The Author Chosen by the Language the Relationship Between Literature

39 December 2019

ANTJE WISCHMANN Perspektiv på integration i rural i rural Perspektiv på integration Närpes i Finland minoritetsspråksmiljö exemplet – BÄCKMAN OCH SAARA HAAPAMÄKI LINDA “Minority literature”: Self-reflective of a Case study A Stylistic Profile The Relationship Between Literature and The Relationship Between Literature Wilamowice in “RewiTEATRalizacja” Revitalization: Language KRÓL TYMOTEUSZ AND BORGES ROBERT ARTICLES: Alf Nilsen-Børsskog: the Language by Author Chosen The VIINIKKA-KALLINEN ANITTA

Journal of the Hugo Valentin Centre Valentin Hugo the of Journal multiethnica

multiethnica • No. 39, December 2019 multiethnica Journal of the Hugo Valentin Centre

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Tomislav Dulić MANAGING EDITOR: Satu Gröndahl EDITORIAL BOARD: Tomislav Dulić, Carl Henrik Carlsson, Satu Gröndahl, Johannes Heuman, Ida Ohlsson Al Fakir

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD: Heidi Grönstrand, Stockholm University/University of Turku; Christhard Hoff- man, University of Bergen; Leena Huss (em.), Uppsala university; Don Kulick, Uppsala University; Marianne Liliequist, Umeå university; Norma Montesino, Lund University; Helmut Müssener (em.), Uppsala University; Henrik Rosen- gren, Lund University; Tommaso Vitale, Sciences Po.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL Multiethnica is an interdisciplinary journal focusing on ethnic relations and minority studies. The journal was founded in 1987 and has since been an important and valued publication, serving a wide audience in the scholarly community. Focus is on the situation in the Nordic countries, but we also publish articles with wider international perspectives. The members of the editorial committee represent different disciplines, but we also engage with an external advisory committee consisting of Nordic and international experts. All articles are peer-reviewed and published in Swedish or English.

Multiethnica is edited at the Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University, an inter-disciplinary unit focusing on ethnic relations/minority studies and Holo- caust and genocide studies. You can subscribe to the journal free of charge by submitting a subscription request to the associate editor. Journal back issues can be ordered through the University Libary (ub.uu.se), or downloaded as pdf versions (see valentin.uu.se for further information).

For further information on how to submit a manuscript, see back cover.

No. 39, December 2019 Guest editor: Heidi Grönstrand

multiethnica ISSN: 0284-396X multiethnica Journal of the Hugo Valentin Centre

EDITORS’ NOTE 7

ARTICLES:

Alf Nilsen-Børsskog: The Author Chosen by the Language ANITTA VIINIKKA-KALLINEN 12

The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization: “RewiTEATRalizacja” in Wilamowice ROBERT BORGES AND TYMOTEUSZ KRÓL 25

Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö – exemplet Närpes i Finland LINDA BÄCKMAN OCH SAARA HAAPAMÄKI 39

Self-reflective “Minority literature”: A Stylistic Profile of a Case study ANTJE WISCHMANN 54

BOOK REVIEWS 66

Editors’ Note

SATU GRÖNDAHL AND HEIDI GRÖNSTRAND

In September 2019, Johan Sandberg McGuinne the South Saami speaker and author published a long post on his Facebook page about the situation of Saami languages and Saami literature. Sandberg McGuinne’s (2019) text is a rhetori- cally constructed analysis of the problems of minority literatures. He begins his text with a reference to the situation of the world’s endangered languages: “The Saami languages are severely endangered. Together with half of the world’s languages – of which most are indigenous or minority languages – they are at risk of dying out during the next decades.” Despite his concerns regarding the survival of endangered languages, Sand- berg McGuinne problematizes the decision made by Sámi Girječálliid Searvi (SGS) – the Sami Writer’s Association (SGS) – during 2018, according to which only authors who use Saami language as their literary tool, can become members of the organization. Before this decision was taken, authors who also wrote in other languages – mainly in Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian – could become members. Johan Sandberg McGuinne underlines that the Saami languages are endangered and they should be supported, but he is also critical of the monolingual definition of Saami literature. His statement connects to a long, and from time to time heated, discussion about the boundaries of national literatures vs “other” literatures in the Nordic countries, as well as in European countries with linguistic minorities. The 1970s and 1980s are considered to be the founding decades for minority literatures in the Nordic countries. The development of such literatures as Saa- mi, Sweden-Finnish and Tornedalian literature, was connected with a world- wide ethnic revival, emancipatory politics and the rise of various counter- cultures during the 1960s and 1970s. Subcultures that have emerged include: postcolonial literature, women’s literature and indigenous peoples’ movements, all of which inspired minorities in the Nordic countries. Overall, one could say that culture became politicized during this period and literature was seen as a tool in the process of emancipation (Gröndahl 2019). However, Sandberg Mc- Guinne’s view also highlights how relevant questions of language choices and language rights still are. This issue of Multiethnica discusses multilingualism, especially in a minority language context. In recent years, multilingualism has become an expansive multidisciplinary research area, and this special issue brings together many of the current perspectives related to multilingualism in minority studies, as well as in literary studies and philology. In the first article, Anitta Viinikka- Kallinen deals with Alf Nilsen-Børsskog’s four-volume series of novels Elämän 8 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

jatko [Continuation of life, 2004–2015]. These works are strongly rooted in the recent history and contemporary life of the Kvens, a minority with a long history and a recognized legal status in Norway since 1999. Nowadays the Kven language is also an official minority language of the country.In her article, Vii- nikka-Kallinen shows how the tradition of portraying Kvens as ethnic “others” is a long one in Norwegian fiction, and it is only now, in Alf Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels, that the Kvens are finally being depicted from their own perspective, “from within”, in their own language. According to Viinikka-Kallinen Elämän jatko is a counterstory that does not underline the crisis of the minority culture or conflicts of the Kven and the majority, but rather the power of the native culture. The Kvens establish their identity through self-assured confidence based on pride in their own language and culture. In recent years, many scholars working within studies on minority literature have been interested in sociologically oriented studies on literature and language revitalization. In this issue of Multiethnica, Robert Borges discusses language revitalization, namely the revitalization process of the Wymysorys language, spoken in Wilamowice, Poland. In his article, Borges highlights the importance of written language forms in efforts to revitalize an endangered language. Literature and written forms of Wymysorys play a key role in language education, proficiency development, and language practice associated with the revitalization efforts in Wilamowice. The third article of this special issue by Linda Bäckman and SaaraHaapa - mäki presents a case study on the integration of newcomers and, among other things, their language choices in Finland, in an environment in which the main language of the community is Swedish. Swedish, one of the two national languages in Finland, is a minority language in Finland, but a majority language in Närpes, where the study has been carried out. The results of the interviews, which included 23 participants, show that economic stability and the possibility to work are the most important elements in the integration process. The results show also that while most interviewees regard learning Swedish as self- evident, only those with a higher education emphasize the language issues and, for example, the importance of also learning Finnish. In contrast to the contributions presented above, Antje Wischmann’s article ‘Self-reflective “minority literature”: A stylistic profile of a case study’ deals with multilingualism and especially literary multilingualism as a textual phenomenon. Wischmann investigates intra- and transtextual stylistic processes in Thom Lundberg’s debut workFör vad sorg och smärta (2016) about a Traveler family. Firstly, she shows how Lundberg, by drawing on ethnolinguistic sources, has embedded insertions in resande-romska (a variety of Romani) within the main text in Swedish, making the activity of translation integral to the text and activating non-literary discourses. Secondly, the translations undertaken by the narrator and characters (by means such as glossing, explication, or contextualization) shape the performance of reading, with the reader forced to decide whether to accept the invitation to gradually build a limited Romani vocabulary. In the twenty-first century, the literary field is anything but monolingual. In Sweden, literary subcultures such as Estonian, Kurdish, Persian, Saami, Swe- Gröndahl and Grönstrand Editors’ Note 9 den-Finnish, etc. have their own thematic and stylistic characteristics, as well as their own distribution channels. Nevertheless, these literatures are primarily signified by their “other” languages, i.e. the presence of a language other than the majority language of Swedish, and their political and institutional precondi- tions are still formed within the frame of the nation state (see Gröndahl 2019). In many regards, the Swedish situation differs from many other countries as the rise of ethnic movements among historical minorities and the development of minority and migration literatures coincides temporally. Comparative studies on literature of autonomous or indigenous minorities and migration literature have been a fruitful starting-point for literary studies in Sweden, but do not necessarily fit in other national contexts. The concept of literary history in the Nordic countries has been changing during the last decades, and the complexities of grouping literatures according to “nation”, “ethnicity” and “language”, producing such categories as “Swedish”, “Finnish”, “Saami”, “Sweden-Finnish”, “Finnish-Swedish”, or “Kven” literature, has been apparent. On the one hand, there are ‘new’ literatures that claim to be recognized as their own, autonomy literatures; on the other hand, there are ongoing processes aiming to include these literatures as specific areas in national literary canons. The cartographies of “center” and “periphery” are being re- framed and binarism is no longer a core principle when understanding literary canon. The resultant discussions about such terms as “(im)migrant literature”, “minority literature” and “multicultural literature” also convey ambitions to re- construct essentializing, ethnifying and even racializing expressions or categorizations. (See also Löytty 2015.) In many cases, the author’s background has been used as a starting point when defining “other” literatures. Even if there have been many attempts to replace definitions or terms in reference to an author’s ethnic background with more neutral ones, these terms seem to come back again and again. One of the latest examples can be found in the comprehensive volume Immigrant and Ethnic-Minority Writers since 1945: Fourteen Contexts in Europe and Beyond (2019), which focuses on “immigrant and ethnic-minority writers”, i.e. authors whose backgrounds are in other countries or other ‘ethnic’ groups. The volume provides an interesting working definition for the discussed authors that bor- rows from the definition of “long-term immigrant”, as devised by the United Nations: “A person who moves to a country other than that of his or her usual residence for a period of at least a year (twelve months), so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence” (Sieverts & Vlasta 2019:3). Moreover, the volume relates to a previous, controversial understanding of ethnic writing as a specific, racialized subcategory as it also includes “writers who are the descendants of such immigrants” (ibid.) The editors of the aforementioned volume, Wiebke Siewerts and Sandra Vlasta (2019:4), are aware that their definition may seem “outdated” but they underline its importance as a heuristic tool that guarantees “that we are comparing like for like across the different national contexts”. The tendency to define literature as a monolingual institution has from time to time been seen as an expression of nationalism and essentialism. Sandberg- McGuinne’s (2019) post refers to these ethnifying and essentializing tenden- 10 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

cies when he claims that the new bylaws of the Sami Writer’s Association give expression to a narrow definition of “saminess”, grounded in ethnic attributes, and right “blood” or ancestry:

In the end, it is all about confusing identity politics with language planning and language maintenance. When we allow all discussion to come down to the value of our literature being defined by the ethnicity of the author, and not by their ability to enthrall the reader with their narrative skills, we are on a dangerous path. Instead of defining “new” literatures as determinable entities, they could be understood in relation to their linguistic contexts and the language struggles that characterize this context. These literatures may be regarded as cultural expressions which are overlapping with other literary areas (cf. Behschnitt & Nilsson 2013:15). As Sandberg-McGuinne’s text implicates, defining minority literature as closed space, can ultimately lead to a decrease in importance. Today, literary multilingualism can be approached from a number of angles. For example, Marja Sorvari (2018) underlines that literary multilingualism, or literary translingualism as she prefers to say, seems to “undermine monolingual and monocultural literary canons and to cross national, linguistic and geo- graphic borders”. When using translingualism as a tool for contextualization, traditional categorizations and definitions that follow national borders and linguistic boundaries “become irrelevant when applied to migrant, transcultural or translingual literature”. In the research anthology, The Aesthetics and Politics of Linguistic Borders: Multilingualism in Northern European Literatures, literary multilingualism is seen as a highly dynamic and processual phenomenon, which emerges as a result of interactions between authors, texts and readers, as well as literary and political institutions on different societal levels (Kauranen & al. 2019). The debate surrounding membership of the Sami Writer’s Associa- tion reflects aptly themultifaceted nature of the phenomenon of multilingualism. It also demonstrates how multilingualism challenges notions of minorities and the concepts of minority politics.

Endnotes 1 Translations of Johan Sandberg McGuinne’s citations from Swedish are by Satu Gröndahl.

References Behschnitt, Wolfgang and Nilsson, Magnus. 2013. “ ‘Multicultural Literatures’ in a Com- parative Perspective.” In Literature, Language, and Multiculturalism in Scandinavia and the Low Countries. Eds. Wolfgang Behschnitt, Sarah De Mul & Liesbeth Minnaard, 1–16. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi. Gröndahl, Satu. (accepted for publication). “Minority Literature as an Emancipatory Force: The Development of Tornedalian and Sweden-Finnish Literature.” InWays of Being in the World: Studies on European minority literatures. Ed. Johanna Laakso. Finno-Ugrian Stud- ies in Austria 10. Wien. Kauranen, Ralf, Huss, Markus and Grönstrand, Heidi. 2019. “Introduction. The Processes and Practices of Multilingualism in Literature”. The Aesthetics and Politics of Linguistic Borders. Multilingualism in Northern European Literature. Eds. Heidi Grönstrand, Markus Huss and Ralf Kauranen, 27–47. New York: Routledge. Löytty, Olli. 2015. “Immigrant Literature in Finland: The Uses of a Literary Category. Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 11

National, Transnational and Entangled Literatures. Methodological Considerations Focus- ing on the Case of Finland.” In Rethinking National Literatures and the Literary Canon in Scandinavia. Eds. Ann-Sofie Lönngren, Heidi Grönstrand, Dag Heede & Anne Heith, 52–75. Cambridge, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Sandberg McGuinne, Johan. 2019. https://www.facebook.com/eoghansandberg. Quoted 2019-09-29. Sieverts, Wiebke & Vlasta, Sandra. 2019. “Introduction.” In Immigrant and Ethnic-Minority Writers since 1945: Fourteen National Contexts in Europe and Beyond. Eds Wiebke Sieverts & Sandra Vlasta, 1–8. Leiden/Boston: Brill Rodopi. Sorvari, Marja. 2018. “Altering language, transforming literature: Translingualism and literary self-translation in Zinaida Lindén’s fiction”.Translation Studies. Volume 11, 2018, Issue 2: Special issue: Translingualism and Transculturality in Russian Contexts of Translation. Guest editor: Julien Hansen. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14781700.20 17.1399820. Box 521 · 751 20 Uppsala · Sweden Home page: www.valentin.uu.se multiethnica Email: [email protected] Journal of the Hugo Valentin Centre

Alf Nilsen-Børsskog: The Author Chosen by the Language

ANITTA VIINIKKA-KALLINEN, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

This article discusses Alf Nilsen-Børsskog’s four-volume series of novels Elämän jatko [Continuation of life, 2004–2015], seen as the first literary works treating the Kven culture from a native perspective. Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels are analysed as constituting a “counterstory”, a term coined in the postcolonial cultural research paradigm to refer to self-representation. The Kvens have been considered a national minority in Norway since 1999, and their language has been an official minority language since 2005. The present author scrutinizes how Nilsen-Børsskog’s work differs from previous literary descriptions of this minority, often marked by the frequent use of stereotypes of the Kven language and culture.

Alf Nilsen-Børsskog (1928–2014) wrote six novels and five poetry collections in the Kven language.1 The language of the Norwegian Kvens is seriously endangered and does not remain in everyday use in the Kven community, and much less have entire books been published in it before. The Kven community as well as academic circles consider Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels proof of the ongoing expressive power of the Kven language and of both the uniqueness and multifaceted nature of Kven culture. The author’s works have also been used as materials for the teaching and standardisation of the Kven language. The literary work of one individual author has thus obtained unusually great significance in the context of the cultural emancipation of an entire ethnic minority. In this article, I will discuss Nilsen-Børsskog’s four-volume series Elämän jatko [Continuation of life], published 2004–2015. The four volumes areKuo - suvaaran takana [Beyond Kuosuvaara Mountain], Aittiruto [The mountainous region of Aittiruto], Rauha [Peace], and Viimi vuođet [The last years]. The story starts at the time of the German occupation of Norway in the fall of 1944, when the German military evacuated the entire population of northern Norway from the theatre of military operations.2 A group of inhabitants of a small Kven village escape to nearby mountains to evade this forcible removal. The first two volumes of the series describe the time of refuge and other war experiences of civilians. The third volume focuses on the period of reconstruction after the war and follows the lives of the main characters into the 1960s. The fourth volume moves the story from the early 1970s into the 2010s. Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels are strongly rooted in recent history and society. To clarify the context, I will first consider the Kvens’ current minority position, Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 13 the events that led to it, and the tradition applied in Norwegian fiction when depicting the Kvens. Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels are the first to portray the Kvens from a native perspective. The author focuses directly on the Kvens and the power of their native culture, displacing the ethnifying stereotypes found in earlier portrayals. The key themes in the novels guide us towards ethnosensitivity in our reading and, within the framework of postcolonial theory, towards interpreting the works as a counterstory by the Kvens in which the most important element is the Kven language. In my reading, I will concentrate on the narrative strategies of the author: how he creates his counterstory, how his portrayal of the Kvens differs from those by non-Kven writers, and the most important themes in the novels. I will also examine Elämän jatko as partly dealing with traumatising experiences caused by discriminatory assimilation policies.

From a national problem to a national minority Since 1999, the Kvens have been recognised as a national minority in Nor- way, and their language has been an official minority language since 2005.3 The Kvens are of Finnic ethnic origin and have lived in the country for centuries – long before current state borders were established. The classification of the Kvens as an ethnic minority dates from the 1800s and the ideology of national romanticism, which expressed the desire to build a foundation for national identity based on one language and one uniform culture (Storaas 2009–2010, 104–105, Eriksen & Niemi 1981, 30–31). Racial theories arose in Norway during the second half of the 1800s.4 Cul- tural unity was the goal in an atmosphere in which the Norwegian race and, more generally, the Aryan race were seen as supreme. When this ideology was combined with nationalistic policies, the positions of the Kven, Sami, Jewish, and Romany peoples became more difficult. This cultural–racist way of thinking saw ethnic minorities as problematic groups that should be assimilated into the majority (Seip 1998, 103–104, Skorgen 2002, 189–191). In addition, the Kvens were depicted almost as enemies, accused of voluntary segregation, holding onto their own language and customs, and practicing Laestadian Lutheranism. Suspicions were also voiced that the Kven had no pa- triotic feelings for Norway (Larsen 2012, 20, Storaas 2009–2010, 124). On the other hand, the Kvens were useful for industry because they had skills in Arctic agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, and small-scale industry. There was no shortage of living space; on the contrary, the government wanted more people to live in northern Norway to ensure a stronger presence at the borders (Eriksen & Niemi 1981, 127–130). Therefore, there were no expulsions based on ethnicity, though it was decided to assimilate the Kvens into the Norwegian population. The threat brought on by this nationalistic policy explains why the Kvens were silent in public life for so long. It was not until the 1980s, encouraged by global ethno–political turmoil and changes in the general social atmosphere, that the Kvens started organising themselves and presenting demands to the government concerning the revitalisation and support of their language and culture. The key goals include building the Kvens’ own cultural institutions, teaching the Kven language and Finnish at schools, establishing their own me- 14 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

dia, and participating in political decision making.5 The discriminatory long-term assimilation policies to which the Kvens were subjected represented a traumatising experience for the Kvens, and they have only recently been able to collectively acknowledge this trauma and deal with it in public (Viinikka-Kallinen 2010a, 164). In psychology and social psychology, it is understood that it takes a long time for individuals and communities that have experienced traumas to deal with them, because their primary need is to put the painful experience behind them, and move forward. Only after that does the traumatised community want to remember its experience and seek an explanation for it, helping the community heal and build a future. It is important that justice be done, even if belatedly, and redress be found in some form (Robben 2005, 121–123). In the 2000s, the Kvens, who suffered from discrimination and the denial of their rights, started to demand that past events be remembered and documented, and that the government admit to the injustices done. Appropriately, there is political will in Norway to address past mistakes. In 2018, the Norwe- gian parliament set up a Truth Commission to study the assimilation policy to which the Kvens and Sami were subjected and to map its consequences.6 The Commission will present its report to parliament in September 2022. One task of socially oriented fiction is to help the community understand its past. An author may use art to address issues that are not treated in historical studies and other reports. Nilsen-Børsskog supplements the Norwegian national story with the Kvens’ experiences and perspective. Among ethnic minorities, it is common to find a similar desire to master their own history. Another Nordic example is the modern Romany literature, which often depicts the creation of an autonomous identity and often also addresses a past of persecution and violence (Gröndahl 2010, 114). The public representation of individual insights and experiences forms an important part of the healing process of a traumatised community.

Towards representation in their own voices Kven characters started appearing in Norwegian fiction in the 1870s, but it would be wrong to regard most of these as accurate portrayals of the Kven people. In fiction, the Kven people were depicted mostly as ethnic others, inferior and unpleasant. With a few exceptions, Kvens appear as flat minor characters, and most of the authors seem to know next to nothing about them. These representations reflect the views of their authors more than the objects depicted (Viinikka-Kallinen 2010a, 164). Since the late 1800s, Kven representations reproduced a number of intertextual clichés: the fictive Kven is primitive in character and looks, a dull plodder of taciturn and threatening manner. He or she often has supernatural powers, an unusually strong sex drive, and fanatical religious practices. The origins of these clichés can be found in public discourse, the imagery of racialist theories, and earlier fiction. It is a grim picture, but we must remember that ethnifying narrative strategies were common and generally accepted in the 1800s. Ethnic and cultural differences were presented in literature as early as the Middle Ages (Leerssen 2007, 64–66), and ethnic characterisations that would not be seen in Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 15 print today were usual. The ethnifying mode has particularly been criticised in postcolonial research, being regarded as a tool of ethnic marginalisation (Jan- Mohamed 1986, 83–88). In old Norwegian fiction, the narrative function of Kvens is usually to provide ethnic conflict and local colour for the story. However, there are a few interesting exceptions, such as the novel Eda Mansika (1875) by Konrad Dahl, in which the main character, a young Kven woman, is intelligent, energetic, and self-assured. Jonas Lie is one of the classic authors of Norwegian literature. His novel Den fremsynte, eller Billeder fra Nordland (1870) features a Kven woman called Anne Kven. Anne is a taciturn servant who smokes a pipe and looks glum but is adorably attached to her sick mistress. Anne Kven represents the metaphysical forces central to the themes of the book and her ethnic otherness highlights her special character. J.A. Friis’s novel Fra Finmarken. Skildringer (1881), the title of which later became settled as Lajla, is a hugely popular, romantic, and exciting adventure story of a young Sami girl. The Sami representations in Friis’s fiction are romanticised and, at the same time, discriminatory. He depicts the Kvens as representatives of an almost metaphysical evil. The Kvens inLajla and Ella, which came out ten years later, are quarrelsome, violent, and dishonest. The great names of Norwegian national literature, Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun, have also included Kvens in their works. In Ibsen’s play Fruen fra havet (1888), the Kven is a mystical stranger, arrived in a foreign ship, whose magical attraction the main character, Ellida, is incapable of resisting. It turns out the Kven is parading under a false name because he has murdered the captain of his previous ship and is now on the run. His ethnic otherness highlights his exclusion as well as his unwillingness to abide by accepted laws and moral norms. In Hamsun’s novel Mysterier (1892), the main character is the neurotic intellectual Nagel, who arrives at a small coastal village and causes confusion with his curious way of life. Nagel announces that he is a Kven and comes from Finmark. The motif of ethnicity comes up only briefly, but the information that Nagel is Kven is thematically important. Restlessness and rootlessness are among the basic characteristics of Nagel’s personality, and they are, at least partly, attributable to ethnic otherness. One reason for the mechanical nature of outsiders’ representations may be that intertextual models were abundant in fiction and other public forums. The description of an ethnic group that lives in the same country but is foreign to the writer poses a definition challenge, which in research has been referred to as “the other within” and the “domestic other” (Parente-Čapková 2011, 3–4). The main outlines of earlier Kven descriptions seem to have taken form as a result of the intertextual continuum, as did Sami descriptions in older literature (Lehtola 1995, 47–49). The mechanism of ethnifying representation is often straightforward: certain real or imagined characteristics of the subject are singled out, and the fictive characters are based on these (Clark 2004, 232–234). Kven portrayals became fewer starting in the 1920s and were almost non- existent until briefly resurfacing in the 1970s when Idar Kristiansen published his series of novels Kornet og fiskene 1–4 (1978–1981). These novels depict the hopeless situation in northern Finland during the famine of the 1860s and the 16 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

main character’s new life in Norway. These books do not actually depict Kvens, but instead first-generation Finnish immigrants. As we have seen, Kvens occasionally appear in Norwegian fiction, but their own voice was missing for a long time. The Kvens lived far from centres of power and they had no intellectual, political, or economic elite and no institutions of their own. It was difficult to step into the literary limelight from this position. As Spivak remarks, representations of marginalised groups by outsiders seem to stagnate until these groups’ own voices begin to be heard (1996, 205–209). For the Kvens, the great turning point was Nilsen-Børsskog’s Elämän jatko, which rejects the categories applied in earlier representations and instead takes up themes important to the Kven community.

The many possibilities of the counterstory The term “counterstory” was coined in the postcolonial cultural research paradigm to refer to the self-representation, the subject’s own voice, of a marginalised ethnic minority or other repressed group. Literary studies also speak of “native description”, a term stressing the author’s native subject-matter expertise. According to Spivak, a genuine counterstory can be told only by a member of the represented marginalised group. External parties do not have the pre- requisites to understand the lives, thinking, and goals of marginalised groups. Even intellectuals, who may consider themselves culturally neutral, cannot de- tach themselves from their premises but instead transfer their own views and cultural hierarchies into their representations (Spivak 1996, 205–209). Naturally, a work written by a member of a marginalised group does not au- tomatically constitute a counterstory, but the native background of the author forms the starting point of one. We may summarise the situation in this way: a literary work constitutes a counterstory if it reveals the group’s own experiences and values and adds to the diversity of the earlier created public image of the group.7 The term “counterstory” might suggest not only that there will be a great many thematic items in a work intended to refute earlier representations but also that the native author would focus on overriding earlier, negative depictions. In such a case, the counterstory would be bound to the contents of earlier representations that it was intended to oppose and remediate. We find justifications for such an interpretation if we think of literature mostly as a continuum in which new works are largely structured on the basis of earlier works, engaging in active intertextual discourse with them. Nevertheless, when an author is writing a counterstory, he or she can choose whatever perspective and narrative mode is desired. The writer does not need to present his or her views of earlier texts but is free to discuss themes not raised in earlier texts at all. A Kven author does not need to write about ethnicity-related conflicts or the injustices experienced by the Kvens for his or her work to be called a counterstory. Even remaining silent on certain matters is an effective contribution. A fictive text carries out a dialogue in its historical context and with other works of fiction. Literature is in a dialogic relationship with its own tradition and with other discourses; we may say that literature not only carries out a discussion with the current real world but also creates new worlds and realities (Karkama 1994, 8–9). Nilsen-Børsskog directs his attention to issues unlike those treated by Nor- Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 17 wegian writers, who repeatedly emphasise the otherness of the Kvens, seen as caused by their foreign language and ethnicity. In Elämän jatko, the storyteller’s voice stresses the strength and skills of the Kvens, and we see a conscious background decision to avoid themes of martyrdom and not to depict the Kvens as helpless victims of their circumstances. Neither does the author indulge in the opposite ethnifying cliché: he does not make heroes out of the Kvens. Nilsen-Børsskog’s narrative strategy is consistent. He focuses directly on the Kvens and thereby chooses to overwrite ethnifying stereotypes. He does not choose the role of a Norwegian minority author but instead carries himself as the national author of the Kvens, portraying his ethnic group from within and doing so without making comparisons. Neither are the other ethnic groups in northern Norway, i.e., Norwegians and Sami people, represented in negative or marginalising terms; rather, they are treated as natural elements of the multicultural Cap of the North (Nordkalotten). The author does not ethnify: the characteristics of his personages are unique to them as individuals. The Kvens do not feel a sense of otherness in their homeland, but feel they are a part of the Norwegian people:

“Miksi justhiin met piđämä elläät tämmäistä vainon ja rauhattomuuden aikkaa? Mitä pahhaa Norjan kansa on tehny, että tämmäinen rangaistus on langenu meiđän ni- skoile?” huokkaili emäntä … [“Why is it that we are the ones who have to live with such persecution and restlessness? What evil deeds have the Norwegian people done for this punishment to be handed down to us?” sighed the matron …] (Aittiruto, 258)

No single person or group is presented as structurally evil, even though the dia- lectic of good and evil is central to Elämän jatko. Evil is presented as an aber- ration, and the reasons for evil are contemplated in a philosophical way, mostly as a result of unfortunate circumstances. Violence and chaos are represented by the war and the Nazi army. The key defence, the author suggests, is to keep one’s own moral sense and worldview ethically sound and to prevent contagion from hatred and the violent atmosphere. In the first two war-time novels in particular, the refugees repeatedly discuss how they must consciously oppose the atmosphere of violence and hatred. Calling the work of a minority author a counterstory is a functional but not entirely unproblematic way to place a work in a societal and cultural context. It has been claimed that, in the postcolonial cultural research method, when the researcher works towards ethnopolitically appropriate interpretations, he or she may become stuck in inflexible theory formation and categorised interpretations. However, postcolonial cultural research is not a literature research method as such but rather one attempt among others to interpret the human and global conditions in a way that exposes, in particular, hierarchical power structures and their consequences (Gandhi 2019 [1998], 167–168). The tendency of postcolonial research to seek out binaries, thereby producing categorising interpretations, is partly explained through its social motivation. The method was developed for the purpose of uncovering hidden, discriminatory, and oppressive structures (Spivak 1996, 205–209). The presentation of binaries has clarified the key point of the interpretation and therefore been justified. Another subject of study has been the native counterstory, but in the in- 18 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

terpretation of counterstory, binarism may lead to nuances in the works being bypassed and presentations being categorised as previously mentioned. Nilsen- Børsskog’s work is a good example of a counterstory that is not done justice if it is seen primarily as accounting for and repairing the discrimination to which the Kvens were subjected. Elämän jatko depicts an extended historical period and crystallises the aged author’s philosophical views. The author reflects on, among other matters, the importance of one’s own language and culture, the relationship between humans and nature, the realisation of justice, and the possibilities of healing for traumatised individuals and communities.

The language chooses the author Language is often considered the most important mark of an ethnic minority culture. In national policies and in the work of minority organisations as well as in texts of international treaties,8 a usable minority language is considered proof of the existence of a unique culture. When Nilsen-Børsskog discussed his authorship after his first novel was published, he said that the only option for him was to write in the Kven language. He justified his choice of language by saying that it was impossible for him to write a genuine, honest story about the members of the Kven community of his youth in any other language. The author stressed the great significance of his childhood home and the close-knit village community for his life and work. The community was bilingual: in the store, school, and church, many people spoke Norwegian, but otherwise the common language in the village was Kven. The author says of the language of his novels, “Mie en valinnu kväänin kieltä, kieli valitti minut” (“I did not choose the Kven language, the language chose me”) (Norsk Rikskrinkasting 2004, Viinikka- Kallinen 2010b). Nilsen-Børsskog’s published prose comprises about 2500 pages. Choosing the Kven language for his working language meant a double job for the author. While working on his novels, he also had to establish his grammatical rules and spelling practices as he proceeded (Norsk Rikskringkasting 2004). The choice of language sends a strong message, and the author gives the key to its interpretation at the very beginning: the first volume of the tetralogy is dedicated to “ihmisille, jokka on antanheet minule kielen” (“the people who gave me my language”) (Kuosu- vaaran takana, 5). The metaphor of a mother tongue as a gift is a weighty one in the context of a minority when so many people have lost the chance to learn the traditional language of their community. The choice of language can be seen as signalling the pursuit of authenticity and a desire to represent and even document, as precisely as possible, the way of life of the community, the people, and their environment. This interpretation is supported by, for example, the fact that Elämän jatko contains considerable dialogue and reported conversation, bringing polyphony into the narrative and highlighting its role in portraying the community. In the first two novels in particular, the point of view shifts among several key personages and there is no one obvious main character. From the third novel on, the main character is Are, whose life is followed in the story from his youth to his old age. Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 19

When Nilsen-Børsskog’s first novel was published in 2004, it attracted considerable media attention. In addition to the author, researchers and Kven activists were interviewed, and everybody unanimously stated that the publication was an important event. The regrettable fact was also highlighted that very few Kvens could read the rich, subtle language of the book. The publication encouraged Kvens in their emancipation drive and raised their cultural self- esteem, but it also reminded everyone of the tragic state of affairs: the policy of Norwegianisation and modernisation had caused Kven language skills to dete- riorate dramatically. The significance of language to one’s identity and mental wellbeing is a frequent theme in Elämän jatko. The character Are often reflects on the significance of one’s own language and moral values; these topics are discussed a great deal in the novels, and the narrator makes weighty statements on how important it is to achieve and maintain a sustainable cultural identity. Iisakki, a key personage early in the story, summarises the important theme in the words “ihmisen oma kieli se on hänen tuntomerkki. Omatta kielettä ihminen on pär- jäämättömissä” (“A person’s own language is their essence. Without our own language, we humans are lost”) (Rauha, 400). Elämän jatko contains a lot of autobiographical material. Like Are in the novel, the author as a young student was encouraged to write fiction in the Kven language (Viinikka-Kallinen 2010b). In the third volume of the series, Are is a language student at the University of Oslo, where his professor encourages the young man to write in his native language. As Are does not believe that such a project will be successful, he starts to study English and history to qualify as a teacher. Because Are still feels the need to write fiction in his own language, he writes novels and poems in the Kven language, but is unhappy with his writings and destroys them (Rauha 394, 416–417). The novels also deal with language policies. The subject is thematised most clearly in a discussion in which Iisakki describes his experiences of the policy of Norwegianisation. He thinks that the treatment of the Kvens exemplifies the prevalent philosophy of social Darwinism. Children being locked up in board- ing schools was proof of the government’s objective of Norwegianising the entire nation with a hard hand. Iisakki reflects on the importance of language from a practical and philosophical point of view. He considers it obvious that everyone should be able to speak the language of the majority, but that the most important language is one’s own mother tongue:

En mie usko, ette ihminen tullee paremaksi sillä, ette hän puhuis norjan kieltä. Kaikila ihmisillä on juuret ja perintö. Niitä ja maan lakkii ihminen pittää kunnioittaat. [I don’t think a person will be any better for speaking Norwegian. All people have their roots and inheritance. Those and the country’s laws are what people must respect.] Rauha( , 400)

It is Iisakki to whom young Are confides his dream of writing a novel in his native language. The older man instructs Are to learn Finnish first to support his Kven skills, to practice writing in the Kven language, and especially, to find a good subject for the novel. The young man feels encouraged by Iisakki’s no- nonsense approach to the writing project, and his budding hope of a career in writing is strengthened (Rauha, 400–401). The actual authoring work is not 20 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

described in the novels, but Are’s pride in his native language and his strong cultural identity remain throughout his life. The key themes in the first two volumes are justice, ethics, and the importance of one’s own culture. The third volume contains many individual psychological themes. The war is over and the main character, Are, has grown up. Fol- lowing the form of the classical Bildungsroman, the author describes how Are observes people, phenomena, and the environment and fumblingly searches for his place in the world. The important life-spanning decisions are channelled into questions of language and culture. Are’s natural tendencies are towards deskwork, so questions relating to language are particularly important and also difficult for him. This intelligent young man with an inquiring mind enjoys meaningful discussions at his home as well as in the capital city after he moves there to study. His discussions with acquaintances in his home village are often deep and philosophical but, nevertheless, natural and straightforward. In Oslo, his surroundings are Norwegian speaking, and communication becomes stiffer:

Are puhuskeli nyt moitheetonta norjan kieltä – mutta näitten ihmisten kans Are ei saattanu puhuskella kotikieltä, vaikka hän mielelä oliski puhuskellu sitä. [Are could now speak Norwegian properly – but with these people Are could not speak his home language, even though he would have liked to do so.] (Rauha, 415) In the last volume, Are considers going back to his home village. The lure is his native language:

Ja vieläki nämät kolmikieliset ihmiset puhuskelhaan ommaa sonoorista kieltä, perus- tamattakhaan siitä, ette joku kerran oli kiellästännyki kielen käytön. – Sillä kielelä on yđin. Ja sielu. [And even today these trilingual folks speak our own sonorous language without worrying about someone at some point prohibiting even the use of that language. – Because languages have a gist. And a soul.] (Viimi vuođet, 6) Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels frequently seek to answer the question of how an individual and a community can find a balanced identity. In addition to cultural coherence, the answer lies in the creation and maintenance of solid connectedness to nature. The author describes arctic nature as home and as a mental and spiritual place of safety for humans. His descriptions of nature and connectedness with it are plentiful and richly nuanced. They can be seen as the counterstory to a long tradition of fiction and travel literature in which northern regions are described as exotic, highlighting the extremes and making them the settings of catastrophes and conflict (Myklebost 2010, 8). According to, for example, Yi-Fu Tuan, research and art both feature many binary divisions between culture and nature, a view that tends to lead to the categorisation of places into civilised centres and primitive peripheries (Tuan 2004, 731–732). With his descriptions, Nilsen-Børsskog breaks away from the tradition of such concepts of nature. In his work, nature is not a place in the periphery, where people occasionally withdraw from their cultural environments to be refreshed. He describes the harmonious relationship between people and nature as a prerequisite for people’s functioning, peace of mind, and ethical way of life. Viinikka-Kallinen Alf Nielsen-Børsskog 21

In conclusion Alf Nilsen-Børsskog’s life work is immense. He wrote six novels and four poetry collections in a language whose continued existence was doubtful and whose spelling and many other norms he had to create during the course of writing. Through his novels, he presents a previously unreported narrative of the recent history of Norway. The material necessities of life in the Kven villages on the Arctic Ocean were destroyed near the end of the Second World War. Structural change hit them rapidly and mercilessly, nearly breaking up the communities that had been close knit in terms of language and culture. After the war, it was almost impossible to rebuild the Kven identity based on the old one. Nilsen- Børsskog’s novels can also be read as stories of the Kven community and its fate: the dissolution of this close-knit community, leading to the beginning of the road to modernisation and a new identity. Kvens do appear in old Norwegian fiction rather often, but most of the authors seem to know very little about them, instead stressing their otherness, which they see as caused by their foreign language and ethnicity. Alf Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels are not only the first written in the Kven language, but also are the first to portray the Kvens from a native perspective. As seen above, depictions of marginalised groups seem to stagnate until portrayals by native authors – in other words, counterstories – start appearing. Reading the novels of Nilsen-Børsskog shows this hypothesis to be true regarding the representations of the Kvens. Elämän jatko is a counterstory that does not describe the crisis of the minority culture or conflicts of the Kven and the majority, but rather the power of the native culture. The author does not create an “us against them” binary, but sets the story directly in the context of the grand narrative. The Kvens establish their identity not through negation but through self-assured confidence based on pride in their own language and culture. Elämän jatko depicts the spiritual lives and living environment of the Kven in which the cultural environment and nature are in harmony and form an important aspect of the Kven identity. Nilsen-Børsskog does not adopt the role of a Norwegian minority author but instead of the national author of the Kvens. He portrays his own ethnic group from within and does so without making comparisons. Neither does he describe the other ethnic groups in northern Norway in marginalising terms, as the author does not ethnify. Elämän jatko supplements the Norwegian national story with the Kven’s perspective, and therefore helps the community to understand its past. It seems to be especially important for the Kven community to deal with the traumas caused by experience of discrimination during and after the heavy-handed assimilation policies. Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels also cover essential measures to heal those traumas and to find a way to build a strong and positive cultural identity. The significance of one’s own language to mental wellbeing is a frequent theme in Elämän jatko. Nilsen-Børsskog’s novels portray the traditional Kven identity based on a close-knit communal way of life as well as the possibility of establishing a positive identity after a sudden, brutal rupture. What one needs for security can be found in one’s own culture and harmonious connectedness with nature, both of which promote continuity, security, and community traditions. 22 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

At the end of Elämän jatko, Are has returned to his home and found peace of mind:

Äänetönnä luonto leppäili. Kuuntelijan sielule tunturitten rauha teki hyvvää. – Suloisen rauhan- ja levontunnetta se tuosti miehele. – Pahat ajatukset se ajasti pois ja levhäätti hänheen mitä syvviimen onnen. – keskelä suurta sielunrauhaa mies jäiki ihhailehan tätä mahtavan kaunista luonttoo, jonka sylissä ihminen ellää, josta hän on pienen pieni osa. [Nature rested soundlessly. The peace of the mountains felt good in the soul of the listener. – It brought the man a feeling of sweet peace and rest. – It drove away bad thoughts and spread the deepest happiness within him. – in the midst of this peace of the soul, the man stayed and admired nature, so beautiful, which cradles human beings and of which we are such a tiny part.] (Viimi vuođet, 482.)

Endnotes 1 Two of the novels were published posthumously. At the time of writing, the last novel, Johannes, had not yet been published, though the manuscript is print-ready. 2 During the Second World War, in April 1940, Nazi Germany occupied Norway. The occupation lasted until May 1945. 3 This status is based on the fact that Norway has ratified the European Council’s Frame- work Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. 4 From the mid-1800s to the 1940s, this way of thinking was also evident in, for example, Sweden and Germany (Tamminen 2015, 36–38, 226–227, Wålstedt 2009, 15–16). 5 The Kvens’ interests are promoted by the organisations Norske Kveners Forbund, Kven- landsforbundet, and Norsk-Finsk Forbund. 6 For the Commission’s assignment, see the parliamentary website at https://www.stortinget. no/no/Hva-skjer-pa-Stortinget/Nyhetsarkiv/Hva-skjer-nyheter/2017-2018/sannhets--og- forsoningskommisjonen/ 7 See, for example, David Huddart, Postcolonial Theory and Autobiography (London, Rout- ledge, 2008). 8 See, for example, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007cdac) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.(https://www.coe.int/en/ web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages). 9 All the quotations from Nilsen-Børsskog are translated by the writer of this article.

References The novels of Alf Nilsen-Børsskog: Elämän jatko 1. Kuosuvaaran takana. Indre Billefjord: Iđut 2004. Elämän jatko 2. Aittiruto.Indre Billefjord: Iđut. 2007. Elämän jatko 3. Rauha. Indre Billefjord: Iđut. 2011. Elämän jatko 4. Viimi vuođet. Indre Billefjord: Iđut. 2015. Elämän alku. Varhaiset vuođet. Indre Billefjord: Iđut. 2018.

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Viinikka-Kallinen, Anitta. 2004-2005. “Nasjonallitteraturens stygge andunge - Minoritetslit- teraturens levevilkår”, in Arina — Nordisk tidsskrift for kvensk forskning — Kveenitutkimuk- sen aikakausjulkaisu 2004-2005. 85-93. Pajala: Kaamos Förlaaki. — 2007. “Kulttuuri kriisinhallinnan keinona – Alf Nilsen-Børsskogin romaani luo kveenien vastahistoriaa”, in Jan Rahman (ed.) Õdagumeresoomõ kodo. Länemeresoome kodu. Võru instituudi toimetised 20. 107-120. Võru: Võru Instituut. — 2010a. “While the wings grow – Finnic minorities writing their existence onto the world map”, in Planning a new standard language. Finnic minority languages meet the new mil- lennium, Helena Sulkala & Harri Mantila (ed.), 147-177. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisu- uden Seura. — 2010b. “Nilsen-Børsskog, Alf”. Suomen Kansallisbiografia [Finnish National Biography]. https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/9398 — 2015. “Kaunokirjallisuus kansallisuuspolitiikan palveluksessa. Etnisyyden representaatiot J.A. Friisin tuotannossa”, in Kirjallisuudentutkimuksen aikakauslehti Avain — The Finnish Review of Literature Studies 3/2015, 34-50. Turku: Kirjallisuudentutkijain Seura. Wålstedt, Jon. 2009. “Om man inte vet hur ett gammalt spöke ser ut, hur ska man då kunna känna igen gengångaren när man möter den?”En undersökning av hur dagens läromedel för gymnasiet handskas med Sveriges rasistiska och fördomsfulla förflutna”. Södertörn: Programsekretariatet för lärarutbildningen, Södertörns högskola. Box 521 · 751 20 Uppsala · Sweden Home page: www.valentin.uu.se multiethnica Email: [email protected] Journal of the Hugo Valentin Centre

The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization: “RewiTEATRali- zacja” in Wilamowice*

ROBERT BORGES, Uppsala University TYMOTEUSZ KRÓL, University of Warsaw

This article discusses the case of revitalization of the Wymysorys language, spoken in Wilamowice, Poland, where literacy not only plays a role in education-oriented proficiency development, but also where literature is utilized in the learning process and adapted for the purpose of theatrical performances. The authors argue that engagement in these literature-based theatrical activities promotes and expedites language entrenchment that usually develops gradually in ‘normal’ conversational contexts, which are usually lacking in cases of severe language endangerment. The paper addresses the theoretical and practical disparity regarding the role of literature in RLS activities (Fishman 1991), which emphasizes spoken language and ‘natural’ intergenerational language transmission.

Introduction In the literature on language shift and revitalization, there is often heavy emphasis on the importance of and promotion of spoken language in informal, “everyday’’ domains, especially those involving child rearing, in order to increase or restore intergenerational transmission of an endangered language. The written forms of an endangered languages in these scenarios, while “welcome guests” that provide symbolic support for revitalization goals, are not generally considered to play a significant role in the restoration of language transmission (Fishman 1991, 96, 110). The now oft cited work of Fishman (1991), and the numerous works that take a similar “first things first” approach to language revitalization, posits a hierarchical relationship between understanding and speaking a language on the one hand, and reading and writing a language on the other (Fishman 1991, 43); revitalization must, according to Fishman (Fish- man 1991, 109) “repair” lower, foundational stages before [i.e. understanding and speaking] moving ahead to more advanced ones [i.e. reading and writing]”. Initial focus on reading and writing will fail “because these steps are hollow vic- tories and must ultimately crumble unless they rest upon the strong base of the

* The research results from a postdoctoral fellowship in minority studies at the Hugo Valentin Centre awarded to Robert Borges 2017–2019, and the research project “Mountains, hills, cover us up” — Vilamovians against the postwar persecutions, financed under the “Dia- mond Grant” program awarded to Tymoteusz Król 2016-2020. 26 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

informal, intimate spoken language in daily family, neighborly and community interaction’’ (Fishman 1991, 110). In this paper, we want to emphasize the crucial role that written-language forms can have in efforts to revitalize an endangered language and present the case of Wymysorys. Literature and written forms of Wymysorys play a key role in language education, proficiency development, and language practice associated with the revitalization efforts in Wilamowice. These forms are utilized as examples and / or translation targets in the Wymysorys didactic process, adapted for theatre, and then staged publically in the local and national arena. The process of preparing and staging these spectacles provides goal-oriented motivation for language learning, a venue for language practice and social cohesion, and normalizes the presence of the language in public space and in doing so also encourages positive attitudinal shift in the wider society. For those directly involved, regular engagement with literary forms and in theatre activities promotes and expedites entrenchment that usually develops gradually in “normal” acquisitional contexts via consistent exposure, regular repetition and rehearsal, which is lacking in this case and other cases of severe language endangerment. Entrenchment, or the strength of linguistic representation (lexical and grammatical) in executive function, is a necessary prerequisite for the development of fluency necessary to transmit a the language to the subsequent generation (Schmid 2016; Diependaele, Lemhöfer, and Brysbaert 2013). As can be inferred from previous sentence, as an end-game, successful language revitalization results in an increase or restoration of naturalistic intergenerational language transmission. As a process, however, language revitalization involves both fluency building and creating new domains and scenarios for usage of the language. While it is often the case that authenticity and purity of a a language is benchmarked by varieties produced by so-called “native speakers”, it is a topical issue whether or not this is ideal, or even possible, in scenarios of language revitalization. In the case of Wilamowice, the majority of those involved in language revitalization are young people who could be considered new speakers. A new speaker here refers to an individual who has learned, or is learning a shifting language outside of the domestic context (O’Rourke, Pujolar & Ramallo 2015; O’Rourke 2018). As a relatively recent addition to the sociolinguistic toolkit (O’Rourke and Pujolar 2013; O’Rourke and Ramallo 2013; Hornsby 2015; Nance 2015; O’Rourke, Pujolar, and Ramallo 2015; O’Rourke and Pujolar 2015; Hornsby 2016; Hornsby 2017; Nance et al. 2016; Kasstan 2017; Dołowy-Rybińska 2016; Dołowy-Rybińska 2017; Smith-Christmas, Hornsby, and Moriarty 2018), the new speaker concept offers a paradigmatic shift away from focus on “native speakers” and “nativeness” in minority-lan- gauge contexts (O’Rourke 2018). And although there are a number of living individuals who could be considered native speakers of Wymysorys, we have chosen to focus on the group of young new speakers because they are the main actors in the language revitalization activities. In the next Section, we briefly present contextual information about Wymy- sorys, its endangerment, and revitalization efforts. In the following section, we provide an overview of the local youth theatre group — Ufa Fisa — in ethnographic-historical perspective as it relates language revitalization efforts in Borges and Król The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization 27

Wilamowice. Then we present narratives from New Speakers of Wymysorys regarding their engagement with Ufa Fisa and how they perceive the relationship between theatre, literature, and language revitalization within the frame of interpretative phenomenological analysis. From this, we argue that contact with literature and written forms of the language in general, as well as the social and cognitive aspects of producing theatrical performances are fundamental to language revitalization efforts in Wilamowice.

Language context: endangerment and revitalization Wymysorys (Eng.: alternative Vilamovian, Pol.: język wilamowski, endonym: Wymysiöeryś) is a West Germanic language, spoken primarily in and around one town, Wilamowice, in the Silesian Voivodeship (Bielsko county) of Poland (Wicherkiewicz 2003; Hammarström, Forkel, and Haspelmath 2018). The area was settled in the 13th century by migrants from Western Europe, most probably originating from Frisian areas around the Elbe and / or Flanders. Because the area was quite thinly populated, settlers were invited from overpopulated Germanic speaking areas, and provided financial incentives to relocate by local nobility (Barciak 2001, 82-85). From that time, a unique multilingual culture developed and flourished in the area. Throughout its history, Wilamowice and its people straddled borders, and residents of the town utilized this position by establishing wide-reaching trade networks, especially dealing in textiles and horses (Wicherkiewicz 2003, 10). The townspeople lived within a system of functional polyglossia where Wymysorys was widely used in the home and private situations, Polish used for religion and education, and later (under Austrian administration) German was used for commerce and administration (Ritchie 2012, 2016; Wicherkiewicz 2003; Neels 2012). The vitality of Wymysorys became severely threatened following the Second World War. During the war, residents of the town were ascribed status of Cat- egory 2, “of German descent”, or Category 3, “Voluntarily Germanized” on the Deutsche Volksliste “German Peoples List” (Wicherkiewicz 2003). In principle this was voluntary, but in practice those who did not volunteer faced severe punishment. Despite the fact that Vilamovian people did not identify with Ger- many or Germanness, an idea for which there is pre-war evidence, the Red Army and post-war communist government used the Volksliste as a weapon against those who had been ascribed to it (Wicherkiewicz 2003, 2001). In the case of Wilamowice, this meant that the language and any culturally distinct expressions (e.g. folk costumes) were banned outright in 1945; perpetrators of language and culture were regularly outed to authorities by ethnically Polish neighors, and faced evictions, imprisonment, exile, or execution (Wicherkie- wicz 2003). As such, community members were required to hide their identi- ties, even within extended families, in order to survive. With this, people ceased using and teaching the language to their children; intergenerational transmission was abruptly stifled. Wicherkiewicz’s ominous prediction (2000, repeated in 2003 and other works) that Wymysorys would not survive the next decade, formed part of the motivation that caused Tymoteusz Król (b. 1993) to begin recording audio of the language as spoken by his grandmother and her friends in 2004, eventually 28 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

amassing around 1000 hours of audio recordings of elderly speakers of Wymy- sorys, many of whom are no longer living. Around 2007, Tymoteusz Król and his close friend Justyna Majerska (b.1993), recognizing the damning lack of didactic materials for Wymysorys, began developing these materials based on the audio recordings and teaching the language to other children on a private basis. Some of these didactic materials were eventually published (Majerska 2014; fum Dökter, Wicherkiewicz, and fum Biöetuł 2015; Król, Majerska, and Wicherkiewicz 2016). Thanks to the continued efforts of Król and Majerska, along with subsequent institutional support from Polish universities and the European Union,1 there are now approximately twenty-five individuals who self-identify as new speakers of Wymysorys. Teaching Wymysorys continues on a private basis, though there have been intermittent instances of the language being taught as an extracurricular activity in the local elementary school, even at University of Warsaw, and active communities of practice (Wenger 1999) have developed around a local cultural heritage association, theatre group, and folk ensemble. Detailed overviews of the progression of language revitalization in Wilamowice can be found in Wicherkiewicz & Olko (2016) and Wicherkie- wicz, Król & Olko (2017). These actions have sparked promising developments with regard to the survival of Wymysorys. In addition to the growing number of active new speakers numbers, there has been shift in attitudes towards greater acceptance of the language within the community and in the wider society. Anxiety surrounding the use of language and local customs brought about by post-war events is eas- ing. Neels describes the prevalence of “double identity” among older speakers (Neels 2012: 128-131), which is also strongly evident among the new speakers who participated in this study. Local activists struggle for recognition from the Polish government as a linguistic minority, but the association with the “Germanness” and the volksliste continue to be used as tools for marginaliza- tion in the current discourse of far-right conservative nationalism.2 Those new speakers who participated in the current study report that they plan continue with their engagement with local language and culture regardless of negative popular attitudes or the threatening political climate.

RewiTEATRalizacja: new speakers and the literature connection Theatre has been identified as a crucial ingredient in at least some language revitalization programs. Baker (2018), for instance, outlines the centrality of Hawaiian- medium theatre in reinvigorating a sense of local identity and creating contexts for exposure to the Hawaiian language. In Wilamowice, theatre and language revitalization are also integrally linked, hence our use of the word “rewiTEATRalizacja”, which is a blend of two Polish words rewitalizacja ‘revitalization’ and teatr ‘theatre’. The local theatre group Ufa Fisa, lit. ‘on [one’s] feet’, began during preparations for the international conference “Endangered languages: Comprehensive models for language revitalization”; some youth from the folk ensemble “Wilamowice” and As- sociation “Wilamowianie” were preparing the artistic program with the main goal not to make yet another traditional dance and song show. In addition to making something innovative and exciting, there was an explicit intent to challenge negative ideologies surrounding the public use of Wymysorys. The idea was proposed Borges and Król The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization 29 to stage a Wymysorys-language play along with the planned Wymysorys-English exhibition about local language and culture (which demonstrated that Wymysorys could appear without regionally dominant languages, Polish and German); it was met with many negative reactions. There was concern that such a play would not be understood by anyone. Also memories of recent conflicts around the usage of Wymysorys were fresh in the minds of many people involved, for example when the local priest banned the Way of the Cross in Wymysorys (2010) and the reading of a Wymysorys poem at the funeral of a poet who wrote in Wymysorys (2013). But Król decided to organize it anyway and wrote a script based on The Little Prince by Antoine Saint Exupery.3 Such a well-known text was chosen because it should not be very difficult to understand. The children who had been learning Wymysorys studied the text, but they said that it was too hard for them to memorize at their level of proficiency. So papers with text were hidden in sleeves, hats or under the table. Many people had serious doubts whether or not it would work, but the group decided to continue with the production anyway. Contrary to critics’ expectations, the international participants of the conference and local Vilamovians who came to take part in open events all enjoyed the play. One very important factor was participation of Carlo Ritchie, a young Australian comedian who lived in Wilamowice for two months in order to learn Wymysorys. He returned after two years to play the role of the Fox. Ritchie’s acting he removed many negative emotions and fears of not being understandable, which troubled the other young actors. The play was considered one of the most important aspects of the conference. Most of the children who participated are members of the folk ensemble “Wilamowice”, which was established 1948 served as a means for the conservation of parts of Vilamovian culture — but this organization was only a shield, under which the identity and the language was transferred to young generations. With the successful staging of the Wymysorys version of The Little Prince, the theatrical group Ufa Fisa was born. When preparations for the Mother tongue day event (2015) in Wilamowice began, there was no question that another theatrical play in Wymysorys should be presented during the event. The main goal of the play should address the persistent negative language ideologies surrounding the use of Wymysorys by presenting something “cool”. It was decided to stage a version of The Hobbit because, at the time, the film version was in cinemas and many Vilamovian youths were fascinated by Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Like the rendition of The Little Prince, the audience enjoyed the play and many old Vilamovians were proud that they were able to follow what was going on on the stage while their children had to ask them to explain what was happening. Polish subtitles were presented on a screen to one side of the stage, but the whole performance was staged in Wymysorys. The special effects, costumes, and props, made by Justy- na Majerska-Schneider and Rafał Schneider, were so impressive, that many young Vilamovians said that it was really cool. One Vilamovian woman aged 35 reported:

After I sawThe Little Prince in Wymysorys, I understood, that Wymysorys could be used on the stage, but it was nothing more as a school play. So as I went to see the 30 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

Hobbit in Wymysorys, I was sceptical. But now I see, that Wymysorys can be used on the stage but as well, that it sounds great, especially in such scenery as Middle-Earth! [Po tym, jak zobaczyłam Małego Księcia po wilamowsku, zrozumiałam, że wilamowski może być użyty na scenie, ale to było takie szkolne przedstawienie. Jak poszłam na Hobbita po wilamowsku, to nie byłam pewna, jak to będzie. Ale teraz widzę, że wilamowski może być nie tylko użyty na scenie, ale też brzmi świetnie i pasuje bardzo do Śródziemia!]

The play was so successful, that the group was invited by the Polish National Theatre in Warsaw to present it there in 2016. It garnered attention of polish websites about Tolkien and it was called one of the most important Tolkien- events in Poland in 2016. For the next performance, the group wanted to showcase a local piece of literature in order to show that this aspect of local history based around a Vilamo- vian story could make for an interesting play. A script was developed around a long poem called Uf jer wełt by Vilamovian poet Florian Biesik, which was based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The play encompassed three parallel stories: 1. the travel from heaven, via purgatory, to hell as in the original poem; 2. the story of a conflict between Florian, who considered Wymysorys to be a distinct language, and his brother, Hermann, who authored the first Vilamovian dictionary and considered it to be a dialect of German; 3. the story of the manuscript’s discovery in Wilamowice in 1989 by a student of linguistics, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz. These three local-based stories bound by the myste- rious poem made for a captivating story, which was interesting not only for Vilamovians, who could recognize themselves or their relatives, but also for foreigners, who could learn more about Vilamovian culture. Like The Hobbit, Uf jer Wełt made its debut at A fieldschool, organized in Wilamowice in 2016, and later staged at a Mother Tongue Day event 2017 and was then, by invitation, in the Polish National Theatre in Warsaw. As we saw increased engagement among the young actors, we left them to work on the next script themselves. They authored a script around events from life stories their grandparents and great-grandparents, set around the second world war, which they heard first hand or from recordings of the older people. This play — Ymertihła — is a life story of a Vilamovian woman, Anna, who was living a generally happy life before the war. She spends her time with her Vilamovian father and Jewish friends in Wilamowice and her fiance — later husband — a Vilamovian Viennese (Vienna had a large Vilamovian community at the time). Her father says directly, that he is not Pole, not German, he is Vilamovian, but the German occupation forced them to sign the Volksliste. Then they rescue a Polish man, who should have been sent to Germany for mandatory work. Then after the war, Anna and her family are expelled to labour camps by local Poles, including the man, who was res- cued by her. This man takes her house and farm, and sends her husband to Siberia, where he dies in a Soviet labour camp (though she never finds out what happened to him). Later he is forced to their farm, but kills her father on the street. In later scenes, Anna is old and alone and her relatives do not want to speak Wymysorys. They identify as Poles and they are blinded by the recent wave of Polish nationalistic ideology, but then, she mets children, who learn Wymysorys as a part of language revitalization program. They ask her questions about her life and although she says Borges and Król The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization 31 that it would last very long, they assure her that they have enough time for her. The last scene shows her shawl on a mannequin in a museum in Wilamowice as a symbol of the hope of the Vilamovian youth that such a museum and recognition of local history will soon come to existence. The script was written entirely by the actors, relying on their family stories, tales and memoirs, which conflict with official, school-history, and more widely accepted historical narratives. They included Vilamovian Jews, showing a Jew- ish-Vilamovian wedding, which ended with scenes of deportations and subsequent holocaust. Then they showed the postwar ban of use of Wymysorys, vilamovian folk dress, and the Polish persecutors, expulsions of Vilamovians and postwar camps, which were organized in the same places like the Nazi camps. These, especially the latter, are very controversial themes in the current Political climate of Poland following a rise in the Extreme-Right. In the play Vilamovians (catholics and Jews) speak Wymysorys, Germans German, and Poles Polish. Young authors treat these three nationalities equally, against historically German nationalism and actual Polish politics which forced Vilamov- ians to be a part of a bigger nation. Ymertihła (which is a particular kind of shawl in Vilamovian folk dress - an example of this type of shawl appears in every scene) made its debut at the Mother Tongue Day event in 2018. After the play, the audience was crying and rethinking their youth memories, many Vilamovians said, that they could see on the stage, what had happened for them for seventy years and that they are happy, that the young people have sighted their life stories. Many of them said, that they recognize their particular family story in the plot. But there were local politicians, who did not like it, because “it is moving some part of history un- necessary”. As the play was shown in the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, the mayor of Wilamowice said to audience, that he does not agree with the facts, that were shown in the play. The newest play is a comedy calledOjeruma , based on local tales about Vilamovians traveling to many far-away countries to trade and returning with some elements foreign cultures to Wilamowice. This play, based on local stereotypes about other nations — Turks, Poles, Russians, French, Scots, Germans and Austrians among them — was very funny for the audience and thanks to code-switching on the stage. This production was understandable for all, even if they do not speak Wymysorys. It was important that these young people are also included in local activism as well. The fact, that this play was funny and “cool” for the young generation continues to have positive influence to local language ideologies and language attitudes surrounding Wymysorys. In the play one can see strong Vilamovian identity of some characters, which is shown not only in the language, folk dress and local tales, but in other values like toler- ance against non-heteronormativity; one of characters seems to be gay, which is not by accident. Young Vilamovians see the rising homophobia in Poland (an artistic construction of a rainbow produced in Wilamowice and situated in Warsaw, got burnt a couple of times by Polish nationalists)4 and they want to show their local identity as something obverse to it. One of the local activist, for instance, has organized workshops against homophobia for the actors of the group in August 2018. Ojeruma made its debut on Mother Tongue Day 32 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

in Wilamowice on 2019. Unlike the case of Ymertihła, the audience was not moved by sad memories, but amused by a very funny plot and gags. The development of Ufa Fisa has provided Vilamovian youth with an infra- structure for language revitalization. Through it they have been able to address and affect change in local language ideologies, which had been unfavorable to the use of Wymysorys, while developing a means to exercise their own agentivity and stake claims of symbolic ownership in matters of local language, culture and self- identity. The group provides a forum and a practical goal-oriented community of practice around which the bonds of social cohesion are formed and maintained. Around these common goals, agentive and situated language learning takes place via the authoring or translation of scripts and the conscious rehearsal and memo- rization of individuals’ roles — conscious in the sense that the learning of lines also entails the learning of vocabulary and grammar.

New speaker perspectives on theatre as a part of the language-learning process In this section, we present an abbreviated analysis of new speakers’ perspectives on the role of engagement with literature, and specifically the theatre group in their learning process. We rely heavily on interviews with new speakers con- ducted by Robert Borges in 2017-2018. These interviews were part of a more extensive data collection protocol that aimed to document new speaker sociolinguistic profiles; by following standard data collection procedures multiple times with the same speakers, it was also the intention to observe development of proficiency, the spread of innovation within the speech community, and ultimately changes in the Wymysorys lexicon and grammatical structure. These procedures employed a variety of elicitation tools and data types; while overall analyses of these data follow principles of mixed methods, here we focus on qualitative aspect of interviews. More specifically, we look at how study participants construct their own experience as new speakers of Wymysorys within the framework of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). This analytical technique assumes that “[h]uman beings are not passive perceivers of an objective reality, but rather [that] they come to interpret and understand their world by formulating their own biographical stories into a form that makes sense to them” (Brocki and Wearden 2006). As an inherently subjective method for qualitative analysis, we rely on personal narratives that focus on individuals’ experiences as well as our own interpretation as researchers, to identify salient, recurring themes that represent “insider perspective” empirically (Reid, Flowers, and Larkin 2005). IPA has most typically been used in the field of health psychology, but as a method, is particularly suited for data collected among small focus groups of individuals regarding a particular shared experience using semi-structured interviews, it has more recently been utilized in other related fields (Smith 1996; Brocki and Wearden 2006). As our data are from a relatively small sample of individuals involved in language revitalization, we find IPA to be an ideal framework for making an exploratory / relatively atheoretical analysis of the new speaker experience that relies heavily on verbatim excerpts (Reid, Flowers, and Larkin 2005). In the remainder of this section, we present three recurrent themes that were prevalent in the interviews: self identity and “ownership” of Wymysyorys, the role of text in the learning process, and specifically the role of Borges and Król The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization 33 the theatre group’s activities in the learning process. One of the most important outcomes of the theatre group, and to some to some extent the folk ensemble, in regards to Wymysorys language revitalization efforts has to do with a positive shift in attitudes about the language, as indicated in the previous section. The activities of these two groups have played a definitive role in making Wymysorys and Vilamovian cultural heritage something “cool” that young people can be proud of and of which they assume a kind of ownership. This fosters a strong sense of group cohesion and is an affirmation of local identity, which is arguably equally important, if not more so, to early language revitalization efforts as a population of speakers with some degree of fluency. Assertion of this bond to Wilamowice was common in the interview data. And I was born here and I feel very attached to this place... I just love this place and I feel that if I was born in another family in another city I would be only half of myself. [No i urodziłam się tutaj i czuję się bardzo mocno związana z tym miejscem... Po prostu kocham to miejsce i czuję, że jakbym urodziła się w innej rodzinie, w innym mieście, to byłabym tylko połową siebie.] This seems to be related to aspects of a sense of uniqueness engrained in self- identity, which is inherently tied to ‘the local’; uniqueness within the shared Vilamovian identity is perceived with certainty.

We have recently started with the girls. Sometimes we write in Wymysorys with each other or sometimes we will find out that something is there to say so others did not understand. [Zaczęłyśmy ostatnio tak z dziewczynami. Czasem piszemy po wilamowsku ze sobą albo też czasem się nam zdarzy, że coś tam pomówić żeby inni nie rozumieli.]

If we are somewhere and we do not want anyone to know what we are talking about, then sometimes we speak Wymysorys. [Jak jesteśmy gdzieś i nie chcemy, żeby ktoś wiedział o czym mówimy, to czasem sobie właśnie po wilamowsku mówimy.]

More practically speaking, these activities provide a community of practice around which those people who can speak actually meet and work together towards a goal while collectively involving and improving language competence. One major objective, in this regard, is the translation and/or authoring of the script for productions and lyrics for accompanying music. Getting texts ready for production provides some urgency to these activities, which were mentioned by all study participants as one of the main means by which they are active in improving their language abilities.

Well, but translation helps a lot, for example, through July, we ran like a small office in which in the heritage building and there the three of us translated texts. [No, ale też sporo daje tłumaczenie, na przykład, przez lipiec prowadziliśmy sobie tak jakby małe biuro, w którym w Dziedzictwie i tam tłumaczyliśmy sobie tak w trójkę teksty.]

Just these translations also helped me a lot, I got to know a lot of useful words that come in handy in an ordinary conversation, not just the ones I’ve been learning in classes, but just the more mundane, what ladies say, so it was very cool. [Właśnie te tłumaczenia też mi dużo pomogły. Poznałam dużo przydatnych słów, które się przydają w zwykłej rozmowie, nie tylko takich, co się uczyłam na lekcjach, tylko takich bardziej przyziem- nych, też co mówią jakieś panie, więc to było bardzo fajne.] 34 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

Certainly I learned a lot of new words thanks to this [involvement with the theatre] because, together with Ola, we translated the part of the script together, so you could also attribute a lot of grammar and vocabulary precisely to that. [Na pewno poznałam dużo nowych słów dzięki temu, bo też do najnowszego spektaklu, razem z Olą tłumaczyłyśmy część scenariusza, więc, no, też wtedy dużo aspektem gramatycznymi słownictwa też dużo tego mógłbyś odwiedzić wynieść przy okazji właśnie tego.]

Improving one’s language abilities by engagement with written forms of the language during free time —whenever I have a spare moment— was also a prevalent theme in the interviews. In addition to contact with literature related to theatre productions, contact with Wymysory through transcription of previously collected recordings under the auspices of the Documentation of Linguistic and Cul- tural Heritage of Wilamowice project was also frequently mentioned as a means by which new speakers could maintain and improve their language abilities.

I finished high school, I took my high school exam. I practically had 5 months of holidays. As part of the additional work I did transcription of Wymysorys, so I kept the contact with it all the time. I listened all the time I did not write if I did not know how you feel or write I can check the word in the dictionary, so I have certainly got a few words from the dictionary, so I definitely improved. [Skończyłem szkołę średnią, napisałem maturę. Miałem 5 miesięcy wolnego, praktycznie, wakacji, to w ramach pracy dodat- kowej, robiłem transkrypcje z języka wilamowskiego. Więc ja cały czas miałem z nim styczność, bo cały czas go słuchałem, cały czas nim pisałem. Jeżeli coś nie wiedziałem jak się czujesz pisze albo jakie to może być słowo, sprawdzałem w słowniku, więc też ze słownika parę słów na pewno nabyłem, więc na pewno się poprawiłem.]

We made such small offices just here upstairs and throughout the holidays every day we went through to translate these texts that we got from the University of Warsaw and we had daily contact with Wymysorys, 7 hours every day, so it seems to me that it also helped a lot, for sure. [Zrobiliśmy sobie takie małe biura, właśnie tutaj na górze, i przez całe wakacje codziennie przychodziliśmy tłumaczyć właśnie te teksty, co to mamy tam z Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego i codziennie był ten kontakt z wilamowskim, po 7 godzin, wiec wydaje mi się, że to też dużo dało, na pewno.]

A common theme in the interviews is also that the rehearsal of theatrical productions also makes a lasting impact in cognitive aspects of language learning. Most participants gave examples of how vocabulary items or grammatical structures became entrenched due to memorizing lines and practicing / performing the theatre productions.

Well, this helps because you remember some characteristic phrases, for example, a friend at the first show, the one of the larger ones or Hobbit, said in such a distinctive voice ”wos ej dos” and that’s why a lot of people remembered this phrase... Well, you just remember a lot of words after the performances, from your part, or others’ characteristic parts too. [No tak, to pomaga, bo pamiętasz jakieś charakterystyczne zwroty, na przykład, koleżanka przy pierwszym przedstawieniu, takim tym z tych większych czy Hobbicie, powiedziała takim charakterystycznym głosem, mówiła “wos ej dos’ i w sumie, dzięki temu, dużo osób zapamiętało ten zwrot… No, ale właśnie pamięta się sporo słówek po przedstawieniach, ze swojej kwestii właśnie, z czyichś charakterystycznych kwestii też.]

One surely remembers a lot parts and new words, or some cool (cult) phrases, from a performance from 2, 3, 4 years ago, and you still remember this part I you know what Borges and Król The Relationship Between Literature and Language Revitalization 35

it means, so sometimes you can recall it, say the same part slightly amended and then you learn a language better. It helps a lot, really, because you learn tons of new words. [Zapamiętuje się na pewno dużo kwestii i dużo nowych słów, albo takie kultowe teksty, które nawet przedstawienie było 2, 3, 4 lata temu, a ty i tak pamiętasz tą kwestię i wiesz co znaczy, więc czasem można się odwołać, można powiedzieć tą kwestię trochę przerobioną i też lepiej wtedy się uczy tego języka. To bardzo pomaga, naprawdę, bo poznaje się wtedy mnóstwo nowych słów.] From these excerpts, we can conclude that engagement with the theatrical performances, including the literary contact necessary for scripting a play, as well as written forms of the language in general, plays a central role in how new speakers conceptualize their learning processes.

Conclusion In this paper, we have given provided an overview of the youth theatre group Ufa Fisa, which operates in Wilamowice, staging performances in Wymyso- rys. We argue that the group’s activities have had a positive influence on the hitherto negative attitudes about use of Wymysorys (particularly and especially in the public sphere). As in the Hawaiian case (Baker 2018), participation in the group’s activities fosters a positive sense of local identity and more general social cohesion. And while some participants may not be actively learning, thanks to their involvement they develop passive competence in Wymysorys, which enriches the linguistic environment in the sense that those who speak and want to speak have more people with whom they can, at the very least, speak and be understood. Finally, activities related to the theatre group are in- strumental in the language learning process, both in terms of learning vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar “on paper” as well as cognitive entrenchment through the rehearsal and performance of theatrical productions. Returning to the question of literature in the process of RLS, Fishman’s (1991) emphasis spoken language as a “more basic” form assumes a remaining group of active and competent speakers, who are able to assert themselves in everyday and domestic interactional contexts, especially those relating to child rearing. In the case of Wymysorys this population had perhaps already been lost, despite a living group of elderly speakers. If restoration of sustainable intergenerational transmission of Wymysorys is considered an end goal of the language revitalization, a population that will be able to transmit the language to a subsequent generation needs to attain sufficient proficiency to do so. In this case, first steps in this direction have been taken by the youth who are involved in Ufa Fisa – as part of the group they develop intellectual competence through interaction with literature and other written forms of the language and practical competence through rehearsal and performance of theatrical productions. These experiences translate to cognitive abilities in Wymysorys which will become indispensable for the survival of Wymysorys.

Endnotes 1 Notably, the projects Linguistic heritage of Poland 2013-2014, financed by the National Humanities Program of the Polish Ministry of Science; Endangered languages. Com- prehensive models for research and revitalization 2013–2016 (see Olko, Wicherkiewicz, 36 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

and Borges 2016) financed by the Polish Ministry of Science, under agreement 0122/ NPRH2/H12/81/2013; Documentation of Linguistic and Cultural Heritage of Wilamo- wice 2014-ongoing, financed by the National Humanities program of the Polish Ministry of Science, and; Engaged Humanities in Europe 2016–2019 financed by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 program, under agreement 692199. 2 See e.g. www.historycampus.org/2019/a-second-look-at-right-wing-poland/ for a brief English-language overview of the rise of far-right politics in Poland. Król has been lob- bying for the recognition for some years. On one occasion, Borges had opportunity to address the Polish Parliamentary Commission for National and Ethnic Minorities as a scientific expert in 2016, and was instructed by the commission to specifically provide argumentation against the idea that Wymysorys is a “dialect of German”. 3 The Little Prince has been translated into hundreds of languages, including other Polish minority languages, e.g. Kashubian Môłi Princ, translated by Maciej Bandur (ISBN 978-83-9512643-0-3); Mazurian Małi Princ, translated by Piotr Szatkowski (ISBN 978- 83952831-0-9), Silesian Mały Princ, translated by Grzegorz Kulik (ISBN 978-83800853- 3-6). 4 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tęcza_Warsaw)

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Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritets- språksmiljö – exemplet Närpes i Finland

LINDA BÄCKMAN, Åbo Akademi SAARA HAAPAMÄKI, Åbo Akademi

Orten Närpes i västra Finland har under senare år presenterats som ett särskilt lyckat exempel på integration, med hög sysselsättningsgrad och täta kontakter mellan migranter och andra ortsbor. Svenskan är minoritetsspråk i Finland men majoritetsspråk i Närpes, och därmed även det språk i vilket migranter erbjuds integrationskurser. I denna artikel granskar författarna integrationen i Närpes utgående från ett intervjumaterial med 23 informanter som har flyttat till Närpes från olika länder. Artikelförfattarna tillämpar Alis- tair Agers och Alison Strangs modell för integration och granskar hur sysselsättning och utbildning, sociala kontakter, språk och kulturella särdrag samt trygghet och stabilitet ter sig ur migranters perspektiv.

Bakgrund I denna artikel diskuterar vi integration i en kontext som på många sätt fram- står som speciell. I fokus står Närpes, en liten landsbygdsort på Finlands väst- kust i det svenskspråkiga Österbotten. Orten var en av de första som tog emot kvotflyktingar under 1980-talet, och senare har man på grund av stor brist på arbetskraft för primärnäringar och andra mindre attraktiva yrken rekryterat utländsk arbetskraft så att andelen personer med s.k. utländsk bakgrund ligger på cirka 15 %, vilket är rätt mycket för finländska förhållanden. Majoriteten av invånarna har svenska som modersmål, medan andelen finskspråkiga endast är 5,4 %. Förhållandet är omvänt i Finland generellt där andelen finskspråkiga är 87,6 % och svenskspråkiga 5,2 %. (Statistikcentralen, uppgifterna gäller år 2018.) Orten har en mycket säregen dialekt som även många svenskspråkiga finländare har svårt att förstå. Näringsstrukturen i Närpes karakteriseras av en relativt stor andel jordbrukare, industriarbetare och pälsdjurfarmare. Orten producerar bl.a. ca 60 % av alla finländska tomater. På grund av att Finland har två nationalspråk är det möjligt för migranter att välja antingen finska eller svenska som integrationsspråk. Språkvalet är stipulerat i lagen om främjande av integration, som trädde i kraft för första gången år 1999. De migranter som bosätter sig i Närpes har alltså i princip en möjlighet att välja sitt integrationsspråk, även om det i praktiken nästan per automatik har varit svenska, på grund av att språket så tydligt dominerar på orten. Med integrations- språk avser vi här helt enkelt det av landets två nationalspråk som en migrant lär sig först när hen flyttat till Finland. Att integration som fenomen däremot är långt mer komplicerat än bara en fråga om språkval återkommer vi till längre fram. 40 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

Utöver de nämnda speciella omständigheterna – eller möjligen trots dem – har Närpes blivit nationellt bekant som en förebild för lyckat integrationsar- bete. Om detta vittnar en påtaglig medial uppmärksamhet (t.ex. Lindén 2013, Niemistö & Elhaimer 2013, Björklund 2016, Sjölind 2016, Teir 2017) och ett pris som Närpes mottagit för föredömligt främjande av etniska relationer (Nordmyr 2016). Man har rentav börjat tala om Närpesmodellen för att syfta på lyckad integration. Kärnan i detta är utan tvekan behovet av arbetskraft, vilket innebär att migranternas sysselsättningssituation är bättre än i genomsnitt i landet. Men kommunen har också genom informationsförmedling, språkun- dervisning, dagvård, utbildning och en rad stödjande integrationsprojekt satsat aktivt på att underlätta situationen för dem som kommer till Närpes. (Mattila & Björklund 2013.) Det har därtill konstaterats att migranternas anpassning gynnas av att orten är svenskspråkig och att språket antingen är bekant för många sedan tidigare eller att migranterna har lätt att lära sig svenska. Också det faktum att växthusen för grönsaksodling utgör små arbetsplatser sägs bidra till integrationen. (Niemistö & Elhaimer 2013.) Vidare förklaras Närpesmodel- lens framgång med att Närpesborna antas ha en särskilt öppen och tolerant attityd gentemot migranter på grund av att de flesta av dem antingen själva har varit emigranter eller har emigranter i släkten. (Mattila & Björklund 2013, 22f, se även Martin et al. 2013, 30 och Pellfolk 2016.) Som forskaren Markku Mattila säger i en intervju (i Niemistö & Elhaimer 2013) har attitydklimatet i Närpes av dessa orsaker varit positivt gentemot migranter redan innan det ens fanns någ- ra i Närpes. De positiva attityderna sägs ha gjort det möjligt för migranterna i Närpes att ingå i lokala nätverk och ha täta kontakter med lokalbefolkningen (se t.ex. Mattila & Björklund 2013, Björklund 2016). Närpesmodellen har hittills främst diskuterats av politiker, beslutsfattare och andra aktörer inom integrationsarbetet, och en stor del av diskussionen har förts i media. När integrationsarbetet i Närpes har varit föremål för forskningsrapporter, har det dominerande perspektivet varit det mottagande samhällets perspektiv. I motsats till dessa forskningsrapporter är syftet med föreliggande artikel att flytta fokus till migranternas perspektiv och med utgångspunkt i ett intervjumaterial undersöka hur de själva förhåller sig till sin migrationsprocess, bosättning i Närpes, sysselsättning, sociala kontakter och språkanvänd- ning, d.v.s. områden som ofta förknippas med integration.

Tidigare forskning Mot bakgrund av att migrationen till landsbygden ökat under de senaste de- cennierna förefaller det naturligt att även forskningen om den utgör ett väx- ande fält. Den rurala immigrationen har undersökts i bl.a. Skottland (Jentsch et al. 2007), Portugal (Fonseca 2008), Spanien (Morén-Alegret 2008), Grek- land (Kasimis et al. 2003), och även i Finland (Martin et al. 2013). Man har ofta närmat sig frågan utifrån det mottagande samhällets synvinkel och un- dersökt vilka demografiska effekter migrationen har på rurala områden som drabbats av att befolkningen minskar och föråldras och där det råder stor brist på arbetskraft vad gäller lågstatusyrken, särskilt inom jordbruk och livs- medelsindustri. Det framkommer i alla ovan nämnda studier att lokalsam- hällena är i stort behov av migranter för vissa yrken och att arbetsgivarna Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 41 värdesätter deras arbetsinsatser högt. Även migranternas eget perspektiv in- kluderas i några tidigare studier. Exempelvis Ricard Morén-Alegret (2008) har intervjuat migranter om deras åsikter om små städer och rurala områden som boningsorter i Spanien. Positivt med landsbygden är enligt informanterna t.ex. kontakten med grannar som bryr sig om varandra och en lugn och problemfri vardag. Integrationen i flerspråkiga miljöer och integrationen som sker på ett mi- noritetsspråk har också undersökts i någon mån, och man har inom denna forskning myntat begreppet nya talare av minoritetsspråk. Vi har undersökt Närpesimmigranterna som nya talare av svenskan i Finland i ett annat sam- manhang (Haapamäki & Bäckman u.u.) och anlägger inte det perspektivet i föreliggande studie, men vi vill kort nämna några exempel på tidigare studier av nya talare här. Exempelvis har Joan Pujolar (2010) undersökt språkideo- logier i det tvåspråkiga Katalonien med särskilt fokus på språkundervisning för migranter. Verena Tunger et al. (2010) har studerat tvåspråkiga områden i Storbritannien, Spanien och Schweiz med hänsyn till officiella majoritets- och minoritetsspråkspolicyer i kontrast till migranternas attityder till språk och språkinlärning. Därtill har Nicola Bermingham och Gwennan Higham (2018) analyserat integration i tvåspråkiga kontexter i Galicien och Wales. I alla dessa studier kommer det fram att majoritetsspråket anses vara en grundförutsätt- ning för integration, medan minoritetsspråket inte ges så stor betydelse. Pujo- lars (2010) studie påvisar t.ex. en diskrepans mellan å ena sidan det ideologiska värdet av katalanska och å andra sidan spanskans praktiska dominans, vilket gör att migranterna förväntas integreras kulturellt och symboliskt på katalanska och samtidigt i praktiken på spanska. Språkundervisningen i katalanska erbjuds i första hand för dem som redan kan spanska, och även många före- språkare för katalanskan anser att migranter hellre bör lära sig spanska för att ha bättre möjligheter på arbetsmarknaden även utanför Katalonien. För vissa arbeten med högre status i områden där minoritetspråket har en officiell ställ- ning krävs dock kunskaper i båda språken, och detta uppges av migranter som en orsak till att vilja lära sig minoritetsspråket (Bermingham & Higham 2018). Föreställningen om att det är bättre för migranter att lära sig majoritetsspråket bygger, som Pujolar (2010) påpekar, i viss mån på tanken om att de placerar sig i yrken med lägre status och krav. Migrationen till landsbygden i Sydösterbotten och Egentliga Finland har studerats av Saartenoja et al. (2009). De flesta av deras informanter föreföll vara nöjda med livet på landsbygden. Att det är tyst, lugnt och tryggt lyftes fram som positiva sidor, medan bristen på socialt umgänge upplevdes som utmanande. I studien av Martin et al. (2013) som nämndes ovan ingår Närpes som en av åtta undersökta finländska landsbygdskommuner. Majoriteten av de beslutsfattare, tjänstemän, föreningsrepresentanter m.m. som besvarade enkäten i När- pes uppfattade den allmänna attityden gentemot migranter som mycket positiv men de trodde också att deras egen attityd var mer positiv än andra invåna- res i kommunen (Martin et al. 2013, 39). De flesta ansåg också att kommunen hade stor nytta av att få fler invånare och mer arbetskraft (ibid. 51). I motsats till de flesta andra kommuner som ingick i studien såg Närpesinformanterna ingen risk med att migranterna skulle bli socialt utslagna eller segregerade på 42 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

grund av bristande språkkunskaper. Detta förklarar författarna (ibid. 55) med att migranterna i Närpes har etablerat sig på arbetsmarknaden och därmed är delaktiga i samhället. Migranterna i Närpes har även varit föremål för en rad språkvetenskapliga studier, där t.ex. deras inlärning och användning av svenska har undersökts. Hanna Järvi (2011a) har studerat en rysk migrants attityder till svenska med utgångs- punkt i en temaintervju och dagbokstexter. I Järvi (2011b) undersöks tolv vuxna migranters rapportering av sina språkliga aktiviteter i form av dagbokstexter. Lena Ekberg och Jan-Ola Östman har gjort studier bland migranter i Österbot- ten, bl.a. i Närpes, och särskilt fokuserat på en gruppdiskussion mellan fem bosniska kvinnor och hur de konstruerar (etniska) identiteter i berättelser. Slutsatsen som dras är att kvinnorna har en ambivalent identitet som varken är finländsk eller bosnisk utan något däremellan, d.v.s. en sorts ”tredje position”. (Östman & Ekberg 2016, Ekberg & Östman 2017a, Ekberg & Östman 2017b.) De nämnda studierna fokuserar alltså på delvis andra aspekter och tillämpar andra perspektiv än vi i denna studie.

Material Materialet i denna artikel är insamlat på ett av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland och Åbo Akademi arrangerat fältarbete i Närpes år 2014. Samman- lagt gjordes 20 inspelade intervjuer på svenska med 23 informanter, varav åtta kommer från Bosnien, tre från Vietnam, tre från Ecuador, två från Litauen, två från Vitryssland, två från Burma, en från Ukraina, en från Makedonien och en från Thailand. Inspelningslängden per intervju varierar mellan 11 och 66 mi- nuter. Intervjuerna innehöll bl.a. frågor om informanternas migrationsprocess, arbete och boende, inlärning av svenska, språkanvändning i vardagen, förstå- else av den lokala dialekten, kontakt med hemlandet, matvanor, fritidsaktivite- ter, sociala kontakter, traditioner och högtider, upplevda kulturella skillnader, barnuppfostran och framtidsplaner. Informantgruppen var ytterst heterogen, inte bara vad gäller ursprungsland. Bland informanterna fanns 13 kvinnor och 10 män, och åldern varierade mellan 17–57 år. Vistelsetiden i Närpes varierade mellan 1 år och 26 år. Det finns en rad begränsningar med materialet. För det första finns det ingen jämn representation hos informanterna vad gäller olika etniciteter, kön, ålder eller vistelsetid i Finland. Vi tror emellertid att materialet i viss mån är repre- sentativt för den heterogenitet som finns bland migranterna på orten. För det andra har merparten av intervjuerna gjorts av studenter som deltog i fältarbetet och som var relativt oerfarna intervjuare, särskilt vad gäller att intervjua personer som har begränsade kunskaper i ett språk. I princip utgick alla intervjuare från samma frågebatteri, men i praktiken varierar innehållet i intervjuerna. Vi har därför tillgång till olika mycket information om olika informanter, vilket naturligtvis bör beaktas i tolkningen av materialet. Även om andelen individer med utländsk bakgrund är relativt stor i Närpes, är antalet i absoluta tal litet. För att försäkra oss om att våra informanter för- blir anonyma anger vi inte deras nationalitet, ålder, kön eller annat som kunde avslöja deras identitet i samband med att vi redogör för intervjusvaren och ger exempel ur materialet. Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 43

Teoretiska och metodiska utgångspunkter Trots att integration som fråga har debatterats livligt sedan flera årtionden, saknar begreppet en enhetlig definition. Ursprungligen syftade begreppet inte på migration eller etniska relationer, utan i allmänhet på de faktorer som anses krävas för ett stabilt samhälle, vilket vanligtvis har förknippats med homoge- nitet, koherens och enhetlighet. Begreppet har dock använts för att syfta på migranters inkludering i samhället ungefär sedan 1960-talet (Kroll et al. 2008). Integration sågs främst som en nödvändig fas på vägen mot assimilering, vilket särskilt i USA har varit rådande praxis sedan länge (Phillimore & Goodson 2008). Inom EU har man sedan år 1999 ett gemensamt ramverk om integration, där den beskrivs som en tvåvägsprocess mellan migranterna och samhäl- let, som båda antas förändras i och med migrationsprocessen. Trots att begreppet integration syftar på en komplex process mäts den ofta genom konkreta, kvantifierbara utfall, såsom sysselsättningsgrad bland ut- landsfödda, vilket anses avgöra huruvida integrationen anses ha ”lyckats” eller ”misslyckats”. Språkkunskaperna står också ofta i centrum. Cristina Ros i Sole (2014, 57) påpekar att inlärningen av nationalspråken har blivit en grund- sten i EU:s integrationspolitik och att migranters kunskaper i det mottagande samhällets språk i allmänhet ses som en barometer för deras integration i ett samhälle. Att inte tala nationalspråket/något av nationalspråken beskrivs ofta som att leva utanför samhället, och språkkunskaper ges därmed inte endast ett instrumentellt värde, utan anses också vara ett tecken på lojalitet till det nya hemlandet (Kostakopoulou 2014). För att analysera intervjumaterialet från Närpes utgår vi från en modell av Alistair Ager och Alison Strang (2004, 2008) som är ett försök att konceptuali- sera och operationalisera begreppet integration genom att föreslå tio grundläg- gande “domäner”, d.v.s. faktorer som spelar in i integrationsprocesser. Modellen reflekterar den normativa förståelsen av integration och erbjuder en analys- struktur för relevanta resultat av densamma (Ager & Strang 2008, 167). Den bygger på resultat som framkommit genom (induktiva) analyser av olika typer av data: litteratur om integration, policydokument, fältarbete och intervjuer med flyktingar samt enkätmaterial (Ager & Strang 2008, 167f.). Den är indelad i fyra olika delar, som i sin tur innefattar olika faktorer som står i växelverkan med varandra. Dessa presenteras i det följande. Den nivå som har att göra med hur väl integrationen har lyckats och vad som krävs för att den ska ske består av sysselsättning, boende, utbildning och hälsa. Nivån för sociala kontakter indelas i tre olika slags relationer: sociala broar, sociala band och sociala länkar (se närmare beskrivning i avsnittet om sociala kontakter). Den nivå i modellen som beskriver faktorer som underlättar integrationen består av språk och kulturkännedom samt trygghet och stabilitet. Den mest grundläggande nivån utgörs av rättigheter och medborgarskap. (Ager & Strang 2008, 170.) Modellen utarbetades främst för policyändamål och till stöd för organisationer som jobbar med integrationsfrågor, och inte i första hand som ett teoretiskt ramverk. Den utgör ändå en lämplig startpunkt för att på ett mer detaljerat sätt undersöka de frågeställningar vi utgår ifrån. Dessutom har den använts även i andra integrationsstudier (t.ex. Phillimore & Goodson 2008), vilket möjliggör vissa jämförelser. 44 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

Eftersom vårt material är begränsat i flera avseenden, har vi inte möjlighet att analysera samtliga faktorer i Ager & Strang (2008). Vårt material innehål- ler t.ex. ingen diskussion om aspekter som har med hälsa att göra, varför den lämnas bort. Komponenten rättigheter och medborgarskap kan vi inte heller diskutera, eftersom intervjuerna inte inkluderade frågor om uppehållstillstånd. Som det redan framgått är intervjusvaren olika utförliga, varför även några andra av modellens delar kan vara svåra att studera i fråga om samtliga informanter. Vi försöker icke desto mindre analysera svaren i förhållande till följande kategorier: 1. Sysselsättning och utbildning, 2. Sociala kontakter, 3. Språk och kulturella särdrag och 4. Trygghet och stabilitet. Vi har alltså valt att separera de faktorer som av Ager och Strang (2008) kategoriseras som nå- got som underlättar integration och bilda olika analyskategorier av dem. Detta beror dels på att språkanvändningen får en mer framträdande roll i vår analys än i den ursprungliga modellen, dels på att vi ser upplevelsen av trygghet och stabilitet som en mycket central fråga i integrationsprocessen och som något som har en stor betydelse för huruvida individerna planerar att stanna i det nya landet.

Sysselsättning och utbildning Som Ager och Strang (2008, 170) konstaterar är sysselsättningen den faktor som man mest har fokuserat på inom integrationsforskningen. Den har också konstaterats vara mest betydelsefull genom att den påverkar så många andra faktorer som har relevans för integrationen, t.ex. ekonomisk oavhängighet samt möjlighet att planera framtiden, knyta kontakter med människor i det mottagande samhället och utveckla sina språkkunskaper. Vid tidpunkten för intervjuerna var 13 av de 23 informanterna i arbete. Åtta av 23 arbetade eller hade arbetat på växthus, och sju informanter antingen arbetade, hade arbetat eller planerade att arbeta inom social- och hälsovården. Därtill var en egenföretagare och en jobbade som metallarbetare. Av de tio som inte var i sysselsättning var fyra personer ungdomar som studerade, och av de övriga hade alla utom en bott i Finland i mindre än fem år. Av alla informanter hade fyra personer högskolestudier från hemlandet, och två av dessa hade exa- mina som inte erkänns i Finland. Bland dem med högre utbildning från hemlandet kunde man tydligt se en frustration över hur svårt det var att få arbete som motsvarade deras kvalifikationer, eller att de kvalifikationer de hade från sitt hemland inte tillgodoräkna- des i Finland. En informant, som vid tidpunkten för intervjuerna jobbade med något som låg nära hens utbildningsbakgrund, berättade att hen till en början var besviken när hen efter att ha studerat i fem år endast fick arbete i växthus. En annan beklagade sig över att ha “tappat mycket tid” innan hen fick ett arbete som motsvarar hens examen. Några informanter påpekade också att migranter mest verkar arbeta i fysiskt krävande jobb med låga utbildningskrav, medan ingen t.ex. jobbar vid stadshuset eller i andra liknande synliga yrkesgrupper, vilket enligt dem sänder en signal om att migranter endast kan ta sig in på vissa områden på arbetsmarknaden. Minna Toivanen och Aili Aurila (2013, 62) konstaterar utgående från en studie bland ryska, kurdiska och somaliska migranter i Finland att största delen (74–95 % av informanterna) ansåg att deras kunska- Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 45 per och färdigheter skulle räcka till för mer krävande arbetsuppgifter. Samtidigt rapporterade informanterna i studien till stor del positiva attityder till sitt jobb och sina chefer, och ansåg att arbetet utgjorde en viktig del av deras liv. Även informanterna i vårt material verkar till stor del vara nöjda med sitt arbete: en regelbunden och tillräcklig lön nämns av många som en orsak att stanna i När- pes och i Finland. Detta diskuteras mer utförligt längre fram i artikeln.

Sociala kontakter I Agers och Strangs modell (2004, 2008) beskrivs tre olika sorters sociala relationer, som författarna kallar sociala broar (social bridges), sociala band (social bonds) och sociala länkar (social links). Sociala band handlar om kontakter med människor från samma ursprungsland, medan sociala broar handlar om kontakter med människor från andra länder. Sociala länkar syftar i sin tur på kontakter med lokala institutioner. Strang (2018) menar att sociala relationer utgör kärnan av integration och att alla tre slags relationer (band, broar och länkar) behövs för människors välmående. Nästan alla informanter verkar umgås mest med sina familjer och med personer från samma ursprungsland. Många har flyttat till Närpes med sin familj eller med åtminstone några familjemedlemmar, och de flesta har också regelbunden kontakt med föräldrar eller andra släktingar i hemlandet. Några säger att de i Närpes bor nära andra landsmän. Särskilt för de kvinnliga informanterna utgör familjen det främsta umgänget, och några säger att deras fritid i huvudsak går ut på att ta hand om barnen. Flera av dem har också flyttat till Närpes i och med att deras män hade jobb där. Inte alla trivs med att umgås med människor från samma ursprungsland: en informant säger att hen känner sig annorlunda eftersom de andra är äldre än hen själv. En annan informant påpekar att det finns stora skillnader inom gruppen av människor från samma land: “vi e int samma ti person”, säger hen, och betonar att skillnader t.ex. i utbildningsbakgrund spelar en stor roll, men att Närpesborna ser alla som lika enligt ursprungsland. De som går i skola eller spelar fotboll uppger att de umgås med människor från andra länder, och några, men ytterst få, säger att de har vänner från andra länder. Vad gäller kontakten med icke-immigrerade närpesbor är det knappt någon som säger att de umgås i någon större utsträckning. Några säger att de förvisso talar med sina grannar, men på ”hej, hur mår du” –nivå. Detsamma verkar gälla arbetskamrater. En informant som kom till landet som kvotflyk- ting säger att hen umgås med sin vänfamilj, men det framgår inte hur ofta. Flera informanter påpekar att det sociala livet i Närpes är väldigt annorlunda än i deras hemländer. De skämtar om hur man med finländare inte kan träffas spontant och om hur tomma gatorna i Närpes är. Några säger att det har varit svårt att få vänner för att människor är reserverade. En informant som kom till Närpes då hen var barn menar att lågstadiet var en ”katastrof”, eftersom hen var den enda som kom från ett annat land och eftersom hen upplevde rasism även från lärare. En annan informant, som bott i Närpes i ungefär ett år, säger att hens dotter inte har vänner i skolan, eftersom ”de e andra kultur”. Det är dock möjligt att alla informanter inte aktivt försöker etablera kontakt med lokalbor eller att de i varje fall inte upplever bristen på kontakter som ett 46 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

problem. Vad gäller de sociala broarna kan vi i varje fall konstatera att den bild som förmedlats av bl.a. Mattila och Björklund (2013) om tät kontakt mellan migranterna och lokalbefolkningen i Närpes inte bekräftas av vårt material. Kontakten med institutioner verkar däremot vara något som fungerat bra, och så gott som alla informanter nämner att de fick hjälp med att fylla i blanket- ter och annan byråkrati då de var nya i Närpes. Det som kallas sociala länkar av Ager och Strang (2008) verkar därmed på basen av detta material fungera väl i Närpes.

Språk och kulturella särdrag Förmågan att tala och förstå det mottagande samhällets språk har i allmän- het setts som en förutsättning för att man överhuvudtaget kan bli delaktig i ett samhälle (Ager & Strang 2008, 182). Vårt material visar att de flesta av informanterna använder svenska i mycket begränsad utsträckning, vilket givetvis hänger samman med att de i regel inte umgås med lokalbefolkningen. De som jobbar inom primärnäringen och industrin – det vill säga majoriteten av de sysselsatta informanterna – rapporterar att de inte har möjlighet att kommunicera på svenska inom ramen för sitt arbete. De som arbetar i växthus säger att de inte har några arbetskamrater och att de därför inte kan tala med någon. Delvis liknande resultat kommer fram i Tunger et al. (2010, 200f.) som konstaterar att migranter på lågstatusarbetsplatser ofta arbetar ensamma eller med sina landsmän eller andra migranter och således varken har behov av att kunna lokalsamhällets språk eller möjlighet att använda det. För många av informanterna är språkkurserna det enda sättet att komma i kontakt med det svenska språket. Det är dock i huvudsak bara på lektionerna som det talas svenska, medan de flesta umgås med andra talare från samma etniska grupp utanför lektionerna. En informant konstaterar att ”alla” i skolan talar bosniska under rasterna. Av de sex informanter som kunde engelska när de kom till Finland har några valt att inte lära sig svenska förrän efter att de hade vistats i Närpes rätt länge (i vissa fall t.o.m. 6–7 år), helt enkelt för att de har ansett att de klarar sig på engelska. Detta gäller endast arbetskraftsmigranter, eftersom flyktingarna deltar i språkkurser ända från början. Men det finns även bland de icke-engelskkunniga arbetskraftsmigranterna sådana som har börjat lära sig svenska först efter att de bott i Närpes i några år. Orsaken till att de börjat gå på språkkurs har oftast varit att de blivit arbetslösa. Därtill finns det informanter som aldrig har deltagit i en språkkurs utan i stället lärt sig (standard)svenska på något annat sätt. Informanterna i vår undersökning har alltså fått svenskundervisning i mycket varierande grad. Intervjuerna förs dock huvudsakligen på standardsvenska, vilket betyder att samtliga informanter har åtminstone elementära kunskaper i språket. Här bör det emellertid påpekas att de också är valda av våra kontaktpersoner just på grund av att de kan svenska, så man kan under inga omständigheter dra slutsatsen att alla migranter i När- pes eller ens majoriteten av dem faktiskt kan kommunicera på svenska. Endast tre informanter anger att de i någon mån förstår Närpesdialekt. Alla dessa tre är emellertid sådana som har flyttat till Närpes som barn eller ungdomar och gått i skola där. De vuxna migranterna säger sig inte förstå Närpesdialekt överhuvudtaget. Till och med sådana informanter som har bott närmare tjugo år Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 47 i Närpes konstaterar att dialekten där är ren ”kinesiska” för dem. Våra resultat verkar således inte bekräfta den bild som getts i media om att ”många invandrare lär sig dialekt” och att detta ”inte ses som något hinder bland invandrarna” (Sjölind 2016, det handlar här om en intervju av forskarna Ekberg och Östman). Ingen säger sig kunna finska bra, men sju informanter säger att de kan lite finska och flera anser att det vore bra att kunna finska. Det finns emellertid endast två informanter som explicit säger att det hade varit bättre att ha finska i stället för svenska som integrationsspråk. Samtliga informanter uppger att de mestadels kommunicerar på sitt/sina modersmål. Alla säger också att det är viktigt att förmedla den egna språkliga och kulturella värdegrunden till barnen. Att modersmålen dominerar i informanternas kommunikation hänger givetvis samman med det faktum att de huvudsakligen umgås med sina familjemedlemmar och med andra människor från samma etniska grupp som de själva. Vårt material tyder inte heller på något nämnvärt kulturellt utbyte mellan migranterna och lokalbefolkningen i Närpes. Samtliga informanter uppger att de efter flytten till Finland har bevarat sina kulturella och religiösa traditioner samt mattraditionerna från ursprungslandet. Ett par av informanterna säger att de har övertagit någon finländsk tradition eller att de ibland lagar finsk mat, främst på grund av att deras barn vill ha det. Några informanter betonar också att deras kultur eller matvanor inte är så annorlunda än i Finland. Få informanter uttalar sig explicit om hur lokalbefolkningen förhåller sig till deras traditioner, kanske för att ingen frågar dem om det i intervjuerna eller kanske av hänsyn till de personer som organiserat intervjusituationen (och som i många fall fungerat som deras stödpersoner) eller av hänsyn till intervjuarna som är obekanta för informanterna.

Trygghet och stabilitet Fred, fysisk säkerhet och trygghet är omständigheter som bidrar till att man kan känna sig hemma i ett nytt land (Ager & Strang 2008, 183f). När vi granskar frågan om trygghet och stabilitet, utgår vi framför allt från hur informanterna har svarat på frågor om vad de tror att de gör om fem år, huruvida de kommer att stanna i Finland respektive Närpes och varför de vill eller inte vill stanna. Svaren ger vid handen att ca två tredjedelar, totalt 16 informanter tänker stanna i Finland. Av dessa säger sju informanter explicit att de vill stanna just i Närpes. Orsakerna till att informanterna vill stanna är t.ex. att det är tryggt och lugnt, att det inte finns problem med narkotika, alkohol eller våld och att de har möj- ligheter som de inte har haft i sina hemländer, särskilt på grund av att de nu är ekonomiskt självständiga. De informanter som har barn som är födda och uppvuxna i Närpes vill stanna där på grund av barnen. Att ha köpt lägenhet/ hus uppges också som en orsak att stanna och ger ett slags stabilitet. Våra resultat liknar därmed de resultat som Saartenoja et al. (2009) lyfte fram gällande migrationen till landsbygden i Sydösterbotten och Egentliga Finland. Den främsta enskilda orsaken till viljan att stanna är emellertid ekonomisk självständighet/säkerhet, vilket framgår t.ex. i följande citat där en informant beskriver hur det faktum att man får lön som man kan leva på kan ha en avgö- rande betydelse för beslutet att stanna. 48 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

före vi kommer här i finland hela tiden om jag fick jobb min man är ledig (.) om han jobbade jag är ledig (.) hela tiden du hade bara små lån ((=lön)) för hela familjen (.) exempel jag jobbade per månad cirka 200 timmar för 220 euro (.) de är så liten peng för familj (.) därför vi kommer här i finland (.) en sju år i livet är långt (.) du har jobbat du har lån ((=lön)) du kan betala räkningar du kan äta normalt du kan göra allt normalt (.) det är utan stress […] första år när vi kom till finland hon ((=dottern)) gråter så mycket hon vill inte stanna här hon vill tillbaka till bosnien och jag förstår (.) hon lämnade väninna hon lämnade skola och i bosnien hon har (.) jag vet inte vad heter (.) men exempel alla natten hon går ut med väninna och dricka kaffe och prata och vi kom här hon är bara hemma och hon vill gå hem i finland till bosnien (.) och vi pratar så mycket och hon gråter så mycket och efter ett år hon jobbade i växthus sommarjobb bara en månad och hon tar lön och hon ser hur mycket pengar så mycket pengar (.) jag kan köpa allt vad jag vill och hon köpte cykel och köpte kläder och lämnade par hundra euro och hon säger jag vill inte gå och bo i bosnien

Orsakerna till att några av informanterna inte vill stanna i Närpes är delvis desamma som för vissa informanter var orsaker till att stanna, d.v.s. att det är lugnt och tyst; men också att det inte finns några möjligheter om man t.ex. vill studera eller få ett bättre jobb, att det är svårt att få vänner, att Närpesborna inte vill ha kontakt med migranter och att man känner sig ensam och isolerad. Här utgör även språket utan tvekan en barriär, då lokalbefolkningen talar en dialekt som är obegriplig för informanterna. Här kan noteras att hur nöjda informanterna är med sin tillvaro och hur be- nägna de är att stanna kvar i Närpes förefaller ha ett visst samband med deras utbildningsnivå. Mest nöjda är de som är lågutbildade och som har kommit till Närpes uttryckligen för att de inte har haft jobb eller haft så lågbetalda jobb i sitt forna hemland att det inte har varit möjligt att leva ett normalt liv. Minst nöjda är de (få) som har högre utbildning och som inte har möjlighet att få arbete som motsvarar deras kvalifikationer utan är tvungna att arbeta i lågstatusyrken. Att högutbildade personer verkar vara mindre benägna att stanna kvar i Närpes gäller även för infödda Närpesbor och har lett till att Närpes överlag har en lägre utbildningsnivå än medeltalet i landet (se t.ex. Teir 2017). Däremot kan man inte se skillnader i informanternas uppfattning om trygghet och stabilitet samt deras vilja att stanna kvar som skulle ha ett samband med huruvida de är flyktingar eller arbetskraftsmigranter, hur länge de har vistats i Närpes, av vilket kön de är, från vilket land de kommer eller hurdana svenskkunskaper de har. Givetvis är även det material som vi har undersökt så begränsat att det är svårt att granska samband mellan olika faktorer.

Diskussion Trots att det material som har studerats i denna artikel är förhållandevis litet och våra informanter i flera avseenden ytterst olika, uppvisar intervjusvaren betydande likheter, vilket möjliggör att man kan se vissa mönster i materialet. Den viktigaste faktorn av dem vi undersökt ovan är utan tvekan sysselsätt- ningen och den därtill hörande ekonomiska självständigheten. Dessa är också de mest centrala orsakerna till att informanterna har kommit till Finland och Närpes och att de vill stanna där. Vår undersökning uppvisar delvis liknande resultat som kommit fram i tidigare studier av migration till rurala miljöer, exempelvis den centrala betydelsen av sysselsättning men också upplevelser av social exkludering (Fonseca 2008) eller Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 49 högutbildade migranters bristande möjligheter att få kvalificerade arbeten (t.ex. Jentsch et al. 2007, Fonseca 2008). Bristen på arbetskraft på landsbygden, särskilt inom yrken som uppfattas som oattraktiva av en stor del av befolkningen, är ett återkommande tema i så gott som alla undersökningar om rural integration. Vi konstaterade inledningsvis att Närpes ofta lyfts fram som ett exempel, eller till och med som en modell, på hur lyckad integration ser ut, och framgången bygger framför allt på migranternas sysselsättningssituation. Den s.k. Åremodellen, som man nyligen börjat tala om i Sverige, har en hel del likheter med diskurserna om Närpes genom att framgångsperspektivet också där till stor del handlar om sysselsättning. I Åre är kommunens mål att alla nyanlända ska vara i arbete inom två år från det att de anlänt. Brist på arbetskraft finns bl.a. inom vård och omsorg, städbranschen samt hotell- och restaurangbranscherna. (Se t.ex. Söderlund 2016, Danielsson 2017.) Frågan är emellertid hur stor vikt sysselsättningsfrågan ska ha i uppfattningen om integration. Som vi konstaterade tidigare kan man också fråga sig i vilken mening det är lyckat att migranter tar hand om de arbeten som inte duger åt den inhemska befolkningen. Vår analys har även visat att de undersökta dimensionerna i viss mån hänger samman. Exempelvis har bristen på sociala broar (sociala kontakter utanför den egna etniska gruppen) ett samband med en begränsad användning av svenska. Lyckad sysselsättningssituation har i sin tur, som vi nämnt, ett samband med trygghet och stabilitet. Även de sociala banden (inometniska relationer och familjens centrala roll), de sociala länkarna (kontakter med lokala institutioner) och möjligen också de egna kulturella traditionerna gynnar trygghet och stabilitet, medan sociala broar eller anammandet av lokalsamhällets språk och kulturella traditioner inte verkar utgöra villkor för känslan av trygghet och stabilitet. Också utan dessa kan man känna sig förankrad i ett samhälle. Susanne Wessen- dorf och Jenny Phillimore (2018) menar att social integration inte nödvändigtvis är beroende av kontakter till majoritetsbefolkningen, utan att alla slags sociala kontakter, vare sig de är flyktiga eller bestående, är viktiga. Denna slutsats bygger på en studie som de har gjort bland migranter i London och Birmingham gäl- lande socioekonomisk och kulturell integration, som framför allt gynnades av informanternas kontakter med andra personer från samma land. Även Jentsch et al. (2007) betonar vikten av den här typen av kontakter. Till synes ytlig social interaktion, som att bli hälsad på gatan, kan också vara betydande för känslan av att höra hemma (Pöyhönen, Kokkonen & Tarnanen 2019). Med utgångspunkt i våra resultat kan vi alltså hålla med Mattila & Björk- lund (2013) om att det har haft positiv inverkan på integrationen i Närpes att inometniska nätverk har bildats när de som immigrerat och blivit bofasta med tiden har lockat ett flertal släktingar, bekanta och vänner till Närpes. Faktum är att de flesta av våra informanter är nöjda med det umgänge de har med sin familj och sina landsmän, och som framgick ovan vill de flesta stanna i Finland, trots bristen på umgänge med finländare. Våra informanters berättelser om umgänge, eller bristen på umgänge, kan också tänkas återspegla vanligt socialt liv på en landsbygdsort, där många främst umgås med sina familjer. Man kan säga att migranterna kanske har integrerats i lokala sociala mönster. Att vissa av informanterna uppenbarligen ändå skulle vara intresserade av fler kontakter med lokalbefolkningen kan antyda att 50 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

strukturerna för hur man umgås på landsbygden känns främmande särskilt för sådana individer som kommer från urbana miljöer. Samma slags resultat har förvisso kommit fram även i studier av migration till urbana miljöer gällande frånvaron av sociala kontakter med lokalbefolkningen samt bristande social integration (t.ex. Korac 2003 om Nederländerna). I vårt material ter det sig som en självklarhet att migranter i Närpes lärt sig svenska, eftersom det är majoritetsspråket på orten. Till skillnad från observa- tioner i t.ex. Katalonien, Wales eller Galicien (se Pujolar 2010, Bermingham och Higham 2018), är minoritetsspråket i detta fall inte ett ”tillägg” till det nationella majoritetsspråket, utan både praktiskt och symboliskt det regionala majoritetsspråket. Integrationsutbildningen som erbjuds omfattar därmed en- bart svenskstudier, och de flesta informanter verkar inte ifrågasätta detta val. Våra resultat ger således ingen principiell anledning att oroa sig över att migranter integreras på svenska i Finland, särskilt så länge som de är villiga att stanna i svenskspråkiga områden. Det som snarare kan förvåna är att språ- ket förefaller ha en så marginell betydelse för våra informanter. Dock bör det understrykas att detta gäller migranter med låg utbildningsnivå och i lågstatus yrken, d.v.s. sådana som sannolikt är mindre mobila och mindre benägna att flytta till finskdominerade orter. Ju högre utbildningsnivå, desto viktigare är språket och desto viktigare också kunskaper i finska. För dessa individer kunde en tvåspråkig integrationsprocess vara att föredra framför en enspråkigt svensk. Hur väl traditionella enspråkiga integrationskurser fyller sin funktion, dvs. stöder migranter på arbetsplatser och i samhällen som ofta i själva verket är flerspråkiga, är en fråga som kritiskt diskuteras i aktuell forskning (t.ex. Pöy hönen, Tarnanen & Simpson 2018). Det finns emellertid två omständigheter som det kan vara motiverat att reflek- tera över när man diskuterar integrationsspråk. Dels förefaller språkinlärningen ingalunda alltid vara det första steget i integrationsprocessen; det visade sig att flera av informanterna i vår undersökning hade börjat studera svenska först efter att de vistats många år i landet. Dels använde de flesta svenska i ytterst begränsad utsträckning och de talade i stället mestadels sitt eget modersmål. Av dessa orsaker är det tveksamt huruvida man alls kan tala om ”integration på svenska”. Som vi nämnde tidigare anses språkkunskaper ofta vara en barometer på integration och en nyckel till delaktighet i samhället (Ros i Sole 2014). I vårt material är uppfattningen om tillhörighet och om att känna sig hemma i Närpes inte beroende av språkkunskaper i svenska eller finska, även om de, som vi konstaterade, har ett samband med avsaknaden av sociala kontakter till övriga Närpesbor. Vad gäller Närpesmodellen kan vi således på grundval av våra analysresultat konstatera att faktorer som underlättar delaktighet och integration har att göra med den lokala arbetsmarknaden (sysselsättning, säkerhet och stabilitet), det institutionella stödet till migranter (sociala länkar) och det faktum att familjer kan bo tillsammans (sociala band, säkerhet och stabilitet). Det som vårt material inte bekräftar, utan snarare ifrågasätter, är den påstådda nära kontakten mellan migranter och andra närpesbor (t.ex. Mattila & Björklund 2013) eller kontakten mellan människor från olika ursprungsländer – alltså kontakter som hör till kategorin sociala broar. Språkets, i detta fall svenskans, roll blir också perifer. Ager och Strang (2008) menar att alla faktorer är nödvändiga för inte- Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 51 gration och för välmående över lag, och därmed kan man fråga sig om integrationen som den tvåvägsprocess som den ofta beskrivs som, har lyckats i Närpes. Huruvida man kan tala om ”modeller” för integration är i sig också värt att ifrå- gasätta. Integrationen sker på lokalt plan (jfr Saukkonen 2018), och som det har konstaterats i flera studier (t.ex. Cheung & Phillimore 2016, Jentsch 2007), är behoven inte samma från en kontext till en annan. Jentsch (2007) konstaterar t.ex. att en ”god praxis” som identifierats i Nordeuropas industriella länder har visat sig vara ineffektiv i Sydeuropa. Likaså måste man i fallet Närpes minnas de lokala omständigheterna, inte minst vad gäller arbetsmarknaden. Om integration mäts genom sysselsättning har Närpes, med sina små företag med låga språk- och utbildningskrav, särskilt goda förutsättningar att lyckas. Inom migrationsforskningen har man mer och mer börjat tala om superdiversitet (Vertovec 2007), som syftar på en ökad och mer komplex mångfald. Sedan 1990-talet har ökad migration haft en inverkan på livet särskilt i större städer i Västeuropa, och även områden som tidigare inte berördes av migration har nu ett flertal invånare med migrantbakgrund. Även om man oftast har tillämpat -su perdiversitetsperspektivet då man har studerat mångkulturella mönster i storstä- der, kan denna teoribildning vara fruktbar även när man diskuterar frågor kring mångfald i mindre samhällen. Här kan man särskilt framhålla tanken om mång- faldens mångdimensionalitet i etniskt, juridiskt, politiskt, språkligt, kulturellt, re- ligiöst och ekonomiskt hänseende (t.ex. Grzymala-Kazlowska & Phillimore 2018, 180). Detta innebär att det i studiet av mångfalden är fruktbart att välja ett inter- sektionellt orienterat analytiskt perspektiv som betonar samspelet mellan etnici- tet, religion, klass, ålder, kön/genus/sexualitet m.m. Som vi nämnde verkar ingen enskild faktor i vårt material entydigt spela en avgörande roll för upplevelsen av integration. Vårt material är dock litet, och det vore av vikt att samspelet mellan olika bakgrundsvariabler och frågan om man har eller inte har integrerats i det nya landet blir föremål för mer omfattande empiriska studier än här. Superdiversitet gäller naturligtvis inte endast migranter, utan samhället över lag. I diskurser om integration förenklas också den ”nationella” kulturen, och det glöms bort att livsstilar och traditioner varierar även inom den infödda befolkningen. I stället för att diskutera hur viktigt det är att migranter t.ex. firar högtider på ett visst sätt kunde integration handla mer om hur man bland olika identiteter, vanor och sätt att leva hittar tillräckligt som är gemensamt för att det kan skapas en känsla av samhörighet (jfr Ager & Strang 2010). Enligt vår åsikt är det av vikt att framtida forskning fokuserar såväl på migranternas egna upplevelser av sin integration som på lokalbefolkningens upplevelser och attityder. Det är först genom sådana studier som man på ett nyanserat sätt kan diskutera frågan om integration, uppfattad som en två- eller flervägsprocess.

Linda Bäckmans forskning finansieras av Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland.

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Self-reflective “Minority literature”: A Stylistic Profile of a Case study

ANTJE WISCHMANN, University of Vienna

This article makes a case for investigating the stylistic devices and effects of multi-language works of “minority literature” in order to apply a more comprehensive perspective with a textual focus. The identity-political framing normally adopted plays no prominent role in this article, though ideological attitudes towards minority politics and language- promotion schemes no doubt also influence the implied and empirical reader reception. A more philologically precise examination of intra- and transtextual stylistic processes makes it possible to avoid a reductive interpretation based on genre labels or stereotypes. Taking Thom Lundberg’s debut work För vad sorg och smärta (2016) about a Traveller family as example, I describe two processes of understanding. Firstly, by drawing on ethnolinguistic sources, Lundberg has embedded insertions in resande-romska (a variety of Romani) within the Swedish-language main text, making the activity of translation integral to the text and activating non-literary discourses. Secondly, the translations undertaken by the narrator and characters (by means such as glossing, explication, or contextualisa- tion) shape the performance of reading, with the reader forced to decide whether to accept the invitation to gradually build a limited Romani vocabulary.

Introduction: Minority literature beyond identity politics? The fact that authors belong to certain linguistic or cultural minorities is not the most important consideration for minority literature as a genre, I argue here. If such authors are attributed the role of “literary voices” or representatives of identity politics, there might be a risk for a restricted reception (see, in particular, the critical discussion in Behschnitt et al. 2013, 1–15). The effects of such attribution are observable even today, as the style of a work of literature is still frequently linked to the personal idiolect of its author. This article attempts to loosen this seemingly natural connection and instead draw attention to a text-specific style rooted in the combining and mixing of languages. In my investigation, I have selected the debut novel För vad sorg och smärta (2016) by Thom Lundberg as a characteristic case, for two reasons. First, in my example, a more traditional and a more recent understanding of minority literature are combined, particularly manifested in the stylistic strategies used in För vad sorg. Implicit and actual readers are initially confronted with a work of literature that, by means of its paratexts, seems to have already been assigned to the genre of minority literature: as the text on the book jacket states, Romani and Romnia are represented, and the language Romani is used – in small “samples”, as it were. This indirect reading instruction ensures that the Wischmann Self-reflective ”Minority Language” 55 text constructed by the readers is oriented towards the category of ethnicity or minority right from the start. Accordingly, readers’ initial attention is directed towards the well-proven agenda of identity politics, i.e., towards increasing the visibility of minority languages, the necessity of revising history, and the possibly also of revitalising such languages. Beyond theme-specific arguments, it is also suggested that the author Lundberg views himself as part of the national Romani and Traveller minority in Sweden. Around year 2000, Satu Gröndahl was already a pioneer in her endeavour to dissociate the concept of minority literature from any promise of multiculturalism, to highlight the theme-specific criterion of genres and to focus on multilingualism (see Gröndahl 2002b, 35). However, in accordance with the use of one language as a clearly distinct code, separable from other (national) languages, she contrasts one majority language with a minority language presented in a position of alterity (see Gröndahl 2002a, 12–13). However, when reading För vad sorg one immediately notices that Gröndahl’s criterion, whereby a minority language is used as a means of literary composition (see Gröndahl 2002a, 30), does not apply here. Lundberg’s use of a “sampled” language (see Malm 2016) does not indicate the use of minority language as “det egna språket” (“the language of one’s own”, i.e. the characteristic language of a certain minority group; Gröndahl 2002a, 31). From the perspective of current multilingualism research, the boundaries of language systems or codes have meanwhile been called into question, even when several different standard and non-standard varieties can be identified. The genre of minority literature has also expanded under the influence of postcolonial theory and criticism. While För vad sorg makes use of strategies such as “writing back” or reappropriation, in some cases these are only alluded to, as they have already become established in the canon of minority literature. Even the language material itself is, so to speak, sourced at second hand and observed from a distance. Lundberg uses secondary sources from the field of linguistic ethnography eclectically, even independently of their linguistic ideology and historical background. Secondly, according to Johanna Laakso, Romani and Para-Romani, character- ized by their contacts with contextual languages, constitute a “non-territorial language” (Laakso et al. 2016, 16). As these historically ambiguous labels cannot be conceptualised as a national language or as analogous to a national language (see Carling 2008, 7–18), the readers are introduced to a kind of language mix that they probably will not identify as a common expression of bilingualism or code mixing. The unfamiliar insertions are integrated into the syntax and morphology of the main text rather than being italicised or tagged by inverted commas. The information that these are Romani elements is provided on the book jacket, so again the paratext takes on the function of a guide for readers. As I will show below, För vad sorg presents itself as a “Swedish novel” with some idioms or phrases translated into Romani. This novel may therefore be considered as having been “born translated” because the original text is obviously a result of translation processes — for example, the novel is a translated text right from the start (see Walkowitz 2015, 1–48). Lundberg’s debut appears as a born-translated novel, because “translation functions as a thematic, structural, conceptual, and sometimes even typographical device” (Walkow- 56 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

itz 2015, 4). För vad sorg assumes the function of cultural and linguistic communication particularly by means of its style, which is characterised by challenging, and simultaneously reflecting, the genre of minority literature. At the same time, the pastiche-like quality of the work is stylistically exposed, a process that is substantially supported by the numerous inherent back-and- forth translations. The fact that the novel addresses and comments on what precisely is the official Swedish minority language Romani, which has been increasingly promoted since the 2014 publication of the White Book about the mistreatment of and discrimination against the Roma people and the piv- otal documentation of Roma culture and the identity of Gerd Carling and her team (“Romer – 500 years in Sweden” 2016), gives rise to newly formu- lated questions of language ideology and policy. Is today’s minority literature creating a transnational or even global profile that could possibly become universalised? Has current awareness of transnational language biographies and of the diversity of social backgrounds made the standard of ethnicity obsolete, or has this standard merely been slightly detached from the authors, or relabelled? These wide-ranging questions could induce those who have read the book to compare their experience of reading traditional and more recent “minority literature”, highlighting their self-reflective effects, with that of reading För vad sorg’s reflection on the canon. Analysing the style and ac- counts of multilingual communication and of the multi-language processes of production and reception makes it possible to do this novel justice both as a composition and textual construction and in its overall “Gestalt” (Ulla Fix 1996) as a text.

Mixing and combining languages As a work published by Sweden’s most famous publishing house, Albert Bon- niers, För vad sorg satisfies a key condition for being canonised as “new Swed- ish literature”. The text on the cover of För vad sorg is crucial for this genre classification: På“ en svenska med insprängd romani berättar Thom Lund- berg om skrothandlare, hästagillare och tivolifolk; om synska resandekvinnor och stridslystna resandekarlar; om kärlek, hämnd och kamp” (In a Swedish sprinkled with Romani, Thom Lundberg tells the stories of scrap metal deal- ers, horse lovers, and fairground workers; of fortune-telling Traveller women and quarrelsome Traveller men; of love, vengeance, and struggle). Since the Romani words have been adapted, they are not marked as “strange” or “other”, which may embolden readers to expand their partial understanding of Scando- romani phrases while reading the novel. In the very first sentence of the novel an unfamiliar noun is integrated, which the readers probably will identify as Romani, just because they have read the cover text. “Amandus och Olof drog familjens voddring den sista biten upp för Kronobacken” (Amandus and Olof pulled the family’s voddring up the Krono- backen; Lundberg 2016, 13). The noun ”voddring” is not explained in a glos- sary or footnote, bust must be interpreted from context. Of course, it could also be a dialect expression, a case of regiolect, “famili- olect”, or a historical term, but the assumption of an archaic style would not be sufficient here. Wischmann Self-reflective ”Minority Language” 57

The cover image also helps instigate an ethnicising reading: the title and author’s name, rendered in crudely stamped white letters, are ringed by simple brush-drawn emblems in black – the typical spoked wheel of a “gypsy” caravan, a violin, an accordion, and a knife in an exotically decorated sheath – resulting in a rustic, nostalgic bookplate reminiscent of broadside ballad illustrations. The two interlocked chain links at the top of the front cover, just above the author’s name, allude to historical Roma blacksmiths. They are supplemented by the first, genealogical title motto (Lundberg 2016, without page) För vad sorg och smärta. The protagonist Olof is the son of Severina, who originally composed the song and can rely on Olof to keep the Romani tradition alive into the future. This signals that Olof could be a figure of identification for both author and reader. The second motto positions the novel relative to the Swedish-language canon, creating a “modern- ist epistemic frame”: “Fågeln väljer flykten. Vi valde den icke./Flykten valde oss. Därför är vi här. …” (A bird chooses flight. We did not choose it./Flight chose us. That’s why we are here. … (Stig Dagerman 21.4.1953 in Dagsedlar (Diary Notes), 1990, 163; see Lundberg 2016, without page). This motto does two things. Firstly, it consciously problematises the “nomadism” attributed to Roma groups and generalises flight and displacement to the status of universal existential questions. Olof fled to Halland with his parents and brother Valentin after the Jönköping riots of 1948 (which went down in Swedish history as a notorious episode of anti-Romani violence). The plot centres on the family’s tumultuous time in the fictional town of Slitebruk between 1947 and 1955. Secondly, the Dagerman motto signals that För vad sorg is intended, as it were, to be retrospectively written into the Swedish canon. Lundberg makes this explicit in the afterword when he explains that the work is a pastiche of a “proletarian” novel and reveals his method of appropriation. He even details the primary literature he has used: “Jag har citerat och parafraserat textstycken från följande skönlitteräre verk, varav flera är böcker som skrevs under den tid då min roman borde ha bliven skriven” (I have directly quoted or paraphrased the following literary works, many of which were composed in the time during which my novel should have been written; ibid., 363). He thus criticises the exclusion of Roma groups from the modernisation project of the Swedish folkhem (welfare state), the effects of which can be felt right down to the present day, and expresses his intention to use literature to fill a gap in historical memory. However, he makes no mention of the European Roma literature stretching back to the 1920s (see Eder-Jordan 2015), the texts of the celebrated author and Roma activist Katarina Taikon, or the xenophile work Zigenare (1929) by the famous author Ivar Lo-Johansson, whose proletarian novels are a key source of inspiration for Lundberg. The sometimes apparently contradictory tension between a main text aug- mented with Romani insertions and the story of a single Traveller family, in- terwoven with boastful heroic sagas and vivid anecdotes of a pan-Scandina- vian Roma collective, invites different possible readings: readers can choose to focus either on the linguistic work of building their Romani vocabulary, giving rise to a separate strand concerning language learning (this reading is what I concentrate on here), or on following the course of Olof’s rudimentary 58 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

education, culminating in his identificatory reading of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Olof becomes caught up in the consequences of a violent crime committed by his brother Valentin, and in the end is doomed to be a perpetual outsider after he takes the blame so that Valentin can flee. By interlinking the stories of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish Roma representatives, För vad sorg reveals how Romani varieties lose their non-territorial character in local/regional contexts and assume the properties of the contextual matrix languages. The term “majority language” is here taken ad absurdum: minority/majority language and language use exhibit more simi- larities than sharp differences. Swedish and Romani (resande-romska) appear in a new fusion.

Ethnographic sources Lundberg’s identity as an author is left unspecific and ambiguous. An interesting signal is sent by the publisher’s blurb, which does not state the author’s ethnicity but merely two places Lundberg has lived: “… uppvuxen i skån- ska Osby, bor idag i Schweiz” (… grew up in Osby in the southern Swedish province of Scania, now lives in Switzerland). Lundberg is, undeniably, writing from the simulated perspective of a contemporary witness, though he does not conceal this fact but explicitly acknowledges the appropriation. At the same time, the appropriation seems legitimised by Lundberg’s status as a third-generation descendant of the resandefolket described in the novel. Is the integrated Romani course an attempt to revitalise the romani chib variety that language-promotion schemes are seeking to maintain? Is this debut work perhaps primarily aimed at language learners or readers with a penchant for ethnography? While the literary texts that Lundberg refers to are clustered around the 1930–1950 period, his eclectic ethnographic sources range from 1764 to the present day, encompassing historical court records, Norwegian databases, glos- saries, websites of activists, forums, and publications by Traveller family history associations (see Lundberg 2016, 363–365). The scholars Eilert Sundt (1817– 1875) and Adam de Heymowski (1926–1995) are known outside Romani/ Gypsy studies, appearing, for instance, in Klaus-Michael Bogdal’s monograph Europa erfindet die Zigeuner (Europe invents the gypsies; 2013). The inclusion of the study Scandoromani (2014, edited by Gerd Carling et al.) indicates that Lundberg not only derived a lexical repertoire from secondary sources, but also drew on scholarly theories of the historical status of Romani varieties and their exchange with their contextual matrix languages, some of which make their way into remarks made by the narrator or characters. From these hetero- geneous sources, Lundberg derived what he calls a “skrivstandard” (Lundberg 2016, 264), and could be considered the creator of a written resande-romska variety for literary use. The afterword presents – in the tradition of Herder – the Travellers’ songs in particular as a collective creation by the community depicted in the novel (ibid., 364–365). The eponymous song by Olof’s mother Seve- rina is documented in an ethnographic work (Lindell 2008, 201). Although the pastiche is made explicit, the romanticised air of an oral, genealogical tradition still remains. Wischmann Self-reflective ”Minority Language” 59

Becoming aware of multilingual communication The readers do not simply take a Romani course in literary form, but become acquainted with the notions of partial comprehension and partial fluency, thereby inviting identification with the characters and appealing directly to those interested in linguistic ethnography. Readers might ask, for instance, whether there is much difference between their own grasp of Swedish and/or Romani and that of members of minorities (whether this membership is ethnically legitimised or self-declared). By the time readers get to page 234, might they feel like attendees of a beginners’ Romani class, or will they identify with Olof Klosterman, son to a Romani‑Norwegian mother and an adoptive father socialised as a Rom?

Carl and Maximilian talked almost exclusively in Romani. Olof was obviously not used to this, for during his childhood he had mainly heard Swedish with dashes of Romani, but almost never Romani with dashes of Swedish. And pure Romani never at all. Maximilian said to Carl, “Glaneske nukkon avar, tjakkes mandrom mostula bescha nevroa daxa prej hakket.” “Develske dad! Honkar diro romni pari?” asked Carl. “Ashi, miro phral! Li ashar nevreske-pari”. “Vorsnos nukkoar ashar vorsnos sass”, said Carl. “Dolle honkar sosti vorsnos sastot tradra prej romano-dromen”, said Maximilian. Olof attempted to follow the conversation. Perhaps he should nod occasionally? Or look interested as Maximilian spoke. He was familiar with the expression on Carl’s face when he’d got to the punchline of a funny story, so he knew when to laugh. The conversation soon drifted increasingly into Swedish, as that was the language both Maximilian and Carl felt more comfortable speaking. [Carl och Maximilian rakklade på övervägande romani. Detta honkade Olof tji van vid, för i hans uppväxt hade han mest hört svenska med romaniinslag, men nästan aldrig romani med inslag av svenska. Och aldrig ren romani. Maximilian pennade till Carl: ”Glaneske nukkon avar, tjakkes mandrom mostula bescha nevroa daxa prej hakket.” ”Develske dad! Honkar diro romni pari?” frågade Carl. ”Ashi, miro phral! Li ashar nevreske-pari.” ”Vorsnos nukkoar ashar vorsnos sass”, pennade Carl. ”Dolle honkar sosti vorsnos sastot tradrar prej romano-dromen”, pennade Maximilian. Olof försökte följa med i samtalet. Kanske om han nickade på något ställe? Eller såg intresserad ut när Maximilian rakklade. Han hade lärt sig hur Carls ansikte såg ut precis innan han kom till slutklämmen på en rolig historia och på detta vis förstod han när han skulle skratta. Snart övergick samtalet till övervägande svenska, för både Maximilian och Carl kände sig tryggare att rakkla på detta mål.] (Lundberg 2016, 234)

The quoted dialogue not only allows readers, while reading, to incrementally develop more nuanced conceptions of language “proficiency” or “mastery” that go clearly beyond monolingual categorisations, but also offers a lightly ironic distancing: a dialogue held exclusively in Romani is relativised to the status of macho posturing, and the assumption that there exists such a thing as “pure Romani” is called into question (perhaps anticipating the risk of such conclusions by the readers). The scene does not depict authentic speech, but rather a show of authenticity that does not extend beyond multi-language communication, varying individual and group-dependent use of language, 60 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

and positioned, situational speech behaviour. The admission that as far back as 1950 some Romani varieties were already rarely used connects the story of the protagonist Klosterman family’s decline with that of the Romani language, which due to the advancing diglossia was increasingly being displaced by Swedish. The narrator straddles multiple periods, linking the world ofhistoire with that of discours through the use of Romani interjections, such as the striking- ly repeated use of “tji” as a negating, interrupting adverb; the rhythmic repetition of the clear “i” sound, as well as the use of filler words such as “alltså”, signals conceptual orality (ibid., 73). When the intrusive narrator explicates a Romani expression, it is transported from the historical world of diegesis to the level of discours. “Berättelsernas kraft spränger över århundraden. Om man lever vidare i berättelserna, så kan man tji försvinna” (The power of stories can transcend centuries. If you live on in stories, you cannot disappear; Lundberg 2016, 361). The narrator thereby also assumes the ethnographic position of story collector, undertaking a collective “storytelling project” that extends from the individual subject through the family to the transnational Scandoromani cultural context (which overlaps only to a limited extent the multilingual practices of the characters in the local milieu of Slitebruk). In certain noteworthy passages, the narrator draws attention to the positioned, contextualised use of language according to group or social setting; these passages could be considered part of an educational pragma- or sociolinguistic strand of För vad sorg. As the quoted dialogue illustrates, the semantic content of a Romani utter- ance can be clarified through the verbal response or behaviour of other characters, though a certain imprecision or impression of “untranslatability” may linger. The vocabulary that the reader has already been introduced to serves an orienting function. For example, Olof’s father’s rejoinder “Kaj beschar beddo- manusch” is first explained on page 14 in the rendering of his mother’s reply: “och visst var detta en plats för herrskapsfolk, svarade Severina” (it certainly was a place for better sorts; Lundberg 2016, 14). Olof uses this phrase in his thoughts (presented in free indirect speech) when he admires the waiting room at a doctor’s surgery: “Kaj beschar beddo-manusch, tänkte han när blicken van- drade över mahognybokhyllorna” (Kaj beschar beddo-manusch, he thought, as his gaze slid over the mahogany bookshelves; ibid., 164) Almost in passing, this syntagmatic recurrence shows that Olof has very likely picked up the expression from his parents. The theme of things being passed down in a family – including, in this particular instance, their heritage language – is stylistically an- chored in both the depicted world and at the meta level. This pointedly shows how people’s first exposures to other languages are often marked as much by experiences of similarity as of difference, as they tentatively seek out common reference points. An example of this can be seen when the character Gösen tries out Romani as a beginner, with the steps of his progress towards “partial comprehension” being precisely captured (Lundberg 2016, 267). Although the novel’s eclectic ethnographic approach and constructed character are evident in its use of mixing and combination, it is in the narrator’s and characters’ metalinguistic and metapragmatic commentary that För vad sorg’s reflected Wischmann Self-reflective ”Minority Language” 61

“documentary intentions” are most explicitly revealed. Although För vad sorg sometimes presents “minority literature as museum culture” (Calin 2000, 321), the critical and reflexive gesture continues.

Translation and reading strategies Performed and thematised activities of translation run through För vad sorg as a discrete structure of events. Despite the intermingling of Romani and Swed- ish units, they never come close to being semantically coextensive. A congru- ence of meanings seems unattainable, shattering the equivalence principles that conventionally guide the practice of translation. If readers reflect on how they subjectively imagine the sound of the Romani insertions, or if they read the text out loud, it is very likely that they will project their Swedish pronunciation and intonation habits onto the still-unfamiliar words and phrases. What may initially appear to be multilingual, national-language interference is, when considered through the lens of style diversity and “multi-languageness”, revealed to be an expression of a multidimensional “partial fluency” that also encompasses the activities of reading. In the direct intratextual context, a Romani insertion may appear before or after the Swedish paraphrase, so that despite the linearity of reading, an impression of simultaneity is created with respect to the passage of text or unit of meaning (see Lundberg 2016, 44, 66, 107, 132, etc.). More traditional translation strategies include definitions in apposition (ibid., 13, 115) and clari- fications in the sentence following an insertion (ibid., 41, 238). By contrast, summarising translations problematise the idea of lexical equivalence. Read- ers’ understanding of translation processes can thus be expanded by entrust- ing them with no less a responsibility than the “translational turn”. “Familiar text-centred categories of literary translation such as original, equivalence and fidelity have increasingly been supplemented or even supplanted by the new central categories of cultural translation such as cultural representation, trans- formation, otherness/alterity, displacement, cultural difference and power” (Bachmann-Medick 2006, 176). By showing that there are rarely equivalents, congruent phrases, or syn- onyms, the text reveals the different communicative and aesthetic capacities of languages and varieties at multiple levels. In many co- and contextual ex- planations and Swedish paraphrases, multiple possible interpretations are left open.

Co-productive readers as agents of style In För vad sorg, multi-languageness refers to diversity of style as an intrinsic dis- cursive feature of a text, occurring at multiple textual levels and in varying scales. By focusing on the concept of style, research can shift emphasis away from the conventional characterisation of multilingual literature in terms of combining distinctly different (national) languages or in terms of an author’s language biography (see Fix 1996, 2007a, b; Huss/Tidigs 2017; Wischmann/Reinhardt 2019). Karl-Ludwig Pfeiffer points out that the concept of style can be helpful precisely when criteria based on national languages no longer serve any plausible function (see Pfeiffer 1986, 709). Style is used here not merely descriptively, but also theo- 62 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

retically and conceptually, as a “perceptual category” (Fix 2018, 481) with a particular emphasis on how style influences reception (ibid.). Instead of sealed-off Saussurean linguistic systems or discrete languages, cooperation between diverse codes is assumed. Considering not just the intratextual but also the transtextual stylistic devices and effects and how a literary text can be embedded in multiple discourses opens up new avenues for the study of multi-languageness. Languages interact “seamlessly”; they do not overcome borders but negotiate bordering processes. Probably a focus on style enables researchers to shed new light on the connectivity of language entities, processes, and dynamics. The style ofFör vad sorg marks what is a unique text. Style is not an attribute, but a textual mode of simultaneous appearance and materialisation: “in that one speaks of ‘text’”, style is “always already there” (“Stil muss nicht gesondert genannt werden, er ist, indem man von ‘Text’ spricht, immer schon da”; Fix 2018, 474). Style develops and takes effect in the imaginary space and temporal gap between production and reception, something captured by Peter Stockwell’s term “attentional texture” (Stockwell 2016, 466), which clearly emphasises the reader’s role in the co-production and crossing of an “external textual boundary”. Stockwell explains “texture” in terms of the empirical reader’s reception: “Tex- tuality refers to the stylistic pattern in evidence in a text” (Stockwell 2016, 458). He emphasizes the roles of both “atmosphere” and “tone” (ibid., 468) and of the “emotional and aesthetic sense” (ibid., 463) of the text. The above-described steps of paraphrasing meaning, of glossing or clarifying through context, can also be considered “stylistic devices” as defined by Ulla Fix, which “are only constituted in the emerging text” (see Fix 2007a, 13). Accordingly, the writing and the reading processes of För vad sorg clearly emphasise the continuous display of the novel’s uniqueness. Also relevant here is Stockwell’s notion of “resonance”, which refers to the mutually constituting exchange relationship. Lundberg’s mixing and combina- torial aesthetics is characterised by how the diversity of style emerges at the in- tersection between textual production and reception events. As readers grapple with the combination of Swedish and Romani, they become attuned to further effects related to stylistic phenomena that are produced by the language mixing and combinations, commentaries on language use, and translation processes. Readers who appreciate and take advantage of the Romani course offered in Lundberg’s novel pick out as relevant the transtextual context of language- promotion policies and the genre of language-learning book, forming a link to a non-literary discourse. According to discourse linguistics, context can only be determined by what readers consider relevant, which in turn forms the basis for their interpretations and actions (Spitzmüller 2018, 535). If the cover text and image are taken into account, we can observe a phenomenon of multimodality, with different stylistic actors interacting and generating sometimes conflicting epistemic framings.

Concluding remarks My investigation has shown that För vad sorg does not develop a typical transnational or universal style characteristic of or generalisable to either minority litera- Wischmann Self-reflective ”Minority Language” 63 ture or literary texts of the “born-translated” age: “Even texts that are produced under approximately the same circumstances are more or less unique” (Fix 2007b, 25). Lundberg’s debut work offers striking stylistic devices. Language fusion and the performing of mutual translations move the writing and the reception processes into the foreground. The novel must mainly be considered minority language literature because different applications of Romani are explicitly thematised. The self-reflective minority literature profile is the main topic of interest. My observation that stylistic features, including with respect to the minority literature genre in Sweden, can only be determined at the level of specific texts is in line with the perhaps surprising point that an identity-political agenda need not enduringly limit the stylistic variety or the formal/aesthetic range of a work.

Endnotes 1 This article, including all quotations, has been translated from an original German version. Quotations from För vad sorg were translated based on the author’s own working translations into German. 2 This assumption as to Lundberg’s “group affiliation” may be confirmed if one is familiar with his journalistic writing (e.g., Lundberg 2018). 3 By using multilingual stylistic techniques, För vad sorg emphatically draws attention to the multi-languageness (“mångspråklighet”, Gröndahl 2002a) of literature in general. The term “multi-languageness” (based on the German concept “Mehr-Sprachlichkeit”) is consciously used to distinguish the concept from the traditional understanding of multilingual literature as literature in more than one national language (“Multilingualität”). Multi-languageness comprises the heterogeneity of styles and language varieties, such as sociolects, regiolects, and ethnolects, as well as different historical levels of language. At the same time, the roles of the authors of texts, the “voices” of narrators, the characters and stylistic actors involved are no longer limited to persons, which would make it possible to also take into account language produced by machines (see Wischmann and Reinhardt 2019. 4 Stig Dagerman (1923-54) is a famous author in the Swedish literature of the 1940ies, well known for the outsider-theme (“utanförskap”). 5 Taikon’s book series about the girl Katitzi is very famous and still interesting to read (e.g., Katitzi på flykt 1978, dealing with migration and feminist challenges in the Swedish welfare state).

References Bachmann-Medick, Doris. 2006. „Translational Turn”. Doris Bachmann-Medick. Cultural Turns. 238—283. Reinbek: Rowohlt. Behschnitt, Wolfgang; de Mul, Sarah and Liesbeth Minnaard (eds.). 2013. Literature, language, and multiculturalism in Scandinavia and the Low Countries. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. Wolfgang Behschnitt; Nilsson, Magnus: ›Multicultural literatures‹ in a comparative perspective, in: Wolfgang Behschnitt; de Mul, Sarah; Minnard, Liesbeth (eds.). 2013. Literature, language, and multiculturalism in Scandinavia and the Low Countries. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. 1–15. Bogdal, Klaus-Michael. 2011/2013. Europa erfindet die Zigeuner. Eine Geschichte von Faszi- 64 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

nation und Verachtung. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. Calin, William. 2000. Minority Literatures and Modernism. Scots, Breton, and Occitan 1920- 1990. Toronto: Toronto University Press. Carling, Gerd. 2008. “Svensk romani – en överblick”. Lindell, Lenny and Kenth Thorbjörns- son-Djerf. 2008. Ordbok över svensk romani. 7—18. Stockholm: Podium. Carling, Gerd et al. 2016. Romer – 500 år i Sverige. Språk, kultur och identitet. Linköping: Linköpings universitet. http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:953496/FULLTEXT02. pdf. (28. September 2019). Carling, Gerd; Lenny Lindell and Gilbert Ambrazaitis (eds.). 2014. Scandoromani. Rem- nants of a Mixed Language, Leiden/Boston: Brill. Dagerman, Stig. 1990. Dagsedlar [1954]. Stockholm: Norstedts. Eder-Jordan, Beate (2015). „Literarische Orte der Roma.” Andrea Härle et al. (eds.): Romane Thana. Orte der Roma und Sinti. Katalog zur Ausstellung. 194-200. Wien: Wien Museum et al. Fix, Ulla. 1996. “Gestalt und Gestalten. Von der Notwendigkeit der Gestaltkategorie für eine das Ästhetische berücksichtigende pragmatische Stilistik.” Zeitschrift für Germanistik, Neue Folge, HF 2, 308-323. Fix, Ulla. 2007a. „Prosaauflösung.” [1983] Fix, Ulla.Stil – ein sprachliches und soziales Phän- omen, eds. Irmhild Barz et al., 13-24. Berlin: Frank und Timme Verlag. Fix, Ulla. 2007b. „Unikalität von Texten und Relativität von Stilmustern.” [1991] Fix, Ulla. Stil – ein sprachliches und soziales Phänomen, eds. Irmhild Barz et al., 25-39. Berlin: Frank und Timme Verlag. Fix, Ulla. 2018. „Diskurslinguistik und Stil.” Ingo H. Warnke (ed.): Handbuch Diskurs. 470–487. Berlin: De Gruyter. Gröndahl, Satu. 2002a. “Inledning. Från ‘mångkulturell’ till ‘mångspråklig’ litteratur?” in: Gröndahl, Satu (ed.): Litteraturens gränsland. Invandrar- och minoritetslitteratur i nordisk perspektiv. 11–34. Uppsala: Centrum för multietnisk forskning. Gröndahl, Satu. 2002b. “Invandrar- och minoritetslitteraturer i Sverige. Från förutsättningar till framtidsutsikter.” in: Gröndahl, Satu (ed.): Litteraturens gränsland. 35–70. Uppsala: Centrum för multietnisk forskning. Laakso, Johanna et al. (eds). 2016. Towards openly multilingual policies and practices. Addressing minority language maintenance across people, Bristol u.a.: Multilingual Matters. Lindell, Lenny and Kenth Thorbjörnsson-Djerf. 2008.Ordbok över svensk romani. Resandefolkets språk och sånger. Inledning, grammatik och bearbetning av Gerd Carling. Stockholm: Podium. Lo-Johansson, Ivar. 1929/1955/1963/2015. Zigenare. En sommar på det hemlösa folkets van- dringsstigar. 1929. 4–180. Tjugofem år efteråt. 1955. 181–193. Efterskrift. 1963. 194–201. Lundberg, Thom. 2016.För vad sorg och smärta. Roman. Stockholm: Bonniers. Lundberg, Thom. 2016. “Författarens efterskrift.” Lundberg, Thom.För vad sorg och smärta. 363-365. Stockholm: Bonniers. Lundberg, Thom. 2018. “Mest effektiva sättet at utplåna en minoritet, är att utplåna språket.” Kristianstadsbladet, 23. March 2018. http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/kultur/ thom-lundberg-mest-effektiva-sattet-att-utplana-en-minoritet-ar-att-utplana-spraket/ (28. September 2019). Malm, Victor. 2016. “Det bästa tänkbara sättet att debutera.” Expressen, 6. February 2016. Pfeiffer, Karl Ludwig. 1986. „Produktive Labilität. Funktionen des Stilbegriffs.” Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht and K. Ludwig Pfeiffer (eds.):Stil. Geschichten und Funktionen eines kulturwis- Bäckman och Haapamäki Perspektiv på integration i rural minoritetsspråksmiljö 65

senschaftlichen Diskurselements. 685–725. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. Spitzmüller, Jürgen. 2018. „Multimodalität und Materialität im Diskurs.” Ingo H. Warnke (ed.): Handbuch Diskurs. 521–540. Berlin: De Gruyter. Stockwell, Peter. 2016. „Texture.” Sotirova, Violeta (ed.). The Bloomsbury Companion to Stylistics. 458–473. London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Taikon, Katarina. 1970/1979. Zigenare. Fotos Björn Langhammer. Visby: Hanseproduktion. Taikon, Katarina. 1978. Katitzi på flykt. Stockholm: Förlag Tai-Lang. Tidigs, Julia and Huss, Markus. 2017. “The Noise of Multilingualism: Reader Diversity, Lin- guistic Borders and Literary Multimodality.” Critical Multilingualism Studies 5:1, 208–235. Vitbok om övergrepp och kränkningar av romer under 1900-talet, DS 2014: 8. https://www. regeringen.se/49baf8/contentassets/eaae9da200174a5faab2c8cd797936f1/den-morka-och- okanda-historien---vitbok-om-overgrepp-och-krankningar-av-romer-under-1900-talet- ds-20148. (28. September 2019). Walkowitz, Rebecca L.. 2015. Born translated. The Contemporary Novel in an Age of World Literature. New York: Columbia university press. Wischmann, Antje and Reinhardt, Michaela. 2019. „Von der Multilingualität zur Mehr- Sprachlichkeit.” Wischmann, Antje and Reinhardt, Michaela (eds.). 2019. Multilingualität und Mehr-Sprachlichkeit in der Gegenwartsliteratur. Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach Verlag, 7-31. Book Reviews/Bokrecensioner

Domokos, Johanna. 2018. Endangered Literature: Essays on Translingualism, Inter- culturality, and Vulnerability. Budapest: Károli Books. 195 ss.

Johanna Domokos artikelsamling belyser på ett mångsidigt sätt relativt nya forskningsområden vid analys av flerspråkig litteratur. Samlingen innehåller tretton kapitel som behandlar litterär diversitet, translingualism och interkul- turalitet. Under senaste åren har i synnerhet termerna ”multilingualism” och ”translingualism” blivit till samlande begrepp för olika typer av studier om flerspråkig litteratur eller litteratur med inslag av flera språk. Ett av de mest inflytelserika verken i sammanhanget är Yasemin Yildiz Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition (2012), som utgjorde en viktig ingång till ett förändrat synsätt på förhållandet mellan enspråkig och flerspråkig litteratur. Sedermera har bland andra forskarna Heidi Grönstrand, Markus Huss och Julia Tidigs publicerat en ansenlig mängd undersökningar om språklig diversitet i nordisk litteratur. Bland de senaste verken på området kan nämnas The Aesthetics and Politics of Linguistic Borders: Multilingualism in Northern European Literature (2019), en samlingsvolym som utvidgar gränserna för ”multilingualism” från att tidigare mestadels ha innefattat specifika texter och författare, till mer teoretiska studier i litterär flerspråkighet. Som Johanna Domokos anmärker i förordet, litteraturen och de litterära fälten har blivit märkbart fragmenterade under vårt århundrade. Å ena sidan håller den nationella litterära kanon i olika länder på att fragmenteras genom intåg av nya genrer; å andra sidan har det formulerats litterära områden som gör anspråk på autonomitet, såsom minoritets- och migrationslitteratur. Där- till finns det urfolkslitteratur med specifika tematiska och lingvistiska inslag, även dessa ofta profilerade som särskilda litterära institutioner. Domokos inför ett användbart begrepp, ”hotad litteratur” (endangered literature), som avser litteratur på hotade urfolksspråk eller minoritetsspråk. De flesta kapitlen i En- dangered Literature: Essays on Translingualism, Interculturality, and Vulnerabi- lity har publicerats tidigare men ges nu ut i en utvidgad och omarbetad form. De centrala undersökningsområdena och artiklarnas fokus sammanför Do- mokos i de tre tematiska områdena ”endangerment, interculturality and translingualism”. Man kan säga att dessa termer beskriver samlingens kontenta väl, då kapitlen inkluderar perspektiv på litteraturproduktionens villkor (och vissa litteraturers svåra eller sköra existensmöjligheter), interkulturaliteten mellan olika litteraturtraditioner och flerspråkighetens olika manifestationer i litteraturen. Artikelsamlingen är uppdelad i fyra delar. I den första delen behandlas ”hotad litteratur” utifrån litteratursociologiska premisser. Författaren analyserar Book reviews 67 ett antal mindre litteraturområden utifrån sociologiska, socioekonomiska och lingvistiska perspektiv, såsom antalet talare, språkens och litteraturens specifika funktion för gruppen ifråga, litteracitet (skriftbruk, läs- och skrivkun- nighet i sitt eget språk), maktförhållanden i samhället etc. Författaren gör en intressant uppdelning utifrån graden av ”endangerment” för ett flertal uraliska minoritetslitteraturer. Inte oväntat anses nationallitteraturen i Finland, Estland och Ungern utgöra vitala entiteter, medan den övriga litteraturen på uraliska språk skildras på en skala från ”historiska” eller allvarligt hotad litteratur till litteratur ”i utveckling”. Författarens breda kunskaper i finsk-ugriska språk och hennes detaljkännedom om finsk-ugriska litteraturens historia, omfång, aktiva författare etc, utgör en gedigen bas för analyserna. Beträffande nordiska för- hållanden, litteratur på kvänska, meänkieli, enaresamiska och kildinsamiska betecknas som ”kulturarvslitteratur” där det endast finns få publicerade verk och den litterära utgivningen är minimal eller obefintlig, medan nordsamisk litteratur kvalificerar sig till den dynamiska kategorin ”litteratur i utveckling”. Även kapitlen om finsk litteratur och dess flerspråkighet som ingår i den andra delen av verket, är uppfriskande läsning. Domokos presenterar tretton olika grupper eller ”tracks” som utmanar den monolinguala kanon genom inslag av flerspråkighet och kodväxling i finsk litteratur. Här analyserar förfat- taren litterära områden som finlandssvensk litteratur, samisk litteratur, historiska minoriteters litteratur (romsk och judisk litteratur, litteratur skriven av tatarer), migrantlitteratur, och även litteratur skriven på närbesläktade språk som meänkieli, eller litteratur skriven av sverigefinska författare. Författare som Edith Södergran (1892–1923), Sofi Oksanen (f. 1977–), Hassan Blasim (f. 1973–), Kiba Lumberg (f. 1956–) och Cia Rinne (f. 1973–) passerar revy och positioneras i den finska litteraturhistorien med språkliga grunder snarare än genremässiga eller tematiska. Domokos menar att kodväxlingen utgör ett konstituerande drag i historisk såväl som modern finsk litteratur, och att den upphäver lingvistiska och kulturella gränser, de-automatiserar semantiska betydelser och uttrycker effektivt olika grader av annanhet. Domokos argumenterar även för att flerspråkigheten och språket i sig är ett viktigare undersökningsområde för litteraturvetenska- pen idag än till exempel motivstudier. Endangered Literature: Essays on Trans- lingualism, Interculturality, and Vulnerability behandlar flera författarskap och litterära områden där flerspråkigheten utgör en essentiell aspekt. Flerspråkig- heten kan manifesteras genom tematiska, formella och stilistiska drag, men den kan också komma till uttryck genom olika grader av kodväxling eller utgivning på olika språk. Domokos tydliggör hur etablerade, paradigmatiskt monolingual nationallitteratur som svensk, ungersk eller finsk litteratur, definierats och presenterats som enspråkiga trots att de alltid innehållit inslag från flera språk och kulturer. Kapitel tre ägnas helt åt nordsamisk litteratur. Domokos visar bred beläsen- het om bland annat tolkningar av Nils Aslak Valkeäpääs (1943–2001) poesi och dramaproduktion. Valkeapääs författarskap anses allmänt höra till den mest kända och viktigaste delen av samisk litteratur, och hans verk Beaivi, áhčážan (1998) har kallats för samernas nationalepos. Orsakerna till att Valkeapää för- bjöd två centrala dikter att översättas till andra språk har varit omdiskuterade i 68 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

litteraturforskningen länge. Då Beaivi, áhčážan blev en stor succé och översätt- ningar av verket efterfrågades världen över, har det tett sig desto märkligare att författaren inte lät hela boken översättas. Medan vissa forskare har menat att det inte är möjligt att finna relevanta översättningsalternativ för dessa dikter som innehåller nordsamisk renskötselterminologi, har man samtidigt anmärkt att det i alla fall i finska språket finns en ansenlig vokabulär för renskötsel. I kapitlet ”Nils-Aslak Valkeapää and the question of untranslatability” benar Domokos upp olika tolkningar som presenterats i sammanhanget, och presenterar en egen modell som kontextualiserar Valkeapääs beslut utifrån översätt- ningsteoretiska, semiotiska, kulturella och politiska aspekter. I kapitel fyra koncentrerar Domokos sig främst på stilistiska och formella aspekter av translingualism. Hon hämtar exempel från både finsk och ungersk litteratur och finner berättartekniska likheter i författarnas sätt att laborera med sina flerspråkiga världar. Domokos har överhuvudtaget ett klargörande sätt att presentera sin argumentation och hennes breda kunskaper i samiska, finska och andra finsk-ugriska språk och litteratur gör verket intressant och givande att läsa. Det är inte alltid enkelt att sammanföra tidigare publicerade artiklar till ett enhetligt verk, men Domokos lyckas väl med detta uppdrag.

Satu Gröndahl

Svonni, Mikael. 2018. Modern nordsamisk grammatik. Kiruna: Ravda lágádus. 308 ss.

Nordsamiska är det största av de samiska språken i Sverige. Det har flest talare, används mest i media och studeras av flest barn och vuxna. Det är därför anmärkningsvärt att det fram till nu inte har funnits någon omfattande nordsamisk grammatik på svenska. Tidigare svenskspråkiga grammatikor (Ruong 1974; Saitton Burman 1999) har i huvudsak fokuserat på morfologi, med mindre utrymme vigt åt fonologi och syntax. Mikael Svonnis Modern nordsamisk grammatik fyller därför ett stort behov, inte minst med tanke på undervisning- en i nordsamiska på högskolenivå. Som framgår av förordet (s. 5) är boken i grunden en svenskspråkig version av författarens nordsamiskspråkiga grammatik (Svonni 2015). En ren översätt- ning handlar det dock inte om, utan de två böckerna skiljer sig åt på flera punk- ter – bland annat finns ett antal skillnader i beskrivningen av språkets fonologi. Vidare saknar denna utgåva föregångarens register över stamkonsonanter (Svonni 2015, 216–220). Den kanske mest påfallande skillnaden är dock att den samiskspråkiga utgåvans kapitel om generativ syntax (Svonni 2015, 191–211) inte har tagits med i denna svenskspråkiga version. Trots detta är sidantalet högre i den svenska utgåvan, något som till viss del kan tillskrivas en större teckenstorlek. Boken består av tolv kapitel av varierande längd. Efter ett inledande kapitel som översiktligt behandlar tidigare beskrivningar av nordsamiskan och presenterar bokens disposition följer ett kort kapitel om språkets ortografi och nordsamiskans plats i den samiska språkgruppen. Kapitel tre behandlar fono- Book reviews 69 logi och kapitel fyra utgör en inledning till beskrivningen av morfologin. Kapi- tel fem beskriver nomen, medan kapitel sex och sju behandlar finita respektive infinita verb. Kapitel åtta berör övriga ordklasser och kapitel nio beskriver ord- bildning (sammansättning och avledning). Därefter följer ett kapitel om syntax, ett om nominalfraser (kallat ”Nomenfraser”) och ett kort kapitel om övriga fraser. Slutligen innehåller boken ett omfattande appendix med böjningspara- digm samt litteraturförteckning och index. Boken utgår från det skrivna standardspråket, även om detta till skillnad från i den samiskspråkiga utgåvan (Svonni 2015, 7) inte uttryckligen anges i föror- det. På ett par ställen noterar författaren språkliga drag som är kännetecknande för den tornesamiska dialektgruppen eller för den jukkasjärvisamiska dialekten. Dessa dialektala notiser är välkomna, men samtidigt något godtyckliga. Varför får vi exempelvis veta att ’sju’ heter gieža (pro standard čieža, s. 84) på jukkasjärvisamiska, men inte att ’ett’ heter akta (pro standard okta)? Det är ock- så anmärkningsvärt att Svonni delar in nordsamiskans dialekter i två grupper: dels finnmarkssamiska (inklusive de sjösamiska eller kustsamiska dialekterna), dels tornesamiska (s. 17). I den vetenskapliga litteraturen är det vanligt att göra en tre- eller fyrdelad gruppering av nordsamiskans dialekter (se exempelvis Korhonen 1981, 16), men även en uppdelning mellan en västlig och en östlig dialekt – med gränsen dragen mellan Kautokeino och Karasjok i Norge – är vanligt förekommande (se exempelvis Svonni 2015, 19). En huvudsaklig uppdelning mellan å ena sidan tornesamiska och å andra sidan finnmarkssamiska är i sig inte mindre välgrundad än någon annan tudelning av nordsamiskans dialekter, men den hade gärna fått motiveras. Kapitlet om fonologi är tydligare än i många tidigare beskrivningar av nordsamiskan och såväl vokal- som konsonantfonem presenteras i överskådliga ta- beller. En anmärkningsvärd detalj är att kort a betecknas som en fonologiskt halvöppen vokal /ʌ/ (s. 25), snarare än en öppen vokal (jfr exempelvis Valijärvi och Kahn 2017, 13). I beskrivningen av nordsamiskans omljud (s. 37) hade det varit lämpligt att nämna förekomsten av ord och böjningsformer där omljud inte inträffar enligt de givna reglerna, exempelvis räkneordet guokte ’två’ (pro *gukte) eller andra person singular imperativ goaro ’sy’ (pro *goro). Kapitlet om nomen inleds med en beskrivning av nordsamiskans kasus (s. 44–47). Här gör författaren ett avsteg från forskningstraditionen och postule- rar tre lokalkasus: allativ, lokativ och ablativ. Argumenten för denna indelning är huvudsakligen språkhistoriska och funktionella – de kategorier som Svonni betecknar som ”lokativ” respektive ”ablativ” är alltid identiska i form, varför en uppdelning i två olika kasus är omotiverad i min mening (se även Julien 2016, 221). I bokens paradigm är den föreslagna kasusreformen också endast delvis genomförd: i vissa paradigm ges separata rader för ”ablativ” och ”lokativ”, i vissa anges båda på samma rad och i något fall anges bara ”lokativ”. Ett par mindre anmärkningar kan göras vad gäller beskrivningen av nekande imperativ. På s. 88 anges att negationsverbet ”inte böjs efter modus” (jfr s. 92). Det stämmer att negationsverbet, till skillnad från andra verb, inte böjs i kon- ditionalis eller potentialis – däremot har det ett fullständigt böjningsparadigm i imperativ utöver indikativformerna. På s. 134 anges att konnegativa former i imperativ är ”samma som i indikativ” (jfr s. 224). Detta stämmer för lexikala 70 multiethnica No. 39, December 2019

verb, men inte för verbet leat ~ leahkit ’att vara’, som har en särskild konnegativ- form leage i imperativ. I tabellen på s. 134 anges också felaktigt indikativformen leat istället för imperativformen leage. I bokens appendix anges dock rätt form (s. 301), och ett exempel med den korrekta formen ges även på s. 220: Ale leage nu jiednái! ’Var inte så högljudd!’. Möjligtvis kunde det också varit på sin plats att nämna den särskilda konnegativa form som, åtminstone i högre stil, före- kommer i nekande imperativ i tredje person, t ex Allos lehko buressivdniduvvon dat beaivi go eadnán riegádahtii mu! ’Utan välsignelse blive den dag då min moder födde mig!’ (Jer 20:14). Genom hela boken åskådliggörs nordsamiskan på ett klart och tydligt sätt – inte bara genom böjningsparadigm och förklarande text, utan också genom omkring 800 exempelmeningar. Välkomna är även ett antal ogrammatiska meningar, försedda med asterisk. Var bokens exempel härrör från anges dock inte – kommer de från en textkorpus, från andra grammatikor eller är de kon- struerade av författaren? Det kan också nämnas att åtminstone en av de kon- struktioner som beskrivs som ogrammatisk – användandet av ett negativt po- laritetsuttryck före negationsverbet (s. 207) – verkar förekomma i alla fall hos vissa nordsamiska språkbrukare, t ex Oktage ii roasmmohuvvan lihkohisvuođas. ’Ingen skadades i olyckan.’ (Yle Sápmi 2011). Det är dock mitt intryck att meningar av den typen främst eller uteslutande förekommer hos talare av nordsamiska i Finland och konstruktionen kan troligen tillskrivas finsk påverkan, jämför motsvarande mening på finska:Kukaan ei loukkaantunut onnettomuu- dessa. ’id.’. De anmärkningar som har getts här vägs dock lätt upp av bokens förtjänster. Modern nordsamisk grammatik är en lättillgänglig beskrivning av det nordsamiska standardspråket, där fonologi, morfologi och syntax presenteras på ett överskådligt sätt. Som den första omfattande nordsamiska grammatiken på svenska kommer den vara en stor tillgång för såväl studenter och lärare som för det samiska samhället i stort.

Olle Kejonen

Referenser Julien, Marit. 2016. [Recension av Davvisámegiella - sánit ja cealkagat: láidehus sámi lingvistihkkii av Mikael Svonni]. Journal of Northern Studies 10, nr 2: 217–229. Korhonen, Mikko. 1981. Johdatus lapin kielen historiaan. Helsingfors: SKS. Ruong, Israel. 1974. Min sámigiella: samisk grammatik. 2. uppl. Stockholm: Utbildningsför- laget. Saitton Burman, Ellen. 1999. Grammatik. Jokkmokk: Ellens förlag. Svonni, Mikael. 2015. Davvisámegiella - sánit ja cealkagat: láidehus sámi lingvistihkkii. Kiruna: Ravda lágádus. Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa och Kahn, Lily. 2017. North Sámi: an essential grammar. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Yle Sápmi. 2011. Ambulánsa ájaroggái Anára ja Avvila gaskas, 2 februari. https://yle.fi/ uutiset/osasto/sapmi/ambulansa_ajaroggai_anara_ja_avvila_gaskas/6625198. Author Instructions

The articles in Multiethnica are published in two ways. They are usually submitted directly to the editor or associate editor without prior communication. Sometimes, and especially in case the article is part of a special issue, the authors may have been contacted in advance by the editor or the guest editor. All articles are subjected to double-blind peer-review regardless of procedure. The editor takes the final decision to publish upon recommendation by the managing editor. Guest editors are asked to contribute with their expertise and have the responsibility of maintaining contacts with authors in a special issue, but they do not decide on publication. Article manuscripts should as a rule be submitted electronically to the editor or associate editor via the email [email protected]. However, articles may also be submitted on other media via mail to the address: Multiethnica, Hugo Valentin Centre, Box 521, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. Submitted articles should contain (i) the name and affiliation of the author(s) on a separate cover page (ii) an informative title and subtitle (iii) an abstract of no more than 150 words; (iv) 3–5 suggested keywords for indexing; (v) tables on separate pages (vi) pictures as separate files in .tiff or .png format (no less than 300 dpi reso- lution); (vii) reference list and (viii) notes in the form of endnotes. The latter should be used very sparingly. The text should be written in double-spaced Times New Roman 12 pt, indi- cating the placement of figures and tables with the text “table 1 here” etc. Para- graphs should be indented, not separated by an empty line. We use the Chicago Manual of Style referencing system (author-date style). For further information, see https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citationguide-2.html. Please note that the author is responsible for making sure that permissions have been received for reprints of figures, illustration and other copyrighted materials. The author should supply information on the original source of figures, photos, etc. Multiethnica is an Open Access journal, which means that all published materials are in the public domain. Articles will be made available online via the Multiethnica home page and DiVA (Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet), which is the online digital repository of Uppsala University.

CONTACT INFORMATION The Hugo Valentin Centre Thunbergsvägen 3 D Box 521, 751 20 Uppsala Phone: +46 18 471 23 59 Email: [email protected] Home page: valentin.uu.se Multiethnica is an interdisciplinary and international journal focusing on various aspects of ethnic relations.

The focus of the journal is on numerous aspects of ethnic relations such as minority studies, migration, integration ethnic conflict. The topics are analysed from a variety of disciplinary perspectives in the humanities and social sciences, including history, linguistics, political science, sociology and anthropology.

Multiethnica is edited and published by the Hugo Valentin Centre, which is an inter-disciplinary research unit at the Department of History, Uppsala University.

multiethnica ISSN: 0284-396X