Exploring Transcultural Community: Realistic Visions in Sami (Norwegian-Danish) and Ojibwe (Canadian) Novels

• Published in: Scandinavian-Canadian Studies
• Main Author: Juliane Egerer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: University of Alberta Library 2020
• Subjects: History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia; DL1-1180; Language and Literature; P; Maren; sami
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.29173/scancan181; https://doaj.org/article/02c8b963e1434b77b4d63eb1626451ba

ABSTRACT: This article compares the protagonists’ identity constitution in the novels Og sådan blev det (2013) [And so it turned out] by Maren Uthaug (2013) and Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese (2014). Indigenous identity is historically and theoretically framed by political discourses and postcolonial theory. Indigenous concepts of land and story, concepts of cultural memory, western postmodern subject philosophy, and Indigenous research methods serve as a basis to explain the characters’ success in constituting their individual Indigenous identity within ethnically and culturally diverse communities while finding ways of mutual understanding, bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous People. The novels suggest visionary but realistic ways of constituting Indigenous identity in transcultural communities and convey ethical values fundamental to all human beings—regardless of ethnicity and culture.