The history of Norwegian society is also the history of a particular word. When I was a child, it was quite commonplace. Some used it as bullying, to torment and incite others. For non-whites who also found the everyday use unappealing, it may have been difficult to speak out. But overall, among the majority, it was not perceived as racist in itself. It was just a term for people who were dark-skinned. We sang Thorbjørn Egner’s song about “Vesle Hoa” at the top of our lungs. NATIONAL TREASURE: But Thorbjørn Egner’s song about the weasel Hoa is out of date and is no longer sung by Norwegian children. Photo: news The word gradually became more charged, but could still be used satirically. A white person could use it to another as a kind of parody of how the racists thought and spoke. You didn’t talk like yourself, but like those people, a completely different type of people than those who talked together. Then it became taboo, impossible to say, regardless of context. Testimony from minority Norwegians, who bore their painful experiences, was decisive. The reasons were easy to understand and respect for the vast majority, and the word disappeared from ordinary conversations. Nevertheless, there is one use that is still disputed. Many believe that “negro” cannot be used to reproduce something that has been said or written either. Nor to show precisely how it has been used to distinguish men and women with backgrounds from continents in the south and east, and make them something alien, something fundamentally different from whites. Or how it has been used to legitimize oppression and persecution. FRITT ORDS HONNØR: Teachers at Oslo Cathedral School received the foundation Fritt Ords Honnør earlier this year for insisting on the right to reproduce language that many today find offensive, as part of teaching. Photo: NTB This position is disputed. Earlier this year, 37 teachers at Oslo Cathedral School were awarded the Fritt Ords Honnør for insisting on their right to refer to the historical use of the word without being accused of being racist themselves. And last week, news was able to report that it has been removed from “Kvit Norsk Mann”, after some of the young people who were in the audience during a trial performance reacted. The performance is based on Brynjulf Jung Tjønn’s poetry collection of the same name. The book recounts what was shouted after seventeen-year-old Arve Beheim Karlsen, who was persecuted before he was found dead in a river in his hometown of Sogndal 25 years ago. “Kill that nigger.” Jung Tjønn’s text was read out, without a word being left out, during the 25th anniversary of the death. But on the theater stage, the line was removed. Director Maren Bjørseth believes it would be too distracting, and stand in the way of what the show would otherwise say. Author Tjønn agrees with the decision, and news’s theater reviewer believes that the scene where the word should have been included was made stronger by the omission. SHAKEN NORWAY: Arve Beheim Karlsen died in 1999. Photo: 12anivik / 12anivik It is easy to understand the director. Of course, those who have created the theater show do not want any confrontation with the group in society they most want to reach. Of course they are reluctant to engage in a debate that will overshadow other aspects of “White Norwegian man”. The production will also go out to schools through the cultural school bag, which makes the audience different than if it had been reserved for a visiting audience in the evening. The school performances are not something you can simply opt out of. Then it is probably safest to be careful. When it is appropriate to use such a loaded word will be a different discussion from time to time. Perhaps it was the right thing to do in connection with “White Norwegian Man”. But the overall discussion still opens up some difficult questions. It has become quite common, and it can also be seen in this case, that just hearing the word is experienced as traumatizing, as something violent. A kind of equality is set between language and action. DEATH: In the theater performance “Kvit norsk mann”, and the collection of poems the performance is based on, the story of the death of Arve Beheim Karlsen, who died after being chased through his hometown, is retold. Photo: Birgit Solhaug The young people who reacted to the trial performances of “Kvit ung mann” have a different life experience than me. It gives them a weight when they speak out that the rest of us don’t have. Still, I wonder if it is entirely appropriate, in a world where actual racist violence occurs, to equate hearing a painful word with experiencing an actual attack. Some of the young people are said to have expressed that the word made them feel unsafe. I don’t doubt that. Bringing thoughts to racist violence, or having memories of mental violence awakened, is tough. But they were not unsafe. They were in one of the safest places in the world, a theater stage in Norway, as the audience for a performance made for them. One who was really not safe was Arve Beheim Karlsen, where he ran across the bridge in Sogndal with his pursuers hot on his heels. There is a very big difference between the two situations, and it would not harm the discussion if it had come out more clearly. READ A LOT: Author Brynjulf Jung Tjønn reached out widely with the collection of poems “Kvit norsk mann”. He stands behind the decision to edit the stage text. Photo: Alem Zebic We all have our tolerance limit. I myself avoid reading details about what innocent adults and children experience in various war zones. It feels like an obligation to stay somewhat informed, but I stop before I get to the descriptions that will give me nightmares. Other people have their personal reasons for shying away from other stories and topics. Or words. That must be respected. But it has its problematic aspects when no one else can enter the space where that language, those stories, exist. Taboos can be counterproductive. They create a real danger that we, as a culture, will not look history in the eye, with all the disturbing things that are there. Perhaps it was right to remove such a word from this particular theater production. But it does not provide a conclusion as to what is the right thing to do next time the debate returns. Published 11.09.2024, at 15.07
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Was it right to remove the word from the theater performance? – Speech
