The Not-Quite Child

Colonial Histories, Racialization, and Swedish Exceptionalism

by Liina-Ly Roos

Figures like Pippi Longstocking and Greta Thunberg exemplify an ideal mainstream Swedish childhood: they are autonomous, competent, and the voices of moral truths. In this innovative work, Liina-Ly Roos analyzes the figure of the “not-quite child”—children who, while appearing white, have been marginalized due to historical racialization and colonialism—to challenge this established ideal. Through analyses of films and literature that portray Indigenous Sámi, Tornedalian, and Finnish-speaking children, The Not-Quite Child reveals how these figures disrupt the normative understanding of growing up in Sweden. These cultural texts are filled with tensions of assimilation, invisibility, and the struggle to grow in a society that demands conformity to a specific “Swedishness.”

 

The children in these stories are both minoritized and, at the same time, have the privilege of passing, and share a long cultural history with and within the dominant culture. Through nuanced attention to these important narratives, The Not-Quite Child contributes to dialogue on the complexities of identity, race, and the hidden colonial legacies that continue to shape understandings of childhood in Sweden.

 

Forthcoming July 2025.

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New Directions in Scandinavian Studies offers interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Nordic region of Scandinavia and the Baltic States and their cultural connections in North America, with books that focus on the cultures, histories, literatures, and politics of the North.

The Not-Quite Child was made possible in part by grants from the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington and the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Support for this research was also provided by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The publication of this book was also supported by the Louis Janus Book Subvention awarded by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study.

Metadata

  • isbn
    9780295753836
  • publisher
    University of Washington Press
  • publisher place
    Seattle
  • rights
    CC-BY-NC-ND
  • rights holder
    University of Washington Press
  • series title
    New Directions in Scandinavian Studies
  • doi
    https://doi.org/10.6069/9780295753836