(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
What determines how Norwegian you are? It's been a while since the first immigrants came to Norway, and the world has become much more globalized since then. We are a new generation that has grown up in a multicultural society.
I am a result of the globalized world. My mother is from Sunnmøre, and she lived in Austria for a few years when she was young. There she met my handsome father, who also lived there. He is from South Africa and had come to Europe to escape apartheid. They fell in love and moved to Norway. At the beginning of the 1980 century, there were not so many immigrants in Norway. My father experienced a lot of racism because of his background.
Mom and Dad have now been married for over 30 years, and they have three children together. I grew up at Stovner in Oslo with my two brothers, in a relatively multicultural environment. I have always had a very strong Norwegian identity. Issues such as identity and belonging were something we kids in the neighborhood often talked about. I am very proud to have a father from South Africa and I have traveled a lot there. I think it is an enrichment to be able to have such good knowledge of two cultures.
I was told that I was not Norwegian, at least not that way.
Norwegian enough? "Where are you really from? ”is possibly the question I have heard most times in my life. But answering "Oslo" is not satisfactory enough. The story of how my parents from each part of the world met has become a well-practiced response to the question. Every day, I have to explain my "original" background. It can get tiring at times. When I was younger, I was a little confused and felt that I had no proper affiliation anywhere. I was told that I was not Norwegian, at least not that way. But I wasn't from South Africa either, because I'm more touristy there. To be defined as non-Norwegian by those around me was not always easy when I myself felt that it was just Norwegian I was.
Belonging. A lot of this I thought was weird too because my older brother has never been asked where he is from. My big brother is tall and has green eyes, light brown hair and is only slightly golden in the skin. I, on the other hand, have dark eyes, dark hair and am more than just golden in the skin. The only times his background comes up as a theme, it's more like one fun fact and does not help to define his Norwegian identity. And here I come to my question: Is it appearance your deciding how Norwegian you are? Because I have quite the same background as my brothers. The only difference between us is that we have a slightly different look. It is, of course, a bigger matter that my brother likes to go to the cabin, ski and eat Quick Lunch on the weekends than I do.
The identity crisis for my part arises when those around me define my identity. It must be allowed to feel belonging to several places, and still consider themselves Norwegian. Why do we have to tie our affiliation to only one place? And why am I considered less Norwegian than my bridge when we have a completely identical background?
So the next time you ask "where are you really from?" you can think a little about what lies in the question. I'm Norwegian. Why do I always have to defend it?
Calvert works with cultural activities in Agenda X.
