Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, Blaðsíða 6

6
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2011
Words Mean Things
Baldur's idea really seems like a good one. But is it too 'politically correct' for your tastes? Is being
'politically correct' bad? Being 'correct' seems slightly better than being 'incorrect'. And do you think
this sorta stuff matters? letters@grapevine.is
Iceland | Language Opinion | Eimear Fitzgerald
Why One Icelander Wants To Change How We Refer To Foreigners
Baldur Kristjánsson, a parish priest
with a Masters in theology from
Harvard University, is also a blog-
ger on the popular news website
Eyjan. Recently, he put forward the
idea in an article that Icelanders
need to change the terms they have
for foreigners. His recommenda-
tion: drop ‘nýbúi’ (“someone newly
living here”) and ‘innflytjendur’
(“someone who has moved in”)
and replace them with their nation-
alities (e.g., Thai-Icelanders). The
Grapevine caught up with Baldur to
ask him about this idea, and why he
thinks it's important.
In your article, you say that you
consider it important to move away
from terms such as "nýkomna,
nýbúa og innflytjendur" and move
towards saying e.g. Thai-Icelandic
or Polish-Icelandic. Why do you
consider this change in terminol-
ogy to be important?
It is obvious that the Icelandic lan-
guage, as other parts of the Icelandic
culture, was not well prepared to deal
with the development towards multi-
cultural society. The word ‘nýbúi’ as a
term involving those who are of foreign
origin is a shining example of this. The
world ‘innflytjendur’ is not good either.
That refers to those who are moving but
are not settled. These are not proper
Icelanders in our minds. Our mindset
was and is that being an Icelander is
not something you can have partly or
buy cheaply. These words exclude,
rather than include. And the notion of
an Icelander, and also something else,
does not exist. You are either an Ice-
lander or not. Therefore we don't really
have words for those who are gradu-
ally becoming Icelanders but are also
children of other cultures and other
countries.
As the terms we use to refer to
foreigners are often a reflection
of current attitudes towards them,
what do you think terms like ‘nýbúi’
and ‘útlendingur’ say about Icelan-
dic attitudes towards foreigners?
Are these terms in sync with cur-
rent attitudes, or rather a reflection
of attitudes that are either chang-
ing or are no longer prevalent?
We must stop looking at ‘immigrants’
as an example of how other people are.
We must actually begin to understand
them as a part of our identity. They are
Icelanders. All those who live in Iceland
(have a permanent address and intend
to stay on) are Icelanders. But those
who have moved from abroad are also
something else. They are, from a cer-
tain perspective, richer than those who
have just one country. So you should
not think of Icelanders and immigrants
or Icelanders and newcomers. We are
all Icelanders, but some of us are also
something else. To become Icelandic
is not to speak the language or this
or that. It is, or should be, a term over
those who are here and intend to stay
and are willing to see themselves as
Icelanders. It is not even necessary they
like the country or other people.
Another reason that we shouldn't
use these general terms is that all gen-
eralisation is dangerous. Immigrants
are not bad or good. Immigrants are all
kinds of people, just as those who have
never immigrated. They come from dif-
ferent parts of the world—some have
been here for a long time, others for
shorter time, some are with their fami-
lies, others not. Some intend to stay
forever—others for short period of time.
These are not the same people that
travel between countries to commit
crimes. They have nothing in common
except that they are not born in Iceland
(some are of course born in Iceland).
But language generalisations tend to
put everyone who are not homemade
under the same hat and many Iceland-
ers suffer because of that, suffer from
prejudices and discrimination.
Because those who come here from
abroad tend to keep their culture and
their old identity we should accept this
fact, accept their origin, accept their
way of life, but also accept that they
are Icelanders and not foreigners or
immigrants or newcomers—accept all
this and call them Thai-Icelanders and
Polish-Icelanders and so on. It should
be clear that Icelanders new or old
should have the freedom to behave
as they wish (of course everyone has
to obey the Constitution and the law
and therefore the values these build
upon but that goes for everyone living
in this country). We should, if anything,
encourage people to keep their lan-
guage, culture, belief, and habits. That
way they make Icelandic society richer
and we don't have to worry they will not
learn Icelandic.
How do you think the average Ice-
lander would respond to your pro-
posed terminology?
The average Icelanders would respond
negatively to my proposed terminology.
It takes the average Icelander many
years to accept new ideas.
What are your thoughts on the evo-
lution of terminology about for-
eigners in general? It wasn't too
long ago that certain terms, which
today are considered offensive,
were once considered acceptable
terminology. While other cultures,
such as in the US (note the change
from ‘coloured’ to ‘negro’ to ‘black’
to ‘African-American’), have expe-
rienced a similar evolution, do you
think Iceland's relationship with its
own language had an influence on
how the language referred to for-
eigners?
The idea has been that people assimi-
late gradually. Even the term ‘integra-
tion’ has meant ‘assimilation’ (“aðlö-
gun”) where the immigrant has a just a
little bit of influence on his new culture,
e.g., bringing with him a new soup or a
dress to use on International Days.
The reality is that you have parallel
societies. It has always been like that,
and in the world as it has become it
will become much more so, where you
can watch television stations from your
home country and talk to your friend
and mother on Skype and fly cheap,
people will more and more be part of
their old culture and their old language.
So we have to accept and value this
new point of view. We in Iceland are
going to have Thai-Icelanders, Viet-
namese-Icelanders, Polish-Icelanders
and so on as part of our society and
we should therefore have them as part
of our identity and call them what they
are. Stop this language hiding.
Words
Paul Fontaine
Photo
Hörður Sveinsson
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Clean Up Your Act!
Getting deep down and dirty with
Reykjavík’s Dumpster Divers
When thinking of things to do on
a late summer evening, I have
to say that rummaging around
in a giant rubbish bin of expired
fruit and vegetables would not be top of my
list. The quality of vegetables on supermar-
ket shelves is questionable enough when
within it’s shelf life, let alone when about to
implode on itself. However, followers of the
increasingly popular practice of ‘dumpster
diving’ would argue differently.
Saving the planet one potato at a time
Initially it’s somewhat important to note that
dumpster diving is illegal as you’re pretty
much trespassing on a company’s private
property and stealing its products. However
for those who do choose to neatly sidestep
this issue and get involved, the basic prem-
ise is to search for useable food items in the
large dumpsters generally used by super-
markets, bakeries and food outlets, without
getting caught. People generally dumpster
dive at night, alone or in small groups and
with the aid of non-motorized, eco-friendly
transport, i.e. bicycles are common. Sup-
porters of the movement argue its not
stealing but more about utilizing unused
resources.
According to a regular Reykjavík dump-
ster diver, “Penny,” who first started when
living in a housing cooperative in the USA,
the practice makes sense both morally and
financially. “It’s unbelievable that we live in
a world where people are starving but, at
the same time, literally tons of food is go-
ing to waste”. Every few days Penny and a
small group of friends jump on their bi-
cycles, locate their nearest dumpster and
load up their backpacks with fresh veggies
that they then sort at home. Fellow dump-
ster diver “Sam” found it astonishing that
such “perfectly good food” would otherwise
be thrown away. “Especially,” he added,
“in Iceland where food is more expensive
due to import costs.” Penny argued that by
dumpster diving, they were also contribut-
ing to the environment in making more pro-
ductive use of waste that would otherwise
go to landfill. When quizzed as to the risks
involved, the overriding attitude was that
most dumpster divers felt the benefits out-
weighed the risks of getting caught.
Waiter, Waiter! There’s a fly in my soup
So let’s review. Generic supermarket with
accessible dumpster? Check. Clothes rolled
up past elbow to guard against staining
(unwanted evidence that could, at a later
date, be used against you in a court of law)?
Check. Backpack filled with four bags of
potatoes, two bags of carrots, one pack of
melon slices, and some cooking apples?
Check. Getaway bike? Definite check. All
that remains now is to get cooking.
While trying to suppress the recurring
mental image of stinky carrots and lettuces
rotting in their own juices, I was informed
that a lot of food thrown out by supermar-
kets and stores is barely past its expiration
date and often still in its wrapping. It seems
there’s some good eats to be had from them
there dumpsters, and three course meal ex-
travaganzas are all part of the course follow-
ing a success outing. So while trash cuisine
mightn’t be making it to downtown menu’s
anytime soon, Reykjavik’s dumpster divers
seem set to blaze culinary trails of their own
for some time to come. All I can say is keep
some toothpicks handy.
*Real names not used in this article