Norwegianization


Norwegianization was an official policy carried out by the Norwegian government directed at the Sami and later the Kven people of northern Norway to assimilate non-Norwegian-speaking native populations into an ethnically and culturally uniform Norwegian population.

History

The practice has roots in missionary programs of the 1700s, but formally began as official government policy in the late 1800s. The practices were motivated by Norwegian nationalism and also by religious differences between Sami and the Norwegian population.
Laws were passed prohibiting schooling in the Sami language, Sami history and Sami culture. Also, Sami families were not allowed to own or purchase land. To circumvent this law, many Sami families adopted a Norwegian last name, leading to the disappearance of many original Sami names. Moreover, Sami children were taken from their parents and sent to mandatory boarding schools in other parts of Norway.
As late as the 1950s, these laws and policies were justified by stating that Sami people were mentally handicapped: 'In the folk consensus from 1950, Samis were classified in the same category as the “mentally disabled” and “insane”.'
The Norwegianization policy was finally discontinued as late as the 1980s and reparations were made in the form of financial support for Sámediggi, the Sami Parliament of Norway, and other related programs. In 1997, the King of Norway, HM King Harald V made an official apology on behalf of the government to the Sami and Kven People because of this government program:
In 2018, it was announced that a truth commission will be established by the Norwegian Parliament, to be led by Dagfinn Høybråten.