5
Norwegianization
In the 19th century, a strong national movement arose in Norway, as in many other countries in Europe. Norway was considered an old nation that should build a modern state, after having been under Danish and later Swedish rule for more than 400 years. National unity became a goal. At the same time, ideas about inferior and superior peoples gained influence. Sami culture was perceived as primitive, doomed to perish in a modern, industrialized world.
In 1851, Parliament established a fund aimed at financing “measures to spread knowledge of the Norwegian language among the Lapps.” Gradually, access to using the children’s mother tongue in school was narrowed. Many Sami children did not understand a word of what the teacher said when they began school. Locally, it was the parish priest, by virtue of his position as leader of the school board, who was responsible for ensuring that directives were followed. Teachers who were successful in teaching Sami children Norwegian, could apply for rewards from the fund.
Other Norwegianization measures included boarding schools, to keep the children away from their home language environments, and requirements of Norwegian skills and a Norwegian surname to get the right to buy land (applied in Finnmark).
In the early 20th century, a struggle began to preserve Sami cultural rights, not the least in Sea Sami communities, where Norwegianization was particularly harsh. The struggle wasn’t about people not wanting to learn Norwegian, but that they didn’t want to forget the Sami.
After World War II, racist ideologies ended on the scrap heap. Norwegianization policies were gradually dismantled. It was particularly important that Sami language was allowed in schools again. In many areas along the coast, these changes appeared almost too late. Generations were inflicted with shame and inferiority complexes due to language and culture, and had turned their backs on their Sami heritage.
