Culture as Reflected in Fiction: Native Americans and Samis

The purpose of this book, Culture as Reflected in Fiction: Native Americans and Sami, is manifold, but first and foremost it shows how authors of fiction from two minority groups, the Native American cultures in the USA and the Sami culture in Scandinavia, describe characters and their situations from their respective cultures. The book is based on a large material of altogether 150 authors consisting of works by 30 Native American authors, 30 Sami, 60 white American, and 30 Scandinavian authors. The first part of the book shows how authors of fiction from two minority groups, the Native American cultures in the USA and the Sami culture in Scandinavia, describe characters and their situations from their respective cultures. This part focuses on three main themes which have been used frequently by both groups of authors, namely, identity, gender roles, and the supernatural. The second part of the book takes up fiction about Native Americans by white American authors from the USA and fiction about Samis by non-Samis from Scandinavia. The third part gives an overview of and discusses the most interesting outcomes from this study, in particular the quite dramatic over-all differences found between the character descriptions of Native Americans and Samis. This part also looks more closely at differences and similarities between the four groups of authors with respect to the topics of stereotyping, victimization, identity problems, gender roles, and the supernatural.