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Public records and minorities: problems and possibilities for Sámi and Kven

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Abstract

The Kven and Sámi peoples of northern Norway have been represented as groups without a voice in public records. Through the project ‘National Minorities in Public Records in Norway,’ however, hundreds of documents written in the Sámi and Kven languages were found inside the public archives. These documents were neither labeled, nor cataloged in any way as non-Norwegian-language documents. This essay raises a number of questions related to how a lack of knowledge has influenced our understanding of ethnic minorities both in archives and in research related to minorities. Furthermore, recent experience leads us to a few more questions concerning the usage of sources. How do Norwegian ministries treat requests for access to official documents less than 60-years old related to the Kven and Sámi peoples? How were documents in minority languages arranged and archived by archival personnel? How can an oppressed collective memory serve as a counter-memory for minorities? How can archival documents change our understanding of minorities? What might archivists do to make minorities more visible in archives? This paper describes my personal experiences and reflections in connection with the project.

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Notes

  1. These local communities are Porsanger (Kistrand until 1963–1964) in the county of Finnmark, and Nordreisa in the county of Troms.

  2. The concept of ‘national minorities’ developed considerably in Europe after the Second World War. However, this concept had its origin in the 1920s and 1930s when it was connected to so-called border minorities like the German-speaking population in Denmark.

  3. Sámi arkiiva, the National Archival Services of Norway, the Regional Archives of Tromsø, the Municipal Archives of Troms and the Municipal Archives of Finnmark are all partners in this research project.

  4. This concept is based on Said’s argument (1978) that the West has strengthened its identity by setting itself against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self.

  5. This practice changed in the 1960s when record creators were established in the smaller municipalities to prepare and carry out decisions on behalf of several committees.

  6. Ghosh (2005) writes that marginalized groups in India, such as women and children, are not often mentioned by name in public records in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. That is the reason why they are invisible in public records.

  7. Some writers describe the solidarity between ethnic groups in the north of Norway, for instance, Idar Kristiansen in his series of novels Kornet og fiskene (1978–81).

  8. Edward Said was the first to problematize ‘eurocentric’ views and concepts of presentation in his book Orientalism: western conceptions of the Orient (1978).

  9. Many scientific books claim, for instance, that laestadianism, a special movement inside Lutheranism, saved the Kvens and especially the Sámi people, from alcoholism and destruction. Such claims embody a racialized characterization and imply that these minorities are incapable of saving themselves and require help from the outside their communities.

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  1. Norwegian Association of Local and Private Archives, Tromsö, Norway

    Kaisa Maliniemi

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  1. Kaisa Maliniemi
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Maliniemi, K. Public records and minorities: problems and possibilities for Sámi and Kven. Arch Sci 9, 15 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-009-9104-3

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