Revoicing Sámi Narratives
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
REVOICING SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S Doctoral Dissertation in Sámi Studies, Umeå University, 2008. Cocq, Coppélie Revoicing Sámi narratives. North Sámi storytelling at the turn of the 20th century. Department of Language Studies, Umeå University Umeå, 2008. 270 pp. Monograph. Abstract Revoicing Sámi narratives investigates the relationship between storytellers, contexts and collective tradition, based on an analysis of North Sámi narratives published in the early 1900s. This dissertation “revoices” narratives by highlighting the coexistence of different voices or socio-ideological languages in repertoires and by considering Sámi narratives as utterances by storytellers rather than autonomous products of tradition. Thus, this study serves as an act of “revoicing,” of recovering voices that had been silenced by the scientific discourse which enveloped their passage into print. Narrators considered “tradition bearers” were interviewed or wrote down folk narratives that were interpreted as representative of a static, dying culture. The approach chosen in this thesis highlights the dynamic and conscious choices of narrative strategies made by these storytellers and the implications of the discourses expressed in narration. By taking into account the intense context of social change going on in Sápmi at the time the narratives emerged, as well as the context that includes narrators, ethnographers and tradition, the analysis demonstrates that storytelling is an elaboration that takes place in negotiation with tradition, genres and individual preferences. The repertoires of four storytellers are studied according to a methodological framework consisting in critical discourse analysis from a folkloristic perspective. The analysis underscores the polyphony of the narratives by Johan Turi, who related with skillfulness of tradition by taking position as a conscious social actor. This study also investigates the repertoires of storytellers Ellen Utsi, Per Bær and Isak Eira who were interviewed by the Norwegian “lappologist” Just K. Qvigstad. Their contributions to his extensive collection of Sámi narratives express their relation to tradition and to the heteroglossia that surrounded them. Based on a receptionalist approach, this dissertation investigates the implications of these narratives for the North Sámi community at the turn of the twentieth century. Storytelling appears to have had a set of functions for community members, from the normative as regards socialization, information and warning against dangers to the defensive with the elaboration of a discourse about solidarity, identity and empowerment. Key words: storytelling, folklore, folk narratives, oral tradition, Sámi culture, muitalus, critical discourse analysis, polyphony © Coppélie Cocq 2008 ISSN 1651-5153 ISBN 978-91-7264-516-5 SÁMI DUTKAN · SAMI S KA S TUDIE R · SÁMI STUDIE S 5 COPPÉLIE COCQ REVOICING SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S NO R TH SÁMI S TO R YTELLING AT THE TU R N TH OF THE 20 CENTU R Y SÁMI STUDIE S · UMEÅ UNIVE rs ITY UMEÅ 2008 Department of Language Studies Umeå University SE-901 87 UMEÅ Institutionen för språkstudier Umeå universitet 901 87 Umeå www.umu.se/humfak/sprak/ Cover illustration: Detail from a Sámi drum (Manker, Samefolkets konst. 1971, Askild & Kärnekull) Tryck: Print&Media 2008 :2004285 © Coppélie Cocq 2008 REVOICING SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S CONTENT S ACKNOWLEDGMENT S 11 PA R T I CHAPTE R ONE : INT R ODUCTION 13 STATEMENT OF PU R PO S E 13 THEO R Y AND METHOD 14 DEFINITION S OF CONCEPT S 15 EME R GENCE OF THE NA rr ATIVE S 17 THE NA rr ATIVE S 18 Narrative strategies 18 Theory of genre 18 Intertextuality and Polyphony 20 Relation of the narrators to the collective storytelling tradition 22 IMPLICATION S 23 Social practice 24 Discourse and empowerment 25 SÁMI FOLKLO R E MATE R IAL 25 FOLKLO R E COLLECTION S AND R E S EA R CH 25 NEGLECTED MATE R IAL 26 OVE R VIEW 27 CHAPTE R TWO : TEXT S AND CONTEXT S 29 SOCIO -CULTU R AL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT 29 MUITALU S SÁMIID BI rr A , JOHAN TU R I AND EMILIE DEMANT HATT 37 “STO R Y ABOUT THE SÁMI ” 39 REACTION S TO TU R I ’S S EMINAL WO R K 43 CONTEXTUALIZING QVIG S TAD ’S LAPPISKE EVENTYR OG SAGN 46 AN UNCOMMON S CHOLA R 47 QVIG S TAD AND NO RWEGIANIZATION 50 RE S EA R CH T R ADITION S 53 7 COPPÉLIE COCQ PO S ITIONALITY AND AUTHO R ITY 58 METHODOLOGY 59 Field research 61 The informants 62 MEETING THE INFO R MANT S 66 LAPPISKE EVENTYR OG SAGN : F R OM INTE R VIEW TO PUBLICATION 68 IMPLICATION S OF THE FIELD WO R K ON THE MATE R IAL : THE R E S EA R CHE R ’S DILEMMA 72 CONCLUDING R EMA R K S 74 PA R T II CHAPTE R TH R EE : POLYPHONIC NA rr ATIVE S 75 INDIGENOU S AUTHO R ITY 75 SOCIAL AGENT 97 CONCLUDING R EMA R K S 109 CHAPTE R FOU R : SILENCED S TO R YTELLE rs 111 MEETING JU S T K. QVIG S TAD 112 TR ADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE 117 EXTENDED R EPE R TOI R E S 136 FR OM PE R FO R MANCE TO PUBLICATION 144 CONCLUDING R EMA R K S 148 CHAPTE R FIVE :SUB J ECTIVE NA rr ATION AND COLLECTIVE TR ADITION 150 TR ADITION AND VA R IATION IN NA rr ATION 150 VA R IATION AND AUTHENTICITY 154 INDIVIDUAL R EPE R TOI R E S AND COLLECTIVE S TO R E OF NA rr ATIVE S 156 INTE R PLAY AND RECIP R OCITY 162 RECEPTIONALI S T APP R OACH 164 PA R T III CHAPTE R SIX : NO R MATIVE FOLKLO R E . NA rr ATIVE S A S A GUIDE TO S OCIAL R ELATION S HIP S 167 THE MEANING OF FOLKLO R E 168 CHANGELING S AND CLO S E ENCOUNTE rs 171 COU R TING AND MA rr IAGE 176 RE S PECT 189 TO TAKE AND TO GIVE 193 8 REVOICING SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S IMPLICATION S 200 CONCLUDING REMA R K S 202 CHAPTE R SEVEN : DEFEN S IVE FOLKLO R E . THE ENEMY A S FACTO R OF COHE S ION IN SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S 204 FOLKLO R E AND IDENTITY 204 THE ENEMY 206 VIOLENCE AND FEA R 215 GR OUP COHE S ION 219 IMPLICATION S 222 CONCLUDING REMA R K S 225 CHAPTE R EIGHT : DI S CU ss ION AND CONCLUDING REMA R K S 229 REVOICING S TO R YTELLING 229 FOLKLO R E AND T R ADITION 230 MULTIPLE IMPLICATION S OF S TO R YTELLING 231 SOCIAL NO R M S 231 GR OUP IDENTITY 231 EMPOWE R MENT 232 SOCIAL P R ACTICE 233 THE CONTINUITY OF S TO R YTELLING 234 CONTEMPO R A R Y NA rr ATIVE S 236 MANIFOLD FUNCTION S OF S TO R YTELLING 236 METHODOLOGICAL CON S IDE R ATION S 237 A S TO R Y TO TELL , A WO R LD TO CHANGE 238 SAMMANFATTNING 240 Čoahkkáigeassu 245 RÉ S UMÉ 250 BIBLIOG R APHY 255 9 REVOICING SÁMI NA rr ATIVE S ACKNOWLEDGMENT S Writing a thesis is an individual process, but one should not forget that it is also the result of discussions, stimulation, and inspiration triggered by contacts with others. This work would not have been possible without the assistance of a number of people. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to my supervisors Professor Mikael Svonni, Umeå University and Professor Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin, Madison. I am grateful to have benefited from their inspiring expertise, insightful advice and motivating encouragements and I am thankful for their enthusiasm in the course of working on my dissertation. Mikael’s assistance toward the understanding and interpretation of the material in North Sámi has been irreplaceable. The translations and discussions of linguistic aspects of the texts in their original language are to a great extent the fruit of our discussions. Tom, whose enthusiasm for teaching was the seed of this project, has guided and inspired me in my studies in folkloristics. I have greatly appreciated his help in putting into words my (short-lived) moments of dissatisfaction and my intuitions and encouraging me to take my analysis a step further. I also owe Professor Ulf Palmenfelt, Gotland University and Professor Jim Leary, University of Wisconsin, Madison many thanks for knowledgeable critiques and comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Moreover, I wish to express my thanks to all my colleagues at Sámi Studies, Umeå University. Foremost of these people are Mikael Vinka (for understanding my frustrations and sharing of his experience), Krister Stoor (for believing in my ability to realize this project), Hanna Outakoski and Elli Scheller (for always being willing to help), Kristina Hellman (for her support as an administrator and so much more) and Andrea Amft (who encouraged me to pursue PhD studies). I also wish to thank Åsa Nordin and my fellow PhD students Sofie Weijosdotter Pettersson and Ann Christin Skoglund for the interest in my project they have shown. Risto Koskinen, whose unfailing support during this work is only one of the many ways in which he enlightens my daily life, deserves a special mention. Without his encouragement, thought-provoking discussions and comments on 11 COPPÉLIE COCQ my manuscript - from the very first drafts to the final version - the process of writing this thesis would never have been so exciting and worthwhile. Special thanks go to the J C Kempe Memorial Fund for Scholarships, to the Göran Gustafsson Foundation and to the Swedish Research Council and Umeå University for their financial support. I am also grateful for the help I received when visiting archives and wish therefore to thank the Department of Sámi ethnography at the Tromsø Museum, the Nordiska Museet, Stockholm, the Norwegian Folklore Archives and the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo.