Avtrykk av den europeiske flyktningkrisa i 2015

Minnearbeid i fire norske barnekulturelle verk

Abstract

Imprints of the European Refugee Crisis in 2015: Memory Work in Four Norwegian Cultural Productions for Children

This article examines four Norwegian cultural productions for children that were produced between 2016 and 2017. The four productions are “Gutten på stranda” [“The boy on the Beach”] by the Norwegian band Rasmus og Verdens Beste Band, the YA-novel Hver morgen dyppet min søster brystene i isvann for å bli pen [Every Morning My Sister Dipped her Breasts into Icy Water to become Pretty] by Bjørn Sortland, and two dramatic productions, “Myke øyne” [“Soft eyes”] by Kate Pendry, and “MariAmira” by Siri Broch Johansen. They all tell of actual events and draw on narratives known from what has been called the European refugee crisis in 2015: “The Boy on the Beach” tells the story of the three-year-old Alan Kurdi who was found dead on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey. “Soft Eyes” addresses the tragic event when 71 people were found dead inside a lorry, in the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. The YA-novel and the play “MariAmira” draw on a Syrian refugee narrative. The four productions have standing in a close and dialogical relation to the news coverage of the refugee crisis in common. In addition, memory is a central part of their mediation of the events and narratives.

The article examines how these productions contribute to establish and shape the refugee crisis as a collective, cultural memory. This memory work is expressed through different strategies in each production, but they have in common that memory works in multidirectional ways (Rothberg, 2009). The four productions expand and extend events and narratives from the refugee crisis through recollections of other and previous events. Also, we find a dynamic transfer where the events that are recollected are seen and understood through the lens of the refugee crisis. Thus, memory transcends time and space, and places the refugee crisis into a larger cultural coherence.