Platsens sanning. Performativitet och gränsdragningar i tornedalsk litteraturhistoria och grammatik

• Published in: Nordlit
• Main Author: Heith, Anne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Norwegian
• Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2012
• Subjects: Meänmaa; meänkieli; Tornedalen; litteraturhistoria; L’Ugritude; lokala sanningar; etnicitet; Kalkkimaa; sami; tornedalsfinsk*
• Online Access: https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/2373; https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2373

The language Meänkieli is an official minority language in Sweden since the year 2000.The acknowledgement of the existence of historical linguistic minorities reflects the factthat Sweden has always been a multiethnic and multilingual space. Long before thepresent day borders were established there were Sami people and Finno-Ugric groups ofpeople in the northernmost parts of Scandinavia. Since a couple of decades the culturalmobilization among the Swedish Tornedalians has been intensified. Publishing houseswhich publish in Meänkieli (previously called Tornedalian Finnish) have beenestablished. Furthermore there are conscious attempts at constructing a literary traditionand at producing grammar books of Meänkieli. In 2007 the first volume of a Tornedalianliterary history co-authored by Bengt Pohjanen and Kirsti Johansson was published, Dentornedalsfinska litteraturen. Från Kexi till Liksom. Two years later a second volume,Den tornedalsfinska litteraturen. Från Kalkkimaa till Hilja Byström, was published.Both volumes performatively construct a specific Tornedalian literary tradition which isdistinguished from a Swedish national tradition. This may be interpreted as a deconstruction of notions of a homogeneous Swedish nation through the production of localtruths which challenge culturally homogenizing nation-building.