Milli mála - 2020, Qupperneq 196

196 Milli mála 12/2020
MULTILINGUAL WRITING IN ICELAND

10.33112/millimala.12.7
shows how writers such as Yoko Tawada, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, and
Feridun Zaimoğlu write across various languages and rethink and
reinvent the category of the mother language. Yildiz’s definition of
the postmonolingual condition thereby encompasses writing in one lan-
guage that shows influences from multiple languages, such as the
work of Franz Kafka. Yildiz emphasizes Kafka’s upbringing in a
multilingual environment in Prague. Due to the strong connections
between language and identity, multilingual literature can, therefore,
show complex identities in ways that literature aimed at being under-
stood by as many readers as possible cannot.
The research discussed above emphasizes how multilingual writ-
ing can reflect (migrant) identities and societal change. There is also
an increasing number of studies coming from the social sciences that
empirically investigate the impact of art and literature on migrants’
lived experiences. Jeffery, Palladino et al. provide a thorough over-
view of this field of research.23 Damery and Mescoly argue that “art
offers opportunities for migrants to actively participate in the socio-
cultural and political environment in which they reside and to claim
various forms of official and unofficial belonging whether it occurs
through visibility or invisibility”.24 Otte states that artistic projects
can lead to bonding and bridging between different groups,25 hereby
referring to Robert D. Putman’s well-known distinction between two
types of social capital, bonding and bridging.26 In the case of Iceland,
the notion of bonding and bridging between different communities
is relevant as a 2020 report by Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir and Kristin
Loftsdóttir found that foreign women perceived that they were pri-
marily asked for their opinion on so-called immigrants, instead of
being involved in discussions about a broad range of issues in Icelan-
dic society.27
23 Jeffery, Laura, Palladino, Mariangela, Rotter, Rebecca, Woolley, Agnes, “Creative Engagement with
Migration”, Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 10/2019, pp. 3–17. doi: 10.1386/cjmc.10.1.3_1.
24 Damery, Shannon, Mescoli, Elsa, “Harnessing Visibility and Invisibility through Arts Practices:
Ethnographic Case Studies with Migrant Performers in Belgium”, Arts, 8/2019, pp. 1–17. doi:
10.3390/arts8020049, here p.1.
25 Otte, Hanka, “Bonding or Bridging? On Art Participation and Social Cohesion in a Rural Region
of the Netherlands”, Poetics, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2019.02.006.
26 Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2000.
27 Skaptadóttir, Unnur Dís, Loftsdóttir, Kristín, Konur af Erlendum Uppruna. Hvað Kreppir að?,
Skýrsla unnin fyrir félagsmálaráðuneytið, Reykjavík: Háskóli Íslands, 2020, here p. 55.