Prosjektorganisering

WP 1. Family

The emphasis in this WP will be the transmittance of minority culture between generations in families’ origin from Skallelv. Language will be key in this work package, but there will also be an attention to how places and nature (and its use) might be conceptualized as individual and collective heritage. Simultaneously, there will also be gathered data on the two other fields – cultural industries and museums. Methodologically, we will mainly rely on methods of visual anthropology, supported by interviews and analysis of representation as secondary methods for data production. In addition to the data produced for the purpose of this research project, including shorter films and visual materials, we also plan to produce a longer documentary film connected to this specific setting (see point on Dissemination for more info on this).

WP 2. Museum and media

Emphasis will be the institutional communication of cultural representations and the impact of different media. The analyses will focus on representation of Kven heritage, specifically in a museum setting in Vadsø. We will investigate representations of Kven heritage in different exhibitions and other arenas where representations circulate, including new media that enable dialog among individuals and groups. Questions will deal with what Kven articulations that discursively dominate in the museum field, as well as how Kven culture is articulated, both explicitly and implicitly, in mediated representations. Analysis of representation will also focusing on elements indicating something about a) who they identify as, b) where they are coming from and c) which language they are talking. Main data production methods will be discourse analysis and analysis of representation, qualitative interviews, and participant observation in the museum setting, while other fields and methods will play a secondary role.

WP 3. Cultural industry

This WP will emphasize cultural industry by targeting cultural productions (Kyläpeli: Ihana, ITU Kvensk teater, and Halti kvenkultursenter) located in Nordreisa. Here cultural industries employ the natural environment for presenting Kven culture for tourists as well as locals. Kyläpeli is a staging of a play based on local history, a common feature in local and ethnic identity work, that will make comparison possible with other similar ethnic border communities like Finnskogen and Setuma, Estonia. Here we will emphasise interviews with entrepreneurs, locals, and customers in addition to participant observation on guided tours. Analysis of representations in different media, and visual anthropology, will be secondary methods. In addition, the two other fields of research, family and museums will be pursued and seen in new contexts. Participant observation of the cultural productions, and their use of the Kven heritage in contexts of nature, family, and cultural industry will be a main method at this location.

Ph.D.-project

The Ph.D. project is an important contribution to the project, as well as the area of Kven scholarship. This project is conducted by PhD-fellow Gyrid Øyen. Øyen's PhD-project has the working title: "Representasjon av den kvenske/norskfinske minoritetens kulturarv - forvaltning og forflytning."