No. 15 (2004): Northern Minorities

Edited by Per Bäckström, Kristin Jernsletten, and Cathrine Theodorsen. Cover image by Guttorm Guttormsgaard.

 

Nordlit 15 notes: In today’s academic study in the field of literature, some of the main focuses are on identity, nationality and minorities. Inspired by the PEN conference on this theme, held in Tromsø in September 2004, this issue is therefore dedicated to the subject of ‘minorities’. On the editorial board we perceived this conference as an excellent opportunity of presenting articles from the field of literature to ‘literature’ itself, i.e. the authors from all over the world gathered in Tromsø for one week. We announced a call for papers to various minority studies departments in Tromsø and the rest of the world at the end of 2003. An especially enthusiastic response came from one particular minority study department, that of Sámi literature—as a result, this theme forms the main part of this issue, which suits this Arctic publication well. In addition, there are articles on the topics of minorities, e.g. North American Indians, Russian Nenets and the Traveller people of Scandinavia. All in all, our sincere hope is that this issue of Nordlit will be of interest to everyone studying identity, nationality and minority—indeed, anyone with an interest in literature in general. Have a pleasant read.