-
Racist Caricatures in Iceland in the Early 20th Century
- Presses de l'Université du Québec
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Kristín Loftsdóttir, “Racist Caricatures in Iceland in the Early 20th Century,” in Iceland and Images of the North, ed. Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson with the collaboration of Daniel Chartier, Québec: Presses de l’Université du Québec, “Droit au Pôle” series, and Reykjavík: ReykjavíkurAkademían, 2011. Racist Caricatures in Iceland in the Early 20th Century Kristín Loftsdóttir University of Iceland Abstract – In this article, I take the republication of the book Tíu litlir negrastrákar (hereafter Ten Little Negroes) in Iceland as an example of how Iceland is often exempted from the global heritage of racism. As scholars have started to explore relatively recently, the Nordic tends to have a hegemonic position as existing separate from colonialism of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The original publication of the book Ten Little Negroes in 1922 shows, however, the familiarity of racial caricatures in Iceland, especially when contextualized within images of Africa in general during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In my discussion, I place the book within the global heritage of racism, as well as discussing its connection to the more localized and national heritage of Icelandic identity, seeing the book as linking the past and the present in an interesting way. Keywords – Racism, Iceland, Africa, globalization, caricatures Introduction In 1922, an Icelandic version of the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Negroes” was published in Iceland with the translated rhyme illustrated by an Icelandic artist. The publication was well received and was republished several times until 1975 and then again in fall 2007. That last republication generated intensive debate that dominated every media in Iceland and revealed different understandings of what racism is, as well as being entangled within emphasis on national “heritage,” with some individuals perceiving the book as a part of Iceland’s cultural heritage. In my discussion, I take the book and this controversy as an example of how Iceland is often exempted from the global heritage of racism. As scholars have started to explore recently, the Nordic countries often have had a hegemonic position as existing separate from colonialism and racism of the 19th and early 20th centuries. As I ICELAND AND IMAGES OF THE NORTH [ 188 ] explain here, the book Ten Little Negroes became localized within heritage discourse in contemporary Iceland as having nothing to with racism, even though the rhyme had been published and distributed in many countries for over more than one hundred years. Due to this constant reproduction of the rhyme and its images in various localities, the book can be viewed as a part of a global heritage of racism, which has especially since the 19th century organized meanings and relationships between different individuals. I thus place the book within the global heritage of racism, as well as discussing its connection to the more localized and national heritage of Icelandic identity, seeing it as linking the past and the present in an interesting way. In my analysis, I have found Norwegian anthropologist Marianne Gullestad to be especially insightful when she speaks about how ideas of equality have not only been seen as characteristics of the West, but especially associated with the Nordic countries. Gullestad stresses how in Norway this has evolved around the idea of “sameness,” in that people need to be more or less the same to feel of equal value.1 Here I want to emphasize how the idea of equality and the idea of the egalitarian Nordic countries has been a powerful source of identity for people in these countries. It revolves generally around ideas of the Nordic welfare state, gender equality, rationality, and modernity that have become important in branding Nordic countries in international relations.2 The lack of exploration of the entanglement of the Nordic countries with colonialism and colonial ideologies and legacies strengthens this association between the Nordic and a de-historicized equality.3 In the first part of the article, my discussion is contextualized in theoretical insights offered by scholars investigating racism and racial practices as well as the importance of memory in creating and recreating national identity. I then move to analysis of the book in a wide context, its existence within Europe and the U.S., as well as its appearance in a Nordic context. The discussion locates the book in Iceland, contextualizing its images within other images associated with 1 Gullestad 2002: 46–47. 2 Wren 2001: 145–146; see discussion in Browning 2007. 3 Keskinen 2009; Maurer, Loftsdóttir, & Jensen...