Breaking the Narrative Pattern: Motherhood Tropes in Norwegian Migrant Literature

Abstract

This article focuses on three motherhood tropes, which became narrative convention in Norwegian migration literature in the period 1986–2010. I categorize these motherhood tropes as: (1) the cultured mother; (2) the creative mother; and (3) the appropriation of Henrik Ibsen’s infamous character Nora Helmer. Illustrating these tropes shows a critique of motherhood found in some of Norway’s migration literature. However, Mala Naveen’s novel, Desiland (Desi Land), published in 2010, incorporates and challenges these three motherhood tropes by breaking with convention. I argue that Naveen performs disidentification, or an identity in difference, and calls for a renegotiation or remapping of the current paradigm of Norwegian migration literature, which limits minority women’s artistic representation.