Methods, interventions and reflections

Methods, interventions and reflections

Report from the X Nordic women’s and gender history conference, Bergen, Norway, August 9–12, 2012

eds. ulla manns & fia sundevall

makadam förlag Makadam förlag Göteborg · Stockholm www.makadambok.se

Report Series of the Swedish Association for Women’s and Gender Historians, no. 1 Sveriges kvinno- och genushistorikers skriftserie, nr 1 (tillgänglig på/available at http://skogh.nu/skriftserie/) Series editors/Huvudredaktörer: Ulla Manns & Fia Sundevall

Professor Ulla Manns: Dept. of Gender Studies, School of Culture and Education, Södertörn University, 141 89 Huddinge, Sweden – [email protected] PhD Fia Sundevall: Dept. of Economic History, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden & Centre of Gender Research, University of Oslo, 0315 Oslo, Norway – [email protected]

Kopiering eller annat mångfaldigande kräver förlagets särskilda tillstånd.

© författarna och Makadam förlag 2014 Tryck USAB, Stockholm 2014 isbn 978-91-7061-149-0 contents

Ulla Manns & Fia Sundevall the importance of conference reports: preface to the x nordic women’s and gender history conference report 9 conference program 12

Keynotes

Ida Blom gender history – then, now and in the future 15

Inger Nordal ”the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history 24

Birgitte Possing representing gendered individualities: reflections on the biographical turn 33

Panel

Anders Ahlbäck only ”masculinities” to offer? 46

methodological feminism and the gender history of men and masculinities

Ulla Manns methodological feminism and the history of feminism 51 Session papers

Anders Ahlbäck between independence and belonging: on the paradoxes of modern military masculinity 57

Eve Annuk feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia 65

Karin Carlsson hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden 74

att välja forskningsfokus igår och idag

Christina Florin & Kirsti Niskanen minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser 83

Jakob Winther Forsbäck the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 92

the paradoxes of feminist historiography, gender theory, and gender equality work at swedish universities

Anne Hedén svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniserings­strävanden i två svenska stridsberättelser från finland 1918 102

Agneta Järnankar ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras 111

Ulla Manns feminismens pantheon: kollektivt minne, identitet och föreställd gemenskap 122 Sari Nauman gender, power and the oath 132

the early modern state and the oaths of allegiance

Jytte Nielsen kvindesag og kvindepolitiK 139 elna munchs og landsforbundets rolle og eftermæle i den danske kvindebevægelse 1905–1918

Johanna Overud talking to mrs. housewife 149 the 1960s debates on the integration of married women into the swedish labour market

Birgitte Possing in search of the keys to a biogra­phi­cal analysis of bodil koch (1903–72) 157

reflections on the making of a portrait of a controversial danish minister

Fia Sundevall där pojkar blev män? 164

maskulinitet och mognad i minnesberättelser om svens k värnpliktsutbildning

Liv Helene Willumsen the witch in the north – reality and fiction 173 appendix 183

A: the viii nordic women’s and gender history conference: gender and knowledge – gendered knowledge turku, finland, august 12–14 2005

B: the ix women’s and gender history conference: gender, space and borders, reykjavik, august 11–13 2008

7 the importance of conference reports: preface to the x nordic women’s and gender history conference report

In a 2009 commentary on gender history, seen through the lens of the Nordic women’s gender and history conferences, professor Inger Elisabeth Haavet highlighted the importance of conference reports:

Reading through the reports and programmes of the nine Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conferences is like opening a treasure chest. Women, men, and gender historians with different backgrounds and academic levels present their research projects that are at varying stages. The groups and panels have been assembled to discuss “where we are and where we are going”; international stars on the gender researcher sky have held keynote speeches and provided proposals for a way forward. This treasure chest of titles and contributions allow for a tour of the developments in national and Nordic gender history research. It demonstrates how the conferences have served as a unifying forum to meet, discuss, network and create new research projects. Not least, it shows the importance of the Nordic conferences for the development of a theoretical platform for gender research in the discipline of history.1

1. Inger Elisabeth Haavet (2009): “Nyskapning og fellesskap: kjønnshistoriens historie sett gjennom de nordiske kvinnehistorikermøtene”, Tidsskrift for kjønnsforsk­ ning, no. 1–2. The quote in original: “Å gå gjennom rapportene og programmene fra de ni nordiske kvinnehistorikermøtene er som å åpne en skattkiste. Her har kvinne-/ manns-/kjønnshistorikere med ulike bakgrunner og på ulike nivåer presentert sine prosjekter i varierende stadier. Her har grupper og paneler vært samlet for å diskutere ‘hvor vi står og hvor vi går’, her har internasjonale stjerner på kjønns-forskerhimme-

9 the importance of conference reports

The Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conferences have contributed to the development of the Gender history field of research and have made ex- tended collaborations across borders possible, to the extent that it is now a field of research in itself. As such, it shows the strength and importance of academic and feminist mobilization.2 Yet, there is still much to be investi- gated more thoroughly, as Monica Edgren among others has pointed out.3 Irrespectively of what future analysis will conclude, one thing is sure: the documentation of these Nordic gatherings is important and the publi- cations provide an invaluable asset as primary source material. The Nordic women and gender history research is in continuous development. Among the urgent questions we still need and want to know more about are: the concept of “the Nordic”; the travelling of ideas and theories; the translation and implication of analytical categories (such as gender, sexuality and in- tersectionality); ideas and ideals about a feminist “we”; the relation to and interaction with and within national and transnational frameworks, etcet- era. To once again pick up the tradition of publishing reports from these conferences is therefore of uttermost importance. The X Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conference was held August 9–12, 2012 in Bergen, Norway. The organisers were Professor Inger Elisabeth Haavet and PhD candidate Dunja Blazevic at the History Unit of the Depart- ment of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen. The participants came from all of the Nordic countries as well as the Baltic region, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Attached to this publication are the conference programmes of the two preceding Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conferences: the one held in 2005 in Turku, Finland and the one held in 2008 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Those two conferences are the only ones that did not publish reports. len holdt keynote speeches og gitt forslag til veien videre. Denne skattkisten av titler og innlegg gir anledning til en vandring gjennom utviklingen av den nasjonale og nordiske kjønnshistorieforskningen. Den viser hvordan møtene har fungert som et samlende forum for å møtes, diskutere, bygge nettverk og lage nye forskningspro­ sjekter. Ikke minst viser den hvor viktige de nordiske møtene har vært i utviklingen av en teoretisk plattform for kjønnsforskningen i historiefaget.” 2. Haavet (2009). Dunja Blazevic, forthcoming PhD-thesis at the Dept. of His- tory, University of Bergen. 3. Monika Edgren (2010): “Genushistoria och den tvärvetenskapliga genusforsk­ ningen”, Scandia, 76: 1.

10 preface to the x nordic women’s and gender history conference report

The Nordic gender history gatherings are vivid assemblies across bor- ders. Scandinavian languages together with English have constituted official conference languages. This mix of languages has by some been understood as an advantage and yet another vibrant dimension of the conferences, but by others as a cause of communication problems. Over the years English has become more and more common, not only in the key notes and plenary sessions but also in the workshops. Because of this, we – the editors – de- cided to use English in the title and preface of this report. In the attached conference programs from the two conferences prior to the one in Bergen we have kept the format of original publication: from Bergen and Reykja- vik a mix of languages, and from Turku (where conference information and program was published in Finnish, Swedish and English) we picked the English version.

acknowledgments

The conference report was originally to be published by the conference organisers but was completed by two of the Swedish participants and pub- lished in the report series of the Swedish Association for Gender Histo- rians: SKOGH (Sveriges kvinno- och genushistoriker). The authors have been responsible for proof readings of their own texts and we would like to thank all of them for their careful work and patience. The printing of the re- port was made possible by generous donations from SKOGH, the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research (Nationella sekretariatet för genusforsk­ ning), Letterstedtska föreningen, and the Department of Gender Studies at Södertörn University. Thank you! Finally, we would like to thank the History Unit at the University of Ber- gen, and in particular Inger Elisabeth Haavet and Dunja Blazevic for organ- ising the X Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conference. We express our sincerest hopes that reports from future Nordic Women’s and Gender History Conferences will continue to be published.

Stockholm, april 26, 2014 eds. Ulla Manns and Fia Sundevall

11 Program Det X. Nordiske kvinnehistorikermøtet (The X Nordic women’s and gender history conference), Bergen 2012

Torsdag / Thursday 09.08

Sted / venue: Jussbygget, Sydneshaugen 10.00–13.00 Ankomst, registrering, lunsj / arrival, registration, lunch

13.00–15.00 Åpningssesjon / opening session Plenum I: The biological turn – a challenge for gender history? Keynote: Inger Nordal, biologisk institutt ,UiO: Født sånn eller blitt sånn? Tanker om “Eia-debatten” noen år etter. / Born that way or became that way? Kommentar / commentator: Kari Jegerstedt, SKOK, UiB.

15.30–17.00 Parallellsesjoner tema I / parallell sessions, theme 1 (1–3) 1: Den kjønnede kroppen i forandring (Andersson, Kalman, Tolvhed, Levin) 2: Men, masculinities, and the military. (Sundevall, Ahlbäck, Heden, Sjøberg) 3: Kjønn og profesjon (Johansen, Vainio-Korhonen, Hakosalo, Overud, Järn­ ankar)

17.00–17.30 Kaffe og frukt / coffee and fruit

17.30–19.30 Paneldebatt: Kjønnshistoriens utfordringer / Panel: Gender history’s challenges Kirsti Niskanen m.fl. med utgangspunkt i Scandia, mai 2012

19.30– Tapasmiddag og sosialt samvær / tapas dinner and social gatherings

Fredag / Friday 10.08 Sted / venue: Radisson Blu Royal hotell, Bryggen

09.30–13.00 Plenum II: Historiography and comparative gender history Keynote: Birgitte Possing: The Biographical Turn – a Challenge for Gender

12 conference PRogram

History: Representing Men, Women and Individualities in Historical Biographies. Panel: Metodologisk feminisme? / Methodological feminism? (Gro Hagemann, Berit Gullikstad, Eirin Larsen, Anders Ahlbäck, Ulla Manns) 13.00–14.00 Lunsj

14.00–15.30 Parallelle sesjoner tema II / parallel sessions, theme II (4–6) 4. The Methodologies of Gendered Historical Biographies (Halldorsdottirar, Lagerlöf-Nilsson, Jonassen, Leskälä-Kärkki, Harmainen, Vehkalahti, Anderson, Possing, Nordal, Haavet. Discussants: Carlsson-Wetterberg, Possing, Kinnunen – Sesjonen fortsetter lørdag 15–17) 5. Fag og politikk: Kvinne- og kjønnshistoriens historie / Science and politics: The history of women – and gender history (Blazevic, Forsbäck, Lindtner) 5b.: Minneskultur och kollektiv identitet / Cultural memories and collective identities (Manns, Florin, Niskanen, Thorgrimsdottir) 6. Hjemmets historiografi / The historiography of the home (Carlsson, Holgerson, Sogner, Vammen)

15.30–16.00 Kaffe / coffee

16.00–17.30 Parallelle sesjoner tema II / parallel sessions, theme II (7–10) 7. Interdisciplinary comparisons (Annuk, Kirss, Hinrikus, Willumsen, Leppänen) 8. Stemmerettens historiografi og jubileum/The historiography and anniversary of the vote (Larsen, Rönnbäck, Danielsen, Larsen, Linn) 9. Mistress and servants – gender lojality in work relations (Jansson, Sandvik, Vainio-Korhonen, Østhus) 10. Gender, Religion and multiculturalism (Jusufbegovic, Malitska, Stavseth, van Es)

Kveld / Evening Nasjonale møter/national meetings. Middag/dinner

Lørdag / Saturday 11.08 Sted / venue: Radisson Blu Royal hotell, Bryggen

09.30–13.30 Plenum III: Gender, religion and multicultural society Keynote: Beth Baron, professor, City College, Univ. of New York: “Nothing less than a Miracle”: The Swedish Missionaries and Muslims of Port Said. Session: From Mission to Development (Henningsen, Okkenhaug, Skeie, Småberg, Jalagin)

13 Conference program

13.30–15.00 Lunsj / lunch 15.00–17.00 Parallelle sesjoner tema III / parallel sessions, theme III (4, 11, 13) 4. The Methodologies of Gendered Historical Biographies (fortsettelse fra fredag) 11. Transnational feminism (Bengtsson, Blomberg, Gradskova, Waldemarson) 12. PRE-MODS – Nettverkspresentasjon / Network presentation (Hellsing, Karlgren, Kuokkanen, Miettinen, Nauman, Schjerning)

17.00–18.00 Nasjonale møter / National meetings

19.30– Festmiddag / Conference dinner

Søndag / Sunday 12.08 Sted/venue: Radisson Blu Royal hotell, Bryggen

09.30–10.30 Gender history: then, now – and in the future? Ida Blom in dialogue with Leonore Davidoff and Karin Hausen

10.30–11.00 Kaffe og utsjekk / coffee and checkout

11.00–12.00 Hvor står vi, hvor skal vi? Evaluering og planlegging/Where are we, where are we going? Evaluation and Planning

12.00–13.00 Lunsj og avslutning/lunch and finale

14.30–16.00 Post conference Byvandring eller besøk på Griegs Troldhaugen/Guided walks or visits to Grieg Troldhaugen

14 keynote

Ida Blom, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, Norway – [email protected] gender history – then, now and in the future

Let me start by stressing that this paper builds on my personal recollections of what happened then, how things are now and what I hope for the future. Others may see this in very different ways, and we may have interesting discussions on what was then, now and how the future may be. Let me also add that many other themes might be highlighted, but with 15 minutes at my disposal much has to be omitted. gender history – THEN When is then? We might go all the way back to 1745 when the Norwegian/ Danish historian and playwright Ludvig Holberg wrote Adskillige Heltinders og navnkundige Damers sammenlignede Historie. The Comparative History of several Heroines and Renowned Ladies. But let me start in 1904, when the well-known feminist and founder of the first co-educational school in Nor- way, Ragna Ullmann Nielsen, published a small book entitled Norwegian Women in the Nineteenth Century. She criticized historians for neglecting women’s contributions to national history. She wrote: “Men have created history […] History is only the history of men.” She dedicated her book to ‘The Women in the Year 2000’, hoping that “in the future, women will also become part of history”.1 Her hope was fulfilled, but it took a long time.

1. Ragna Nielsen (1904): Nordiske kvinder i det 19de aarhundrede (Kristiania: Det norske Aktieforlag), Indledning (ikke sidetall). Ida Blom (2007): “‘To the Women in

15 Ida blom

The young historian Halvdan Koht found Nielsen’s book ‘excellent and amusing’. But to him it was not gender, but class relations that explained women’s absence in historical narratives. He maintained that as long as his- tory concerned only kings and lawmakers, women were left out. Koht ar- gued for a rural tradition of equality, manifested in the equal importance of women’s and men’s work in an agrarian society. And he proclaimed: “with working-class people, peasants and burghers, women will also appear in history”.2 During the interwar period Koht was to become the most promi- nent of Norwegian historians. But during his long and extremely productive career Koht never highlighted women in history. Some interesting studies by women historians on women’s history appeared during the interwar period, but they were not seen as part of academic research.3 In 1970 another male professor of history, Edvard Bull, reverted to the thoughts of Halvdan Koht. Bull’s main interest was in non-European his- tory, but he also predicted that among other important themes studies of “people without power […] and of the family would admit great groups of people into history, people who had until then been left out: children, old and women”.4 I had then already taught history at the Bergen University for nine years. I had never wondered why there were no women in the books we used. Nei- ther did I wonder why that was also the case with my own doctoral thesis, that I defended in May 1972. But that fall I suddenly discovered that women had a history and that it had not been researched. I was of course not the only one who made that discovery. The multifaceted approach to women’s history in Nielsen’s, Koht’s and Bull’s approaches also characterized the start of women’s history in Norway. In the early 1970’s inspiration came both from the ‘second wave women’s movement’ and from a change in historical research to a growing interest

the Year 2000’. Norwegian Historians of Women, c.1900–c.1960”, Gender and History, vol. 19, no. 3, p. 581–597. 2. Halvdan Koht (1905): “Kvinder i norsk historie”, Samtiden, p. 327–349. 3. Blom (2007). 4. Edvard Bull (1970): “Historisk vitenskap foran 1970-årene. Tale ved hundre­ års­jubileet for Den norske historiske forening, 9. januar 1970”, Historisk Tidsskrift, vol. 49.

16 gender history – then, now and in the future in the history of everyday life, family history, historical demography and the history of mentalities.5 This early period was characterized by the wish – and indeed the need – to discover what women’s history had been. A growing number of master students and some university teachers started researching new areas of the past. Some analyzed the organization of working class women and the rela- tions between them and middle class women. Others wrote about sexuality and prostitution. The history of housework and women’s work as midwives, nurses, teachers, etc. was analyzed. The fight for suffrage and for admission to higher education, the activities of women’s voluntary organizations as well as women’s attitudes to reduced fertility and much more was now re- searched. A wealth of new knowledge was published in anthologies, articles and books.6 No wonder that Edvard Bull in 1981 found women’s history to have become a growing field of research, in contact with sociologists and other social scientists.7 At the Nordic History Conferences sessions on women’s history helped building connections among Nordic historians. At the conference in 1977 plans were made for a three year project on the theme ‘Women’s work in family and society c. 1875–c. 1940’. With the economic support of the Nor- wegian Research Council three Norwegian historians were engaged in this project. Danish and Swedish historians were also involved, and early results were presented at the following Nordic History Conference in Finland in 1980.8 This was also where the idea of Nordic Conferences of Women’s His- tory was planned. The first of these conferences was held in Oslo in 1983 and today we attend the 10th of these very inspiring meetings. Soon research moved from the necessity of documenting women’s his-

5. Ida Blom (1994): Det er forskjell på folk – nå som før. Om kjønn og andre former for sosial differensiering (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget). 6. See e.g. Ida Blom and Gro Hagemann (eds.) (1980, 1st edition 1977): Kvinner selv… Sju bidrag til norsk kvinnehistorie (H. Aschehoug forlag: Oslo). Anne-Marit Go- taas, Brita Gulli, Kari Melby and Aina Schiøtz (1980): Det kriminelle kjønn. Om barne­ fødsel i dølgsmål, abort og prostitusjon (Pax Forlag: Oslo). Ida Blom (1980): Barne­be­ grensning – synd eller sund fornuft? (Bergen: Universitetsforlaget). 7. Bull 1970, reprinted in Edvard Bull (1981): Retten til en fortid. Socialhistoriske artikler (Oslo, Universitetsforlaget), p. 49. 8. Ida Blom and Anna Tranberg (eds.) (1985): Nordisk lovoversikt. Viktige lover for kvinner ca. 1810–1980 (Nordisk Ministerråd: Copenhagen).

17 Ida blom tory to discussing theoretical approaches to the past. Well-known concepts such as worker or citizen were gendered in order to distinguish the mas- culine from the feminine. The concept of ‘work’ was widened to include women’s work in the home and the history of women’s voluntary organiza- tions was included in analysis of the political process. Like everywhere else the distinctions between biological sex and social gender (biologisk og kulturellt kjønn) was discussed. Inspired by Joan Scott gender was increasingly used as an analytical category.9 Gender history by then sometimes included studies of the construction of political parties, of national conflicts, of the history of labour, of welfare history and the history of health, etc. etc. It was a fascinating time. But it should be admitted that gender continued mainly to mean ‘women’. The history of men as gendered individuals, the history of masculinity, was slow to start. What was the reaction to all this among other academic historians? Some colleagues found the new knowledge inspiring. Fruitful cooperation was soon established with welfare state history and with historical demo­ graphy. Others showed little interest in and little knowledge of what was going on. An interesting debate with Ottar Dahl in Historisk Tidsskrift (the Norwegian Journal of History) in 1985 afforded an opportunity to inform and discuss what women’s history meant.10 Still, integrating gender histo- ry in national history seemed to be a difficult project! A new textbook on Norwegian national history published in 1991 almost completely neglected gender history and a fascinating analysis of the Norwegian/Swedish politi- cal union, published in 2005, only made scant allusion to women’s political activism.11 But when such omissions occurred they offered the opportunity

9. Joan Wallach Scott (1986): “Gender. A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”, American Historical Review, 91, 5 (December). Reprinted in Joan Wallach Scott (1988): Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press), p. 28–50. 10. Ottar Dahl (1985): “Kvinnehistorie. Kategorihistorie eller samfunnshistorie, Historisk Tidsskrift, 3, p. 262–274. Ida Blom (1985): “Kvinnehistorie. Et ledd i historie­ forskningen og et ledd i kvinneforskningen”, Historisk Tidsskrift, 4, p. 413–424. Gro Hagemann (1986): “Kvinnehistorie. Faglig blindspor eller fruktbar disi­plin?”, Histo­ risk Tidsskrift, 3, p. 343–360. 11. Rolf Danielsen, Ståle Dyrvik, Tore Grønlie, Knut Helle and Edgar Hovland (1991): Grunntrekk i norsk historie fra vikingtid til våre dager (Universitetsforlaget: Oslo). Bo Stråth (2005): Union og demokrati. Dei sameinte rika Noreg-Sverige 1814– 1905 (Pax forlag: Oslo).

18 gender history – then, now and in the future to critique this approach and indicate where including a gender perspective would have opened new understandings of the past.12 During all that time inspiration could be found in international contacts. The Nordic conferences on women’s – now gender – history continued to broaden transnational contacts. This also happened at an even more inter- national level. At the World History Conference in Bucharest in 1980, one of the main sessions, for the first time ever – was women’s history. This greatly stimulated international contacts among historians of women. In 1987 the International Federation for Research in Women’s History was established. Two years later this organisation was accepted as an internal commission within the International Committee for Historical Sciences. That meant that since 1990 every world history conference has included special sessions on gender history. The latest one in Amsterdam in 2010 featured no less than 80 papers and sessions stretching over two days.13 At the same time gender history perspectives were also presented at a number of the general sessions of the world conference. This approach to the past had come to stay. Interestingly, during the 1980’s curiosity about women’s history also grew outside of academia. One of the big Norwegian publishing firms asked if it would be possible to write a women’s world history, meant for the gen- eral public. This was a new approach to a long and popular tradition of publishing ten to twelve volumes of world histories – or of Norwegian his- tory – at 15 to 20 years intervals. But at that time writing a women’s world history was a difficult project. Literature on women’s history in different parts of the world was still scarce. Still, six Norwegian and four Danish re- searchers, among them two of my male colleagues (Christian Meyer, Sverre Bagge, Sølvi Sogner, Kari Vogt, Else Skjønsberg, Ida Blom, Eva Maria Las- sen, Nanna Damsholt, Grethe Jacobsen, Bente Rosenbeck), toiled with writ- ing three volumes of women’s world history, published in 1992 and 1993.14 Looking back – and seeing the magnificent world histories later published elsewhere – I think this was a somewhat premature project. But it was a suc-

12. Ida Blom (1992): “Refleksjoner over Grunntrekk i norsk historie”, Historisk Tids­­skrift 1992, 3, p. 315–329. Ida Blom (2006): “Union, demokrati – og kjønn”, Histo­ risk Tidsskrift, 85, 3, p. 497–500. 13. www.ifrwh.com. 14. Ida Blom (ed.) (1992): Cappelens kvinnehistorie, vol. 1 and 2 (Oslo: Cappelen Akademisk Forlag and Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag).

19 Ida blom cess. In a televised program the books were awarded the first Brage Prize, a prize for outstanding publications within specialist literature. And no doubt for those of us engaged in this project, it increased interest in what is today called transnational history. Well, that was then. What is Norwegian gender history today? gender history – NOW It should be stressed that now – finally – gender history also considers men as gendered individuals. Studies of the changing importance of the role as provider for the family or of what it meant to be a father are now published, and so is the intersection of masculinity, age, and class.15 The blossoming field of the history of sexuality has added to the understand- ing not only of femininity, but also of masculinity, of homosexuality and lesbianism as well as trans-sexuality. But it should be said that these fields have been pioneered by Swedish historians.16 In Norway these themes so far seem to have attracted attention both among literary critics, sociologists and historians.17

15. Hilde Gunn Slottemo (2003): Fabrikkarbeider, far og forsørger. Menn og mann­ lig­het ved koksverket i Mo i Rana, 1950–1980. Nr. 41 (Trondheim: Skriftserie fra His­ torisk institutt). Ronny B. Skaar (2003): Forsørgelse og omsorg. Farsrollen i norsk barne­lovgivning 1915–1981. Master thesis in history. Electronic reproduction (Bergen: Dis­kurs forlag). Jørgen Lorentzen (2012): Farskapets historie i Norge: 1850–2012 (Oslo: Uni­versitetsforlaget). 16. Jens Rydström (2001): Odd Couples. A History of Gay Marriage in Scandi­ navia (Aksant: Amsterdam). Svante Norrhem, Jens Rydström and Hanna Winkvist (2008): Undantagsmänniskor. En svensk HBT-historia (Stockholm: Norstedts Aka- demiska Förlag). 17. Tone Hellesund (2008): Identitet på liv og død. Marginalitet, homoseksualitet og selvmord (Spartacus: Oslo). Bjørn Bandlien (2011): “Sexuality in early Church Laws in Norway and Iceland” in Per Andersen, Mia Münster-Swendsen et al. (eds.) (2011): Law and private life in the Middle Ages, Proceeding of the Sixth Carlsberg Acade- my Conference on Medieval Legal History, Copenhagen 2009, DJØF, Copenhagen, p. 191–204. Runar Jordåen (2003): Frå synd til sjukdom? Konstruksjonen av mann­ leg homoseksualitet i Norge, 1865–1950. Master thesis, University of Bergen. Runar Jordåen (2008a): “Concepts of same sex sexuality in Norwegian forensic psychiatry 1930–1945” in Astri Andresen, Tore Grønli, William Hubbard, Ryymin Teemu and Svein Atle Skålevåg (eds.), Citizens, Courtrooms, Crossings. Conference Proceeding,

20 gender history – then, now and in the future

It is encouraging to see that gender history is now more often included in general historical studies. A textbook in women’s history, now in its fifth edition, is used at some introductory university courses. The latest four volume version of Norwegian history, Norvegr, published in 2011, success- fully ­integrates gender, featuring for instance a full chapter on the culture of patriarchy and later telling the story of the new women’s movement in the 1970’s.18 Another important tendency in today’s gender history is cooperation across national borders in big research projects. While Norwegian histori- cal research generally has been criticized for a ‘methodological national­ism’, focusing mainly on national history, gender historians have p­ ublished a number of Nordic comparative studies – of marriage laws, of welfare politics and gender. An even greater number of European countries have been in- cluded in studies of work and welfare and in legislation on venereal diseases. Analyses of missionary activities have of course been especially fruit­ful in going beyond national borders.19 Transnational history promotes discussions on similarities as well as differences among countries that are often assumed to constitute a homog-

Bergen. Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies, p. 95–106. Runar Jordåen (2008b): “Zur Geschichte der Magnus Hirschfeld-Rezeption in Norwegen”, in Mitteilungen der Magnus-Hirschfeld Gesellschaft, 39/40, p. 54–64. 18. Ida Blom, Sølvi Sogner, Gro Hagemann, Kari Melby, Hilde Sandvik and Ing- vild Øye (2010, 1st edition 2005): Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie. Fra vikingtid til 2000-årsskiftet (Oslo: Cappelen Akademisk forlag). Hans Jacob Orning (ed.) (2011): Norvegr. Norges historie. Vol. 4 (Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co.). 19. Kari Melby et al. (2006): Inte ett ord om kärlek. Äktenskap och politik i Norden ca 1850–1930 (Göteborg/Stockholm: Makadam förlag). Kari Melby, Anne-Birte Ravn and Christina Carlsson-Wetterberg (eds.) (2008): Gender equality and welfare politics in Scandinavia. The limits of political ambition? (Bristol: Policy Press). Gro Hagemann (ed.) (2007): Reciprocity and redistribution. Work and welfare reconsidered (Pisa: Edi­ zione Plus). Ida Blom (2012): Medicine, morality and political culture. Legislation on venereal disease in five Northern European countries, c. 1870–c. 1995 (Lund: Nordic Acad­emic Press). Inger Marie Okkenhaug & Ingvild Flaskerud (2005): Gender, reli­ gion and change in the Middle East. Two hundred years of history (Oxford/New York: Berg). Nefisse Naguib & Inger Marie Okkenhaug (eds.) (2008): Interpreting welfare and relief in the Middle East (Leiden: Brill). Inger Marie Okkenhaug, Hilde Nielssen & Karina Hestad Skeie (eds.) (2011): Protestant missions and local encounters in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Until the ends of the world (Leiden: Brill).

21 Ida blom enous group – in this case the Nordic countries. Including representatives of a variety of cultures, the historian may offer a deeper understanding of transcultural meetings. But this may also be obtained by studying different ethnicities within national boundaries. Historians have studied conflicts between ethnic Nor- wegians and the Sami people in the northern part of the country, as well as problems pertaining to accepting representatives of the Rom-people (gyp- sies). The history of Norwegian Jews has received special attention. But ethnicity has not yet been systematically integrated in the intersectionality of gender and class.20 gender history –N I The FUTURE? Where will future gender history take us? I hope the important knowledge so far gained in gender history will be more systematically integrated in other historical studies. I hope there will be an increasing interest in widening the already promising studies of the history of masculinities as well as of sexualities. And I hope transnational comparative research will include even more areas of history. I think that when in the future the history of Norway as an increasingly multicultural society shall be written, we shall need more knowledge of the role of gender in historical traditions within other cultures. And I should think that in this process the varied weight of religion may play an important role. We shall need not just to know about, but also to attempt to understand the problems involved in the meetings of sometimes diametrically opposite perceptions of gender, and not least we shall need to learn about how such problems were solved in the past. The intersectionality of gender – mean- ing both femininities and masculinities – and class will have to be system- atically widened to include ethnicity and varieties of religion. Within each culture we may find very different opinions and opposing political options. No culture is monolithic.

20. Teemu Ryymin and Jukka Nyyssönen (2013): “Synliggjøring, assimilering, agens. Fortellinger i samisk og svensk historie”, Christhard Hoffmann (2013): “Nasjo­ nal­historie og minoritetshistorie. Jødisk historie i Norge”, both in Jan Hei­ret,Teemu Ryymin and Svein Atle Skålevåg (eds.): Fortalt fortid i norskehistorieforskning etter 1970 (Oslo: Pax forlag A/S).

22 gender history – then, now and in the future

And – inspired by Inger Nordal’s excellent talk at the opening of this conference I wonder if we should have new discussions on the relation be- tween biological sex and cultural gender, focusing on how culture influ- enced nature. Whatever happens, historians will have plenty of fascinating problems to solve, also in the future.

•

Re-reading this talk in December 2013, I would also hope that similar ­accounts of how gender history has evolved and developed in the other Nordic countries might be published, for future historians to see differ- ences and similarities in traditions of historical research.

23 keynote

Inger Nordal, Institute of Biological Science, University of Oslo, Norway – [email protected] “the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history

Biologists do not agree when it comes to what we should mean with the concept of “human nature”. James Watson, one of the two behind the Wat- son-Crick double-helix model for DNA, was cited in Time in 1989:

We used to think that our fate was in the stars, now we know, in large ­measure, our fate is in our genes.

[Here it might be mentioned that Watson and Crick stole results of Rosa­ lind Franklin, a bio-physicist and X-ray crystallographer, who produced the necessary data for the double-helix model, but was denied partner- ship.] Watson might be denoted an “ultradarwinist”; others in the same school are E. O. Wilson (Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, 1975) and Richard Dawk- ins (The Selfish Gene, 1976). As opponents to the ultradarwinist school, the geneticist Richard Le- wontin might be representative. He wrote (Not in our Genes, 1984):

We cannot think of any significant human social behavior that is built into our genes in such a way that it cannot be shaped by social conditions.

Other biologists in this school might be represented by scientists like Ste- phen Jay Gould (paleontologist), Stephen Rose (neuro-biologist), Ann Fausto-Sterling (geneticist), Ruth Hubbard (physiologist) and Evelyn Fox- Keller (bio-physicist). All talks about “human nature” in an evolutionary context have to go

24 “the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history back to Darwin, famous for his Origin of Species from 1859. He wrote an- other (fortunately) less famous book in 1871, The Descent of Man, and Selec­ tion in Relation to Sex:

It is generally admitted that with woman the powers of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation, are more strongly marked than in the man; but some, at least, of these faculties are characteristic of the lower races, and therefore of a past and lower state of civilization.

The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by man’s attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than can woman – whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination.

Through history, biological truths on human nature and reproduction re­ present a long and depressive story. The first microscopists “saw” a little hom­unculus in the sperm cell, leading to the belief that the man planted a com­plete seed in the woman’s womb, which accordingly represented the soil or the nest for the growing new individual. The terminology of repro- duction to these days reflects this misunderstanding in all Indo-Europe- an languages: The term sperm has a double meaning, both seed and male sperm cells. Also the term semen has the same double meaning. The man planted the seed (new life) into the woman (nest). In the same tradition, two Scottish biologists, Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson (The Evolu­ tion of Sex, 1889) might be cited:

FEMALE cells are anabole, i.e. passive and energy building.

MALE cells are katabole, i.e. active and energy spending.

Pure nonsense, certainly, but nevertheless “sound science” of that time. The Swedish historian of science, Karin Johannisson, published in 1994 Den mörka kontinenten: kvinnan, medicinen och fin-de-siècle (The Dark Con­ tinent: Women, Medicine and Fin-de-siècle). She showed that at the turn of the 19th century, human behavior was explained and interpreted mainly by biology. The period represented a biological turn. As an example scientists postulated that the uterus (hysterix in Greek) was crucial to understand the female nature. Hysterix was, accordingly, linked to the term hysteria. Johan- nisson documented that surgery was commonly used to remove “female parts” in order to “heal” mental trouble.

25 inger nordal

In the same tradition the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo (Kris- tiania) decided in the meeting of 23. May 1882:

The Faculty hereby declare that women cannot be allowed to study medicine […] It can be raised essential objections since the nerve condition and the health of a woman hardly will allow for the extensive studies and the stern creative work necessary […]

The rule is that women who enter these fields, that from nature are not as­ signed them, will lose their womanliness, so that their intelligence will be developed at the expense of their female nature […]

Is it time to relax and tell ourselves, but that was then and not now? Near the turn of the 20th century – approximately one hundred years after Darwin’s The Descent of Man – the biologistic interpretation of hu- man behavior gets a new boost with E. O. Wilson (1975): Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, in which the last chapter is dedicated to the behaviour of Homo sapiens, interpreted in the light of evolutionary biology. And enter- ing the scene during the following decades, an array of scientists: Behavioral geneticists, behavioral ecologists, evolutionary psychologists, evolutionary psychiatrists, evolutionary anthropologists, evolutionary sociologists, evo- lutionary social anthropologists, and simply “old-fashioned” sociobiologists. Most of them are organized in the international organisation HEBS, the Hu­ man Evolutionary Behavioral Society. The first to pick up the thread in Norway was Weiert Velle, professor in veterinary medicine, who in 1982 published: Arv – Miljø – Adferd: et bidrag til likestillingsdebatten (Heritance – Environment – Behaviour: A Contribu­ tion to the Debate on Gender Equality). Weiert Velle argued very like Darwin 100 years earlier:

A human being has a certain capability and resources. Women invest a large part of her energy in reproduction (pregnancy, birth, breast feeding etc).

Her resources are thus mainly spent outside the realm of science and other intellectual undertakings.

He exemplified the postulated gender differences by: 99.5 % of all hunters and 95 % of all hobby fishermen are men, whereas women are in majority when it comes to gathering berries and mushrooms. And he concluded

26 “the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history that: These differences cannot be explained only as a result of a socializing process. To check these numbers, one should check the Norwegian recent registers of approved hunters. In 2001, for example, it is documented that 20 % of the new hunters this year turned out to be women, meaning that the male percentage has sunk from 99.5 to 80 during less than 20 years. The postulated majority of female gatherers of berries and mushrooms is prob- ably also exaggerated. The scientific field of sociobiology is based on the so-called “adaptation program”, which has been defined by one of its dedicated Norwegian pro- ponents (Iver Mysterud 1995 in Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologiforening 12):

A functionalistic approach, where all traits are measured in relation to the efficiency to transfer genes to the next generation(s).

The basic axiom of this program refers to the asymmetry between the two sexes: ♀ with a restricted number of ovules and ♂ with an almost unlimited number of sperm cells. The concept of fitnessin evolutionary biology relates to the ability to transfer genes from one to next generation, the more genes transferred, the higher the fitness. This is the background for the sociobio- logical postulates on the female and male “nature”. The list below is based on papers published by central members of “HEBS”: Barkow, Cosmides & Tooby 1992 (The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Genera­ tion of Culture) and Buss 1994 (“The strategies of human mating”, American Scientist 82):

Women love men with wealth and power, men love young fertile women. Cf. Singh’s law: A universal trait for men – all over the world and in all cul­ tures – to be attracted to females with ratio waist width to hip width = 0,7.

Women are inferior when it comes to spatial apprehension, spatial accu- racy and capacity to understand mathematics and technology, compared to men (= the stone age hunter)

Women (=stone-age food-gatherer) remember better where things are found, compared to men.

Women, contrary to men, are naturally monogamous, passive and coy when it comes to sexuality.

Women are naturally predisposed for caretaking, men for aggression.

27 inger nordal

The bolded postulates will be further discussed below. Firstly, when it comes to the female inferiority in the spatial apprehen- sion and in the capacity to understand mathematics and technology, it is true that girls have been shown to score on an average slightly poorer in 3-D tests than boys. The differences are, however, very small, 2–5 % between average scores and a large overlap:

The sociobiologists appear to argue according to the following a logical scheme: A: Males were selected through the stone-age for accurate sharp-shooting. B: Males have better 3-D apprehension. Then it is argued that from the postulated A, we will expect the postu- lated B to be true (A → B). B is as mentioned true (although with very slight differences). Does this result mean that A is supported? In basic logics we are taught that even if A →B, and B is true, it does not imply B →A, i.e. that also A has to be true. This mixing of correlation and cause is common in the human-sociobiological literature referred to above. Such sociobiological postulates might not only be misleading, but even harmful; to undermine the self-confidence of a girl might in fact result in self-prophecies. One might set up an alternative logical argumentation: A: Boys, on an average, get more technical toys than do girls. B: Males have better 3-D apprehension.

28 “the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history

Again, A → B, and as we have seen, B is true (although with very slight differences). In this last scheme A can in fact be tested, whereas the stone- age male selective regime cannot. Is it possible to perform a rigorous scientific test on the subject of 3-D apprehension, i.e. that boys and girls are differently selected and thus geneti- cally different in this respect? If so, we would have to take a large number of new-born infants, 50 % ♀ and 50 % ♂, and divide each sex group into two, so that we will have four groups on which to undertake experiments. One of the ♀- and one of the ♂-group must be stimulated with only dolls and teddy bears, whereas the two remnant groups must be stimulated by differ- ent kinds of technical toys. The four groups must certainly be protected from social influence, and particularly avoid day nurseries and play schools. An absurd experiment, certainly, but nevertheless necessary to reach a sound scientific conclusion. Secondly, when it comes to female sexuality, the sociobiological postu- late is, as mentioned, that women, contrary to men, are naturally monoga­ mous, passive and coy. We have certainly experienced a significant difference in female sexual behavior through the last hundred years (female controlled contraception might be part of the explanation). The young women ex- pressing themselves in books like the Swedish Fittstim and the correspond- ing Norwegian Råtekst, describe female sexual behavior that would have shocked their grandmothers. Behavior that has changed significantly during four generations cannot have any important genetic basis. The evolutionary psychologist, Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair from the University of Trondheim undertook a study among students in 2009. He interviewed 1100 heterosexual students on sex, and reported that a male student anticipated on an average 25 sexual partners through his lifetime, the female student only 6–7. He interpreted his results: I think that these results show that gender and sex do not primarily relate to culture and roles. Within natural science, such a conclusion is absurd – social influence is not at all excluded. Another Norwegian, the molecular biologist Bjørn Grinde, published a book in 1996: Genene: din indre guru (Genes: Your Inner Guru). He em- phasized that we, like all mammals, have a well developed brain, taking care of the individual efficiency of the transfer of its genes. Every individual is predisposed for producing as many children as possible, and this explains

29 inger nordal our sexual behaviour, he claimed. The same year the psychiatrist Asbjørn Medhus wrote a book with a similar message: Hvor ulike er vi? Om biolo­ giske kjønnsforskjeller (How Different are We? Biological Gender Differences). He concluded:

Boys and girls, who get the same upbringing, may get mental and social handicaps when they grow up. Such upbringing runs counter to their nature.

Such upbringing may lead to irreparable damage.

Horgan in Scientific American 1995 (The New Social Darwinist) has charac- terized such “research” based on the adaption program:

If a certain behaviour is predicted by the adaptation program – excellent! If not: it is explained by the human flexibility – also excellent! The theory cannot be rejected, irrespective of data, it is accordingly “falsification proof”.

Behavior must in one way or another be controlled by the brain. According to the mentioned “ultra-darwinist”, the basic “message” from our brains is to reproduce as efficient as possible. What do we know about the develop- ment of the brain? The neurobiologist, Steven Rose, published a book in 1997: Lifelines: Biology, Freedom, Determinism. He reminded of the fact that the brain is far from developed at the time of birth, it includes few synapses (Homo sapiens is in fact an animal that is born extremely premature com- pared to all other mammals). During the few first years of a baby, being a girl or a boy, 30.000 synapses pr. sec pr. cm2 brain cortex are formed! When the synaptic network is (biologically) “completed” it contains 1011 (hundred billions) neurons, where each cell on an average may receive signals from 1000 other neurons), resulting in 1014 (hundred trillions) synapses. What is important is that the brain is built while it receives impressions, and stimuli from the outside. Edelmann published a book in 1992, Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind, where he summarized his theory on “Neu- ral selection”: Synapses that are stimulated are maintained, synapses that are not, will be reduced. That means that the architecture of our brains are designed while we are influenced by people and environment around us. This makes it impossible to separate nature from nurture when it comes to our behaviour. Anders Ledberg, a Swedish neurobiologist, pointed to a fact in Hjärn­

30 “the biological turn” – a challenge for gender history släpp in 2002 that less than 0,5 % of brain research regards gender difference, whereas in the popular press, the majority – by far – relates to gender dif- ferences. There seems to be a hang up on focusing on putative differences. Cultural evolution (included gender behavior) must be lamarckian rath- er that darwinian inherited, since acquired characteristics are “inherited” to a large extent. The sociobiologists have only eyes for strict Darwinism. To match the stringent theory of Darwinism, the ultra-darwinists have thus introduced a new concept: A meme (Dawkins 1973 in The Selfish Gene and Dennett 1995 in Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life). A meme should according to their theory be a kind of a virus on the mind, that just like genes, spread in the “gene basin” by moving from body to body via sperms and eggs. The memes should accordingly spread in the “meme basin” by moving from brain to brain by an imitation process. Dawkins claims that we do not chose our ideas (memes), but that the memes chose us – analogous to his view on the “selfish genes”. And Dennett goes as far as to claim that the human mind is an artefact, created by memes for memes. Memetics should accordingly be an all-embracing theory to understand the human nature. The central dogma in genetics, going back to the fathers of the DNA- model, claims that all information is found in DNA and that the instructions from that molecule is read and translated by RNA, to form a products, i.e. proteins, acting as enzymes and thus governing all processes in the body. The genes are transferred from generation to generation in a “germ line” that is not affected by the environment. New research has demonstrated problems in the interpretation of the central dogma. It has, for example, been shown that transposons, might move genes within the genom and that the location of the gene will influence its function. The first to discover this effect, by the way, was Barbara McClintock in the beginning of the 1950s, a discovery that gave her the Nobel Prize in 1983 (no biologist wanted to accept her theory from the start, as it violated the sacred central dogma). Recent research has further shown that genes are more difficult to define than was believed in the era of the central dogma. The genes are regulated and activated/deactivated. So called epigenetic mechanisms are crucial in the development of the individual. And these are influenced by external factors – also through generations. Our genetic constitution is more com- plex and dynamic than we used to think! Even the father of sociobiology,

31 inger nordal

E. O. Wilson, appears to wobble these days. In his recent book, The Social Conquest of Earth (2012), he manifests himself as a proponent for “true al- truism” and “group selection”, concepts that have been anathema to socio- biologists and ultradarwinists. He even claims that within a group it is not necessarily positive that the individuals maximize their fitness (i.e. transfer as much of its genes to the next generation as possible) – the very basis for human sociobiology. The “biological turn” when it comes to human behavior appears to have had a golden age around the turn of the 19th as well as the 20th centuries. The sociobiological proponents find, as shown above, that the typical behaviour of a woman of the bourgeoisie in the Victorian era, reflects the female “true nature”. The biological bias has unfortunately recently also penetrated so- cial sciences, like social anthropology and psychology. The sociobiological gender roles are made banal and even vulgarized. That is a challenge to all feminists! Hopefully, the documentation above has demonstrated that sociobio- logical research on human behavior to a large degree is unscientific. The readers of this paper probably will mainly include researchers within the realm of gender history and female biographies. To avoid to be run over by wave of the “biological turn”, that is a challenge to all of you!

32 keynote

Birgitte Possing, The Danish National Archives, Copenhagen, Denmark – [email protected] representing gendered individualities: reflections on the biographical turn

prologue

The death knell has long rung over the historical biography – both inside and outside the discipline – and there is also an ebbing in the number of bio­graphical writings and a stagnation of the methodological debate […] For many people biography has become an outdated, at best harm- less, genre.1

It was in 1978, the Danish historian Kirchhoff stated this. Nevertheless, the decade after this death sentence saw an amazing livening up of the genre: biographies flowed off the press in increasing numbers, in new and any- thing but outdated configurations. Biography was rethought, also in ac- ademic circles. In 1992, I published my first biography in the shape of a thesis The Strength of Will. A Biography on Natalie Zahle2 claiming that biography had a mission developing an old, classical genre with new meth- odologies. The mission was to re-humanise history as a discipline, to make visible a female pioneer in Danish and Nordic history, and to reflect upon the dynamic interrelation between the public, the private and the intimate life of the protagonist. This purpose was far more controversial than I could have imagined, raising a heavy public debate. It made me realise that spe- cialist historians and literary scholars carried around a latent opposition to

1. Hans Kirchhoff (1978): ”Anmeldelse af Viggo Sjöquist Erik Scavenius. En Bio­ grafi”, in Dansk Historisk Tidsskrift. 2. Birgitte Possing (1992): Viljens Styrke. Natalie Zahle. En biografi om køn, dan­ nelse og magtfuldkommenhed, vol. 1–2 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal).

33 birgitte possing the genre. Biography was a dead pariah in respectable academic circles. But because of a new tendency in the nineties, we saw an increase in the num- ber of research-based biographies from the hands of literary scholars and historians alike in Denmark, in Sweden, and in Norway. The biography was becoming vivid and alive. Now, the death knell had silenced, and the next 20 years we saw a biographical turn in history all over the western world. In this lecture I want to argue how the biographical turn in the histori- cal and literary disciplines has sharpened the traditional archetypes of the biographical genre, has turned the genre into a science including women, with this inclusion making a renewal of the methodological debate, and a resumption of biographical methods. Now, the challenge for historical bio­ graphers is to consider the misuse and vulgarizing of the lives of defenceless deceased historical personalities. the science of gendered individualities and the biographical turn Why is it relevant to dwell on this issues of the genre, its traditions, and its methods? For three reasons, firstly because the academic society has de- spised and looked upon the genre with condescension, not being able to establish a well-developed critical tradition towards the genre. Today, bio­ graphy is much appreciated, but referred to with disrespect by academic society. Secondly, because scholars are publishing a cornucopia of biogra- phies, in spite of the intellectual disregard of the genre. Thirdly, because the genre in the last part of the 20th century was named ‘the Science of Man’ by its nestor Leon Edel (1907–97), thus literally excluding women, and keep- ing up the skewed gender balance of history. In an international forum biography is a two-thousand year old genre, mainly being preoccupied by men. Biography has been like a courtesan, in constant demand and much visited. Up to the turn of the millennium, the historical biography as a genre was gender-distorted. In 2001, an interna- tional study showed that more than 92 % of all historical biographies had dealt with male subjects and 96 % had been written by men. Only 4 % of all published biographies were written by a woman, while less than 8 % of all biographies had women as the protagonists, for instance queens or an out- standing feminist! As the courtesan is visited by men, so too the biography

34 representing gendered individualities had been looked up by men! Statesmen, kings, financiers, scientists, scholars and authors of the male sex populated the genre, until female biographers during the last decade of the 20th century paved their way into the genre with national and international women protagonists, pioneers or ‘firsts’, as they have been called. This of course, was a result of the historical entry of females in formerly male dominated public positions during the 19th and 20th centuries. Biographies on female scientists, feminists, pedagogues, politi- cians and cultural personalities, followed by national dictionaries on female pioneers have contributed – and in many ways modernized – the meth- odological and theoretical thinking of the field. Not out of biological rea- sons, but because of gender equalities: Often the lives and careers of female pioneers came about quite differently with dissimilar and more scrolled life courses than male life and careers because of maternity and marriage, and because of male opposition towards women conducting public power positions. The biographical efforts understanding this diversity in gender experiences have created new methodological thinking, most of them be- ing personality portraits or life-and-times biographies.3 Thus the inclusion of women biographies and women biographers parallel to the overwhelm- ing renaissance of published biographies has had the consequence that it is meaningless to talk about the science of man referring to the biographical genre. Today, the genre of historical biographies had to be named “the Sci- ence of Gendered Individualities”. More than ever, the courtesan is visited, and now by both men and women! Recently, also autobiographies, the myriad of life writings of ordinary, anonymous people, and collective biographies have exploded as a sphere of interest. A new field of the making of life stories has developed into a com- plex field, and the dissimilarity between the construction of autobio­graphies

3. Kristina Lundgren (2010): Alltför mycket kvinna (Stockholm: Carlsson); Yvon­ ne Hirdman (2010): Den röda grevinnan. En europeisk historia (Stockholm: Ord- front); Christina Carlsson-Wetterberg (2011): “ … bara ett öfverskott af lif”. En bio­ grafi om Fri­da Stéenhoff (Stockholm: Atlantis); Inger Elisabeth Haavet (1998): Nina Grieg. Kunst­ner og kunstnerhustru (Oslo: Aschehoug); Ragna Nielsen (2011): Livet er et pust. Ragna Nielsen. En biografi (Oslo: Aschehoug); Sigrun Slapgård (2002): Kri­ gens penn. Ein biografi om Lise Lindbæk (Oslo: Samlaget); Sigrun Slapgård (2007) Dikterdronningen.­ En biografi om Sigrid Undset (Oslo: Samlaget).

35 birgitte possing and the reconstruction of biographies of others’ lives is a sovereign issue that I shall not be addressing in this lecture. Here, my point is that the major renaissance of biography at the end of the twentieth century and at the turn of the millennium – in Denmark, as well as in the Nordic region generally and in most of the western world was followed by a renewal of methods still only hesitantly accepted in aca- demia. The biographical renaissance exploded both as part of the popular ‘experience economy’, and in the academic culture. This spirit of the time is what scholarly literature calls “the biographical turn” or “le retour de la bio­graphie”. It is an element of the individualistic or individualising zeitgeist following the demise of the Grand Narrative. The overwhelming presence in books, the media and the entertainment industry has rendered the bio­ graphy a kind of compass for human life. The biographical turn has not only happened because we live in a post-Freudian world with an inclination to psycho-historical analysis. It has also happened because the decades around the turn of the millennium saw the biography becoming part of the demo- cratic project in an increasingly globalised community. It expresses interest in the individual, and its place and agency in culture and society. This biographical flood, though, was not followed by a well-developed critical tradition, and still, our institutions of higher education do not offer any specific training in the all-round study of biography. As expressed by the British historian Nigel Hamilton:

Its ethics, like the history and theory behind it, thus go largely unad- dressed, while at a practical level there are still relatively few courses offered to those who wish to write a biography, whether big or small. Would-be biographers are thus left largely to their own devices, scrabbling for advice and examples in every direction.4

What new knowledge can we glean by looking at the role of the biography in the past and the present, in the public arena and in the scholarly fora? Biographers in the international community have begun to rally in order to find an answer developing the interdisciplinary analytic field known as bio- graphical studies. We have to distinguish between, on the one side, the gen­

4. Nigel Hamilton (2008): How To Do Biography. A Primer (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).

36 representing gendered individualities re, this being the empirical narratives of individual lives as they can be read from Antiquity to the present day, and, on the other side, the analytical field, which this genre comprises. This distinction puts us on the ­threshold of being able to identify concepts and classify archetypes of ‘the making of biography’. The biographical field is by its very nature interdisciplinary, because a biography borders on many other genres, subjects and narra- tive traditions. Despite differences between the disciplines of history, litera- ture and social sciences, it is possible to build bridges between archetypes, methodologies, and narrative techniques of biography. Let’s have a look: what is a biography? A biography is the depiction of a life. It is non-fiction, and a life story of a real, historic lived life, written or told by someone other than the central character. But it is not only a pure depiction of archival traces left behind, it is also an interpretation of life. A biography is always a reconstruction of at life, it is a told life. The way in which this life is told have varied and changed over the years. And that is a long story from the Antiquity to pre- sent days not to be told now; I have published this elsewhere.5 However, during a period of two thousand years, the genre has distilled a series of archetypes that all of them are present and vivid today. They can be con- ceptualised as follows: The didactic biography, so termed because it serves as a mirror for magnificent human qualities (canonizing) or the opposite, wretched human characteristics (vulgarizing), as displayed by great army commanders, politicians, or heads of state. The hagiography, a hero or mar- tyr epic, designed to glorify heroes or saints, irrespective of how the central characters lived their real lives. The portrait of a personality focuses on the main characteristics of a nuanced, candid, and maybe ambiguous person- ality changing during his or her life time. The template of the Bildungsro­ man, an evolutionary development story, so that the biographer creates an organised coherence in a (disorganised) life. The modern life story allows the interpretation of certain characteristics of the life and work of the pro-

5. Birgitte Possing (2001): “The Historical Biography”, in International Encyclo­ pedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Amsterdam/New York: Elsevier); (forth- coming 2015): “The Historical Biography”, revised, updated version, submitted, to be published electronically; available at www.possing.dk.

37 birgitte possing tagonist, either as a life-and-times biography or as a prism-biography; the latter focusing on some else than the main character (a type, class, culture, gender). The most recent addition to the biographical archetypes is the postmodern or event-biography, characterised by its breach with the tradi- tional biography’s chronology and coherence. One has to choose otherwise it is easy to lose one’s way! Today, biographical theorists agree that the main thrust of the biography as genre – whatever archetype – is the comprehension of the protagonist’s lives including their longings, doubts, searching for identity, and their ra- tional and irrational behaviour. The genre has developed to become complex and challenging, but do not lose hope! Despite the different the archetypes of biography, the questions posed by biographers as to the nature of the biography have remained more or less constant throughout the history of western civilisation. (Male) biographers as Plutarch and Suetonius, Carlyle, Johnson and Strachey, Edel and Hamilton, to name the most renowned, have “hard-won experience in depicting real lives”. These experiences have shaped our biographical conventions and theories. As already mentioned, recent biographers – especially female biographers – challenge these con- ventions, others use them. But they are present anyway, these conventions, and it is advantageous to be familiar with them when embarking on a work of biography: In my forthcoming book, I am tracing four of these conven- tions (every b is a life from cradle to grave; every b has an agenda beyond the telling a life; every b is determined by the biographical triangle; every b holds the fate of someone else in their hands). But today, I will be content with reflecting on just two of these basic experiences of the making of bio­ graphy: 1) Every biography has an agenda or a plot beyond that of chrono- logical depiction of a life; 2) Every biographer holds the fate of someone else in their hands. every biography has an agenda or plot Many historical biographers make the chronological exposition of a life the controlling framework of the narrative. That is all very well given that a biography is about a life, which starts with birth and ends with death. But the idealistic idea of a coherent, chronologically advancing life was a 19th century phenomenon, abandoned by 20th century pioneering biographers,

38 representing gendered individualities with L. Strachey and V. Woolf in the lead. Few people’s lives ­actually start on a course that holds for an entire lifetime. Therefore, every biographer must decide on the relationship between chronology and the main idea with the biography being told (the plot). Since the turn of the millennium the biography has served other purposes than straightforward chronologi- cal description of a life, given that modernity in the nineteenth and twen- tieth centuries culturally liberated the individual: Historical biography has changed from an approach in history to becoming an inherently in- ter-disciplinary and self-assertive genre calling itself the “new biography”. This has especially been influenced by feminists, postmodernists, and race theorists. Feminists and postmodernists have focused on the diversity and complexity of personalities, movements and institutions decrying “essen- tialism”:

The subject of biography is no longer the coherent self but rather a self that is performed to create an impression of coherence or an individual with multiple selves.6

Modernity created awareness that the individual person has had a choice, has had the possibility to lead many lives, having more than one identi- ty. David Macey’s biography on Foucault7 was a brilliant example of this: “Foucault lived many lives – as an academic, as a political activist, as a child, and as a lover of men”. Gilbert Badia’s biography on Clara Zetkin8 is another brilliant example of the art of biography, telling Zetkin with sev- eral identities as a passionate rhetoric, a socialist, a feminist, a passionate lover, a mother, and an educator. Ambiguity, contradictions and biographi- cal polyphony, have had pride of place for the genre during the last twenty to thirty years in the western world.9 This is not merely a phenomenon in-

6. Jo Burr Margadant (ed.) (2000): The New Biography. Performing Femininity in Nineteenth-Century France (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press). 7. David Macey (1993): The Lives of Foucault (London: Hutchinson). 8. Gilbert Badia (1993): Clara Zetkin. Feministe sans frontières (Paris: Les Édi- tions Ouvrières). 9. Giovanni Levi (1989): “Les usages de la biographie”, Annales ESC, 6, p. 1325– 1336; Lois W. Banner (2007): “Biography As History”, The American Historical Review, vol. 114:3, p. 579–587.

39 birgitte possing vented by the postmodernist Bourdieu10 or one that evolved during twen- tieth-century modernist critique led by Lytton Strachey,11 Virginia Woolf,12 and Foucault. An understanding of one person’s multiple lives goes all the way back to sixteenth-century Michel Montaigne, and nineteenth-century Chateaubriand, both of whom referred to the individual’s self-contradicto- ry actions and many lives. Today, historians are reclaiming a certain truth of an historical identity warning against the postmodernist dissolving of personalities. Despite this debate, the linear cradle-to-grave-convention weighs heav- ily in the idea of biographical research. The narrative resulting, at best, from this is that it went like it went, because that is how it went. This a priori de- terminism colours many biographical narratives: We find it everywhere, also in brilliant biographies, for instance Figueiredo’s praised Henrik Ibsen biography, The Man and the Mask13, and in Ole Lange’s weighty biography on a Danish-international financier, The Great Mogul.14 Both are in child- hood described as quick-witted, inquisitive, lively boys with a willingness to learn, and an original ability of fantasy. The direction that their lives were to take has thus been plotted at the very outset, and followed. The genius of their personality conceived itself. But how could the biographer know this – without examining their motives, private deliberations and social con- texts carefully? These questions of contextualisation which usually troubles the academic historian in the process of reconstructing the life of a major historical figure have not worried neither Lange nor Figueiredo. Questions such as: How many lives – as in, identities – did this person live? How did the public, the private and the intimate affect each other? How did the gen- dered position of the biographer AND the protagonist challenge the out- come of the biographies? How did they weigh their power position or their marginalisation? Their success or failure? Their character or work? These are questions to which, as a rule, there are only complex answers, accord-

10. Pierre Bourdieu (1989): “L’illusions biographique”, Actes de la recherches en sciences sociales, 62/63 (Paris: Editions Minuit). 11. Lytton Strachey (1918): Eminent Victorians (London). 12. Virginia Woolf (1967): Collected Essays (London: Hogarth). 13. Ivo de Figueiredo (2006): Henrik Ibsen: mennesket (Oslo: Aschehoug); Ivo de Figueiredo (2010): Henrik Ibsen: mennesket og masken (Oslo: Aschehoug). 14. Ole Lange (2006): Stormogulen (Copenhagen: Gyldendal).

40 representing gendered individualities ing to the biographer’s approach. The answers depend on the biographer’s perspective for the biography: The biographer takes a stand in relation to his or her protagonist. The technique required of the biographer is to find a stance as friend or adver- sary, mouthpiece or challenger. The biographical attitude has varied in the work of past biographers. In 1759, Samuel Johnson wrote: “He that writes the life of another is either his friend or his enemy, and wishes either to exalt or to aggravate his infamy.”15 In the run of the 20th century this either-or posi- tion was abandoned. Now, it was seen as an obligation to criticise the pro- tagonist sharply: “A man’s biography should be written by an acute enemy”.16 Or Oscar Wilde: “Formerly we used to canonize our heroes. Today we vul- garize them”.17 A third position of empathy, wishing to explain both the bad and the good deeds of the protagonist – developed in the late 20th century:

Although there are many reasons to select a subject for study, including the need to understand the bestial and violent as well as the virtuous and noble, most biographers choose to write about people they care about and can identify with […]18

Empathy and identification can also be seen as ‘cold empathy’, as Robert Gerwarth has argued in his brilliant biography on Reinhard Heydrich, the nazi with the “iron heart”.19 Thus, the perspective of the biographer has changed en route from Johnson to Balfour and Wilde to Wiesen Cook and Gerwarth. Some have written in order to scorn, rile or criticise their sub- ject – others because they wish to revere and applaud their subject; or be- cause they have fallen in love with their subject (!). Thus the basic positions in the lengthy western biographical tradition have flowed back and forth.

15. Samuel Johnson (1759): The Idler (London). 16. S. K. Ratcliffe (1927): The Observer (London). 17. Quoted in Michael King (2001): Tread Softly for You Tread On My Life(Auck- land, New Zealand). 18. Blanche Wiesen Cook (1984): “Biographer and Subject. A Critical Connec- tion”, in Carol Ascher, Louise DeSalvo and Sara Ruddick (eds.): Between Women. Bio­ graphers, Novellists, Critics, Teachers and Artists Write About Their Work On Women (Boston: Beacon Press). 19. Robert Gerwarth (2011): Hitler’s Hangman. The Life of Heydrich (New Haven & London: Yale University Press).

41 birgitte possing

In the twenty-first century we intend neither to canonize nor to vulgarize. Some do both. Others again try to stay sober, unbiased and open minded. The important thing is, that the biographer has to take a stand, realising the plot, the agenda, and the archetype of the biography he/she is going to make, otherwise the protagonist and his/her traces, evidences, remnants and reputations uncritically will take the lead in the making of the bio­ graphy. ethics: every biographer holds the fate of someone else in their hands A biography of a historical figure – someone who has lived a real life – is a far bigger responsibility to tackle than any other kind of treatise. It is difficult dealing with the unwieldy ethical accountability vis-à-vis an in- creasing public pressure on the right to invade the private lives of famous personalities. This is also the case for academics. Whether we like it or not, every biographer is a puppeteer for and an ethical judge of the subject of the bio­graphy. The biographer is playing a pedagogic game with a real life, one that has actually been lived. Not much has been written about the eth- ics of the matter, even though it comes under hefty debate when the moral expectations of the readers are disrupted.20 The New Zealand biographer, Michael King21 maintained that one should tread carefully when invading lives and private lives, whereas others, as the American biographer Carl Rollyson, found this “higher form of cannibalism” desirable.22 Others ar- gue for both sides, as the already mentioned British-American historian and biographer Nigel Hamilton. Personally, I follow King in that the docu- mentary biographer has an ethical responsibility for the editing of the por- trait. That is to say, the biographer does not have the freedom as a novelist creating a fictional character. I kept back certain information about the pri- vate life of Bodil and Hal Koch in my biography of the former.23 In my view,

20. Antoon de Baets (2009): Responsible History (New York: Berghahn Books). 21. King (2001). 22. Carl Rollyson (2005): A Higher Form of Cannibalism. Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee). 23. Birgitte Possing (2007): Uden Omsvøb. Et portræt af Bodil Koch (Copenha- gen: Gyldendal).

42 representing gendered individualities aspects of the information I actually found researching were still too sensi- tive for their descendants to share with the general public. The gentlemen of the press did not share this opinion (!). My point is that the biographer is in a position to make knowledge public and to keep knowledge private. Tak- ing a choice, making a decision. In the western world we have legal provisions for the protection of pri- vacy; there are similar regulations applying to archive material. These pro- tections and regulations being challenged more and more frequently, in printed and electronic media alike, we as scholars are challenged: Privacy is an awkward area for legislation because it has moved with modernity. The borderlines between what is considered private and what is considered public have moved radically during the twentieth and the twenty-first cen- turies. How to cope with this issue? Should we reveal everything about our protagonists? Since the turn of the millennium, the general public expects nearly everything relating to sex, tenderness, solicitude and love to be made known. Whereas faith, secret networks, and certain intimate business may be seen as private. Fifty years ago, the opposite was true. Two thousand years ago, everything was in the public domain; for example, in the Roman histo- rian Suetonius’ biographies of The Twelve Caesars24, and of famous whores (!), he went more than close to the intimate lives of these protagonists. These biographies never would have been published in any Scandinavian country today! With some justice, we can ask if our civilisation has progressed or regressed as regards what we should and want to know about one another? We find no general answer to this question. The point is that the biographer holds the keys to the particular form of respect or disrespect for the subject that should radiate from the portrait. These ethical reflections are certainly not only relevant in private and intimate matters. Primarily, they are relevant in biographical research be- cause we are dealing with dead personalities incapable of defending them- selves toward public defamation. Respecting history and historical realities, the biographer must comb every library and archive, large and small where manuscripts and sources might be kept, and try to communicate with every accessible informant. This claim might seem banal to mention to scholars,

24. Tranquillius Suetonius (121 AD): De Vitae Caesarum, transl. Robert Graves (1957): The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics: Harmondsworth).

43 birgitte possing who naturally hold thorough research to be the highest principle, but I am sorry to say, in historical biographies we find scandalous examples of super- ficial research, bordering scientific fraud where the biographer has refrained from a thorough investigation in favour of a political, personal or an ideo- logical aim in the making of the portrait. The most recent example of this we find in the recently published Danish biography on one of the greatest Danish public intellectuals of the 20th century: the literary scholar, philolo- gist, gender historian, editor, female academic pioneer, humanist, in some ways a feminist, a fund raiser, a critic, a controversial public debater, and a mother of two daughters, dr.phil. Lis Jacobsen (1882–1961). In the Royal ­Library, she left behind her an enormous archive documenting all her ef- forts, ideas, initiatives, letters, manuscripts etc. As the centenary book of the scientific society Lis Jacobsen founded, and on behalf of the publisher Gyl- dendal, the old-aged, but experienced biographer and respected historian, Kristian Hvidt wrote a biography on her.25 However, he had used only a few fragments of her huge archive and letters, neither reading her philological nor historical publications nor the existing women’s studies to contextualise her life and work. The outcome was a biased, one-eyed portrait of a charm- ing, erotic female nature who possessed more beauty than brains, her head teeming with ideas, ideas that were realized only with the aid of powerful male personalities from her families and social networks. The biography was neither a life-and-times nor a personality portrait; it was a mirror of the fancies of the male biographer not being diligent or sufficiently hard- working to do the serious work of an historian, and not being able to fancy the life struggles of the protagonist. This disgraceful biography borders on scientific fraud distorting the fame of Lis Jacobsen. Of course, it has been badly received and reviewed. What a pity. Did this happen because of the biological sex of the biographer?

epilogue

No, it did not. The example shows that a historical biographer must go through the main types of information in the pursuit of all truths and facts about the main subject, as basis upon which to interpret and construe the

25. Kristian Hvidt (2011): Forsker, Furie, Frontkæmper (Copenhagen: Gyldendal).

44 representing gendered individualities life, taking the stance and reflecting the ethics.Firstly and primarily, read- ing all the published literature (contextualisation); secondly, tracing all un- published sources such as letters, diaries, photographs, notes, manuscripts (doings, visions, ideas of the protagonist); thirdly, conducting interviews that might provide more – and even contrasting – stories about the subject of the biography (dissimilar views on the protagonist). Fourthly, the bio­ grapher has to decide upon the archetype, the stance of his/her biographi- cal position (scorn, love, hate or curiosity), and fifthly, deciding on the plot of the biography. Avoiding research in the making of a biography paves the way for a disfigured and deformed portrait of a man or woman, unable to defend the fame they left behind them. Biography is vivid and alive, but it is not a harmless genre. It is a dan- gerous genre playing with real lives. Maybe that’s why the biography is still treated like a much-pursued courtesan – to be visited, but not to be spoken of. My recommendation is to welcome the biographical turn in history, giv- ing way for the making visible of a series of forgotten historical personali- ties, revising the perception of well known figures, reflecting the dynamic relation between the individual and the society, and re-installing the news methods from the science of gendered individualities.

45 panel: metodologisk feminism? genushistoriske ettertanker og framtidsvyer

Anders Ahlbäck, History department, Stockholm University, Sweden/ History department, Åbo Akademi University, Finland – [email protected] only “masculinities” to offer? methodological feminism and the gender history of men and masculinities

When Gro Hagemann and Berit Gullikstad invited me to participate in a discussion on “methodological feminism”, I spontaneously understood this novel concept as a negative intended as a critique of the gender historical field. It seems to imply that we gender historians might be guilty of letting gender, as a category of analysis, limit and restrict our perspective in the same way that methodological nationalism has confined many historians’ scope to one single nation state and its so-called national history. However, after considering the evidence, I am inclined to judge gender historians in the Nordic countries relatively guiltless in this respect. Quite contrary to constricting the scope of study and analysis only to gender whilst ignoring other relevant categories, gender historians have for decades demonstrated an acute awareness of how gender and class cannot be studied in separation from each other. Occupational, political, regional and confessional contexts have also been emphasised. Certainly, many so- cial differentiations have not been paid the attention they deserve. Yet all in all, I would go so far as to claim that gender historians were exercising intersectionality in their studies long before that concept became a buzz­ word within gender studies. They did not perhaps do it with the explicit theoretical awareness that has later been developed, but with an almost instinctive sense of the particularities and specificity of different social set- tings and societal groups – the sensitivity for context that is the hallmark of historians in general. Methodological feminism can of course be understood in other ways

46 only “masculinities” to offer? as well. Even if it is not the only category of analysis in a study, the theo- retical understanding of gender might become so rigid and narrow that it becomes a pair of blinders that only allows us to see what we expect to see. The American historian Jeanne Boydston has criticized the legacy of Joan W. Scott along these lines, claiming that Scott reinforced and universalised a particular, western, modern understanding of gender and power when she defined gender as a binary opposition that always functions as a vehicle of domination. According to Boydston, such a rigid definition prevents us from understanding the complexities of gender in such contexts as for ex- ample African societies or early modern history.1 In my personal reading, Scott has above all been a theorician of human agency in the process where gender is made. What I took with me from read- ing her classic texts was an understanding of gender difference as constantly made and remade, always open to challenge and contestation, always the object of active political struggles; in short, as historical.2 I nonetheless agree with Boydston that when applied in research, Scott’s heavy stress on gender differences as always connected with power and hierarchy might result in forms of what might be called methodological feminism. Gender has cer- tainly very often been permeated with structures of hierarchy and domina- tion throughout history, but does that mean they are necessary qualities in gendered relationships? Can we hold on to an understanding of gender that by definition excludes non-hierarchical difference? hegemonic masculinity as methodological feminism If we look for this particular form of methodological feminism within my own field, the historical study of men and masculinities, the prime suspect would probably be Raewyn Connell’s vastly influential theory of hegemon- ic masculinity. The theory, or model, supposes a hierarchical social struc- ture of domination and subordination among different masculinities. Con- nell defines “hegemonic masculinity” as the most “culturally exalted” form

1. Jeanne Boydston (2008): “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis”, Gender & History 20:3, p. 558–583. 2. Joan W. Scott (1988): Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press); Joan W. Scott (1991): “The evidence of experience”, Critical Inquiry 17:4, p. 773–797.

47 anders ahlbäck of masculinity, the ideal and yardstick that other forms of masculinities are measured against. Its fundamental purpose and function, according to the theory, is to justify and legitimate men’s domination over women.3 There has been no lack of critical debate around this theory. From a his- torian’s point of view, one of the most crucial objections is that hegemonic masculinity invokes the image of a static patriarchal structure. The struc- ture of dominance and subordination itself appears fixed, even if its con- tents on different levels are seen as open to contest and change.4 There is a lot of afterglow of 1970’s patriarchy theories and Marxist understandings of structures of oppression in this theoretical model. As the Umeå historian Jonas Liliequist, among others, has pointed out, the model runs the risk of directing analysis only towards trying to identify which forms of mascu- linity in a given historic setting should be assigned which positions in the power structure, instead of empirically investigating open questions about how gender functions as an organising principle in specific historic settings.5 Yet again, I would not say that this form of methodological feminism characterises the Nordic field of men’s history as a whole. On the contrary, the historians whom I would deem most important for the development of the field have usually avoided using Connell’s model, at least in any straight- forward manner. I am thinking of the work of, among others, Claes Eken- stam, Ella Johansson, Jonas Liliequist, Jens Ljunggren, Ann-Catrin Östman, David Tjeder and others. I think that most historians who delve more deeply into the complexities of understanding men as gendered beings in the past soon become aware of the dangers of ending up in an ahistorical structur- alism that Connell’s model entails. Historians who actually work on something else and only make a quick detour into the history of masculinities often read Connell in too great haste and use her model in a superficial manner. As a result, there has been an exaggerated focus within the field on masculinities as ideals, stereotypes, ideologies and norms. Some historical studies seem to be mainly intent

3. R.W. Connell, Masculinities (Cambridge: Polity, 1995). 4. See e.g. Stephen Whitehead (2002): Men and Masculinities. Key Themes and New Directions (Cambridge, Oxford & Malden: Polity), p. 93–94. 5. Jonas Liliequist (2009): “Ära, dygd och manlighet. Strategier för social prestige i 1600- och 1700-talets Sverige”, Lychnos, p. 117–147.

48 only “masculinities” to offer? on identifying different and distinct types of masculinity that are attached to particular social groups. In the process, they do not pay enough atten- tion to the great variations in standards for manliness and men’s behaviour from one social situation or social relationship to another – even within the same group. Sometimes one might wonder if the whole field has noth- ing else than masculinities to offer – endless typologies of different ways of being a man and theorizations on their internal hierarchical relationships. However, as several historians of masculinity have pointed out, men often selectively use the cultural multitude of masculinities according to their needs and purposes. gender as discourse and subjective reality Ever since the 1990s, there has been an on-going discussion among histo- rians about the relationship between the different dimensions of masculin- ity; between ideologies or cultural stereotypes of manliness and unmanli- ness on the one hand and men’s practices and subjectivities on the other hand. According to the British historian Michael Roper, the study of gen- der discourses within the public sphere has been given too much attention within gender history. It has largely displaced the study of how individual men and women understood and selectively appropriated these discourses in their private lives. Roper would like to see more attention given to how subjectivity and agency is also shaped by such things as previous life expe- riences and emotional states.6 I agree with Roper that it is not enough to study cultural representa- tions and political discourses on men and manliness, but that we should more often ask how groups of men and individual men in the past relat- ed to these representations and discourses; what they meant in their lives, how they used them, profited from them or were restricted and coerced by them. Yet again, when I look at the work that actually has been done on men’s history in the Nordic countries, I see a lot of work that refutes Roper’s claims of gender historians’ narrowness of outlook. Questions about how stereotypes relate to social and subjective reality have been highly present

6. Michael Roper (2005): “Slipping out of view. Subjectivity and emotion in gen- der history”, History Workshop Journal 59, p. 169–187.

49 anders ahlbäck in many important studies, for example throughout the different texts in the landmark anthology Män i Norden, published in 2006.7 In the histori- cal study of fatherhood, to give another example, it has usually been at the very centre of inquiry. Admittedly, men’s experiences and subjectivities have not usually been treated with the same conceptual sophistication that historians display when they analyse discourses, and not with the expert knowledge into the work- ings of the human psyche that Roper calls for. Therefore, I personally think that some of the most exciting and innovative work that is being done at the moment in Finland, within a very loosely defined field of gender history, are studies that bring the so-called affective turn to the study of Finland’s wars; exploring how men and women emotionally reacted and coped with the extraordinary circumstances in the war years and how their subjectivi- ties were affected by experiences that were often unlike anything they could even have imagined before the war. Many of these studies do not necessarily have gender as the primary category of analysis, but as one of many deter- minants that need to be studied. What we are still lacking are proper, sterling biographies of male indi- viduals that unlike conventional biographies problematise gender. When we look at Nordic women’s history, there are numbers of interesting bio­ graphies of remarkable women – and these works often in one way or an- other show how the apparently dominant discourses on gender certainly never did completely determine the subjectivities of their protagonists. On the contrary, they show how family background, life experiences, personal characteristics, passions and desires played a major role for these women’s gendered subjectivities and made it possible for them to challenge, stretch and ultimately displace political discourses on womanhood. Thus, I eagerly wait for historians of men and masculinities to endeavour into the genre of the historical biography.

7. Claes Ekenstam & Jørgen Lorentzen (eds.) (2006): Män i Norden. Manlighet och modernitet 1840–1940 (Möklinta: Gidlund).

50 panel: metodologisk feminism? genushistoriske ettertanker og framtidsvyer

Ulla Manns, Dept. of Gender Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden – [email protected] methodological feminism and the history of feminism

Indications of methodological shortcomings are often provocative. It is easy to feel uncomfortable, embarrassed or even to be inclined to dismiss such criticisms without further reflection. Nevertheless, and needless to say, questions concerning ways of producing knowledge, as well as con- sidering the conditions under which knowledge is produced, are and, in- deed, will continue to be crucial for any kind of scientific enterprise. This of course goes for gender research too. For me, methodological reflection, as well as intellectual and affective self-reflection, is closely related to space, that is, to the very academic and feminist space gender research itself con- stitutes and is situated in. As a historian investigating feminist space in the past – specifically the intellectual and political spaces within feminism as a social movement – the invitation to consider the existence of methodologi- cal feminism in Gender History is a challenging and equally tempting one, immediately giving rise to questions about the relation between method, epistemological situatedness and embodied academic space. We know that space affects us in different ways: it is felt, experienced, and reacted to, we orient ourselves within it, but it is not always visible or acknowledged.1 The rising interest in questions concerning theory and method, shown at this conference not the least, has been welcomed by many. During recent

1. Sara Ahmed (2007): “A phenomenology of whiteness”, Feminist Theory vol. 8, no. 2. Sara Ahmed (2006): Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others (Dur- ham, N.C.: Duke University Press).

51 ulla manns years scholars have worried about the absence of such discussions among Nordic gender historians, noting their lack of participation in wider femi- nist scholarly debates.2 This session – along with the one about the theme issue of Scandia 2012:2 – show a revitalized interest for these kinds of ques- tions. It also suggests that it is now possible to tackle these questions, after some years of being stuck in an unsatisfactory situation in which they were not adequately handled. According to me the scholarly climate in gender history has been such that it has been difficult to promote critical debates about conceptualizations of gender and power. Anxieties about provoking animosity in others, as well as the worry that one may be accused of show- ing disregard to the pioneering women’s historians of the 1970s and 1980s, seem to have played a great part in this respect.3 Two questions will be addressed in this contribution: first, what might methodological feminism be and, second, is methodological feminism pre- sent in research about the women’s movement and the history of feminism? Before the questions are addressed directly, I would like to underline that my thoughts are limited to personal reflections about method, feminism and historical consciousness in the context of my own field of research, namely studies about feminism as a social movement. My perspective is empirically mainly situated within a Swedish research context. Theoretically I remain close to scholars such as Maria Grever, Clare Hemmings and Joan Scott who all emphasize the importance of a critical engagement when study- ing feminism. Gender history is a vast field of research and, even if general questions are important to pose, our answers are probably better reflected upon if they are more limited in scope; which is to say, in order to avoid new generalizations that run the risk of reducing or overlooking what actu-

2. Inger Elisabeth Haavet (2009): “Nyskapning og fellesskap: kjønnshistoriens historie sett gjennom de nordiske kvinnehistorikermøtene”, Tidsskrift for kjønnsforsk­ ning, no. 1–2. Monika Edgren (2010): “Genushistoria och den tvärvetenskapliga ge- nusforskningen”, Scandia no. 1. Helena Bergman (2012): “Vi har tiden på vår sida! Genushistoria och den tvärvetenskapliga genusforskningen”, Scandia supplement, no. 2. Ulla Manns (2012): “Historiska rum”, Scandia supplement, no. 2. Sara Edenheim (2012): “Att komma till Scott: teorins roll inom svensk genushistoria”, Scandia supple- ment, no 2. 3. Ulla Manns (2009): “En ros är en ros är en ros: konstruktionen av nordisk kvinno- och genusforskning”, Lychnos: Årsbok för idé- och lärdomshistoria. Manns (2012).

52 methodological feminism and the history of feminism ally goes on in different research contexts, the manner of our intervention should be more local and particular. Methodological feminism. What might it be and does it exist in his- torical research about feminism and women’s movements? The title of this session implies that methodological feminism does exist and since meth- odological nationalism is “a bad thing” methodological feminism ought to be just as bad. Does this challenging question imply that gender history is stuck in or even dominated by an implicit or unconscious focus on gender as a monolithic and satisfying category for historical analysis, and thereby hinder us to analyze what we have set out to investigate? Indeed, is this a description that really suits gender history in the Nordic context? For now I shall use the concept of methodological feminism to roughly mean an inability to reflect upon, and draw theoretical and methodologi- cal consequences of, a starting point in the category of “women” or “gen- der”, in its non-intersectional form. In short, and from my point of view, methodological feminism is “a bad thing” just as unawareness of national frameworks is regarded as an impediment for sophisticated and complex analysis of different kinds. The question whether methodological feminism exists in gender history, and if so then to what extent, is of course tricky to address. My answer to this second question is two-fold and somewhat contradictory; it will be both affirmative and negative. Let me start with the short answer of the two. No, methodological feminism does not really exist within women’s movement studies in a way that methodological na- tionalism is said to exist in other kinds of historical research. In large parts of gender history, there is a high level of self-reflection; critical stances are taken and explicated in texts. One often finds properly elaborated and well thought through considerations concerning the situated nature of know­ ledge, about knowledge producers and the academy as an institutionalized site for knowledge production, bound up in particular cultural, economical and political settings. Moreover, the dilemmas and paradoxes that all this generates in feminist scholarship are often discussed. So no, methodologi- cal feminism does not exist as a parallel phenomenon to methodological nationalism, at least not to an equal extent. Most of us are too trained and situated in critical feminist contexts to maintain the belief that gender is a sufficient category for explaining all kinds of complex cultural, political and social phenomena historically – here again I am taking gender in its

53 ulla manns non-intersectional understanding. If an un-reflected or taken-for-granted conceptualization of gender – which in fact helps maintain narrow, com- partmentalized and naturalized conceptions of meanings of sexual differ- ence, femininity, masculinity and sexuality – would define methodological feminism, I definitely say no: gender history is in large part not caught up in what can be called methodological feminism. Now to the second part of the answer – the affirmative one. When it comes to the history of feminism and of women’s movements, I contend that we often relax our level of reflection, awareness and critical thinking. With some exceptions we – and, yes, I include my own studies here – tend to adopt and follow the very same story told by those we in fact set out to ana- lyze. When studying feminism in the past we often use source material that in fact has a narrative structure or is a mediated representation of a collec- tive. The source material can be private letters found in archives, obituaries in magazines or published memories. The data can also be source material on a more collective, organizational level – such as minutes, annual reports, jubilee publications from organizations, historical monographs etc. In this kind of source material, dissension and disagreements within the move- ment are seldom discussed or are barely visible. We meet a story already structured on the basis of selections and decisions made for some reasons and by some of the actors in the collective we study. When taking part of these “stories” scholars need to pay careful attention to what is manifest and emphasized, and what remains latent or even hidden. The gaps, the ab- sences behind explicit utterances, pictures, symbols, explications etc.; such things have to be carefully considered along with how temporality works in the narratives.4 As historians we are well trained in handling this kind of source ma- terial, to contextualize, to read “against the grain”, and we are good at it. But nevertheless, when it comes to feminism in general and to individual feminists in particular, we seem to let slip our critical capacity to interpret, a method we successfully apply in other readings. Why is that? Why do we

4. Ulla Manns (2011): “Historico-political Strategies in Scandinavian Feminist Movements”, in J. Mittag & B. Unfried (eds.), Arbeiter- und soziale Bewegungen in der öffentliche Erinnerung: Eine globale Perspektive/The Memory of Labour and Social Movements: A Global Perspective (Berlin: Akademische Verlagsanstalt), and paper in session 5b, this report.

54 methodological feminism and the history of feminism often end up with a history of feminism that to a large extent follows, and therefore remains in line with, the collective memory the movement itself has left behind? This is of course a kind of memory production that takes part in larger processes of shaping and maintaining social coherence, a sense of collective identity within feminism. This memory is not a memory shared by all its actors, whatever the social movement under investigation. Rather, as Maria Grever points out, it is a collective memory based on prior selec- tions, political priorities and internal hierarchies.5 Taking inspiration from Clare Hemmings’ analysis of the historiography of our recent past I do wonder. If we write the history of, let’s say, 19th cen- tury feminism in Sweden, do we not have to pay more attention than has been previously acknowledged to questions about which feminism we are making visible, and furthermore how we make this history visible?6 Don’t we have to ponder more carefully over what we know about the feminism which does not get highlighted or acknowledged in the source material we analyze? Furthermore, how do we relate to the topic chosen? Are we en- gaged in what Joan Scott calls a “retrospective identification” without really being aware of it?7 These questions lead up to other even more tricky questions concerning imagined or felt obligations towards the past, to feminism and feminists in the past. Let me underline that in posing these questions I am not imply- ing that we should abandon feminism or individual feminists as proper ob- jects of study. It does not even mean that “women” are improper to study. Instead, this is a call to us all to maintain a process of continuous self-re- flection about, one, what part of the movement we are focusing on, two, what kind of feminism we are trailing and, three, how we are to go about conceptually seizing feminist spaces, feminist politics, feminist feelings and actions as we proceed. I would also urge us to reflect more upon what

5. Maria Grever (1997): “The Pantheon of Feminist Culture: Women’s Movement and the Organization of Memory”, Gender & History no. 2. See also Wulf Kanstein- er (2002): “Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies”, History & Theory no. 2. 6. Clare Hemmings (2011): Why Stories Matter: the Political Grammar of Feminist Theory (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press). 7. Joan W. Scott (2011): “Fantasy Echo: History and the Construction of Identity” (2001), here in The Fantasy of Feminist History (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press).

55 ulla manns kind of story we, ourselves, tell when writing about feminism in the past. I am not alone in posing these questions. As already mentioned, on is- sues such as the importance of narration and contextualization in analyzing the history of feminism, I position myself close to scholars such as Clare Hemmings, Maria Grever and Joan Scott. All of these thinkers eloquent- ly remind us of the central significance of methodological considerations when analyzing feminism, not least Clare Hemmings’ recent study of the history of feminist theory. Hemmings’ focus on citing practices, narrative structures, mobilization of affects and the existence of a political grammar in our narration is worthwhile to keep in mind when we are studying femi- nism and feminists from the past. As mentioned, much of the source ma- terial we are working with are themselves tellings. The voices we meet are voices from persons highly invested in certain feminist visions of the future. They were participating in ongoing debates, internal as well as external ones. Therefore, paying attention to the political – but also to the narrative and emotional – side of the stories told, will help us get closer to the feminist content and context of what we are studying. But aren’t we already doing this? Yes we are, but not sufficiently. Historiographical studies about the women’s movement are still scarce, so are studies concerning the cultural and collective memory of feminism.8 There is still much to do within research about feminism, not least when it comes to “identifying absent presences” in the past, absent presences which exist in all kinds of source material.9 Of course, we can never gain access to a totally transparent picture of the past, given that interpretation of these absent presences are subject to our own identification of what is said to be absent. The identifications we make are also the result of certain selections. But following Joan Scott we can keep our minds open and remain alert to the always present conditions for historical research by remember- ing: a) that we will never find full or definite answers to our questions,10 and b) that the texts we produce have themselves narrative structures regulating knowledge about time as well as space.

8. See Lisa Tetrault (forthcoming): The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suff­rage Movement, 1848–1898. 9. Hemmings (2011), p. 23. 10. Scott (2011), p. 146ff.

56 session 2: men, masculinities, and the military

Anders Ahlbäck, History department of Stockholm University, Sweden/ History department of Åbo Akademi University, Finland – [email protected] between independence and belonging: on the paradoxes of modern military masculinity

Conscription-based military service was at the nexus of three major trends transforming male citizenship in Finland in the 1920s and 1930s: the eman- cipation of men from agrarian patriarchal structures, the increasing politi- cal inclusion of men in democratic national states, and new forms of dis- ciplining men according to increasingly uniform civic standards.1 Military service was one of the most tangible and visible practices where citizenship in the new national state was exercised, performed and manifested – al- though only by men. It seemed to offer all men equal inclusion in a demo- cratic political body and access to the powerful masculine subjectivity of the citizen-soldier; a free man defending his family, property and country together with his fellow male citizens. Yet the militarisation of manhood was also the most conspicuous form of disciplining men and masculinities in the period. In modern conscript armies, notions of belonging to a civic brotherhood-in-arms, where equal duties were based on equal citizenship, were juxtaposed with sharp social hierarchies and demands for subservi- ence. For many men, military service was the first time they left their home, family and village for a longer period of time. Having to learn how to get by and cope on their own, many men later described military service as a time of extreme hardships, but also a time when they found a new self-assurance

1. This text is based on research presented in more detail in Anders Ahlbäck (2014): Manhood and the Making of the Military. Conscription and Masculinity in Fin­ land, 1917–1939 (Farnham: Ashgate).

57 anders ahlbäck and independence. Military propaganda and “civic education” powerfully propagated the notion that it was in the all-male environment of military service, together with and guided by other men, that a boy or youngster somehow reached full and real adult manhood. However, there was also a vivid contemporary political criticism of military training within the con- finements of a standing army, as well as loud-spoken moral concerns that this all-male environment would corrupt, debase or brutalise young men. Both contemporary press coverage and later reminiscences of interwar military service highlighted stories about forced subordination and bully- ing of the soldiers by their superiors and seniors. I think one reason for why this attracted so much attention in public images of military service was the contradiction perceived by many contemporaries between the practices of military training and cultural understandings of masculinity. This contra- diction or paradox derived from the tensions between notions of manhood as a sameness among men and the social relationships in the military where men were hierarchically graded in a web of both formal and informal super- and subordination. These tensions between “comradeship” and oppressive domination among men permeated the gender order of twentieth-century conscript armies because of their ideological heritage that combined ideas of equal citizenship with the military logic of absolute obedience. This paper is based on two groups of sources depicting experiences of military service in the interwar period; two literary works by two young pro- fessional authors and a collection of autobiographical reminiscences written by 56 different men, mainly farmers and workers. The literary works, Pentti Haanpää’s anti-militarist Fields and Barracks and Mika Waltari’s pro-de- fence Where Men Are Made, were written during or immediately after their authors went through military training.2 The autobiographical narratives were written down much later, in response to an ethnological collection of memories of military training carried out in 1972–1973.3 The question posed is how different men negotiated the contradictions between ideals of manly independence and military comradeship, as well

2. Pentti Haanpää (1928): Kenttä ja kasarmi. Kertomuksia tasavallan armeijasta (Kansanvalta: Helsinki); Mika Waltari (1931): Siellä missä miehiä tehdään (Porvoo: WSOY). 3. Archives of the Turku University School of Cultural Research, TYKL enquiry number 45.

58 between independence and belonging as between masculinity as equality and masculinity as hierarchies among men. These negotiations, I argue, determined men’s conduct and attitude during their military service, as well as their narrative strategies of self- representation when they later retold what they had experienced in “the place where men are made”. I follow historian Jonas Liliequist’s suggestion that historians of masculinity should study how masculinities, as a cultural repertoire of available notions and ideals, are actively used, adapted, rein- forced or modified by groups and individuals, in different ways in different situations, according to their shifting needs and desires in everyday life or in political struggles.4 the “dark story” of bullying superiors Most of the narrators studied here portrayed interwar military training as an extremely hard, tough and demanding experience. Especially those de- picting military service in the 1920s portrayed relationships between con- scripted soldiers and their superiors as strained and marked by animosity on both sides of a hierarchical chasm. The narratives about recruit train- ing typically stressed the emphasis superiors put on manifesting hierar- chy. Many informants recalled that officers made a point of keeping rela- tionships between themselves and the men extremely formal and distant. Likewise, the never-ending and repeated cleaning and ordering of squad rooms and equipment lockers, making of beds and cleaning of rifles dur- ing recruit training, usually making up the first three months of training, were highlighted elements in the memories. The actual military training during the recruit period was remembered as mainly consisting of close- order drill exercises. NCOs in some units daily “blasted” the conscripts’ meticulously made clothing bundles and beds to demonstrate soldiers’ powerlessness in the military hierarchy. However, considerably more brutal means were also used to socialise the recruits into a particular military behaviour. Reminiscences convey images of widespread practices intended at scaring, bullying and humiliating the soldiers into unquestioning obedience. One usual form of

4. Jonas Liliequist (2009): “Ära, dygd och manlighet. Strategier för social prestige i 1600- och 1700-talets Sverige”, Lychnos, p. 117–147.

59 anders ahlbäck bullying, aimed at humiliating individual conscripts in the 1920s was the so called huudattaminen [~to make someone shout], where an individual soldier was humiliated by being ordered to climb a high place and cry out sentences about themselves such as: “Recruit N. N. is a useless man for the Finnish Army” or “Recruit N. N. has got sawdust, eggshells and sour milk in his head and they are all mixed up too”.5 More often, the conscripts were bullied as a collective. In many units there was a practice of punishing the conscripts for even the smallest in- fringements, oftentimes even alleged breaches of regulations, with so-called santsi, extra duty. Santsi usually consisted in physically extreme close-order drill, with an emphasis on the heavy and dirty practice of instantly hitting the ground at the command, lie headlong pressed to the ground and then get up again, repeated over and over for up to an hour, sometimes in mud- dy fields, sleet or water puddles. To the soldier’s mind, it was often more a question of harassment and bullying than just punishments or adequate military training. understandings of bullying and abuse The young author Pentti Haanpää’s army book depicted a military world where officers and soldiers harassed and corrupted each other in a vicious circle. He sought explanations in the tensions between the masculine val- ues of Finnish men and the norms of the military system. One might say that in his short stories, the exaggerated emphasis on close-order drill and indoor duties in recruit training contradicted central traits in contempo- rary agrarian norms for masculinity. These were the value put on personal autonomy, based on freeholdership or being a skilled and esteemed work- man, and the importance of being in useful, productive labour to support oneself and one’s family. The soldiers depicted by Haanpää found peace- time military service meaningless and unproductive. The resulting recal- citrance and hostility towards superiors frustrated and enraged their offic- ers, provoking them to use ever more abusive means to force the soldiers into submissiveness. Haanpää seems to have aimed the blame at the con- script army system, shaped by models from authoritarian states like Rus-

5. See e.g. TYKL enquiry 45, nr 96, p. 33; nr 85, p. 24.

60 between independence and belonging sia and Prussia, rather than at individual officers’ weaknesses of character. Mika Waltari’s literary depiction of his military service presented a very different interpretation of the army discipline. He was singled out for lead- ership training and joined a group of educated youngsters from ­middle class families in the capital Helsinki. They thought of themselves as an elite among the conscripts and strove to outperform each other, whatever chal- lenges their superiors presented them with. Where Haanpää used the meta- phor of a whipped dog for conscripted soldiering, Waltari used the image of untamed puppies that were educated with loving stringency. He ascribed another meaning to instances of bullying and collective punishments, turn- ing loathsome and perhaps humiliating experiences into positive memories, formative of his identity as a member of a particular group of young men who shared that same experience. The humiliations Waltari experienced did not consist in being subordinated and maltreated by his superiors, but in instances where he was unable to “take it like a man”, keep up with his comrades and endure anything they endured, shrugging it all off afterwards with a laugh. Finally, according to the elderly men writing down their memories of military service in the early 1970s, the conscripts did not in general regard the bullying of conscripts as functional or rational instruments of military training or socialisation into a soldier identity. The young soldiers depicted in their recollections discarded the bullies as men lacking self-restraint who were only taking out their personal problems and aggressions on their sub- ordinates. Contempt for the bullies and attempts to construct them as men of weak or unsound character in spite of their formal power over other men run through the descriptions of bullying. These different articulations of experiences of army discipline can be read as strategies for dealing with the symbolic and psychic threat posed to the narrators’ own masculine self-esteem by ostentatious military sub- ordination. The contempt expressed for bullying superiors was one way of handling this threat, by belittling the bullies. A quite different strategy, as demonstrated by Mika Waltari, was to belittle the bullying itself, claiming it was “nothing”, just a bit of rough play; something a man must be able to take with a bit of humour.

61 anders ahlbäck describing “comradeship” Mika Waltari and Pentti Haanpää harnessed depictions of the nature of comradeship in the conscript army to obvious political purposes. Waltari wanted to defend the military system and the spirit of collectivism inher- ent in “white” nationalism and found use for images of close, warm and happy military comradeship. He and his middle-class comrades enjoyed recruit training at the summer camp as a relapse into the carelessness of boyhood. Through forming a close-knit community of comrades, they supported and spurred on each other to learn and train for the task of real men: defending the country. This experience, Waltari claimed, endowed young men with the self-confidence to face the responsibilities and chal- lenges of adult manhood. Haanpää had no use for a sedative notion of supportive male comrade- ship that lessened the strain of life in a cadre army. In his portrayal, com- radeship was more about an inflicted life together. His images of soldiering were actually closely aligned with the contemporary political critique of the standing army as an institution corrupting men, both through the op- pressive violence of a detached officer caste and through the roughness of comradeship in the “unnatural” circumstances of men living isolated from society among each other. The Finnish men participating in the 1972–1973 collection either did not experience the close, even romantic military comradeship described by Waltari, or they were unable or unwilling to explicate what comradeship or friendship with other men had meant to them during their military ser- vice. In their stories about their military training, there are hints at a par- ticular kind of affinity among men, but also images of a social collective run through by hierarchies, conflict lines and social tensions. The men writing down their army stories in the 1970s, aged circa 55 to 75, were perhaps simply not inclined to speak openly about their feelings for other men. To admit to or even remember the kind of youthful enchantment expressed by Wal- tari would possibly have been embarrassing for them. The narrative genre models of army stories also tend to focus on anecdotes about memorable incidents, not on descriptions of psychological states or social relationships. Moreover, they wrote down their memories in the different temporal context of the 1970s, when the political heat of the 1920s around the issue of how to organise military training had abated a long time ago. Enthusias-

62 between independence and belonging tic images of military comradeship were not necessary for the stories they wanted to tell, not in the way Waltari needed this imagery to prop up his defence of the existing cadre-army system. Theirs were essentially individu- alistic life-stories about one man finding self-confidence and strength to be independent from others. In those stories about soldiering and manhood, close comradeship could not be the most central element. finding trajectories to manhood There are many indications that entering and serving in the interwar army was a shocking and painful experience for many men. Different narrative strategies for fending off pain caused by the harshness of military life – even preventing or forgetting that pain – can be discerned in the material. One strategy consisted in emphasising symbolic resistance, celebrating any counter-power the soldiers managed to exercise. Among Pentti Haan- pää’s soldier comrades, the obvious response to being forced into submis- sion was to attempt resistance in any form possible. They tried to reclaim at least some of their personal autonomy, or just make their existence a lit- tle bit more comfortable, by lying, cheating, shirking and malingering. As the conscripts were prevented from doing “honest” work, they found more manly dignity in doing nothing at all than in fooling around in the exercise fields playing war games. There was an opposite way of preserving one’s dignity in face of the mili- tary system: making adjustment and submission into a manly achievement in itself. Mika Waltari resolved the contradiction between masculinity and subordination by presenting the conscripts as boys on the threshold of real manhood and casting submission not as passive, oppressive and forbidding, but as active and productive of a more mature manhood. He contrasted the immature selfishness of youth with adult, responsible manhood, which was about conquering oneself, adjusting to the demands of real life in a society with others, and learning to submit oneself to another’s will, for the sake of the common good. A third strategy was akin to, but not identical with Waltari’s. This con- sisted in portraying soldiering and military service as an extremely tough and demanding social experience, yet casting it as a story of growth and personal development – as part of a trajectory to manhood. In this regard,

63 anders ahlbäck the bulk of the 1972–73 reminiscences have much in common with Pentti Haanpää’s depiction of military life: the bullying, the contempt for sadistic superiors, the strategies of passive resistance through shirking, comrade- ship that was often more about getting along with people than about being carried away by passionate affinity. Yet many men seem to have embraced the notion that what they had been through had given them self-confidence and made them men: “That time was not wasted. There during one year a shy and timid country boy grew into a man who held his ground in the struggle of life.”6 There is thus a pattern in the army stories of initially em- phasising the harshness, even brutality of military training and discipline and still end the narration on a positive note. Once the “hammering”, the rough treatment, had been endured and was bygone, it could be used, and was probably even exaggerated, to support a narrative identity of oneself as one who could cope with the hardest demands of manhood. There are some striking similarities between these “growth-stories” and the images of military service advocated by interwar military rhetoric. Yet the former conscripts did not just imitate official propaganda from the in- terwar years. They used some of its elements, but put them into the much bleaker context of their personal experiences. Unlike Mika Waltari’s trajec- tory to manhood, their route led through the “dark stories” of hardships, conflicts and bullying, which drew both on their own memories and a pop- ular tradition of understanding military service as oppressive of men from the lower classes. Still, the key motive of these stories was not, like in Pentti Haanpää’s army critique, to bring out the inhumanity of the military training system. The old men reminiscing the experiences of their youth needed neither the demonising story about an officer corps rotten throughout, nor the ideal- ised gendered myth of male soldiers’ unreserved solidarity and comrade- ship. They wanted above all to tell a story about their own development, to demonstrate how they had prevailed, not primarily by force of the support of a tightly knit homosocial collective, but by force of their own growing strength and hardiness. The stories of their hardships were, above all, the epic story of their own coping.

6. TYKL enquiry 45, nr 146, p. 48.

64 session 7: interdisciplinary comparisons

Eve Annuk, Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu, Estonia – [email protected] feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia

This paper will analyze how the gender question and the ideas of women’s emancipation were represented in Estonian public discourse, mostly in the newspapers at the end of the 19th century. Estonian newspapers were an im- portant source of information for Estonian readers. Since the educational level of Estonians was low, even though literacy was common at the end of 19th century, the newspapers acquired the role of educating people, shaping the reader’s consciousness. I will also deal with the question of the attitude of Estonian national movement toward the “woman question”. The problem in analyzing feminist and gender discourses is also con- nected to the question of how to define feminism. Is it mostly the activity (as political campaigns for women’s rights) or also ideas about women and gender as represented in public discourse? Since in the context of the 19th century Estonia there was no feminist movement, it is necessary to analyze the ideas concerning gender. Likewise, the word “feminism” was not in use in the 19th century Estonia, instead “women’s movement” and/or “women’s emancipation” were used together with the Estonian word “naisõiguslus” (women’s rights). The definition of feminism is also a case specific, i.e. it depends also on the actual society, its history and cultural specificity. Therefore I will give a short overview of the historical situation of Estonia in the second half of 19th century. Estonia as a part of tsarist Russia at the end of 19th century was ruled by Baltic-German nobility who had been given autonomous self-govern-

65 eve annuk ment rights for the Baltic provinces. It was considered “backward” in both economic and intellectual terms in comparison with Nordic countries and other European countries such as Germany. Due to the Baltic-German in- fluence the German language and culture had dominant position in the de- velopment of Estonian culture and literature until the Russification reforms of late nineteenth century. This situation together with the emerging Estonian nationalist ideology in the middle of the 19th century influenced also the role of women and gen- der relations. Historian Sirje Tamul has characterized the Estonian society in the end of the 19th century as very conservative, in fact more conservative than the Victorian Europe: “at times the ultra-conservative way of thinking assigned women the role of children”.1 At the same time, the situation was different, depending on the social position of the woman: was she Estonian or Baltic-German, did she belong to peasantry or bourgeoisie. The gender ideology of the second half of the 19th century was based on Baltic-German gender divison which confined women to private sphere.2 Art historian Katrin Kivimaa has claimed that Estonian intellectual elite, be they Germanised or the protagonists of national identity, adopted this gen- der hierarchy.3 Among Estonian peasantry women had not been inasmuch subjugated as the patriarchal attitude spread together with modernization, based on new property relations.4

1. Sirje Tamul (1999): “Saateks” [Preface], in Sirje Tamul (ed.), Vita Academica, Vita Feminea (Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus), p. 13. 2. See Heide Whelan (1995): “The Debate on Women’s Education in the Baltic Provinces, 1850–1905”, in Gert von Pistohlkors, Andrejs Plakans and Paul Kaegb­ ein (eds.), Bevölkerungsverschiebungen und Socialer Wandel in den Baltischen Provinzen Russlands 1850–1914 (Lüneburg: Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk), p. 163–180; Heide Whelan (1999): Adapting to Modernity. Family, Caste and Capitalism among the Baltic German Nobility (Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau Verlag), p. 111–117. 3. Katrin Kivimaa (2009): Rahvuslik ja modernne naiselikkus eesti kunstis 1850– 2000 [National and modern femininity in Estonian art 1850–2000] (Tartu: Tartu Üli­ kooli Kirjastus), p. 48. 4. Sirje Kivimäe (1995): “Esimesed naisseltsid Eestis ja nende tegelased” [The first Estonian women’s societies and their members], in Ea Jansen and Jaanus Arukaevu (eds.), Seltsid ja ühiskonna muutumine. Talupojaühiskonnast rahvusriigini [Societies and the changes of the society. From peasant society to nation state] (Tartu, Tallinn: Estonian National Archives, Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences), p. 125.

66 feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia

The Estonian national movement began in the 1860s and its goal was to support Estonian national identity. The leaders of national movement were men – Carl Robert Jakobson (1841–1882) and Jakob Hurt (1839–1907) with the exception of one female poet – Lydia Koidula (1843–1886) who became the symbol of national awakening thanks to her poetry which expressed the love and pride of being Estonian. Although Koidula as a national bard and an exceptional woman was the first woman writer in Estonian history, it is difficult to call her feminist. Actually, Koidula did not take an active stand toward the woman question, at least not in her public writings. She enjoyed her exceptional status as a woman poet but directed her creative power towards liberating Estonians as an oppressed nation, not women as an oppressed class. Also, the example of Koidula has long been employed as a sign of the Estonian women’s equal status with men, concealing the real contradictions and inequalities con- cerning women and the role of nationalist ideology in the gender question. The Estonian national movement was followed by a period of Russifica- tion at the end of the 19th century. Russian was adopted as the language of instruction in schools and it became also the language of government and public administration. Until the beginning of 20th century there was no feminist movement in Estonia5 due to conservative and male-centred national ideology, as well as class and ethnic barriers. New political conditions in Estonia were cre- ated by the revolution of 1905 when the question of women’s rights became more visible. national awakening and the gender issue The Estonian national movement was conservative regarding the question of women’s rights and leaving traditionalist gender roles untouched.6 Ac- cording to the historian Sirje Kivimäe, the Estonian national movement was “the enterprise of men.”7 All large organizations with a central role in the national movement had only male members. Estonian song festivals

5. Kivimäe (1995), p. 132. 6. Kivimaa (2009), p. 41, 48. 7. Kivimäe (1995), p. 121.

67 eve annuk were the central events associated with the rise of Estonian national con- sciousness, but women could not participate at song festivals as singers un- til 1879.8 Women’s role in the national movement was only supportive, for example they helped to organize collections, parties and exhibition-sales. The traditionalist gender roles harnessed for the national project were actually taken over from Baltic-German nobility who, in turn, relied on German petit-bourgeois gender ideology. According to the petit-bourgeois gender ideology men’s role was connected to public life, to economy and politics and women’s role was confined to family and home. The male and female roles were seen as dependent on each other.9 Despite this conservative framework, the issue of women’s education be- came important for Estonian nationalist movement because educated men needed also educated women as wives and supporters. Women as part of this male-headed national project had to be educated for understanding the goals of nationalism and for raising the children in the national spirit. Although a couple of texts had been published in Estonian newspapers about the importance of educating women in the 1860s, the discourse of women’s education entered the Estonian press largely in the 1870s. Its impor- tance was heightened by the fact that most Estonian-speaking women had only three years of Estonian-language primary education in a local school. Even German-language advanced education was limited for women. The highest education (in German), which was available for women in Estonia in the middle of 19th century, was the Pärnu Secondary School for girls. Both the poet Lydia Koidula and first Estonian feminist Lilli Suburg (1841–1923) studied there. Although the University of Tartu was established in 1632 by the king of Sweden Gustav II Adolf women gained access to it only in the 20th century; in 1905 as external students and only in 1915 on equal terms with male students. Local German elite promoted the idea that women needed only the education necessary to enable them to fulfil their roles as wives, mothers and housewives.10 Nationalist leaders Carl Robert Jakobson and Jakob Hurt, proceeding from national and agrarian interests, stressed the need to im-

8. Kivimäe (1995), p. 122. 9. See Whelan (1999), p. 111. 10. See Whelan (1995), p. 163–180.

68 feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia prove the educational level of Estonian women, even if they believed wom- en’s natural domain to be family and home. Thus, although they wanted to improve women’s education, they saw no need for secondary education for girls.11 Carl Robert Jakobson, who wrote the first influential Estonian school textbooks, had a bourgeois-patriarchal view on women’s social roles; he be- lieved a woman’s mission was to support her husband and raise her children in the national spirit. In other words, girls should be raised for the higher mission of national motherhood.12 Jakobson’s views about women and wom- en’s education were also expressed in his newspaper articles. He has written:

The nature of the woman is such that she can find the goal for her activity only in the family, in her house and in her children and that only in doing this she can be happy. Therefore the goal of women’s education is to make her competent in the family life and housekeeping […]13

In his school textbook for girls titled Helmed (Beads) (1880) Carl Robert Jakobson followed the same understanding about the different roles attrib- uted to different sexes. The theme of women’s education was the central aspect of the dis­cussion of gender issues in newspapers. The lack of education was the main rea- son why women were not equal to men, as one journalist wrote.14 The rea- sons for women’s poor education were both the poverty of the society and ­old-fashioned beliefs, which did not consider women’s education impor- tant.15 In addition to the theme of women’s education, there were texts pub- lished about women’s rights, about women’s movement, about the situation

11. Väino Sirk (2011): “Rahvakoolisüsteemi institutsionaalsed probleemid ärka­ misaja eesti mõtteloos (1860.–1880. aastad)” [Institutional problems of folk schools in the Estonian ideology of the national awakening era (between the 1860s and mid- 1880s)], Acta Historica Tallinnensia 16: 1, p. 102, 106. 12. Kivimäe, p. 124–125. 13. Carl Robert Jakobson (1881): “Meie tütarlaste koolitamisest” [On the educa- tion of our girls], Sakala, no. 2, Jan. 10, p. 1. 14. A. Simberg (1887): “Meie naisterahwa küsimus” [The question of our wom- en], Eesti Postimees, no. 9, Feb. 28, p. 3; no. 10, March 6, p. 2; no. 11, March 14, p. 3; no. 12, March 21, p. 3. 15. “Naisterahvas” [The woman] (1887): Virulane, no. 23, June 1, p. 1; no. 24, June 8, p. 1; no. 25, June 15, p. 1.

69 eve annuk of women in different countries (in Finland, Sweden and Norway) compar- ing it to the Estonian context. The articles concluded that in comparison with the women’s situation in Scandinavia, the situation of Estonian women is much worse. Nordic countries were represented as countries where women had a strong position both in the past and present: “There has not been a country where women had such a strong position and rights as in the past and partly in the present Scandinavia.”16 Nordic countries thus served as an example concerning women’s education and their working possibilities. When Lilli Suburg wrote in 1888 in her women’s magazine Linda about the meaning of the word ‘emancipirt’ she used the situation of Finnish wom- en as the closest example of women’s better position. Finland was repre- sented also in other newspaper articles as an example of the good situation of women. Finnish writer Minna Canth and feminists Elisabeth Löfgren and Lucina Hagman were also introduced to Estonian readers. In 1896 the Estonian newspaper Olevik published an article by Lilli Lilius (which was first published in a Finnish newspaper Koti ja Yhteiskunta) about the dif- ficult situation of Estonian women. The article was critical also toward the gender ideology in Estonia.17 Estonian newspapers reviewed also the texts about gender issues, which were published in German and Russian language newspapers. The authors dealt also with the issue of women’s legal status, for example they noticed the improvement of women’s situation thanks to the new court system.18 The authors paid attention also to the scarcity of women authors in the field of Estonian literature concluding that this factor is a serious disadvantage of Estonian literature.19 At the turn of the century the discussion about the woman question became more frequent uncovering different viewpoints about women’s

16. “Õienduseks. Omalt maalt: Tartus” [About our country: in Tartu] (1881), Tartu Eesti Seitung, no. 19, Nov. 11, p. 2. 17. “Eesti naisterahvas” [Estonian woman] (1896), Olevik, no. 24, June 11, p. 553; no. 25, June 18, p. 576. 18. “Sõnumid isamaalt” [News from fatherland] (1889), Olevik, no. 25, June 19, p. 2. 19. “Naesterahwa töödest Eesti kirjanduses” [About women’s writing in Estonian literature] (1887), Wirulane, no. 20, May 11, p. 2.

70 feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia role in society and at home and about women’s education. The newspapers wrote also about the international women’s movement, which was some- times interpreted as women’s war against men.20 Nevertheless the majority of opinions remained within the dominant gender ideology relying on the understanding of biologically different sex roles. Although women’s educa- tion which would enable women to work outside the home was considered important, the authors did not presuppose any critical changes in gender relations. lilli suburg’s “new woman” New aspects were brought into the discussion of emancipation and wom- en’s rights by the first Estonian magazine for women Linda which was founded by Lilli Suburg who also was an editor of the magazine from 1887– 1893. During its first years the magazine acquired a negative feminist image so that many women did not dare to read it or even buy it.21 Later, when Suburg had to sell the magazine it became more like a family magazine los- ing its feminist attitude. Suburg was certainly not the first in the Baltics to discover feminism and women’s issue. The latter was, as a matter of fact, reflected already in Baltic- German press which in turn reflected the ideas of women’s emancipation in Germany and other parts of Europe. The issue of women’s emancipation was the main issue in Linda already from the beginning. The editorial of the first issue of the magazine encour- aged women not to care about gender stereotypes stressing the urgent need for women’s education.22 The next year (1888) Suburg published an edito- rial with the title “Emancipirt!”23 in which she presented a programmatic treatment of her “new woman”. Suburg explained the meaning of the word

20. “Mõnda meie aja naesterahva liikumisest” [Some notes about the contempo- rary women’s movement] (1894), Eesti Postimees, no. 52, Dec. 24, p. 1–2; no. 53, Dec. 31, p. 1–2. 21. Aino Undla-Põldmäe (2002): “Ajakiri ‘Linda’” [Magazine Linda], in Lilli Su­ burg, Kogutud kirjatööd [Selected works] (Tallinn: Eesti Raamat), p. 500–501. 22. Lilli Suburg (1887): “Sõnakene suguõdedele” [A word to women], Linda, no. 1, Oct. 15, p. 2−4. 23. Lilli Suburg (1888): “Emancipirt!”, Linda, no. 7, July 15, p. 249–250.

71 eve annuk

“emancipation” and polemized with the prejudices against women. She ar- gumented against biological determinism which was the cornerstone of conservative gender ideology, and wrote that to become emancipated is a “woman’s duty”. The article created resonances in other Estonian and Baltic German newspapers. Some of them were positive, some were negative un- derstanding Suburg’s position as dangerous and as subversive of traditional gender order.24 Suburg understood emancipation broadly as connected to national and class emancipation. Suburg saw men and women as different but comple- mentary beings who were intellectually equal. Suburg’s primary concern was to provide women with a good education for achieving emancipation. Suburg’s feminism was based on the humanist and Enlightenment ideas and she rejected conservative, Baltic-German gender ideology according to which the home was women’s primary sphere. In fact, she uncovered the discursive power of gender ideology in women’s oppression. Suburg de­ monstrated how the fear of being considered masculine restrained women from participating in public life and career possibilities. In her articles, Suburg dealt also with the issue of marriage. She saw an ideal marriage to be an equal partnership rooted in mutual love. She also fought against old prejudices, for example she defended unmarried women (who were at the time publicly derided as old maids), showing their im- portant role in family as caring for the children and household and ana- lyzing the social and economic reasons of being unmarried. Suburg wrote also about love and against double moral, about the legal status of peasant women, about masculinity and the role of a father etc. Besides numerous articles on gender issues which Suburg published in Linda she expressed her feminist ideas also in her literary production. Her short stories were like illustrations of her ideas. In Linda she published a short story “Leeni” (1887) where the main character resembles her ideal woman who might be a role model for Estonian women thanks to her intel- lectual potential, feminine patience and empathy. In 1900 Suburg published a short story “Linda, rahva tütar” (Linda, the people’s daughter) with the main character as an ideal woman as well, but the time of its publication set it already into a different context.

24. The most critical article was published in German-minded newspaper Tallin­ na Sõber: “Uued raamatud” [New books] (1887), Tallinna Sõber, no. 49, Dec. 12, p. 1-2.

72 feminist discourse at the end of the 19th century in estonia

Thus, through her journalistic and literary production Suburg created a new understanding of a woman. Suburg’s “new woman” needed a new type of education directed to develop a woman’s intellectual potential.25 Such education was very different from the education of the 19th century Estonia which was based on mechanical memorization. New education demanded also a balance between mind and body. Suburg realized those aims in her school for girls where she used the ideas of Pestalozzi and Rousseau among others. Suburg’s “new woman” as intellectually equal to man with her own free will enabling her to decide her own future was new in Estonian context at the end of 19th century. The discussion in Estonian newspapers during that period was focused mostly on women’s education which will enable women to find employment in the modernizing society. The positions of the authors remained within the accepted gender ideology relying on the biological understanding of men’s and women’s different roles which also defined the goal of women’s education. It was not until the revolution of 1905 when the new ideas about gender began spreading.

25. Lilli Suburg (1888): “Kodu ja Kool” [Home and school], Linda, no. 2, Feb. 15, p. 70–71; Lilli Suburg (1888): “Mis piavad meie nüidse aja Eesti naisterahva püidmised olema” [Which have to be the ambitions of our contemporary Estonian women], Linda, no. 3, March 15, p. 79–83; no. 4, April 9, p. 139–142.

73 session 6: hjemmets historiografi

Karin Carlsson, Department of History, Stockholm University, Sweden – [email protected] hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden att välja forskningsfokus igår och idag

Trots att avlönat husligt arbete utgjort en viktig och central del för kvin- nors försörjning genom historien, så har denna yrkesgrupp inte gjort några större avtryck i den historiska forskningen i Norden. Under det senaste decenniet tycks dock detta ha förändrats. Med denna iakttagelse som ut- gångspunkt samlades historikerna Sølvi Sogner, Tinne Vammen, Ulrika Holgersson och jag själv i sessionen Hemservicearbete – ett bortglömt fe­ nomen i nordisk historieforskning för att tillsammans resonera kring möj- liga förklaringar. Mitt bidrag utgår från mitt eget val av avhandlingsämne: hemvårdarinnekåren och den sociala hemhjälpen. Efter en kort presenta- tion av denna yrkeskår och dess relation till annan avlönad huslig arbets- kraft kommer jag att resonera kring vad som driver forskare i deras val av forskningsfokus. I första hand kommer det att handla om forskningstradi- tioner och dagsaktuella händelser.

hemvårdarinnekåren

Den sociala hemhjälpen var en av de nya välfärdsstatliga institutioner som med frivilliga och filantropiska rörelser som förebild skapades under 1940-talet. De uniformerade hemvårdarinnorna, som utgjorde verksamhe- tens bas, skulle städa, laga mat, tvätta och ta hand om barn i privata hem.1

1. Hemvårdarinnan var i första hand – och initialt – en husmoderns ersättare. Hushåll med sjuk husmoder var med andra ord prioriterade. Enligt Socialstyrelsens

74 hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden

De var utbildade, kommunalt anställda och deras lön var statligt subven- tionerad. Målet var att skapa en professionell kvinnlig yrkeskår inom hem- arbetets område, en kår som i jämförelse med till exempel hembiträdena skulle erhålla en bättre arbetsrättslig ställning och en hög social status. 1944 stod de första 512 hemvårdarinnorna redo att bege sig ut i hemmen. Nå- got tillspetsat skulle de kunna betraktas som välfärdsstatens professionella hembiträden.2 Under perioden, eller rättare sagt, under den tid som föregick den so- ciala hemhjälpens start, hade hembiträdesfrågan tagit plats både i det po- litiska rummet och i den offentliga debatten. Antalet hembiträden hade sedan 1930-talet minskat kraftigt och betraktades som en av anledningarna till tidens låga nativitet och risken ansågs stor att hushållens organisation och reproduktion påverkades negativt.3 Socialminister Gustav Möller argu- menterade i detta sammanhang för att de husligt anställda borde göras till en del av den offentliga sektorn. Utbildning och statligt ingripande var, uti- från hans perspektiv, den enda vägen för att få detta yrke att överleva. Hans tanke var att de ekonomiskt svaga grupperna i samhället då också skulle få tillgång till huslig hjälp.4 Genom ett statligt ingripande skulle dessutom den arbetsrättsliga situationen förbättras. Det var också Möller som stod bakom tillsättandet av hembiträdesutredningen 1933, vilken vidare låg till grund för

Råd och anvisningar skulle hemvårdarinnan ”[…] vid förfall för husmodern ersätta eller biträda denna i de dagliga omsorgerna om hemmet. Hon skall alltså i främsta rummet sköta de vanliga löpande hemsysslorna, såsom städning, matlagning, disk­ ning, lagning, sömnad, klädvård, vanlig veckotvätt.” Se Råd och anvisningar i So­ cialvårdsfrågor (RoA) 1946:42, s. 8. 2. Den sociala hemhjälpen och dess hemvårdarinnor står i centrum för mitt på- gående avhandlingsarbete där jag undersöker hur en lösning som denna var möjlig samt orsakerna bakom dess över tid skiftande karaktär. Men genom avhandlingen kommer också hemarbetet i sig att diskuteras. Inte minst utifrån svårigheterna att professionalisera detsamma. Genom en analys av utbildning, rekrytering, konkur- rens och facklig kamp kommer verksamhetens förutsättningar och hinder att belysas. Visionen ställs bredvid praktiken. Ambitionen bredvid ambivalensen. Tillsammans bäddar detta för att nå ökad förståelse kring de svårigheter som mött de genom histo- rien komplicerade försöken att höja statusen för hem- och omsorgsarbetet. Se Karin Carlsson (2013): Den tillfälliga husmodern. Hemvårdarinnekåren i Sverige 1940–1960 (Lund: Nordic Academic Press). 3. Åsa Lundqvist (2007): Familjen i den svenska modellen (Umeå: Boréa), s. 125f. 4. Lundqvist (2007), s. 125f.

75 karin carlsson den hembiträdeslag som trädde i kraft 1943. Denna förbättrade visserligen kårens ställning på arbetsmarknaden något, men fortfarande kvarstod ett flertal undantag i relation till annan arbetskraft. Arbetstid, anställnings- skydd och sanktioner var till exempel betydligt svagare jämfört med den generella arbetsrätten.5 I betänkandet som föregick lagen var huvudargu- mentet bakom särlagstiftningen att den privata sfären inte borde vara före- mål för lagstiftning, det var istället viktigt att värna om ”hemmets helgd”. Utredningen slog dessutom fast att det husliga arbetet till sin karaktär var så varierat att det inte lämpade sig för intervention.6 hemvårdarinnan och hennes koppling till hembiträdet Att den sociala hemhjälpen kom att bli en politisk fråga handlade i ett för- sta skede om 1930-talets bristande nativitet, vilket alltså delvis betraktades som en konsekvens av hembiträdesbristen. Bristen ansågs leda till ökad arbetsbörda vilket i sin tur medförde att kvinnorna valde bort att skaffa barn. Men detta var ensamt inte skäl nog att motivera ett statligt engage- mang i skapandet av en ny yrkeskår. Bland annat gjordes hemvårdarin- nan till en del av ett växande folkhälsoprojekt i vilket hon gavs ett dubbelt upplysningsuppdrag. Å ena sidan skulle hon verka som en informatör från staten till de privata hushållen och vidarebefordra nya rön kopplade till hälsa, hygien och hushållsarbete.7 Å andra sidan blev hon det offent­ligas öga in i det privata rummet då hon var ålagd att vidarebefordra informa- tion till kommunala organ gällande familjens ekonomi, hälsotillstånd, bo- stadens beskaffenhet och familjens eventuella sociala problem.8 Slut­ligen skulle hemvårdarinnan fungera som inspiratör för de husmödrar hon möt- te i sitt arbete. Genom att undervisa och föregå med gott exempel skulle den bristande ”husmorskompetensen” – som bland annat Befolknings­

5. Catharina Calleman (2007): Ett riktigt arbete? Om regleringen av hushålls­ tjänster (Säter: Pang), s. 113f., 195f., 200. 6. Calleman (2007), s. 105f., 201; Kerstin Moberg (1978): Från tjänstehjon till hembiträde. En kvinnlig låglönegrupp i den fackliga kampen 1903–1946 (Uppsala: Upp­ sala universitet), s. 152ff., 173. 7. SOU 1943: 15, s. 49, 53. Jämför RoA 1946: 42, s. 9. Se även RoA 1944: 5, s. 9, 12; RoA 1950: 60, s. 15; SOU 1952: 38, s. 38. 8. 1946: 42, s. 36. Bilaga B.

76 hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden utredningens kvinnodelegation menade var ett allt större problem i sam- hället – åtgärdas, ett argument som kom att legitimera verksamheten även under 1950-talet.9 Sammantaget kan hemvårdarinnans arbete sägas vara tre­delat. Hennes primära uppdrag var det praktiska hushållsarbetet. Vida- re hade hon ett omsorgsuppdrag vilket dels var riktat mot eventuellt sjuka inom ett hushåll, dels mot hushållets eventuella barn. Slutligen hade hon ett dubbelt informativt uppdrag. Kopplingar till ett flertal andra yrken så som distriktssjuksköterskan, socialarbetaren och hembiträdet blev då ock- så tydliga och, skulle det visa sig, svåra att avgränsa sig från. Kopplingar mellan hemvårdarinnor och hembiträden gjordes dock en- dast motvilligt av de aktörer som var nära länkade till den sociala hemhjäl- pen. Istället fanns ett behov av att markera ett avstånd. I källmaterialet träder också en ambivalens fram. Samtidigt som 1943 års utredning om den sociala hemhjälpen poängterade att verksamheten ”[…] knappast [berörde] hembi- trädesfrågan i vanlig mening” så menade de att behovet av social hemhjälp delvis bottnade i just bristen på hembiträden. 20 år senare återfanns samma ambivalens, detta när Socialstyrelsen argumenterade för en utbyggnad av verksamheten genom att peka på bristen på huslig arbetskraft.10 Ytterligare ett exempel kan hämtas från diskussioner kring hur den sociala hemhjälpen skulle organiseras. Innan det slogs fast att det inom varje kommun skulle bildas en hemhjälpsnämnd, där ansvaret för förmedlingen av hemvårdarin- nor till de privata hemmen skulle placeras, diskuterades huruvida arbets- förmedlingen var ett bra alternativ för detta uppdrag. Anledningen var just

9. SOU 1943: 15, s. 60. När Socialstyrelsen kom med sitt utlåtande över Bostad- skollektiva kommitténs betänkande Hemhjälp 1952, poängterade de att det var ett samhälleligt ansvar att förbättra husmödrarnas kunskaper inte minst på grund av att ”[g]oda hem för det uppväxande släktet icke [kan] skattas nog högt och en av grund- förutsättningarna för att sådana hem verkligen skola komma till stånd är, att mödrar- na äro kunniga, yrkesmedvetna och ansvarskännande […]”. Se RA Socialstyrelsen. 2.a byrån. BV Hemhjälpsärenden. Vol. 1, 1951–1956. Arkivexemplar av stenciler 1952. Socialstyrelsens utlåtande om bostadskollektiva kommitténs utredning om hemhjälp. Dnr H 3701/52 s. 3. 10. SOU 1943: 15, s. 53f.; Social hemhjälp PM stencil 1963:8, s. 36. Det fanns dock ett flertal utredningar som på olika sätt undersökte hur de privata hemmens organisa- tion skulle kunna utredas, och då var också andra lösningar aktuella, såsom förbätt­ rade planlöningar, maskinell utrustning, kollektiva anordningar såsom tvättstugor och matsalar, offentlig barnomsorg och liknande. Se t.ex. SOU 1947: 46, SOU 1952: 38.

77 karin carlsson den erfarenhet de hade av att förmedla huslig arbetskraft till de privata hem- men. Även 1952 års utredning Hemhjälp diskuterade detta på samma sätt.11 I den mån den sociala hemhjälpen varit en del av tidigare forskning har kopplingen till de husligt anställda varit frånvarande. Istället är det omsorgs- dimensionen och yrkeskårens koppling till välfärdsstaten som stått i fokus. Detta kan förklaras genom att verksamhetens riktning förändrades med tiden och anpassades så att den kunde utgöra en del av lösningen för nya samhälleliga problem som identifierats. Under slutet av 1950-talet kom näm- ligen de äldre att bli den dominerande hjälpmottagande gruppen – detta för att lösa det stora omsorgsbehov som då uppstått. Det är också i forskning kopplat till just äldreomsorgen som den sociala hemhjälpen fått plats – och då som en tidig del av samhällets offentliga äldreomsorg.12 de husligt anställda som fokus för genushistorisk forskning I ett nordiskt perspektiv är det genushistoriska forskningsfältet väl etable- rat. Jämställdhetspolitik, arbetsdelning, strukturella hinder och möjlighe- ter, omsorg och välfärd utgör exempel på forskningsområden som ägnats stort intresse. Trots att tjänsteyrket utgjort en av de viktigaste försörjnings- möjligheterna för kvinnor genom historien (i Sverige fram till slutet av 1930-talet) har denna yrkesgrupp, som nämnts ovan, varit blygsamt repre- senterad i den historiska forskningen. Detta fram till för ett decennium sedan. Påståendet kan dock nyanseras. Yrkesgruppen återfinns till exem- pel i genushistoriska översikter, men då oftast som ett kortare exempel på genus­arbetsdelning och möjliga försörjningsvägar.13 Några mer djupgåen-

11. SOU 1943: 15, s. 68. SOU 1952: 38, s. 77f. Se även RoA 1944: 5, s. 11; RoA 1946: 42, s. 8. Även om tydliga riktlinjer kring den sociala hemhjälpens organisation förmedlades från Socialstyrelsen till kommunerna gavs kommunerna samtidig viss frihet att själva välja hur de skulle organisera verksamheten. 12. Se t.ex. Marta Szebehely (1995): Vardagens organisering. Om vårdbi­träden och gamla i hemtjänsten (Lund: Lunds universitet); Ritva Gough (1987): Hemhjälp åt gamla (Stockholm: Arbetslivscentrum); Lars Evertsson (2002): Välfärdspolitik och kvinno­yrken. Organisation, välfärdsstat och professionaliseringens villkor (Umeå: Umeå universitet). 13. Se t.ex. Ulla Wikander (1999): Kvinnoarbete i Europa 1789–1950 (Stockholm: Atlas), s. 114ff.; Yvonne Hirdman, Kristina Bohman & Maj Birgit Rørslett (1995):

78 hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden de studier har också genomförts, så som Kerstin Mobergs avhandling från 1978 om hembiträdenas fackliga kamp och vidare Tine Susanne Jorde som med hjälp av rotemansarkiv, födelseböcker och liknande följt en samling tjänstepigor i Stockholm under andra halvan av 1800-talet.14 Några exem- pel från andra nordiska länder är Tinne Vammens Rent og Urent från 1986 samt Sølvi Sogners och Kari Telstes Ut og søkje teneste från 2005.15 Mot slutet av 1990-talet skedde dock något. En rad svenska forskare, och då inte enbart historiker, lyfte temat i sin forskning. Gemensamt för dessa var att de tog avstamp i den så kallade ”pigdebatten”. Införandet av skat- tesubventioner av hushållstjänster i Sverige 2007 hade föregåtts av en lång debatt som startade redan 1994. Då publicerade nationalekonomen Anne- Marie Pålsson och Erik Norrman sin bok Finns det en marknad för hem­ arbete? och argumenterade där för att skattesubventioner av hushållstjänster var ett sätt att både lösa arbetslösheten och samtidigt minska hushållens arbetsbörda.16 Samma år lade den borgerliga koalitionsregeringen fram ett förslag om skattesubventioner och 1997 presenterades en liknande idé från socialdemokratiskt håll.17 Inget av dessa förslag kom att realiseras, där­emot triggades samhällsdebatten vilken vidare tycks ha lockat forskare från olika discipliner att öppna dörren till tjänsteyrket – både när det gäller dess nu- varande former och dess historia. I en artikel från 1999 drar till exempel historikern Lisa Öberg kopplingar mellan 1930- och 1940-talets hembiträ-

Påminnelser. Om kvinnors liv i Sverige (Stockholm: Carlsson), s. 63ff.; Susanna Heden- borg & Ulla Wikander (2003): Makt och försörjning (Lund: Studentlitteratur), s. 74ff.; Ida Bloom & Sølvi Sogner (1999): Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie (Oslo: Cap- pelen Akademisk Forlag), bl.a. s. 99, 171f. 14. Moberg (1978); Tine Susanne Jorde (1995): Stockholms tjenestepiker under industrialiseringen. Tjenestepikeyrkets funksjon i individets livsløp og i en ekspander­ ende storby (Stockholm: Stockholms universitet). Även Börje Harnesk har ägnat yr- ket intresse i sin avhand­ling (1990): Legofolk. Drängar, pigor och bönder i 1700- och 1800-talens Sve­rige (Umeå: Umeå universitet). 15. Tinne Vammen (1986): Rent og urent. Hovestadens piger og fruer 1880–1920 (Köpenhamn: Gyldendal); Sølvi Sogner & Kari Telste (2005): Ut og søkje teneste. His­ toria om tenestejenterne (Oslo: Det norske samlaget). 16. Anne-Marie Pålsson & Erik Norrman (1994): Finns det en marknad för hem­ arbete? (Stockholm: Studieförbundet näringsliv och samhälle). 17. SOU 1994: 43. Uppskattad sysselsättning. Om skatternas betydelse för den pri­ vata tjänstesektorn; SOU 1997: 17. Skatter, tjänster och sysselsättning. Betänkande av Tjänstebeskattningsutredningen.

79 karin carlsson desdebatt och den då samtida debatten om skattesubventioner. Hon visar hur frågan under båda perioderna varit lågt prioriterad politiskt samt hur socialdemokraterna varit näst intill frånvarande i debatten. Öberg konklu- derar att frågans laddning (dess koppling till etnicitet och klass) gjort den extra ömtålig samt att debattens fokus på ”den utnyttjade pigan” medfört att frågan ”fastnade”.18 Sociologen Ellinor Platzer tar i sin avhandling Från folk­ hem till karriärhushåll också avstamp i den så kallade pigdebatten när hon, med ett historiskt perspektiv, diskuterar den husliga arbetsdelningen.19 Vi- dare har juristen Catharina Calleman undersökt de arbetsrättsliga villkoren för husligt anställda genom historien – också här med skattesubventioner av hushållstjänster som bakgrund.20 Samma kopplingar görs av historikern Emma Strollo när hon analyserar hur debatten under de båda perioderna reproducerar föreställningar om genus, klass och etnicitet.21 Även jag har lockats av dessa möjliga paralleller och i en artikel diskuterat statens relation till det privata rummet när det gäller att ekonomiskt bistå institutioner eller privata hushåll med det praktiska arbetet i hemmet.22 Utifrån sammanställningen ovan skulle två slutsatser kunna dras. För det första, med tanke på den omfattande genushistoriska forskning som be- drivits i Sverige, att de teman som där diskuterats och undersökts, inspirerat och lockat nya generationer forskare att vidareutveckla och nyansera tidi- gare resultat. Detta har resulterat i att den svenska välfärdsstaten, kvinnors rättigheter, genusarbetsdelning och föreställningar kopplat till manligt och kvinnligt undersökts med stor noggrannhet. Även hemarbetet, som egent- ligen är nära kopplat till hembiträdenas och pigornas yrke, har utgjort en

18. Lisa Öberg (1999): ”Ett socialdemokratiskt dilemma. Från hembiträdesfråga till pigdebatt” i Christina Florin, Lena Sommestad, Ulla Wikander (red.), Kvinnor mot kvinnor. Om systerskapets svårigheter (Stockholm: Norstedt). 19. Ellinor Platzer (2007): Från folkhem till karriärhushåll. Den nya husliga ar­ betsdelningen (Lund: Arkiv). 20. Calleman (2007). 21. Emma Strollo (2009): ”Från pigjobb till hushållsnära tjänster. Ett historiskt perspektiv”, Arbetarhistoria 1–2 2009, s. 1–2. Se även hennes avhandling: Emma Strol- lo (2013): Det städade folkhemmet. Tyskfödda hembiträden i efterkrigstidens Sverige (Göteborg & Stockholm: Makadam). 22. Karin Carlsson (2010): ”Public care work in private context. A historical per- spective on the Swedish welfare state” i Lise Widding Isaksen (red.), Global care work. Gender and migration in Nordic societies (Lund: Nordic Academic Press).

80 hemvårdarinnor, pigor och hembiträden viktig del av det tidigare genushistoriska forskningsfältet, men då utifrån ekonomiska och politiska perspektiv liksom utifrån husmoderns roll och funktion samt utifrån ett jämställdhetsperspektiv. Med andra ord kan den tidigare forskningen sägas peka ut vägen – eller locka forskare – till vidare undersökningar. För det andra blir det i detta fall tydligt hur den samtida debatten lockar forskare till att applicera ett historiskt perspektiv, och vid en internationell jämförelse tror jag att just detta är av vikt. Till skillnad från till exempel USA, Italien, England – för att nämna några länder – har Sverige haft en låg andel husligt anställda. Även om nya former såsom au- pairen har funnits har det, under flera decennier, inte utgjort en central väg för försörjning vilket medfört att de heller inte utgjort ett synligt och tydligt inslag i vårt samhälle. Kanske att också detta kan förklara frånvaron av de husligt anställda i den genushistoriska forskningen.23 Pigans, hembiträdets och tjänstekvinnornas osynlighet kan också län- kas till ett av de argument jag anför i min avhandling. Nämligen det att det husliga arbetet i sig självt förblir osynligt på den politiska arenan så länge det inte samtidigt berör andra frågor. För att överhuvudtaget synas, och vi- dare bli betraktat som ett ”problem”, för att diskuteras och utredas, behöver detta arbete draghjälp. När det gällde den sociala hemhjälpen var det inte uteslutande hushållens behov av praktisk hjälp som lyfte frågan till en po- litisk nivå. Bakom iscensättandet av verksamheten fanns även ambitionen att öka nativiteten, att minska statens och kommunernas kostnader i andra sektorer, att förbättra folkhälsan och bekämpa fattigdomen. Samma tendens kan uppmärksammas i 1930- och 1940-talets hembiträdesdebatt där frågan gavs viss politisk relevans av arbetsmarknadsmässiga skäl. Arbetslösheten bland männen var nämligen stor och förhoppningen var att kvinnor, genom förbättrade arbetsförhållanden, skulle lockas tillbaka till det husliga arbetet och på så sätt skulle arbetsplatser frigöras för männen. Samtidigt betrakta- des hembiträdena som potentiella väljare vilket enligt historikern Kerstin Moberg kan ha medverkat till frågans (om än svaga) politiska legitimitet.

23. För exempel på situationen i andra länder, se t.ex. Bridget Anderson (2000): Doing the dirty work? The global politics of domestic labour (London: Zed); Barbara Ehrenreich & Arlie Russel Hochschild (2002): Global women. Nannies, maids and sex workers in the new economy (New York: Metropolitan Books); Rhacel Salazar Parre- ñas (2001): Servant of globalization. Women, migration and domestic work (Stanford: Stanford University Press).

81 karin carlsson

Ytterligare ett exempel kan hämtas från debatten kring skattesubventioner av hushållstjänster där denna reform också ansågs minska svartarbete och arbetslöshet samt öka jämställdheten – argument som visserligen inte fått stå oemotsagda men som ändå gav frågan politisk vikt.

82 session 5b: minneskultur och kollektiv identitet

Christina Florin, Department of History, Stockholm University, Sweden – [email protected] Kirsti Niskanen, Department of History, Stockholm University, Sweden – [email protected] minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser

I denna artikel diskuterar vi skapandet av genusforskningen som ett socialt rum vid svenska universitet och högskolor mellan 1980- och 1990-talen. Vår empiri utgörs av antologin Föregångarna. Kvinnliga professorer om liv, makt och vetenskap som vi gav ut för två år sedan.1 Boken består av 11 livs- historieberättelser där kvinnliga professorer inom historia och samhälls- vetenskap berättar om skapandet av genusforskning inom sina discipliner. Bokens författare hade stor frihet att forma sina berättelser med utgångs- punkt i de frågor vi ställt: Vilka förebilder och drivkrafter hade inspirerat dem till en akademisk karriär och hur hade de kommit in på det feminis- tiska/genusvetenskapliga området i sin forskning? Vi bad även kvinnorna att beskriva och reflektera över vägen till professuren och de möjligheter och hinder som akademiska maktpositioner skapar. Med detta avsåg vi hur pro- fessorerna hanterat de myter, koder, konventioner och ritualer som tillhör den akademiska kulturen och akademin som maktstruktur. Hur hade ledar- skapskulturer − formellt och informellt ledarskap, administrativt och veten- skapligt ledarskap – konstruerats och fungerat i olika disciplinära kontex- ter? Vårt urval bestod av forskare som hade introducerat ett genusteoretiskt tänkande och/eller spelat en viktig roll för miljöbyggande inom samhälls­

1. Kirsti Niskanen & Christina Florin (red.) (2010): Föregångarna. Kvinnliga pro­ fessorer om liv, makt och vetenskap (Stockholm: SNS förlag). Medverkande professorer var Drude Dahlerup, Mona Eliasson, Gunnel Forsberg, Tora Friberg, Siv Gustafsson, Anita Göransson, Yvonne Hirdman, Carin Holmqvist, Anita Nyberg, Elisabeth Sun- din, Eva Österberg.

83 christina florin & kirsti niskanen vetenskaplig och historisk genusforskning. Vi hade, vidare, valt forskare som har fullföljt en karriär och därför kunde överblicka ett historiskt skeende. Vi ville, slutligen, att vårt urval skulle spegla genusforskningens mångfald, pluralism och kunskapsteoretiska utveckling. Bokens berättelser har ett kunskapssociologiskt intresse: de visar hur ett nytt kunskapsområde, en ny forskningsinriktning och så småningom en ny disciplin, genusvetenskap, etablerades och tog form under 1980- och 90-talen. Berättelserna bygger broar från individuella erfarenheter och den tidiga kvinnoforskningens trevande kunskapssökande till utvecklingen av en allmän och systematiserad vetenskaplig kunskap. Att välja en biografisk metod, livshistorieberättelser, innebar att vi fick en rad exempel i boken på hur identiteter och självbilder formas inom rums- liga och organisatoriska strukturer men också på hur dessa kan utmanas och omdefinieras.2 En paradox i akademin är dess självbild som en ”kultur utan kultur”, det vill säga bilden att akademin är en professionell kunskapsorga- nisation där saklig granskning och formella meriter spelar en avgörande roll vid tillsättning av tjänster och positioner.3 Den nya kvinnoforskningen var en attack mot denna bild. Berättelserna i vår studie visar att i den aka- demiska vardagen kolliderar denna diskurs av saklighet och rättvisa med upplevelser och erfarenheter där okunskap, vassa armbågar, revirtänkande, informella bedömningar och känslomässiga kriterier inverkar på bedöm- ningen av andras förmåga.4 Till exempel påpekar Drude Dahlerup att hon först senare förstått att det som var så provokativt i den feministiska kritiken av vetenskapen var just att den ifrågasatte akademins självbild av meritokrati och neutral objektivitet. De kvinnliga forskarna utmanade akademins själv-

2. Se Brian Roberts (2002): Biographical Research (Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press), s. 167–175. 3. Termen myntades av Sharon Traweek i en undersökning av fysikermiljöer i USA i slutet av 1970-talet. Begreppet används t.ex. i den danska maktutredningens undersökning av fördelningen av könsmakt på danska universitet, se Cathrine Hasse, Inge Henningsen & Dorte Marie Søndergaard (2002): ”Køn og magt i akademia”, i Anette Borchorst (red.), Kønsmagt under forandring (Köpenhamn: Hans Reitzels For- lag). Se även Catherine Egeland (2001): ”Bergsklättrerskan och de militanta lesbiska feministerna. Om könsbarriärer och jämställdhet inom akademin”, Kvinnovetenskap­ lig tidskrift nr 1. 4. Billy Ehn & Orvar Löfgren (2004): Hur blir man klok på universitetet (Lund: Studentlitteratur), s. 13–51.

84 minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser bild både genom sin kroppsliga närvaro och sin vetenskapskritik. De var i färd med att utveckla en ny kvinnoidentitet och nya praktiker som skilde sig från tidigare kvinnor inom akademin. De nya kvinnoforskarna skulle inte vara några kopior av männen.5 Ett intressant resultat i boken är att de flesta professorerna hade va- rit starkt engagerade i 1970- och 80-talens kvinnorörelse, både den radi- kala som tog form under 1960-talet och den liberala med rötter i det sena 1800-talets kvinnorörelse. I ljuset av livshistorieberättelserna betraktar vi, som idéhistorikern Emma Isaksson gör i sin avhandling, kvinnorörelsen som en kunskapsrörelse. Rörelsen fungerade som ett ”kognitivt rum” där teorier om kvinnors underordning och motståndsstrategier tog form, arti- kulerades och utvecklades.6 Den tidiga kvinno- och genusforskningen hade, både i Norden och internationellt, nära samröre med kvinnorörelsen. På många ställen i Sverige uppstod den genom ett nära samarbete mellan rö- relseaktivister och unga (ofta odisputerade) kvinnor vid universiteten.7 Cen- trumbildningar och Forum för kvinnliga forskare och kvinnoforskning eta- blerades allteftersom vid alla universitet i Sverige. I bokens inledningskapitel har vi lyft fram gemensamma mönster av barndomar, klassfrågor, drivkrafter och karriärer som de elva kvinnliga pro- fessorernas livshistorier vittnar om. Syftet med denna artikel är istället att diskutera hur berättelserna i vår antologi speglar vissa tystnader inom det akademiska fältet genusforskning – det som utelämnas i deras biografiska berättelser. Som källa har livshistorieberättelser, som ofta påpekas i littera- turen, både begränsningar och särdrag. De är varken sanna eller falska, de berättas alltid utifrån en viss position och vid en viss tidpunkt i livet och de innehåller alltid överväganden om vad som berättas och vad som uteläm- nas.8 I det perspektivet är det extra intressant att ta fasta på det som förbigås i

5. Dahlerup, i Niskanen & Florin (2010), s. 54. 6. Emma Isaksson (2007): Kvinnokamp. Synen på underordning och motstånd i den nya kvinnorörelsen (Stockholm: Atlas förlag), s. 309f. 7. Ulla Manns (2006): ”På två ben i akademin. Om den tidiga kvinnorörelsens projekt”, i Blad om Bladh. En vänbok till Christine (Södertörn Studies in History nr 4). 8. Sidonie Smith & Julia Watson (2001): Reading Autobiography. A Guide for Interpreting­­ Narrative Lives (London: University of Minnesota Press), s. 49–81. Själv- biografiska berättelser kan klassificeras och analyseras på olika sätt. För en genom- gång av olika genrer, ansatser, analyssätt och tolkningar av biografiskt, självbiografiskt

85 christina florin & kirsti niskanen berättandet − tystnader av olika slag. Vi fokuserar på två slags fenomen som är underkommunicerade i livshistorierna: processer av inneslutning och uteslutning inom genusforskningen och varför de kvinnliga professorerna så sällan talar om makt och om sin egen maktutövning. Varför diskuterar de inte fältets maktlöshet i förhållande till sina respektive disciplinära kanon? inneslutning och uteslutning När boken blivit recenserad och diskuterad i media är det två livshisto- rieberättelser som särskilt väckt intresse − nationalekonomen Siv Gustafs- sons och företagsekonomen Carin Holmqvists. En förklaring kan vara att de båda berättar om händelser i livet som varit gripande. Men de har även en annan gemensam nämnare. Bådas forskning handlar om frågor med tydlig jämställdhetsproblematik: kvinnors löner, arbetsmarknadsdeltagan- de och småföretagande, frågor som är igenkännbara för stora kvinnogrup- per i samhället, och de beskriver båda upplevelser av utanförskap inom kvinno- och genusforskningsfältet på grund av teori- och ämnesval. Hur ska det tolkas? Uppgörelsen med positivismens tro på värdeneutralitet och ett intresse- löst kunskapsskapande subjekt var en del av den unga kvinnoforskningens kritik av den mansdominerade, androcentriska forskning som utelämnat kvinnor ur sin forskningsagenda.9 Som bekant har kritiken av mainstream och den feministiska forskningen i stora drag utvecklats kring två vägar. Den ena ifrågasätter den mansdominerade forskningen och är kritisk mot positivismens vetenskapsideal. Den andra ställer frågor utifrån ett kvinno- perspektiv men accepterar i högre grad de metoder, normer och teoretiska

och livshistorieberättande, se Smith & Watson (2001). En särskild form av självbio- grafiskt berättande är memoarlitteraturen. Ett stort antal memoarer skrivna av svens- ka akademiker beskrivs och analyseras av Billy Ehn och Orvar Löfgren (2004). 9. Här kan man hänvisa till Kuhns diskussion om paradigmskiften och tanken att vetenskaplig kunskap är kontextberoende, en kunskapsteoretisk position som genusforskningen utvecklat i samspel med olika typer av socialkonstruktivistiska och poststrukturalistiska kunskapsteorier. Jfr Nina Lykke, Ulf Mellström & Malena Gustavson (2007): Genus som stærkt forskningsfelt, Rapport nr 4 (Linköping: Tema Genus).

86 minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser utgångspunkter som mainstream formulerat.10 Dessa olika traditioner har gett upphov till mönster av inneslutning och uteslutning inom genusforsk- ningsfältet, och de interna maktkamperna inom kvinnorörelsen har speglat sig i de teoretiska positioneringarna. Den moderna diskussionen om generation som ett sociologiskt begrepp kan här användas som en tolkningsram. I sociologiska termer är generation ett kvalitativt fenomen vars innebörd är att människor i samma ålderskohort binds samman av liknande, viktiga formativa erfarenheter.11 En generation är enligt Ron Eyerman och Brian Turner en grupp människor som passerar genom tiden och som delar en gemensam habitus och kultur vilken förser dem med ett kollektivt minne som, i sin tur, fungerar som en integrerande kraft som kittar samman gruppen under en viss tidsperiod. Människorna i en sådan grupp delar ett gemensamt kulturellt fält (emotioner, attityder, önskningar, dispositioner) och dithörande sociala praktiker, och det kol- lektiva minnet bidrar till att skapa en generationskultur eller – tradition. I termer av generationsmässig habitus skapade 1960-talets sociala rörelser

10. I Hardings ofta citerade formulering från 1986 är de kunskapsteoretiska po­si­ tioner som präglat genusforskningen feministisk empirism, feministisk stånd­punkts­ teori och feministisk postmodernism. Till dessa kan läggas en fjärde stånd­punkt som under 1990-talet under inflytande av Donna Haraway kallats för ny­materia­listisk och postkonstruktionisk epistemologi. Hardings översikt ska inte tolkas som en historisk utveckling utan som en redogörelse för kunskapsteoretiska positio­ner vilka enligt henne funnits som parallella spår inom genusforskningens historia. Sandra Harding (1986): The Science Question in Feminism (Ithaca: Cornell Uni­versity Press), Lykke et al. (2007), s. 12–15. 11. Karl Mannheim kallade i sin idag klassiska diskussion av generationsbe- greppet dessa grupper för ”generationsenheter”. Hans poäng var att en och samma ålders­kohort vanligen inrymmer flera olika generationsenheter. Ron Eyerman och Brian Turner kompletterar Mannheims diskussion med inslag av Bourdieus habitus- begrepp. De vidareutvecklar Mannheims ansats genom att koppla samman den med en diskussion om kollektivt minne. Mannheim presenterade sin diskussion om gene- rationsbegreppet som en del av sin kunskapssociologi och som ett alternativ till den marxistiska diskussionen om drivkrafterna bakom historisk förändring. Se Mann- heim (1952) [1927]: ”The Problem of Generations”, i Collected Works of Karl Mann­ heim, vol. 5, s. 276–320 (London: Routledge); Ron Eyerman & Brian Turner (1998): “Outline of a Theory of Generations”, European Journal of Social Theory 1, s. 91–96; June Edmunds & Bryan S. Turner (2002): Generations, Culture and Society (Bucking- ham: Open University Press).

87 christina florin & kirsti niskanen ett socialt utrymme där efterkrigsgenerationen kunde definiera sin kollek- tiva identitet. I denna kvalitativa mening kan man urskilja två grupper, eller ”genera- tionsenheter”, bland bokens författare: de vars världsbild och sociala erfa- renheter formats av den radikala, vänsterinriktade kvinnorörelsen och en mindre grupp vars formativa erfarenheter präglats av den liberala kvin- norörelsen. De diskursiva konflikter och utanförskap inom kvinno- och genus­forskningsfältet som Siv Gustafsson och Carin Holmqvist − och även i viss mån företagsekonomen Elisabeth Sundin − beskriver har sin grund i dessa olika positioneringar. Alla tre har som unga varit aktiva inom den liberala kvinnorörelsen, vilket påverkat deras forskningsintressen som kvinno- och genusforskare. Alla tre är verksamma inom discipliner med en stark positivistisk kunskaps- tradition. Den nordamerikanske ekonomen Randy Albelda har hävdat att den grad av inflytande som feminismen kan komma att åtnjuta inom en disciplin beror på tre faktorer: ämnets benägenhet att metodologiskt disku- tera kontroll, makt och överordning, teoretisk pluralism och oliktänkande gruppers förmåga att organisera sig och handla kollektivt. Inom en disci- plin vars metodologi enträget undviker att beskriva och formulera frågor om makt är det svårt att göra bruk av teorier och metoder som vill bidra till att förstå dynamiken i könsrelationerna.12 För att kunna vara verksam inom en disciplin och påverka den måste man kunna förhandla och föra en dialog med ämnets huvudfåra. Det har dessa forskare, och kanske framför allt Siv Gustafsson, gjort genom att förhålla sig till feministisk empirism som en kunskapsteoretisk position. Bland professorerna i Föregångarna är det framför allt inom nationalekonomin och företagsekonomin där de positivis- tiska vetenskapsidealen står sig starka och där motståndet mot feministisk forskning varit utmärkande. Men även professorer som representerar andra samhällsvetenskapliga discipliner − psykologi, kulturgeografi − beskriver liknande erfarenheter. ”I många kollegers ögon sågs jag […] som en stolle, exempelvis undrades det hur jag som hade publicerat i Science kunde ägna mig åt så oseriös verksamhet som feministisk forskning”, skriver psykologen

12. Randy Albelda (1997): Economics & Feminism. Disturbances in the Field (New York: Twayne Publishers), s. 5–6.

88 minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser

Mona Eliasson.13 Inom dessa discipliner är den feministiska empirismen den enda accepterade vetenskapsteoretiska positionen för genusforskare. Det är alltså fortfarande inte gynnsamt för karriären inom dessa områden att studera kön annat än som en oproblematisk variabel. En slutsats som vi drar är att den polarisering och de spänningar som avspeglar sig i livshistorieberättelserna kan förklaras med att genusforsk- ningen inte enbart bedrivs i ett socialt rum utan att det har uppstått flera sociala rum som inte alltid har förståelse för varandra, och under vissa pe- rioder knappt har kommunicerat med varandra. Siv Gustafsson fick känna av det när hon ville hålla sig till mainstream inom nationalekonomin. Att forska om kvinnolöner utan att ha ”rätt” feministiskt perspektiv godkändes inte av kvinnoforskarna och inte heller av nationalekonomerna om hon inte höll sig till den klassiska nationalekonomin och slutade tala om kvin- nor som grupp. Yvonne Hirdman pekar också ut vissa begränsningar i de ämnen som var accepterade att forska om inom historisk kvinnoforskning:

Det handlade om de legitima områden för forskning, vilket för samhälls- vetare och historiker var arbete, men inte vilket arbete som helst, hantverk eller industriarbete skulle det vara, och klass, men inte vilken klass som helst, arbetarklass skulle det vara.14

Hon menar att även kvinnoforskarna måste hålla sig inom ett visst stängsel. Marx och Freud var de stora gudarna.15 Historiskt har polariseringen mellan de olika rummen gömts genom begreppet ”att gå på två ben”. Men den konflikt och den sprängkraft som denna strategi har inneburit kommer endast undantagsvis till uttryck i livs- historieberättelserna. Det gick också att skyla över problemen genom att tala om den ”tvärvetenskapliga metoden” som innebar att vissa disciplin- relaterade motsättningar skulle lösa sig i framtiden när metoden mognat. Konflikterna om olika forskningspositioner under fältets formeringsperiod är således inte artikulerade i boken.

13. Eliasson, i Niskanen & Florin (2010), s. 80. 14. Hirdman, i Niskanen & Florin (2010), s. 224. 15. Hirdman, i Niskanen & Florin (2010), s. 224.

89 christina florin & kirsti niskanen makt och maktlöshet De unga kvinnoforskarna mötte ofta makt och motstånd på både struk- turell och individuell nivå. De hade mycket gemensamt. De mötte samma hierarkier och samma manliga överordning. De var lika i ålder och hade erfarenheter av samma slags vetenskapliga paradigm och trender i tiden.16 Flera forskare beskriver ensamhet och utsatthet vid val av perspektiv och frågeställningar och problemen med att genusforskningen inte uppfattas som ett kunskapsområde. Bland annat i samband med tjänstetillsättningar har genuskompetens ur meriteringssynpunkt inte alltid bedömts som lik- värdig med annan typ av kompetens. Detta tas upp av flera forskare i Före­ gångarna. Berättelserna återger således i många fall motståndet kvinnorna mötte från män och manliga miljöer. Däremot sägs inte mycket om den egna positionen i makthierarkin. Med en något vag formulering hade vi som bokens redaktörer bett de medverkande professorerna att relatera sig till akademin som maktstruk- tur. Vi avsåg då både institutionell och organisatorisk ledningsmakt och makt att påverka och förändra disciplinernas kanon. Ett mål för den unga kvinnoforskningen var ju faktiskt att omdefiniera den androcentriska ve- tenskapen. Bara två professorer diskuterar det maktbegrepp som vi avsåg. Inte hel- ler tar de övriga ställning till sin egen möjlighet att påverka eller formulera en genusvetenskaplig diskurs. Det är förvånande eftersom professorerna i vårt urval har varit framgångsrika och framstående inom sina forsknings- områden. De har deltagit i den tidiga formeringen av fältet, de har haft möj- lighet att bestämma agendan och haft inflytande över teorival, kursutbud och forskningsmedel. Utan tvekan har dessa professorer haft inflytande, men i sina livsberättelser diskuterar de flesta inte sin egen maktutövning. Undantag är geografen Gunnel Forsberg och Eva Österberg som båda har

16. Jfr liknande studier om genusforskare inom ämnet sociologi. Se Barbara Las- lett & Bonnie Thornton (red.) (1997): Feminist Sociology. Life Histories of a Movement (Brunswick: Rutgers University Press), s. 8. Se också Ulrike Vogel (2006): Wege in die Sociologie und in die Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung. Autobiographische Notizen der ersten Generation von Professorinnen an der Universität (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Socialwissenschaften); även Eileen Boris & Nupur Chauduri (red.) (1999): The Personal, The Political and The Professional (Bloomingdale & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press).

90 minne, tystnader och makt i akademiska livsberättelser haft institutionella maktpositioner och reflekterar över vad makt gör med dem och hur de utövar makt. En reflektion som vi gör är att de flesta i vårt urval inte haft institutio- nella maktpositioner där de har kunnat sätta sin prägel på disciplinen som helhet. Den verkliga makten i akademin handlar om hur en disciplin defi- nieras, som Mona Eliasson skriver i sin artikel.

Den makten kan inte regleras av utomstående lagar som t.ex. jämställd­ hetsfrågor. På den enskilda institutionen kan misshagliga personer uteslutas av de som av kraft av en formell position har rätten/makten att definiera disciplinen och exempelvis göra bedömningar av tjänster.17

Denna avmakt, eller brist på inflytande, har professorerna inte velat dis- kutera. En förklaring kan vara att brytningen mellan formell och informell makt, makt och maktlöshet är svår att få grepp om och svår att analysera i en individs livsperspektiv. Den diskursiva makt som professorerna haft inom sina respektive områden har fungerat på en viss nivå men har inte kunnat omsättas till makt på en annan nivå högre upp i den akademiska hierarkin eller inom ämnet som helhet. Något som Anita Göransson påpe- kar i sin berättelse är att det finns en subtil samhörighet mellan män som kvinnor ser men har svårt att få tillträde till. På diskursiva och institutionella nivåer handlar makt alltså om förmå- gan att påverka disciplinerna och deras forskningsagenda. Vad som anses ingå i ”kanon” varierar mellan olika discipliner och vetenskapsområden, och i tid och rum. En gemensam nämnare är dock att centrala element i det som definieras som kanon i en disciplin ingår i dess handbokskunskap, erkända historiografi och i dess kollektiva minne. I den meningen har ge- nusforskningen endast haft begränsat genomslag i akademin. Dess historia ingår ännu inte, med få undantag, i akademins kollektiva minne. Kanske kan det förklara tystnaden kring de egna maktrelationerna eller bristen på makt.18 Det är alltså inte bara människor som gör historia utan historia gör också människor.

17. Eliasson, i Niskanen & Florin (2010), s. 83. 18. Om akademins kanon, se Maria Grever & Siep Stuurman (red.) (2007): Be­ yond the Canon. History of the twenty-first century (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

91 session 5a: fag og politikk: kvinne- og kjønnshistoriens historie

Jakob Winther Forsbäck, Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden – [email protected] the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 the paradoxes of feminist historiography, gender theory, and gender equality work at swedish universities

introduction and background The discipline of women’s history has changed fundamentally over the last few decades. Nowadays the term ‘women’s history’ is hardly used in Swe- den. Instead, expressions such as ‘gender history’ or ‘sex history’ (köns­ historia) are used as they more clearly correlate with scholars’ interests, namely how sex/gender and perceptions thereof structure, limit, and influ- ence people’s lives. From the 1970s on, these interests have changed with regard to both the choice and use of empirical material and the use of theo- retical explanations of the causes of gendered power structures. Earlier re- search on the historiography of women’s and gender history and its devel- opment has to a large extent focused on scholarship. Therefore, the impact of political forces, culture, and non-academic groups has not been suffi- ciently analysed as possible explanatory factors of change. The Chair of Women’s History at the University of Gothenburg was held by three professors in the course of little more than a decade, appointed in 1984, 1987 and 1995 respectively. The appointment processes that preceded each nomination provide good examples of how, and how quickly, the sub- ject changed. They also tell us something about feminist activism and gen- der equality, especially since the appointment in 1987 led to a debate that to a large extent came to focus on the fact that a man, Christer Winberg, was proposed by the Appointment Committee of the University of Gothenburg, rather than the female frontrunner Yvonne Hirdman. This paper analyses this particular professorship and the subject of

92 the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 women’s history,1 and as such is part of a growing research field concerned with the history of gender and women’s studies. Furthermore, this topic emphasizes historiography and gender equality work as two separate but intertwined forms of feminist activism. The expert review panel’s reports for the three appointments in 1984, 1987, and 1995 constitute this paper’s empirical base. They provide a good insight into the process itself, but primarily into discussions about the defi- nition of women’s history and the candidates’ expected qualifications. In addition, letters and other sources such as petitions and articles are used to provide a broader picture of the problematic appointment case in 1987. However, in this short version of the paper I will focus solely on this par- ticular appointment. the chronology of a professorship, 1984–1995 Prior to the first appointment in 1984, the Swedish government announced exactly what the position should entail:

The subject of women’s history includes the woman’s social and economic, cultural and legal status in family and society from the earliest times to the present day, the ideological and political factors that were significant in this context, and the role she has played in politics and society. To be eligible for the professorship, documented academic competence in the above-mentioned fields is required. The evaluation of the applicants’ academic production will particularly focus on works in women’s history, even though other publications should also be taken into account.2

The job description would never be changed. In both 1984 and 1995 there was some sort of consensus regarding the definition of the professorship. The appointments in 1984 and 1995 were in-

1. This paper is mainly based on my M.A. dissertation, Jakob Winther Forsbäck, (2009): När kvinnohistoria blev genushistoria. Professuren i kvinnohistoria vid Göte­ borgs universitet 1984–1995 (Institutionen för historiska studier, Göteborgs universitet; Gothenburg). The discussions and examples presented here are therefore very con- densed. 2. Utbildningsdepartementet, Universitets- och högskoleämbetet, beslut, 1982- 12-06, reg. nr 3601-1740-82, Riksarkivet (RA).

93 jakob winther forsbäck ternal in the sense that the appointments were made without major prob- lems or outside intervention. There was no such consensus in 1987, when the gender equality question and non-academic involvement sparked con- troversy. conflict in 1987 In 1987, on the basis of the experts’ conclusions, the university’s Appoint- ment Committee, although in disagreement, suggested Christer Winberg for the chair. Yvonne Hirdman lodged a formal appeal, which the univer- sity rejected, but her complaint was later upheld by the Social Democrat minister of education, Lennart Bodström, and she was appointed to the professorship. In comparison to the experts’ reports from 1984, the discussion in 1987 was far more advanced and eloquent as to the definition of women’s his- tory. One of them, Åke Holmberg, dealt with the question of how the ap- plicants’ publications should be reviewed: as women’s history or as history with relev­ance to women’s history? He quoted the last sentence of the job description, ‘other publications should also be taken into account’, as a way to prompt a discussion about what that should entail.3 In his view, research without the intention of being women’s history – research that deals with women’s lives such as social history and family history – should be viewed as ‘of rele­vance to women’s history’,4 and he went on to argue that given the subject of the professorship, the applicant’s production on women’s history should be the deciding factor. Gunhild Kyle, then the holder of the chair, stated in her expert report that: ‘As I interpret the subject description, there has to be a problematiza- tion of the female situation in order to label a historical investigation as women’s history.’5 She went on to say that it was not enough for the category ‘women’ to be included, but rather that women’s history should be conduct- ed with specific perspectives in mind. In order to accomplish such research,

3. Åke Holmberg (1987): ‘Sakkunnigutlåtande över professuren i kvinnohistoria 1987’ (Humanistiska fakultetskansliet, Göteborgs universitet), p. 2. 4. Holmberg (1987). 5. Gunhild Kyle (1987): ‘Sakkunnigutlåtande över professuren i kvinnohistoria 1987’ (Humanistiska fakultetskansliet, Göteborgs universitet), p. 2.

94 the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995

Kyle concluded that her successor ought to be, if not up to date, then at least knowledgeable about new theories and perspectives drawn from disciplines such as sociology and anthropology. She did not dismiss publications that she defined as ordinary history, but pointed out that the applicant’s produc- tion should be sorted as either history or women’s history. If Kyle and Holmberg had opposing views on the subject of definition, Eva Österberg presented a middle way as the third expert consulted. She stated, for example, that family history is not synonymous with women’s history, and that Kyle’s successor should be well versed in the theoretical developments in women’s studies. However, she also concluded that certain publications could be regarded as women’s history even though the specific methods and theories often used in women’s history were not included.6 Kyle nominated Hirdman because of her qualities as a women’s histo- rian, even though Winberg, according to Kyle, had ‘superior scholarly skills’.7 Österberg advocated Winberg because his scholarly and educational quali- ties were worth more than Hirdman’s better qualifications with respect to women’s history. The upshot was that the Appointment Committee chose Winberg. Hirdman appealed, and submitted a formal complaint in which she outlined her arguments and qualifications; Winberg then did the same. Meanwhile, protests grew about the decision to appoint Winberg. Women’s organizations, women’s studies groups, unaffiliated scholars, and even politi- cal parties wrote articles, letters, and joint petitions. Eventually the Govern- ment decided to appoint Hirdman against the proposition of the university’s Appointment Committee. controversy about definitions The conflict in 1987 turned on two basic issues: the definition of women’s history and the gender of the applicants, reflecting the fact that Winberg was a man. At that point the concept of gender (genus) and other related terms were relatively new in Sweden. Theories developed by, for example, the very influential historian Joan Scott had been integrated in various aca-

6. Eva Österberg (1987): ‘Sakkunnigutlåtande över professuren i kvinnohistoria 1987’ (Humanistiska fakultetskansliet, Göteborgs universitet), p. 2. 7. Kyle (1987), p. “tillägg”.

95 jakob winther forsbäck demic approaches to the subordination of women and gendered structures in society. Scholars such as Yvonne Hirdman were well known for hav- ing introduced Scott’s and others’ take on gender relations in a Swedish context.8 The lack of theoretical development in women’s history had been discussed in Historisk tidskrift, Sweden’s leading academic history journal, seven years earlier. The introduction of ‘genus’, amongst other theoretical concepts, was clearly one of the answers to this call for progress and change. Much of the conflict over the definition of women’s history stemmed from the fact that the job description for the Gothenburg chair had not been changed since written in 1984. However, the subject of women’s history had in short time changed to such an extent that many gender-oriented scholars did not view the professorship as up-to-date.9 This discrepancy triggered a discussion about whether special or general competence should be the decisive factor, and what that special competence should entail. No one denied that women’s history was a proper subject for the professorship, but because there was no consensus about its definition, the result was disagreement. Some held competence in the field of women’s history to be a more fundamental prerequisite than, for example, proven historical scholarship of the ‘ordinary’ kind, even though it was spelled out that ‘other publications [should also] be taken into account’.10 The two sides of the debate are visible in Hirdman’s and Winberg’s applications. Winberg attached a description of all his historical research, whether he regarded it as women’s history or not, while Hirdman did not even mention her doctoral thesis as it did not constitute women’s history.11 In an article written in 1987, the Norwegian historian Gro Hagemann

8. Hirdman (1988). 9. For example, in a letter of 18 November 1987 to the University of Gothenburg Appointments Committee, a group of women’s historians in Umeå demanded that the job description be continuously updated in order to reflect the ever-changing nature of the field. 10. Utbildningsdepartementet, Universitets- och högskoleämbetet, beslut, 1982- 12-06, reg. nr 3601-1740-82, RA. 11. Ansökningshandling från Winberg till regeringen, inkom till GU 1986-10-16, Dnr E311 44/86; Ansökningshandling från Hirdman till regeringen, inkom till GU 1986-10-20 Dnr E311 44/86, (Humanistiska fakultetskansliet, Göteborgs universitet)

96 the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 discussed the appointment and the definition problem. She identified two main positions. One side, she argued, concluded that women’s history should be defined as an object of research, as basically an add-on to ‘ordi- nary’ history, while the other side stressed that such an approach was not enough, and instead specially developed (often feminist) theories should be used: research which, in Hagemann’s words, ‘focuses on gender (genus) as a structuring principle in society and addresses questions about why women are invisible in history’.12 In other words, women’s history should be defined according to the sort of questions and perspectives used. Hagemann pointed out that, of the experts, only Kyle supported the latter view, while Österberg and Holmberg supported the former. A closer look at Winberg’s and Hirdman’s complaints reveals two quite different views on this subject. Winberg wrote that ‘at the heart of the con- flict is how women’s history should be defined’.13 He went on to say that the choice was thus not ‘just between two individuals, but between two ways of understanding women’s history’.14 Winberg claimed that Hirdman’s defini- tion would undermine women’s history in academic terms, because a pre- determined perspective is not compatible with proper historical research. He feared that the appointment would be made on the applicants’ interests rather than their academic experience. In her complaint, Hirdman argued for a view of women’s history very different from Winberg’s:

The fact that we now have women’s history as a specific subject field is proof in itself of the perversion that the androcentric world-view has created. The goal must of course be that all historical research is based on the obvious fact that the world is populated by two sexes [kön], men and women. To bring this to the attention and consideration of ‘ordinary’ historians too – that is to say, to work in the direction of integration – must be one of the main tasks of the holder of a chair of women’s history.15

12. Gro Hagemann (1988): “Kvinnohistoria – politik eller vetenskap?”, Häften för kritiska studier, 3, p. 15. 13. Christer Winberg (1987-11-19): “Besvär till regeringen”, GU-dnr/ref. nr E311 3464/87 (Göteborgs universitets arkiv), p. 5. 14. Winberg (1987), p. 8. 15. Yvonne Hirdman (1987-10-22): “Besvär till regeringen”, GU-dnr/ref. nr E311 3464/87 (Göteborgs universitets arkiv), p. 2.

97 jakob winther forsbäck

In essence, Hirdman was proposing an understanding of women’s history as a perspective that should be taken into account in every historical in- quiry. By then, Hirdman argued, the field had produced a ‘fruitful chaos with regard to methods, source interpretation and theories’, and thus pre- sented new epistemological and methodological challenges to traditional history.16 Gunhild Kyle made this point absolutely clear when she wrote that ‘Hirdman has arguably made greater headway in the subject of wom- en’s history than has Winberg, although Winberg’s superiority as an aca- demic [vetenskaplig] historian is just as obvious’.17 This statement prompted Winberg to react in the following way: ‘In this way Kyle sets her own sub- ject, women’s history, against academic [vetenskaplig] history!’18 focus on sex/gender In the autumn of 1987 several Swedish newspapers covered the dispute. In general, the news reports were concerned with gender equality, although the question of competence was also a notable topic. In one such article, the chairman of the Department for Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies, Eva Björkander, was interviewed.19 Her comments reflected many aspects of the press coverage, but especially the outrage following the initial appoint- ment of Winberg.

Let’s not jump to conclusions, […] I’m sure that Christer Winberg is a good scholar, but [this] is after all about women’s history, and if one of the female candidates has the proper competence, one of them should get the job. I think that if the man is appointed, many will react strongly.20

Some of those involved had assumed that the chair would be held by a woman, and that the applicant’s gender would be a decisive factor before their competence was reviewed. This assumption is not surprising given that of the total number of professors in the mid-1980s, women accounted

16. Hirdman (1987), p. 3. 17. Kyle (1987), p. “tillägg”. 18. Winberg (1987), p. 7. 19. This department was an offshoot of the Gothenburg Forum for Women Re- searchers and Women’s Studies. 20. ‘Vem efterträder Kyle?’ (1987-08-29), Göteborgs-Posten.

98 the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 for only a few percent. The question of the candidates’ gender and gender equality thus dominated the newspaper coverage. A group of historians af- filiated with University of Gothenburg published an op-ed criticizing both the discussion of gender equality and specific competence as being political issues that should not be a part of a scholarly discourse:

A victory for a campaign like this is a defeat for the discipline of history, including women’s history, and the beginning of the takeover of the uni- versity by political groups.21

In another op-ed, the writer pointed at the importance of gender equality as the driving force behind much of the commotion: ‘How would [Win- berg’s production] have been regarded if he had been a woman?’22 Would Winberg’s and Hirdman’s different research records and epistemological stances have spurred such a heated debate if both were women? Counter- factual examples such as this may be something of a cul-de-sac, but in this case they nevertheless illustrate the importance of gender equality issues in universities. Yet it is just as obvious that the theoretical and epistemologi- cal debate about the nature of women’s history was valid and real as well. Gender equality constitutes a theoretical problem in and of itself be- cause of traditional ideas about meritocracy and academic freedom. Gender equality arguments were ‘forbidden’ in this particular discourse, a fact that was all too evident in a joint statement from several different branches of the Fora for Female Researchers and Women’s Studies.

Our concern is not primarily to do with the fact that a man was chosen over a woman, but rather that, for this special professorship, a non-com- petent man was chosen over a competent woman.23

This statement was preceded by an internal letter within the organization in which Winberg’s and Hirdman’s different qualifications were not dis- cussed. Instead the letter stated that:

21. ‘Historisk kampanj’ (1987-12-02), Göteborgs-Posten, signed by ‘Forskare på Historiska institutionen vid Göteborgs universitet’. 22. Sven B. Ek (1987-11-26): ‘Professuren i kvinnohistoria’, Göteborgs-Posten. 23. ‘Angående tillsättning av professuren i kvinnohistoria vid universitetet i Göteborg’, brev, 1987-11-20, ‘Forum för kvinnliga forskare och kvinnoforskning Stock­ holms universitet’ (Göteborgs universitets arkiv).

99 jakob winther forsbäck

We have had an extraordinary board meeting on the proposed new holder of the professorship in women’s history. As you all may know, a man has been proposed. Here in Gothenburg, with some outside help, we have written a statement. Our hope is that all Forums/Centres can support this letter.24

Moreover, the letter mentions nothing of the candidates’ various theoreti- cal stances or qualifications with respect to women’s history. Arguably, the gender issue was very important, but it had to be toned down in public in order to avoid crossing a discursive line by saying outright that meritocrat- ic principles should be put aside in favour of gender equality work. The vast majority of women’s studies scholars argued that Hirdman’s meritocratic qualifications clearly outweighed Winberg’s. She was consid- ered up to date with theoretical developments in the field, and, not only that, she herself had been an important part of those very developments. In a letter to the Government, two members of the Gothenburg University Committee on Gender Equality and members of the Forum organization in Gothenburg spelled it out:

The female candidate, in addition to her sex, has a clear advantage over her male competitor because she has been involved in women’s issues and women’s studies.25

‘Sex’ and certain competence also went hand in hand, in part because of the expectation that a female professor would have a better chance of recruit- ing women scholars. The non-academic interest largely focused on the issue of gender, while appeals from researchers centred on the definition issue, even if the above examples from the Forum organizations were notably complex. Letters from political parties and women’s organizations thus put greater emphasis on the question of gender equality. They were not constrained by the academic notion of meritocracy that probably forced the Forum organizations, and perhaps others as well, to concentrate in public on the definition of women’s

24. Internt brev, ‘Fora’ from ‘Forum för tvärvetenskapliga kvinnostudier och fo- rum för kvinnliga forskare i Göteborg’ (Göteborgs universitets arkiv). 25. Göteborgs universitets arkiv, brev, 1988-01-19, Gunni Kärrby och Kerstin Nordenstam.

100 the chair of women’s history at the university of gothenburg 1984–1995 history and the candidates’ qualifications, while fighting behind the scenes for gender equality. In fact, the Forum organizations had been founded about eight years previously with these very two tasks in mind: to support female scholars and develop women’s history/studies.

101 session 2: men, masculinities, and the military

Anne Hedén, Department of History, Stockholm University, Sweden – [email protected] svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniserings­strävanden i två svenska stridsberättelser från finland 1918

Detta paper (nerkortat i denna version) lades fram på sessionen om män, maskulinitet och militarism och diskuterar de militära ideal och den världs­bild som kommer till uttryck bland de frivilliga i den svenska insat- sen under finska inbördeskriget 1918. De akademiska kretsarna i Finland präglades under flera decennier av den vita sidans förståelse av inbördeskriget som ett frihetskrig. Senare stu- dier framhåller andra aspekter där inbördeskriget snarare betraktas som ett nedgörande av den inhemska finska arbetarrörelsen.1 Ett mer kritiskt perspektiv märks även i nyare svensk litteratur där också den svenska in- satsen diskuteras mer som en del av ett klass- och ett inbördeskrig snarare än ett frihetskrig. Med avseende på denna omvärdering är det av intresse att studera hur de svenska frivilliga, där en stor del militärer och tidigare stamanställda in- gick, motiverade sina insatser och hur den svenska borgerliga/militaristiska självbilden utvecklades i denna process. I Stockholm bildades i januari 1918 föreningen Finlands Vänner, FV, understödd av det svenska etablissemanget och näringslivet. Över tusen svenskar, många yrkesofficerare, underofficerare och underbefäl, gick med i kriget på den vita sidan, i finska förband eller i Svenska brigaden.2

1. Heikki Ylikangas (1995): Vägen till Tammerfors (Stockholm: Atlantis), s. 11f.; Aapo Roselius (2009): I bödlarnas fotspår. Massavrättningar och terror i finska in­ bördeskriget 1918 (Stockholm: Leopard). 2. Ingvar Flink (2004): ”Svenska krigsförluster i Finland år 1918”, i Lars West- 102 svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniseringssträvanden…

Minneslitteraturen från tiden strax efter inbördeskriget präglas av hyl- landet av Svenska brigaden och andra frivilligas militära insatser.3 Svenska brigadens kampsång anspelade på idealen från svensk stormaktstid och det fanns förhoppningar bland en del aktivister och hos delar av den svenska högern att genom en svensk insats åter förena Finland, eller åtminstone Åland, med Sverige.4 Officerskåren i Sverige vid tiden för första världskri- get har beskrivits som starkt konservativ och rojalistisk, för upprustning och fientlig mot Ryssland, arvfienden. Tysklands militärmakt sågs som en förebild att ta efter.5 Samtidigt hade införandet av värnpliktsarmén också inneburit en professionalisering av militären, med Preussen som förebild, och vid tiden för första världskriget hade officersyrket åtminstone formellt öppnats för en bredare rekrytering.6 De svenska Finlandsfrivilliga 1918 är kartlagda i tidigare forskning och litteratur. Enligt en beskrivning utgjorde de antingen personer som drevs av idealitet, ofta med släkt i Finland, militärer som ville pröva sin yrkeskun- skap, eller rena äventyrare. Likaså har den tidigare forskningen och littera- turen belyst den politiska uppfattningen bland de som utgjorde den akti- erlund (red.): Norden och krigen i Finland och Baltikum åren 1918–1919 (Helsingfors: Statsrådets kansli), s. 38. 3. Lars Westerlund (2004): ”Norden och krigen i Finland och Baltikum åren 1918–19. Litteraturöversikt och forskningsläge”, i Lars Westerlund (red.): Norden och kri­gen i Finland och Baltikum åren 1918–1919 (Helsingfors: Statsrådets kansli), s. 14; Yli­kangas, s. 322; Rainer Andersson (1999): Vad gjorde du i Finland far (Otalampi: Sahlgren), s. 110–112. 4. Flink (2004), s. 31; Carl Göran Andrae (1998): Revolt eller reform. Sverige inför revolutionerna i Europa 1917–1918 (Stockholm: Carlsson) s. 157; ”Svenska brigadens marsch”, www.ra.se, under rubriken ”Svenska brigaden i Finland 1918” (nerladdad 13/3 2012); Steven Koblik (1972): Sweden: The Neutral Victor. Sweden and the Western Powers 1917–1918 (Stockholm: Läromedelsförlagen), s. 193f. 5. Gunnar Artéus (1994): ”Den svenska officerskårens politiska uppfattning år 1914”, i Johan Engström & Lars Ericson (red.): Mellan björnen och örnen. Sverige och Östersjöområdet under det första världskriget 1914–1918: föredrag hållna vid symposium i Visby, 4–7 augusti 1993 (Visby: Gotlands fornsal), s. 81–85. 6. Åke Bernström (1998): Officerskår i förvandling. Den svenska arméofficers­ kårens rekrytering, utbildning och tjänstgöringsförhållanden från 1860-talet fram till 1920 (Stock­holm: Stockholms universitet), s. 59f.; Lars Ericson (1995): Svenska knek­ tar. In­delta soldater, ryttare och båtsmän i krig och fred (Lund: Historiska Media) s. 245. 103 anne hedén vistiska kärnan i Svenska brigaden.7 De frivilligas omvärldsbild som helhet är dock inte undersökt på ett systematiskt vis – hur de såg på finska inbör- deskriget, vilka militära ideal som dominerade och hur de såg på Sveriges roll i det europeiska sammanhanget. Några studier sätter till exempel in den svenska självförståelsen under första världskriget i ett sammanhang där Sveriges roll i Europa får en annan dimension än tidigare. Lina Sturfelt som studerat hur första världskriget skildrades i den svenska veckopressen har beskrivit hur världskrigets kaos drev fram en förändring av det storsvenska perspektivet där den svenska neutraliteten kom att kopplas till modernitet och framstegstänkande.8 Monika Janfelt betonar i en artikel om de skandi- naviska ländernas Röda kors-insatser i Finland 1918 hur de nordiska grann- ländernas insatser och framförallt den svenska präglades av en självförstå- else där man såg sig som stormakter i människokärlek.9 Finlandsaktivismen 1918 kan alltså dels diskuteras utifrån Svenska bri- gadens uttalanden och intentioner, dels utifrån en större förändringsprocess som pågick i den svenska krigsmakten och dels utifrån den svenska självbild som höll på att omformuleras inom ramen för första världskrigets kontext. I detta paper går jag utifrån de perspektiv som beskrivits ovan igenom en frivillig i Svenska brigaden, ingenjören Carl-Gustaf Grönstrand, och hans anteckningar, och även en rikssvensk trängofficers, Mauritz Petter- sons, krigsdagbok från den finska vita armén under vårmånaderna 1918.10

7. Lars Ericson (1996): Svenska frivilliga. Militära uppdrag i utlandet under 1800- och 1900-talen (Lund: Historiska Media), s. 70; Flink (2004), s. 41–43; Bjarne Stenquist (2009): Den vita segerns svarta skugga. Finland och inbördeskriget 1918 (Stockholm: Atlantis); Andersson (1999), s. 136–139. 8. Lina Sturfelt (2008): Eldens återsken. Första världskriget i svensk föreställnings­ värld (Lund: Sekel), s. 253. 9. Monika Janfelt (1999): ”Ambulanshjälp till Finland 1918. Nordisk Röda Kors- aktion mellan privat och offentlig nödhjälp”, i Tinne Vammen & Monika Janfelt (red.): Den privat-offentliga gränsen. Det sociala arbetets strategier och aktörer i Norden 1860– 1940 (Köpenhamn: Nordiska ministerrådet). 10. Mauritz Petterson: ”Dagboksanteckningar från mitt deltagande i Finlands frihetskrig…”, i Mauritz Pettersons arkiv, enskilda arkiv, Krigsarkivet; Carl-Gustaf Grönstrand (namnet ej angivet i dokumentet men efternamnet finns antecknat på kuvertet som det ligger i, liksom textens titel, ”Grönstrands opus”), volym 28, E: in­ komna handlingar, stridsberättelser, samt D: rullor, liggare, journaler, volym 14, Sven- ska brigadens arkiv, Frivilliga i Finland, Krigsarkivet.

104 svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniseringssträvanden…

”grönstrands opus” Ingenjören Carl-Gustaf Grönstrands text är en 66 sidor lång berättelse skriven på maskin, om striderna i och runt Tammerfors och om efterspe- let till Tammerfors fall, då Svenska brigaden användes för att rensa södra Finland från de röda. Berättelsen inleds 16 mars då han kliver på tåget till Finland och avslutas med de vita truppernas parad 15 maj 1918 i Helsingfors och hemfärden då Svenska brigaden skickas hem.11 Grönstrand, skribenten, varken presenterar sig eller undertecknar sin långa berättelse men det framgår i alla fall att han i Sverige varit med i lands- stormen eftersom han tagit med sig utrustningen till Finland, att han var ingenjör, och gift, och att även några av hans kamrater åkt till Finland några veckor tidigare. 1918 var han 45 år gammal. I rullorna är han inskriven som furir, men av hans berättelse framgår att han bara i undantagsfall förde befäl. Av texten att döma gör han, möjligen med ålderns rätt, lite som han vill i fältlivet, bestämmer ibland själv när det är dags att ta paus, och om nattlogiet inte passar nämner han att han ibland söker upp något annat ställe att sova på. Han blir också mycket förtörnad när han beordras att bära vatten trots att han har ont i benet, på grund av för mycket marscherande. Ganska säkert var han en av de som borde tagit åt sig när officerarna vid några tillfällen skällde ut brigadisterna för att de stulit och plundrat, eftersom ett återkom- mande inslag i Grönstrands berättelse är funderingarna kring var han kan hitta mat. Flera livliga beskrivningar finns om när han i detta ärende på egen hand utforskar omgivningarna där truppen för ögonblicket befinner sig.12 Grönstrands utgångspunkt var att de röda var kriminella. På väg från Uleå- borg till Tammerfors, ser han röda fångar som han anser ser ut som ”ovan- ligt utpräglade bovtyper nästan allihop”.13 Genomgående blir berättelserna som Grönstrand får höra från de andra vita om de rödas framfart ett sätt att förklara det våld som drabbar inbördeskrigets förlorare. Återkommande i texten är olika historier han har hört om de rödas grymheter.14 Överlag betraktas de röda som fega, inkompetenta och rädda. Likaså uppfattar Grönstrand att de röda socialt sett är mindre utvecklade än de vita,

11. Grönstrand, ”Grönstrands opus”, s. 63. 12. Grönstrand, s. 9–10, 21, 25, 39f., 44, 46–49, 52, 55. 13. Grönstrand, s. 4, 55. 14. Grönstrand, s. 4f., 54, 35f.

105 anne hedén de låter sig ledas av ryssarna och håller inte ordning eller snyggar till efter sig. Grönstrand beskriver på flera ställen ingående avrättningar av och över- våld mot de röda, både det som berättas och det som han själv bevittnat eller skaffat sig kunskap om. Lägger man samman de olika situationerna framgår det att han inte har något emot den rättsutövning, eller brist därpå, som til�- lämpas. Ändå beskriver han hur han vid de två tillfällen då han faktiskt ska delta i avrättningar i sista stund får andra uppdrag, och en viss lättnad kan märkas. Vid det första tillfället anmäler sig Grönstrand som frivillig till en arkebusering, men blir i sista sekunden beordrad att istället transportera kulsprutor. Han motiverar ändå sitt beslut eftersom han fått förebråelser från någon av sina kamrater: ”De hava inget som hälst existensberättigande och därför skola de bort”.15 Vid det andra tillfället är han i Tammerfors och väljer att stanna i staden för att hälsa på bekanta, hellre än att åka till den plats där avrättningen ska äga rum. Andra från brigaden tar gärna hans plats: ”Jag’. ’Jag.’ ’Får jag’, ropade de och sträckte sig efter geväret.”16 Grön­ strand bevittnar också vid några tillfällen frivilliga svenskar som skjuter röda fångar. Han är genomgående noga med att försvara de avrättningar han har sett eller känner till.17 Grönstrand framhåller de vita finnarnas envishet och vilja att förändra sin situation. Men det framgår också att han och andra i hans omgivning gjorde skill- nad på finsktalande finnar och finlandssvenskar. De finsktalande beskrivs som tröga och långsamma och det framgår att svenskarna anser sig stå över de finsktalande när de arbetar ihop. De svensktalande finnarna beskrivs däremot som civilisationsbärare och som tacksamma över den rikssvenska närvaron. De vita finnarnas vrede mot de röda, och i synnerhet mot rys- sarna noteras, liksom deras ihärdighet vad gäller att förfölja de röda. Även om svenskarna alltså inte drar sig för att avrätta röda så framhåller Grön- strand att de vita finnarna är desto ihärdigare och mer oförsonliga i denna aktivitet – och dessutom iskalla inför de döda.18 Vid ett tillfälle då han sitter på kanonvagnen och vilar sitt dåliga ben pratar han med en tysk officer som rider bredvid. Officeren anser att de

15. Grönstrand, s. 39, 11, 18, 31, 4f., 57, 23. 16. Grönstrand, s. 44. 17. Grönstrand, s. 44, 48, 50, 58f. 18. Grönstrand, s. 2, 24, 19f., 29f, 26.

106 svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniseringssträvanden… rödas brutala krigföring gjorde att de inte hade någon som helst rätt att bli behandlade som vanliga fiender; de mindre hopar av röda som anträffats har tyskarna skjutit på en gång, allihop: ”I mänsklighetens intresse har vi kommit hit för att hålla storstädning”, och Grönstrand menar att det var det viktigaste som blev sagt under deras pratstund i skogen.19 När det gäller svenskarnas insatser framhåller Grönstrand i första hand svenskarnas stora mod. Röda fångar hade berättat, skriver Grönstrand, att de hade trott att svenskarna var många fler i Tammerfors och därför flytt i panik. En gata hade enligt de boende varit alldeles grå av flyende, som en stor fårskock hade det sett ut, enligt Grönstrands informanter. Han menar att 50 svenskar mot 600 röda ”[…] är lite bättre än Karl XII som endast hade en mot tio, och vi en mot tolv”.20 Grönstrand framhåller att jägarna (finska soldater tränade i Tyskland) hade en avgörande betydelse för det vita Finland. Men när det gäller Tam- merfors menar han alltså att svenskarnas mod varit avgörande för att entu- siasmera ’finntrupperna’.21 Det framgår att det var mycket ont om mat och andra förnödenheter. Enligt Grönstrand måste man skaffa sig extra mat om man inte vill svälta ihjäl.22 Han beskriver hur de svenska frivilliga plockade åt sig det som de ansåg sig behöva och argumenterar i texten för det rimliga i dessa åtgärder.23 mauritz pettersons dagbok Mauritz Pettersons dagboksanteckningar från finska inbördeskriget om- fattar 90 maskinskrivna sidor och löper under tre månader, från 25 febru- ari 1918 till 20 maj 1918. Petterson beskriver den vita befolkningens rädsla för de röda och han återger särskilt vad han hört om de röda kvinnornas grymhet. Liksom i Grönstrands berättelse blir historierna som Petterson förmedlar om de rödas grymheter goda ursäkter för den hårda behand- lingen av dem. Petterson hyser dock en viss medkänsla med de röda och ser inte alltid behandlingen av dem som rättvis och han betonar att många

19. Grönstrand, s. 54. 20. Grönstrand, s. 22f. 21. Grönstrand, s. 63, 33. 22. Grönstrand, s. 39, 48f. 23. Grönstrand, s. 9ff., 25, 47f.

107 anne hedén som hamnat på den röda sidan kanske inte valt det själva. När det gäl- ler själva krigshandlingarna framhåller Petterson (till skillnad från Grön- strand) gärna de rödas styrka och mod och förstärker därmed bilden av de vitas prestationer. Han anser att de rödas obenägenhet till spaning var en anledning till att de inte lyckades och han förklarar att om de röda varit duktigare med sin kulspruteeld hade de vita haft större förluster. Liksom Grönstrand ser Petterson med yttersta förakt på ryssarna.24 Finnarna skildrar han med gillande som envisa och sega, lika sega och envisa som de finska skogshästarna. När han jämför svenskar och finnar beskriver han dessa som två grupper som kompletterar varandra. Finnarna är tåliga och kan uthärda mer prövande strapatser jämfört med svenskar- na – men svenskarna är mer kvicktänkta. I hög grad betonar Petterson de olika nivåerna i svenskarnas och finnarnas respektive utbildning, och be- tonar finnarnas läraktighet. Han förvånas också över hur lite jämmer och klagan som kommer från de sårade finnarna. Dock är Petterson på flera ställen kritisk vad gäller ordning, organisation och ledningens kompetens i den vita armén.25 Även Petterson gör alltså skillnad mellan svensktalande och finsktalande vita, särskilt när det gäller militär kompetens, men han har en mer positiv grundinställning till finsktalande än Grönstrand. Liksom Grönstrand för- håller sig Petterson avvaktande till det ursinne med vilket de vita verkställer hämnden på de röda. Han beskriver exempelvis utrensningen av en by som en rad ”ruskiga episoder”.26 Överlag beskrivs den finska vita befolkningen, svensktalande som finsktalande, som djupt tacksam över att ha blivit befriad av de vita trupperna.27 Petterson beskriver tyskarnas militära skicklighet och disciplin. Dock blir han efterhand delvis desillusionerad – de tyska soldaternas tjuveri var inte hedrande för den tyska armén. Petterson kallar tyskarna för schackrare. När han ser paraden i Helsingfors jämför han svenskar och finnar och även om han alltså antyder att finnarna är allt annat än bortklemade så utfaller jämförelsen till svenskarnas fördel, till stor del på grund av den högre utbild- ningsnivån. Petterson beskriver dock inte bara svenskarnas kompetens utan

24. Petterson, s. 70f., 43, 28, 60, 81. 25. Petterson, s. 51f., 22, 26, 31, 36f., 69, 74. 26. Petterson, s. 28. 27. Petterson, s. 57, 70.

108 svensk finlandsaktivism, militarism och moderniseringssträvanden… han visar också på konkurrens och kritik svenskarna emellan. Han beskriver också den svenska militära eliten som ett extremt privilegiesamhälle och han upprörs över hur de svenska officerarna motarbetar de svenska frivil- liga som försökt arbeta sig upp i den militära hierarkin i Finland. Petterson anser alltså att den typ av översitteri som elitofficerarna utövar knappast kan gagna Finlands sak.28 sammanfattning Gemensamt för Grönstrand och Petterson är uppfattningen att de för med sig den svenska kulturens moderna välsignelser till Finland och att detta är till hjälp för finnarna – dock kan man se att de betraktar den rikssvenska missionen från delvis olika håll. Grönstrand, som ser revolutionärerna som kriminella, sympatiserar med den tyske officerens beskrivning av hur man är i Finland för att städa upp efter de röda. Svenskarnas uppdrag är att inge finnarna mod, och sär- skilt i Tammerfors anser Grönstrand att detta fungerat. De finsktalande finnarna beskrivs som långsamma och tröga, men ihärdiga. Den svenskta- lande civilbefolkningen är tacksam för den svenska insatsen. Både finskta- lande och svensktalande finnar tar ut en våldsam hämnd på de röda och det framgår i Grönstrands skildring att man i Svenska brigaden gärna ville hålla distansen till detta förhållningssätt. Men han beskriver vid flera tillfällen också hur brigadister deltar i och själva initierar avrättningar. Grönstrand är noga med att hitta argument för varje enskild avrättning han bevittnar. När det gäller de militära idealen så ser han inget problem med att förse sig med civilbefolkningens förnödenheter, vare sig det rör sig om röd eller vit egendom. Mod är den viktigaste militära egenskapen. Karl XII nämns som måttstock när man ska definiera vad man själv uträttat, och svenskarna går i främsta ledet. Här kopplas alltså en närmast imperialistisk rasdiskurs till ett soldatideal där fysiskt mod har ett absolut företräde. Mauritz Petterson beskriver den finländska befolkningen som offer för röd terror och som tacksam över att ha blivit befriad. Han ser inte i första hand, som Grönstrand, de vitas insatser i Finland som en städoperation. Till skillnad från Grönstrand som ser relationen mellan svenskar och fin-

28. Petterson, s. 64f., 70, 72, 74, 76, 78–80.

109 anne hedén nar som hierarkisk ser Petterson finnar och svenskar snarare som komplet- terande varandra, och finnarnas underlägsenhet som relativ, genom deras bristande utbildning. När det gäller militära ideal anser Petterson, där Grönstrand snarare betonar modet, att det framförallt är viktigt att vara en god yrkesmilitär. Pettersons militära ideal handlar om en hög grad av professionalism. Tys- karna är i Pettersons ögon välutbildade militärer och därmed viktiga före- bilder men när han inser att de plundrar och schackrar tappar han respek- ten. Eftersom det framgår av Grönstrands skildring att även brigaden och jägarna gärna roffade är frågan om Pettersons kritik mot tyskarna hänger ihop med tyskarnas ökande inflytande i Finland efter inbördeskrigets slut. Petterson menar också att inflytandet från de konservativa och intrigerande rikssvenska elitofficerarna är något som det vita Finland gott kan vara utan. Jämfört med C-G Grönstrand som framstår som en slags krigets även- tyrare, eller möjligen krigsturist, med en närmast imperialistisk – snarare än gammaldags storsvensk – attityd till finnarna står alltså Petterson för en inställning där han ser finnarna som mer likställda svenskarna och de två folkgrupperna som kompletterande varandra, men svenskarna som bättre gynnade vad gäller utbildning och allmän utvecklingsgrad. Därmed är fin- narna värda allt stöd i sina strävanden. I båda berättelserna ses dock de röda som enbart destruktiva krafter i det finska samhället och berättelserna om de rödas illdåd blir förklaringen till de grymheter de utsattes för.

110 session 3: kjønn og profesjon

Agneta Järnankar, Department of Cultural Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Linnæus University, Sweden – [email protected] ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras

huslig ekonomi Kring 1900 introducerades ett nytt skolämne, huslig ekonomi i det svens- ka skolväsendet. Kunskapen om hushållsarbetet, som tidigare förmedlats inom ramen för familjen och hemmet, blev nu föremål för offentliga intres- sen. För undervisningens genomförande krävdes ny kompetens. Facksko- lan för huslig ekonomi i Uppsala, inrättad 1895, var en av tre skolor i landet, som tidigt utbildade skolkökslärarinnor. Den var privat finansierad, men från 1897 understöddes den även med offentliga medel. När riksdagen 1912 beslöt om bidrag för utbildning också av lanthushållslärarinnor byggdes skolan ut. Bland initiativtagarna märks Ida Norrby, skolans föreståndarin- na under 40 år, som strax före återkommit från utbildning utomlands, och J. A. Lundell, professor i slaviska språk. Redan verksamma husmödrar skul- le utbildas, men en ännu viktigare målgrupp, de unga flickorna, skulle för- beredas för sin framtida bestämmelse som maka och mor. Vad som vid den här tiden uppfattades som ett problem uttrycktes av Gerda Meyerson 1896:

Hur mången familj har ej råkat i ekonomiskt och moraliskt förfall på gr- und af husmoderns oförmåga att inrätta hemmet sparsamt och ordentligt! Hur mången arbetare går ej till krogen för att slippa äta den osmakliga mat hans hustru bjuder honom! Och vilka stora penningsummor bort- slösas icke på dyr och olämplig föda, blott medan man ej förstår sig på födoämnenas olika näringsvärde!1

1. Gerda Meyerson (1896): ”Matlagningsundervisningen i våra folkskolor”, Dag­ ny 11, 4/5, s. 154–159.

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Meyerson, verksam i Centralförbundet för Socialt Arbete, uttryckte här be- hovet av undervisning. Husmoderns oförmåga att åstadkomma närings­ rik­tiga måltider engagerade samtidens socialpedagoger. I första hand skul­ le familjer med knappa tillgångar prioriteras men åtgärden omfattade även borgerliga hem och lantbrukets hushåll. Målet var att husmödrarna skulle lära sig sköta hushållen rationellt. Tydligt framträder det moraliskt fost­ rande inslaget. undervisning organiseras Ämnets framväxt i systematiskt ordnad form kan till att börja med sättas i samband med flickskolorna. Med 1800-talet hade idéer växt fram om att utbildning var en medborgerlig rättighet, den skulle inte längre enbart vila på privata intressen. Hela utbildningssystemet kom därför stegvis att de- mokratiseras. Hemundervisning och flickpensionat svarade inte emot den nya tidens behov. När Kungliga Högre Lärarinneseminariet inrättades 1861 kom flickornas utbildning alltmer i fokus. Flickskoleorganisationen växte och från 1870 kunde flickorna avlägga studentexamen. Skolorna var pri- vata, vilket kan jämföras med de statligt finansierade läroverken öppna för pojkar. Flickskolorna växlade i kvalitet, men från 1874 då de mottog medel från statligt håll kom de att undergå en viss kontroll.2 Flickskolekommittén som tillsatts på uppdrag av Kungl. Maj:t, uttryckte 1888 behovet av en utbildning som särskilt syftade till kvinnans anlag och bestämmelse som maka och mor. En grundlig allmänbildning motiverades av det inflytande hon menades ha, inte bara över döttrarna utan även över sina söner, samt det stöd hon skulle utgöra för sin make. Kvinnan var nu också i högre grad hänvisad till egen försörjning, vilket visade behovet av utbildning. Dock menade man att den inte skulle pålägga eleverna intel- lektuellt arbete av så stor omfattning att det kunde åstadkomma trötthet och leda, då det kunde motverka det intellektuella arbetets egentliga syf- temål.3 De nationella flickskolemötena som hölls från 1849, var sannolikt

2. Silbano Barrio de Lopéz (2002): ”Kungliga Högre lärarinneseminariet och flick­skolans framväxt”, i Ann-Katrin Hatje (red.): Sekelskiftets utmaningar: essäer om väl­färd, utbildning och nationell identitet vid sekelskiftet 1900 (Stockholm: Carlsson), s. 181f., 185. 3. Undersökning af Sveriges Högre flickskolor: underdånigt utlåtande (1888)

112 ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras av betydelse för att ämnet aktualiserades. Ingela Schånberg lyfter fram det praktiska, husliga, religiösa och nationella kvinnobildningsideal som tog form på flickskolemötena och refererar till J. A. Lundell. Alla skulle bilda familj och arbetsdelningen var given av biologiska skäl, ansåg han. Ständig förnyelse och reproduktion av nya individer var den viktigaste utvecklings- faktorn för mänskligt liv och den skedde i samverkan mellan könen. Denna socialhygien var tidens lösen. Antalet ogifta kvinnor hade ökat och kring 1910 levde var femte kvinna som ogift.4 Att en del kvinnor medvetet kan ha valt bort äktenskapet, kan sättas i samband med att den gifta kvinnan ännu fram till 1921 lydde under makes målsmanskap, något som bör relateras till den ogifta kvinnans myndighetsålder som stegvis hade utvidgats. Som myn- diga fick ogifta kvinnor rätt att disponera eget kapital och det var en viktig förutsättning under den tidens kraftiga ekonomiska expansion där tillgång på rörligt kapital efterfrågades. Ett annat skäl till att förbli ogift kan ha varit svårigheten att kombinera äktenskap med yrkesarbete. Frågan om kvinnans rätt i samhället framfördes av Fredrika Bremer- förbundet och andra. Hur den tidens kvinnofråga skulle inordnas i mo- tiven för att utbilda flickorna för hemmet utgjorde grunden för den kon- flikt som kom att splittra kvinnorörelsen. Å ena sidan hävdades jämställda villkor för kvinnor på alla områden, å den andra sökte man uppvärdera kvinnans egenskaper då de sågs som särskilt betydelsefulla för samhället. Eugène Schwartz, grundare av Östermalms högre läroanstalt för flickor, menade att den nordiska flickskolan måste ha två mål i sikte. Det var dels teoretisk bildning som förberedelse för ett eventuellt framtida intellektuellt arbete, dels utbildning för det husmoderliga kallet, vilket syftade på huslig ekonomi och innebar praktisk övning i matlagning och andra uppgifter i hemmet. Läsämnen som naturkunnighet och matematik av betydelse för det praktiska livet och huslig verksamhet skulle utvidgas.5 1893 års riksdag beslöt att införa hushållsundervisning i flickskolorna, men snart aktualise- rades det även i folkskolan. Under folkskollärarmötet i Göteborg, samma år framhöll slöjdpedagogen Eva Rodhe behovet av huslig utbildning. Flickorna skulle fostras till arbete, ordning, renlighet, förtänksamhet och sparsamhet.

(Stock ­holm: Samson & Wallin), s. 14ff., 20. 4. Ingela Schånberg (2004): De dubbla budskapen: kvinnors bildning och utbild­ ning i Sverige under 1800- och 1900-talen (Lund: Studentlitteratur), s. 37, 89f., 102, 138. 5. Eugène Schwartz (1895): ”Huslig ekonomi som skolämne”, Dagny 8, s. 301ff.

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Det var av social betydelse och av filantropiska skäl väl motiverat. Att råda bot på fattigdomen genom gåvor var fruktlös möda. Kunskapen om födans innehåll skulle föras ut och därigenom bli ett medel för att socialt lyfta de fattiga medborgarna till en högre nivå, menade hon.6 På liknande sätt argumenterade ecklesiastikminister Fridtjuv Berg, när han 1906 la fram sin proposition om statligt stöd till undervisning i huslig ekonomi. Dåliga kostvanor skapade problem och rätt föda skulle leda till en sundare nationalekonomi.7 Här ryms idén om att se människor och deras hälsa som resurs och tillväxtinstrument. Som historikern Eva Friman säger: även om ekonomisk tillväxt inte utgjorde en övergripande samhällsideologi, så som idag, fanns förhoppningar om att expansionen kunde leda till ett bättre samhälle och därigenom bidra till att lösa den sociala frågan. Friman diskuterar socialpolitikens framväxt utifrån idéer framförda dels av en av Sveriges då ledande nationalekonomer, ekonomiprofessorn och sociallibe- ralen Gustav Cassel, dels av socialdemokraten Gustav Möller, socialminister från 1924. Socialpolitiken var nödvändig och ekonomisk tillväxt skulle lösa fattigdomsfrågan, men medan Cassel tänkte sig att den kapitalistiska ord- ningen i sig skulle lösa problemet, ansåg Möller att statens ansvar skulle ut- vidgas. Jag delar Frimans uppfattning om att den process i vilken det svenska välfärdssamhällets utveckling började kan förläggas till tiden kring 1900.8 Det rådde oenighet om var kunskapen om hemmet skulle förmedlas och i debatten uttrycktes farhågor om att skolan nu ville lägga beslag på dött- rarnas tid. Det var dock inte syftet. Tvärtom, att återbörda dem till hemmet och dess intressen var avgörande, ansåg Ida Norrby. Hemmet förfogade inte längre över flickans tid i skolåren så att det var tillräckligt för att fostra henne till husmoder.9 Det ansvar som tidigare vilat på familjen försköts mot ett offentligt åtagande och frågan om vem som hade ägt och vem som kom att äga kunskapen om hushållet är därför relevant. Kunskapen om hushållet

6. Eva Rodhe (1894): Undervisning i hushållsgöromål för skolbarn: föredrag vid folkskollärarmötet i Göteborg 1893 (Göteborg: Zachrisson), s. 6ff. 7. Peder Aléx (2002): ”Skolkökslärarinnorna och kunskapen om hemmet”, i Hatje (red.), s. 142f. 8. Eva Friman (2002): ”Växt för välfärd: den ekonomiska expansionens löften kring sekelskiftet”, i Hatje (red.), s. 255f., 258. 9. Om huslig ekonomi som skolämne (1895) (Stockholm: Lars Hökerberg). Se för­ ordet och s. 12, 19f.

114 ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras som hade reproducerats i hemmet, upptogs nu av skolkökslärarinnor och omgjordes för att passa i institutionaliserad form. ett didaktiskt perspektiv på undervisningen Att i undervisning presentera hela verkligheten är en orimlig tanke, varför ett särskilt urval alltid måste göras. Vem gjorde detta urval och på vilka grunder? Tomas Englund diskuterar undervisningens funktion som me- ningserbjudande. Det är aldrig texten och undervisningen i sig, utan tex- ten i en specifikt upplevd och uppfattad kontext, som ger mening. Kontex- ten, säger han, kan betraktas som ett samlingsbegrepp för de faktorer som skapar förutsättningarna för undervisningen.10 Introduktionen av ny tek- nik belyser detta. Att använda elektrisk spis ställde krav på nya kunskaper jämfört med vedspis och därför arbetades dessa in i Hemmets Kokbok, som Fackskolan för huslig ekonomi kontinuerligt gav ut från 1903. En utvidgad upplaga gavs ut 1923 med en 10-sidig vägledning om matlagning på elek- trisk spis. Den föregicks av kontakter med olika företag i branschen, stu- dier av energiåtgång, tidsvinster och kostnader i jämförelse med vedspis. Elektriciteten som värmekälla vid tillagning bedömdes bli betydelsefull ur hygienisk och ekonomisk synpunkt.11 Historikern Klas-Göran Karlsson diskuterar läroboken och dess rela- tion till makten och talar om två fundamentala betraktelsesätt, nämligen att se läroboken som både verkan och orsak i och till sitt sammanhang. Båda synsätten hänger ihop. I läroboken iscensätts kunskaper och förhåll- ningssätt som makten vill sprida, medan alternativa synsätt utelämnas. Det speglar en önskvärd relation mellan de olika parterna. Å ena sidan upp- dragsgivaren som gör anspråk på makten, å andra sidan de som under­visas. Under­visningens syfte att socialisera in de lärande i samhället uttrycker värderingar man vill förmedla och säger mycket om den tid den tillkom- mit i. Med det andra synsättet, där undervisningen ses som orsak, förskjuts intresset till frågor om själva förmedlingen och de effekter som den kan

10. Tomas Englund (1997): ”Undervisning som meningserbjudande”, i Michael Uljens (red.): Didaktik: teori, reflektion och praktik (Lund: Studentlitteratur), s. 127ff. 11. Hemmets Kokbok (1923), s. 412–422. Se även Landsarkivet i Uppsala: Fack­ skolan För Huslig Ekonomi i Uppsala, F12a:1 där uppgifter finns om utprövningar av elektriska spisar, dels i utprövningsjournaler, dels genom korrespondens.

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åstadkomma. Utbildningen blir här en social och kulturell konstruktion som bidrar till ett kontinuerligt omskapande av innehållet.12 Den får en vidare betydelse utöver det som först verkar vara ett enkelt budskap i det att den visar utbildarnas och de lärandes tolkningar. rationellt tänkande – ett perspektiv Ämnet skulle omfatta läran om födoämnena och kroppsnäringen. Maten skulle tillagas med stöd i den teoretiska undervisningen.13 Mot slutet av 1800-talet, visste man att människan för sin hälsa var beroende av kolhy- drater, protein och fett. De normer som tyska fysiologer hade utvecklat fick ett internationellt inflytande men vad som nu krävdes var en konkret tillämpning i hushållet. Idéhistorikern Roger Qvarsell som har intresserat sig för den medicinska utvecklingen menar att utvecklingen av näringslä- ran kan relateras till den politiska och radikala diskussionen vid den tiden. Ett motiv kan vara den undernäring som hade noterats bland arbetare i såväl rurala som urbana miljöer.14 För den praktiska undervisningen utar- betades nu kokböcker och näringsläror av skolkökslärarinnor. Nämnas kan Ingeborg Walins Födoämneslära från 1911 som behandlar kroppens behov av föda, födoämnenas innehåll och ursprung. Framställningen är instruk- tiv och förklarande och har även kompletterats med översikter i tabeller och diagram.15 professionalisering

Det finns något som ligger mellan den politiska viljan att påverka och styr- ningen av undervisning, säger Michael Uljens. Läraren reflekterar på olika nivåer, vilket följer ambitionen att nå ut med kunskapen. Denna reflektion

12. Klas-Göran Karlsson (2011): ”Läroboken och makten – ett nära förhållande” i Niklas Ammert (red.): Att spegla världen: läromedelsstudier i teori och praktik (Lund: Studentlitteratur), s. 45–52. 13. Om huslig ekonomi som skolämne (1895), s. 18. 14. Roger Qvarsell (2006): ”Maten och vetenskapen (Elektronisk resurs): nä­ rings­­­lära, kostvanestudier och socialpolitik, ca 1880–1960”, Tema: Mat: electronic off- print, Lychnos: årsbok för idé och lärdomshistoria, s. 219ff. 15. Ingeborg Walin (1911): Födoämneslära, 2 uppl. (Stockholm: Norstedt).

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är normativ, preskriptiv och analytisk, vilket innebär att läraren har be- slut att fatta kring undervisningen som får konsekvenser för den praktiska verksamheten.16 Jag tar här fasta på hans syn på läraren som ställnings­ tagande subjekt. I den process i vilken ämnet huslig ekonomi formerades, var skolkökslärarinnornas aktiviteter av betydelse. Begreppet profession blir därför intressant. F. Parkins definition kan tillämpas och i begreppet social closure ser han intressemotsättningar, maktrelationer och kamp om inflytande utifrån de två viktigaste formerna för samhällelig makt och kon- troll, nämligen ägande och utbildning/legitimation. Han ser professioner- na som framgångsrika grupper som har lyckats monopolisera särskilda kunskaper.17 Tomas Englund menar att det internationellt framträder skilda didak- tiktraditioner. I Sverige märks den läroplansteoretiska didaktiktraditionen med sin utbildningssociologiska anknytning med, som han säger, praktiska implikationer. En åtskillnad har växt fram mellan å ena sidan didaktik som forskning och å den andra som praxisfält, vilket beror på att utbildning och undervisning ansetts vara politiska och administrativa frågor. Den en- skilde läraren har inte involverats i dessa och har i hög grad betraktats som teknisk utförare på uppdrag av beslutsfattarna. Det kan jämföras med den tyska traditionen, i vilken den norska och danska ingår, där didaktikbegrep- pet varit mer levande och gett läraren en roll som didaktiker med kognitivt och moraliskt medvetna val. Englund menar alltså att svenska lärare i stort sett varit avskurna från den rollen inom didaktiken och istället kan liknas vid den amerikanska traditionen. Kvinnodominansen inom yrket sägs ha gått hand i hand med detta.18 Mot detta talar mitt material om skolköks­ lärarinnorna som i detta uppbyggnadsskede av ämnet inte uppvisar bilden av tekniska utförare. Svenska Skolkökslärarinnornas förening, bildad 1906, agerade i fackligt och politiskt relaterade frågor, däribland kravet på rätt kompetens, tydligt redan i kursplanen från 1895:

16. Michael Uljens (2009): ”Grunddrag till en reflektiv skoldidaktisk teori”, i Uljens (red.), s. 189. 17. Staffan Selander (1989): ”Inledning”, i Staffan Selander (red.): Kampen om yr­ kes­utövning, status och kunskap: professionaliseringens sociala grund (Lund: Student­ littera­ tur), s. 16f. 18. Englund (1997), s. 125.

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För undervisning i skolkök duger ej en husmoder eller kokerska; därför fordras nämligen utom rutin i matlagning äfven a) teoretiska insikter rörande födoämnenas natur, sammansättning näringsvärde o.s.v. samt kunskap om villkoren för människokroppens näring och ämnesom- sättning b) undervisningsförmåga.19

1919 beslöts att undervisning i folkskola skulle ledas av lärarinna utexamin- erad från av Kungl. Maj:t godkänd läroanstalt eller på annat sätt förvärvat motsvarande utbildning. Det var villkoret för statliga bidrag till undervis- ningen. Annat som sysselsatte föreningen var kursernas omfattning, frågan om obligatorisk undervisning, elevgruppernas storlek samt egen fortbild­ ning. 1925 tillsatte föreningen en kommitté med uppgift att utarbeta förslag till läroplaner för olika skolformer. Det resulterade i ett förslag 1929.20 Lärarinnornas yrkesmässiga hållning kan synliggöras. Ida Norrby häv- dade sin yrkeskårs uppgift att fortlöpande upplysa och vägleda husmöd- rarna. Hur svårt var det att sköta ett hem, var det inte lättare än tidigare? Jo, det var mindre besvärligt, men fordrade fullt ut lika mycket omtanke och beräkning som någonsin i det forna hemmet. Nu producerades intet eller litet och allt skulle köpas.21 Det är mot bakgrund av industriell produktion och strukturella förändringar man bör se den konsumentupplysande verk- samhet som tog form inom Fackskolan för huslig ekonomi. En särskild utprövningsverksamhet i samarbete med Husmödrarnas Riksförbund, på- gick från 1900-talets början till 1940-talets mitt. Nya produkter genomgick tester, certifierades om varan godkändes, och kunde sedan med hänvisning till utlåtandet säljas. Bedömning gjordes av varans smak, pris, användning i tid och nytta. Information om hur varan rätt skulle användas spreds inte sällan genom särskilda recepthäften. Ett exempel är Jell-O, som underlättade framställningen av gelé. I en illustrerad broschyr, med undertiteln Så enkelt är det, förklarar Ida Norrby hur Jell-O kan tillagas.22

19. Om huslig ekonomi som skolämne (1895), s. 2. 20. Gertrud Carlberg (1955): Svenska skolkökslärarinnornas förening 1906–1956: jubileumsskrift (Fören.: Stockholm), s. 39, 44ff. 21. Thor Nordin & Bengt Barkfeldt (1995): Ida Norrby: en föregångare på hus­ hållsekonomins område, 1, Ett livsverk tar gestalt (Institutionen för Hushållsvetenskap, Univ: Uppsala), s. 250. Ur ett föredrag hållet av Ida Norrby 1907. 22. Jell-O: den delikataste desserten (1927) (S.I.: s.n.]). Tillvägagångssättet utfor­ mat som lektioner.

118 ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras uppvärdering

Uppfattningen om en fördjupad åtskillnad mellan män och kvinnor, som konsekvens av ett nytt ekonomiskt system, industrins utveckling, där kvin- nan kom att befinna sig i beroendeställning som oavlönad husmoder, bru- kar inte ifrågasättas. Familjen och hemmets funktion sågs mer och mer som en enhet för konsumtion och reproduktion med kvinnan som huvud- aktör, medan mannens uppgifter utfördes i det offentliga livet.23 Historikern Peder Aléx tar upp en intressant aspekt av hur försöken att professionalisera hemarbetet kan tolkas. Av många ses detta som att de givna könskoderna förstärktes och att kvinnan då i allt högre grad förpas- sades till den traditionellt kvinnliga sfären. Det kan nyanseras genom att förstå ämnet huslig ekonomi som en emancipatorisk kraft, som argument för att stärka kvinnans position, inte bara i hemmet utan också i samhäl- let.24 Skolkökslärarinnornas aktiviteter i den process i vilken det nya ämnet formerades, kan ses som en legitimering och som en strategi för kvinnliga kvalifikationers erkännande. Ida Norrbys mål var att skapa en högskola för kvinnor, ett projekt som i efterhand syns lyckat. Till skolkökslärarinne­ utbildningen sökte flickor som genomgått den högre flickskolan, ibland ock- så utbildade folkskollärarinnor. Till Fackskolan knöts tidigt vetenskapsmän av hög rang från Uppsala universitet och 1977 inkorporerades skolan i uni- versitetet och bildade Institutionen för Hushållsvetenskap. Med den nya utbildningen öppnades en väg in i den högre skolan. Skolkökslärarinnornas aktiviteter belyser frågan om att likställa hemar- betet med ett yrkesarbete. Idén att det kunde systematiseras på samma sätt som inom industrin kan spåras. I kursplanen från 1895 skrevs bland annat in att hushållet skulle delas upp i 12 provinser inom vilka arbetet skulle ord- nas. En känd förespråkare för det synsättet var den amerikanska husmodern Christine Frederick som presenterade sina tankar i Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home, 1912. Den fick internationell spridning och nådde även Sverige. Förslaget att i Sverige införa obligatorisk husmo- dersutbildning som ett slags ”huslig värnplikt” är i samma anda och väcktes under våren 1916, av Högerns kvinnor. De socialdemokratiska kvinnorna sa

23. Margareta Gisselberg (1985): Att stå vid spisen och föda barn: om hushålls­ arbete som kvinnoarbete (Dep. of Sociology, Univ.: Umeå, diss.), s. 181. 24. Aléx (2002), s. 154f.

119 agneta järnankar dock nej i frågan, då de i förslaget såg ett hinder för flickornas möjligheter att välja andra arbetsuppgifter och yrken.25 Om nu det nyttiga hemarbetet hade ett värde borde det tas med i den na- tionalekonomiska kalkylen. Den finska nationalekonomen Laura Harmaja kritiserade sina kollegors likgiltighet för hushållsarbetet och opponerade sig mot Gustav Cassels uttalande att det var av obetydligt värde. I Husmoderns ekonomiska gärning från 1928 utvecklade hon idéerna om den oersättliga roll som hushållen spelade i samhällsekonomin. Husmoderns uppgift var dub- bel och bestod dels i att dra försorg om och ansvara för arbetet i hemmet, dels i att leda konsumtionen, vilket skedde genom de beslut hon hade att fatta om behoven av inköp. Harmajas skrifter fick betydelse för den svenska diskussionen och anses ha bildat utgångspunkt för de hemekonomiska stu- dier som bedrevs inom konsumentkooperationen och kvinnogillen samt senare av Hemmens forskningsinstitut bildat 1944 (HFI).26 HFI kan ses som uppföljare av den utprövningsverksamhet som Fackskolan utövade. Det nationella intresset för hem och familj, relaterat till synen på be­ folkningens hälsa, kommer i den fortsatta studien att följas upp. Ut­bild­ ningen med sitt differentierade tilltal omfattade olika samhällsgrupper och skulle till och med skapa fred och endräkt klasserna emellan. Det visas ­genom åtskilda materiallistor för flick- respektive folkskolans undervis- ning. Ida Norrby poängterade att undervisningen skulle likna hemmet; eleverna skulle inte möta det främmande, det de inte hade vants vid. Lära- rinnorna kan snarast identifieras med den borgerliga klassen, medan disci- plinerande och fostrande åtgärder i högre grad kan ha riktats mot mindre bemedlade hem. Att statens nya utvidgade roll kan relateras till ett ökat engagemang i den samhälleliga reproduktionen har visats av Ulla Johans- son i en undersökning av införandet av hemrelaterade ämnen i folkskole­

25. Yvonne Hirdman (1983): Magfrågan: mat som mål och medel. Stockholm 1870–1920 (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren), s. 28. 26. Brita Åkerman (1983): ”Den råa och smutsiga potatisen”, i Den okända vardagen: om arbetet i hemmen (Stockholm: Akademilitteratur), s. 27ff. Se även Britta Lövgren (1993): Hemarbete som politik: diskussioner om hemarbete, Sverige 1930– 40-talen, och tillkomsten av Hemmens forskningsinstitut (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wik­sell International, diss. Stockholms univ.). Se också Laura Harmaja (1928): Hus­ moderns ekonomiska gärning (Stockholm: Kooperativa förbundet).

120 ett nytt skolämne och en ny profession formeras undervisning.27 Ett begrepp att diskutera vidare kring här är medborgar- skap och vad det skulle komma att betyda för de hemarbetande kvinnorna i det svenska välfärdssamhällets framväxt samt hur man lyckades i sin strä- van att uppvärdera hemarbetet.

27. Ulla Johansson (1987): Att skolas för hemmet: trädgårdsskötsel, slöjd, huslig ekonomi och nykterhetsundervisning i den svenska folkskolan 1842–1919 med exempel från Sköns församling (Umeå: Umeå universitet, diss.), s. 253ff.

121 session 5b: minneskultur och kollektiv identitet

Ulla Manns, Department of Gender Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden. [email protected] feminismens pantheon: kollektivt minne, identitet och föreställd gemenskap

Under senare år har ett ökat intresse visats kvinnorörelsens kollektiva iden- titet liksom dess egen historieskrivning. Studierna har berikat forskningen, inte minst genom att de belyst och problematiserat kvinnorörelsens inter- na förhållanden, existerande om än inte alltid explicita normer, dess so- ciala rum och politiska kultur.1 Så, vad kan en studie av den västerländska feminismens kollektiva minne tillföra? Hur relaterar kollektivt minne till kollektiv identitet? I artikeln ”The Pantheon of Feminist Culture: Women’s Movement and the Organization of Memory” argumenterar Maria Grever för vikten av att studera kvinnorörelsens minneskultur. Detta kan ge oss möjlighet att djupare analysera hur feministisk identitet skapas och upp- rätthålls. Med utgångspunkt i Pierre Noras forskning om ”lieux de mémoi- re”, det vill säga särskilda minnesplatser2 som tillsammans utgör ett lands nationella minne, skriver hon:

1. Leila J. Rupp (1997): Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Movement (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press). Leila J. Rupp & Verta Tay- lor (1999): ”Forging Feminist Identity in an International Movement: A Collective Identity Approach to Twentieth-Century Feminism”, Signs vol. 24, no. 2. Verta Taylor & Leila J. Rupp (2002): ”Loving Internationalism: The Emotion Culture of Transna- tional Women’s Organizations, 1888–1945”, Mobilization: An International Journal vol. 7, no. 2. 2. Minnesplatser kan vara platser i tre betydelser som ofta flyter samman: mate- riell, symbolisk och funktionell. Pierre Nora (1996): ”General Introduction: Between Memory and History”, i Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past, vol. 1, Con­ flicts and Divisions (New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press). Studien utförs inom

122 feminismens pantheon

Examining these feminist ’lieu de mémoire’ may shed another light on western women’s movements. It calls attention to how these memories define a feminist identity, and consequently why certain women did not earn a place in the pantheon of feminist culture.3

Hur minnesskapandet går till, utifrån vilka antaganden, ideal och visioner, är vad som intresserar mig, liksom den metodologiskt vidhängande frågan: hur kan vi studera detta? Utifrån Grevers teoretiskt inspirerande resone- mang diskuteras här två frågor. Den första frågan rör hur vi kan förstå det kollektiva minne om den tidiga västerländska feminismen som rörelsen så effektivt producerade fram till andra världskrigets utbrott. Med effek- tivt menar jag verkningsfullt: att minnet i hög grad lever kvar i många av oss feministiska forskare och aktivister idag. Det är, menar jag, ett kollek- tivt minne som vi förhåller oss till när vi skriver feminismens historia, ett minne som rör hur feminism tänks, görs, berättas och upplevs. Detta anta- gande leder fram till den andra frågan: den feministiska historikerns roll i utforskandet av kvinnorörelsens historieskrivning och minnesproduktion. Under åren fram till och strax efter den kvinnliga rösträttens genom- förande i en rad länder togs flera initiativ i syfte att dokumentera den tid som just varit. Att inte låta historien om kvinnorörelsen falla i glömska, att visa upp rörelsens kulturella arv, ideologiska grund och dess framgångar sågs som synnerligen viktigt. Uppenbart är att det uppfattades som strategiskt riskabelt att överlåta åt andra att skriva feminismens historia. I värsta fall riskerade man att låta den förbli oskriven. Vad gäller kvinnorörelseforsknin- gen är det påfallande att kritiska studier av kvinnorörelsen inte dominerat fältet även om detta fokus nu ökat. Istället har tyngdpunkten legat på en personinriktad historieskrivning där enskilda, mestadels prominenta, cen- trala aktörer lyfts fram framför kollektivet. Det är en forskning som i likhet med rörelsens egna berättelser fokuserar framåtanda och enighet trots de många interna oenigheter, ideologiska och kulturella/religiösa skillnader som vi vet fanns. Detta sker oftast ur ett perspektiv som tenderar att inte gå närmare in på inkluderings- och exkluderingsmekanismer i rörelsen. Det

”Time, Memory, and Representation: A Multidisciplinary Program on Transforma- tions in Historical Consciousness”, Södertörns högskola, www.histcon.se. 3. Maria Grever (1997): ”The Pantheon of Feminist Culture: Women’s Move- ments and the Organization of Memory”, Gender & History vol. 9, no. 2, s. 372.

123 ulla manns har lett till att den kunskap som vi producerar tenderar att ”glömma”, det vill säga bortse från, det som rörelsen självt ”glömt”, i såväl historieskrivningen som i minnesproduktionen. Det feministiska Pantheon som Grever talar om tycks inte endast ha existerat i det förflutna utan förefaller vara verk­ samt även idag. Hon påpekar:

As a specific type of historical consciousness, it [det kollektiva minnet] refers to the formation of dominant historical images within a community or society through influential texts (such as history, schoolbooks, acade- mic writings, and encyclopediae), monuments, stamps, rituals, national anniversaries and memorial days. It is the cultural heritage of a nation, movement, groups or family, based on shared historical experiences, that is acknowledged and recognized as such by the members of the com- munity involved.4

Den ”community” Grever talar om kan självfallet också vara feminismens (föreställda) gemenskap, det feministiska kollektivet utsträckt i tid. Istäl- let för att närmare analysera de dominanta bilder som rörelsen produce- rat har dessa bilder gradvis och framför allt omedvetet blivit styrande för våra egna tolkningar. Inte helt och hållet, men tillräckligt för att betydel- sen av skillnader inom västerländsk feminism rörande religion (det pro- testantiska, katolska och judiska exempelvis), ras (de svarta feministernas bidrag och försök till förhandling), klass och den eurocentriska konstruk- tionen av ”vi” och ”de andra”, sexualitet (spänningar mellan heteronorma- tivitetens dominans och de många samkönade parens existens) alltjämt är områden vi vet betydligt mindre om, än de många enskilda ledande fe- ministerna5, de konkreta reformarbetena, manifestationerna och organisa- tionsinitiativen. Helt enkelt, vad vi vet och forskar om korrelerar med stor överensstämmelse med en homogeniserande historieskrivning som kvin- norörelsen själv lämnat efter sig. Hur det kommer sig är något som behöver diskuteras mer så att vi inte utan reflektion ger eko åt dåtidens feministiska historieskrivning i ett slags retrospektiv identifikationsprocess.6

4. Grever (1997), s. 365. Min kursiv. 5. De feminister som fokuseras tenderar också att mestadels vara kvinnor. De många män som tidigt var engagerade faller i skymundan i den ”stora berättelsen”. 6. Joan W. Scott (2001/2011): ”Fantasy Echo: History and the Construction of Identity”, i Joan W. Scott, The Fantasy of Feminist History (Durham, N. C.: Duke Uni-

124 feminismens pantheon

Senare tids forskning om historieskrivning och minneskultur har be- tonat vikten av att djupare reflektera kring frågor som rör historiskt med- vetande, historikerns roll som vittne till det förgångna, implikationer av begreppsval, narrativa strukturer och positionering. Denna diskussion har förts inom såväl minneskulturforskning som forskning om feminismens samtidshistoria, men mer sällan i forskning kring äldre feminism.7 Sam- tidigt har intresset för konstruktionen av det specifikt västerländska/euro- amerikanska i det moderna, sekulariserade samhälls- och nationsbygget ökat. Detta har sammantaget stimulerat och manat till ökad reflektion i forsk­ningen kring minne, glömska och historiekonstruktion också i den tidiga feminismen. kollektivt minne och sociala rörelser Vad är kollektivt minne och hur manifesterar det sig? Hur förhåller sig kollektivt minne till historia? Forskningen kring kollektivt minne är om- fattande och ingalunda samstämmig. I detta paper utgår jag tentativt från Susan A. Cranes distinktion mellan historia och kollektivt minne: ”If his- tory is both the past(s) and the narratives that represent pasts as historical memory in relation to presents/presence, collective memory is a concep- tualization that expresses a sense of the continual presence of the past.” 8 Men det är inte enbart en föreställning om det förflutna och dess koppling till nuet. Det är också, som Wulf Kansteiner understryker, en representation av ett föreställt förflutet, en representation med materialitet och olika grad av medvetenhet. De som studerar kollektivt minne, skriver han,

versity Press). 7. Se exempelvis Alon Confino (1997): ”Collective Memory and Cultural History: Problems of Method”, The American Historical Review vol. 102, no. 5. Wulf Kanstein- er (2002): ”Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies”, History & Theory vol. 41, no. 2. Robyn Wiegman (2000): ”Femi- nism’s apocalyptic futures”, New literary history vol. 31, no. 4. Clare Hemmings (2011): Why Stories Matter: the Political Grammar of Feminist Theory (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press). 8. Susan A. Crane (1997): ”Writing the Individual Back into Collective Memory”, The American Historical Review vol. 102, no. 5, s. 1373. Min kursiv.

125 ulla manns

are indeed pursuing a slippery phenomenon. Collective memory is not history, though it is sometimes made from similar material. It is a collec- tive phenomenon but it only manifests itself in the actions and statements of individuals. It can take hold of historically and socially remote events but it often privileges the interest of the contemporary. It is as much a re- sult of conscious manipulation as unconscious absorption and it is always mediated. And it can only be observed in roundabout ways, more through its effects than its characteristics.9

Kansteiner fäster vår uppmärksamhet på flera viktiga förhållanden. Kol- lektivt minne är medierat, det är resultatet av medvetna och omedvetna val, det har en tendens att uppehålla sig vid det samtida trots att det gör anspråk på att röra det förflutna, samt: det manifesterar sig snarare som ef- fekter än som specifika uttryck. Detta sista är särskilt viktigt när det hand- lar om en social rörelse som kvinnorörelsen eftersom ”effekten” är verksam i skapandet och upprätthållandet av kollektiv identitet. Det kollektiva min- nets engagemang i det samtida, gör det enligt mig till en intervention in i en politisk nutid som både riktas utåt till det omkringliggande samhället och inåt till rörelsen som identitetsskapande, normskapande och som ett sätt att idémässigt hålla samman rörelsen för ett effektivt förändringsarbe- te. De många historiska monografierna visar denna flerfaldiga funktion.10 Det kollektiva minnet har således samma utsträckning i tiden som kol- lektiv identitet har. Även om de minnen som produceras rör det förflutna sträcker minnen och minnesplatser ut sig också mot nutiden och framti- den. Det kollektiva minnet har därför en central funktion i ett vidare poli-

9. Kansteiner (2002), s. 180. 10. Ulla Manns (2000): ”Så skriver vi historia: den svenska kvinnorörelsen ur ett historiografiskt perspektiv”, Kvinnovetenskaplig tidskrift nr 4. Ulla Manns (2011): “Historico-political Strategies in Scandinavian Feminist Movements”, i J. Mittag & B. Unfried (red.): Arbeiter- und soziale Bewegungen in der öffentliche Erinnerung: Eine globale Perspektive/The Memory of Labour and Social Movements: A Global Perspec­ tive (Berlin: Akademische Verlagsanstalt). Ulla Manns (2011): ”Identity and Collective Memory in the Making of Nineteenth-Century Feminism”, i H. Ruin & A. Ers (red.): Rethinking Time: Essays on History, Memory, and Representation (Huddinge: Söder- törn Philosophical Studies 9). Ulla Manns (2011): ”East and West in the Writings of Alexandra Gripenberg”, paper presenterat på konferensen ”Why is there no happiness in the East?”, Södertörns högskola 6–9 september.

126 feminismens pantheon tiskt sammanhang samtidigt som det ingår i identitetsskapande processer inom rörelsen, i skapandet av en kollektiv identitet såväl här och nu, som in i framtiden. Kansteiner påpekar att kollektivt minne är resultatet av tre samverkan- de faktorer: kulturella traditioner och ramverk, minnesproducenter och minneskonsumenter. De utgör en hermeneutisk triangel vi ofrånkomligen möter i källorna och själva ingår i.11 Det kollektiva minnet är därför en ”produkt”, baserad på ett redan gjort urval. Denna produkt, det kollektiva minnets materialiseringar, har tillkommit inom sin tids och plats kulturella ramar och står i olika utsträckning i opposition till dessa ramar. Det är där- för inte ett avtryck av det förflutna i skala 1:1. Gayatri Spivak understryker i sin klassiska essä ”Can the Subaltern Speak?” vikten av att uppmärksam- ma representationens inbyggda dominansförhållanden: att när några talar för en grupp (intellektuella, politiker eller forskare som talar för de subal- terna) utgör detta tal både en estetisk och en politisk representation. När någon talar om kollektivet (till exempel i form av en historisk monografi om kvinnosakens utveckling i västvärlden) re-presenteras, det vill säga åter- presenteras, något i en viss form som representanten kontrollerar. Samti- digt representeras kollektivet i bemärkelsen att någon (här författaren) talar för dem och deras sak, som ombud. De subalterna kommer inte själva till tals.12 I förenklad form tjänar resonemanget som en viktig uppmaning till minneskulturforskning om sociala rörelser: vart tar kollektivet vägen i re- presentationen? Vems historia, självbild eller uppfattning styr? Kansteiner betonar också vikten av att komma ihåg att ett kollektivt minne inte helt och hållet är styrt av enskilda individers agens. Kollektiv, sociala rörelser inte minst, har en gruppdynamik som styr, vilket ingalunda innebär att det kollektiva minnet är något som alla individer i kollektivet delar.13 Sociala rörelser har onekligen en rörelsedynamik. Den är inte minst märkbar i de- ras historieskrivning som tjänar flera syften samtidigt: att dokumentera, att försöka kontrollera en presumtiv historieskrivning, att skapa opinion och motivation kring sina syften, att skapa kollektiv identitet och att socialisera

11. Kansteiner (2002), s. 180. 12. Gayatri C. Spivak (1988): ”Kan den subalterna tala?”, sv. övers. 2002 i Postkolo­ niala studier, skriftserienKairos 7 (Stockholm: Raster), s. 83ff. Stephen Morton (2003): Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (New York, N.Y.: Routledge), s. 56ff. 13. Kansteiner (2002), s. 181, 186.

127 ulla manns nya aktivister.14 Med Benedict Andersons idag något slitna men träffsäkra formulering kan man säga att det kollektiva minnet bidrar till produktionen och upprätthållandet av en föreställd gemenskap. Det kulturella, här snarare det kollektiva, minnet är funktionellt, skriver Aleida Assmann, eftersom ”its aim is to be passed on to succeeding generations”.15 Sammantaget kan analyser av feminismens minnesproduktion kasta ljus över hur detta min- nesskapande påverkar feministisk identitet och historieskrivning. Samti- digt uppmanar det oss att reflektera över vår egen del i verksamheten. Vår dubbla funktion som både ”memory consumers” och ”memory producers” aktualiseras. Hur förhåller vi oss till den föreställning om familjaritet som skapats inom feminismen när vi forskar om ett delvis delat historiskt objekt, en feminism vi helt eller delvis känner oss hemma i? minnesplatser och historisk kunskapsproduktion Som understrukits hade dokumentationen och minnesproduktionen fle- ra funktioner för dåtidens feminism. Rörelsen producerade kunskap om sig själv och ingick samtidigt i en politisk förhandling om kön, makt och sociala villkor. Därtill bidrog dessa initiativ till att skapa och upprätthål- la en kollektiv identitet. Tillsammans fungerar rörelsens artefakter (arkiv, kataloger, monografier, bibliotek, minnestavlor, jubileumsskrifter, statyer, porträtt, knappar etc) som delar i en gigantisk imaginär minnesplats över den västerländska kvinnorörelsen. Som Grever poängterat, i det kollekti- va minnet framträder vad och vilka som bör minnas, vad och vilka som förärats en plats i detta Pantheon. Inte minst viktigt för forskare är att för- hålla sig till själva representationen, det vill säga på vilket sätt händelser, personer och kulturella ramverk återfinns, struktureras och berättas. Min- nesproduktionen är socialiserande och identitetsskapande och samtidigt kunskapsproducerande. Den tillhandahåller möjligheter till kunskap om rörelsen, dess samtid och dess visioner (i monografier, arkiv och bibliotek inte minst). Minnesproduktionen påverkar oss alltjämt idag, även om vi

14. Manns (2000). 15. Benedict Anderson (1991/2006): Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso), s. 6f. Aleida Assmann (2011): Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), s. 397.

128 feminismens pantheon

är nog så goda källkritiker. I likhet med all historieforskning ställer stu- dier av kulturellt minne krav på kontextualisering, på såväl hermeneutisk förståelse som distansering och kritisk läsning. Kvinnorörelsens minnes- produktion ställer också krav på forskarens egen situering i förhållande till forskningsobjektet. Begrepps- och teorival, frågeställningar och vår egen historiesyn har effekt på våra studier, inte minst för hur vi strukturerar vår framställning och hur vi analyserar. Detta har blivit föremål för diskus- sioner när det rör vårt nära förflutna, den feministiska forskningens för- ändring från 1970-talet och framåt. Märkligt nog är inte diskussionen om 1800-talsfeminismens historieskrivning och vår historieskrivning om den lika omtvistad. Joan Scott är en av de som under flera år manat till reflek- tion och kritiskt frågat vilken slags historia vi skriver när vi (i likhet med den västerländska 1800-talsfeminismen) frenetiskt håller fast vid ”kvinna” som en enhetlig analyskategori. Hennes frågor kretsar framför allt kring vår egen historiesyn och vår syn på feminismen som rörelse.16 Den historiker som analyserar minneskultur möter självfallet inte läm- ningar i arkeologisk bemärkelse eller kvarlevor i källkritisk bemärkelse utan redan bearbetade källor (kollektivets minnen) som artikulerats och, med medievetarens vokabulär, medierats. Det är ett kollektivs påstådda och frammanade gemenskap som presenteras. Benedict Anderson menar att en föreställd gemenskap förutsätter och skapar en känsla av familjaritet även om kollektivet som helhet inte personligen känner varandra. Det kollek- tiva minnet ingår på så sätt i en mer omfattande process av rumskapande, av vad Nira Yuval-Davis och Sara Ahmed formulerar som ”belonging” och kollektivets ”politics of belonging”.17 Mycket av det kollektiva rörelseminnet har vidare pretentioner på att förmedla kunskap eller tillhandahålla basen för kunskapsproduktion: som ett arkiv, ett kvinnorörelsebibliotek, en his- torisk monografi etc. Aleida Assmann menar att processer som glömska, undanträngande och (re)konstruktionen av så kallat skräp (det ointressanta,

16. Joan W. Scott (1996): Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Men (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press). Joan W. Scott (2004/2011): ”Feminism’s History”, i Joan W. Scott, The Fantasy of Feminist History. Joan W. Scott (2008): ”Back to the Future”, History & Theory vol. 47, no. 2 samt Scott (2001/2011). 17. Anderson (1991/2006), s. 6. Nira Yuval-Davis (2011): The Politics of Belonging: Intersectional Contestations (Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage). Sara Ahmed (2004): The Cul­ tural Politics of Emotions (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).

129 ulla manns det överflödiga) är minst lika viktiga att studera för en djupare inblick i hur kulturellt och kollektivt minne skapas, upprätthålls och vidareförs. Här är det inte nödvändigtvis så att händelser faller i glömska eller enbart hamnar i händerna på professionella historiker som endast i ringa grad problema- tiserar objektivitet, emotionalitet i sociala rörelser etc. Tvärtom, händelser kan såväl överbetonas som gradvis transformeras och därtill hanteras utan- för historikerskrået, till exempel i media och andra kulturella yttringar samt rent materiellt manifesteras i monument, museer och arkiv.18 Frågan som Grever ställer om vad som ryms och faller bort, blir då en fråga om hur vi hanterar den kunskap om rörelsen som det kollektiva minnet producerar, hur vi förmår att analysera det som representeras och kontextualisera detta i ljuset av det frånvarande. Om vi som (feministiska) forskare inte förhåller oss kritiska till det kol- lektiva minne vi studerar, riskerar vi att omedvetet repetera en föreställd gemenskap som redan är ett selekterat och strukturerat narrativ. Vi försöker självfallet fånga den föreställda gemenskapen, men utan att närmare granska den är det det förflutnas eko av något redan föreställt som vi ger röst. Utan att uppmärksamma de glapp som uppstår blir repetitionen mer och mer förvrängd. Enligt Scott handlar denna omedvetna handling mycket om en föreställd identitet med det förgångna som forskaren upprätthåller, men inte nödvändigtvis är medveten om. Vi skriver om något vi tycker oss känna igen och riskerar då att repetera något som redan i det förflutna var en föreställ- ning om en enighet och kontinuitet som egentligen inte fanns.19 Detta är kanske att underskatta kvinnorörelsehistorikers förmåga att kritiskt studera äldre feminism. Men som påminnelse om att vara vaksam på kvinnorörel- sens egen kunskapsproduktion och historieskrivning fyller resonemanget en funktion. Vill vi komma bortom rörelsens egen historieskrivning är jag enig med såväl Scott som Grever. En kritisk hållning, ”the relentless inter- rogation of the taken-for-granted”, också till detta studieobjekt behövs.20 Kansteiners poäng om att analysera kollektivt minne i den hermeneu- tiska triangeln, där hörnen utgörs av kulturella/politiska ramverk, minnes- producenter och minneskonsumenter, är stimulerande. Vilken roll har fors-

18. Assmann (2011), s. 5f., 13. 19. Scott (2001/2011), s. 48. 20. Scott (2004/2011), s. 39.

130 feminismens pantheon karen i detta sammanhang? Vi befinner oss självfallet inom kulturella (det vill säga meningsskapande) ramverk, som feminister också i tidsmässigt utsträckta sådana, utsträckta mot den feminism vi undersöker. Är vi också producenter av kollektivt minne när vi ”konsumerar” kollektivt minne? I en bemärkelse konsumerar vi som feminister kollektivt minne inte bara genom vår retrospektiva identifikation med dåtidens feminism (för att tala med Scott), utan också genom vårt möte med källmaterialet som histori- ker i allmänhet. Konsumtionen av minnet kan inte helt separeras från den produkt vi själva levererar. Produkten är påverkad av såväl ramverket som ”konsumtionen”, men självfallet inte helt underställd eller kontrollerad av dessa förhållanden. Hur kan en historisk framställning produceras som inte faller på eget grepp, som inte blir ytterligare ett narrativ med bitvis bristfäl- lig distans, omedvetandegjorda retrospektiva identifikationer med ett för- flutet som styr såväl analys som text? En motfråga som kan formuleras är om rädslan att misslyckas ska frånhålla oss att försöka vara mer medvetna om hur tid, rum, politik och identifikation påverkar vårt tänkande om det förflutna. Är det inte bättre att våga en kritisk hållning och försöka bidra till att historien inte återigen berättas på ett linjärt och mer homogeniserande sätt än det förflutna vi skildrar egentligen var?

131 session 12: pre-mods – network presentation

Sari Nauman, Department of History, Gothenburg University, Sweden – [email protected] gender, power and the oath the early modern state and the oaths of allegiance

This paper will investigate the relation between ruler and subjects in the early modern era, by studying oaths sworn during wartime in Jämtland. According to Barrington Moore, ruler and subjects were engaged in an im- plicit contract, in which the ruler had three duties to perform: first, he was to protect his subjects from foreign enemies; second, he had an obligation to maintain peace and order; third, he should contribute to their material security. In return, the subjects were obligated to obey orders that served to these ends, contribute toward the common defence, and provide mate- rial contribution toward the support of the ruler.1 Needless to say, this re- ciprocal relationship does not mean that the parties were equal. Parties en- tered into the contract on quite different terms, and they had very different means of making the other party keep its obligations. The reciprocity did not exclude a hierarchy. When the category of subjects is discussed, it is most often argued that only men were considered to be subjects, whereas women fell outside of the category since they did not fulfil the duties specified in the contract; they did not contribute toward the common defence, and often they did not pay taxes since they seldom owned property as men did. The very concept of “subject” referred to those involved in the political community, namely the masters of the house. These were the free men of the country that were of age and

1. Barrington Moore (1978): Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt (New York: Sharpe), p. 20–22.

132 gender, power and the oath in head of a household, and women were most often implicitly excluded.2 Moore’s theory has been widely used when studying the early modern era, and has proven to be quite rewarding.3 When looking at the oaths of allegiance, however, it can be questioned whether the contract really was implicit. In the king’s oath in Sweden, he swore to protect his subjects from local and foreign enemies, to uphold the laws of the realm and of God, and not to take land or property from any subject unlawfully. These explicit promises correspond to the obligations of the ruler, according to Moore. In their oaths of allegiance, the subjects swore to obey the king and the law, to help protect the kingdom in case of war, and to pay their taxes willingly. Once again, these promises correspond to the obligations of the subjects,

2. Malin Grundberg (2005): Ceremoniernas makt: Maktöverföring och genus i va­ satidens kungliga ceremonier (Lund: Nordic Academic Press), p. 237; Börje Harnesk (2003): “Konsten att klaga, konsten att kräva: Kronan och bönderna på 1500- och 1600-talen”, in Börje Harnesk (ed.), Maktens skiftande skepnader: Studier i makt, legi­ ti­mitet och inflytande i det tidigmoderna Sverige (Umeå: Institutionen för historiska studier, Umeå universitet), p. 47; Bo Lindberg (2006): Den antika skevheten: Politiska ord och begrepp i det tidig-moderna Sverige (Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets-, historie- och antikvitetsakademien), p. 98–104. According to Joachim Östlund, females were sometimes explicitly included in the category during the 17th century, but ex­cluded during the 18th. See Joachim Östlund (2007): Lyckolandet: Maktens legitimering i offi­ ciell retorik från stormaktstid till demokratins genombrott (Lund: Sekel), p. 92, 269. The obligation for the king to protect the country from foreign enemies was also prob- lematic when the king was in fact a queen. During the early modern period, Sweden had two reigning queens, Kristina (r. 1632–54) and Ulrika Eleonora (r. 1719–20). Both queens abdicated voluntarily, and Kristina explicitly referred to her inability to per- form her duties in protecting the country. For queen Kristina as king, see Grundberg (2005), p. 167–227. For queen Ulrika Eleonora as king, see Sari Nauman (2012): “Att göra en kung: Kvinnligt och manligt i den tidiga frihetstidens kröningsmålningar”, in Maria Sjöberg (ed.), Bildligt talat: Kvinnligt, manligt i 3,2 miljoner år (Göteborg & Stockholm: Makadam). 3. Moore’s influence on the research of rebellions and state formation in Sweden has been substantial. See e.g. Mats Berglund (2009): Massans röst: Upplopp och ga­ tubråk i Stockholm 1719–1848 (Stockholm: Stads- och kommunhistoriska institutet); Anna Maria Forssberg (2005): Att hålla folket på gott humör: Informationsspridning, krigspropaganda och mobilisering i Sverige 1655–1680 (Stockholm: Acta Universita- tis Stockholmiensis); Magnus Olofsson (2008): Tullbergska rörelsen: Striden om den skånska frälsejorden 1867–1869 (Lund: Sekel); Karin Sennefelt (2001): Den politiska sjukan: Dalupproret 1743 och frihetstida politisk kultur (Hedemora: Gidlund).

133 sari nauman according to Moore.4 In the oaths, the implicit contract could be explicitly defined, and furthermore changed to fit the circumstances, making the oath an adaptable instrument to those who knew how to use it. Furthermore, as the oaths were sworn by the subjects of the realm, they can give us informa- tion as to who counted as a subject. In the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, Jämtland officially became part of the Swedish realm.5 One of the first letters that the Swedish queen Kristina sent out after the treaty was signed was directed at Johan Berndes, the gov- ernor of the county of Kopparberg. The letter carried specific instructions as to how the governor should ensure the acquisition of the territory for Sweden. Firstly, he was to take control over garrisons; secondly, he was to gather the land registries so that he could collect taxes; and thirdly, he was to demand oaths of allegiance to the queen from the people of Jämtland. A detailed account as to how this oath-taking was to be conducted follows, taking up almost half of the letter, before other minor instructions are giv- en.6 The sworn oaths have been kept, and are today published and avail- able. Twelve persons were chosen from every leet as representatives, and signed the oath. Judging from the signatures, only men swore the oaths, corresponding to what previous research has argued as to who belonged to the category of “subjects”. Furthermore, the twelve men were most often the previously chosen “tolvmän” (lit. “twelve men”) who served as lay assessors at the district courts.7 The letter from the queen in 1645 reveals how important a matter the oath-swearing was. The queen enforced the gravity of the oath again and again, and demanded that those who wanted to stay in Jämtland had to

4. Kristoffers landslag, the code of the king ch. 4 and 5, see Åke Holmbäck & Elias Wessén (1962): Magnus Erikssons landslag i nusvensk tolkning (Stockholm: Insti­ tu­tet för rättshistorisk forskning), p. 4–7. Forssberg also makes this connection re- garding the king’s oath, Forssberg (2005), p. 20–23. 5. Jämtland is located in between the present-day Sweden and Norway, and was a part of the Danish realm before 1645. 6. Instruktion till Johan Berndes (Instruction to Johan Berndes), the Royal Regi­ stry (hereinafter RR), okt. 1645, s. 680–685, the National Archive of Sweden (herein- after NAS). 7. The oaths are published in (2000): Freden i Brömsebro 1645: Trohetsederna med alla undertecknare från Jämtland, Härjedalen och Dalarna (Östersund: Jämtlands läns Fornskriftsällskap, Landsarkivet i Östersund).

134 gender, power and the oath take the oath. If they refused, they would be given one year and one day to sell their homes and leave. By swearing the oath, the people of Jämtland ac- knowledged the queen as their queen, and Sweden as their new country. If they were to break their oath later on, the queen warned, they would be held accountable for this and their previous violations of oaths.8 She obviously did not trust them to hold their oaths, and she had good reason not to. The people of Jämtland had sworn oaths to an enemy power several times in the past, to the dismay of their ruler. During the Nordic Seven Years’ War 1563– 1570, the people of Jämtland swore allegiance to the Swedish and Danish crown six times consecutively.9 History repeated itself in the so called Balt- zar feud from 1611–1613.10 The invading generals often tried to persuade the people of Jämtland to swear the oath of allegiance before the troops tried to conquer the territory by force, and long before a peace treaty was signed. The oath was used as an offensive strategy, to ensure the invading troops of the people’s loyalty. Although the territory officially still was part of its former realm, in practice it turned the people into subjects of the conquering king.11 For the most part, the only documents still bearing witness to these ac- tions are letters to and from the king or his servants. A few oaths survive, and these provide us with the names of the men who acted as representatives of their leet, as the one from 1645. All representatives were male, as was also the case when oaths were sworn during coronations. However, when Karl IX had sent orders to collect oaths of allegiance from the people of Jämtland during the conquest in 1611, he had been clear on the point that all of the people had to swear oaths.12 How meticulous were his servants in carrying

8. Instruktion till Johan Berndes (Instruction to Johan Berndes), RR okt. 1645, s. 682–684, NAS. 9. Janrik Bromé (1945): Jämtlands och Härjedalens historia: Andra delen 1537– 1645 (Stockholm: Norstedt), p. 98–138. 10. See e.g. Fullmakt för Jacob Tommesson (Warrant for Jacob Tommesson), RR 8/5 1611, NAS; Öppet brev till gemene man uti Jämtland och Härjedalen (Open letter to the common men of Jämtland and Härjedalen), RR 9/5 1611, NAS. 11. The use of oaths as a tactics in war is further studied in Sari Nauman (forth- coming): “Winning a War with Words: Oaths as Means in Military Conflict in Early Modern Scandinavia”, Scandinavian Journal of History, forthcoming. 12. Fullmakt för Jacob Tommesson (Warrant for Jacob Tommesson), RR 8/5 1611, NAS; Öppet brev till gemene man uti Jämtland och Härjedalen (Open letter to the common men of Jämtland and Härjedalen), RR 9/5 1611, NAS.

135 sari nauman out his orders? Were they content with having oaths from representatives, or did they go further? In this case, we have a unique material to help us answer this question. When the Danish king Kristian IV reclaimed Jämtland after the Baltzar feud in 1613, he staged an inquisition against the people living there. This inqui- sition investigated exactly who had sworn an oath to the Swedish king, and who had not. In the records of the trials all are named and their property is listed, since all realty of those found guilty was to be retracted to the Danish crown. The records of the investigation in 1613 tell us that about 80 % of the heads of households in Jämtland swore oaths to the Swedish king. The ones who did not swear had often fled to Norway to escape the Swedish troops.13 The oaths themselves are not preserved until today, so we do not know what they stated or whether they were signed by representatives as in 1645, but we do know that the peasants also sent representatives to swear the oaths per- sonally in front of the king: two priests and four common men travelled from Jämtland to Stockholm in the late autumn of 1611.14 However, the ones who are recorded by the inquisition to have sworn allegiance to the Swedish king were not all common men. Between 5–10 % of them, depending on which parish is studied, were women. In fact, they were widows or unmarried in charge of their household.15 Although none of the other sources for this event reveal that widows were also obliged to swear oaths, according to this material that seems to have been the case. What are the implications of this to the reciprocal relationship, the explicit contract, between ruler and subjects?

13. These records are transcribed and published in Hasse Petrini (1959): Räfsten med jämtarna 1613: Rannsakningsprotokollen efter Baltzarfejden (Östersund: A.-B. Wi­sén­ska Bokhandeln). The refugees are noted in the records, as are those who failed to fight against the Swedish troops, and therefore lost their realty to the Danish crown. See e.g. p. 5, 7. If we add those who failed to fight to those who swore oaths to the king of Sweden, it brings the total of those found guilty of treason up to 90 % of those listed. The remaining 10 % were acquitted. 14. Brev till Baltzar Bäck (Letter to Baltzar Bäck), RR 21/10 1611, NAS; Svar på jämtarnas skrivelse (Answer to the people of Jämtland’s letter), RR 30/11 1611, NAS. The representatives were too late, Karl IX died 30/10. Instead, they swore their oaths of allegiance to his successor, Gustav II Adolph. 15. Not all women’s marital status is registered, but those that are, are described as widows. Since there is no mention of any man in connection to these women, it is likely that they were either widows or unmarried. See e.g. Petrini (1959), p. 100, 106.

136 gender, power and the oath

These women were an active part of the contract, and their action to swear was deemed as great an act of treason as those of the men. That is not to say that women were part of the relationship on equal terms with men. As far as we know, only widows or unmarried women were asked to swear, and this was probably due to their role as heads of households. If they married, their husbands would probably be the ones who swore oaths in the future. The widows thus occupied a temporal, conditional space in the relationship, most often together with other women being the object of the contract, the ones in need of protection, rather than subjects entering into it. However, the position as oath-taking subject does not seem to have been determined by sex, but rather by a person’s position in the household. The reason for the use of oaths in conquering territories seems to have been to ensure the king of the people’s loyalty. Every household counted, and thus, every head of household counted as well.16 The punishment for having sworn the oath to the Swedish king was loss of all property, a complicated punishment in a time when estates fol- lowed a complex line of inheritance. Some of the property of the convicted men was argued to belong to their wives instead, something that the court showed little regard for. Instead, it was argued that the wives were to be punished as well, as they also had benefitted from their husbands’ decision. Furthermore, the court held likely that the wives had actually partaken in the decision themselves; they presumed that the husbands had discussed the implications with their wives before making up their minds. The wives were also considered to be part of the contract, as a married couple was considered to form the household together, even though the husband stood as its spokesperson.17 Jämtland is surely a special case. It was situated far from the power cen- tre of both Sweden and Denmark, yet was constantly a scene of battle dur- ing the many wars fought between these states in the 16th and 17th centuries. These wars often had their main battles located elsewhere, most often in the southern parts of Sweden and northern parts of Denmark, and left to de- fend the territory of Jämtland were ragged companies, consisting of soldiers

16. This, of course, was in turn determined by sex, but also by age and status. 17. Motiven till domarna 1613-10-16, Danske kancelli, norske innlegg 1574–1617, innlegg til missiv 1613-06-19, NRA. The letter is also printed in Petrini (1959), p. 255– 260.

137 sari nauman without proper equipment or training. The people of Jämtland also seem to have been regarded as particularly untrustworthy; they often changed their allegiance several times during every war they took part in. Neverthe- less, the conclusion to be drawn from these examples is significant and has bearing also for other cases: who was included in the category of “subject” depended on the situation. When it came to conquering territories in wars, every inhabitant counted, since they were the ones who were supposed to provide the new authorities with taxes and duties. Conquering territories meant conquering people, and this included widows and wives at large.

138 session 8: stemmerettens historiografi og jubileum

Jytte Nielsen, KVINFO/The Danish Centre for Information on Gender, Equality and Diversity, Copenhagen, Denmark – [email protected] kvindesag og kvindepolitik elna munchs og landsforbundets rolle og eftermæle i den danske kvindebevægelse 1905–1918

Naar d. 22. April slaar Døren til Folketinget op for de nye Repræsentanter, da vil de tre højst fire Kvinder, som indlades, være Kvinder, som Kvinde- bevægelsen ikke kender. –

De kan allesammen være højst habile Partifæller, af hvem de ledende venter sig al mulig Nytte, bevares! – men der, hvor det grundlæggende Arbejde for Kvindevalgretten blev gjort, der, hvor Beviserne blev ført, der, hvor Ofrene blev bragt, der kendtes de ikke.1

Kvinderne har faaet fire Repræsentanter i Folketinget. – Dansk Kvinde- samfund ingen.2

Sådan kunne man læse på lederplads i Dansk Kvindesamfunds blad Kvin­ den og Samfundet umiddelbart efter at det første valg til Folketinget, hvor kvinder kunne stemme og stille op til, var blevet afholdt. Valget gav plads til 4 kvinder ud af 140 – i sig selv en skuffelse, men hvad værre var ingen af de valgte, var, ifølge lederskribenten Gyrithe Lemche, at finde blandt kvin- desagens frontkæmpere. Det interessante var, at de 4 nyvalgte folketingsmedlemmer Mathilde Hauschultz, Karen Ankersted Helga Larsen og Elna Munch faktisk alle indtil valget havde arbejdet på en bred kvindepolitisk dagsorden, selvom ingen af

1. “Dødsbataillonen” (1918), Kvinden og Samfundet nr. 7, s. 70. 2. “Valgte kvindelige Folketingskandidater” (1918), Kvinden og Samfundet nr. 8, s. 78.

139 jytte nielsen dem var centralt placerede aktører i Dansk Kvindesamfund. Så set udefra og i det historiske bakspejl var det et stærkt hold nye kvindelige folketingspoli- tikere, der havde en bred kvindepolitisk erfaring og interesse. For at forsøge at finde nogle forklaringer på, at Gyrithe Lemche alligevel diskvalificerede de nyvalgte med den begrundelse, at de ikke var de rigtige til at bære kvindesagen ind på den landspolitiske scene, vil jeg i det følgen- de prøve at trække nogle af de diskussioner og konflikter op, der var i den danske kvindebevægelse i perioden fra ca. 1906–1918. Hovedfokus vil ligge på forholdet mellem Dansk Kvindesamfund (1871–) og Landsforbundet for kvinders valgret (1906–1915) og på de kvindesaglige og politiske uenigheder mellem de to organisationer, fordi det er her og ikke mindst i det person- lige uvenskab mellem Gyrithe Lemche og Elna Munch, at Gyrithe Lemches reaktion på folketingsvalget i 1918 skal ses. For det første vil jeg kigge nærmere på stiftelsen af Landsforbundet i 1906 og de sammenslutningsdiskussioner, som blev ført i både Dansk Kvin- desamfund og Landsforbundet vedr. en evt. sammenslutning i en organisa- tion. For det andet vil jeg undersøge samarbejdet (eller manglen på samme) mellem de to foreninger frem til Landsforbundets nedlæggelse i 1915. Og for det tredje vil jeg kigge nærmere på de to organisationers forskellige forstå- elser af relationen mellem partipolitik og kvindebevægelse. Til slut vil jeg kort behandle Landsforbundets skæbne og Elna Munchs eftermæle i et historiografisk perspektiv. Der er ikke forsket meget i den danske kvindebevægelses historie og mit paper baserer sig derfor hovedsa- geligt på 2 specialer og nogle få artikler om henholdsvis Landsforbundet og relationen mellem Dansk Kvindesamfund og Landsforbundet fra 1992 og 2001. Derudover har jeg anvendt kildemateriale fra samtiden – især de to organisationers blade Kvinden og Samfundet og Kvindevalgret3 og Gyrithe Lemches jubilæumsskrift om Dansk Kvindesamfund.4

3. Kvindevalgret og Kvinden og Samfundet kan læses digitaliseret på www.kvinfo. dk/side/471/. 4. Gyrithe Lemche (1912, 1939): Dansk Kvindesamfunds Historie gennem 40 Aar: Med Tillæg 1912–1918 (København).

140 kvindesag og kvindepolitik stiftelsen af landsforbundet for kvinders valgret Kvindevalgretskampen i Danmark fik i 1906 en saltvandsindsprøjtning, da International Woman Suffrage Alliance valgte at lægge sin kongres i Kø- benhavn. Interessen var stor, ikke mindst fra de forskellige kvindeorgani- sationer, som så kongressen som en løftestang til at få sat fokus på valgrets- spørgsmålet i den danske offentlighed. Danske kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund (1898–1915) havde allerede i 1904 meldt sig ind i Alliancen på Danmarks vegne. Men da Alliancen kun optog rene kvindevalgretsorganisationer, som kun havde valgretten på agendaen og kun en organisation pr. land, og Valgretsforbundet bestod af en række mindre kvindeorganisationer og kvindefagforeninger, med en bre- dere dagsorden end valgretten, var det usikkert om den ville kunne blive optaget som fuldgyldigt medlem. Den største kvindeorganisation Dansk Kvindesamfund, som havde meldt sig ud af Valgretsforbundet i 1904, for at danne sit eget interne valgretsudvalg, skyndte sig at ændre dets vedtægter i 1906, så de eksplicit udtrykte kravet om politisk valgret og senere i 1907 at genindmelde sig i Valgretsforbundet (efter et mislykket forsøg på selv at danne en national valgretsorganisation), så Kvindesamfundet kunne være til stede på kongressen som delegerede. Da usikkerheden om Valgretsforbundets status ikke blev endelig afkla- ret på kongressen, tog Elna Munch og andre medlemmer af den daværende diskussionsklub Politisk Kvindeforening, umiddelbart herefter initiativ til oprettelsen af Københavns Kvindevalgretsforening. Foreningen havde valg- retten som eneste punkt på dagsordenen og satte sig samtidig som mål – ef- ter norsk og svensk forbillede – at få oprettet tilsvarende valgretsforeninger rundt om i landet. På længere sigt var formålet at få skabt en landsdækkende organisation, der både indadtil i Danmark og udadtil i Alliancen skulle for- mulere valgretskravet. Umiddelbart efter dannelsen af Københavns Kvindevalgretsforening sendte foreningen et opråb ud til en lang række kvinder og mænd landet over med opfordringer til at danne lokale kvindevalgretsforeninger. I praksis var det Elna Munch, der stod for korrespondancen. Hun havde via sit enga- gement i partiet Det radikale Venstre og sin ægtemand Peter Munch, der var en af medstifterne af partiet i 1905, adgang og kendskab til partiets netværk ude i landet og kunne af den vej hurtigt få skabt lokale kontakter. Aktionen

141 jytte nielsen blev en succes. Efter blot nogle få måneder meldte de første nye kvinde- valgretsforeninger sig på banen og tilslutningen fortsatte i et hæsblæsende tempo, der betød, at da Landsforbundet for kvinders valgret officielt blev stiftet året efter i november 1907, deltog 71 delegerede på vegne af 40 valg- retsforeninger i den stiftende generalforsamling. Og medlemstallet fortsatte med at vokse nærmest eksplosivt i de flg. år. I 1908 talte Landsforbundet ca. 72 lokalafdelinger og 7500 medlemmer, i 1911 knap 160 lokalafdelinger og 11.000 medlemmer.5 Til sammenligning havde Dansk Kvindesamfund i 1909 60 kredse med ca. 4.500 medlemmer, i 1911 112 kredse med ca. 7.500 medlemmer. Landsforbundet voksede sig altså på meget kort tid større end Dansk Kvindesamfund. På selve stiftelsesdagen d. 24. november 1907 skrev Elna Munch kro- nikken “Kvindernes Landsmøde”6 i Politiken. Hovedbudskabet var bl.a. at der var behov for en stærk national organisation, der havde valgretten som eneste programpunkt, at de eksisterende kvindeorganisationer ikke havde kunnet løfte opgaven og at organisationen var upartisk. Med kronikken fik Elna Munch lanceret Landsforbundet som en ny og moderne valgretsorganisation, der var attraktiv for begge køn, samtidig med at hun fik sat de andre kvindeorganisationer og især Dansk Kvinde- samfund skakmat i forhold til valgretsspørgsmålet. Det upartiske var det i virkelighedens verden også så som så med. I hvert fald bestod styrelsen af Landsforbundet fra dens stiftelse og til dens nedlæggelse overvejende af kvinder og mænd med enten medlemskab eller stærke sympatier for Det radikale Venstre. Ud af de 15 valgte styrelsesmedlemmer i 1907 var 11 af dem medlemmer af Det radikale Venstre og kom siden til at bestride en række politiske poster for partiet, både i kommunalbestyrelser og i Rigsdagen. Den nyvalgte daglige ledelse af Landsforbundet formanden Johanne Rambusch, næstformanden og formanden for forretningsudvalget Elna Munch og kas- sereren Ingeborg Møller var således alle 3 aktive medlemmer af partiet.7

5. Sigurd Rambusch (1990): “Først valgret – så følger alt det andet. Landsforbun- det for kvinders valgret”, i Drude Dahlerup & Kritian Hvidt (red.), Kvinder på Tinge (København: Rosinante). 6. Elna Munch (1907): “Kvindernes Landsmøde”, Politiken 24.11. 7. Hanne Nørregaard Hansen (1992): “Landsforbundet for kvinders valgret 1907–1915”, upubl. speciale. Lars Boye Jacobsen (2001): “Kampen for kvinders Valgret – en iscenesættelse”, upubl. speciale.

142 kvindesag og kvindepolitik

Om der var tale om en bevidst tilrettelagt strategi fra det i 1905 nydanne- de parti Det radikale Venstre om at bruge Landsforbundet som et brohoved for rekruttering af det kommende kvindelige medlemskorps kan hverken bekræftes eller afkræftes. Men interessant er det, at Landsforbundet omtales på følgende måde i 2-bindsværket Det radikale venstres historie (1938): ”Det centrale Styre i Kvindernes Landsforbund var saaledes faktisk i Hænderne paa det radikale Venstre, selvom Foreningens Program og Ledelse naturlig­ vis [min kursivering] var upartisk”.8 sammenslutningsforsøgene 1906 og 1907 Allerede i begyndelsen af 1906 tog næstformanden i Dansk Kvindesam- fund Astrid Stampe Feddersen kontakt til Politisk Kvindeforening, forløbe- ren for Københavns Kvindevalgretsforening, med henblik på, at den skulle træde ind som lokalafdeling af Dansk Kvindesamfund. Politisk Kvindefor- enings medlemsskare bestod på det tidspunkt af en skønsom blanding af politisk interesserede kvinder, hvoraf en del, bl.a. formanden Anna Hude, også var organiseret i Dansk Kvindesamfund. Foreningen udviste i begyn- delsen stor interesse for forslaget. Formanden Anna Hude deltog nemlig i Dansk Kvindesamfunds landsmøde i juni 1906, hvor sammenslutnings­ ideen var på dagsordenen. Her blev det vedtaget at Dansk Kvindesamfunds fællesstyrelse skulle gå videre med sagen med flg. mandat:

Fællesmødet bemyndiger Fællesstyrelsen til at aabne Underhandlinger med andre Kvindeforeninger, hvis Hovedopgave er at arbejde for Kvin- dernes kommunale og politiske Valgret og Valgbarhed med det Formaal ved Sammenslutning at danne et Led af den internationale Kvindevalgrets Alliance.9

Anna Hude som også tog ordet på fællesmødet, blev i referatet citeret for at have udtalt at “Politisk Kvindeforening i København og i Vejle har den varmeste interesse for en Kvindestemmeretsunion som den foreslaaede”. I juni 1906 tog situationen sig altså ud som følger: Dansk Kvindesam-

8. Gunnar Fog-Petersen (1938): Det radikale Venstres historie, bd. 1 (Odense: Kul- turhistorisk Forlag). 9. Kvinden og Samfundet (1906), nr. 11, s. 91.

143 jytte nielsen fund besluttede på sit fællesmøde 1) at ændre organisationens formålspa- ragraf, så valgretskravet eksplicit fremgik og 2) at organisationen skulle stå i spidsen for at skabe en landsdækkende valgretsorganisation, der kunne indgå i den internationale valgretsalliance i stedet for Danske Kvindefor- eningers Valgretsforbund. Sådan skulle det imidlertid ikke komme til at gå. I oktober 1906 afholdt Politisk Kvindeforening sin årlige generalforsam- ling, hvor det blev besluttet, at foreningen skulle skifte navn til Københavns Kvindevalgretsforening og fremover kun have valgretskravet som eneste programpunkt. Samtidig skete der en markant udskiftning i foreningens bestyrelse. Ud gik en række personer, som også var medlem af Dansk Kvin- desamfund, bl.a. Anna Hude, Elisabeth Grundtvig og Eli Møller. Ind trådte 6 nye bestyrelsesmedlemmer, 5 af dem organiseret i partiet Det radikale Ven- stre, heriblandt også Elna Munch. Til formandsposten valgtes i stedet for Anna Hude, som havde hilst en sammenslutning med Dansk Kvindesam- fund velkommen, Meta Hansen, ligeledes medlem af Det radikale Venstre. Den nye bestyrelse, som nu altså helt var styret af radikale kvinder, hand- lede, som også beskrevet ovenfor, usædvanlig hurtigt. I stedet for at fort- sætte forhandlingerne med Dansk Kvindesamfund om en sammenslutning, valgte de en anden og mere ekspanderende strategi, ved i første omgang at sætte gang i stiftelsen af lignende valgretsforeninger rundt om i landet og i anden omgang året efter ved at stifte Landsforbundet for kvinders Valgret.10 Men Dansk Kvindesamfund opgav ikke ideen om en sammenslutning. Kuglerne til et nyt forslag blev støbt i løbet af foråret 1907, da det for alvor gik op for Dansk Kvindesamfund, at de mange nyoprettede kvindevalgrets- foreninger og deres kommende sammenslutning i et landsforbund, kunne blive en alvorlig trussel mod Dansk Kvindesamfunds hidtidige rolle som den største og dagsordensættende kvindesagsorganisation. På Dansk Kvindesamfunds initiativ blev der afholdt en række private møder med bl.a. Elna Munch og andre fra Københavns Kvindevalgrets- forenings ledelse.11. Dansk Kvindesamfund spillede ud med et forslag om dannelsen af en samlet forening under et nyt fælles navn, “De samvirkende danske Kvindesamfund og Kvindevalgretsforeninger”, som skulle fungere

10. Jacobsen (2001). 11. Lemche (1912, 1939).

144 kvindesag og kvindepolitik med en fælles ledelse valgt på en årlig generalforsamling af delegerede fra de lokale afdelinger. Et udspil, som på det tidspunkt, hvor Dansk Kvindesam- fund kunne mønstre mindst dobbelt så mange lokalafdelinger, som kvin- devalgretsforeningerne, ville have sikret Dansk Kvindesamfund et flertal i en kommende ledelse. Københavns Kvindevalgretsforenings forhandlere takkede nej til forslaget, men foreslog i stedet, at indlede et samarbejde om et foredragsholderteam og et fælles blad. Dansk Kvindesamfund afviste til- buddet om samarbejde og forhandlingerne strandede. Det eneste konkrete, der kom ud af det var en hensigtserklæring fra Elna Munch om, at der ikke ville blive forsøgt oprettet kvindevalgretsforeninger de steder, hvor Dansk Kvindesamfund allerede havde en lokalafdeling. Forhandlingerne foregik privat og formentlig uden medlemmernes vidende. De blev først gjort op- mærksom på det et halvt år efter, da Helene Berg, redaktør af Dansk Kvin- desamfunds medlemsblad Kvinden og Samfundet og medlem af begge for- eninger, forsøgte at genoplive sammenslutningstanken ved på eget initiativ, at udsende Dansk Kvindesamfunds oprindelige forslag til de lokale lokalfor- eninger i Dansk Kvindesamfund og til kvindevalgretsforening­erne. Samtidig appellerede hun i et indlæg i Kvinden og Samfundet oktober 190712 til, at de lokale formænd satte forslaget på dagordenen, så en endelig beslutning for kvindevalgretsforeningernes vedkommende, kunne træffes på deres snarligt forestående generalforsamling, hvor planerne om at stifte Landsforbundet for kvinders valgret, var på dagsordenen. Hun begrundede bl.a. sammenslutningsforslaget med at en samlet for- ening ville stå stærkere både i kvindernes egen bevidsthed og overfor po- litikerne på Rigsdagen og at valgretskravet ikke alene kunne bære arbejdet lokalt og at der var brug for en bredere kvindepolitisk dagsorden, hvis kvin- derne på landet skulle mobiliseres. Om Helene Bergs aktion udelukkende stod for hendes egen regning, el- ler om den var iscenesat af Dansk Kvindesamfunds ledelse eller at den skete med ledelsens velsignelse, er ikke mulig at fastslå. Men i senere omtaler af initiativet fastholder både Gyrithe Lemche og Astrid Stampe Feddersen, at Dansk Kvindesamfunds ledelse ikke var involveret.13

12. Helene Berg (1907): “Sammenslutning”, Kvinden og Samfundet, nr. 18, s. 141– 144, nr. 19, s. 153–156. 13. Lemche (1912, 1939) samt Astrid Stampe Feddersen (1929): Minder (Køben- havn: Schønberg).

145 jytte nielsen

Helene Bergs ide med at appellere til græsrødderne og få medlemsde- mokratiet til at virke, led dog en krank skæbne. På Københavns Kvinde- valgretsforenings generalforsamling d. 28. oktober, blev sammenslutnings- forslaget taget op uden for dagsorden af Elna Munch og forkastet. Som en konsekvens trak Berg sit forslag og da Landsforbundet holdt stiftende gene- ralforsamling d. 24. november, var punktet ikke på dagsordenen. samarbejdet mellem de to foreninger 1908–1915 Det fejlslagne forsøg på en sammenslutning satte sig dybe spor i forholdet mellem Landsforbundet og Dansk Kvindesamfund og der foregik stort set intet formelt samarbejde mellem de to foreninger i hele Landsforbundets levetid. Umiddelbart efter at Landsforbundet var blevet stiftet, brød Elna Munch med sit tidligere løfte om ikke at oprette valgretsforeninger i de sogne, hvor Dansk Kvindesamfund allerede havde slået rod. Det gav anled- ning til en række lokale konflikter bl.a. på Falster.14 Derudover håndhævede Elna Munch strengt, at lokalafdelingerne kun måtte beskæftige sig med aktiviteter, der udelukkende omhandlede stem- meretten. Flere lokalafdelingsformænd gav udtryk for, at de gerne ville af- holde møder mv. om temaer, der gik ud over valgretskravet, fordi det var svært, især i de sidste år før grundlovsændringen, hvor der var bred politisk konsensus om valgretskravet, at holde gejsten og aktivitetsniveauet oppe lokalt. Svaret var hver gang et rungende nej. Enkelte lokalafdelinger, bl.a. Aarhus Kvindevalgretsforening brød dog reglerne og samarbejdede tæt om en række større arrangementer med Dansk Kvindesamfunds lokale afdeling. Heller ikke ved kommunalvalgene eller folketingsvalgene foregik der noget samarbejde. Undervejs stødte Elna Munch og Gyrithe Lemche gentagne gange sam- men i meningsudvekslinger i den kvindesaglige presse. Hver gang handlede det om, at Gyrithe Lemche anklagede Elna Munch for i taler og artikler, at fremstille Landsforbundet som den eneste valgretsorganisation i Danmark. Det manglende samarbejde mellem de to foreninger, har givet været et irriterende moment for mange af medlemmerne. Dels fordi en del af med- lemmerne var dobbeltorganiserede, dels fordi det givet ikke har været tyde-

14. Stampe Feddersen.

146 kvindesag og kvindepolitik ligt for alle, at det manglende samarbejde, som vist ovenfor, også var funde- ret i partipolitiske hensyn og uenigheder i synet på kvindebevægelsens rolle. de to foreningers syn på partierne og kvindebevægelsen Selvom både Dansk Kvindesamfund og Landsforbundet hævdede, at de var upartiske, havde de begge politiske sympatier og berøringsflader. Størst for Landsforbundets vedkommende, som var tæt sammenvævet med Det ra- dikale Venstre, mens Dansk Kvindesamfunds ledelser siden dets stiftelse havde haft tæt kontakt til partiet Venstre, både via deres personlige net- værk og via det tætte parløb med rigsdagspolitikere fra Venstre om frem- sættelse af diverse lovforslag. Dansk Kvindesamfund blev dog igennem årene mere og mere kritisk indstillet overfor partisystemet. Anledningen var dels en række politiske skandaler, dels at partiet Venstre, efter at det var kommet i regering i 1901 ikke indfriede deres løfter om kvindepolitiske reformer hurtigt nok. Da kvindernes politiske medborgerskab var i sigte, startede en stor diskussion i Kvinden og Samfundet, som kom til at vare til efter valget i 1918, om hvorvidt man skulle anbefale kvinderne at melde sig ind i et parti og søge indflydelse der, eller om man skulle anbefale kvinderne at holde sig ude af partierne og i stedet søge indflydelse via kvindebevægelsen. Bekymringen gik især på, hvordan partierne ville modtage kvinderne og om de ville blive tildelt reel indflydelse i partierne. Uenigheden var stor, men man endte med at gå på to ben og både anbefale kvinderne at melde sig ind i partierne og samtidig styrke det udenomsparlamentariske arbejde via kvindebevægelsen. Dele af ledelsen flirtede også med tanken om at oprette et nyt kvindesagligt parti, som skulle sikre at kvindesagen blev ført ind på tinge. I Landsforbundet var sagen mere klar. Allerede ved stiftelsen af Lands- forbundet havde Elna Munch bebudet, at forbundet skulle nedlægges igen, når den politiske valgret til kvinder var gennemført ved lov. I modsæt- ning til Dansk Kvindesamfund, havde Landsforbundets ledelse stor tiltro til parlamentarismen og dens evne til at indføre ligestilling mellem mænd og kvinder. Ifølge Elna Munch var der med grundlovens vedtagelse ikke længere brug for særlige kvindesagsorganisationer. Nu skulle kvinderne ind i partierne og føre fælles politik med mændene på rigsdagen. Hendes op- timisme udsprang af at hendes eget parti, Det radikale Venstre, lige siden

147 jytte nielsen dets stiftelse i 1905 havde haft kvinder og mænds ligestilling skrevet ind i partiprogrammet. landsforbundets nedlæggelse og elna munchs eftermæle i kvindebevægelsen Landsforbundet nedlagde sig selv som planlagt på en generalforsamling sommeren 1915. I stedet blev der stiftet en ny forening Dansk Landsfor- bund for Kvinders Valgret, hvis eneste formål var, at vedligeholde forbin- delsen til den internationale kvindevalgretsalliance og ad den vej støtte op om det internationale valgretskrav. Foreningens ledelse bestod af et forret- ningsudvalg med Elna Munch i spidsen. På den måde sikrede Elna Munch, at hun fortsat kunne deltage i den internationale kvindevalgrets alliances kongresser og at hun bevarede adgangen til det internationale netværk. Elna Munch prøvede både under og efter valgretskampen at hævde Landsforbundet, som den eneste kvindevalgretsorganisation og enten helt udelade at omtale Dansk Kvindesamfund eller omtale den som en organisa- tion, som primært arbejdede for husholdningssagen og de gifte kvinders vil- kår og dermed som lidt gammeldags og ude af trit med de nye strømninger. Men trods hendes ihærdige forsøg på at udgrænse Dansk Kvindesamfund, lykkedes det hende ikke at få skabt Landsforbundet og sig selv et vægtigt eftermæle i kvindebevægelsens historie. Det skyldtes formentlig 1) at Landsforbundet med dets nedlæggelse i 1915 hurtig gik over i hi- storien, mens Dansk Kvindesamfund fik en vitaminindsprøjtning af nye med­lemmer, da mange af de oprindelige medlemmer i Landsforbundet ikke delte ledelsens syn på, at kvindesagen var et overstået kapitel og meldte sig under Dansk Kvindesamfunds faner, 2) at Elna Munch tilsyneladende havde sit væsen i mod sig og ikke var særlig vellidt – heller ikke blandt Landsforbundets medlemmer, 3) at hun ikke efterlod sig skriftlige vidnesbyrd om sin tid i Landsfor- bundet, hverken i form af erindringer eller artikler og bøger, og 4) at Dansk Kvindesamfund i mere end den første halvdel af 1900-tallet satte sig tungt på historieskrivningen og fortolkningen af kvindevalgrets- kampen.

148 session 6: hjemmets historiografi

Johanna Overud, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, UCGS, Umeå University, Sweden – [email protected] talking to mrs. housewife: the 1960s debates on the integration of married women into the swedish labour market

”Is the title too provocative? Of course it is”.1 In a 1967 book titled “Can We Afford Housewives?” [Har vi råd med fruar?] Swedish journalist Mon- ica Boëthius asked if society was meant to sanction and support a system keeping healthy, able-bodied women with no care duties on the outside of the workforce. Social change was in the air, but to her it seemed like the strong symbolic values of the 19th century bourgeoisie housewife were nev- er erased. Boethius meant that society had failed to fight the image of the traditional housewife just because the symbol of the housewife was such a powerful construction. She pointed out that the representation of the housewife originated from another age, yet this figure lived a rich life. As a matter of fact, new housing, workplaces and shopping centers were built around this image of a woman. Boëthius dedicated her book with irony: “To the housewife, the bearer of a piece of priceless Swedish culture”.2 At that point the Swedish government had had, for some years, the ambition to promote women’s entry into the labour market. Back in 1961, the National Labour Market Board (AMS, Arbetsmarknadsstyrels­ en) had launched an activation program for the female workforce. There was a tension between the image of women in hitherto male occup­ ations and the traditional image of women in domestic work. The mar- ried woman was at the heart of this tension, in focus for policy direc-

1. Monica Boëthius (1967): Har vi råd med fruar? En ofullständig handbok i miss­ hushållningens alla grenar (Stockholm: Proprius), p. 16. 2. Boëthius (1967), p. 6.

149 johanna overud tives on the one hand, representing the feminine norm on the other. In this paper I examine the activation of housewives/married women into gainful employment in Sweden in the 1960’s, departing from this fric- tion. More specifically it’s a study of the discussions on the activation poli- cy and how it was expressed during the Fact-Future conference debates in Sweden 1967–1969, a series of regional conferences arranged by the AMS and the Women’s Labour Market Committee (AKN). The first conference was arranged in Stockholm in 1967 and was then followed by conferences in different cities all over Sweden, briefly covering all regions. During these conferences representatives from the AMS and the AKN made the regional representatives face up with questions about what arrangements they were making to eliminate barriers to married women to work for a wage outside the home, in their region. They gathered central officials, employers, trade- unionists and other stakeholders in every region. The idea was to provide key labour market actors with information on obstacles to the activation of women workers in their area. Numerous studies have problematized the gender-segregated labour market and sought to find its causes, roots and motivations. Shouldn’t ma- jor changes have occurred in relation to the financial resources invested to break segregation? In the post-war period, actions in favour of “vulnerable” groups in the name of active labour market policy formed an important part of Swedish labour market policy. In most cases, it has been the labour mar- ket participation of women, youth, immigrants, disabled and elderly that has been problematized and been the focus of recurring political efforts to either extend the total workforce number, or alternatively try to counter desegregation. What happens when labour market policy makers and representatives are confronted with demands from modern independent workingwomen, if they are overshadowed by an ideal of dependency and domesticity? The symbol of the housewife signified both. Remember Gayle Rubin’s question: “What is a domesticated woman?” Rubin posed the question in her classic article “The Traffic in Women” (1975), answering: “A female of the species [---] A woman is a woman. She only becomes a domestic, a wife, a chattel, a playboy bunny, a prostitute, or a human dictaphone in certain relations.”3

3. Gayle Rubin (1975): “The Traffic in Women. Notes on the ’Political Economy’

150 talking to mrs. housewife

The “wife”-concept denotes a relationship that outflanks the political rela- tions between citizen and state, worker and employer. Historically it has been exclusively focused on the relationship with a man. Ulrika Dahl has empha- sized the Swedish gender equality policy report and highlighted the close intertwining of gender and heteronormativity and the paradox that arises between cause and effect: “On the one hand, the starting point is always that men and women crave, relate to, and choose one another. On the other hand, it seems to be difficult for men and women to live and work together.”4 By studying these debates I’m exploring how married women were represented as “social problems”. The study departs from the tension that Boëthius pointed out, between the prevailing values embedded in the sym- bol of the housewife and the political efforts to make married women ful- ly participate in work life. AMS launched the first activation program for women in 1961. The formulation of this program was considered a serious effort to eliminate barriers to waged work outside the home for housewives. This program was followed by other efforts throughout the 1960’s: radio pro- grams, advertising, establishment of regional activation inspectors. It also involved the arrangement of the Fact-Future conferences with the aim of discussing how to eliminate obstacles to women’s equality with men in the labour market. In this paper I analyse the conference debates and how the question was addressed. How was the problem of activation of housewives formulated during the conferences? What ideas of women’s work dominated the discussions? Participants at the various conferences represented various parts of the labour market: SAF (the Swedish Employers’ Association), LO (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation), TCO (Confederation of Professional Employ- ees), the county labour boards, employers, unions and other associations. Discussions in the conference halls were hierarchically structured. The in- vited panel sat on a podium, representing parties from the labour market, headed by the Governer and the County employment director – the posi- tions were mainly filled by men, with just one or two women. Representa- of Sex”, in Rayna Reiter (ed.), Toward an Anthropology of Women (New York, Monthly Review Press). 4. Ulrika Dahl (2005): “Scener ur ett äktenskap. Om heteronormativitet i svensk jämställdhetspolitik”, in Don Kulick (ed.), Queersverige (Stockholm: Natur och Kul- tur), p. 49.

151 johanna overud tives from the organizing group were on hand, as well as either one or other of the young Stockholm architects Ingrid and Sune Jussil. They talked about housing policy related to women’s issues and how their visions of planning new residential estates could make it easier for working families. Much of the spotlight fell on Ingrid Jussil, the only one who was “Ingrid” to every- one and also something of a media personality with her short skirt, and her strong views. “She is like a breath of fresh air in public debate”, and many speakers after her were ready to “devour her ideas, lock, stock and barrel”, the papers wrote. However, other women in the room did not seem to feel the same way. “This conference was supposed to be about women – but somehow it was still the men’s day. Most of the comments were men’s com- ments, and the majority of the speaking time was men’s.” From the podium the panellists gave their speeches, and it was also from there that contributions from the audience were heard. One of the confer- ence participants pointed out that 90 per cent of the women did not dare to enter the podium: “Women are listeners and viewers. There will only be a small group who speak and decide. In that way, nothing is going to happen.” The question of integrating women in the labour market was closely asso- ciated with questions of part-time work, childcare and housing planning. Obviously the question of women’s activation was seen in a different light in the North than in the rest of the country. Geographical location was a topical issue at the northern conferences. At the conference in Luleå, for instance, “northern location” was discussed to a high degree as something that really challenged the problem of adapting homemaking women to paid work outside the home.

The labour market in Norrbotten is characterised by huge problems [---] I usually meet the opinion that women in Norrbotten are even worse off than women in the rest of the country when it comes to finding work. [--] Unfortunately, the spectre of unemployment is a reality for many people. In this situation it might seem presumptuous to discuss questions con- cerning the mobilization of women’s labour. We’re aware that a conference like this might arouse false expectations and lead to reactions that would cause more harm than good, but we are also eager to raise issues on the labour market that must be regarded as women’s problems!5

5. Gunnar Andersson, County employment director, the Fact-Future Conference

152 talking to mrs. housewife

The AMS policy was an effort to change the perception of gender and work, and was also aimed at encouraging labour mobility, both geograph- ically and professionally. But Swedish labour market policy was formed on the basis of highly industrialised regions with varying economies. Its number one focus was mobility, which had become the rational ideal in the 1930’s. The general principle was to be able to direct labour geographi- cally – from locations with high unemployment rates to destinations with high demand. That also included the coordination of housing and labour market policy, which went as far as providing assistance in selling people’s homes in the north. To resolve the acute housing situation at the new lo- cations, people were offered temporary accommodation in AMS’ trailers. “It seems almost criminal not to be mobile. It has become so obvious that we don’t even think about how strange it really is”, was the reaction to the AMS resettlement policy from SAF’s chief economist Karl-Olof Faxén in 1960.6 According to representatives from the economic sector, and from the employer’s point of view, what emerges from these discussions is, that in these conference rooms, attempts were made to formulate a state of con­ sensus. “We all agree that when it comes to paving the way for women to ­enter the labour market, we have exactly the same opinion and the same will.”7 Or in SAF-director Curt-Steffan Giesecke’s words: “I think it is im- portant to emphasize that the problems we are discussing today are not separating us. I think you can look at them in quite similar ways in various interest groups.”8 Nearly all parties claimed to be in favour of gender equality, it almost seemed like political divisions were put aside. In her thesis on the genealogy of Swedish gender equality policy, Katharina Tollin shows how the question of gender equality tends to be one where all parties want to ­appear as be-

in Luleå, October 4, 1969, AMS. 6. Bo Rothstein (1986): Den socialdemokratiska staten. Reformer och förvaltning inom svensk arbetsmarknads- och skolpolitik (Lund: Arkiv), p. 151. 7. Georg Uggelberg, Personal manager at STAL-LAVAL, the Fact-Future Confer- ence in Karlstad, February 9, 1969. AMS vol. F III eb:39. 8. Curt-Steffan Giesecke, Chief Executive Director at SAF, the Fact-Future Con- ference in Stockholm, October 3, 1967, AMS vol. F III eb:37.

153 johanna overud ing in agreement, where there are no direct opponents.9 But here and there during the conference debates the audience woke up to reality:

We can all sit on this podium and claim that everyone agrees on men and women’s equal right to waged work. We know that is not the case in reality. We know that in reality marriage is still considered a provider for women. Men are supposed to be breadwinners and women’s wages are viewed as a marginal effort in raising the living standards of the family.10

A week before the Fact & Future conference was held in Luleå in 1968, there was an article in the local newspaper with a picture of Gunnar Anders- son, the County employment director, where he “sighs”: “Women, women, you’re asking for too much!” The article says that he himself has one of the most secure jobs, but also the hardest one: to find jobs for married women. “Women are limiting their chances by attaching conditions.” According to him there were some recurring demands: “She asks for part-time jobs, she wants a job that she is familiar with, she wants a job where she lives and she is in need of childcare.” At the conference, one week later, one of the participants, Eva Vinter from Kiruna, rose to speak against this attitude: “So, women are asking too much from society? We want to work with things that we know about. We want to live where our families are. We want part-time jobs and childcare facilities. I think that if we want to be able to talk about families, work and the future, then we have to admit that these are the needs of the family, not just women’s needs. Part-time jobs, that’s something that men want too, isn’t it? Their wives used to take care of this for them; they never had to ask for anything from the companies or from society”.11 Yvonne Hirdman (1998) shows that rather than speaking directly to men, it was easier to talk gender equality with men by using “the family”. In a campaign called “Familj tänker om” [The family needs to reconsider], Hirdman finds it quite obvious that throughout the text the word “family”

9. Katharina Tollin (2011): Sida vid sida. En studie av jämställdhetspolitikens genealogi­­ 1971–2006 (Stockholm: Atlas Akademi), p. 55. 10. Bertil Östergren, SACO, the Fact-Future Conference in Stockholm, October 3 1967, AMS vol. F III eb:37. 11. Eva Vinter, participant at the Fact-Future Conference in Luleå 1968.

154 talking to mrs. housewife actually points to “man”.12 That was also clear to the arranging group behind the conferences. “Everybody knew it,” that men were the last ones wanting a new order at home. AMS’s efforts to mobilize the female workforce were largely geared to- wards the transformation of housewives into wage earners, to adapt them and to remove what was especially perceived as obstacles in their way. They were invited to make job applications and enter the labour market, and if they were already there they were encouraged to go for traditionally male jobs. Both for families, and for single women and men in remote and rural areas, there were few options other than to join the stream of job seekers who left their homes in the north and moved towards demand centres in the southern parts of the country. As a group, “married women” carried the perception into the job market that they were flexible workers, but only flexible when it came to their ability to hold onto a job at all – otherwise they were considered less reliable, difficult to accommodate without special measures and not mobile. To sum up, the conference discussions reveal the following main out- lines:

– Conference debates were clearly structured along gender and class lines. The SAF representative was always male and usually sympathetic to the employment of women, but usually with arguments based on gender specificities. The LO representative was also usually a man, who brought LO’s ideas of general equality in employment and the right to equal pay. Negative attitudes towards female workers sometimes arose from men representing local branches of LO unions. – The majority of actors in the labour market believed that all formal dif- ferentiators between men and women were now abolished, and that the only problems left were those that were specific to women. – Regional conditions were discussed more or less at every conference lo- cation, except for the initial conference in Stockholm, were discussions were held in national terms. There was no speaking of Stockholm as a region with certain regional conditions.

12. Yvonne Hirdman (1998): Med kluven tunga. LO och genusordningen (Stock- holm: Atlas), p. 219.

155 johanna overud

– The problem that was to be resolved was “the situation of women” and “women’s adaptation to the labour market”.

My purpose in this paper was to stress the concepts of negotiation and con- flict in the debates on activating married women for gainful employment in the 1960’s. By analysing the debates at the Fact-Future conferences on women and work it is obvious that the problem was constructed as a situ- ation about women and that it was a question of adjusting women’s adapta- tion for the labour market. In the discussions “housewives” and “Norrland” were treated as the two really big problems. Discourses on femininity, dif- ficult to integrate into the labour market, were combined with discourses on the rural north, the exotic but outdated periphery. Long distances and a one-sided industry were speaking against the idea of mobility, the keyword of modern labour market policy.

This study indicates that the talking around Mrs. Housewife shows her fixed position in relation to a man, while men’s lives and lifestyles were never problematized. The “housewife” embodied all the values that could be added to the old-time housewife, rooted in the 19th century bourgeois family: warm, wise and responsible in her “home”-location, but outside the home she was always misplaced, alarmed, ignorant, squeamish and irra- tional. The difficulty of approaching men becomes visible. Women’s integration in the labour market has constantly been sur- rounded by special efforts, whether justified or not. With a focus on state governance of the labour market, it becomes important to scrutinize the seemingly “natural” ways of organizing the labour market and the structur- ing of its decision and policy-making processes.

156 session 4: the methodologies of gendered historical biographies

Birgitte Possing, The Danish National Archives, Copenhagen, Denmark – [email protected] in search of the keys to a biogra­phi­cal analysis of bodil koch (1903–72) reflections on the making of a portrait of a controversial danish minister

World famous is the photo from the NATO conference in Copenhagen 1958, showing the Danish Minister Bodil Koch sharply criticizing US Se­ cretary of State John Foster Dulles both for the aggressive US foreign politics in Asia, and for Dulles’ personal McCarthyist pursuit of political enemies in USA.1 Not being a communist herself (Koch was a Lutheran Protestant and a liberal Social Democrat), Koch as a Minister felt an obli- gation to criticize her colleague though she represented one of the small- est nations of the NATO-alliance, being a hostess, too. Wearing an evening gown, string of pearls, brandishing cigar, having her finger raised, she pro- tested emphatically. His reaction and expression was one of surprise and consternation, apparently asking: Was she a man or a woman, a friend or a foe of NATO? He was disconcerted, flabbergasted and astounded. The pho- to was circulated throughout the world’s media. Precisely and character­ istically, it introduces the portrait of the controversial Bodil Koch. female political success and impact The Danish intellectual Bodil Koch (1903–1972), university educated with a degree as one of the first female theologians in Denmark, was a moth- er of five children. In 1941, she lost the one-year-old daughter who died

1. The photo can be found at the website www.possing.dk (Feb. 6th 2014), on the FrontPage of the authors’ biography of Bodil Koch (under “publikationer”).

157 birgitte possing from a rare blood disease. She and her husband decided to repress their loss and grief, and never talk about the little girl or her death. As a con- sequence, Bodil Koch gave up the role of housewife, starting to engage in public debate and the struggle against Nazi Germany’s occupation of Den- mark. Bodil Koch, who was skilled in German, appeared as a courageous and never-ending challenger towards the suppressors. During the war ‘Mrs Professor Hal Koch’ turned herself into a high- profile public political intellectual mobilizing that nation-wide feminist Re- sistance Movement thus becoming a publicly known personality. After the war she became a Social Democrat and a critic of the western NATO as well as of the Communist East – and of her own party members. Nevertheless, in 1950 she was appointed as the first female Minister of Ecclesiastical and Cultural Affairs in the world and the third female Minister in Denmark. She was a Minister from 1950–68, the last two years as Minister of Culture. Thus, she was a member of the Danish Government during 18 years of an important period of the cold war. She was known to be far more than a Minister because she acted as a committed humanist, feminist and a political provocateur on the national and international scene. Making a solitary approach to politics, she wanted to thaw the cold war out instead of freezing and making it ice-bound; she wanted to pave the way for a dialogue between people and nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain. It was part of her plan to act like a public intellec- tual, especially within foreign affairs wanting to be nationally and interna- tionally heard and listened to. She succeeded. But she was never appointed as a Minister of Foreign Affairs. In her days, she pleased her constituents, but provoked her fellow socialist Ministers. Her social liberal visions and thinking were later suppressed and marginalized in Danish national his- tory. Why was it so? As a feminist, Bodil Koch had organized a new women’s movement dur- ing the period of German occupation of 1940-45. The aim was to create a new political interest for women of all ideologies and classes, increasing female parliamentary representation. As a minister, she modernized the Danish state church, legalized access for women to public positions, insisted on humanist tolerance within the framework of ministry and service, and supported modern art and advanced culture. As a politician she was en- gaged with foreign affairs, she paved the way for an internationally suscep-

158 in search of the keys to a biogra ­phi­cal analysis of bodil koch tible, frank and courageous dialogue which was controversial in the light of Denmark’s position as a NATO-member, geographically close to USSR. Furthermore, she played the role as a public intellectual insisting on public debates on modernism, technology and controversial foreign affairs against the wish of her own Social Democratic Party. Bodil Koch was an enquiring spirit, determined in her constant questioning; as an honest intellectual she raised issues of humanistic tolerance re-ordering the socialist welfare dis- cursive thinking. This made her a popular political personality, but her in- sisting engagement was a thorn in the flesh of her male political colleagues. two clashing views on bodil koch Being a public intellectual provocateur synchronously as being a responsi- ble Minister, she was an enigma. For this reason, she has been awkwardly placed in the official history. The biography, To The Point. An Incisive Por­ trait of Bodil Koch2, seeks answers to the conundrum she left behind her: Was she an intuitive, impulsive political clown that was not a real politician as some claimed? Or was she one of the most intelligent and influential Danish politicians of the 20th century as others have maintained? And was she the only male of the Parliament? The new research shows that she was both, deliberately developing social liberal visions, and at the same time of- fering an alternative intellectual role of a modern politician in the post-war democracy of Denmark. sources

Her unpublished manuscripts combined with electronic sources from the Danish Broadcasting and TV showing her talent as a rhetorician, inter- views with her contemporary fellows and enemies, newspapers, letters, paintings and photos document this paradoxical conclusion. Most of the private correspondence from and to her was burned by her or her family, and is thus missing.

2. Birgitte Possing (2007): Uden Omsvøb. Et portræt af Bodil Koch (Copenhagen: Gyldendal).

159 birgitte possing how to understand her? Now, I will argue how theoretical inspirations from Pierre Bourdieu3, Joan Scott4 and Edward Said5 paved the way for the understanding of Bodil Koch’s dual role as a public visionary intellectual, and a focused, respons­ ible political figure. In May 1958, the painter Kirsten Kjær made a portrait of Bodil Koch claiming that she painted ‘the character of her soul’: For me, the portrait with the focused look, the explosion of colours, but also with the holes in the body and the missing hands, gives a key to the understanding of the dual position of a strongly engaged woman on the one hand, and on the other hand a doubting, questioning, provoking spirit lacking the means to act. In an odd way, this portrait became an icon of the interpretation and the construction of the biographical portrait of Bodil Koch: It should not be organised as a chronological biography from cradle to grave. The obvi- ous reasons for this were four: firstly the recognition that Bodil Koch’s life had taken more than one direction, as a housewife, as a politician and min- ister, as a public intellectual, as a feminist, as an advanced art interpreter, and as an enquiring believer and spirit. Secondly, Bodil Koch’s childhood or the milieu in which she grew up were not the places where I would find the explanations for her public success or impact. Thirdly, sources for a re- construction of her private life were nearly non-existing. Fourthly, I wanted to understand and explain her dual public position, not to make a pure or a panegyric life depiction. The explanations of her public political perfor- mance had to be sought out in a combination of her particular talents and a series of events in her adult life, events instigated by others or fate, and over which she had no control. Thus, I abandoned a hermeneutic reading my way ‘into’ Bodil Koch, and I left the idea of a chronological biography.

3. Pierre Bourdieu (1986): “L’illusion biographique”, Actes de la recherche en scien­ces sociales, no. 62/63, June (Paris: Editions Minuit). 4. Joan Scott (1992): “Experience”, in Judith Butler & Joan W. Scott (eds.): Femi­ nists Theorize the Political (New York: Routledge). 5. Edward Said (2002): “The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals”, in Helen Small (ed.): The Public Intellectual (Oxford: Blackwell).

160 in search of the keys to a biogra ­phi­cal analysis of bodil koch a polyphonic portrait Instead, I took inspiration from Pierre Bourdieu’s now classic article on the biographical illusion, questioning the concept of coherence in the life of the protagonist. This supported my theory about the ambiguous and paradoxical aspect in an understanding of Bodil Koch. The reconstruction and understanding of her life was not to be structured in a logical-chron- ological order. Further inspired by the narrative theorist’s insight into the way in which narratives are read prospectively but are understood retro- spectively, I abandoned the idea that the direction in her life was controlled by the end of life, by death. This conventional biographical understanding would not open for an explanation of the paradoxes of Bodil Koch’s life and political oeuvre. It became clear to me that the fact that Bodil Koch’s life took a number of directions, overlapping and contradicting each other, was the plot and the polyphonic ‘logic’ of her life. The biography on her would have to be written accordingly, not in form of a complete cradle-to-grave biography but as a focused, polyphonic portrait with four main narratives: The internationalist, the feminist, the advanced cultural intellectual, the re- sponsible Minister of Ecclesiastical and Cultural Affairs. naivety as a guiding principle for experience Bodil Koch’s many unpublished lectures and manuscripts, her publica- tions, and the media reactions to her political discourse indicated that there were a number of lines in her thinking. These spanned and combined 20th century extreme ideologies in the Howsbawmian6 sense: Elements of liberalism, socialism, protestantism, feminism, humanism and some con- servatism were to be found in her remaining texts. It did not prove possible to find a meaningful interpretative framework for the Bodil Koch render- ing of these ideologies, not even by viewing her as someone who recon- ciled dicho­tomies. Not until, inspired by the American social constructivist Joan Scott and the Finnish historian Marianne Liljeström,7 I asked the sim-

6. Eric Hobsbawm (1995): The Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century 1914–1991 (London: Joseph). 7. Marianne Liljeström (2004): Useful Selves. Russian Women’s Autobiographical Texts from the Postwar Period (Saarijärvi: Kikimora Publications B:32).

161 birgitte possing ple question: “What did Bodil Koch’s subjective visions, and ambitions ex- press?” Scott identified “experience as the process by which subjectivity is constructed”.8 Now, it was possible to see how, through her political activi- ties, Bodil Koch had taken an extremely purposive stand to maintain ‘na- ivety’ as a guiding principle in the democratic process: She wanted to make herself useful to her community and in the modern democracy by repeat- edly turning things upside down, by posing intellectual, banal and thereby naïve questions. Her political incentive was not the desire for power. It was the desire to affect public discourse. Thus, she held Hannah Arendtian view of democracy in modernity which emphasises democracy in constant mo- tion and changing as ideal.9 At this point I understood why Bodil Koch was able to remain a position as minister for 18 years in succession and under 4 prime ministers, regard- less of ministerial responsibility and harsh criticism of her own government members. Her performative endeavour was to make herself the intellectual minister who re-created democracy every day. Thus, she embodied a dif- ferent kind of politics. the public intellectual This, however, entailed another analytical enigma to be pursued: Namely how come she was able to place herself in this dual position and maintain it? The conventional understanding of the intellectual critic’s role in the state is that he/she is and should be independent of power. Without inde- pendence, no exposures of challenge to that power. Edward Said10 made a clear distinction between the intellectual critic and the responsible power brokers/the Establishment as irreconcilable positions. Having united these positions in her 18 year service as government minister during the Cold War, Bodil Koch should not be seen as someone who surmounted or re-in- terpreted 20th century extreme ideologies and developed a systematic new political thinking. How could she function as an agent provocateur in rela- tion to the power to which she herself was responsible?

8. Scott (1992). 9. Seyla Benhabib (1996): The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt (Thou- sand Oaks, Calif.: Sage). 10. Said (2002).

162 in search of the keys to a biogra ­phi­cal analysis of bodil koch

Bodil Koch was neither to be seen as a new-thinking theorist nor a pragmatic politician. She should rather be understood as the one-off who insisted on using her intellectual position in tandem with keeping her minis- terial responsibility by playing on and playing with fragments of the existing ideologies interpreting them in new ways. Being aware of the consequences – that her superiors had to set limits to her power and influence – she as- sumed the dual position: intellectual critic of and responsible minister for the same government. Already during her first days as a minister, she pre- sented herself from the podium of the parliament as a “thinking person with the duty to stay anti-authoritarian”. The reason why she stayed in that dual role as an intellectual provocateur and a responsible minister was that she quickly became the biggest vote-catcher of the Social Democratic Party. The party could not afford to sack her from her post or expel her from the party, as others demanded on more than one occasion. One the other hand, nor could any of her 4 Prime Ministers afford to give her one of the most powerful posts – that of Minister for Foreign Affairs – as she permanently insisted on her intellectual independence. She wanted the politician to be a pioneer, not a weathercock. She lived her political life on a diet of oppo- sites. When she left the post of minister in 1968, she told a TV interviewer that from the very beginning of her political career she had had one wish: “And that is to retain my naivety in the original sense of the word, to be myself – from the inside”.

conclusions

In the making of this dual role as an intellectual critic of authorities and a responsible Minister, she claimed politics in a democracy to be far more than a paralysing pragmatism. A parliament politician should not lose sight of new visions in the con- stantly changing modern society but keep alive a naïve ambition of ques- tioning and dreaming.

163 session 2: men, masculinities, and the military

Fia Sundevall, Department of Economic History, Stockholm University, Sweden – [email protected] där pojkar blev män? maskulinitet och mognad i minnesberättelser om svensk värnpliktsutbildning

När den allmänna värnplikten för män avskaffades i Sverige sommaren 2010 upphörde en på flera sätt betydelsefull institution i landets moderna historia. I tidigare forskning har lumpen (svensk slang för värnpliktsutbild- ning) bland annat beskrivits som ett nationellt fostransprojekt, en man- domsskola, en politisk socialisationsagent samt en arena för möten och samarbeten över klassgränser.1 En grundförutsättning för dessa funktioner var den massrekrytering (genom tvång) som värnplikten innebar: under större delen av 1900-talet gjorde så gott som alla svenska män lumpen. Härigenom skapades en form av kollektiv erfarenhet och gemensam referensram för miljontals män – samt några tusen kvinnor, som sedan 1980-talet kunnat genomgå utbild- ningen efter frivillig antagningsprövning.2 Detta gav också upphov till en

1. Se t.ex. Lars Ericson (1999): Medborgare i vapen: värnplikten i Sverige under två sekel (Stockholm: Historiska Media). Thomas Denk (1999): Värnpliktsutbildning­ en – en politisk socialisationsagent? (Karlstad: Karlstad universitet). Siv Rehn (1999): Det oavsiktliga lärandet – försvarets räddningsplanka? : en granskning av värnplikti­ gas lärande under värnpliktsutbildningen och värnpliktssystemets funktion i samhället (Luleå: Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik och ämnesdidaktik. Centrum för forskning i lärande). Susanne Wollinger (2000): Mannen i ledet: takt och otakt i värnpliktens skugga (Lund: Lunds universitet). Anders Ahlbäck (2010): Sol­ diering and the making of Finnish manhood: conscription and masculinity in interwar Finland, 1918–1939 (Åbo: Åbo Akademi University). 2. Fia Sundevall (2011): Det sista manliga yrkesmonopolet: genus och militärt ar­ bete i Sverige (Göteborg & Stockholm: Makadam).

164 där pojkar blev män? säregen berättartradition i form av så kallade lumparminnen: berättelser från värnpliktsutbildningen. Minnesberättelser av detta slag har oftast för- medlats muntligt men även lämnat skriftliga spår i till exempel internet­ forum, brev och dagböcker. De har dock sällan samlats in och analyserats av forskare.3 I samband med att värnplikten gick i graven väcktes en önskan hos Armé­museum att dokumentera före detta värnpliktigas berättelser innan det skulle vara för sent. Genom att samla in minnesberättelser ville muséet skapa underlag för framtida forskning och utställningar om värnpliktens vardag. Därtill var förhoppningen att berättelserna skulle generera ny och fördjupad kunskap om de tusentals värnpliktsföremålen i museets samling- ar.4 Våren 2012 sjösatte museet ett omfattande dokumentations- och forsk- ningsprojekt. Bland annat lanserades en webbenkät som inom några få må- nader hade genererat fler än tusen minnesberättelser om värnplikten utifrån ett tjugotal fritextfrågor (öppna frågor med utrymme för fritt berättande svar). Genom frågorna ville Armémuseum fånga respondenternas egna ord och resonemang, anekdoter och jämförelser, men samtidigt styra berättel- serna mot vissa teman. Exempel på sådana teman var vardagliga rutiner, skrönor, informella traditioner samt anpassningen till den militära miljön. Med utgångspunkt i dessa insamlade lumparminnen undersökte jag i mitt textbidrag till Nordiska genushistorikermötet 2012 hur respondenter- na (de före detta värnpliktiga) berättar om och begripliggör sina egna och andras förhållningssätt till sexualitet under värnpliktsutbildningen, samt huruvida de ansåg att det ligger något i tale­sättet ”lumpen gör pojkar till män” (och i så fall vad). Syftet var att identifiera normer för sexualitet och genus i värnpliktens vardag och försöka säga något om dess stabilitet eller förändring över tid.

3. Till de få nordiska undantagen hör forskningsgruppen ”Sverige under andra världskriget” vid Stockholms universitet som år 1968 samlade in minnesberättelser från beredskapsåren, bland annat från före detta värnpliktiga. Därtill samlade Etno­ logiska institutionen vid Åbo Akademi år 1973 in finländska mäns berättelser om sin värnplikt under mellankrigsåren, vilka sedermera har analyserats av historikern An- ders Ahlbäck i (2006): Den beväpnade manligheten: kön och nationalism i det mellan­ krigstida Finlands värnpliktsarmé, 1919–1939 (Åbo: Åbo Akademi). 4. Armémuseums projektbeskrivning för ”Lumpen: identitet och materiella minnen 1901–2010”, bilaga till ansökan om medel från Kulturrådet, daterad 14 feb- ruari 2011.

165 fia sundevall

En omarbetad version av den ursprungliga konferenstexten, med fokus på sexualitet i samverkan med genus, kommer att publiceras våren 2014 i en forskningsrapport respektive en populärhistorisk antologi.5 De delar av konferenstexten som behandlade webbenkäter som insamlingsmetod har i sin tur omarbetats till en artikel som publicerades 2013.6 I den kortversion av konferensbidraget som presenteras här läggs därför istället tyngdvikten vid materialets berättelser om mognad och maskulinitet.7 Ålder och kön utgjorde tillsammans med nationalitet värnpliktens pri- mära urvalskategorier.8 Det var endast män inom ett specifikt åldersinter- vall och med svenskt medborgarskap som omfattades av värnpliktslagen och därmed av skyldigheten att genomgå värnpliktsutbildning. Åtskilliga forskare har betonat militära utbildningar och institutioners funktioner i skapandet och reproducerandet av vissa former av maskulinitet. På senare år har sådana processer också blivit föremål för en rad empiriska studier.9 Föreliggande text anknyter till denna forskning men då utrymmet en- bart ­medg­ er summerande nedslag i empirin bör texten främst betraktas som

5. Fia Sundevall (2014): ”’Inga bögavstånd!’: om förhållningssätt till sexualitet i lumpen”, i Lumpen: identitet och materiella minnen (Stockholm: Armé­museum), resp. ”Porr i vapenskåpet och bögkompani på Gotland: sexualitet i lum­pen”, i Lumpen: från mönstring till muck (Stockholm: Atlantis). Båda med Anna Maria Forssberg & Klas Kronberg som redaktörer. 6. Fia Sundevall & Anna Fredholm (2013): ”Minnesinsamling genom webb­enkä­ ter: perspektiv på en dokumentationsmetod i förändring”, Nordisk museologi, nr 1. 7. Källmaterialet utgörs av svar på den nämnda webbenkätens fritextfråga om talesättet ”lumpen gör pojkar till män”, avlämnade mellan 8 februari och 4 decem- ber 2012. Totalt rör det sig om 1 234 svar av varierande längd och detaljrikedom från personer som genomgick värnpliktsutbildning i Sverige mellan åren 1940 och 2010. Frågans svarsfrekvens var 84 %. För en mer detaljerad redogörelse av materialet och insamlingsmetoden, samt en källkritisk diskussion av desamma, hänvisas till Sunde- vall & Fredholm (2013). För närmare information om svarsfrekvensen och angräns- ande problematik vad gäller den specifika fråga som undersöks här, se Fia Sundevall (2012): ”Gör lumpen pojkar till män? En sammanställning av och diskussion utifrån svaren på lumpen­enkätens fråga 10” (opublicerad rapport, Armémuseum). 8. Jfr Wollinger (2000), s. 41. 9. Se t.ex. Ahlbäck (2006, 2010). Ramon Hinojosa (2010): ”Doing hegemony: mili­tary, men, and constructing hegemonic masculinity”, The Journal of Men’s Stud­ ies 18:2. Maya Eschler (2012): Militarizing men: gender, conscription and war in post- Soviet Russia (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press).

166 där pojkar blev män? en introduktion till det specifika materialet och några av dess framträdande teman. där pojkar blev män? Gör lumpen pojkar till män? Talesättet som slår fast att så är fallet före- kommer i varianter på en rad språk och belyser den militära utbildningens socialiserande funktioner. Talesättets kärna utgörs av föreställningen om att lumpen förändrar den unge man som genomgår den: att han skolas in i och antar en rad karaktärsdrag som förknippas med vuxenlivet och att vara en ”riktig man”. Innebörden av detta är dock varken entydig eller statisk. I det insamlade materialet går det ändå att utskilja vissa mönster. Följande citat från två män som gjorde lumpen 1980 respektive 2009 är illustrativa för innehållet i många respondenters svar på frågan om de tycker det ligger något i talesättet att lumpen gör pojkar till män:

Ja det tycker jag verkligen. Det har jag förklarat tidigare [i enkäten]. Man kom i de flesta fall bort från hemmet och fick lära sig att stå på egna ben. Man träffade personer i varierande åldrar och fick höra om deras livs- erfarenheter. Man fick lära sig olika saker, fick en slags yrkeserfarenhet som senare kunde vara till fördel i det civila – t.ex. för mig som kom som motorman från flottan och jobbar i kraftindustrin idag. Idag bor man hemma länge med föräldrarna och blir inte lika förberedd för att stå på egna ben i samhället.10

Jag tycker absolut att det stämmer. Man får en crash course i det hårda livet. Med pojkar till män menar jag inte att man blir macho utan att man blir vuxen. Man blir tvungen att växa upp och möta svårigheter med pannben och list. Det är tankesättet man får i lumpen som gör pojkar till män.11

10. Svars-ID 1781. Samtliga citat i denna konferenstext är, om inget annat an­ges, hämtade från Armémuseums webbenkät om lumparminnen. Årtalet anger vad re- spondenten uppgett som sitt inryckningsår. Eventuella teckenfel (t.ex. dubbla mellan­ slag, avsaknad av punkt, osv), stavfel och grammatikfel i originaltext har genom­ gående justerats för att förenkla läsningen. 11. Svars-ID 966.

167 fia sundevall

När respondenterna beskriver sina erfarenheter upprepas begrepp som an- svar, mognad, samarbete, att växa upp, lära sig ta hänsyn och visa respekt.12 Det talas också om ökad självkännedom som effekt av bland annat psykis- ka och fysiska utmaningar.13 Dessa berättelser följer i några fall en specifik struktur där respondenterna berättar att de lärde sig att de orkar betydligt mer än de själva trodde – och flera gånger mer än vad deras mamma trod- de: ”när mamma säger att du är trött så har du förbrukat 5% av vad du kan, det sa ett befäl till oss när vi ryckte in o jisses vad rätt han hade” skriver till exempel en man som gjorde lumpen i början av 1970-talet.14 I dessa liksom i flera andra berättelseteman lyfts mödrar särskilt fram. Mammorna får i berättelserna symbolisera hem och barndom, samt allt som oftast kamra- ters överbeskyddade bakgrund. Det talas om att vara mammas pojke, om vikten av att lämna mammas trygghet och klippa navelsträngen och att tvingas göra sådant som mammorna alltid gjort för dem tidigare (bädda sängen, städa osv.). Det är dock sällan någon respondent berättar att deras egen mamma daltat med dem – berättelserna är istället generellt hållna el- ler pekar mot kamraterna. Värnpliktsutbildningen ägde rum vid en tidpunkt i livet då den värn­ pliktige nyligen blivit vuxen i juridisk mening. Eventuella läroverks-/gym- nasiestudier hade lämnats bakom sig och den unge mannen, eller i enstaka fall kvinnan, förmodades flytta hemifrån och försörja sig själv. Inte sällan kom värnpliktsutbildningen in mellan dessa livsförändringar och utgjorde på så sätt en slags brygga mellan barndom och vuxenliv. För många inne- bar lumpen att de för första gången bodde under annat tak än föräldrarnas samt tvingades ta ansvar för och ordna sådant som deras föräldrar och andra vuxna tidigare gjort åt dem.15 Just detta, konstaterar åtskilliga respondenter, gjorde att de snabbt växte upp, mognade och därmed blev ”män”. Några respondenter betonar dock det motsatta: att befälen tog över föräldrarnas roll och att den rutinartade värnpliktsmiljön var som en förlängd skoltid. Etnologen Susanne Wollinger, som följde en grupp värnpliktiga från

12. För en kvantitativ sammanställning av återkommande begrepp, se Sundevall (2012). 13. Jfr Rehn (1999) som diskuterar detta i termer av socialt lärande i värnplikts­ utbildningen. 14. Svars-ID 2785. 15. Wollinger (2000), s. 13.

168 där pojkar blev män? mönstring till muck i mitten av 1990-talet, fann en spännvidd i de överord- nades syn på de värnpliktigas mognad. De värnpliktiga kunde, vid olika till- fällen eller sammanhang, betraktas som pojkar/barn eller som män/vuxna. Hon konstaterar även att det bland de värnpliktiga själva fanns en uppfatt- ning att värnplikten passade särskilt väl för den som ännu inte lämnat för- äldrahemmet eftersom de i värnplikten fick en snabbinskolning i vuxenlivet. För den som däremot redan vant sig vid att stå på egna ben, skapa sina egna rutiner och ta hand om sig själv, kunde mötet med värnplikten, och inte minst de blott några år äldre befälens order, skapa krockar.16 lumpen som myt och verklighet Tidigare forskning har belyst den mytbildning som omgärdat värnplikten. Genom till exempel äldres släktingars lumparberättelser samt skildringar av värnplikten i filmer och böcker har en slags kollektiv minnesbild av vad lumpen innebär byggts upp.17 I Armémuseums minnesinsamling framgår i flera fall med tydlighet att respondenten förhåller sina egna erfarenheter och minnen i relation till en sådan bild. Detta tar sig bland annat uttryck genom att berättelser placeras i tydlig kontrast mot föräldrars erfarenheter och/eller mer eller mindre klichéartade bilder av militär maskulinitet och värnpliktiga män. Inte sällan påtalar respondenterna att det var annorlun- da ”på pappas tid”, att lumpen inte alls var så macho som de hade trott och förväntat sig och att talesättet ”lumpen gör pojkar till män” därmed inte bör förstås som inskolning av pojkar in i en stereotyp maskulinitet. Som framgått ovan tolkar den stora merparten av respondenterna ta- lesättets begrepp ”pojkar” och ”män” i termer av barn respektive vuxna. I några fall, såsom i en av de tidigare citerade berättelserna, påpekar respon- denten med emfas att han inte tolkar talesättet som en beskrivning av en maskuliniseringsprocess. I de, jämförelsevis få, fall där det framgår av svaret att respondenten uppfattat talesättet som en sådan process, ges sällan ett jakande svar. Till undantagen hör en man som, efter en inledande problematisering av talesät-

16. Wollinger (2000), s. 66f. 17. Se t.ex. Wollinger (2000), s 14. Lina Mårtensson & Johan Löfgren (2009): ”Värnpliktig 2009: sist i ledet?”, otryckt forskningsrapport från Statens maritima mu- seer.

169 fia sundevall tets könskodning, konstaterar att han uppskattar att han fick lära sig ”vissa av de klassiska maskulina sakerna: överleva, hantera vapen, leda personer och så vidare”, men tillägger att detta är kunskaper som också kvinnor skulle ha nytta av.18 De flesta av de respondenter som tolkar talesättet som könskodat är dock negativt inställda till de egenskaper som de menar att lumpen lär ut. En man, som gjorde lumpen i början av 1970-talet, skriver till exempel: ”Ja- visst, [gjorde lumpen pojkar till män] på så vis att lumpen innebär inskol- ning i en traditionell förstockad manlighet. Med allt vad det för med sig av anpassning och maktutövning i ett mansdominerat samhälle”.19 En annan man, som gjorde lumpen på 1990-talet, skriver i sin tur att för honom ”är inte en man något som man utvecklas till genom att göra lumpen” och me- nar att lumpen snarare kan ”ha bidragit till en ogynnsam konservering av mansideal som bör förpassas till historien”.20 där män blev pojkar? De insamlade minnesberättelserna inleds oftast jakande, nekande eller tve- kande (”ja”, ”nej”, ”nja”, eller varianter på dessa begrepp), vilket förklaras av frågans formulering som inbjuder till denna typ av svar: ”Gör lumpen pojkar till män? Tycker du att det ligger något i detta gamla talesätt? Om ja, berätta på vilket sätt. Om nej, förklara varför du inte tycker att det stämmer.” De jakande inledningarna är i överväldigande majoritet. I dessa berättelser beskrivs, som exemplifierats ovan, ofta lumpenerfarenheten som en över- gångsrit från barndom till vuxenliv och respondenterna betonar förvär- vandet av (positiva) egenskaper som mognad, respekt och ansvarstagande. Men här finns också flera berättelser som tecknar bilden av en process i motsatt riktning: att vardagen vid sidan om övningarna präglades av trams och lek och att snacket och uppträdandet inte sällan låg på en nivå som var betydligt mer omogen än under till exempel gymnasiet. ”Jag fick släppa mitt intelligentare jag i lumpen och spela med i den barnsliga jargongen som rådde där”, skriver till exempel en man som gjorde lumpen i början av

18. Svars-ID 460. 19. Svars-ID 135. 20. Svars-ID 784.

170 där pojkar blev män?

1980-talet, och tillägger i likhet med flera andra respondenter att lumpen snarare gjorde män till pojkar.21 Som exempel på barnsligheter hänvisas till allehanda lekar och bus så- som fistävlingar och att skjuta på varandra med lösplugg. Andra exempel innefattar frekventa samtal och kvickheter om sex, porr och onani, samt en jargong karaktäriserad av sexualiserade, sexistiska och homofoba uttryck och skämt. En man som ryckte in i slutet av 1990-talet minns lumpen som ”en otroligt mansgrisig miljö där det haglar sexuella skämt och tonårsbe- teende”, och menar att de av hans vänner som blev kvar inom det militära verksamhetsområdet fortsatte att bete sig som smågrabbar.22 En annan man, som gjorde lumpen 1970, skriver:

Fysiskt utvecklades vi väl en del men jargongen var nog rätt barnslig och pojkaktig. Mot slutet kände man nog mer att lumpen bidrog till att göra män till pojkar. Skillnaden var påtaglig när man direkt efter muck ham- nade i en tvåkönad akademisk miljö där kraven och förväntningarna var helt andra.23

Beskrivningar av detta slag återfinns här och var i materialet men är van- ligast i berättelser från respondenter som gjorde lumpen mellan 1970 och 2000. Insamlingsmetoden med självselekterande urval gör det vanskligt att dra några generella slutsatser utifrån detta, men det bör hållas för sanno­likt att 2000-talets värdegrundsarbete bidrog till att minska acceptansen för dylika jargonger och beteenden.24 Hur tolkar då de före detta värnpliktiga själva dessa typer av beteenden? Som återkommande förklaringsram anförs en kombination av kön och ål- der samt det speciella sammanhang som lumpen utgjorde: den helt eller i huvudsak enkönade manliga miljön, de värnpliktigas låga ålder samt iso- leringen, den påtvingade gemenskapen och långa studenter av sysslolöshet (till exempel vid eldvakt).25 Dessa förklaringar tar inte sällan formen av en ursäkt och förmildrande omständighet. Här anas, och uttrycks ibland ex-

21. Svars-ID 2576. 22. Svars-ID 96. 23. Svars-ID 2335. 24. Detta diskuteras mer ingående i Sundevall (2014a+b). 25. Denna förklaringsbild är än tydligare vad gäller respondenternas tolkningar av förhållningssätt till sexualitet i lumpen. Sundevall (2014a+b).

171 fia sundevall plicit, föreställningar om ungdomlig maskulinitet som en okontrollerbar naturkraft och något som därför kan slätas över (”boys will be boys”). Några respondenter betraktar därtill beteendet som ett viktigt steg i övergångsriten till vuxenlivet. Lumpen beskrivs då som ett tillfälle att en gång för alla ”leka av sig det sista som var kvar från förskoleåldern” för att ”komma ut på andra sidan som män”, samt ett sätt att stävja våldsromantik i vuxen ålder genom att ta ”udden av behovet att leka krig”.26 mer att hämta I denna text har några tongivande teman i respondenternas berättelser berörts. I materialet finns betydligt mer att hämta. Armémuseums min- nesinsamling inkluderar utöver webb­enkäten även bland annat intervjuer och insamling av föremål (brev som värnpliktiga skickade hem, muckar­ kammar, dagböcker, med mera). Härmed har ett unikt och innehållsrikt källmaterial skapats: ett material som ger inblick i en värnpliktsvardag och erfarenheter som delades av miljoner män men som det hittills bedrivits ytterst lite forskning om. Materialet kommer följaktligen kunna komma dagens och framtida genushistoriker till stor nytta.

26. Citat från svars-ID 833 resp. 1695.

172 session 7: interdisciplinary comparisons

Liv Helene Willumsen, Department of History and Religious Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway – [email protected] the witch in the north – reality and fiction

abstract

The figure of the witch will be focused in this presentation: the seventeenth- century witch appearing in court records as well as the witch portrayed in fiction. The presentation will take a clear interdisciplinary approach, based partly on original historical sources and partly on fictional texts. The cen- tral questions posed will be how the figure of the witch is portrayed in the various texts and what importance this might have for our understanding of this female image today. I have worked with aspects related to the figure of the witch since the early 1980s, and have taken a doctoral degree on the topic witchcraft trials in Scotland and Northern Norway. When it comes to the historical witch, I will in my presentation discuss the realities women accused of witchcraft were met with, and what their possibilities were after being brought before the court. I would also like to discuss how the court records were written, as this has effect on our interpretation of the original documents today, not least with regard to the use of torture during the trials. I would also like to discuss some myths with regard to who were in fact accused of witchcraft. When it comes to the witch figure in fiction, I would like to focus on the way this figure is portrayed, what kind of qualities she is given, and within which textual frames she is described.

173 liv helene willumsen introduction

This article will focus on the figure of the witch, as it comes to the fore in historical documents as well as in fiction related to Northern Norway.1 Firstly, I will present the historical witch, persecuted during witchcraft ­trials.2 Secondly, I will give a description of the witch figure in fiction, high- lighting three aspects of this figure: the witch figure related to historical material; the mythical witch figure; the witch figure rooted in folk belief. Finally, I will compare the historical witch and the witch figure in fiction. the historical witch The witchcraft trials in Finnmark took place from 1600 to 1692, an offshoot of the European witchcraft persecution. 135 persons were tried for witch- craft, whereof 91 were executed, most of them in fire at the stake. Almost one-third of all death sentences in Norwegian witchcraft trials were passed in Finnmark.3 The numbers indicate severe persecution.4 In Finnmark, as elsewhere in Europe, approximately four fifths of the women and one fifth of the men were accused.5 Of the 91 people executed in Finnmark, there were 77 women and 14 men.6 As for ethnicity, Norwegian and Samis lived side by side in seventeenth-century Finnmark, and both ethnic groups suffered from the ongoing persecution of witches. Looking at women as a group, Norwegian women were in absolute majority among

1. Liv Helene Willumsen (1994): Trollkvinne i nord – i historiske kilder og skjønn­ litteratur (Tromsø: Høgskolen i Tromsø). 2. Liv Helene Willumsen (2008): Seventeenth-Century Witchcraft Trials in Scot­ land and Northern Norway (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh); Liv Helene Wil- lumsen (2010): The Witchcraft Trials of Finnmark, Northern Norway (Bergen: Skald). 3. Hans Eyvind Næss (1982): Trolldomsprosessene i Norge på 1500–1600-tallet (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget), p. 32. 4. A memorial to the victims of the Finnmark witch-hunt, Steilneset Memorial, was opened in 2011 as part of the Norwegian National Tourist Routes. It has three components: Art: Louise Bourgeois; Architecture: Peter Zumthor; History: Liv He- lene Willumsen. 5. Brian P. Levack (2006): The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman), p. 141. 6. Liv Helene Willumsen (2011): Steilneset. Memorial to the Victims of the Finn­ mark Witchcraft Trials (Oslo: Nasjonale Turistveger), p. 5.

174 the witch in the north – reality and fiction those executed, 92%, and Sami women in minority. However, looking at men as a group, Sami men were in majority. Two concepts of witchcraft occurred during the Finnmark persecution. On one hand, there was traditional sorcery, based on inherent power and individual practice of witchcraft, particularly related to the Samis. Sami sor- cery was known in Europe through Olaus Magnus’ book about the Nordic peoples.7 According to this book, Sami men were well versed at throwing spells (gand), selling wind to boats, and the use of the rune drum. On the other hand, there was the demonological concept of witchcraft, based on a learned European doctrine, demonology. This concept has as its core ele- ment a pact with the Devil. One marked feature of the Finnmark witchcraft trials was the emergence of panics; one trial leading to another in rapid succession. Mostly women were involved.8 A characteristic of these trials was that the accused women confessed they had forsworn God in heaven and their baptismal pacts, and that they had entered into a pact with the Devil. Another characteristic was shape-shifting. In the shapes of birds or animals, they allegedly attended witches’ gatherings where the Devil was present. Thirdly, they confessed that together with other witches, they had raised storms, sunk ships and driven the fish away from the shore – thus explaining disasters which had hit the local communities. Finally, the accused person denounced others who had participated at the same witches’ gathering as herself. These persons were immediately summoned to the court and interrogated. Confessing to a pact with the Devil was tantamount to signing one’s own death warrant. Underlying the confessions was the demonological doctrine, the aim of which basically was to identify the Devil’s secret accomplices on earth.9 In Denmark-Norway, the demonological doctrine had an impact on legislation and church affairs. In 1617, Christian IV issued a decree whereby a witch was defined as one who was bonded to the Devil or who consorted with him.10 The local courts played an important part, in that they launched prosecutions and kept the heat on, as it were. The law was upheld by zeal-

7. Olaus Magnus (1555): The History of the Nordic People (Rome). 8. Willumsen (2008), p. 96. 9. Stuart Clark (1997): Thinking with Demons. The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 10. Willumsen (1994), p. 57.

175 liv helene willumsen ous officials who were terrified of what witches might do, with the Devil’s help.11 The Church preached fear of Satan, dwelling upon his appearance and highlighting his powers. The historical witch of the north was a victim. She was a victim of the ideological construction of demonology and the contempt of women in- herent in this doctrine; women were weak, easily tempted by the Devil and inclined to evil deeds. She was a victim of the fear the demonological doc- trine raised within learned circles as well as among common people. She was a victim of the state’s urge to persecute witches, be that seen through the letter of the law as well as through the preaching of the church. She was a victim of the functioning of the local courts, which, placed geographically distant in the margin of Europe, were allowed to function mostly on their own. She was the victim of a brutal legal system.12 Through the different voices possible to distinguish in the court records, the hopeless situation for a woman accused of witchcraft is confirmed.13 The target of persecution for witchcraft in early modern period was the ordinary woman. It was not the wise women, with knowledge of herbs, nor the healers, nor the midwives – these explanations are myths not sustained by historical research. the witch in fiction magdalene thoresen: ‘cille parsberg’ The text ‘Cille Parsberg’ is written by the Danish author Magdalene Thore- sen, published in Billeder fra Midnatsolens Land [Images from the Land of the Midnight Sun], 1884.14 Cille Parsberg is the daughter of a minister in Nordland and a Danish woman of rank. Cille’s mother dies early, and the father takes care of Cille’s education. He teaches her Latin among other subjects, and through her successful learning she is paid attention to by her father. However, when Cille is an adolescent, her father takes to the

11. Ole Lindhartsen (2002): “Lensherrer, heksejakt og justismord i Finnmark på 1600-tallet”, in G. J. Valen, K. Skavhaug and K. Schanche (eds.), Flytting og forandring i Finnmarks fortid (Alta: Muséene i Finnmark), p. 61. 12. Willumsen (1994), p. 56. 13. Willumsen (2008), p. 29–33. Methodologically, the analysis of voices is based on Gérard Genette (1983): Narrative Discourse. An Essay in Method (Paris: Cornell). 14. Vol. I (Copenhagen, 1884).

176 the witch in the north – reality and fiction minister’s house a young Sami woman, who is accused of witchcraft. He wants to prepare the accused woman for her death. From then on he ig- nores Cille’s upbringing, and she starts working as a maidservant in the house of a Finnmark bailiff. The daughter of the bailiff is going to marry a merchant from Bergen, Jens Korn. Accidentally, Cille and Jens Korn meet and fall in love. On the day of the wedding, they declare their love to each other. Jens Korn and the bailiff’s daughter marry. Cille leaves the place, but returns after four years. She meets Jens Korn again and they arrange secret meetings. Jens Korn’s wife gets suspicious and makes him ill. The news reaches Cille, and she goes to see him a last time. She is then taken prisoner by the p­ easants, accused as a witch and sentenced to be burned in fire at the stake. On her way to the execution place, Cille catches sights of Jens Korn, and he sees her also. Cille tries to escape from her guards to say a last goodbye to Jens, but she is overpowered and executed. The next day, Jens Korn commits suicide. Several witch figures are portrayed in the text. There is the Sami woman, who is taken care of by Cille’s father, and of whom it was said that she could suffocate both humans and animals only by staring at them. Then there is an old woman who is sentenced at the same time as Cille. She knows how to heal by reading a formula over brandy, and has sold wind to sailing boats. These figures from the crowd serve to contrast Cille. She is of a refined kind, shouldering the idea of pure love. Cille fights the conventions. Suffering is the central factor in the love story between Cille and Jens Korn, in the same way as in the legend of Tristan and Isolde. Thomas Bredsdorff maintains that Tristan and Isolde love to love, but with a strong input of suffering. When the obstacles are greatest, the passion is best.15 The love between Cille and Jens is of a similar character, characterized as noble and true. The norm is that Cille is Jens’ ‘right wife’ because they experience the true love together. The frame of the exotic North is strengthening Cille’s love story. The fig- ure of the witch is emotionally loaded; she is a victim for the conventions of the society. The motif is suitable for Cille’s tragic life destiny, which has in common with the historical witch that she is not tolerated, but seen as un- wanted and dangerous. The motif of the witch is used as a backdrop when it comes to the portrayal of the protagonist. It plays on differences, not on

15. Thomas Bredsdorff (1982): Tristans børn (Copenhagen: Gyldendal), p. 76.

177 liv helene willumsen similarities. Her alliance is not with the realm of evil, but instead with the realm of beauty. Pure love is the loser. I see the story about Cille as an exam- ple of a romantic undercurrent in the Scandinavian literature of the 1880s. karen blixen: ‘the sailor-boy’s tale’ ‘The sailor-boy’s tale’ is written by the Danish author Karen Blixen and published in her book Winter’s Tales from 1942. The sailor-boy Simon is on his way from Marseilles to Athens. A falcon is stuck in a rope in the mast. Simon climbs up and helps the bird to get free. The falcon pecks him in the thumb and flies away. Two years later, Simon sails north to the village Bodø in Northern Norway. There he meets the young girl Nora in the garden outside her home, and he gives her an orange. Then she is called inside the house by her father, who is a minister. Simon makes an appointment with Nora for the next evening. To be precise for this meeting, Simon has to kill a homophile Russian sailor, who tries to delay him. Simon meets Nora and gives her a kiss, before he has to flee from the friends of the Russian sailor, who want to take revenge on behalf of their mate. An old Sami woman, Sunniva, saves Simon from the Russians. She takes him home and helps him to get back to his boat. Through the descriptions of the eyes of the fal- con and the eyes of Sunniva it becomes clear that the falcon and Sunniva is one and the same creature. Sunniva’s interference is central in relation to Simon’s passage from boy to man. She conveys deep insight in human life and helps him into a new life stage. He factually goes through a ritual wherein he becomes a man. The episode with the falcon creates a situation where Simon may show his quali- ties. Simon has to overcome inner as well as outer obstacles. In addition he gets insight in a fundamental life principle: The world and the existence is neither only black nor only white, but both. Simon’s experiences in Bodø may be seen as steps on the road in search for his sexual identity. He kills the homophile Russian, and also such tendencies in himself, and gives Nora a kiss, a symbolic pact of initiation. Sunniva’s help signals that Simon has made the right decisions. As a true sailor he will go on with his life. Sunniva can see what other persons cannot see and knows what will happen in a person’s future life. Among her qualities are shape-shifting and the ability to fly. An obvious link to her magical abilities is her Sami ethnic-

178 the witch in the north – reality and fiction ity. She wears the Sami traditional costume. She brings Simon a Sami cap to use, so that the Russians will not recognize him when he tries to escape. The Samis live close to nature, and in that respect they have access to a power po- tential, hidden for civilized people. In addition, Sunniva’s independence and deep insight has to do with her high age. This is shown clearly by contrast- ing Sunniva and Nora. While the young Nora has to stay inside the garden and listen to the voice of patriarchy, Sunniva can move freely in relation to men and in relation to space. She enjoys respect from men because of her age and her life experience. She has reached a life stage where she gener- ously can use her female energy as she likes. She is a woman not subdued by other people’s decisions, neither the society nor the patriarchy. She is ac- cepted, and so is her activity. Sunniva acts as a reprimanding and approving figure based on the mor- al norm she represents. She has the authority to decide what is right and wrong. However, most of all is Sunniva’s function to reach out for the type of transcending experiences which result in new existential insight. Sun- niva is a mythical witch. regine normann: nordlandsnatt The Norwegian author Regine Normann published in 1927 a collection of legends called Nordlandsnatt [Nordland’s night]. The legends have a frame story, keeping the separate legends together. The frame story deals with Kari Aronste, a woman from Northern Norway, working and living in Oslo. She is back in her home village for her summer holidays. Kari asks her sis- ter-in-law, Johanna, whether everything that has to do with witchcraft and sorcery in the village is abandoned, as motorized boats have opened the road out to the wide world. Johanna denies this, and tells many legends to prove the opposite, among them the story about Sami Jonetta. She is a beg- gar who walks around and asks for food and small objects. If Sami Jonetta does not get what she desires, she casts spells on people and animals, and strange things happen. Once she did not get from Johanna a plate she asked for, and all of a sudden glasses and knives started to fall down from the shelves, with the result that the scared Johanna gave Sami Jonetta what she wanted. Another time Sami Jonetta was refused some pork at one of the big farms. The result was that the biggest pig suddenly came into the kitchen,

179 liv helene willumsen jumped into the baker oven and was so seriously burned that it had to be slaughtered. Still another time Sami Jonetta cast a spell over Mekkel, Kari’s brother, because he did not want to go fishing together with Sami Jonetta’s son any more. Sami Jonetta went into the cowshed, where she stroke the most beautiful sheep and patted the horse. After a short while, the horse tore himself loose and attacked the sheep, so that they had to slaughter the sheep. The horse became so difficult after that day that they had to get rid of it. To find the person behind these evil deeds, Mekkel burned the in- testines of the dead sheep. It was said that the one responsible then would be forced to show himself or herself. And suddenly they saw Sami Jonetta running down to the sea. Johanna then said that she did not know whether it was Sami Jonetta herself they saw, or just her shape, which the Evil One had given life. Johanna and her husband Mekkel believe and say that Sami Jonetta is able to practice sorcery. In this text, such abilities are related to Samis, but not exclusively to women. The witch figure described is rooted in folk belief.

comparison

The figure of the witch in the North as she arises based on historical docu- ments, compared with the same figure portrayed in fiction, shows clear differences. The historical witch was a victim, restricted to the historical period in which she lived, and with few possibilities to escape from accusa- tions and execution. This female figure was tortured and pressed during in- terrogation to give confessions of having entered a pact with the Devil. She was endangered because of her gender. All women were targeted, and often denunciations hit blindly. Only a few of the accused were Samis. The witch in the North portrayed in fiction represents various aspects. Magdalene Thoresen’s figure Cille Parsberg is portrayed with the histori- cal witchcraft trials as a backdrop. The traditional witch is presented in the text related to Sami ethnicity. Cille herself is sentenced as a witch and ex- ecuted. But Cille’s stigma as a witch has nothing to do with devilish deeds and the threat connected to the Devil. On the contrary, she is stigmatized because of true love to a married man and because this is threatening the conventional institution of marriage. It is a romantic love story, strength- ened by the contrasting echo of seventeenth-century witchcraft persecution.

180 the witch in the north – reality and fiction

Karen Blixen’s figure Sunniva has mythical qualities. She is a Sami per- son, with deep insight in life forces and with the ability to transform herself into a falcon. She is portrayed as a helper for a young boy in his transition from boy to man, and as a respected and feared witch in the local society. Sunniva is independent and free, there are no restrictions on her actions. Her great knowledge is due to close ties to nature. Regine Normann’s figure Sami Jonetta has the ability to cast damag- ing spells on humans and animals. She is a beggar, walking from house to house, and takes revenge particularly if she does not get what she desires. She is feared in the local community, and people believe she has the power of performing evil deeds. The historical witch is portrayed according to the events that really hap- pened. In the North of Norway, she was a Norwegian woman, not a Sami woman. In fiction, however, she is described as a Sami person. The narrator of a fictional work has the privilege of portraying the witch figure with quali- ties of mythical dimensions. The witch in fiction may transcend realistic thresholds, escaping from restrictions related to harsh life conditions. The figure of the witch in the North appears in different shapes in the three dif- ferent fictional texts studied, but always related to Sami ethnicity. The func- tion of the witch figure within the fictional framework varies from text to text. This function is manifold and related to the thematic level of the work.

181 appendix A

program: the viii nordic women’s and gender history conference: gender and knowledge – gendered knowledge turku, finland, august 12–14 2005

Thursday August 11

18.00–21.00 Opening program: Women in Science, Culture and Politics. Panel discussion on Finnish and Nordic Women’s History Åbo Akademi University, Arken, Aud. Armfelt, Tehtaankatu 2

Friday August 12

8.00–16.00 Registration Educarium, Main hall, Assistentinkatu 5, University of Turku

10.00–10.30 Opening address, Anu Lahtinen, University of Turku

10.30–12.00 Keynote Prof. Liz Stanley, University of Edinburgh, UK: & the Schreiner epistolarium & the Schreiner epistolarium. Archigraphics: in the politics, ethics & theoretics of feminist historiography Educarium 1

12.00–13.30 Lunch at restaurang Macciavelli, Educarium, opening of poster exhibition

13.30–14.30 Keynote Ph.D Katriina Honkanen, Åbo Akademi University, Finland: On the importance of historicizing for feminist constructivist thinking Educarium 1

14.30–14.45 Break

183 appendix

14.45–16.00 Main session I: Gender and knowledge – use, misuse and non- use of history in women’s studies (in English) Chair: Prof. Gro Hagemann, University of Oslo, Norway Panelists: Katriina Honkanen, Finland, Gro Hagemann, Norway, Anu Koivunen, Finland, Hilde Römer Christensen, Denmark, David Tjeder, Sweden Educarium 1

16.00–16.30 Coffee break, opening of book stalls

16.30–18.00 Parallel sessions I 1. Ethics and the role of the researcher in history-writing 2. Nordic zealots – Gender and colonialism in Christian missions and development aid 3. Foucault and the Writing of Feminist History. 4. Free papers Roundtable: 1. Könade krigsminnen under efterkrigstiden i Norden

Evening program 18.00 Guided City Tour Evening program 19.30 Welcome Reception at City Hall, (Aurakatu 2) Evening program 21.30 Chamber music by female composers at Academy Hall (Rothovuksenkatu 2)

Saturday August 13

9.00–10.30 Keynote Prof. Clare Midgley, London Metropolitan University, UK : Bringing the Empire home: Women activists in Imperial Britain Educarium 1

10.30–11.00 Coffee break

11.00–13.00 Main session II: Colonialism and Nordic Women’s History – Postcolonial Challenges (in English) Chair: Phil. Lic. Seija Jalagin, University of Oulu, Finland Panelists: Gunlög Fur, Sweden, Anne Trine Larsen, Denmark, Inger Marie Okkenhaug, Norway

184 appendix

13.00–14.30 Lunch at Restaurant Macciavelli, Educarium 14.30–16.00 Parallel sessions II 1. Ethics and the role of the researcher in history-writing 2. Postcolonial challenges for women’s history 3. Nordic zealots – Gender and colonialism in Christian missions and development aid 4. Women writing history 5. Historical Knowledge and Masculinity Roundtable: 1. Men, money and friendship – a way of studying the organization of the women’s movement 2. Gymnastics and Dance in Forming Femininities in the Nordic Countries

16.00–16.30 Coffee break

16.30–18.00 Parallel sessions III 1. Ethics and the role of the researcher in history-writing 2. Postcolonial challenges for women’s history 3. Nordic zealots – Gender and colonialism in Christian missions and development aid 4. Women Writing History 5. Historical Knowledge and Masculinity 6. Women, Skill and Employment 7. Free papers Roundtable: 1. At the Margins of Prostitution Control. The Nordic Countries 1880–1940 2. Gymnastics and Dance in Forming Femininities in the Nordic Countries

18.00–19.00 Meeting for members of the association SKOGH – Sveriges kvinno- och genushistoriker. Educarium 1

Evening program 19.00 Conference Banquet at Arken, Tehtaankatu 2

Sunday August 14

9.30–11.00 Parallel sessions IV 1. Women Writing History 2. Historical Knowledge and Masculinity

185 appendix

3. Gender and the history of childhood 4. Women, Skill and Employment 5. Gender and the public-sector from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century Roundtable: 1. The cold war – a gendered conflict? 2. Gender, Narrative and Analysis in the Making of Intellectual Biographies from the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries

11.00–11.30 Coffee break

11.30–13.00 Parallel sessions V 1. Historical Knowledge and Masculinity 2. Gender and the history of childhood 3. Women, Skill and Employment 4. Gender and the public-sector from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century 5. Free papers Roundtable: 1. A matter of style: the surface performers of gender

13.00–14.00 Lunch at Macciavelli, Educarium

14.00–14.45 Karen Offen, Senior Scholar, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Stanford University: Plucking the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge: European Women and the ‘Knowledge Wars’ Educarium 1

14.45–16.00 Main session III: Women’s history now – segregation, integration, reproduction (In Nordic languages) Chair: Marianne Liljeström, University of Turku, Finland. Panelists: Sigridur Matthiasdottir, Iceland, Eirinn Larsen, Norway, Silke Neunsinger, Sweden, Anne Folke Henningsen, Denmark, Ann-Catrin Östman, Finland Panel discussion and closing words Educarium 1

Evening program: 16.00–19.30 Excursion to Naantali

186 appendix B

Program: The IX Women’s and Gender History Conference: Gender, Space and Borders Reykjavík, August 11–13, 2008

Monday 11 August

08:30–10:00 Registration

10:00–12:00 Opening – KEYNOTE Ida Blom, professor, University of Bergen: Finding a new past – from national women’s history to transnational gender history

12:00–13:00 LUNCH

13:00–15:00 Plenary discussion: Integrating gender and history Chair: Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir, historian/PhD student, Centre for Research in the Humanities, University of Iceland Participants: Yvonne Svanström, associate professor, Stockholm University: Feminism or gender? Integration or separation? Vision and reality? Pirjo Markkola, professor, Åbo Akademi: Women’s history meets the historical journals Elisabet Haavet, professor, University of Bergen: Gender history in Nordic institutions – separation or integration? Deborah Simonton, associate professor, University of Southern Denmark: Experiences from Great Britain & Denmark

15:00–18:00 Parallell sessions: Session 2.1: Självbiografiska källor i historisk forskning/Autobiographical ­sources in historical research. Självbiografin/Autobiography Session 5.1: Genus och arbete/Gender and work Session 5.a: Kön och arbete – historiska förståelser och nya begrepp/Gender and work – Historical understandings and new conceptions

187 appendix

Session 6.1. Genusrelationer i de medeltida institutionerna/Gender relations in the Middle Ages. Women and Access to Power Session 7.1. Erfarenheter om könet i europeiska städer, 1600–1800/Gender in the European Town, 1600–1800. Gender in the European town: women doing it for themselves? Session 12.1: Rum och kön i livsmiljön – rumsliga perspektiv på genusrelationer/Spatiality and gender as materialised in lived environments Roundtable 5: Velfærdsstat og køn/Welfare state and gender Roundtable 7: Kvinnohistoriska portaler/Women‘s history

18:15 Guided women’s history walk in the centre of Reykjavik.

Tuesday 12 August

09:00–10:30 KEYNOTE Judith Bennett, professor, Dept. of History, University of Southern California: Women, History and Feminism.

11:00–12:30 Parallel sessions Session 2.2. Självbiografiska källor i historisk forskning/Autobiographical sources in historical research. Brevet/Letters Session 5.2 Genus och arbete/Gender and work Session 7.2 Erfarenheter om könet i europeiska städer, 1600–1800/Gender in the European Town, 1600–1800. Gender, places and spaces in the urban environment Session 9.1 Genus och komparation i kvalitativa och kvantitativa analyser: Olika perspektiv på könade gränser och erfarenheter i historieforskning/Gender and comparison in qualitative and quantitative analysis Session 12.2 Rum och kön i livsmiljön – rumsliga perspektiv på genusrelationer/ Spatiality and gender as materialised in lived environments Roundtable 2 Mænd i nordisk feminisme 1848–1918/Men in Nordic feminism 1848–1918. Roundtable 6 The boy turn and backlash against feminism

12:30–13:30 LUNCH

13:30–16:30 Parallel sessions Session 1 Internationalisme: Kvindebevægelser før og nu, lokal og international/ Internationalism: Women’s movements old and new – local and global Session 2.3 Självbiografiska källor i historisk forskning/Autobiographical

188 appendix

­sources in historical research. Dagboken och andra källor/The diary and other sources Session 3.1 Kropp, plats och nation/Bodies, spaces and nations Session 5.3 Genus och arbete/Gender and work Session 6.2 Genusrelationer i de medeltida institutionerna/Gender relations in the Middle Ages. Genus och religiösa institutioner – Gender and Religious Institutions Session 7.3 Erfarenheter om könet i europeiska städer, 1600–1800/Gender in the European Town, 1600–1800. Power and class in the European town Session 9.2 Genus och komparation i kvalitativa och kvantitativa analyser: Olika perspektiv på könade gränser och erfarenheter i historieforskning/ Gender and comparison in qualitative and quantitative analysis Session 12.3 Rum och kön i livsmiljön – rumsliga perspektiv på genusrelationer/ Spatiality and gender as materialised in lived environments

17:00–22:00 Excursion to the historical site Þingvellir.

Wednesday 13 August

09:00–10:30 KEYNOTE Ellen DuBois, professor, Dept. of History, UCLA: Henni and Bodil Ride the Waves: The League of Nations, the United Nations and the early history of international women’s rights

11:00–12:30 Plenary discussion: International relations and the women’s movement Chair: Silke Neunsinger, researcher, Labour Movement Archives and Library Participants: Ellen DeBois, professor, University of California, Los Angeles: Women and the League of Nations Nina Almgren, researcher, University of Uppsala, and Camilla Norrbin, researcher, University of Göteborg: Swedish ambassadors’ and female MP’s international activity during the 19th century Kristín Ástgeirsdóttir, director, The Centre for Gender Equality: From the International Council of Women into the Icelandic parliament. International co-operation in practice Seija Jalagin, Historiska institutionen, University of Oulu: Missionary women and transnational agency

12:30–14:00 LUNCH

189 appendix

14:00–17:30 Parallel sessions Session 3.2 Kropp, plats och nation/Bodies, spaces and nations Session 5.4 Genus och arbete/Gender and work Session 6.3 Genusrelationer i de medeltida institutionerna/Gender relations in the Middle Ages. Begränsningar, gränsöverskridanden och strategier./Borders: limitations, transgressions and strategies. Session 8 Genus och resande/Gender and travelling Session 10 Medier, plats och genusidentiteter/Media, space and gender identities Session 13 Rösträttens historia – rum, möjligheter och gränser/Suffrage stories – spaces, possibilities and boundaries Rundabord 1: ”Umandlighed” i køns- og mandshistorien/”Unmanliness“ in the history of men and of gender. Free lectures

17:30–18:30 Network meetings and other meetings

19:00 Reception by the Minister for foreign affairs, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir

20:00 Festive Dinner – closing procedure

190