The Kven people in contemporary Norway - revitalization and the issue of identity on the example of Norwegian socio-cultural policy

• Main Author: Hlebowicz, Sylwia
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: Polish
• Published: Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach
• Subjects: Arctic; Norway; Tromsø; Porsanger; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://bibliotekacyfrowa.ujk.edu.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/6051/content

The work is a study of the process of revitalizing the Kwen culture in northern Norway, the subject of which is the Kven minority. The research aim of the dissertation was to examine the ways of conducting Norwegian internal policy towards the Kven people. The paper presents selected aspects of the history of Kwenów, i.e. the history of settlement, religion and the manifestations of Norwegian activities in the area of educational and security policy.The dissertation consists of four chapters. The first one, entitled "Characteristics of the Kven people as an ethnos", discusses the features that define the ethnic group, i.e. ethnonym, history, language and faith. The next chapter: "Norwegian policy towards the Kven minority from the nineteenth century to the present day" is devoted to discussing issues related to Norwegian policy towards the Quenas from the nineteenth century with particular emphasis on breakthrough points. The third chapter, entitled "Revitalization of culture as an element of ethnopolitics" is devoted to the analysis of ethnopolitical activities undertaken by Norway to restore the culture and language of the Kwen. The research concerned the following areas: care for the cultural heritage of the Kven, artefacts and monuments of non-material culture, international cooperation and subsidies for grass-roots ethnopolitical activities. The fourth chapter is a description of empirical research based on two components. The first of these were interviews with former and current students of the Kven language course at the Norwegian Arctic University in Tromsø in the academic years 2006/2007 and 2019/2020. The second element was the open participant observation of the meeting of the members of the language nest in Porsanger. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that we are witnessing the revitalization of the Kven language and culture. However, since the Kven people have been exposed to a destructive policy of assimilation for many decades, it is expected that the contemporary shape of ...