Nationalising Culture the Reorganisation of National Culture in Swedish Cultural Policy 1970–2002
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NATIONALISING CULTURE THE REORGANISATION OF NATIONAL CULTURE IN SWEDISH CULTURAL POLICY 1970–2002 TOBIAS HARDING Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 393 Linköping University, Department for Studies of Social Change and Culture, Linköping 2007 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science • No. 393 At the Faculty of Arts and Science at Linköpings universitet, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organised in interdisciplinary research envir- onments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköp- ing Studies in Arts and Science. This thesis comes from the Department of Culture Studies at the Department for Studies of Social Change and Culture Linköping University has a strong tradition for interdisciplinary research and PhD education, with a range of thematically defined problem areas. At the Department of Culture Studies (Tema kultur och samhälle, Tema Q), culture is studied as a dynamic field of practices, including agency as well as structure, and cultural products as well as the way they are produced, consumed, com- municated and used. Tema Q is part of the larger Department for Studies of Social Change and Culture (ISAK). Distributed by: The Department for Studies of Social Change and Culture Linköping University SE-581 83 Linköping Tobias Harding Nationalising Culture The Reorganisation of National Culture in Swedish Cultural Policy 1970–2002 Upplaga 1:1 ISBN 978-91-85831-51-7 ISSN 0282-9800 © Tobias Harding and The Department for Studies of Social Change and Culture 2007 Printer: LiU-tryck Cover illustration: The front cover shows the National Museum of Fine Arts to the left. In the middle, alone on a hill, we see the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, once an annex to the Nat- ional Museum of Fine Arts, now a part of the National Museums of World Culture. At the far right is the Skeppsholmen Church, a desacralised church, the future of which remains uncertain. The picture was taken in Stockholm in the spring of 2007. The photographer is turning his back to the Royal Palace (© Nils Harding). Back: A view of the industrial heritage area in central Norr- köping. In the background one can glimpse the Museum of Work. The dam was once con- structed to power textile industries but is currently there only to provide the right impression to observers. The building to the left houses the Linköping University Department of Culture Stud- ies, and my office (© Linköping University). – 2 – Contents CONTENTS............................................................................................. 3 PREFACE................................................................................................. 5 I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 7 II. CULTURE AND THE NATION.....................................................19 Socio-Economic Construction of Nations: Modernist Theory....................................20 Cultivating the Nation: Nationhood and Culture .................................................29 Institutions of the Nation-State ........................................................................37 Categories, Culture and the Limits of Nationality ................................................43 Points of Departure .......................................................................................47 III. STUDYING THE STATE AS AN INSTITUTIONAL ACTOR...51 Neo-Institutional Approaches ..........................................................................51 A “Normative” Approach to Institutions...........................................................55 Change, Fields and Path Dependency.................................................................59 The Cultural Sector, Cultural Policy and the Limits and Periods of this Study...........71 Sources and Methods for Their Interpretation.......................................................74 IV. CULTURAL POLICY AND THE SWEDISH NATION-STATE...................................................... 79 Goths, Lutherans and Francophiles: Proto-National Swedish Cultural Policy............80 Cultural Policy and the Nation in the Long Nineteenth Century..............................85 Cultural Policy, Nationalism and the Birth of the Folkhem State ...........................93 Swedish Cultural Policy after 1970, According to Cultural Policy Research.............102 V. 1970–1973: A NEW CULTURAL POLICY?.................................... 111 General Cultural Policy................................................................................113 Theatre, Dance and Music Policy....................................................................131 Film Policy ................................................................................................136 Literature and Library Policy ........................................................................140 Museum and Heritage Policy .........................................................................147 Church and Religion Policy............................................................................155 Conclusion: Universalistic State-Framed Integration............................................164 – 3 – VI. 1991–1994: SWEDEN IN THE NEW EUROPE..........................171 General Cultural Policy................................................................................173 Theatre, Dance and Music Policy....................................................................185 Film Policy ................................................................................................189 Literature and Library Policy ........................................................................194 Museum and Heritage Policy .........................................................................195 Church and Religion Policy............................................................................209 Conclusion: Managing Swedish Culture in the New Europe..................................221 VII. 1994–1998: CONSOLIDATION AND NEW PATHS................ 225 General Cultural Policy................................................................................226 Prelude to a Language Policy: Protecting Minority Languages................................253 Policy on the Forms of Art ............................................................................256 The Situation of Artists................................................................................263 Literature and Library Policy ........................................................................273 Museum and Heritage Policy .........................................................................281 Church and Religion Policy............................................................................296 Conclusion: Consolidation and New Paths........................................................303 VIII. 1998–2002: NATIONALISING WORLD CULTURE...............311 General Cultural Policy................................................................................312 Language Policy..........................................................................................319 Policy on the Forms of Art ............................................................................328 Literature and Library Policy ........................................................................337 Heritage and Museum Policy .........................................................................340 Church and Religion Policy............................................................................351 Conclusion: Disintegration and Coercive Re-Integration........................................356 IX. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION.....................................................361 REFERENCES .................................................................................... 379 Literature..................................................................................................379 Interviews ..................................................................................................393 APPENDIX: A SHORT GUIDE TO SWEDISH POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION.............................................. 395 The Legal Decision Making Process................................................................397 Political Parties Represented in the Riksdag ......................................................398 Abbreviations and Translations of Swedish Terms..............................................400 – 4 – Preface Working towards a Ph.D. is an odd experience. One is at once a student and an employee of a university. In my case I was also a teacher at that university. This situation is in itself an excellent condition for learning: to be faced with so many of the aspects of academic life at the same time. This is especially true at an interdisciplinary department such as the Department of Culture Studies at Linköping University. One not only meets people at different levels at the university or studying different topics, there is also a meeting of aca- demic disciplines that reveals that what one might initially have taken for granted is only one way of looking at scholarly work. I have to say that this has helped me tremendously in finding my own perspective on things. This dissertation is one product of that process. While interdisciplinary work gives a freedom that I have greatly appreci- ated, this freedom also comes with a price. If I had stayed entirely within the bounds of political science,