Generally, these folks are second or third generation.
Sometimes the interview is in English. Sometimes in Swedish or Norwegian (and
hopefully one of these days Danish). Sometimes, these people, despite being
born in the United States, grew up speaking Swedish. In these cases, they usually
didn’t learn English until they went to public school for the first time. It’s
always amazing to me that there are people in their 80s and 90s who, despite
not using Swedish on a regular basis at all, still have the language in there
somewhere. They are usually super excited to sit down with people like me who
want to interview them and record them.
Just the other day, I was on one such fieldwork trip in the
Upper Midwest. I found myself with a group of Norwegians and Norwegian speakers
speaking to second and third generation Norwegian Americans who had grown up
speaking Norwegian. It was a great opportunity to hear the language spoken,
hear the different dialects preserved, hear the different Norwegian-American
words being used. I sat, mostly quiet, considering they had a hard time with my
Swedish. Not surprising really.
We got to hear about Norwegian being used at work in the
area up until the 1940s and ‘50s. We got to hear about Norwegian being used in
the church and eventually discontinued. And we got to hear about the continued
love for lutefisk in the region. All in all a very interesting trip.
But the trip got even more interesting on the drive home. As
it so often does whenever I leave home, potential disaster follows. Or at least
delays. My friend (and research partner), DN, and I were driving home on
the interstate following a semi-truck as he passed a slower moving vehicle to
our right. We were at a safe distance, the requisite two second buffer. We had
recently been commenting on the guy in the minivan who seemed to be on his cell
phone as he drifted in and out of the lane next to him before realizing a large
truck was trying to pass him. All in all, we were pretty aware of our
surroundings. And that’s when it happened.
Out from under the semi-truck in front of us, a piece of
wood came flying up in the air. It was maybe two feet long, a piece of planed
lumber. Think a two by eight. A solid chunk of wood. And it was flying right
for us. Which is unfortunate. There’s not a whole lot of time to react in such
a situation. DN was driving. I turned my head towards the back seat. Despite my
awful eyesight, I apparently felt the need to protect my baby blues. Or browns
as they are.
DN seemed to slow down. I’m not sure. I never asked him. The
wood hit the front of the car with a thump. Or a thwack. But it was loud. As I
realized the thump was a thump and not a shatter, I turned back to see the
piece of wood split in two and tumble through the air over the car. Had he sped
up, there was a good chance that piece of wood was coming right at the
windshield. And I know windshields are designed not to shatter, but I really
didn’t want to test it.
As the heart rate returned to normal and the adrenaline dissipated,
we drove on. Safely. Slowly. In the fight between wood and metal. Trees and
cars. Nature and man. We won. Thankfully.
Welcome to Swedish America. And the dangers of fieldwork.
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Glad you're all right!
ReplyDeleteAs a Swede who's been living in England for the last few years I've been thinking more and more about cultural identity. I'd be curious to know more about these expats and how they feel about their culture and to what extent I recognise myself in their stories, in case you feel like writing more about it.
Siri
I'm an undergraduate Scandinavian Studies major in California :)
ReplyDeleteJust curious... what does one do with Scandinavian Studies? I'm also majoring in City Planning, which I plan to apply to my future career, but not sure what to do with SS. I'm super interested in speaking with Norwegians or Danes, I love the crossover and my attempts at understanding the two similar, but obviously different, Scandinavian languages.
Well, I would advise against graduate school. But there are a lot of things available to people with humanities degrees. Everything from government jobs to museums to private sector business jobs. In fact, many businesses are now starting to hire humanities majors because of their writing and critical thinking skills acquired from the major. Hope your degree went/is going well!
ReplyDelete