Une nature arctique qui protége et nourrit: le contre-récit des Kvènes récrit la relation au monde naturel / Arctic nature as the great reconciler and rescuer – The Kvens' counter-narrative rewrites the relationship between man and nature

Abstract

The Kvens are a national minority in Norway long subject to a policy of assimilation. This article examines the Kven-language novels of Alf Nilsen-Børsskog as counter-narratives and descriptions of Arctic nature and the Kvens' living environment. Norwegian fiction has depicted the Kvens since the 1870s, but Nilsen-Børsskog’s series <i>Elämän jatko 1-4 (Life Goes On, 2004-2015)</i> is the first to assume a native perspective to the Kvens’ living environment and experiences. It forms an exceptional counterstory, focusing on the power of the writer’s native background instead of describing a crisis in the minority culture. The descriptions of Arctic nature in <i>Life Goes On</i> differ significantly from previous ones, where Arctic is often depicted as a place of extreme experiences and catastrophes. In addition to nature, the Kvens and Sámi have been subjected to this exoticising description. Nilsen-Børsskog instead describes the Kvens’ everyday and spiritual life, in which nature and the cultural environment are in harmony and form an important part of Kven identity.