“It’s engraved in the Norwegian people.” Dugnad during the time of corona

Abstract

On March 12th, 2020, Norway went into a national lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. The measures that were put in place were the most restrictive since the Second World War. When asking Norwegians to comply with these restrictions, the Norwegian government did this by asking them to participate in a ‘dugnad’ against the coronavirus. The word ‘dugnad’ typically refers to a form of voluntary work, and therefore might seem out of place in this situation. This led me to asking the main questions of this thesis: Why did the Norwegian government choose the word ‘dugnad’ in this situation?

Based on participant-observation, interviews, and focus groups with Norwegian university students, I show how the word dugnad was chosen specifically because of the connotations in has to community and belonging. I show how there is a tension to the dugnad practice as something voluntary, and as something obligatory. As such, participation in the dugnad is motivated by positive feelings of wanting to belong to a community, but also social control and shame.

When looking at the corona dugnad, I explore how national dugnads also have a long history in Norway, and yet they often fail to contain characteristics that define the dugnad. The corona dugnad was an exception to this. I show how the word dugnad was chosen in this setting because it tells Norwegian’s what is expected of them – an effort for the good of the community.

Although the word dugnad in relation to the corona dugnad was at first accepted, as time went on, the word eventually became contested, because everyone’s contributions were no longer equal. In particular, Norwegian university students were affected by an increase in mental health issues, showing the negative effects of the pandemic.

To conclude this thesis, I highlight the unfair treatment of Norwegian university students as a group that were at risk of being excluded from the national community, during a time where the government was calling for everyone to work together.