Norwegian History Research Articles

Sámi álbmotbeaivi – «samefolkets dag» eller «samenes nasjonaldag»?

This article is based on the current debate about whether or not the official Sami flag day 6 February may and should be referred to as "Sami Day" or "Sami National Day." While the Norwegian government is consistently referring to the Sami as a people (folk), the Sami decided in 2005 that the celebration referred to the Sami as a nation. The use of the term “nation” by the Sámi Parliament has created reactions among parts of the non Sami population, especially in current and historical Sami core areas, and in some political parties, especially representatives from the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet). The negative statements in connection with the national identity of the Sami, reflects specific attitudes to the power relationship between the majority community and the Sami.
 In light of these criticisms, it may be useful to see the historical development of the Sámi political mobilization and the common European tradition from which it was born. The Sami National Consciousness grew up in the early 1900s, equivalent to Norwegian nationalism in the wake of union resolution with Sweden. At first glance, The Sami opposition in the period after 1905 seems to be in the business and cultural spheres, but looking at the sources, there is a language that was also indicative of the Norwegian majority community in the same period. The Sami opposition to the Norwegian authorities developed early strategies to respond to assimilation and cultural imperialism. Although the pressure of the Sami opposition fell in periods, it was an important self-awareness of the Sami as political subjects. The Sami initiative is important symbols of Sami political commitment and the national consciousness. The Sami resistance struggle testifies that the conditions of the Sami not only came under the reconciliation policy of the Norwegian authorities, but that Sami demands for rights and respect for language and culture have been fought through well over hundred years.
 The fact that the Sami nation-building process has been overlooked in Norwegian history writing is arguably an important reason why the idea of a Sami nation seems alien, provocative and partly revolutionary from a majority point of view. However, the Sami nation constitutes itself first and foremost as a cultural nation (cultural heritage, languages, myths, folklore, customs and history), not through demands for political independence.

The Trails of Memory – Remembering the Heavy Water Raid in Norway

A Second World War sabotage act targeting the production of Heavy Water (D20, deuterium oxide) in inland Norway, figure among the best known and best-remembered acts of sabotage in Norwegian history. This article considers the various acts of remembrance regarding this event and explores the intermedial intertwining of its trails of memory. It looks at the semi-documentary film released in 1948, the industrial factory turned World Heritage Site, and lastly the different hiking activities known as the Saboteur Marches. A central point is how these different acts of remembrance interact and reinforce each other, resulting in a plethora of media concerned with commemoration.

Fortellinger om 1814: Forestillingen om det eksepsjonelle norske demokrati

The focus of this article is an educational encounter during a social science project at a junior high school in Norway. The topic of the school project was the Norwegian Constitution of 1814. In this Constitution, many of the ideas of the French and American revolutions had been adopted, e.g. popular sovereignty and the separation of power. Nevertheless, the Constitution also reflected intolerant ideas, especially with regards to the so-called Jews-paragraph, whereby Protestantism was proclaimed, and Jews were excluded from the Norwegian state. In the educational encounter analyzed in this article, I argue that the notion of an exceptional Norwegian democracy affects the narrative constructed about the Norwegian Constitution. This notion serves to exclude the Jews-paragraph from the narrative. The postcolonial concept of Nordic exceptionalism constitutes an important theoretical framework for the analyses of the educational encounter. In the contemporary Norwegian society, immigration regulation by laws again has relevance. This article, therefore, discusses the critical classroom conversations thematizing the Jews-paragraph could have led to, by pointing at different historical and present-day topics of relevance. The discussion implicates the importance of recognizing the role and impact state-led control, violations and exclusion of minorities have in Norwegian history. Not recognizing these aspects of history can lead to the production and reproduction of idealized and exceptional national narratives.

Don’t Look Now

Don’t Look Now

A skewed balance?

This paper examines the research history of the collection of medieval liturgical art belonging to the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway, in light of the political situation of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The impact of nation-building before and after Norway’s independence in 1905 on art historical and conservation research of medieval objects is discussed, with a particular focus on objects dating to the late medieval period. Attitudes towards the later Middle Ages are explored through a discussion of Norwegian history education as well as the traditional grand narrative of Norwegian history. The German connection of the late medieval material is re-examined, leading to a more nuanced understanding of the display choices and research history of the collection.

REPUBLICAN MONARCHY: THE NEO-ROMAN CONCEPT OF LIBERTY AND THE NORWEGIAN CONSTITUTION OF 1814

The Norwegian Constitution of 1814 was the last in a series of European constitutions inspired by the American and French examples between 1776 and 1814 of which today the American and the Norwegian examples are the only two left. This paper revisits the debates preceding the Norwegian 17 May 1814 Constitution and argues that republican ideas of liberty as independence from arbitrary power formed the intellectual background and context of the debates. This breaks with standard narratives in Norwegian history where the constitution is described as an early example of liberalism. The republican influence forces us to revise the conventional reading of the Norwegian Constitution, and may further provide us with new keys to interpret the intellectual roots of the “Nordic model.” The author suggests that the present high levels of economic equality, egalitarianism and trust in the Scandinavian countries may have their intellectual origins in a particular “Scandinavian republicanism,” inspired by the example of the American republicans in the late eighteenth century.

The Fleskum Colony 1886 and the Norwegian Summer Night: Naturalism or Neo-Romanticism?

This article addresses whether or not the artists present at the Fleskum Colony of 1886 (Erik Werenskiold, Christian Skredsvig, Harriet Backer, Kitty Kielland, Gerhard Munthe, and Eilif Peterssen) were responsible for creating a new style of landscape art during an important period in Norwegian history when what it meant to be Norwegian, as opposed to Swedish-Norwegian, was a point of growing contention. More specifically, it addresses the extent to which the lingering light of a typical Norwegian summer night was represented in painted portrayals of the surrounding landscape of Bærum, just outside Kristiania (Oslo), whilst the artists were resident at Christian and Maggie Skredsvig’s Fleskum Farm. The article addresses the context within which these artists were working and would later exhibit, and questions whether the style of painting could be deemed exemplary of French Naturalism or an emergent style of Neo-Romanticism. Of specific interest is the technique and legacy of Kitty Kielland.

A Sense of Belonging: ‘Morkinskinna’ and Icelandic Identity, c. 1220 by Jakobsson, Ármann

Reviewed by: A Sense of Belonging: ‘Morkinskinna’ and Icelandic Identity, c. 1220 by Jakobsson, Ármann Jane-Anne Denison Jakobsson, Ármann, A Sense of Belonging: ‘Morkinskinna’ and Icelandic Identity, c. 1220 (Viking Collection, 22), Odense, University Press of Southern Denmark, 2014; cloth; pp. 406; R.R.P. DKK375.00; ISBN 9788776748456. In 2011, Ármann Jakobsson and Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson presented the academic world with their work on Morkinskinna, the thirteenth-century manuscript containing an Icelandic saga depicting the history of Norwegian kings from Magnus I to Sigurdr II. Jakobsson has now extended access to his research on the Morkinskinna manuscript to an international audience through the assistance of translator Frederik Heinemann. The result is A Sense of Belonging: Morkinskinna and Icelandic Identity, c. 1220, in which Jakobsson successfully meets his goal to explore the saga. Throughout the book, Jakobsson asserts that scholars of Icelandic sagas have paid little attention to Morkinskinna, and he uses it to present his most recent attempt to explore the saga as a whole. He shows that scholars should consider the saga within a historical framework as much as within a literary one, and that the main purpose of the saga is to present the relationships between the early medieval Icelandic people and the kings of Norway. Rather than comparing the saga to others, he concentrates on using the manuscript as the main source material, analysing what little information is known about its origins and its place within medieval narrative structures. How the saga author presents portraits of Icelanders, Norwegian kings and their societies within its pages, and how the saga demonstrates methods of Icelandic storytelling are all addressed, with Jakobsson covering such matters in detail. Jakobsson demonstrates that Morkinskinna is not simply a collection of stories [End Page 177] about the past. Rather, it is an exploration of Icelandic identity at the time of its commitment to manuscript. Ideas such as how Icelanders viewed themselves outside Iceland are discussed. Jakobsson also considers how the author makes it clear to the audience that the saga within Morkinskinna is historical and based on reliable sources. He asserts that simultaneously, the saga author was aware of the importance of the art of narrative in delivering the stories found within it. Commendably, Jakobsson has ensured that his primary references are accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of the Icelandic language, or for those readers who do not have easy access to a translation of Morkinskinna. All passages from the manuscript have been translated into English within the text. Footnotes are provided where necessary and have not been overdone, as can sometimes be the case in discussions of the sagas. The extensive bibliography demonstrates Jakobsson’s exceptional knowledge of previous research on the Morkinskinna manuscript, as well as other sagas. Jakobsson is certainly passionate about Morkinskinna, having dedicated over twenty years of research to the manuscript, and it shows in his latest book. His ideas certainly give a fresh view of the saga. This book should inspire others to consider Morkinskinna worth a new look. Any reader with an interest in the Icelandic sagas, medieval courtly narratives, or early Norwegian history will find his insights into this under-appreciated manuscript appealing. Jane-Anne Denison University of the Highlands and Islands Copyright © 2017 Jane-Anne Denison

The Role of Britain in Late Modern Norwegian History: A Longitudinal Study

Concentrating on the strength of the mutual relationship, this article examines crucial periods in Anglo-Norwegian history since 1814. In the November Treaty (1855) Britain and France guaranteed the Swedish-Norwegian union's territory against Russian encroachment. Britain was not supportive of Norwegian independence in 1905, though she had wanted better terms for Norway within the union. From a Norwegian perspective, Britain was the most important signatory to the Integrity Treaty (1907) whereby the great powers guaranteed her territory. Due to her neutrality Norway could not openly support Britain, but many events prior to 1940 showed that she oriented her foreign policy primarily towards London. The German invasion and Norway's subsequent entry into the Second World War on the side of the Allies, fostered much warmer Anglo-Norwegian relations. These were cemented by the creation of NATO in 1949, in which both nations participated. In the 1950s even British officials occasionally described the ties as a ‘special relationship’. In that decade and in the 1960s, Britain preferred to work with the Scandinavian nations in multilateral organizations such as UNISCAN and EFTA. In 1973, however, Britain entered the EEC, whereas the Norwegian people had voted to reject the membership their government was recommending. The great power's interests shifted away from Scandinavia towards mainland Europe. Consequently, relations with Norway became more distant. Norway's second stalled bid to enter the EU in 1994 underlined that the two countries have drifted apart. The article nevertheless argues that Britain was Norway's lodestar between 1905 and 1973.

9 April revised: on the Norwegian history tradition after Magne Skodvin on Quisling and the invasion of Norway in 19401

The Norwegian tradition of historiography on the invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 was first and foremost established by Professor Magne Skodvin (1915–2004) with his doctoral thesis in 1956, numerous books and articles, and through his teaching at the University of Oslo, which inspired many students. In this article, four of Skodvin’s positions are reviewed with arguments that demand a revision of the historical validity of these viewpoints. The four positions consist of Skodvin’s opinion concerning the role of Quisling in the events leading up to 9 April 1940, his view of Quisling’s role in Norway on 9 April 1940, his presentation of the Allied invasion plans before 9 April 1940, and his claim that Quisling had next to no followers amongst Norwegian military officers. Finally, this criticism is placed in context by looking at the historical directions of the development of the Nasjonal Samling (NS), both prior to these events and in the aftermath.

Constitutional Protection of National Minorities' Rights in Norway: Does It Matter?

Rights of national minorities are not yet explicitly included in the Norwegian Constitution. However, since 1994, the Constitution of 1814 has included a general reference to human rights treaties. The Framework Convention on the Protection of the Rights of National Minorities is among the treaties Norway has ratified, and could as such be seen as being referred to in the Constitution. One of the suggested changes in the Constitution for its 200th Anniversary in 20141 paradoxically implied removing the 1994 constitutional reference to international human rights treaties (§ 110c until 13 May 2014), and by the same token, the sole reference to the rights of national minorities. Norwegian history reveals that – until recent times – groups who currently enjoy recognition as national minorities have previously experienced harsh assimilation policies, not least in the case of the Tater/Romani people. The persecution and exclusion of Jews, especially in the years after the inclusion of a prohibition against Jews in the Constitution of 1814, provides another example of repressive policies against national minorities. The constitutional reference to international human rights alone cannot protect against the persecution or discrimination of minorities, but it can remind us of the state's duty to respect and ensure human rights as defined by international treaties. Experiences from other countries also reveal that there is a general need for the democratically elected majority to limit its power in order to refrain from temptations to violate the rights of minorities or other inhabitants. The Constitution provides an opportunity for dealing with this fundamental democratic dilemma. The authors therefore welcome that on 13 May 2014, after considerable debate both between and within political parties, the parliament decided by a qualified majority to include the reference to human rights treaties in the opening paragraph of the new chapter on human rights of the Constitution (§ 92 which replaces §110c): “The State shall respect and secure human rights as enshrined in this Constitution and in human rights treaties which Norway is part of.”

A Picture and a Protest: Kjartan Slettemark and the Vietnam War

In given circumstances, art can play a crucial role in motivating people to participate in altruistic acts of protest and in initiating the formation of social movements. The story of the most controversial work of art in Norwegian cultural history, the so-called Vietnam Picture from 1965, provides an illuminating illustration of how and why artists and their work can have and have had a significant impact on peace and solidarity movements. The article discusses the qualities of artistic production and its reception that can stimulate and sustain protest. Picasso’s Guernica provides an interesting parallel to the Vietnam Picture, and the two pictures are briefly compared.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden in 1814: a geopolitical and contemporary perspective

1814 is the ‘year of miracles’ in Norwegian history. The transition from Danish to Swedish rule was transformed into a union between a Norwegian kingdom and the Swedish one. Seen in a contemporary and regional perspective, the outcome of 1814 seems less of a Norwegian victory, but even less of a Danish tragedy or a Swedish triumph.It was a geopolitical and geographical adjustment from one set of imagined ‘natural’ borders – in which Sweden/Finland were tied together by the Baltic Sea, and the Kattegat and the North Sea tied together the Danish composite state from the Danish islands and the Jutland peninsula to Norway and the North Atlantic islands – towards a new definition of ‘natural borders’, in which the Baltic and the Kattegat were the enemy areas. The Scandinavian state system became split between two peninsula states that turned their backs on one another.Denmark was banished southwards; Sweden gravitated northwards. She was compensated with Norway in a twin union, explained as geographically ‘natural’, held together by the Scandinavian mountain range that had been nature’s own fortification wall for centuries.The renegotiation processes of ‘natural’ borders in connection with the upheavals in 1814 shows the predominance of politics over nature in region formation. 1814 is, in the Scandinavian region-building history, a manifestation of the political changeability of constructed state borders.

About the mentally retarded in post-war Norway

The article takes as its subject Gaute Heivoll's latest novel Over det kinesiske hav [Across the Chinese Ocean], which describes the establishment of a private nursing home at Finsland in Vest-Agder county immediately before the liberation. The novel's protagonist describes retrospectively how his parents adopted a number of mentally disabled persons, among them a group of siblings from Stavanger. When their adoptive family is exposed to a tragedy, views on who are the providers and receivers of care are challenged, as are concepts such as madness and normality. The article shows how a fictional exposée of conditions for the mentally disabled in recent Norwegian history can provide new perspectives on historic health and care practices. Reading Gaute Heivoll's Over det kinesiske hav highlights the practice of placing patients in private care, as well as the 1934 Act that authorised the sterilisation of mentally disabled persons.

From a Narrative of Suffering towards a Narrative of Growth: Norwegian History Textbooks in the Inter-War Period

The article discusses changes and revisions of the Norwegian official Grand Narrative, as portrayed in primary school history textbooks. The selected corpus of textbooks of 1885–1940 shows narrative and historiographical changes supporting a hypothesis of a development from a Narrative of Suffering towards a Narrative of Growth. The reconfiguration of the Norwegian Grand Narrative plot is illustrated by the Association Norden's pioneering history textbook revision, which aimed at removing old national enemy images such as the Swedish arch-enemy and antagonist in the Norwegian Narrative of Suffering. The Nordic textbook revision shows that a political call for more peaceable narratives between former enemies has to be addressed more comprehensively, respecting both narrative implications and time needed to reconfigure a grand narrative of collective memory.

Multiple Modernities: A Tale of Scandinavian Experiences by Gunnar Skirbekk (review)

Reviewed by: Multiple Modernities: A Tale of Scandinavian Experiences by Gunnar Skirbekk Magnus Fiskesjö Multiple Modernities: A Tale of Scandinavian Experiences. By Gunnar Skirbekk. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2011. 232 pp. $45.00 (cloth). This book is an excellent historical review and theoretical discussion of the recent historical origins of what we may call Norwegian “model modernity.” And yet, strangely, one aspect that is not discussed is the implications for Norwegian modernization of the location of Norway, at the northern periphery of Europe. Let me come back to this issue in a moment. First, I must note the clear and forceful exposition and the highly interesting discussions in the book, which is a penetrating view of how the well-ordered, uncorrupt, rational, relatively egalitarian twentieth-century societies on the northern fringes of Europe came to be. It will surely appeal to all scholars interested in the plurality of modernity. Indeed, the publication by the press of the Chinese University of Hong Kong should ensure that it reaches an audience far beyond Scandinavianists and will influence ongoing scholarly debates. Publishing around the globe from Norway is clearly intentional; the author, Skirbekk, is a founder of the Marco Polo program for “comparative studies of cultural modernization in Europe and East Asia” established by the University of Bergen, Norway, and East China Normal University, Shanghai. Skirbekk rightly points out that the reputation of Scandinavian countries (or, better, Nordic countries, to include Norway’s intimately related neighbors Finland and Iceland, in addition to Sweden and Denmark) as “model” modern countries typically refers to the twentieth century welfare states. But, not as much has been written about their historical roots or the wider theoretical significance. Here, after an overview of the philosophical and sociological study of modernity, the author begins by investigating nineteenth-century Norway. He delves into the role of education and the nineteenth-century “potato priests,” the Enlightenment-inspired Lutheran clergy devoted to the agricultural and other forms of teaching of the common people, and the dynamics of this clergy and the popular movements rising in the same era and transforming and broadening national politics. Skirbekk identifies these developments as a “typical Scandinavian dialectics” of social democracy and modernity (p. 32) and underlines the formative societal and national-political significance of mass self-education and self-training in internally democratic civic organizational life of this era. Chapter 3 discusses how all this unfolded locally, including in the self-enlightening inner life of popular self-educational samtaleforeninger (farmers’ “conversation clubs”) in which locals organized debates on [End Page 707] the topics of the day, taking up opposite positions for the sake of mass self-education. (No hint of global-comparative discussion is included here, but one wonders how such a farmer’s club might be condemned and suppressed as heretic in more authoritarian societies like China.) Skirbekk proceeds to discuss developments up until the Nazi Germany invasion in 1940, focusing on engineers, teachers, and lawyers, but also unions and class issues—everywhere providing rich references to relevant literature. Thus arriving at World War II and the twentieth-century welfare state, Skirbekk then turns the clock back and delves farther back in history, first the eighteenth century, then again all the way to pre-Christian times and the early Norwegian kingdoms. He admirably discusses a wealth of pertinent factors (for example, the introduction of Protestantism, which is often seen as popular and anti-Catholic but in Norway was in fact imposed from the top down). Only in the last chapter does he return to more familiar post–World War II Norway. These bold rhetorical moves are admirably executed in a concise and clear manner, and together result in an original contribution, above all in the book’s deeper, richly textured view of Norwegian history as it relates to the broader issues of modernity. Despite this rich, sophisticated discussion of popular and institutional codevelopments, it seems to me that the book underplays the significance of the geo-cultural location of Norway and how Norwegian elites may have measured themselves against peer European nations. This aspect of competitive mimicry is a dynamic process in which local elites, prompted by the conditions of conceptual integration of a...

FROM FEAR OF TELEVISION TO FEAR FOR TELEVISION

New media technologies are often met with political and public ambivalence, as they are perceived to threaten established activities, values and institutions, as well as bring progress and improve political, cultural and social life. Taking the Norwegian history of television as an empirical case study, this article relates to an international research agenda focusing on the cultural political debates in the early phases of broadcast media. The article is structured according to five key conjunctures where significant new media and technologies were introduced with corresponding political debates: the introduction of television (1940s–1950s), of colour television (1960s–1970s), of satellite, cable and commercial television (1980s), of digital distribution (1990s–2000s) and the expansion of television to new platforms (2000s). The article addresses the key arguments and dividing lines in these political debates, as well as the change in the perception of television when the medium is no longer new, but has become an integrated part of people's everyday life.

Ergotism in Norway. Part 1: The symptoms and their interpretation from the late Iron Age to the seventeenth century

Ergotism is a horrendous disease with grotesque symptoms caused by ingesting specific ergot alkaloids. Mass poisoning episodes are attributable to consumption of grain - usually rye - infected with the fungus Claviceps purpurea. By focusing on possible cases of ergotism, we re-examine Norwegian history from the sagas through to the end of the seventeenth century. Our review - not intended to be exhaustive, or ex post facto to assign medical or psychiatric labels - draws attention to the very real possibility that many remarkable medical cases may have been the result of the ingestion of highly poisonous and psychoactive food substances. Where possible we highlight explanations given at the time - often rooted in religion or demonology - to explain the disease.

Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History. Problems and Perspectives

Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History. Problems and Perspectives

Gender Equality in International Aid: What has Norwegian Gender Politics Got to Do With It?

Norway is often seen as a “world champion” in gender equality. Norwegian aid policies on gender often emphasize how lessons can be learned from “the Norwegian model” and experiences. This article explores the extent to which Norway’s domestic gender policies have influenced the country’s aid policies. The analysis, which is based on literature review of Norwegian gender equality history and discursive analysis of the current gender and aid policy documents, reveals that the essence of Norwegian domestic gender equality politics—social policies that address the relationship between care and breadwinning—is largely missing in Norway’s aid policies. While we doubt whether a specific model can be exported, we suggest that Norwegian experiences may provide valuable inputs for development aid policies. Since Norwegian aid policies tend to reflect the dominating international aid discourse, our analysis has relevance beyond the particular Norwegian case. We argue that policies of care, motherhood and fatherhood, should be at the heart of the Norwegian and international aid policies.