Language grief
'The language has been a tremendous loss for me, [...] I heard my father speak South Sámi with some friends for the first time in the 80s. [...] I just stood there looking at him. He had never spoken it with us at home. I couldn't blame him [...] I have reconciled with it, and learned to live with it, but it has been a loss.'
How ethnic contexts affect Sámi and Kven children and adolescents' Identity, Language use and well-being in Life (SKILL)
The loss of ethnic language and identity, and its consequences
The quote on the right documents some of the many the negative effects of the Norwegianization policy, and the grief experienced by many Sámi and Kven people being deprived of their language and culture. Such loss of language and other cultural expressions may lead to insecurity about ethnic identity and belonging for many families, and may impose psychological distress.
Knowledge of the ethnic language and a strong, positive ethnic identity is associated with cultural endurance and health benefits and may act as protective factors against psychosocial challenges. Knowing your ethnic language(s) and confidently being able to express your ethnic identities thus seem to be very important, at the individual level for psychosocial well-being, and at the societal level for revitalization and strengthening of Sámi and Kven languages, culture, and traditions.
In the SKILL project, we investigate the relationship between the development of ethnic language, ethnic identity, and psychosocial well-being in Sámi and Kven children and adolescents growing up in Norway. We explore various ethnic contexts and identify factors that promote healthy development of ethnic language, ethnic identity and mental health in Sámi and Kven children and adolescents, and how language, identity, and psychosocial well-being interact.
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