Contributing to a book about queer local history

Senior researcher at Nordland Research Institute , Helga Eggebø. Photo: Karoline OA Pettersen

When the National Library is now publishing a book about queer local history, Helga Eggebø is of course among the contributors.

In recent years, Eggebø has led or participated in several projects about being a queer immigrant or queer in the countryside. The findings are summarized in the chapter “Stories about being a queer immigrant or queer in the countryside in Norway in the 2010s”, in the anthology Queer Local History: Cultural Historical Perspectives on Same-Sex Relations and Gender Transgressions . Long-time collaborator and NTNU researcher Elisabeth Stubberud is a co-author of the chapter.

On Friday, September 16, the book was launched at the National Library in Oslo. The location is not at all coincidental. The book is published by the Norwegian Institute of Local History at the National Library, in connection with the queer year of culture.

The village is better than its reputation

Putting queer local history in focus in this way is something new in the Norwegian context.

– Sexuality and love between people of the same sex have, at best, been a peripheral topic in Norwegian historical research, writes the National Library in its review of the launch.

– Where queer history writing has often focused on the big city and the urban, the anthology addresses the queer and the local across the divide between city and country. Through queer local history, we can see both gender history and local society from a new perspective.

Eggebø and Stubberud use their chapter, among other things, to problematize the perception that being queer in the countryside is a burden. Yes, many have experienced great challenges, but the authors have interviewed several queers who speak warmly of their hometown.

– The informants who told such a story emphasized that the village is better than its reputation, that it is actually a good place to live a queer life, write the two researchers. 

Homophobia not the main problem

When it comes to the experiences of queer immigrants, they often describe a difficult life due to homophobia in ethnic minority communities. But there is also a clear counter-narrative.

– Those who wrote about such a story said that it is not homophobia in minority communities that is the main problem, but racism, discrimination and marginalization from the majority of society, for example in the housing market, the labor market, in the asylum system, at school and in queer communities, write Eggebø and Stubberud.

It is of course recommended to read the entire chapter – and even the entire book – on your own. You can do this for free on the National Library's website .