Sámi authors were actively engaged (Ahvenjärvi 2015; Cocq and DuBois 2020; Thuen 1995).A central part of the Sámi struggle for recognition has been the (re)creation of Sámi cultural identities, and in this process, literature and art have played a major role. With reference to the sociologist Fredrik Barth's (1969) studies of ethnic identities, Anne Heith (2010) has argued that contemporary Sámi identities was constructed by drawing boundaries between the Sámi and the broader Norwegian culture. Cultural elements that were specific to Sámi culture were included in Sámi identities and elevated to national symbols, while elements that were similar to or could be associated with Norwegian culture were excluded. The works of pioneer authors and artists in the 1970s and 1980s typically depicted the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the reindeer-herding Sámi, the mountains in the Northern Norway, traditional Sámi myths and religious beliefs, and duodji (Sámi handicraft) (Ahvenjärvi 2015; Heith 2010; Skåden 2004). These cultural elements were not necessarily representative of how the majority of the Sámi lived in the late twentieth century, or even had lived traditionally, as many Sámi had been farmers and fishermen along the coast and further south. The lifestyle of the reindeer-herding Sámi in the northern mountains, however, was so distinctly non-Norwegian that it could form the basis of Sámi cultural identities (Heith 2010), and this imagery has been dominant in Sámi literature (Skåden 2004). These identity-construction processes may also have been reinforced by the stereotypical image of the Sámi as reindeer herders wearing traditional costumes, an image that still exists in Norwegian popular culture, textbooks, and teaching in kindergarten and grade school (Mortensen-Buan 2016). Furthermore, Norwegian legislation closely ties the Sámi population to reindeer husbandry in Northern Norway, as only recognized Sámi are allowed to own and herd reindeer. Thus, Sámi identities have been shaped by both the Norwegians and the Sámi people themselves.According to Gaski (2011; 2020), Sámi literature is deeply interwoven with other art forms. Yoik-singing, with roots in the shamanistic rituals of the old Sámi religion, “has tremendous significance for the development of modern Sami poetry” (Gaski 2011, 34), and many Sámi authors have been multimedia artists. The poet Paulus Utsi was a teacher of duodji, and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää was both a painter and an innovative musician who revitalized Sámi yoik by blending it with modern jazz. Valkeapää was even an actor in the Academy Award-nominated movie Ofelaš (1987; Pathfinder), which was based on a traditional Sámi legend (Heith 2010). In Beaivi, áhčážan (Valkeapää 1988; The Sun, My Father), the only Sámi book ever to win the prestigious Nordic Council Prize for Literature, Valkeapää combines his own poems with a collection of historical photographs of Sámi people (Heith 2010). Yoik has also inspired Sámi musicians such as the world music artist Mari Boine, who have reached mainstream success (Gaski 2011). Frode Fjellheim is another musician who mixes yoik with contemporary music; his compositions were used in the soundtrack of the Disney movies Frozen and Frozen II. One contemporary multimedia artist is Máret Ánne Sara, who writes fantasy literature inspired by Sámi mythology and makes political art criticizing the government's treatment of reindeer herders (Bakken 2018; Gaski 2020).Sámi literature in the twenty-first century has primarily continued the tradition started in the 1970s. Most young Sámi authors are poets (Ahvenjärvi 2015), and many texts still revolve around Sámi mythology, the traditional lifestyle of the reindeer-herding Sámi, and the consequences of the Norwegianization policy. In a study of two contemporary Sámi poets, Kaisa Ahvenjärvi (2015) found a clear political tendency and anti-colonial criticism in the poetry of Hege Siri, particularly in a poem sequence called “Stilla 1981,” depicting the Alta conflict. Reindeer herding lies at the heart of Rawdna Carita Eira's poetry, but unlike her predecessor Paulus Utsi, she does not elevate it to a symbol of Sámi identity, but rather focuses on the realities of this way of life today (Ahvenjärvi 2015).While this focus on traditional Sámi culture has been important for the construction of Sámi identities, some readers, according to Gaski (2011), have called for more literature discussing the challenges facing Sámi people today. One contemporary author who has explored new topics and literary forms is Sigbjørn Skåden (Gaski 2011). In his debut, the epic poem Skuovvadeddjiid gonagas (2004b; King of the Shoemakers), Skåden blends the story about a young Sámi boy with the myth of the Wandering Jew, discussing universal topics of identity and belonging. Skåden has also written novels, including the young adult novel Ihpil: Láhppon mánáid bestejeaddji (2008: Iphil: The Savior of Lost Souls), a story about the suicide of a lesbian Sámi girl, written in the format of a blog.In recent years, there has also been discussion among Sámi authors about the choice of language. For pioneering authors in the late twentieth century, the use of Sámi languages was an important part of the struggle for recognition and the construction of Sámi identities (Skåden 2004a). Because of the lengthy period of Norwegianization, however, only about 30 percent of people of Sámi heritage today can speak one of the three Sámi languages that are actively in use in Norway today. Even fewer—about 15 percent—use a Sámi written language. Many Sámi authors have therefore had no choice but to write in Norwegian, but as Hirvonen (2008) noted, this literature is not always recognized as a genuinely Sámi literature. The purpose of my article, however, is not to discuss what is—or what is not—Sámi literature; thus, I will use the more pragmatic and inclusive definition typically found in literary research (Ahvenjärvi 2015; Hirvonen 2008). I hence define Sámi literature as literature written in a Sámi language or written by an author of Sámi heritage.Including Sámi literature in Norwegian language arts is not merely a practical question regarding which and how many Sámi texts the students should read. In one way or another, teachers and textbook authors must deal with a more fundamental issue, namely, that the school subject of Norwegian language arts in itself is a product of the Norwegian nation-building processes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which also included the Norwegianization policy directed toward the Sámi population.In 1814, Norway gained independence after 400 years under the rule of the Danish king, signed its own constitution, and entered into a political union with Sweden. This historical event marked the starting point of a nation-building process where politicians, scholars, artists, and authors worked toward creating a unified cultural identity for Norway. As Jørgen Haugan has argued, the Norwegian cultural identity was constructed in opposition to the former colonial power of Denmark, and its identity was formed around what Haugan has described as “den nasjonale myte” (Haugan 1991, 31) [the national myth], a version of the myth of a “golden age” that is often found in nationalistic movements (Hutchinson 2004). The period before 1380 was Norway's golden age, when Norway was strong, independent, and unspoiled by other cultures. The Vikings ruled the seas, and Norway had its own written language (Old Norse) and literature. Then followed “400-årsnatten” (the 400-year-long night) under Danish rule, when Norwegian culture and language was repressed (Haugan 1991, 33). Finally, a new golden age began in 1814, when Norway liberated itself from Danish influence and reconnected with its glorious past.An important part of the nation-building processes was the creation of a Norwegian national literature (Haarberg 2017). In the nineteenth century, authors began developing Norwegian as a literary language; they described Norwegian nature and society, and they tried, as Haarberg has stated, to “gi uttrykk for den ‘ånd’ som fra gammelt av lå latent i folket” (Haarberg 2017, 33) [express the “spirit” that has long been latent in the people]. The national literature also required its own historical narrative, and the first Norwegian literary histories and anthologies were published in the middle of the nineteenth century (Haarberg 2017). Around the same time, the study of Nordic literature was established as an academic field at the University in Oslo, primarily focusing on the history of Norwegian literature (Hannevik 2001). The main narrative of Norwegian literature, which still can be found in literary histories and textbooks in Norwegian language arts, follows the national myth and emphasizes the two golden ages: Old Norse literature and nineteenth-century literature. In this myth, there is no place for the Sámi, and as Ellen Rees (2020) has argued, based on reactionary and partly racist ideologies, leading nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary scholars have disregarded the connection between the establishment of a national Norwegian literature and the forced assimilation of the Sámi and other minoritized groups.For more than a century, the national literary canon and the history of Norwegian literature have been conveyed to budding generations in the school subject of Norwegian language arts, particularly in upper-secondary school (Haarberg 2017). This school subject was gradually developed during the nineteenth century, and the explicit purpose of Norwegian language arts has been to foster a Norwegian national identity and a love of Norwegian language and literature. The role of Norwegian language arts as a nation-building subject, however, has been toned down in the twenty-first century. The national curriculum from 2006, Kunnskapsløftet (The Knowledge Promotion), revised Norwegian language arts as a contemporary literacy subject, focusing on the development of students’ oral and written skills. Students in upper-secondary school should still read works from the Norwegian canon and study Norwegian literary history, but no longer with the purpose of strengthening their cultural identity and pride. Conversely, students should learn to reflect critically about how literature has been written and marshaled to promote certain ideas about what is regarded as Norwegian. Furthermore, they should read Sámi literature and discuss Sámi languages and culture in light of the Norwegianization policy.In this article, I examine the portrayal of Sámi literature in Norwegian language arts textbooks for upper-secondary school published after a revised version of the national curriculum Kunnskapsløftet (Knowledge Promotion) was implemented in 2013. The curriculum was revised yet again in 2020, but this curriculum will be gradually implemented between 2020 and 2024, and most updated textbooks are still being written and have not yet been published. I will therefore focus solely on the textbooks from the previous revision, which are still being used in upper-secondary schools.I will include all of the four available textbooks for Norwegian language arts for upper-secondary school in my analysis. The textbooks were published by leading textbook publishing companies in Norway, and each book consists of three volumes, one for each year in upper-secondary school. The textbooks include Grip teksten (Aschehoug), Panorama (Gyldendal), Moment (Cappelen Damm), and Intertekst (Fagbokforlaget). Each volume consists of a main text, presenting the subject content in Norwegian language arts, such as literary history, grammar and rhetoric, and an anthology of fiction and non-fiction text. In the analysis, all references to the textbooks will be made in the format of title, volume, page number (e.g., Panorama 2:341).The national curriculum focuses on different aspects of Norwegian and Sámi literature during each of the three years of upper-secondary school (Utdanningsdirektoratet 2013). In the first year, students read a representative selection of contemporary Norwegian and Sámi literature. In the second year, students read Norwegian and some European literature from the Middle Ages to the Romantic Era and place it in a historical context. They also study how different ideas about “det norske” (Norwegianness) are expressed in central texts from the late 1700s to the 1870s and in a selection of contemporary literature. Furthermore, they compare traditional myths and folktales with contemporary literature. Sámi literature is not explicitly mentioned. In the third year, students read Norwegian and some international literature from the Romantic Era to the present day and place it in a historical context. They also learn about Sámi languages and culture and the consequences of the Norwegianization policy.My first research question asks the following: Which Sámi texts are included in the text anthologies and quoted in the main text? In addition to identifying the specific texts, I will examine which authors, genres, and periods in Sámi literary history these texts represent. Norway has no official literary school canon, as, for example, Denmark does, and ever since the curriculum reform in 2006, no specific authors have been listed in the national curriculum for Norwegian language arts. Nevertheless, research has shown that language arts teachers in upper-secondary school still focus on the canonized authors from the second golden age of Norwegian literature, such as Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun (Stordrange and Blikstad-Balas 2020). In my analysis, I will seek indication of an unofficial Sámi literary canon in Norwegian language arts, that is, texts, authors, genres, or periods in literary history that are deemed so important that they are included in all or most of the textbooks.My second research question asks the following: How is Sámi literature presented to the students in introductions and assignments to the texts and in the chapters on literary history? The theoretical framework for this part of the analysis is drawn from research on Indigenous education. In a study of Indigenous education in Norway and the United States, Phyllis Ngai, Unn-Doris Karlsen Bæk, and Gry Paulgaard argued that educators “need to discard the idea that Indigenous education is an ‘add-on’ and reject the ‘cultural additive’ approach” (Ngai, Bæk, and Paulgaard 2015, 99). In a Norwegian context, this means that it is insufficient simply to add content about the Sámi—such as Sámi literature—without changing the traditional content of the school subjects. Instead, Ngai, Bæk, and Paulgaard “advocate the transformative multicultural approach through which students study historical, social, artistic, and literary events and concepts from multiple local and international ethnic and cultural perspectives” (Ngai, Bæk, and Paulgaard 2015, 99–100). In my analysis, I will examine whether Sámi literature is included as a separate category, or “add-on,” to the traditional Norwegian national canon and literary history or whether the textbook authors have transformed the traditional school subject of Norwegian language arts and constructed a new canon and literary history in which both the relationships and the historical tensions between Norwegian and Sámi literature can be highlighted.Another important question in research on Indigenous education concerns how the relationship between the Indigenous and the majoritized population should be described. Sollid and Olsen contend that the notion of a strict dichotomy “between the West and the Indigenous, and between all things related to the West and all things related to the Indigenous, has gained a strong foothold” within this research field (2019, 32). According to Sollid and Olsen, there is “a certain essentialism implicit in such claims,” and the dichotomy “rests on the assumption that both sides—the Western and the Indigenous—are homogenous” (2019, 32). Instead, Sollid and Olsen propound that the Norwegians and the Sámi are not homogenous groups: “Individual families are diverse and potentially multilingual in the sense that their members can self-identify as Norwegian, Kven, and Sámi” (Sollid and Olsen 2019, 33). Thus, the relationship between Norwegian and Sámi is better described as a continuum, as opposed to a dichotomy.In my presentation of Sámi literature and Norwegian language arts in this article, I have also implicitly contested an essentialist view by describing both Sámi and Norwegian cultural identities as constructions made by certain people in certain historical contexts to promote specific aims. As previously mentioned, the national curriculum for Norwegian language arts emphasizes that the Norwegian cultural identity should be presented to students as a historical construction from the nineteenth century. However, the curriculum provides no guidelines regarding how Sámi culture should be presented. In my textbook analysis, I will examine the degree to which the textbook authors indicate an essentialist or a constructivist perspective of Norwegian and Sámi culture and literature.The analysis suggests that few Sámi texts are presented in the textbooks for Norwegian language arts in upper-secondary school. In the text anthologies included in the four textbooks, there are a total of 919 texts, and twenty of these (2.2 percent) were written by Sámi authors. In the main text of the textbooks, there are 803 text excerpts quoted as examples of genres, literary techniques, or periods in cultural history. Three of these excerpts (0.4 percent) are taken from Sámi texts. As indicated in Table 1, the pattern is the same across all four textbooks. The anthologies have 200 to 300 texts each, and three to seven of these texts were written by Sámi authors. All texts are printed in Norwegian. Some were translated from a Sámi language, while some were originally written in Norwegian. This distinction is not always clear, however, as the name of the translator is not invariably mentioned. Six of the poems have the original Sámi version printed alongside the Norwegian translation.There are some common choices that can be observed across all or most of the textbooks. All four books include texts from the Sámi oral literary tradition that were collected and transcribed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Two textbooks include a version of the Pathfinder legend, which was the inspiration for the movie Pathfinder (1987). Grip teksten has a version collected by the Sámi teacher and politician Isak Saba, namely, “Veiviseren over Einavidde” (The Pathfinder across Einavidde), and Intertekst has a version collected by the Norwegian ethnologist Just Qvigstad: “Tsjudene og veiviseren” (The Tsjuds and the Pathfinder). This legend chronicles the story of a young Sámi boy who is captured by an invading group of Tsjuds, a people from Karelia in northern Finland and Russia, and the boy is forced to guide the invaders to a Sámi village. The boy gains the Tsjuds’ confidence, leads them down the wrong path, and lures them over the edge of a cliff and to their deaths. The written versions of the legend are short, and they focus on action scenes and the boy's cunning plan to double-cross the invaders and save the Sámi village. The movie adaptation, which the authors of Grip teksten encourage the students to watch, was filmed during the Sámi fight for recognition in the 1980s, and this version adds a number of scenes depicting everyday life in the Sámi village. These scenes invite the viewer to identify with the Sámi characters, to understand their traditional culture and religion, and to root for them in their fight against the invaders.Panorama includes two short myths describing the close relationship between animals and people, an important aspect of the traditional Sámi religion. “Dyr har stammor” (Animals Have an Ancestress) explains that if you kill a frog or a beetle, their ancestresses will come back and kill you. “Hvordan en edderkopp frelste et menneskes liv” (How a Spider Saved a Man's Life) is the story of a man hiding from the Tsjuds in a cave, while being protected by a spider weaving a web before the cave opening. In addition, Moment includes the legend “Bjørkene på gravene til de to som hadde elsket hverandre” (The Birches on the Graves of the Two Who Had Loved Each Other), collected by Just Qvigstad. In this legend, a boy and a girl commit suicide after their parents refuse to let them marry, and they are buried on each side of the church. On their graves, birch trees grow branches that join together over the church roof.All four textbooks also have a small selection of contemporary Sámi literature from the 1980s to the present day. This includes fourteen poems and one short story. The majority of these texts were written by pioneering authors who contributed to the development of Sámi literature in the late twenty-first century. There are two poems by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, one poem by Inger and Paulus Utsi, one poem by Čoarddá Jomnna (Jon Eldar Einejord), two poems by Ailo Gaup, and two poems and a short story by Marry Ailonieida Somby. The multimedia aspect of Sámi literature is represented by three song lyrics: two by Mari Boine and one by Frode Fjellheim. In addition, one of Valkeapää’s paintings is used as an illustration in the chapter on Sámi languages and culture. Finally, there are four poems written by younger authors who debuted after the turn of the millennium: three by Rawdna Carita Eira and one by Sigbjørn Skåden.There are some thematic tendencies in the textbooks’ selections of contemporary literature. Numerous texts describe the oppression of the Sámi people and their longing to be free. Sometimes, these texts refer to specific historical events, such as Ailo Gaup's poem “De kom” (1984; They Came) about the Christianization of the Sámi in the eighteenth century: “De kom / i sine svarte / kjoler, / med korset / på brystet og / boken i hånden / . . . Valget vi fikk / var omvendelse / eller døden” (Grip teksten 1:291) [They came / in their black / cassocks, / with the cross / on their chests and / the book in hand / . . . The choice we were given / was conversion / or death]. Although these events occurred 300 years ago, the lyrical “I” brings the act of repression into the present by invoking the Sámi