The Norwegian Identity

[krj]

I thought I'd take this opportunity to move you all away from the English-speaking world, and take you on a trip to Norway. My father was born in Norway, and I am the only one of seven children that was born there also.

We left Norway when I was a year old - and even though I spent six months over there during my early-teens, I can't say that I really KNOW Norway or Norwegians.

I've lived in a number of countries, and don't really feel like I BELONG to any of them. Having said that though, my father was proud to be Norwegian, and instilled that pride in me. Even though I have never felt like I "belonged" to any country, I have always felt that the Norwegian people were "my" people. Contradictory? Maybe. Probably.

http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Norwegian.html
Being Norwegian in a Shrinking World - Reflections of Norwegian Identity (long)


http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/
Minifacts about Norway 2003 (there's a link to Demographics, Health and Crime on the left)

[Sleuth]

krj, my wife is of Norwegian decent (or Scots, perhaps after they invaded Scotland), and we had a Norwegian house guest for 9 months. He used to get these interesting telephone calls, at o'dark thirty. If I could not understand a word they said, I just gave Arnt the phone.

I would like to hear about policing outside of the English/New Zealand/OZ/US world. Any cops from Norway out there?