"A lost heritage. Writing back in (non)fiction by Swedish writers with Sámi roots"

Description

Contribution to Colloque international. Usages du Nord dans la communication politique. La construction du Nord et du Sud à la croisée entre champ politique et culturel en Europe (XIX - XXIe siècles)
Abstract:
In Sweden, quite recently, artistic expressions that deal with the trauma of lost language, culture and identity of the Sámi, the only indigenous people in Europe, became visible in a prominent way. The movie Sami blood (2016) directed by Amanda Kernell, was shown at festivals in Europe. Ædnan. Epos (2018) by Linnea Axelsson, was awarded the prestigious Augustprize in 2018 for the best fiction book, and Elin Anna Labba got the same prize for nonfiction in 2020 for her documentary book Herrarna satte oss dit. Om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige (2020) about the forced migration of the Sámi in North Scandinavia. In 2021 Mats Jonsson published the comic novel, När vi var samer (When we were Sámi), and got very positive reviews in the Swedish press. Mats Jonsson wrote about his life and found out that his ancestors were originally Sámi. All authors have Sámi roots or have a Sámi mother and a Swedish father.
The texts are fiction and literary nonfiction, but have strong political undertones. In the texts the colonization of the Sámi, a forgotten topic in Swedish (Scandinavian) history is discussed. In my paper I will demonstrate the soft power of literature and how artistic expressions can visualize and strenghten peripheral voices of the North in the North.

Period	31-Mar-2022
Held at	Université de Strasbourg, France
Degree of Recognition	International