THE SEA AS A SITE OF CONTACT: A Hydrocolonial Reading of Beforeigners

This chapter traces the significance of the ocean in the Norwegian speculative television series Beforeigners, as a way of (re)discovering historical context. It uses the framework of hydrocolonialism to examine the thematic, visual, and setting-specific references to the ocean as central to the plot's unfolding. By contextualising these references within Norway's maritime history in the sixteenth to the twentieth century, this chapter argues that Beforeigners is characterised by a “hydrocolonial unconscious” that evokes various mythologies, both historical and folkloric. The concept of hydrocolonialism is explored through a range of narrative choices, for instance the inclusion of fantastic elements that echo both Norse mythology and the black Atlantic. The chapter argues that the show's overt references to migration and racism in Norway overshadow its deeper yet less explicit engagement with the country's imperial and colonial history. Unlike the common view that considers migration and racism as recent, largely external issues facing Norway in the twenty-first century, this reading seeks to highlight Norway's historical embeddedness in hydrocolonial world systems and the continuities between the Norwegian mythologies of the nation and the many external sources that have contributed to shaping it.