Impossible presence: race, nation and the cultural politics of ‘being Norwegian’

Abstract

Norwegians of African descent often find themselves at the centre of debates regarding the ‘problem’ of immigrant integration, the challenge of self-identification and the elusive nature of the multicultural promise. This essay examines how Norwegians of African descent perceive and (re)construct the ideological processes through which they are incorporated into understandings of the nation. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2011, I analyse two extended interviews that represent key questions raised during discussions with forty interviewees. How does one engage the presumption of solidarity and universal goodness, common to characterizations of the Nordic region, which nevertheless render certain bodies and identities illegible and ‘impossible’? How is race ascribed meaning in the Norwegian context? My interlocutors invoke a particular moral vocabulary of belonging when describing experiences with implicit and explicit forms of racism. These ‘encounter narratives’ reveal national anxieties about race and cultural belonging, situated within historical preoccupations with identity and ‘sameness’.

Keywords:

• Norway
• immigrant integration
• multiculturalism
• national identity
• African
• race and racism

Notes

1. One medic said: ‘Når du pisser på bilen, har du brukt opp sjansen din.’ (‘When you piss on the car, you use up your chances.’) Bystanders insisted that the medics must care for the injured; they were told: ‘Han står oppreist, så han dør ikke.’ (‘He's standing, so he's not dying.’) (Rognmo 2008). In 2008, the media was criticized for not publishing a photograph of Ali standing as the ambulance drove away, which supported the medics' assertion that Ali was on his feet when they left (Kemp 2008).

2. I use ‘Norwegians of African descent’ to highlight my informants' assertions that they claim ‘Africanness’ within their identities. ‘Non-white’ Norwegians are identified by various terms including immigrant, non-western, foreign and non-Norwegian. People of African descent have been referred to as negre (‘negroes’), a controversial term at the heart of recent language debates (Gullestad 2005).

3. In 2011, these statistics included first-generation immigrants and Norwegian citizens born to two foreign-born parents. Individuals with ‘other immigration background’ may include people adopted from abroad, born abroad with one Norwegian parent, or born in Norway with one foreign-born parent (since 2008 this final group is no longer included in the ‘immigrant’ category, but is included in the ‘immigrant-population’ category – a noted confusion) (SSB 2010).

4. Statistical references to immigrants currently include ‘immigrants’ and ‘immigrant-population’ as distinct categories. Colloquially, the term ‘immigrant’ refers to anyone who ‘looks’ non-white.

5. In 1996, the Norwegian Board of Health warned ‘Norwegian men and women from having sex with Africans’ to avoid HIV infection. African men were blamed for the spread of AIDS in Norway; white Norwegian women were perceived as victims of predatory African male sexuality. The Board later modified its views in response to protest from the African community (Awuonda 1996).

6. Names have been changed.

7. Translations are my own. Excerpts are edited minimally for length and clarity of syntax.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurie McIntosh

LAURIE MCINTOSH is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University.