Norwegian Culture Research Articles

Tradition and gender

Until recently, little attention has been given to men’s surname choices in couples. By analysing men’s narratives, this study investigates the motivations and social implications of their choices. Drawing on historical and sociocultural perspectives, it demonstrates how men’s names are privileged in Norwegian culture compared to women’s names despite a high degree of gender equality. Men who break the norms want to make their own decisions. Overall, this research contributes to the broader discourse on gender equality by highlighting the transformative potential of seemingly small acts, such as name choices. It also contributes to socio-onomastics by highlighting surname choice as a meaningful and gendered activity.

Inspiring Repertoire for Enrichment

One of the enduring challenges for piano teachers is selecting appropriate repertoire to enrich a student’s piano education, which has foundations in leveled books. A response to the challenge is to select a collection from a composer’s works to immerse the student in the style and technical demands of that specific composer. In this study, Edvard Grieg’s Lyric Pieces Opus 12 were investigated for their effectiveness as pedagogical tools for intermediate piano students. The analysis included: (1) contextualizing the collectionhistorically through related literature; (2) identifying primary technical elements to determine an effective pedagogical approach for introducing the specific elements to students; and (3) identifying stylistic features and Norwegian cultural connections to provide meaningful insights for students’ interpretation of the pieces and lead to a set of guiding questions to pose to students. Historically, Grieg’s Lyric Pieces capture the Norwegian spirit by incorporating folkloric elements into classical compositions, and his intention in the compositions was to supply his music school with short, digestible instructional material. The Lyric Pieces are accessible piano pieces that allow students to discover complex technical elements such as melodic nature, varied approaches to the keys (touch), complex rhythms, and ornamentation. They also provide opportunities for students to grow their understanding of stylistic features through the titles and descriptive phrases, as well as connections to Norwegian culture, which allow them to develop their interpretation of the pieces. This study contributes to the professional learning of studio piano teachers and the application of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces in teaching intermediate students.

Public art and private wealth: the controversial collaboration between the National Museum in Norway and Fredriksen Family Art Company Ltd

ABSTRACT There has been much discussion in the US and European media about the evolving relationship between wealthy private art collectors and underfunded public art museums. This paper examines the public debate regarding the ten-year loan agreement between the National Museum in Norway and the Fredriksen Family Art Company Limited. The agreement was exposed to harsh criticism from actors within the art world when it became known to the public in June 2019. Based on an analysis of newspaper articles from when this was a hot topic in the public debate, we investigate the dynamics of the debate and seek to understand why it became such a contested issue. This study shows that the Norwegian culture based on egalitarian values and high tax moral, and a long history for the state to subsidize the arts and culture, are important reasons why the collaboration became as controversial as it did.

Voluntarism Rationality in Norway: The Relevance of Ferie for Alle

The article examines a voluntary phenomenon that exists in “Ferie for Alle”. The name refers to a voluntary-based program organized by the Norwegian Red Cross, a prominent NGO in Norway. The program is oriented in ensuring free holiday experiences for children and families who are deemed unfortunate. Interestingly such a regard is attached due to their inability to afford vacation trips during holiday time. This article aims to address why such phenomenon of Ferie for Alle able to emerges in Norwegian society and attracts people to volunteer to it. This paper uses an ethnographic approach. In specific, it utilizes qualitative method such as semi-structured in-depth interview for the data collection process, and narratives analysis for data analysis process. Through the result, this paper argues that the existence of voluntarism in Ferie for Alle is instigated by volunteers’ reasoning towards prominent social aspects, that is: (1) growing up experiences in Norwegian society, (2) interpretation of Norwegian culture (3) understanding of a certain Norwegian welfare provision discourse. Moreover, actualization of volunteering further gave an idea of how Norwegian welfare system is supposed to be conducted. As reflected by the Ferie for Alle volunteers, such meaning helps them navigate activism in addressing transnational political issues happening in Norway.

Exploring the Use of Memes in Learning about Norwegian Culture and Language in a Foreign Language Learning Context

The aim of this study is to investigate the criminal discourse of the Sweden Democrats through an ideational analysis of their criminal policy programme. The study applies an analytical tool drawing on systemic functional grammar. Analysing nuclear participants and using readability index, the article explores the question of how model readers are constructed in the text. The conclusion is that the Sweden Democrats focus mostly on material processes that refer to physical violence (very rarely on other types of crime). The party’s view on criminal policy is focused on support for the police force. The Sweden Democrats’ descriptions largely adopt the perspective of crime victims, while the model reader is a law-abiding and well-educated citizen.

«Å utsette den andre døden»: Snublesteiner i norsk litteratur

The trauma of the Second World War and the Holocaust has been a broadly explored topic in Norwegian culture in the last ten–fifteen years. This, in turn, resulted in a massive popularity of both fiction and non-fiction literature where the topic is prominent, as well as a growing interest in postmemory studies among literary scholars. This paper discusses the motif of Stolpersteine in three Norwegian literary texts, published between the years 2016 and 2019: two novels, No, a Hundred Times No by Nina Lykke, Keep Saying Their Names by Simon Stranger and one essay, “Snublesteinene i Oslo” [“Stoplersteine in Oslo”] by Ole Robert Sunde, published in an anthology entitled The Homeland & Other Stories. Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) are commemorative brass plaques in the pavement in front of the last address of victims of National Socialism. This remembrance project was started by the German artist Gunter Demnig in the 1990s and there are now tens of thousands of “stones” placed in over a thousand locations in Europe, also in Norway. The aim of this paper is to answer two questions: firstly, what formal function the motif plays in the three chosen texts and, secondly, how can Stolpersteinene become bearers of memory and postmemory, according to the theoretical framework developed around the topic of war and trauma.

Intangible Cultural Heritage as a Resource for a Sámi Mathematics Curriculum

Northern Norway’s population comprises many different cultural groups. According to the Norwegian Education Act, education must give students insight into and a firm foundation in history and culture. This paper aims to present a proposal for how to start working with the creation of local rural mathematics curricula for which Sámi culture in particular, and Northern Norwegian culture in general, is the basis and foundation. It examines three activities that are examples of intangible cultural heritage from different non-urban Northern Norwegian cultures: i) Sámi traditional measuring, ii) fishermen’s traditional navigation at sea and iii) ruvden (a Sámi way of braiding). The activities are analysed with respect to the framework cultural symmetry, which was developed in research in Māori mathematics education. The analysis shows that the three activities are of great significance to local cultural reasoning to such an extent that they should be included in local rural mathematics education. Each of the three activities provides opportunities for developing a culture-based mathematics teaching that values the language and culture in which the activities are embedded. We conclude that cultural symmetry seems to function as a tool for developing a Sámi mathematics curriculum.

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Television from the periphery – Slow television and national identity in Norway

Abstract Since 2009, the Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK has produced a number of slow TV shows. Some of the programmes have had a surprisingly big success in terms of public engagement and audience share even though the majority of the audience was from the oldest age groups. These programmes are not only slow, lasting a long time and lacking dramatic development and progress, they also engage in a particular, traditional version of national identity. The current article argues that, through slow TV, the Norwegian public service broadcaster has found a new way to reflect a particular version of Norwegian identity and to tap into the central values of Norwegian culture. Taken together, the shows cover all regions of the country—the coastal areas as well the inlands and mountains. In terms of representation, the programmes highlight nature and traditional Norwegian values such as closeness to nature, rural life, and “friluftsliv” (living the outdoor life). Urban areas and the non-white population are conspicuously absent.

Christian Sinding’s piano style as a component of European art

Statement of the problem. Christian Sinding is considered “the first after Grieg” at the Norwegian music olympus. He created more than 130 opuses of different genres of music. However, nowadays his works are rarely performed, particularly in Ukraine. Thus, the relevance of the topic of the article is due to the lack of domestic musicology systematic study of Sinding’s piano work as a component of European art. The study of the heritage of the “second star” of Norwegian culture is the overtask of modern musicology – to fill the “white spot” in the study of national piano schools in Western Europe, including Norway, and make the music of this composer recognized and demanded by young performers of the XXI century. The purpose of the article is to represent the individual compositional style of С. Sinding on the basis of his own authorial performance of the analyzed piano pieces. The material for this is the iconic piano works (op. 24, op. 25) of the early and mature periods of creativity, which highlight the style of thinking of the artist. The object of research isthepianostyle of the Norwegian composer Christian Sindingin the prism of European musical culture, the subject – pianominiatures of Sinding. The research methods are based on material that is little known for most of Ukrainian musicians, but belongs to the classical European heritage. Thus, the historical method reveals the dialectic of tradition and innovation in the process of formation of national and individual style in music; genre method – determines the hierarchy of general and specific in the organization of a musical work; stylistic – in addition to the principles of the artist’s thinking indicates the nationally defined features of creativity; performing-interpretive method – reflects the personal feeling of the “sound image” of the piano by the author of the article as the first interpreter of C. Sinding’s music in Ukraine. The results obtained. Generalization of the principles of stylistic thinking of Christian Sinding in the field of his piano work has not received a systematic presentation in existing scientific sources. Therefore, to reveal the relevance of the proposed research topic, we highlight the typical stylistic features and principles of piano work of C. Sinding in terms of its national and stylistic identity. The criterion was the elements of the “national musical language” (according to O. Kozarenko). As for the elements of musical language that affect the sound image of the piano, the work of C. Sinding is characterized by a late romantic paradigm: folklore basis of melody, orchestral richness of piano texture, richness of timbre palette with effects of instrumental sound imitation, complex harmony rhythmic organization, which combines folk dance and instrumental formulas and metric schemes of emphasis (regularity and irregularity). The principles of monotheism and leitmotif are also one of the means of expression of late romanticism as C. Sinding’s worldview paradigm, which certain genre-language tendencies of his piano thinking are concentrated in. Most of the plays have sound effects – imitation of the timbres of folk instruments popular in Norway, including hardingphele, harpsichord, violin. As a result, the levels of stylistic significance of individual elements of the musical language of the artist’s piano works constitute a model of individual compositional style as a reflection of the national mentality of the musical worldview. Prospects for further development of the topic. In the development of the develop edmethodology of analysis of national and musical language C. Sinding will study majorgenres of mature and lateperiods of piano work to sub stantiate the style of thinking of the artist in the paradigms of European culture of Romanticism and modernism of the early twentieth century.

The Attitude of Norwegian Lithuanians Towards Migration to Norway

Based on the data of an empirical research conducted in 2021, the article discusses the attitudes of the Lithuanians living in Norway towards this country. It analyses what encourages Lithuanians to emigrate to this country and stay there permanently; why Norway seems attractive; what associations Norway raises for Lithuanians; whether this country is a good place to raise and bring up children, and other relevant issues often discussed in the Lithuanian media. The results of the survey are compared with the results of previous research done by other researchers. The majority of the Lithuanians living in Norway are satisfied with their living conditions in this country and would not change their country of immigration even if they had such an opportunity. For the Lithuanians living in Norway, this country is more often associated with positive (such as beautiful nature, peace, security, freedom, stability, friendliness, tolerance, and equality) rather than negative aspects of Norway. In 2021, at the time of the study, most Lithuanians residing in Norway felt fully integrated and said that they were trying to accept Norwegian culture and traditions as much as it was important for communicating with the locals. Nevertheless, Lithuanians try to uphold their Lithuanian identity and traditions while living in a foreign country. In comparison with the results of the surveys of previous years, the present study shows that Lithuanians in Norway are less and less ashamed of their nationality and increasingly express pride in their homeland.

Moved to Norway, Then Moved by Norway: How Moments of Kama Muta Is Related With Immigrants’ Acculturation

In this paper, we investigated the relation between a positive social emotion, kama muta, and immigrants’ acculturation to Norway. Kama muta is evoked by a sudden intensification of a communal sharing relationship. Since communal sharing relationships are characterized by feeling one with others and orienting one’s actions to something they have in common, we predicted that feeling kama muta about Norway or Norwegians would enhance immigrants’ motivation to adopt Norwegian culture. We investigated this with exploratory sequential mixed methods: In Study 1, we interviewed 18 immigrants in Norway to understand in which situations the emotional experience, that can be identified as kama muta, occurs in connection to Norway and Norwegians, and how this affects acculturation to Norwegian culture. Based on the results of Study 1, we developed prompts that assessed immigrants’ kama muta experiences in connection with Norway and formulated hypotheses relating to immigrants’ bicultural identity integration, acculturation motivations, motivation to stay, and acculturative stress. In Study 2 we quantitively assessed these hypotheses in a larger sample of immigrants to Norway ( N = 142). The frequency and intensity of kama muta experiences in connection with Norway uniquely predicted immigrants’ motivation to adopt Norwegian culture, and negatively predicted acculturative stress. This suggests that kama muta can connect immigrants to their new homeland.

Designing for Plurality in Democracy by Building Reflexivity

Designing for Plurality in Democracy by Building Reflexivity

Sustainable building renovation in residential buildings: barriers and potential motivations in Norwegian culture

Retrofit of existing housing increases the possibility of meeting Sustainable Development Goals. Improving quality of life, minimising energy consumption and increasing productivity in buildings process with the aim of affordable housing (social, environmental, and economic sustainability) set new demands for renovation amongst residential housing in Norway. Most studies to date emphasised on mitigation of CO2 emissions in building sector through building renovations. However, recent studies started evaluating why such renovation plans may not be considered by property owners. This study investigates potential barriers and motivations for Sustainable Building Renovations (SBR) from house-owners’ perspective and discusses the role of urban Facility Management (FM) in promoting SBR. Results from a questionnaire survey with 341 citizens in Trondheim city, Norway, confirm economic issues as the main barrier for SBR with respondents suggesting different forms of financial support to resolve these barriers. Social engagement of citizens with public/private partners and neighbours illustrates the collective motivation for SBR. This requires an intermediary role like urban FM engaging citizens to co-create their needs in urban areas with public/private sectors. The output of this study helps to promote urban FM engaging with SBR targets through renovation of neighbourhoods.

Celebration or Critique? Performing Peer Gynt in the Heart of Norway

Since 1988, Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt has been performed outdoors in the summer at Gålå in Gudbrandsdalen in Norway. Peer Gynt is particularly connected to Norwegian national culture and identity, and this connection becomes particularly poignant at Gålå. The event focuses on giving the audience a celebratory national-romantic experience of the typical Norwegian landscape, traditional Norwegian culture, and Peer Gynt, the most Norwegian of all plays. The question is whether a production here necessarily has to be subjected to the celebratory atmosphere of the event or whether it is possible for a production in these circumstances to question the hegemonic, national-romantic ideology that pervades the event. This article uses Chantal Mouffe’s concept of ‘critical art’ and Louis Althusser’s reflections on the relationship between theatre and ideology to discuss this question in respect of how the productions at Gålå are marketed. The article argues that, whatever critical potential there is in performing Peer Gynt at Gålå, it can be found by directly staging and questioning the expectations that the event creates and that audience members bring with them. Sigrid Strøm Reibo employed such a strategy in her 2017 production, which is the focus of attention here. Lars Harald Maagerø is a scholar and director whose research is concerned with the political and cultural impact of contemporary theatre. His productions include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night with Thesbiteatret in Norway, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Opera Østfold.

Piano Composition in the Framework of Norwegian Musical Culture of late XIX - early XX centuries

Piano Composition in the Framework of Norwegian Musical Culture of late XIX - early XX centuries

Prince Eugene of Sweden. A painter’s brief biography

This article tells about the main stages of the biography of the famous Scandinavian painter Prince Eugene, a representative of the Bernadotte dynasty, who left a noticeable mark on the history of Swedish culture. Having no prospects of ever taking the royal throne, Eugene, after receiving the traditional upbringing and education for the heir to the throne, devoted himself to the study of painting. Having experienced the serious influence of the French Impressionist masters of the last third of the 19th century during his studies in Paris, he worked fruitfully in various genres for a long time, leaving an extensive creative legacy: his brush owns not only numerous canvases presented both in leading museums in Sweden and world-class collections (the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum), but also monuments of monumental painting — in particular, frescoes in the Stockholm City Hall and the Royal Drama Theater. The activity of Prince Eugene as a representative of the Swedish royal court during the period on the eve of the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union is a significant research interest. Prince Eugene made certain efforts to preserve the unity of Sweden and Norway by popularizing such ideas in the Norwegian creative environment, where he had wide acquaintances and a certain popularity and was even proposed by such famous figures of Norwegian culture as K. Hamsun and B. Bjornson as a possible candidate for the role of king of Norway. The prince-artist is also noteworthy as a public figure who held anti-Nazi positions during the period before and during World War II: he not only condemned the policies of the Third Reich, but also criticized Swedish public figures who expressed sympathy for the actions of the Nazi regime in Germany. Nowadays, the extensive creative heritage of Prince Eugene is on display in the collection of the art museum located in his estate Waldemarsudde in Stockholm, where he lived and worked for most of his life and where he was buried after his death.

Acculturation, trust to health care system, and attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination: A comparative study between Polish immigrants in Norway, Polish in Poland, and Norwegians in Norway

Fast deployment of safe and efficient COVID-19 vaccines has changed the course of the pandemic in many countries reducing COVID-19 death rates and allowing countries to abandon strict measures such as social distancing and restrictions to public events. The vaccination strategy, however, is based on the expected high vaccination rate in the population. Several studies have indicated vaccination hesitancy to be higher in ethnic minority communities, which can lead to unnecessary suffering and loss of lives, worsening pre-existing health inequalities and marginalization of ethnic minority groups. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between acculturation to Norwegian culture, trust in health authorities, and attitude to COVID-19 vaccine among Polish immigrants in Norway. An internet-based survey including questions about attitude to COVID-19 vaccination and trust in the health care system was filled by 150 Polish immigrants in Norway, 256 Polish living in Poland, and 264 Norwegians living in Norway. In addition, the Polish immigrants also answered questions about acculturation to Norway. The results showed that the Polish immigrants in Norway had less positive attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination than the Norwegians, while they did not differ from Polish living in Poland. The Polish immigrants also indicated lower trust in the Norwegian health care system than the Norwegians. In regression analysis, the trust in the values of the health care system was the most important predictor of COVID-19 vaccination attitudes in all three samples. A path model showed that trust in the values of the health care system mediated the effects of acculturation to Norway on COVID-19 vaccination attitudes among Polish immigrants. These results underline the importance of taking ethnic minorities and immigrants into account in the health care system to reduce COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy.

A Sporting Nation: Creating Sámi Identity through Sport

Sport and identity are closely interrelated; sport creates identity and identity creates sport. This is also the case in the development of Sámi sport, as the Indigenous Sámi population in the north of Finland, Sweden and Norway has used sport to contribute to (re)building Sámi identity for over 40 years. This sporting identity has been based on an essentialized past, portraying Sámi culture and identity as being indistinguishably linked to Sámi reindeer husbandry culture. By deploying sports such as reindeer racing, lasso throwing and cross-country skiing, the Sámi sport association has painted a picture of Sáminess as a unique identity distinctly different from Norwegian culture and identity. Gayatri Spivak uses the term strategic essentialism to explain how Indigenous people and minority groups can create and use specific historical traits and traditions in their political struggle for recognition and self-respect. Sámi sport is an example of Spivak’s theory – the Sámi sports movement has been deployed to create greater self-esteem amongst the Sámi and to promote greater political rights. The Sámi sport movement has developed a Sámi sporting identity across (at least) three intertwined dimensions: an ethnic identity dimension, a national identity dimension and an indigenous identity dimension.

Towards a New 1933? The Fascist Labor of the Extreme and Radical right

AbstractTen years ago, right‐wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik conducted a carefully planned terrorist attack on Norway (July 22, 2011). During the trial, he claimed to have defended Norwegian culture, people, and religion from the seemingly destructive powers of multiculturalism, feminism, and Islamic migration. Yet, which “religion” did Breivik defend? What were his larger political goals of waging “war”? With Hannah Arendt, I will show how Breivik, his American admirer Greg Johnson, and their allies have no political project and not one religion but primarily articulate (with words and/or with violent acts) a yearning to return to racialized, kin‐based, patriarchal camps that ideally are to be organized according to “the aristocratic principle of nature,” as theorized by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf.