When the sun has dipped below the horizon for the first time above the Arctic Circle, it’s time for us to reflect on our trip to the land of Kvens.
Before the trip commenced, we didn’t know pretty much anything about the culture. Sure we read and studied, but despite all the hard-core reading we were unaware of what was awaiting us.
So, the minute we got out of our Peugeot in Northern Norway we found out the most essential themes revolving around the culture:
Identity.
As mentioned in previous posts, summarizing the Kven identity is not only hard, it’s nearly impossible. Each member of the Kven culture has his/her own opinion about what the culture is, about who and what are the Kvens. There are several Kven organizations around Northern Norway/Finnmark, which don’t fully cooperate with each other. Some of the Kvens still speak the local language, while others are maintaining their culture and their heritage without speaking it. The Kvens compare themselves and the situation of the culture in modern Norway to Sami situation.
Which brings us to money.
The Sami people are recognized as indigenous people in Norway, the Kvens are not. The Sami culture has a higher rank on the Norwegian minority chart (meaning Norway has to provide education in Sami language etc.) than Kvens have. The Samis gain more money from the government than the Kvens.
When these two cultures live side by side, and when even siblings can be members of different cultures, money easily becomes an issue.
The lack of money is a daily discussion for the Kvens. Even so, that some have become angry to the Norwegian government: from a Kven point of view, the country keeps on pumping oil and being a good guy for just about anyone else than their own culture. When filthy rich Norway doesn’t hand out as much as some would hope, and when there are no resources for the Kvens to keep their culture alive and kicking, people easily become pessimistic about their future. This pessimism casts a shadow all over the culture.
Luckily the Kvens are not entirely alone. Kainun instituutti, the institute preserving Kven language and culture, is continuously creating projects to keep the culture alive. In addition, one can study Kvensk in Tromsø – and despite the difficulties Kvens are a national minority with an official minority language status in Norway (which on the other hand does not mean that the language is fully preserved). There are also many Kven actives and activists around, who do whatever they can with low resources. There’s few rays of light here and there.
Without these organizations and activists the Kven culture would’ve been history a long time ago.
But what does the kingdom of Norway think of the Kvens? The locals reacted vastly to this question. Some think that the Norwegian government doesn’t care at all, while some were quite more diplomatic in their answers. Everybody had an opinion though – and that opinion was mirrored through the history of Norwegianization, which almost killed the Kven culture (almost killed every minority culture) back in the nationalistic days.
This relationship between Norway and its Kven minority is an interesting one, and keeps haunting our brains long after we’ve left the land of the Kvens. Therefore we have no choice but to go to Oslo later on this fall to ask a few questions from the persons in charge.
Till then: oli soma kohatella!
– Jonne
