Narrating the Arctic Finns: Samuli Paulaharju's representations of the Kvens

Abstract

How have the Kvens – the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Finnish-speaking migrants in northern Norway – been represented in Finland? This article discusses the imagery of the Kvens found in the works of the Finnish author Samuli Paulaharju, one of the most influential Finnish authors engaged in the Kven question in the period between the wars. The main questions to be addressed are, first, why was Paulaharju interested in the Kvens? Second, what kind of images or representations of the Kvens did he create in his books about these “Finns of the Arctic Ocean”? Third, how suitable are these books as historical sources about the Kvens?

Notes

The analysis of Paulaharju's books in this article is based on Chapter 10 in my dissertation from 2003, “De nordligste finner”. Fremstillingen av kvenene i den finske litterære offentligheten 1800–1939. All translations are by the author.