Minorities

Following the social and economic transformations after World War II and the ambitious promises of the Nordic welfare model, Nordic disability rights activism grew. It reached its peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, influenced by the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) in 1981 as well as the leadership of key figures, like Bengt Olof Lennart Lindqvist and Niels Erik Bank-Mikkelsen. As well as making strides at home, Nordic disability organizations became forerunners in promoting disability rights within north-south cooperation and the development sphere. Today, the Nordic disability movement is somewhat fragmented, but maintains an important role in policy-making and monitoring the implementation of disability rights.

Kalle Kustaa Topias Könkkölä was an environmental activist, politician and key figure of the Finnish disability rights movement. Having been physically disabled since birth, Könkkölä attracted nationwide attention when he was elected as one of the first members of the Finnish parliament for the then still young environmental movement in 1983 - which also made him the first MP with a disability. Today, Könkkölä is mostly known for his longstanding commitment to the promotion of disability rights, including his role in initiating the first Finnish disability organization with a human rights approach, the Threshold Association in 1973, as well as supporting people with disabilities in developing countries and humanitarian contexts.

Niels Erik Bank-Mikkelsen was a Danish policy reformer and advocate for the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities. Working for the so-called ‘Danish Service for the Mentally Retarded’ (Statens åndssvageforsorg), a public organisation for the care of intellectually or developmentally disabled people, he was instrumental in developing key legislation that granted the intellectually disabled a right to the same living conditions as other citizens. This was seen as a radical move at a time when marginalization and segregation were the norm, and his ideas quickly gained ground both in Denmark and internationally.

Listen to a podcast on commonly held assumptions about state, homogeneity and migration in Finland.

In 1981, the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) shed new light on the global situation of people with disabilities with the slogan ‘full participation and equality’. Based on a longer history of Nordic disability rights activism since the 1960s and the assumption that equal rights of disabled people had by and large already been secured across the Nordic states, the IYDP prepared the ground for an increasing engagement of Nordic experts and activists in global disability issues. In the years to follow, Nordic disability organizations combined their own historical experiences and achievements with regional traditions of internationalism and north-south cooperation to establish themselves as international forerunners in the promotion of disability rights, organization-building and public awareness. Compared with other countries these activities were exceptionally diverse and included regional cooperation, negotiations at the United Nations, transnational exchange, and development projects.

Some of the most beloved figures in Nordic children’s literary classics from the 20th century are rooted in narrow-minded caricatures, and racial prejudice can be so subtly embedded in many older pieces of literature that even contemporary readers are blinded to it. The discussion surrounding the republishing of some of these controversial books provides interesting perspectives on contemporary views of race and racism, but it also reveals the importance of contextualising these perceptions within a national, historical context. It is important to consider how the past is used in the present and how it is made meaningful in the Nordic societies.

International research has highlighted intermarriage as a key issue for Jewish communities and other minorities globally, particularly as it is clear that intermarriage is perhaps one of the most apparent means of boundary-crossing between a minority group and general society. Research into intermarriage in Jewish congregations in Helsinki since 1917 reveals an interplay between an adherence to historic and religious rules and traditions, on the one side, and innovation and openness to incorporate new ways of doing things, on the other. It can therefore help to understand the challenges and changes that minorities face in Finland and elsewhere, as well as to illuminate contemporary religious outlooks in Scandinavia.

Listen to 'A brief history of Sámi literature' in English or Finnish! This podcast is part of a series where existing material on nordics.info is read out in assorted languages by colleagues and friends. Great for learning Finnish or English. / Tämä podcast-jakso on nimeltään 'Lyhyt historia saamelaisesta kirjallisuudesta' ja se on käännös sivustolla julkaistusta samannimisestä artikkelista ”A brief history of Sami literature”. Jakso nauhoitettiin Århusin yliopistossa tammikuussa 2020 ja sen lukee Tuuli Veikkanen.

In this short video, Caroline Elisabeth Weber (M.A.) provides an account of the rich histories in the border area between Germany and Denmark that still impact people’s perceptions of their region today. For example, the Treaty of Vienna 1864 marked the end of the Second Schleswig War between Austria and Prussia, and Denmark. It was a critical juncture for Denmark; having lost Norway to Sweden in 1814, it now lost a third of its remaining territory. It was also important for the other Nordic countries when Denmark’s enemy number one arguably changed from Sweden to Germany thereafter. Caroline Weber is Scientific Associate in the Department of History at the University of Kiel and the chairperson of the German-Danish Association in Kiel (Deutsch-Dänische Gesellschaft e.V.), so can therefore offer a unique insight.

The view of the Nordic countries today as a place where LGBTIQ individuals and communities can enjoy equality overlooks intra-Nordic variation as well as the complicated histories found in the region. This variation has been a motivation for migration within the Nordics. Much migration, such as from Finland to Sweden and Iceland to Denmark, occurred for already well-documented economic, cultural and historical reasons. However, migration of people seeking freedom to live their lives according to their sexuality and gender identity has often been overlooked. These aspects have been little documented in empirical historical studies, as well as in the popular imagination and literature.