Ethnologia Scandinavica

Ethnologia Scandinavica Ethnologia Scandinavica National identification, fashion and heritage, health and medicine, and rural heritage are the themes that build the foundation of this volume of Ethnologia Scandinavica. Together with reviews of books and dissertations, this issue shows what is going on today in Nordic ethnology.

Besides empirical themes we get examples of how ethnologists affect their field of interest in ethical and/ or political respects, as part of a methodology, and through the effects of the findings they present.

2016 Ethnologia Scandinavica A Journal for nordic ethnology Printed in Sweden Textgruppen i Uppsala AB 2016 ISSN 0348-9698 VOLUME 46 • 2016

Ethnologia Scandinavica A JOURNAL FOR NORDIC ETHNOLOGY ISSN 0348-9698

Published by THE ROYAL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ACADEMY FOR SWEDISH FOLK CULTURE

Editorial office: Division of Ethnology, Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences Lund University, Box 192, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden. www.kgaa.nu/tidskrifter.php Editor: Lars-Eric Jönsson, Lund E-mail: [email protected] Assistant editor: Margareta Tellenbach, Bjärred E-mail: [email protected] Editorial board: Marie Riegels Melchior, Copenhagen, [email protected] Birgitta Svensson, Stockholm, [email protected] Anna-Maria Åström, Åbo, [email protected] Tove Fjell, Bergen, [email protected]

Cover illustration: Svenska dalahästar på världsutställningen i Shanghai 2010. Photo: Charlotte Hagström.

Ethnologia Scandinavica is printed with the support of the Nordic Publications Committee for Humanist Periodicals. The journal publishes peer reviewed papers in English and German based on all branches of material and social culture, and in reviews, biographical notes and reports reflects ethnological contributions and activities in the Scandinavian countries. One volume of Ethnologia Scandinavica comprises 200 pages, published in one issue yearly. Subscription price for volume 2016 is SEK 350:–. Postage is included. Orders should be sent to Swedish Science Press, Uppsala, www.ssp.nu Contents

Papers Kidney Transplantation Care. Rev. by Klaus Hoeyer 3 Editorial. By Lars-Eric Jönsson 165 Textiles in Eastern Norway – Bjørn Sverre Hol 5 Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities. Haugen, Virkningsfulle tekstiler – i østnorske The Welfare State Perceived as a Restriction and bønders draktpraksiser på 1700-tallet. Rev. by Li- an Ideal for Swedish Tech-entrepreneurs in Europe zette Gradén & Tine Damsholt and the US. By Lisa Wiklund 167 Fashions as Museum Objects – Anne-Sofie Hjem- 21 Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar. By dahl, Liv i museet. Kunstindustrimuseet i Oslo gjør Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube kropp med moteklær 1928–1960. Rev. by Lizette 38 Dress and Dance. The Staging of Multiple Tem- Gradén & Tine Damsholt poralities in an Art-Historical Setting. By Anne- 171 Dracula Tourism – Tuomas Hovi, Heritage through Sofie Hjelmdahl Fiction. Dracula Tourism in Romania. Rev. by An- 56 “I Am A Skirt Person”. Resistance to Women’s ders Kaliff Trouser Fashion in Oral History Narratives. By 175 The Meanings of Paid Work – Kirsi-Maria Hytö- Arja Turunen nen, Ei elämääni lomia mahtunut. Naisten 70 Collaborative Knitting. Experiencing Tradition and muistelukerrontaa palkkatyöstä, talvi- ja jatkoso- Space. By Anna Rauhala tien jälleenrakennuksen aikana. Rev. by Pia Olsson 87 Implied Meal Partners. Ethnographic Accounts of 177 Mothers from Rural Areas Discussing Their Well- Elderly Participants in a Clinical Intervention and being and Networks – Pilvi Hämeenaho, Hyvin- Their Meals. By Marie Haulund Otto voinnin verkostot maaseudulla asuvien äitien arjes- 104 Cells in Suspense. Unboxing the Negotiations of a sa. Etnologinen tutkimus palvelujen käytöstä ja Large-scale Cell Transplantation Trial. By Andréa hyvän arjen rakentumisesta. Rev. by Helena Ruot- Wiszmeg sala 124 Changing Rural Paradigms. Rural Ethnology be- 179 Cultural Heritage Built through Stories – Eeva tween State Interest and Local Activism. By Jeppe Karhunen, Porin Kuudennen osan tarinoista raken- Engset Høst nettu kulttuuriperintö. Rev. by Sanna Lillbroända- Annala 180 The Good Late Life – Aske Juul Lassen, Active ageing and the unmaking of old age. The knowl- Biographical Notes edge productions, everyday practices and policies of the good late life. Rev. by Åsa Alftberg 142 Birgit Hertzberg Johnsen/Kaare, 1948–2016. By 183 Men as Victims of Rape – Jens Lindberg, Orsak: Anders Gustavsson våldtäkt. Om våldtagna män i medicinsk praktik. 143 Anna-Leena Siikala, 1943−2016. By Pekka Haka- Rev. by Rannveig Svendby mies 185 Norwegian Schoolhouses as Cultural Monuments 145 Jan-Öjvind Swahn, 1925−2016. By Ulrika Wolf- – Leidulf Mydland, Skolehuset som kulturminne. Knuts Lokale verdier og nasjonal kulturminneforvaltning. 147 Haci Akman, Professor in Bergen. By Nils Gilje Rev. by Anders Gustavsson 148 Pertti Anttonen, Professor in Joensuu. By Ülo Valk 187 Spaces in Museums – Märit Simonsson, Display- 150 Tone Hellesund, Professor in Bergen. By Nils Gilje ing Spaces. Spatial Design, Experience, and Au- 151 Kyrre Kverndokk, Professor in Bergen. By Nils thenticity in Museums. Rev. by Vaike Fors Gilje 189 The Joy of Dancing – Heidi Stavrum, Danseglade og hverdagsliv. Etikk, estetikk og politikk i det norska dansebandfeltet. Rev. by Lars Kaijser 194 Harbor: a Cornucopia of Cultural Significance – Reviews Tytti Steel, Risteäviä eroja sataman arjessa. Rev. New Dissertations by Jukka Jouhki 196 Becoming One’s Identity – Philip Warkander, 152 Cultural Analysis of the Brain – Michael Andersen, “This is all fake, this is all plastic, this is me”. A A Question of Location – Life with Fatigue after study of the interrelations between style, sexuality Stroke. Rev. by Kristofer Hansson and gender in contemporary Stockholm. Rev. by 154 Folding Time in Archaeology – Elin Engström, Marie Riegels Melchior Eketorps veckningar. Hur arkeologi formar tid, 197 The Sparsely Populated North – Elisabeth Wollin rum och kön. Rev. by Elisabeth Arwill-Nordbladh Elhouar, Tillhör vi Sveriges framtid? En etnolo- 160 East German Supporter Culture – Joakim Glaser, gisk studie av vardag och hållbarhet i norrländsk Fotboll från Mielke till Merkel: Kontinuitet, brott glesbygd. Rev. by Lisa Wiklund och förändring i supporterkultur i östra Tyskland. 200 Feelings of Belonging on the Costa del Sol – Annie Rev. by Petra Garberding Woube, Finding One’s Place. An Ethnological 163 The Lives Lived in the Shadow of Kidney Failure Study of Belonging among Swedish Migrants on – Martin Gunnarson, Please Be Patient. A Cultural the Costa del Sol in Spain. Rev. by Anne Leonora Phenomenological Study of Haemodialysis and Blaakilde

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Book Reviews 231 Natural Catastrophes – Kyrre Kverndokk, Naturka- tastrofer. En kulturhistorie. Rev. by Gunnar Bro- 203 When Industry Becomes Heritage – Når industri- berg samfunnet blir verdensarv. Hans Jakob Ågotnes, 232 How to Make Cultural History – Making Cultural Randi Barndon, Asbjørn Engevik & Torunn Sel- History. New Perspectives on Western Heritage. berg (eds.). Rev. by Bobo Krabbe Magid Anna Källén (ed.). Rev. by Sven-Erik Klinkmann 204 Mumming and Masks in Denmark – Maske og 239 Even the Minister’s Wife! – Vid hans sida. Svenska forklædning i Danmark. Inge Adriansen & Carsten prästfruar under 250 år – ideal och verklighet. Ul- Bregenhøj (eds.). Rev. by Fredrik Skott rika Lagerlöf Nilsson & Birgitta Meurling (eds.). 204 The Gyrfalcon Trade – Sigurður Ægisson, Icelan- Rev. by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts dic Trade with Gyrfalcons. From Medieval Times 240 Cities and Memories – Muistin kaupunki: Tulkin- to the Modern Era. Rev. by Ingvar Svanberg toja kaupungista muistin ja muistamisen paikkana. 206 Swedish Songs in Finland – Modersmålets sånger. Katri Lento & Pia Olsson (eds.). Rev. by Leena Finlands svenskheter framställda genom musik. Rossi Johannes Brusila, Pirkko Moisala & Hanna Väätäi- 242 A Revised Ethnomusicological Textbook – Dan nen (eds.). Rev. by Henrik Karlsson Lundberg & Gunnar Ternhag, Musiketnologi. En 208 Borderland Architecture – Peter Dragsbo, Arkitek- introduktion. Rev. by Magdalena Tellenbach tur til grænsen – Arkitektur og nation i europæiske 242 Baltic Liquor Smuggling – Johan A. Lundin & grænselande 1850–1940. Rev. by Björn Magnus- Fredrik Nilsson, Spritsmuggling på Östersjön. En son Staaf kulturhistorisk studie av nätverk i tillblivelse. Rev. 210 Everyday Life – Billy Ehn, Orvar Löfgren and by Anders Björklund Richard Wilk, Exploring Everyday Life: Strategies 244 Critical Heritage Research – Vägskälens kulturarv for Ethnography and Cultural Studies. Rev. by Hi- – kulturarv vid vägskäl. Om att skapa plats för lary Stanworth romer och resande i kulturarvet. En rapport från 213 West Nordic Explorations – Mette Eriksen forskningsprojektet Rörligare kulturarv. Ingrid Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Nordisk længsel. Møde med Martins Holmberg (ed.). Rev. by Birgitta Svensson folkekulturen i Sven Havsteen- Mikkelsens rejse- 247 Nature for Me – Naturen för mig. Nutida röster dagbøger og billedverden. Rev. by Anders Gus- och kulturella perspektiv. Lina Midholm & Katari- tavsson na Saltzman (eds.). Rev. by Agneta Lilja 213 Maritime Foodways in the Days of Sail – Mette 249 Museologists in Museums – Museologer på Mu- Eriksen Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Skibskost i sejlskibs- seum. Fra undring til kunnskap. Janne Werner Ols- tiden – fortællinger fra Marstal. Rev. by Mirja rud & Christine Snekkenes (eds.). Rev. by Richard Arnshav Pettersson 215 Nazism and Ethnology – Petra Garberding, Ve- 251 Thinking in Time – Sten Rentzhog, Tänk i tid. Se tenskap mellan diktatur och demokrati. Svensk och framåt genom att blicka bakåt. Rev. by Eva Klang tysk folklivsforskning i skuggan av nazismen och 253 A Book on Second Homes – Second Home Tour- kalla kriget. Rev. by Annette Vasström ism in Europe. Lifestyle Issues and Policy Re- 218 The Graveyards Report – Anders Gustavsson, sponses. Zoran Roca (ed.). Rev. by Ole Rud Niel- Grave Memorials as Cultural Heritage in Western sen Sweden with Focus on the 1800s. A Study of Ma- 253 Ideas of Furniture Design – Kirsten Rykind-Erik- terials, Society, Inscribed Texts and Symbols. Rev. sen, Griffe, hejrer og ulve – nytt syn på design og by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts møbelindustri 1830–1930. Rev. by Johan Knuts- 219 Making the Nordic Region through Media – Com- son municating the North. Media Structures and 256 The Historical Development of the Scout Move- Images in the Making of the Nordic Region. Jonas ment – Espen Schaanning, Barneridderne. Harvard & Peter Stadius (eds.). Rev. by Mats Lind- Baden-Powell og den norske speiderbevegelsen. qvist Rev. by Anders Gustavsson 224 Sikh Identity – Laura Hirvi, Identities in Practice. 257 Danish Folklore – Danish Folktales, Legends, & A Trans-Atlantic Ethnography of Sikh Immigrants Other Stories. Timothy R. Tangherlini (ed. and in Finland and in California. Rev. by Barbara Ber- transl.). Rev. by Camilla Asplund Ingemark tolani 259 Songs of the Border People – Lotte Tarkka, Songs 226 Faroese Foodways – Jóan Pauli Joensen, Bót og of the Border People. Genre, Reflexivity, and Per- biti. Matur og matarhald í Føroyum. Rev. by formance in Karelian Oral Poetry. Rev. by Krister Ingvar Svanberg Stoor 228 Life and Social Relations among the Ostrobothnian 260 Biographies of Stuffed Animals – Liv Emma Bourgeoisie, 1750–1850 – Pohjanmaan porvaris- Thorsen, Elephants Are Not Picked from Trees. ton vuosisata 1750–1850. Asuminen ja elämän- Animal Biographies in Gothenburg. Rev. by Ing- muoto. Seija Johnson & Sanna-Maija Kauppi var Svanberg (eds.). Rev. by Sanna Lillbroända-Annala 262 Sugar and Sweets in Sweden – Ulrika Torell, 229 Using the Power of Humour – Anu Korhonen, Kiu- Socker och söta saker. En kulturhistorisk studie av sanhenki. Sukupuoli ja huumori uuden ajan alussa. sockerkonsumtion i Sverige. Rev. by Michael An- Rev. by Leena Rossi dersen Editorial By Lars-Eric Jönsson

Ethnologia Scandinavica is, to a certain state. Wiklund investigates global and na- extent, what the authors produce. And the tional identification and when, in what authors’ texts may be considered a result situations, these two are activated. of the authors’ own personal interest and Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube in- curiosity as well as the expectations, de- vestigate Swedish immigrants to Norway mands and reactions from the academic and Spain. Swedish modernity, sexually society and community at large. As most attractive blonde Swedish women, red ru- scientific journals the articles mirror these ral Swedish cottages are all stereotypes conditions. that gave meanings in both a Norwegian In this issue we find both older and and a Spanish setting. newer themes in Nordic ethnology. Some The national stereotypes that ethnolo- we seem never to let go, while others have gists have been part of constructing are the a slightly shorter history in the discipline. subject of investigation in these two ar- The empirical themes dealt with by our ticles; stereotypes are obviously still in authors are national identifications, fash- production, in people’s everyday life and ion and heritage, health and medicine, and understanding of themselves and others. rural ethnography. These themes are also Together with Wiklund, Tolgensbakk and manifest in many of the dissertations pre- Woube, try out new approaches to nation- sented and books reviewed in this issue. al identity, or rather identifications. The Ethnologists’ relation to the construc- notion of the nation state, the believed nation of nations and national identity has tional characteristics, is in no way obso- long been problematic. We have been part lete, as the two articles show. of both nation building and the study and Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl takes her starting problematizing of nations and national point in a dress event at the Museum of identities. In this sense we have, histor- Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo in ically, gone native as well as taken an in- 1933. The article deals with how mu- vestigative critical position. Instead of seums enact past, present and future with identity, which used to be a subject for us, objects through museum practices. Hjem- identification and the construction and dahl shows how art history was the prime consequences of stereotypes are in the fo- organizer of time and how this generated a cus of our interest. particular temporality, not least based on Lisa Wiklund describes a social group style history and a firm contrasting of the of so-called cosmopolitans who, despite present and the past. She concludes that their cosmopolitanism, regard the nation staging fashion pasts was also about stag- state not only as a meaningful concept but ing the modern fashion future. also as a traditional symbol of an im- Arja Turunen investigates women’s at- agined community. In their world, the in- titudes to wearing trousers, with a certain ternet/tech society in San Francisco and emphasis on the periods before and after Silicon Valley seemed like the place to be, the Second World War. She shows how as an arena from which you could make a trousers were a sign of equality between difference. At the same time universal the sexes but also, for some women, re- values were considered particularly garded as something uncomfortable and/ Swedish and a part of the Swedish welfare or forbidden for women to wear. Turu-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 4 Lars-Eric Jönsson, Editorial

nen’s article is followed by Anna Rauhala strong interest in national characters and who takes us back to the museum and a identity. But it also devoted much re- particular social form of knitting. Rauhala search energy to the rural past. The sparse- uses knitting as an example of a moving ly populated countryside with its small tradition, and a handicraft that is not only and often shrinking communities seems to developed from generation to generation have slipped out of the ethnological radar but also through different social forums, of interest in the last few decades. Jeppe both face to face and on the Internet. She Høst investigates historical, cultural and also gives an example of collaborative social formations of rural developments in ethnography and how the role of the re- Denmark and Scandinavia in relation to searcher may take different shapes. the ethnological discipline. Høst investi- The third theme in this issue may be re- gates processes in the 1960s and 1970s ferred to as medical ethnography. Marie and how rurality became a problem for Haulund Otto investigates how elderly planners to solve. This was a period when people in meals connect to persons, bodies the trust in modernity, rational planning and emotions despite temporal, biological and urbanity was developed and unbro- and spatial distances. With her concept of ken. In the 1990s a new rural paradigm “implied meal partners” she shows how was introduced which recharged the de- meals affect the elderly participants aged bate with discourses of rural development, 65 or older in her study, how meals struc- entrepreneurial ideals, quality of life and ture life, and signal a structured life even innovation. Høst observes how ethnolo- if there are no obvious demands such as gists have been active in such processes, working hours that tell us how to schedule but also how the rural has, once again, be- the day. Meals and days structured come “a busy field” for ethnologists, a through meals are organized socially and culturally, rather than individually. field where we should, according to Høst, Andrea Wiszmeg partly connects to the cultivate our sensibilities for diversity, the study of Haulund Otto. Her article deals unspoken, ordinary and hidden practices with research processes made routine, and social ties. processes in a medical context where There is obviously much to say about methods for cell transplantations are de- such issues, that is, ethnologists’ engage- veloped and tried. Wiszmeg writes in ment in different fields, what these do to terms of ethics in practice, that is, not only our discipline and how we affect them ethics in programmes, guidelines, permits through our investigations. Several of the and in explicit negotiations but ethics em- articles in this issue deal, more or less ex- bedded in concrete practices. plicitly, with such political or ethical This issue ends by highlighting a questions. And although in recent years theme, and a territory, that was once we have developed perspectives on re- densely populated by ethnologists but to a search ethics, politics and applicability, it high degree was left behind in favour of seems as if these issues, considered as a more urban phenomena. In the past, as research field, call for more attention in mentioned above, the discipline had a the future. Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities The Welfare State Perceived as a Restriction and an Ideal for Swedish Tech-entrepreneurs in Europe and the US By Lisa Wiklund

In recent years, Sweden has had several cooperate in ways they have not before” major successes in the tech/internet field, (Nussbaum 2010:79). When it comes to with well-known examples such as Spoti- connecting the world the internet com- fy and Klarna, as well as numerous small munity is naturally highly relevant, and thriving start-up companies. Sweden something that was also often pointed out had already established itself in this field by the informants. in the period of the internet boom/bubble In this article, I would like to explore in the late 1990s, before the NASDAQ precisely the tension between the desire to crash in 2000. The second wave of Swe- “do good” on a global level, which was an dish internet companies in the last few articulated ideal among the informants, years position themselves in relation to and an everyday life that is largely charac- this period, and the 1990s still holds a terized by a privileged socio-economic symbolic status for people within the in- position and a positive national identifica- ternet community. The more recent devel- tion. Another aspect is how a globalized opment is to some extent regarded as a se- world makes it possible to imagine physi- quel to the success in the early years and cal places one has not yet visited as well as has further established Sweden’s position experiences from an everyday life where in the field (Wiklund 2015). one no longer lives. Imaginaries of Swe- This article is based on material from den as well as the places the informants my ongoing research project on Swedes have moved to are highlighted in the inter- on the tech/internet scene, living and views. How can national identification be working in Berlin, New York City, San understood in this context, how does that Francisco and Stockholm. The project relate to a more cosmopolitan identifica- centres on national identification in a tion, and when are the different perspec- global context and specifically how the in- tives highlighted? formants through their work and everyday life identify themselves as Swedes and as Method and Empirical Material actors in a cosmopolitan field. The fieldwork was primarily carried out The internet community is known to between 2013 and 2015 and consists of be, to some extent, characterized by an participant observation and qualitative in- altruistic and idealistic will to change the terviews with 23 informants, Swedes born world. The largest private foundation in between the 1970s and the 1990s, 17 men the world, the Bill & Melinda Gates and 6 women, based in Berlin, New York Foundation, is just one example of how City, San Francisco and Stockholm and money from the tech industry is used for active on the tech/internet scene. Some of initiatives in, among other things, world the informants were employed in the in- health and education. It has been argued dustry, but a majority of them were entre- that the problems we now need to solve – preneurs with their own start-ups, or had a economic, environmental, religious and background as entrepreneurs. The gender political – are global in their scope and imbalance in the field is well-known and “have no hope of being solved unless my selection of informants appears to be people once distant come together and somewhat representative of the field, al-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 6 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

though I can not be sure to what extent. the informants are totally unrecognizable The main criteria for the selection of in- to everyone. The interviews were all car- formants was however limited to: Swe- ried out in Swedish and have been tran- dish citizens who worked in the internet/ scribed by me and translated into English. tech field and were based in either Stock- As an ethnologist, I do not come from a holm, Berlin, New York or San Francisco. technical background, nor a business Some of them were based and/or worked background. In the informants’ profes- in several of these cities, or moved during sional context my perspective is the out- my fieldwork. sider’s. This is however combined with an The selection has in part been made us- insider perspective due to the fact that I ing the snowball method where one in- am from the same generation as the informant could point me in the direction of formants and to some extent from the another (cf. Kaijser & Öhlander 1999). same social background. I knew two of The community of Swedes is limited and them from the start, and later found out many of them were connected to each that I had mutual friends with some of the other, even though there was a small re- others. In this sense, this community is not sistance among the informants to talk that far away from me personally. I live in about relations with other Swedes. I rec- Stockholm and I have spent time in New ognize this as to some extent a typical trait York before, not least since I wrote my of a meritocratic global community, dissertation about the creative scene in where the air of a cosmopolitan or interna- Brooklyn (Wiklund 2013). I have also tional persona is important for building visited both San Francisco and Berlin, alone’s personal brand or image (cf. though I was not that familiar with these Wiklund 2013:42, 102). All of the informants have been given cites beforehand. This relative insider per- fictitious names and a few minor irrele- spective in relation to the social and geo- vant details have been changed to avoid graphical contexts has probably helped identification. This has not been a request me enter the field, especially since the in- from the informants, several of whom formants’ work environments were new were happy to participate in the study with territory to me. During the fieldwork, I their own names. Nevertheless, I believe have allowed for the informants to take that it is hard to foresee how the study will the lead and I have followed them around, be used by others, after being published, to their work, in their homes and at busi- and that I as a researcher have the ethical ness- or leisure-related activities. There- responsibility to try to avoid potential con- fore, the fieldwork sites are not the entire sequences for the informants (cf. Alver & cities as such, but rather the informants’ Øyen 1998:112; Karlsson Minganti 2007: social and geographical settings. That 36). Since the personal data is not particu- does not mean that they are entirely isolat- larly relevant for the study I do not, how- ed from other contexts; noticeably demon- ever, recognize this as a significant dilem- strated for example by the social friction ma. That being said, it is of course never they encounter and/or trigger that will be possible to be completely sure that all of further discussed in the article. Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 7

Theoretical Perspectives Two things in particular have made the The cities where the informants have ability to imagine a different life so much moved, and Sweden, the homeland that more accessible to people: media and mi- they have left, are physical locations that gration (Appadurai 1996/2010:3). Appa- also are accompanied by mental images durai uses a number of different terms and associations. Michel de Certeau’s with the suffix -scape to pinpoint specific definitions of place and space can be com- global, cultural flows that move across na- prehended through his statement that tional borders. Two of these -scapes, eth- “space is a practiced place”. This suggests noscapes and mediascapes, are particular- that people’s everyday use of physical ly relevant in this context. Ethnoscapes replaces creates spaces, which apart from fers to all the individuals who move across the material manifestation of them also in- borders, while mediascapes refer to the clude people’s experiences, thoughts and technical means to distribute media all kinds of stories about the specific through a variety of channels, and the im- place. For example, “San Francisco”, as a ages created and presented in these chan- meaningful space, includes personal asso- nels. The suffix -scape captures the dif- ciations, primarily related to people’s own fuse form of these flows, which means contexts. For the informants, for example, they do not look the same from every these associations would to a great extent angle, but that they can still have a stabil- revolve around ideas and experiences con- ized, subjective perspective. In their sta- cerning the internet/tech scene in this bilized perspective, -scapes are building place. Spaces should thus equally be re- blocks of what Appadurai calls imagined garded as physical places and as a mental worlds. These imagined worlds are thus representations of the thoughts the in- the variety of different worlds constituted formants have about these places, their by historically situated ideas of individ- practices of the place in the form of expe- uals and groups, geographically spread riences, memories, expectations and fan- across the globe (Appadurai 1996/2010: tasies. The same applies to “Sweden”, a 33ff). Appadurai’s concept imagined national space where certain things are un- worlds builds on Benedict Anderson’s derscored and others are toned down. classic concept of imagined communities Sweden and the cities where the inform- that covers the idea of the nation as an im- ants have moved are geographic locations, agined community. Anderson argues that places, but they are also largely surround- nationalism still possesses deep emotional ed by beliefs, stories and myths. In this force, as shown by how ”members of even way they can be understood as meaning- the smallest nation will never know most ful, connotative spaces (de Certeau 1999). of their fellow members, meet them, or A spatial perspective where geographi- even hear of them, yet in the minds of each cal places and mental associations are lives the image of their communion” (An- closely linked is also found in Arjun Ap- derson 1991:6). padurai’s theory. The work of the imagi- A global, cosmopolitan era needs a nation is, according to Appadurai, an im- somewhat new approach to national be- portant component for the modern subject. longing, according to Appadurai. With the 8 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

concept of ethnoscape he attempts to cap- that the nation state is obsolete. In this parture a new sort of interactive group identi- ticular context it is relevant to note how ty, different from the collective, usually the nation state appears as a construct, geographically fixed belonging. This is which the informants both oppose and consistent with an approach that talks identify themselves with. about national identification rather than One recurring objection to cosmopoli- national identity. The social anthropolo- tanism as a theoretical concept is that the gist Thomas Hylland Eriksen argues that word has connotations of being a concern he prefers to use the concept of identifica- only for an elite class, something that only tion because it shows that identity is a dy- affects a jet set of globetrotters. In a way, namic and changeable process rather than the informants in this article seem to con- something static and fixed. Identification firm this image, as they are individuals puts an emphasis on identities as relational from a privileged Western background, and situational instead (Eriksen 1996:52ff). who today belong to a class with high in- The concept of national identification is comes and all sorts of material advan- useful to investigate when the informants tages. The concept of cosmopolitanism is identify themselves as Swedes and when not however a new invention designed to they do not. It is also useful to explore describe a lifestyle for a privileged minor- when a more interactive group identity in ity; it depicts a universal human condition Appadurai’s sense is relevant, and in rela- with a very long history. Mankind’s histo- tion to this, how different connotative ry of migration has after all mainly con- spaces carry meaning for the informants. sisted of people that have been forced to A cosmopolitan perspective can here be move for survival. The term cosmopoli- seen as relevant. A central cosmopolitan tanism has also proven to be exceptionally thought is that imagined national and eth- resistant; although the word’s meaning nic communities do more harm than good. has been partly changed in recent years, it This idea is further developed not least by connects the current existence with condi- Benedict Anderson (1991), but was for- tions that have been a part of human histo- mulated already by the Stoics, and later ry since ancient times (e.g. Appiah 2006: developed by Immanuel Kant, primarily xiiiff). However, a cosmopolitan life can in his essay Perpetual Peace from 1795, of course look very different depending on where he expresses the desirability of an conditions based on, for example, class, attitude that is not limited by local con- ethnicity and gender. Cosmopolitan flows ventions, but instead independent and therefore also create social friction, which based on intellectual decisions (Nuss- in different ways is highlighted by the em- baum 1997:31). pirical material that this article is based on. The mediated experiences that an intensified flow of information creates, along Jante – the Ugly Face of the Swedish with the new knowledge that comes with Welfare State increased travel, gives more people the We were early, we were super early. […] It was in opportunity to make informed choices. A part the broadband penetration, they pushed for cosmopolitan perspective does not mean that really hard then. It was financed by the state. Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 9

And the home computer package. And above all, that they had experienced first-hand, for Sweden is rich. It’s a welfare state, you can afford example the fact that they had been helped to buy computers and mobile phones and things by the computer given to their parents by like that. It was somehow an incredible asset that one could really... you know, that all of a sudden the “home PC reform”. Fredrik, now everyone had a computer at home, it’s rather un- based in San Francisco, remembers: real actually. There’s no other country that has had My mother told me: “We’re gonna get some home it like that. (Fredrik, Berlin 2013) computer” and I immediately went like “Give me Three particular factors are commonly the paper, I’ll choose”. And then I picked the best one and put it in my room. My mother got it identified as especially contributing to the through Lärarhögskolan [the Institute of Edu- fact that Sweden had a head start when it cation] when she worked there. […] We would came to the internet and the web, and they never have been able to afford a computer like are pointed out by several of the inform- that, I mean, it was awesome. I don’t think my ants as well. The first reason is the Swe- parents would have bought me a computer like dish government’s substantial and early that if we hadn’t gotten it cheaper. It made a huge difference. (Fredrik, Berlin 2013) investment in broadband infrastructure that provided good internet access Being able to keep a computer in one’s throughout the nation at a relatively early room from an early age should naturally stage. The second factor is the “home PC be considered an advantage. A couple of reform” (hem-pc-reformen) that the the informants, however, came from more Swedish Social Democratic government challenging backgrounds. They had even launched in 1998. The reform gave every- more important experiences that made one that was employed in Sweden the them approve of the Swedish system. One chance to borrow a computer to keep at of them was Paola, born in 1990. When I their home with the later possibility to buy first met her in 2013 she was promoting a it at a favourable price. A third important successful start-up in Stockholm. Two and factor that is pointed out as a reason for half years later, she was listed as Swe- Sweden’s early entrance on the digital den’s most successful young talent in a arena is the Swedish welfare system, prestigious business magazine and had where one especially important circum- moved to New York to continue her work stance is possibly the fact that free higher for the same company. She was brought education is provided for everyone. up in a medium-sized town in the south of Regardless of their background, all of Sweden by her two parents who moved the informants spoke of Sweden as a good there from Chile: society to grow up in. One thing that was We only talked Spanish at home, we have lived in almost always mentioned was different the suburbs, we have, you know... been on wel- aspects of Swedish equality, and in this fare. I interpreted for my mother at the social au- context the Swedish welfare system was thorities, but at the same time... My dad put me in pointed out as especially valuable. a school in a better area, because I never liked it in Most of the informants, although not the suburbs. It really was sort of a ghetto area and I did not like it at all. So I was put in another all, came from rather economically solid school and then I started socializing of course with Swedish middle-class homes. Even so, lots of... more middle-class, Svensson types many of them pointed to specific benefits [Regular Joes] or what one should call them. And 10 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

then of course I thought like “this is how things scared of taking risks. Although it can are”. It became my reality. And then I came home seem a bit paradoxical, this connection is and it was not my family’s reality. I was like clear, according to many of the inform- “Now we’re gonna go to a confirmation camp and I need this amount of money” and my parents ants: were just like “Where on earth would we get that I don’t think we’re so risk-taking [...] We’re se- kind of money from?”, you know. There have curity-loving people, a little bit. I mean it’s wel- been many cultural clashes like that, when I have fare and it’s social democracy and all of that. It’s been completely oblivious to my parents’ situa- still like that, it’s still strong in us (Fredrik, Berlin, tion. As a child, you are so naive you just think 2013) “but the others can do that”, you know. So now, as an adult, I sometimes think “God, what a nice It was common among the informants to family I have” for putting up with me like this, speak of the Swedish welfare system as when I just demanded lots of stuff. And they just the origin of a collective atmosphere in the kind of always did their best to try to make ends Swedish society, where it is frowned upon meet and make sure I could be a part of the society to stand out. This tendency, according to that I wanted to be a part of. (Paola, Stockholm the informants, makes Sweden a bad place 2013) for entrepreneurs. The so-called “Law of To Paola, Sweden is “anti-hierarchical” Jante” was mentioned in almost all of the and gives anyone a fair chance to do what interviews. The expression, coined by the they want if they work hard. This, com- Danish/Norwegian writer Aksel Sande- bined with her parents’ hard efforts and mose in the novel A Fugitive Crosses His sacrifices, has in her opinion given her the Tracks (1933/1936), stands for a law opportunity to be where she is today. She which sees individual success as inappro- has lots of Swedish friends with immi- priate. The “Law of Jante” is considered to grant parents that are equally successful, be specific for the Scandinavian countries she says, something she thinks has to do and based on a social pattern of collectiv- with a wish to “prove” something. She ism and group behaviour. Felix, also a thinks that individual drive is the most im- Berlin-based entrepreneur, clarifies how portant factor behind her achievements, he has experienced this: although she also believes that it has been It’s so trite to talk about Jante, but it’s very sel- made possible in Sweden because she dom, I think not even a single time, that I’ve been thinks it is a nation that is “extremely praised or told “hell, of course you do should do open”. this, of course you should take that risk” I have An accentuating of the importance of never heard that in my entire life […] I like Swe- the Swedish equality, social security and a den. But the mentality is wrong. At the most, one solid welfare state is a reoccurring theme can gain recognition if one really succeeds. You in the interviews, however an experienced rarely get encouragement along the way. (Felix, Berlin, 2013) Swedish “anti-entrepreneurial spirit” is almost always mentioned in the same con- Even though the informants don’t identify text. The social security doesn’t come themselves with the Law of Jante they still without an inevitable expense, it seems. feel that they are affected by it, and that it The downside of it is that it has fostered a is something that can hinder them profes- national mentality where people are sionally: Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 11

Jante is no good. I think. That’s just super bad, ba- of many possibilities (Eriksen 1996:53). sically […] It’s just like we’re far too modest […] What is more obvious in the informants’ like this built-in feeling that it’s bad to bang your stories is how certain spaces, in de Cer- own drum. That makes it hard for us to stand up teau’s sense of the word, seem to make for ourselves when we come to places like the US. Where they are all experts at banging their own certain identities possible. While Sweden drum. […] We’re just not wild enough. (Fredrik, is characterized by modesty and being Berlin 2013) risk-averse, the US, for example, is associated with entrepreneurial bravery and But it is not regarded as a static inherited the ability to be “wild”. Although the in- national trait; it’s rather an attitude that is possible to change. Jenny, an entrepreneur formants sincerely related to the Swedish still living in Stockholm, tells me: ideal of a well-functioning welfare state, the social consequences of it were still I can at least feel like I wish I was a bit more tough something they would rather choose not to and daring […] because it is something that you’re identify with. Even though this character- really not as a Swede, you’re a bit cautious, a little bit mellanmjölk [Swedish milk product which is istic was partly regarded as “still strong” not fat, nor skimmed, but just in between]. And in them, it could be toned down by going that’s not so good when you have a company, be- somewhere else. cause it should be all or nothing, all the time. But it’s something we work on constantly, to try to Escaping Sweden toughen up a bit. (Jenny, Stockholm 2013) Sweden was portrayed by most of the en- Jenny explains her own characteristics, trepreneurs as a good place to start, but not and how she acts with being Swedish. But a good place to stay. Stockholm and Swe- she also believes that it would probably be den were often described as predictable easier to behave differently in another and uninspiring. One Berlin-based entre- geographical setting. This is a common preneur explained why he moved there: idea, also among the entrepreneurs that Berlin is a bigger city that has more to offer, it is have already left Sweden. When Fredrik more volatile and strange and distorted in some says it’s difficult for a Swede to go to the way. I find that very inspiring, that it is constantly US where “they are all experts at banging on the move. It is very far from my previous life their own drum”, he also expresses how in Södermalm [part of central Stockholm] where a places are laden with special practices and new deli opens every two years. That’s nice, I conventions. Fredrik, Felix and Jenny all guess, but you’re rarely surprised. (Hans, Berlin 2013) think it is possible to identify with something different from the Swedish norms, Hans’s description of how predictable and although it may take some work, and you stagnant Stockholm is compared to Berlin might have to go somewhere else to learn is another example of how a supposed this behaviour. In this way, the Swedish mentality is very much connected by the modesty or Jante is not a fixed national informants to a specific geographical identity, but rather close to Eriksen’s defi- place. Stockholm as a space is thus asso- nition, an identification that is dynamic ciated with boredom and lack of creativi- and where personal loyalties are change- ty. The same tendency is clear in the inter- able. The national identity is just one out view with Martin: 12 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

There are some things that are great in Stockholm. “little brother” and Stockholm was, as The reasons that we’re not there are both personal mentioned earlier, described by most as a reasons and business reasons, but I think they go difficult place to grow. All of the inform- hand in hand pretty well. It is these kind of simple ants in some way or another related to San things like that it’s quite regulated in terms of how people somehow are allowed to behave. From Francisco. Described by one of them as a strict laws regulating when clubs should close, place that “lives and breathes entrepre- which generates a strange drinking culture during neurship” and understood by most of them weekends as well as violence and all sorts of inhu- as the place from which it was actually manity [laughs] ... to the type of companies that possible to “change the world”, San Fran- are built there, that has a very clear e-commerce cisco and the Bay area had dreamlike and angle, business from day one. So sometimes it almost magical connotations. But San feels a bit like Stockholm is extremely effective at solving certain types of problems, and the brand- Francisco is also an actual geographical ing is great – and that’s how you launch boring place where most of the informants con- ideas. But that’s not necessarily something that clude that one has to go at some point, if makes the world a little better. (Martin, Berlin one wishes to be in the game. Even in a 2013) networked world, geography matters, San The articulated goal to “[make] the world Francisco–based entrepreneur Axel has a little better” or to “make a change” or the been made aware: like, was common in the interviews and, It’s like one big ecosystem and you have to figure as mentioned before, can be seen as a out who the hell to talk to. Like, who is really call- common ideal for the internet/tech scene ing the shots? It’s all very much a network. So then you have to go there [San Francisco] and as a whole. For this entrepreneur, as for meet them, and try to figure it out. Then it’s all most of the informants, it was a goal re- about frequency, to keep at it. This thing of being garded as more likely to be achieved out- nine time zones away, that’s not working. They side Sweden. The ultimate ambition for will hardly feel like calling and waiting for you to almost all of the informants was to go to get up in the morning. (Axel, San Francisco 2014) the US, and more specifically to San Fran- San Francisco can be said to have been cisco. “To be in San Francisco is like be- made into a space in de Certeau’s sense of ing inside of the internet”, the Berlin- the word in part before the informants based entrepreneur Hans tells me. The in- even went there. The concept of the power terview was conducted in 2013 and since of the imagination is one in which Appa- then his start-up has run out of money and durai wanted to find a new way to describe he has moved back home to Sweden. the experience of locality, which is neces- None of the six entrepreneurs I met in Ber- sary for ethnographic research in a glo- lin still have their start-ups three years balized world, research which he has later. One of them, Fredrik, has moved to termed as a macro-ethnography or a cos- San Francisco where he and his team start- mopolitan ethnography (2010:52). The ed working for a big international tech power of imagination is defined by Appa- company, through an “acquisition hire”. durai as an opportunity for people to re- While Berlin’s start-up scene had a hype flect on alternatives to their current lives for being “cool” but not that serious, New through their beliefs and fantasies. More York was defined as San Francisco’s people in more parts of the world are con- Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 13

sidering a wider range of possible lives a country that is… if you look at how big it is, than ever before. As mentioned initially, compared to how many good companies that have Appadurai identifies the main reasons for been launched in the technology sector over the this change as two: media and migration. past ten years, then it’s pretty... amazing. (Martin, Berlin 2013) This thus includes not only the many images and stories of possible lives present- Several of the informants said that they ed, for example in magazines and on tele- had good help from being Swedish, that vision, on the internet, in movies and in being Swedish ensured that they had a music, but also the social interactions of good reputation on the global market and people who are now given the opportunity that, at least in the beginning, it made it to stay in contact with friends and family easier to get in contact with investors. In members who have left home to settle in 2014 I met Johan in New York; he was places that were previously considered to born in the second half of the 1980s and is be distant worlds. As a result the ability to the founder and CEO of his own internet- imagine a different life now is a social based start-up. At the time of the inter- practice which in many ways affects the view, his company had recently raised life of people in diverse societies (Appa- about 10 million dollars from American, durai 1996/2010:53f). Although not yet British, German and Swedish investors. for just everyone, for many more people His clothing when we met was note- than ever before, there are good opportu- worthy. Apparently he took the advan- nities to fully or partially realize these im- tages of branding himself as a Swede so agined lives. Imagination thus becomes seriously that he had decided to walk more than just a fantasy, it’s also some- around every day dressed from head to toe thing that, at least in the long run, can lead in blue and yellow, the colours of the to rebellion and subversion of social or- Swedish flag – as well as the colours in his ders (ibid.:53f). company’s logotype. With a background The meeting with the actual place, in PR he was aware that “publicity helps”, though, is not always as expected. San he told me. Even though it might be an ex- Francisco as a space in the sense of a treme example to dress like the national “practiced place”, was for example altered flag, many of the entrepreneurs had ob- for many of the informants once they served that it was not just the accomplish- moved there, as I will now develop further. ments in the tech sector that they were associated with, but also other things that The Swedish Privilege and the Under- could be linked to Sweden. For example, privileged the imagined Swedish personality as a “no When we were about to start talking to our inves- bullshitter” with “hard work ethic” was tors in the beginning, we had a lot of help just by recognized, as well as a supposed similar- being Swedes actually, it was like almost as if we ity to companies like IKEA and H&M that were getting meetings just because we were “have it in their DNA to do something a Swedes, kind of. Which was awesome, everyone wants to meet Swedish entrepreneurs, it was like little different, a little smarter”, another “ok cool, it’s high status”. So that’s good. And I New York–based entrepreneur, Petter, ex- mean, looking closely at it too, I think Sweden is plained. 14 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

However, there was not always a hos- that Neukölln’s new status as an attractive pitable welcoming of the tech community neighbourhood for the young artist and in the cities that the informants moved to. tech scene might cause rents to go up, just During the fieldwork, I made my inform- as they had done in Kreuzberg, which he ants choose where to meet to do the initial thought would be bad for the people he interviews with them. They picked sophis- identified as the original inhabitants of ticated wine bars, quirky, just rough Neukölln, the Turkish community in the enough cafés and trendy member clubs area. There was an awareness of the nega- like Soho House – places that looked the tive aspects of being a secluded interna- same in all the cities I visited; cosmopoli- tional community; at the same time most tan spaces that clearly distinguished the of the informants in Berlin had for ex- informants, as a part of a cosmopolitan ample not learned to speak German very scene, from the other local citizens. When well. When I asked Martin about it he told I met Fredrik at Soho House in Berlin, he me that he could speak “Taxi-German”. proudly made me aware that a famous When asked what that was, he explained: Swedish business profile was having You know, to understand where they come from pizza next to us. During my fieldwork and to hear their stories and maybe be able to there in 2013, I found one morning that answer something. But I’m better at the words that someone had spray-painted the German make a conversation from their side continue than word “Intoleranz” in big letters over the I am at telling them anything about myself windows of the café St Oberholz on [laughs]. You could definitely say that. Rosenthaler Platz, a similar hang out for Martin’s belief that it is possible to listen the cosmopolitan crowd, which was usual- to the taxi drivers’ stories about “where ly packed with people working on their they come from” shows that they too are laptops and frequently used for tech presumed to be cosmopolitans, although meet-ups and mingles. The windows were working under different conditions than cleaned shortly afterwards, but the sight the international tech community, clearly was a visual testimony of the common dis- demonstrated by the fact that it has been approving opinions of the hip tech scene required for them to actually learn how to that Fredrik had already told me about speak German. In San Francisco, the gap when I interviewed him: between tech scene and the other citizens Things like “hipsters raus” or “yuppies raus”, if was perhaps even more evident. The city you walk around town you can see stuff like that has serious problems with drug abuse and scribbled here and there. Especially maybe in homelessness, aside from big income dif- Kreuzberg and places like that. Well... it is what it ferences and steeply increased rents, is, I guess. (Fredrik, Berlin 2013) which makes the citizens’ different social The conflict is economic to a large extent and economic situations all too visible in and the debate about gentrification has the streets of central San Francisco. Rep- been going on in Berlin for many years. resentatives of the tech community have Hans had moved to Neukölln because he sometimes demonstrated an arrogant atti- liked it better than Kreuzberg and the cen- tude. In 2016, for example, the tech entre- tral parts of Berlin. He expressed concern preneur and start-up founder Justin Keller Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 15

wrote an open letter to San Francisco’s out and let a new engineer from Sweden, that just mayor and police chief where he stated moved here, move in and pay three times as much. that “Every day, on my way to, and from Things like that create friction. So from the city’s perspective it is very double. I mean, this is what work, I see people sprawled across the creates money for the city, and jobs, but at the sidewalk, tent cities, human faeces, and same time it is very unequal. (Axel, San Francisco the faces of addiction. The city is becom- 2014) ing a shanty town… Worst of all, it is un- safe.” He also wrote that “The wealthy Appadurai uses the word translocalities to working people have earned their right to describe places characterized by people live in the city. They went out, got an edu- from different national origins that flow cation, worked hard, and earned it. I through them rather than staying there for shouldn’t have to worry about being ac- a longer period of time. The challenge to costed. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, build local communities in these places is struggle, and despair of homeless people the inherent instability in the social rela- to and from my way to work every day.” tions (Appadurai 1996/2010:192). When After being criticized, he later apologized economic differences are added to this infor using the term “riff-raff” to describe stability, creating social relationships be- the homeless, but other than that he did tween the citizens is even more challeng- not back down, even though many people ing and conflict is sometimes hard to from the tech community as well as other avoid. Being the “new engineer from San Francisco citizens said that they were Sweden” who drives someone away from very offended by the open letter posted on their home is naturally not so consistent his blog. The conflict between the tech with the urge to make the world a better scene and the regular citizens has also cul- place. The image of San Francisco as a minated in several demonstrations, such place to change the world is thus chal- as activists throwing stones at the buses lenged by the harsh realities on the streets that Google use to transport their San and class differences between the inform- Francisco–based employees to their head- ants and other citizens: quarters in Silicon Valley. The conflict Our previous office was in Tenderloin [...] It’s started in 2013 with an annoyance about really rough. It’s a humbling experience to walk the fact that Google, without paying for it, through these areas. I haven’t seen people who have smoked crack before, and then they sit and used the city’s bus stops for their luxuri- smoke outside our office door, really. Or people ous buses, free to use for their employees. sitting there with needles and stuff like that. I Axel told me he could understand the re- know that it exists in Stockholm as well, but you sentment, since the local citizens still had don’t see it. At least I have not experienced it in to pay for their transportation, in not near- this way before. It's hard to do something that you ly as nice buses. He also believed that the know works. I give money to them sometimes, but changes in the housing market had be- it also feels like a very small thing to do. It's hard not to get cynical about it, since the whole situa- come a big issue: tion is extremely hopeless. I feel that there must be So, everyone moves here and housing gets really some huge structural change if anything ever is expensive and landlords are behaving like ass- going to be different. But it might be too cynical holes and are trying to find reasons to kick people to see it like that, one might have to see it on a 16 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

more individual basis, and then maybe the best the outskirts of Stockholm. For several thing to do is to give some money every now and years, until his mother could find a job, the then, but more than that... I have not engaged in family was on welfare. He emphasizes anything else myself, I really haven’t. (Axel, San how he could not have been where he is Francisco 2014) today without the Swedish welfare system For those living in San Francisco the gap that he believes gives everyone an oppor- between the tech community and other tunity. He stresses that he thinks it is very citizens is hard to avoid, and they often important that this part of his story is told. talk about their scene as “a bubble”. This He sees the differences and his relative is contrasted by many with how things are privileges much more clearly since he in Sweden, and Sweden is seen by the in- moved to the US, he argues. A lot of the formants as much more diverse and San Francisco–based entrepreneurs also heterogeneous than San Francisco: discuss the taxes, which they believe are It’s very... culturally, very diverse, socio-econom- too high in relation to what they get back, ically, extremely homogeneous [in San Francis- in contrast to Sweden, where their experi- co]. I mean you meet everyone, you meet Chinese ence is that you get a lot. Since support people and Indian people, but they are all the same from the state seems to be missing, the [laughs]. Socio-economically, just identical! Swedish tech company that Mikael works Technically born in another country, but they also went to Brown, dadada, the same schools and all for have taken initiatives of their own, for of that […]. It’s less dynamic in a city that is seg- example to help the young people in the regated. It's more fun when... I lived in Malmö for central but deprived neighbourhood seven years, that’s a city that has many other is- where their office is located: sues that cause problems, but it’s still very dy- We do, after all, what we can. We try to make this namic. Shit’s going, on and it’s not nearly as ho- a better area for everyone. Right now there’s a lot mogeneous. (Axel, San Francisco 2014) of open drug dealing and stuff. It’s not very nice Sweden, to many of the informants that at all. It’s a big difference from Sweden and it’s moved to San Francisco, became a symbol like... It took me a while, but then it became kind of normal. But I am sad to see how many vulner- of diversity. Malmö, in this example, is able people there are. I see it still. I think that was seen as a dynamic melting pot, not nearly the reason that another colleague moved back to as segregated and static as San Francisco. Sweden, he was like: “This society is broken.” Sweden’s social problems are to some ex- And I think about it still but ... not as much as be- tent toned down by the informants and the fore. The fact that this society does not take re- dream about the welfare state become sponsibility for people in need has nothing to do even more accentuated. with tech, however. (Mikael, San Francisco 2014) Arash, whom I met in San Francisco, is There is a clear tendency in the interviews a tech entrepreneur with a PhD in engin- that instead of seeing themselves as a part eering from a prestigious Swedish univer- of the problem, the informants are very sity. Like Paola, he experienced a poor much inclined to see themselves as part of childhood in Sweden. The family moved the solution. And one way of resolving to Sweden when Arash was six years old, things seems to be to try to import the during the Iran–Iraq war, and Arash and sought-after Swedish values and ideals. his siblings were raised by their mother on An apparent example of how this is done Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 17

is how Axel talks about his company that give them a better and more anxiety free makes play apps for children: upbringing. We do products that have a very Swedish way of The anti-hierarchal relationship is not looking at kids. [...] Childhood in Sweden and only apparent between grown-ups and here... if you really polarize it, it’s the Bullerby children, but also in the work space, where children and Pippi Longstocking [famous Swe- a flat hierarchy is seen as a Swedish model dish children’s books characters by author Astrid that several of the entrepreneurs have in- Lindgren that are known for their independence in relation to adults] compared to being totally sub- corporated into their own companies. This ordinate to your parents, like kids are here, which makes the atmosphere kind and creative means like preschool-prep, you know evening according to Erik, who works for Spotify: classes, almost, for children [laughs] so they can When you say Swedish company, one could think be really good in kindergarten! That comes from of Ericsson and Scania and boring offices with old this anxiety in American society, that if you miss men named Gunnar and Lennart walking around the boat, then there is a risk that you will never get in clogs. But it doesn’t feel like that at all here. If a second chance. While in Sweden, I think it’s you look at the other stuff that feel Swedish in more like this: there is a system, there is a safety some sense, it’s more like being a workplace net. Worst case is not that fucking bad. Should it where it is not accepted to behave like an idiot, really go to hell, there’s so many things that must you should be fair and treat people nicely. These go wrong, it feels like, in Sweden. I don’t think it’s things are maybe not really Swedish, but they are always true in all situations, but that’s the feeling things that I associate very much with being anyway. While here, it takes almost nothing. I’ve probably never been so close to super wealth and Swedish and being a Swedish company. Things super poverty as I am here in some way, because should be fair, things should be good, ethical, you everything can change so very, very quickly. You should share equally. I think that there is a gut can be sued for a hundred million and then it’s feeling, that you should do things the right way, game over. There is nothing here! And that fear that you should avoid being a jerk. (Erik, New drives the way in which so many parents look at York 2013) their children. And in this way, we have a very Erik showed me around the office and it Scandinavian or Swedish approach to making products that are not aimed at anything other than was obvious that he was proud of it. The that it’s a game, and that playing has value in it- atmosphere was youthful and highly self, there is nothing that teaches you how to energetic, clearly not a place where you count, and there is nothing that teaches you how to walk around in clogs, rather sneakers read and so on, but it has a value in its own right. from various limited editions. The Swe- And that’s difficult for many people here. Almost dish language was heard several times all American parents that I meet… when I say that I make apps for kids they say “Oh great, educa- and apparently the Swedish values were tional apps?” And then I go like “No, not really, also in the building. Nevertheless, Erik it's not educational”. […] And that discussion will talked about going back home to Sweden of course enter into the job when we come from a to work for the local office there when he Scandinavian background where we have a differ- would be about to start a family, because ent outlook on it. (Axel, San Francisco 2014) of the generous parental leave in Sweden. The view of childhood is connected here For him, it was important to spend time to the Swedish welfare model, where par- with his future children. However, after ents do not have to worry so much about this interview, in 2015, Spotify an- their children’s future and therefore can nounced that they would give all of their 18 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

employees worldwide a fully paid paren- ty that in some situations to a greater de- tal leave of up to six months, a very gen- gree is a community in which they are in- erous offer in the US that attracted much volved, and in some situations is a com- attention. Parental leave was foreseen as munity that they want to exclude them- a strong Swedish feature by Erik already selves from. This attitude can be described in 2013: as a drive for them to find an alternative Among young conscious men and women, there’s affiliation, different from that of the ma- like this whole discussion about parental leave jority society and intellectually motivated, that has really made an impression, I mean really. in their case the scene where they found It’s the kind of thing that people are talking about the internet/tech community, consisting of quite a lot. (Erik, New York 2013) individuals from many parts of the world, with similar values and skills. This order Conclusions exemplifies the cosmopolitan idea that Although the informants had good experi- people’s rational choices in life are far ences of the Swedish welfare state and re- more relevant than their origin and that it garded it as an important factor for Swe- is possible to find an alternative communi- dish success in the internet/tech field, they ty apart from the local (national) one (see also saw it as problematic since it was un- Nussbaum 1997:32ff). derstood as the foundation for a national The informants identified with the cos- collective ideal, where the “Law of Jante” mopolitan tech community and with their played an important role, and it was seen chosen loyalties rather than with other as a bad thing to stand out or take risks. Swedes (Appadurai 1996/2010). Most of This made the homeland a bad place for them saw it as crucial for their businesses entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, most to leave Sweden. The ultimate goal was to of them believed. The informants to some move to San Francisco, which was to a extent identified with Jante, but not in a great extent made into a space, in de Cer- static way. They identified the Swedish teau’s sense of the word, that manifested national context as the problem and this the possibility to “change the world” and was one of the reasons that they wanted to to work on improving things in general. go abroad. In this way, Sweden as a geo- San Francisco was a dream world for the graphical place was made into a space in informants and was constructed by them de Certeau’s sense of the word, by being as a symbol of a city full of possibilities. filled with associations that were tightly The city and Silicon Valley has for several knit to the physical place. National char- decades been mediated as tech/internet’s acteristics are to some extent also seen as capital of the world. Appadurai’s concept elements connected to these spaces rather the power of imagination has been at work than inherent in individuals. in so far as these images have been highly As stated in the beginning, a cosmo- relevant for the informants’ decision to politan perspective does not mean that the move. The internet and the global flow of nation state is obsolete, quite the opposite. information was seen as a key to success, For the informants, the nation has the but the geographical context was not ir- symbolic power of an imagined communi- relevant. It was crucial to actually be in Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities 19

San Francisco as well, and to be a part of aggerated and social problems toned the local network there. down, in the same manner that San Fran- The glamorous mediated images to cisco was idealized before they got there. some extent were a disappointment how- This manner of cherry picking national ever, when the everyday life did not live characteristics can be associated with the up to the high expectations. Especially for idea of national identification rather than the informants that made it to San Francis- identity (Eriksen 1996). It is possible to co the reality did not always match the im- see the informants’ incorporations of agination. This was in part also true for “Swedish” values in their companies as a Berlin, where the informants were not concrete example of how cosmopolitan welcomed in the city by everyone, but in inspirations are put to practice in a net- San Francisco, an urban environment with worked society (Nussbaum 1997). The large and significant income differences tendency among the informants to claim and social problems, the conflict was certain values, for example equality, as more obvious. The ambition to “do good” being specifically Swedish, must probably was clouded by the fact that there were nu- be considered patriotic and the dream of merous protests against the tech commu- the Welfare State as beneficial to all citi- nity, as they were seen as responsible for zens is obviously corrupted when its ad- the gentrification and social conflicts in vantages are in fact not made accessible to the city. The informants mostly met this all, but rather to the specific economic with the opinion that the problems were class that work for these companies. structural and should be solved by the Nevertheless, the interpretation and small- state. Underlying this attitude was an in- scale practical incorporation of these creasing feeling that the Swedish welfare values can at the same time be regarded as state was a better solution and a clear iden- a contemporary and perhaps significant tification with what was regarded as example of cosmopolitan influence. Swedish core values could be noted. It was thus apparent that the critique against Lisa Wiklund the tech scene to some extent led to an in- PhD creased national identification, instead of Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies a class-based cosmopolitan identification. Stockholm University This to some degree made it possible to SE-106 91 Stockholm maintain the tech scene’s self-identity of email: [email protected] being the “good guys”, rather than being exploiters. The informants all had a very References positive approach to the incorporation of Unpublished what they regarded as “Swedish values” in Interviews with 23 informants carried out the companies. These values concerned, between 2013 and 2014 in Berlin, New York for example, policies on child upbringing, City, San Francisco and Stockholm. All tran- parental leave and a more imprecise sense scripts and recordings are in the possession of the of an overall equality and fairness. When researcher. Research notes from fieldwork in Berlin, New the informants watched Sweden from a York City, San Francisco and Stockholm be- distance, good sides might have been ex- tween 2013 and 2014. 20 Lisa Wiklund, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and Local Realities

Literature handlingar om genus i det samtida Sverige. Stockholm: Carlsson Bokförlag. Alver, Bente Gullveig & Øyen, Ørjar 1998: Etik Keller, Justin 2016: Open letter to SF Mayor Ed och praktik i forskarens vardag. Lund: Stu- Lee and Greg Suhr (police chief). http:// dentlitteratur. justink.svbtle.com/open-letter-to-may- Anderson, Benedict 1991: Imagined Communi- or-ed-lee-and-greg-suhr-police-chief (accessed ties. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. and extended ed. London: 3 March 2016). Verso. Nussbaum, Martha 1997: “Kant and Cosmopoli- Appadurai, Arjun [1996] 2010: Modernity at tanism”. In Perpetual Peace. Essays on Kant’s Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Cosmopolitan Ideal, ed. James Bohman & Mat- Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. thias Lutz-Bachmann. Cambridge: MIT Press. Appiah, Kwame Anthony 2006: Cosmopolitan- Nussbaum, Martha Craven 2010: Not for Profit. ism. Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Prince- & London: W. W. Norton & Company. ton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Certeau, Michel de 1984: The Practice of Every- Wiklund, Lisa 2013: Kreativa liv. Konstnärligt day Life. Berkeley, Calif.: University of Cali- arbete och kosmopolitisk vardag i Williams- fornia Press. burg, Brooklyn, New York. Diss. Göteborg/ Eriksen, Thomas Hylland 1996: Historia, myt och Stockholm: Makadam. identitet. Stockholm: Bonnier Alba. Wiklund, Lisa 2015: Circus Days. The 1990s as Karlsson Minganti, Pia 2007: Muslima. Islamisk an Iconic Period of Time for Swedish Internet väckelse och unga muslimska kvinnors för- Entrepreneurs. Akademisk Kvarter 10. Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar By Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube

Migration as a recurrent and processual but with different destinations and reasons practice connects experiences from life in of migration. Some notions of Sweden are the country of origin with new experi- internationally valid, and hence shape ences in the country of residence. Even both groups in the encounter with the ma- though the significance and understanding jority population of Spain and Norway. of the former is transformed through a Other factors are specific to the groups. temporal and spatial distance caused by Our research question for this article has migration, the cultural specificities of the been: what does Sweden and Swedishness country of origin often remain to frame mean to two quite different migrant the everyday life of the migrant in the groups from Sweden – one consisting of country of residence (Woube 2014:135). young labour migrants leaving for Nor- This article explores some specific no- way, the other of leisure and lifestyle-ori- tions and ideals of the nation and national ented migrants of all ages settling in identity that have appeared as central in Spain? Swedish migration to Norway and Spain The narratives and everyday practices respectively (Woube 2014; Tolgensbakk manifesting the nation and expressing na- 2015). In addition, we explore how such tional features work as analytical focus, notions and practices have an impact on and have framed the analysis. The nation the position as migrant in a foreign coun- and the national traits that have emerged try. Being a Swedish-born migrant abroad as central to the migrant groups, refer to will often activate conventionally learned both a cultural historical past and present notions of Sweden as well as bring forth day. Its significance for individual mi- new ideas of what is associated with being grants is viewed as ever changing and Swedish. changeable, as constructions of nation and In the article, we study comparative no- the national situated relationally, spatial- tions of Swedishness and Sweden that ap- ly, temporally, and contextually. The na- pear in narratives and everyday practices tion and the national appear in transna- of two groups of Swedish citizens abroad. tional social spaces that is being generated Comparative notions will highlight how in-between country of residence and constructions of Sweden and Swedishness country of origin (Faist 2014). A transna- is depending on a variety of different fac- tional social space is constructed by pro- tors, such as social, cultural, and historical cesses of exchange through communica- relations in-between country of origin and tion and travel, as well as transportation of country of residence, the position of na- goods. Both groups in our studies live tion-states in a global hierarchical order of under such circumstances, constantly power among other nation-states, as well changing between two (or more) frames of as local circumstances that the migrant reference. Transnationality shapes social face on location. All aspects of these con- networks in-between the countries in structions cannot be covered in a short question, but also involves movement of co-written article, but we focus on three immaterial news, notions, and anecdotes, main themes that touch upon some facets. besides material things, goods or foods The migrant groups are of the same origin (Povrzanović Frykman & Humbracht

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 22 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

2013). This often results in a plural frame Spain has a longer tradition of Swedish in- of reference that is relatively and situa- flux than Norway. Ever since the 1960s tionally enacted in relation to 1) the coun- the country has figured as one of the most try of origin, 2) the country of residence, popular destinations for Swedish tourism. and 3) the own migrant group. The plural Extensive second home ownership and frame of reference have an impact on the also permanent migration by Swedish citi- positions, experiences and everyday life zens to the coastal areas of Costa Brava, of living transnationally (Pries 2001:23). Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol, in addition to the capital Madrid, have featured in Swedish Migrants in Norway and the wake of tourism. Spain Swedes in Norway and Swedes in Spain Swedish citizens are scattered in many are two separate groups that can be distin- corners of the world – as tourists, as sea- guished from many other migrant groups sonal or temporal workers and as more or by their voluntary and privileged perma- less permanently settled. A report from nent residency in a chosen country, but 2012 claims that every twentieth Swede is also by their frequent irregular and recur- settled abroad (Westling 2012:1). How a rent travels in-between the countries of person is registered as “emigrated” or origin and destination (Woube 2014; Tol- “settled” varies across cultures and statis- gensbakk 2015). What separates the two tical regimes, and numbers on temporal groups is above all the motives for migra- migrants are difficult to obtain. It does, tion, in addition to age. Swedes in Norway however, seem certain that Norway is one are to a large extent young adults, looking of the most popular countries that Swedish for work – but this is just part of the story. citizens choose for residency and for work As the current migration ‘wave’ has lasted (see for instance Vernersdotter and Sole- for 15 years, ever more Swedes in Norway vid 2014:3). This is a fairly new develop- are settled and have entered adulthood. ment. The migrant flow between the two Migration to Spain, on the other hand, in- countries has throughout at least the sec- volves Swedes of all ages in the quest for ond half of the 20th century mostly gone an increased quality of life through migra- from Norway to Sweden. Changing this tion to a tourist destination – contrary to scenario in the last decade, Swedish mi- popular belief, it is not only pensioners grants have become Norway’s second that migrate to Spain. Both researched mi- largest minority group. Young Swedes grant groups are similar in their settlement have flocked to their neighbouring coun- in their new country. Their permanence try to find jobs that in this period have be- is, however, questionable as the transient come scarce in their home country (Statis- and flexible nature of this type of migra- tiska centralbyrån 2014). tion is a prominent aspect of voluntary mi- Another country of interest for Swedish gration from the industrialized part of the citizens is Spain. According to the organi- world (O’Reilly 2003, 2007; Åkerlund zation Svenskar i Världen (Swedes in the 2013). Migration research has shown that world), Spain has attracted over 90 000 return migration, or relocation to a third Swedish nationals (Hedlund 2011:42). country, might occur as the migrant face Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 23

new stages of the life course (Eimermann cieties. To quote one Oslo Swede: “It is 2014). This is relevant for the two Swe- very seldom that you feel like an immi- dish migrant groups in Norway and in grant” – that is, the migrants do not feel Spain, as well. They are also similar, at that they are treated like immigrants or least in theory, in their ability to return to think of themselves as immigrants. This is Sweden at any time. Being mobile and be- in itself another indication of privilege – ing able to move freely across national the privilege of not labelling oneself a mi- borders are valued conditions of global- grant. ization that measure privilege and exclu- siveness through stratification of nation Methodology1 states (Bauman 1998:86; Skeggs 2004: The research on Swedish citizens in Spain 47−52; Weiss 2005; see also Bauman was conducted by Woube and is based on 2000, 2005). Some migrants move more ethnographical fieldwork in the coastal freely in Europe (and in the world) than town Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, others, and Swedish citizens will through Spain, during five months, with shorter re- their Swedish citizenship find their travels curring visits to follow. The fieldwork and migrations to be almost without for- was conducted within the Swedish infra- mal or legal restrictions. In the cases of structure of organizations, institutions and Swedes in Norway and Swedes in Spain, private enterprises that direct their ser- both migrant groups are framed by Swe- vices and goods to the Swedish migrant den’s advanced position on a global hier- group in the Swedish language. Longer archical scale of power. The local implica- in-depth interviews of about two hours tions of this will be discussed further on. with Swedish citizens2 of Swedish ethnic- In addition, there is in these cases a lateral ity, seven women and five men, in the relation in-between sending and receiving ages 21−85 also took place during four oc- countries, as all countries are part of west- casions (see Linderson 2010). The inter- ern industrialized Europe. These condi- viewees are permanent and registered tions have an effect on how the nation and residents on the Costa del Sol since many the national is understood and expressed years. Many have lived up to 30 years by Swedish citizens living in both Norway along the southern Spanish coast. Hence, and Spain, often portraying themselves, as all of them claimed their transnational Swedish nationals, to be seen in a favour- stance of more importance than their able light by locals in their new country of Swedish national identity (Woube 2014). residence (Woube 2014:91f; see also At the time of the interviews, they had no Lundström 2014). Most notably, even af- intention of returning to Sweden. They are ter having lived years as permanent resi- part of a migration phenomenon concep- dents in their new home countries, many tualized as lifestyle migration (Benson of the migrants in our case studies still and Osbaldiston 2014; Benson and hesitate when being referred to as a mi- O’Reilly 2009a, 2009b). Lifestyle migra- grant. To a certain extent, the groups we tion often take place from the north to the have studied are not even put in such a cat- south in the different continents of the egory by public opinion in their host so- world in the quest for an increased quality 24 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

of life and a different, improved lifestyle Swedes themselves stressed time and often on locations associated with tourism again that they wanted to migrate to be and recreation. In this specific case, the able to grow as humans, to see the world, prime incentives to migrate to the Costa and to change their lives. There is also to del Sol are the mild climate, a more re- some degree an overlap with the Spanish laxed everyday life, a different and inter- group in that most of the Oslo Swedes esting culture, the international or multi- have used their increased wages and the cultural coastal population or personal savings they have been able to raise in reasons, such as being able to live with a Norway to travel. Work and leisure in Spanish partner. Spain, exotic travels to South-East Asia, The Oslo case study was conducted by ski-bumming in Canada and long holidays Tolgensbakk with similar aims and com- on working visas in Australia are made parable methodology. The project invited possible through hard work in Oslo. young Swedish labour migrants to volun- As an analytical method we have com- teer for interviews, leaving the interpreta- pared our two cases by studying similari- tion of the concepts “young”, “Swedish” ties and differences in how our informants and “labour migrant” to the participants view and regard Sweden and construc- themselves. This resulted in 21 life and tions of Swedishness. The primary data of migration story interviews with inform- the two projects are not identical, but simi- ants aged 19 to 39 (all arriving in Oslo be- lar enough to justify comparison on equal fore the age of 25). Some had only Swe- terms. The relationship to Sweden and dish family, others had family links to So- ideas of Swedishness was an important malia, Korea, Denmark and Norway, but part of the interviews in both studies, and all had Swedish citizenship and con- analysing these aggregated results to- sidered themselves mostly Swedish. They gether, we have been able to see both our had come to Oslo to reunite with family finished projects with fresh eyes. Starting that worked there, to do seasonal work, to with intuitive discussions of our main re- settle, or to study. The back story for all of sult, we have returned to our primary data them was nonetheless an extremely diffi- to test hypotheses of similarity and differ- cult Swedish labour market, with particu- ence in the Swedes’ stories of their lives larly high youth unemployment rates – al- abroad. though this fact was often downplayed by In the following sections, we will dis- the interviewees. Lifestyle migration is cuss our two cases as seen through three probably not the right categorization of important ideas of Sweden and of Swe- any of these styles of migration, as the pri- dishness that have emerged in the material mary goal in most cases is escaping as significant constructions: Sweden as meagre opportunities in the home labour modern, the stereotyped Swedish woman, market rather than changing one’s style of and rural Sweden. life. Still, it cannot be denied that the end result of the migration to Oslo often has Modern Sweden been a definite change in lifestyle, habits A prominent notion in the narratives of the and attitudes to the world. The Oslo migrants in both Norway and Spain is the Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 25

discourse of Sweden being a modern and position in comparison to labour migrants advanced country in an internationally su- from the Eastern European countries or perior power position. The majority of the lifestyle migrants from Poland (Woube Swedes are proud to be of Swedish nation- 2014:91ff). This is how social inequality of ality. In the international and multicultural nation states appears as a relevant factor in environment of the Costa del Sol, Spain, the everyday life for migrants, as they are Swedish nationality and citizenship are positioned through their connection to viewed as a resource by the Swedish mi- “weak” or “strong” nation states, according grants in reference and contrast to mi- to the sociologist Anja Weiss (2005). grants of other nationalities also residing The idea of the modern and advanced along the coast. Present day Costa del Sol welfare state, Sweden, is also constructed hosts migrants of all categories, such as la- in reference to the less developed and very bour migrants from Eastern Europe, Mo- bureaucratic Spain by a majority of rocco, and Latin America, asylum seekers Swedes on the Costa del Sol. Although or refugees from West Africa, in addition Spain has had an extremely rapid demo- to the numerous lifestyle migrants from cratic and financial development since the the Nordic countries, United Kingdom, end of the Franco regime in 1975, the Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and country is seldom viewed by the inter- Russia. Many interviewees in Spain point viewees as a modern welfare state com- to Sweden’s good international reputation parable to the Swedish welfare state. This when contrasting and constructing the na- is especially relevant to Swedish female tion Sweden in reference to the country of migrants approaching family-making, origin of migrants of other nationalities who more often that their fellow male na- also residing on the Costa del Sol. For in- tionals compare their limited welfare stance, the interviewee 34-year old Lena benefits in Spain with the prolonged pa- is constructing and comparing Sweden in rental leave and fully developed chil- relation to other European Union (EU) dren’s day care system in Sweden. These member states as an advanced and appre- are local conditions that have an effect on ciated member state that has contributed the decision to return to Sweden for many to the EU collaboration, rather than de- young Swedes on the Costa del Sol, who pended on the EU and its financial sup- are about to enter parenthood. port. Locally this can be viewed as a rele- Many interviewees also recognize that vant narrative, as Costa del Sol is located the welfare model of Sweden is dis- in the province of Andalusia, which has mantling. This has been transmitted traditionally benefited from the EU col- through reading the Swedish web-based laboration in agricultural subsidies and newspapers, through phone calls, through dreaded the entrance of the Eastern Euro- the annual travels to their country of ori- pean countries into the EU in 2004 due to gin, and from bad experiences of friends the potential loss of subsidies to new East- and family in Sweden. However, in con- ern European member states. In the en- trast to the weaker Spanish welfare model, counter with the local society, the Swe- the idea of Sweden being a modern and dish migrants enjoy a superior status and advanced welfare state with a good inter- 26 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

national reputation still remains. This is has to offer them (jobs, careers, higher expressed through for instance one inter- wages) as they met a society very similar viewee’s statement that Spain is “a coun- to what they have grown up with. Still, try in northern Africa”, rather than in the Tolgensbakk argues in her PhD thesis that south of Europe. Such statements ascribe the Swedish migrants in Oslo struggle Spain a subordinate position in the global with handling the small and often subtle, power hierarchies of nation states by plac- but nonetheless troublesome, differences ing Spain among developing countries in in-between the Nordic countries (Tol- Africa. gensbakk 2015:176ff). For instance, the In the Oslo case, Norway has historical- perceived strangeness and backwardness ly been conceived of as the most old-fash- of Norwegians and Norwegian society ioned, the poorest and the weakest of the that the Swedish migrants experience in three Scandinavian nation states (Tol- comparison with their country of origin. gensbakk 2015:41−42). This is an idea es- Backwardness is a key word here, and pecially prominent in Scandinavian dis- clearly related to the cultural narrative course after the Second World War, when present in the Spanish case study that Norway was newly freed from Nazi occu- make the Costa del Sol Swedes tell stories pation and had suffered severe war dam- of Spain not quite measuring up to their ages, while neutral Sweden prospered. In more advanced homeland. The differenc- short, Sweden has been Norway’s big es between Norway and Sweden may be brother for at least the last half century. small, but they are discussed at length by But in the 1990s, with the Swedish econo- the Swedes in Oslo. The country of resi- my halting and Norway’s oil wealth ris- dence is deemed more old-fashioned than ing, migration from east to west and not the country of origin, with regards to the other way around became norm (Gus- everything from bureaucratic tax systems tavsson 1999). The Swedish migrants in to the lack of decent selections of cheese Norway arrived to a scene very different in Norwegian supermarkets. In these nar- from what the Swedes in Spain experi- ratives of problems and inconveniences in ence. Norway were benefitting both from the new country, the Oslo Swedes inter- oil and other natural resources, as well as pret the differences as national ones. Indi- having suffered relatively little from the rectly, the stories cast Swedes and Sweden financial crisis and the labour market in the role of the normal, the modern, pro- troubles of other European countries. gressive home of rationality. The word A starting point for the Swedish mi- most often used to describe the country of grants in Oslo are their disappointment in residence in these interview narratives (al- regards to what Sweden lack to offer though normally used in a humorous them. The reason for going to Norway in tone), is efterbliven. Usually translated to the first place is the scarce job opportuni- English as “retarded”, the word literally ties in their country of origin. But discus- reads “left behind”, which means it has sions of Swedish economy and politics are connotations not only to intellectual disa- not very present in the Oslo interviews. bilities, but also to other lacks of develop- Rather, the Swedes focus on what Norway ment. Sweden is seen as modern, and Nor- Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 27

way as the contrast. These notions tran- service as at home, on equal terms as the scend onto the migrant position of Swedes Norwegian-born citizens. What is com- in Norway and highlight them as equally mon between the Costa del Sol and the modern and up to date as their country of Oslo migrant groups is a strong notion that origin. This is especially interesting as it Swedish migrants abroad would be taken seems as if the big brother-status of Swe- care of if something were to happen in the den in Norwegian discourse, which has new country, or when time comes for a been prevalent throughout most of the voluntary departure. In Oslo, the Swedish post-war years, is becoming more com- migrants find solace in the knowledge that plex and ambivalent in the presence of so if their endeavours in Norway turn out dis- many Swedish migrants in low-status jobs satisfactory, there will always be the pos- in Oslo (Tolgensbakk 2015:129). The sibility to return. On a similar note, many privileged position gained from the Swe- senior migrants in Spain prepare for elder- dish nationality becomes challenged by ly care in Sweden when they are too old or the local, subordinate position of being fragile to enjoy life on the Costa del Sol or young labour migrants working in the sec- in the life phase of family-making, as tors of low paid jobs on the Norwegian la- noted earlier in the article. In other words, bour market. In other words, this is a point although very different in age, socio- where Norwegian notions of the Swedish economic status and reason for migrating, migrants and the Swedes’ self-presenta- a common perception among Swedish mi- tions are somewhat in conflict. grants is their natural “right to return” at The constructions of equating the any time due to their Swedish origin and nation Sweden with a Swedish welfare nationality. Birthplace, childhood, family model is, as shown, present among Swe- ties, family history or past experiences of dish migrants in both Norway and Spain. a certain place are commonly viewed as a The strong welfare model of Sweden is in right to the place (see Agnidakis 2013), itself constructed by both migrant groups and in this particular case the Swedish mi- as a reliable parameter in the adventure of grants advocate their right to return to the living abroad. There are many accounts in place (cf. Hylland Eriksen 1996:75). our interviews with migrated Swedes of perceiving Sweden as safe and secure for The Swedish Woman as Stereotype them, even after many years abroad. Seen Another dominant theme appearing in from Spain, the Swedish welfare state is close relation to discourses of Swedish- viewed as a support for all Swedish citi- ness in the interview narratives is feminin- zens, within national borders and outside ity. This is the case in both of the migrant the borders. Seen from Oslo, the disap- groups in question. Swedish femininity pointment of the Swedish system – or at has attracted much attention international- least the Swedish labour market – is, as ly since the 1960s and onward. For noted earlier, obvious, although not very instance, the portrayal of the Swedish vocal. Living in Norway also means being woman in movies like Federico Fellini’s part of a common Nordic welfare system La Dolce Vita from 1960 with the Swe- giving the Swedish migrants comparable dish actress Anita Ekberg and Vilgot 28 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

Sjöman’s Jag är nyfiken—gul from 1967, released at the same time as the influx of produced a segmented and stereotyped young Swedes to Norway was peaking Swedish feminine ideal of blue eyes, and the Norwegian public slowly came to whiteness and blondness that has spread realize that a new migrant group had ar- worldwide (cf. Lundström 2014, 2010). rived. The movie is based on a book, Linked to a Swedish femininity are also where the protagonist’s sexual fantasy ob- constructions of sexuality, which encom- ject is the Norwegian woman Maria. In the passes both the Swedish migrants in Nor- movie, she is replaced with a Swedish girl, way and in Spain, but have local varia- Malin. This replacement is in line with the tions of connotations. In other words, both objectification and stereotype of the blond migrant groups in our cases tell stories of Swedish woman, but also a nod to the having to deal with local brands of the in- popular Astrid Lindgren series Vi på Salt- ternational stereotype of the Swedish kråkan from 1964. The character Malin, woman. probably the first imaginary love of some “Swedish sin” has been an internation- generations of Norwegian men (and al concept since the 1950s, but with Ro- women), was pictured in the series as both land Huntford’s book The new totalitar- motherly virtuous and erotically beautiful. ians, published in 1972, the relatively pro- This is a stereotype that the Swedish fe- gressive views of sexuality in Sweden be- male migrants in Oslo have encountered came directly linked to an ever-present, in popular culture and in the daily social amoral state (Marklund 2009). This put a life. Especially those of the women who mark even in the Norwegian discourse of work in cafés and bars have had to fend of the Swedish woman. There is nonetheless suitors trying to woo them with the reason to believe that the average Norwe- pick-up-line “Oh, are you Swedish? I gian’s association to the term “Swedish looove Swedish girls!”. The pick-up-line sin” are rather the condom manufacturer reflects Swedish girls’ reputation as beau- RFSU, the porn store Hönan Agda at tiful, and possibly as being “cheap” or at Svinesund3 and the aforementioned Swe- least as very outgoing and relatable. The dish soft porn movies. There is no doubt Swedish female migrants describe meet- that in the complex intersections between ing this stereotype on internet dating sites, gender, nation and sexuality, Swedish with men confessing to a specific desire women has had to live with certain stereo- for Swedish women. They tell stories of types, even in neighbouring, and seeming- having to handle elderly male customers ly culturally similar, Norway. The popular giving out racy jokes and comments di- culture portrayals of the Swedish woman rected particularly at them as Swedish are still active in both Spain and Norway. girls. And although it is only the female This was evident in both interview mate- migrants that have personal stories, the rials, especially in the interviews with fe- Swedish male migrants also witness how male migrants. their female co-migrants are viewed by A simple, but poignant example of this the majority population. For instance, the appeared in 2008 in Norwegian movie informant Åke, discussing an anti-Swede theatres. That year the movie Fatso was graffiti in Oslo, interpreted hostility to- Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 29

wards Swedes in Norway as a competition pearance, and in stories of encounters with over women – that is, not a competition the local society. In statements such as “I over the women of the majority popula- am the tallest one wherever I go. I am 1,76 tion, but a competition over the Swedish meter tall, I am blond, I have blue eyes”, migrant women because of what he de- the interviewee Sofie highlights her con- scribed as their unrivalled status as beauti- trasting bodily appearance in relation to ful, blonde and blue-eyed. This is a wide- the local society and how she is positioned spread international notion of Swedish as a stranger and different, which is an ag- women, which sociologist Catrin Lund- gravating factor in her trials to become in- ström also found in her recent study of corporated in the local community on the Swedish female migrants to the US, Spain Costa del Sol (see Woube 2014:76f). De- and Singapore respectively (Lundström spite the historical origin in the 1960s, the 2014). Lundström discusses this in rela- icon remains a sticky figure for the Swe- tion to a narrative about a specific Swe- dish female migrants and corresponds to dish sexual open-mindedness and specific historical and international constructions physical features of beauty. of what a stereotypical Swedish woman In Spain, Swedish femininity is linked looks like (cf. Mattsson och Pettersson to the icon of La Sueca, which is a promi- 2007). A tall, blond, white and blue-eyed nent figure in the narratives of the inter- body is a body that naturally can be under- viewees on the Costa del Sol. La Sueca stood as Swedish and symbolize Swedish- means the Swedish woman in Spanish and ness (cf. Sharp 1996:99). The art historian can be traced back to the origin of the tour- Jeff Werner claims that the practice of as- ism boom in Spain during the 1960s, when sociating a tall, blond and blue-eyed body Northern European women started to appearance to the inhabitants of the Swe- spend their vacations along the Spanish dish territory can be dated back to 19th beaches. They contrasted Spanish femi- century artwork (2014). Physical features ninity in their tall, blond, blue-eyed and of blondness and blue eyes is also histori- lightly dressed appearance. Swedes trav- cally connected to the racial discourse of elled independently from their families whiteness (Dyer 1997). This was a central and offered more liberal views of relation- notion during the first half of the 20th cen- ships and sexuality than the catholic and tury when racial biological and theoretical conservative Spanish society. Any North- discourses suggested that the Swedish ern European woman, no matter her na- people belonged to an extra ordinary and tionality, came to be associated with the superior ethnic group on a hierarchical myth of La Sueca, which caused a moral scale of whiteness. The notions of a blond upheaval in Spain as the female Northern and blue-eyed body appearance of a European tourists embodied sexual libera- Swedish woman function as a symbolic tion and social independence (Cardona & guard of the construction of Swedes as a Losada 2009:64). distinct people with distinct physical fea- The narratives of the female Swedish tures that is inherited through blood line- interviewees relate to the La Sueca-figure age (Mattsson 2004:131ff). Physical fea- both regarding discussions of bodily ap- tures along the lines of the La Sueca icon 30 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

may function as a hindrance in the integra- the German speaking countries. Heimat tion to the local community along the can be defined as a mystical and innocent southern Spanish coast through signalling place of collective yearning (see Blicke features of an anonymous, temporary 2004; Petri 2003; Hobsbawn 1991:68). foreign tourist. Physical features deviant Similar to the concept Heimat, the sum- from the myth of La Sueca may, on the mer cottage represents a local context in other hand, not be understood as Swedish Sweden that at the distance from Costa del on the Costa del Sol, which excludes Sol is understood as nationally specific. Swedes of other physical appearances or Local contexts and circumstances, like a with other ethnic origins to naturally be summer cottage, can be transformed to be- connected to the Swedish migrant group. come national representations through ap- pealing to emotional experiences and Rural Sweden of the Past memories, which is a common and effec- A third central construction of Sweden tive use in nationalistic propaganda (Blehr and Swedishness that we want to discuss 2000:177). Similar constructions of rural- in this article is the idea of rural Sweden. ity connected with nationalism can be Among the Swedish migrants in Spain, found in the other Scandinavian countries, this idea is ever-present. Yearning for a in addition to the German-speaking coun- green lush Swedish countryside is a vivid tries (Petri 2003:330). image of Sweden in the narratives and the The notion of Sweden as a lost rurality everyday life of the migrants that Woube has its’ origin in the consolidation of the have studied in Spain. Above all, a red Swedish nation state during the 19th centu- and white summer cottage by a lake, in the ry. It was a time of heavy societal trans- Swedish archipelago or at the edge of the formation through industrialization and forest figure as an image of rural and sum- urbanization and there was a need for a de- mertime Sweden, are frequently illustrat- fined common origin, which was created ed in pictures in homes of the migrants in in the peasant and rural way of life, as a Spain or spoken of in narratives of longing contrast to the growing and overcrowded and dreaming about Sweden (Woube urbanity (Ehn et al. 1993). A common or- 2014:146ff). Swedish rurality is an en- igin in the rural is still today an active part compassing construction appearing of the construction of Swedishness in among migrants in school age, in adult Sweden. It remains an important symbol age, and among senior migrants. It is also in the nation-making of Sweden, as the the significant aim in many of the mi- summer cottage is associated in relation to grants’ transnational lives as they move to a lost peasantry, in addition to contempo- Sweden each year in order to enjoy the rary notion of free and simple summer life summer months, often in summer cottages and leisure time, community and adjacent or visiting friends and family in the rural togetherness, a life close to nature in con- parts in the old country. trast to a time effective urban working life. The construction of Sweden as ideal- Annual vacations in the present nourish ized and desirable rurality on the Costa del the notion of rural Sweden on the Costa Sol resembles the concept of Heimat in del Sol, but it is also a representation of Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 31

The summer cottage in the Swedish countryside is a prominent representation of Sweden among Swedish migrants in Spain. This picture of the summer cottage in Sweden was attached to an e-mail from an interviewee. the migrant’s Swedish past. Sweden is as- the summer months is not only related to sociated with experiences in childhood, of the construction of lost rurality of the past, family life or with the time as residents in but that actual experiences of present day Sweden. The representation is made Sweden for many of the migrants are com- meaningful through memories from prised of a rural summer life in the country places in the old country that is lost due to of origin. The construction of a romanti- the temporal impossibility of return. It is cized Swedish countryside is a forging possible to visit the place in the present part of the transnational social space that but not under the circumstances that ap- is in the making by the migrants in Spain. peared at the time of the departure. The The Swedish migrants in Oslo do not migrant has left both a place and a tempo- express a longing to rural Sweden in the ral context (Westin 2000:42f), which same way as their counterparts in Spain. might leave the migrant in a state of re- There are no references to any red summer storative nostalgia where memories can be cottages by the lake in the Oslo inter- relived (Boym 2001:44). The annual vaca- views. Summer is either spent in Oslo tions have such restorative function in that working, since the summer is the most im- the migrants are able to restore elements portant time of year for seasonal work in of a longed-for past and ease sentiments of Oslo, or travelling the world far away nostalgia and homesickness through re- from Scandinavian shores. The exception turning to Swedish rurality that represents for some of the interviewees is the cele- origin, nation, and home, even when it is a bration of Midsommar, St. John’s Day, lost home. It is, however, note-worthy that which is a time of year they will try to the travels to Sweden from Spain during spend with their family and friends in their 32 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

local community in Sweden. This may be Among the Swedish migrants in Nor- interpreted as a longing for old friends and way, there is another construction of rurali- an opportunity to reconnect with kin, ty that is in the making in the narratives and similar to Spanish migrants’ reconnection everyday practices of the Oslo Swedes, with friends and family in the Swedish ru- which is the longing for a particular type of rality. The Swedes in Norway are in gen- food. In Oslo, the Swedish migrants find the eral young and single, and with few bonds street cuisine somewhat different from what drawing them “home”. In comparison they are used to. As with all other European with the Costa del Sol Swedes, it might be urban areas, city life has been influenced that in their present environments there is both by local customs and by immigrating no need for longing for greenery and preferences, goods and habits. That means countryside lakes. Norway may simply that in Oslo, the Chinese restaurants set up have enough Nordic rurality to offer. It in the 1960s has been replaced by Indian, might also be so that they are too young, Vietnamese and Middle-Eastern street too mobile, and less permanent in their food, which reflects a Norwegian migrant settlement in order to need a nostalgic history which differs from the Swedish. Af- longing to roots and origin represented by ter surviving the shock of living with Nor- the national idea of rural Sweden, as is the wegian food prizes, which are among the case for the perhaps more permanently re- highest in Europe, the Swedish migrants siding Swedes in Spain – for the Oslo have to get used to subtle culinary differ- Swedes the idea of modern Sweden seems ences between the neighbouring countries. to be stronger. One fact is the complete lack of a hot lunch

Image macro about Swedes in Oslo made by one of the Facebook group members − the text in the last picture reads ”anybody know of where to get good kebab?” Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 33

in schools and workplaces, which is some- cant for the Swedish migrants in Norway thing they are used to from Sweden. An- through being a symbol of Swedish rural- other is the fact that to Norwegians, pizza is ity. The restaurant scene in many places in not necessarily seen as street food. The first rural Sweden is often limited to a pizza groups of Swedish youth in Norway after place serving kebab. To the young Oslo the turn of the millennium expressed griev- Swedes, often being of rural origins them- ances about the quality, type and prize of selves, the kebab seem to feel more home- fast food pizza. During Tolgensbakk’s ly than exotic, belonging to childhood fieldwork in 2011−2014 the complaints had memories and their past local way of life changed to another type of international in Sweden. The kebab symbolizes their street food: the kebab.4 Discussions of connections to rural Sweden, which is a where in Oslo to find the best “Swedish ke- central entity in the plural frame of refer- bab” were abundant on Facebook threads ence that is part of a transnational every- throughout the research period. day life (Pries 2001:23). As such, the ke- Participants in such discussions often bab discourse among Oslo Swedes can be end up debating which regional Swedish interpreted as a form of a rather banal na- variety of kebab ought to be “imported” to tionalism (Billig 1995), and is made sig- Norway. More important, is that Nor- nificant for the Swedish group located in wegian kebab (often made with minced Oslo through the contrast to the urban way meat, with mild sauce and almost always of their present life. It is a discourse that with corn on top) is considered inedible unifies and distinguishes the Swedes in compared to the superior Swedish style of Oslo as a group of migrants with Swedish kebab (different sauces, fresh pita and origin, in association with rural back- never with corn). In other words, in the grounds. A longing for “Swedish” kebab Oslo Swedish youth scene, internal Scan- when living in Oslo may be interpreted in dinavian national borders are maintained exactly the same way as longing for the through the symbolic use of an interna- little red cottage while living in Costa del tional street food. In addition to symboli- Sol: a way of looking back, both to past cally upholding national borders through experiences of life in the country of origin, comparing Norwegian and Swedish ke- and through a collective image of Sweden, babs, young Swedes ascertain their supe- in nostalgic ways, to a rural, safe and uni- rior city or urban skills towards their Nor- form Sweden of the good old days. wegian contemporaries. This would mean that the Swedish migrants accept the Nor- Sweden and Swedishness in Narra- wegian notion of the kebab as an urban tives and Everyday Life of Swedish street dish. Migrants We will, however, offer another poss- In this article, we have shown compara- ible way of interpreting the discourse per- tive notions and constructions of the na- taining to “Swedish” kebab. Contrary to tion and the national in narratives and linking the kebab to an urban way of life, everyday life of Swedish migrants in Nor- and positioning themselves as modern and way and Spain. Many notions has its bear- urban, the kebab might be made signifi- ing and can be recognized as constructions 34 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

of Sweden and Swedishness also among ment of Spain and Sweden during the sec- Swedes in Sweden (see Hübinette och ond half of the 20th century are factors Lundström 2011), but they are activated shaping both how Sweden is viewed as when being contrasted by the local condi- advanced and modern and how liberal tions in the new country. We have present- ideas of emancipation for women remain ed three themes that to various degrees all to have an effect on how Swedish women have proved important as reference points, are viewed in Spain. Above all, the con- both to Swedes on the Costa del Sol and to structions of Sweden and Swedishness Swedes in Oslo. The three themes show emanate from the practice of contrasting that there are significant differences be- in a social everyday life: in relation to tween the two migrant groups as to how global power hierarchies of nation states, “modernity” is narrated, and what a spe- in relation to travels and communication cific Swedish female stereotype means for with the country of origin, in relation to them in the everyday life in the encounter the majority society, in relation to other with the host society. The similarities are migrant groups on location, in relation to nonetheless remarkably strong, and may encounters with authorities, or at a dis- be seen as proof of some themes being tance from afar. common Swedish self-identifiers. The We have highlighted how even mi- third idea, of a Sweden lost, is perhaps grants in a rather privileged position, such where the two groups differ the most, as the position of Swedes in Norway and which indicated diverse views due to dif- Swedes in Spain, negotiate and change ferent regional origins in Sweden, differ- their understanding of the nation and the ent travel patterns in-between the two mi- national due to local hierarchies, to cir- grant groups, in addition to different de- cumstances in the receiving country, but grees of permanency in the country of also to past and present experiences of the residence. country of origin. There are tensions in- This shows how the notions that have between having the privilege to migrate been presented in this article are based on anywhere and the experience of being in a specific contexts and circumstances that migrant position in new social contexts af- Swedish migrants face due to lateral rela- ter migration (Benson 2014:48f; see also tions and transnational ties in-between O’Reilly 2007). Our investigation has country of origin and country of resi- shown how the Swedish migrants view dence. The understanding of Sweden for their nationality as a privilege locally, the migrant group in Norway originates in how this privilege is negotiated transna- a place-specific history of neighbouring tionally, and might indicate experiences of relations in-between two Scandinavian losing privilege, as in the intersection with countries with different financial develop- gender where the Swedish female resi- ment since the Second World War, that is dents are positioned as different and as viewed upon as culturally similar. In temporary strangers, which hinders them Spain, the history of Swedes vacationing in their incorporation to the local commu- along the Mediterranean Sea and the dif- nity on the Costa del Sol. This is also the ferent economic and democratic develop- case for the young Swedes in Oslo finding Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 35

themselves in a subordinate position due Notes to their low status jobs on the Norwegian 1 We base the article on ethnographical field- labour market. work conducted for our doctoral dissertations (see Woube 2014; Tolgensbakk 2015). Recurrently, the ways the Swedes in our 2 All interviewees are being anonymized in this studies speak of their country of origin and article. of Swedishness at home and abroad, testify 3 Svinesund is a small municipality in Sweden to Edward Said’s notion of the inherent re- on the Swedish-Norwegian border that has attracted many Norwegian tourists and second flexivity of exile (2000). Being constantly homeowners. in foreign surroundings sharpens the senses 4 Here: a type of döner kebab, with meat, salad as to what is similar, what is different – and sauce, more often than not served in a pita what is good and what is bad – about the bread. new situation, the country of residence, the References country of origin, and how the migrant is viewed and perceived by others. In the nar- Websites ratives, the migrants speak of a distant or Statistiska centralbyrån. 2014. Arbetskraftsun- dersökningarna (AKU) augusti. scb.se/sv_/Hit- not-so-distant Sweden at length, but also a ta-statistik/Statistikefteramne/Arbetsmarknad/ country of origin viewed through histori- Arbetskraftsundersokningar/Arbetskraftsun- cal, social, and cultural eyes of a migrant in dersokningarnaAKU/. Accessed 2 October a foreign country. Often the notions stem 2015. from an understanding of everyday experience in Sweden in the (far) past, which are Literature generated, but can also be altered through Agnidakis, Paul 2013: Rätten till Platsen. Till- intensive communication and connections hörighet och samhörighet i två lokala industri- with the old country through vacations and samhällen under omvandling. Höör: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion. return visits in Sweden. The specific con- Bauman, Zygmund 1998: Globalization. The Hu- structions of Sweden and Swedishness re- man Consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press. lated to in this article can be understood as Bauman, Zygmund 2000: Liquid modernity. Cam- empowered by the location of the migrants, bridge: Polity Press. Bauman, Zygmund 2005: Liquid Life. Cambridge: the temporal distance of the initial depar- Polity Press. ture, and by continuous travels to the old Benson, Michaela & Karen O’Reilly (eds.) 2009a: country. Lifestyle migration: expectations, aspirations and experiences. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.

Benson, Michaela & Karen O’Reilly 2009b: Mi- Ida Tolgensbakk gration and the search for a better way of life: a PhD critical exploration of lifestyle migration. The Ingebret Andersens vei 3F Sociological Review 54:4. NO-0955 Oslo Benson, Michaela & Nick Osbaldiston (eds.) email: [email protected] 2014: Understanding Lifestyle Migration. The- oretical Approaches to Migration and the Quest Annie Woube for a Better Way of Life. London: Palgrave PhD Macmillan. Centrum för Genusvetenskap Billig, Michael 1995: Banal nationalism. London: Uppsala universitet Sage. Box 527 Blehr, Barbro 2000: En norsk besvärjelse. 17 SE-751 20 Uppsala maj-firandet vid 1900-talets slut. Nora: Nya email: [email protected] Doxa. 36 Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar

Blicke, Peter 2004: Heimat. A Critical Theory of Mattsson, Ingemar Lindgren, Etienne Balibar, the German Idea of Homeland. Rochester & Philomena Essed, Ali Esbati & Stefan Jonsson Woodbridge: Camden House. (eds.). Stockholm: Agora. Boym, Svetlana 2001: The Future of Nostalgia. Mattsson, Katarina & Katarina Pettersson 2007: New York: Basic Books. Crowning Miss Sweden – National Construc- Cardona, Gabriel & Juan Carlos Losada 2009: La tions of White Femininity. NORA – Nordic invasión de las suecas. Barcelona: Editorial Journal of Women’s Studies. Vol. 15, No. 4. Ariel. O’Reilly, Karen 2003: ‘When is a tourist? The ar- Dyer, Richard 1997: White. New York: Rout- ticulation of tourism and migration in Spain’s ledge. Costa del Sol’, Tourist Studies, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. Ehn, Billy, Jonas Frykman & Orvar Löfgren 1993: 301−317. Försvenskningen av Sverige. Det nationellas O’Reilly, Karen 2007: Intra-European Migration förvandlingar. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. and the Mobility–Enclosure Dialectic. Sociolo- Eimermann, Marco 2014: Flying Dutchmen? Re- gy 41(2). turn reasoning among Dutch lifestyle migrants Petri, Rolf 2003: The meanings of Heimat in rural Sweden. Mobilities. (1850−1945). In: Homelands. Poetic Power Eriksen, Thomas Hylland 1996: Historia, myt och and the Politics of Space. Ron Robin & Bo identitet. Stockholm: Bonnier Alba Essä. Stråth (eds.). Bruxelles: PIE Lang. Faist, Thomas, Fauser, Margit & Eveline Reisen- Povrzanović Frykman, Maja & Michael Hum- hauer 2014: Transnationell Migration. Lund: bracht 2013: Making Palpable Connections. Studentlitteratur. Objects in Migrant’s Transnational Lives. Eth- Gustavsson, Anders 1999: Flöden över gränser. nologia Scandinavica Vol. 43. In: Rolf Danielsson and Anders Gustavsson Pries, Ludger 2001: The approach of transnational (eds.) Gränsmöten. Strömstads museums för- social spaces. In: New Transnational Social lag. Spaces. International migration and transna- Hedlund, Ewa 2011: Utvandrad.nu: Från Emi- tional companies in the early twenty-first centu- grant till Global Svensk. Stockholm: För- ry. Ludger Pries (ed.). London and New York: eningen svenskar i världen. Routledge. Hobsbawn, Eric 1991: Introduction. Social Re- Said, Edward 2000: Reflections on Exile and other search. Vol. 58. essays. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Hübinette, Tobias & Catrine Lundström 2011: Sharp, Joanne 1996: Gendering nationhood: a Sweden after the recent election: the double- feminist engagement with national identity. In: binding power of Swedish whiteness through the mourning of the loss of “old Sweden” and BodySpace. Duncan (ed.). London: Routledge. the passing of “good Sweden”. NORA, Nordic Skeggs, Beverly 2004: Class, Self, Culture. Lon- Journal of Feminist and Gender Research don & New York: Routledge. 19(1), pp. 42−52. Tolgensbakk, Ida 2015: Partysvensker; GO Linderson, Annie 2010: To enter the kitchen door HARD! En narratologisk studie av unge svens- to people’s lives. A Multi-Method Approach in ke arbeidsmigranters nærvær i Oslo. Universi- the Research of Transnational Practices among tetet i Oslo. Lifestyle Migrants. RASAALA Vol. 1 No.1. Vernersdotter, Frida and Solevid, Maria 2014: Re- Lundström, Catrin 2010: Transnationell vithed. gisterstudie över svenska medborgare boende Svenska migrantkvinnor i USA och Singapore. utomlands. SOM-rapport nr 22. Tidskrift för genusvetenskap (1–2): 23–45. Weiss, Anja 2005: The Transnationalization of Lundström, Catrin 2014: White Migrations: Gen- Social Inequality: Conceptualizing Social Posi- der, Whiteness and Privilege in Transnational tions on a World Scale. Current Sociology. Vol. Migration. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 53(4): pp. 707−728. Marklund, Carl 2009: “Hot love and cold people. Werner, Jeff 2014: Introduktiom. In: Jeff, Werner Sexual liberalism as political escapism in radi- & Tomas Björk: Skiaskope 6. Blond och cal Sweden”. Nordeuropaforum nr 19 (1), pp. blåögd. Vithet, svenskhet och visuell kultur. Gö- 83−101. teborg: Göteborgs konstmuseum. Mattsson, Katarina 2004: Vit rasism. In: Rasismer Westling, Folke 2012: Svenskar bosatta utom- i Europa – kontinuitet och förändring, Katarina lands. SOM-rapport nr 9. Ida Tolgensbakk and Annie Woube, Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar 37

Westin, Charles 2000: Migration, Time, and dish Migrants on the Costa del Sol in Spain. Space. In: Migrants and the Homeland. Run- Uppsala Universitet. blom (ed.). Uppsala: Centre for Multiethnic Re- Åkerlund, Ulrika 2013: The best of both worlds: search. Aspirations, drivers and practices of Swedish Woube, Annie 2014: Finding One’s Place. An Lifestyle Movers in Malta (Doctoral thesis), Ethnological Study of Belonging among Swe- Umeå University, Umeå. Dress and Dance The Staging of Multiple Temporalities in an Art-Historical Setting By Anne-Sofie Hjelmdahl

This article explores the production of art-history oriented time approach (Steele time. Focusing on the collection and stag- 2008; Palmer 2008; Riegels Melchior ing of dress objects in the museum, I relate 2014). I will follow up this research and my discussions to time and examine how simultaneously study how fashionable concepts of the past, present and future clothing has been enacted as multiple mu- play out in museum practices. My aim is seum objects staged in different versions. to discuss and analyse the multiplicity and How do dress objects become entangled co-existence of different concepts of time with not just one but multiple temporali- and temporality in one dress event at the ties, and how are these versions related? Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Furthermore, how might different con- Oslo in 1933. I focus on three aspects: cepts of time affect the legitimacy of how dress was transformed and staged as bringing fashionable dress to the mu- museum objects, the different temporali- seum? By approaching dress in this way, I ties that was staged in that specific dress draw on inspiration from actor-network event, and how the different concepts of theory and the concepts of “enactment” time were related to each other. My inter- and “multiplicity” (Mol 2002; Law 2004), est in the situation at the Museum of Ap- hoping to illuminate more aspects of the plied Arts in Oslo emerges from my PhD early period of dress history in museums thesis in museology where I explored how and wanting to be a contributor in the field this museum enacted bodies with dress in of dress history as well as in the field of various museological practices (Hjemdahl museology.1 2013a). I wish to explore how time is produced Dress and Dance in museums, and specifically the relation The point of departure for my research is between time and objects, by focusing on the Museum of Decorative Arts and De- how museums enact the past, present and sign in Oslo, established in 1876. Belong- future with objects through museum prac- ing to a cluster of museums for the applied tices. To discuss how museum objects arts, it was closely connected to the Great may enact time, I will use dress, and pri- Exhibition in London in 1851 and the marily fashionable dress. In recent years, world fairs which emerged in the new dress history as a field of knowledge with- public sphere from the middle of the nine- in European and American museums has teenth century onwards (Bennett 1995; become a growing field of research among Brenna 2003). These museums were both dress historians and museologists meant to be role models both for industry (Taylor 1998, 2004; Palmer 2008; Steele and for people in general (Glambek 2010). 2008; La Haye 2010; Fukai 2010; Thomp- In November 1933 the museum in Oslo son 2010; Riegels Melchior & Svensson presented dress history as a separate sub- 2014). Research focusing on how dress ject in its own right for the first time was handled in the first half of the twenti- through a big dress event called “Dress eth century adopts an object-oriented ap- and Dance, City Dress in Norway from proach, focusing on how dress was related 1700 to 1900”. The ten-day long dress to a diachronic time approach and to an event staged fashionable dress collected

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 39

from all over Norway and presented on in glass cases (Hjemdahl 2013a). Also at about 150 live models. In retrospect, this the Victoria and Albert Museum in Lon- event has been seen as the starting point don, dress was exhibited in the British for the dress collection at that museum Gallery from 1920 onwards (Taylor 2004: and also as the establishment of fashion- 117). The situation in Oslo differed, able dress as a field of knowledge in Nor- though, in that dress was enacted here way (Bay-Sjøvold 1976). The curator at through a series of performances. It was the museum, Mrs Åse Bay-Sjøvold, char- presented as a spectacle and as theatre in acterized in retrospect the arrangement as motion and it took place all over the mu- the biggest ever in a Norwegian museum seum. Staging fashionable clothes with (1976:19). The event itself took place in live bodies in theatrical performances the museum building from 1904 located in turned out to become a quite common the affluent western part of downtown form of presentation among Norwegian Oslo. According to Bay-Sjøvold, the museums up till about 1960 (Hjemdahl whole museum was transformed for the 2013b). In spite of this, however, this mu- event. The vestibule was turned into a fes- seological practice has only sparingly tive hall. In the banquet hall grandstands been described or studied. and a floor for dancing demonstrations The Dress and Dance event in Oslo were built. On the third floor dress was might be characterized as a gathering mounted on mannequins and exhibited in filled with garments, people, bodies, prac- suitable interiors. Every day the museum tices, institutions, music and dance, where presented new special exhibitions. There the clothes unfolded themselves through a was a lottery with prizes consisting of ob- number of practices. On the following jects of modern applied arts in the small pages, my aim is to unfold the historical baroque hall, and in the large baroque hall event as a historical ethnography, or even “Aunt Lisa” served tea to the audience. In more concretely, as a praxiography, to use addition, there were groups of live models a concept borrowed from Annemarie Mol presenting modern fashion clothes every (Mol 2002:31–32), and I will also focus day (Bay-Sjøvold 1976:20). Furthermore, on practice and temporality, but first I lectures and practical demonstrations of would like to outline the concept of multi- clothing were a part of the ten-day event, plicity. which was greatly supported by a large audience every day. In other words, it was Multiplicity a huge success for the museum. It is my claim that dress became enacted In a Scandinavian and European con- with multiple temporalities in the 1933 text this event was an early example of the dress event at the Museum of Decorative promotion of fashionable dress as both a Arts in Oslo, which I will demonstrate by historical and a museological concept. At introducing the concept of multiplicity the same time the Nordic Museum in into dress research. Here I am inspired Stockholm opened the first part of its both by historical research focusing on brand-new and modern Dress Gallery historicity and by works in the field of where dress was exhibited on mannequins actor-network theory. 40 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

In recent years the problem of historical offer ways of approaching multiplicity. time and the production and use of history ANT focuses on relations and has been have been given increasing attention. In characterized as a “semiotics of materiali- philosophy of history and cultural history, ty” (Law 1999:4; Brenna 2003:47). A po- time-concepts have been historicized (de sition within ANT also offers ways of ap- Certeau 2006; Hartog 2003; Simonsen proaching entities and objects in terms of 2003; Koselleck 2002; Jordheim 2012a, b; fluidity, mutability and multiplicity (Laet Eriksen 2014). In other words, the rela- & Mol 2000; Mol 2002; Law 2004). The tionship between the past and the present philosopher Annemarie Mol claims that has moved to centre stage in many histor- “an object that seems singular in theory is ical debates (Bevernage & Lorenz 2013: multiple and fractional in practice”. Mol 7−8). The history theorist Reinart Kosel- states that objects only come into being leck has developed a concept of “multiple through different practices and as such temporalities” by emphasizing how every they are enacted realities. By placing linguistic term has its own temporal struc- practices in the foreground, there is no ture inherent and is characterized by being longer a single passive object in the “multi-layered” and “complex” (Kosel- middle. Objects come into being – and leck in Jordheim 2012:165). This tempo- disappear – with the practices with which ral constellation is a three-part structure they are manipulated. “Since the object of comprised of all three dimensions of time: manipulation tends to differ from one past, present and future (Jordheim 2012b: practice to another, reality multiplies,” 165). Even if Koselleck’s theory is pri- Mol claims (2002:5). As such, entities and marily concerned with linguistic terms, objects are enacted in different versions. his theoretical insights have been trans- They are more than one, but less than ferred to historical research (see e.g. Jord- many (Mol 2002:55).2 This means that heim 2007; Kavanaugh 2010; Bevernage even if different versions of the object & Lorentz 2013). Based on Koselleck’s co-exist, these versions also hang to- work, then, I see both past and future as in- gether. The question is how they are re- herent in the present. In other words, his- lated (Mol 2002:55). Inspired by the con- toricity is about ways of living with the cept of multiplicity, I ask how different past and about the relationship between concepts of time and temporality were en- the past and the present. We do not talk acted within the Dress and Dance event in about history as a matter of fact, but about Oslo and how they were intertwined with historicity and the complex temporal the enactment of the clothes and the nexus “past-present-future” (Hirsch & bodies. What was the work of these tem- Stewart 2005:262, in Jordheim 2012a:63). poralities and how did they communicate In the following analyses, I will highlight with each other? Even more importantly, how the past came into being in the dress how did the different temporalities help event and the effect of the ways in which constitute the individual garments as mu- the past was done. seum objects? Science and Technology studies (STS) Mol’s work helps us to see how objects and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) also and therefore different time concepts are Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 41

The Empire evening: From the evening when the “Empire dress” was enacted as a separate period of time at the Museum of Decorative Art and Design in Oslo. From: Kunst og Kultur 1934. enacted in different but simultaneously A question several researchers within entangled practices. At the event in Oslo, ANT discuss is how the multiplicity and time was enacted as abstract and diachron- non-coherence, or the mess so to speak, ic in an art-historical version by structur- operate and are made coherent and kept ing the display of dress according to art together (Mol 2002; Law 2004; Law, Af- history’s style periods. Time was also en- dal, Asdal, Lin, Moser & Singelton 2014). acted as a contrast between then and now, There are many styles of non-coherence, a perspective well known from cultural and the concept of syncretism or modes of history museums producing a national syncretism have been used to work with past (Bennett 1995:146ff; Eriksen 2009: these questions within STS (Law, Afdal, 175ff). In addition, the live models on Asdal, Lin, Moser & Singelton 2014:175). stage produced versions of temporality re- Applying these thoughts to the great dress lated to the concrete and the human body. event at the Museum of Applied Art in 42 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

Oslo in 1933, the question is how multi- any old Norwegian garments in their col- plicity co-existed and how the different lections. Friends of the museum and versions were related and held together. I people that the museum staff knew could will address these questions at the end of have old clothes in their possession were this article. also asked. The museum ended up collecting about 1200 pieces of clothing. In addi- Enacting History as Live Period tion, about 150 live models were recruited Rooms: The Diachronic Version from friends and acquaintances of the mu- From the very beginning it was clear that seum. Several ladies’ committees also be- fashionable dress was going to be dis- came involved to help the museum with played on living human bodies. The mu- the restoration of the clothes, to establish seum’s objective was to stage a number a lottery and to run a tea-salon at the mu- of consecutive performances with old seum during the event. clothes displayed on live models dancing Museums transform the things they are historical dances. The curator, Mrs Aase meant to reflect. The fashionable clothes Bay-Sjøvold, claimed that the whole collected and displayed at the museum in thing started as a loose idea during the Oslo were transformed so that they could spring of 1933. The Museum Director fit into the museum context and be estab- Thor Bentz Kielland, and the art historian lished as what the Swedish ethnologist and curator at the museum, Mr Henrik Wera Grahn has called museological facts Grevenor, wanted to present historical (Grahn 2006:42). The concept of museo- dress together with historical dance and logical facts describes how objects obtain music (Bay- Sjøvold 1976:19). If we read their identity and how they may be staged the museum’s 1933 annual report and as material facts through a series of prac- protocols it is obvious that the museum tices. At the museum in Oslo the garments had at least two different interests in were transformed so that they could be bringing fashionable clothes to the mu- staged and presented as museum objects seum stage. One was commercial. The belonging to a more overall and abstract event was seen as a popular form of en- history. tertainment for the public and an ap- The 200 years portrayed during the propriate way for the museum to make event were dated according to a chrono- money to finance its building plans. The logical method and divided into five dis- other interest was more scientific in the tinct periods, each one presented through sense that the museum wanted to docu- its own show in the evening. The periods ment all existing old types of dress in covered the years from 1720 to 1933 and Norway and to put together a research- it was the different styles of the garments based historical publication on dress. that constituted the basis for the different Preparations started by distributing in- categories. The first period covered the formation about the planned event around years from 1720 to 1770, the next period the country and by asking whether the mu- presented was the Rococo dating from seum could borrow old clothes. Scandina- 1770 until 1790, the third was the Empire vian museums were also asked if they had period from 1790 until 1830, the fourth Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 43

ran from 1830 till 1865 and the fifth and case were mainly male and trained within last period presented was from 1865 to the art history. This art-history based chro- parade’s present day, 1933. nology approach gave history an objecti- My point here is simple. The way the fying function, while helping to establish museum organized the dress event into the male researchers as experts clearly five parades also produced a chrono- distanced from the live models on stage – logical and diachronic time. As the his- who were mostly women. This strategy torian Helge Jordheim has emphasized, also helped to draw up a hierarchy and diachronic time involves movements, produced relations of power between process, changes and fractures, and con- male and female. tinuities (Jordheim 2012a:59). At the The art historian’s way of creating museum, fashion history was subse- history also gave the dress event in 1933 quently presented in close relation to art a structure and a particular temporality history and in accordance with a period- through the way each period of style was ical and chronological way of thinking performed during its evening show that history. Each period was logically con- took about an hour and a half. Each pe- nected to the next and the latest fashion riod of style was presented almost like a was just added on to the final period of fashion show in itself where the public this chronological sequence. It was the got plenty of time to watch and admire, art- historian’s way of organizing dia- and also, through lectures, to learn about chronic time. the historical clothes presented on According to the historian Dorthe Gert stage.3 According to the Norwegian Simonsen, historians tend to use an over- newspapers that gave the museum’s all concept of chronological time to syn- evening events full coverage, these thesize time of past worlds, both the time shows were very popular.4 If the audi- referred to within historical representa- ence wanted to learn about the whole tions and the textual timing of rep- 200 years of dress history in Norway, resentations (Simonsen 2003:53). The they had to come to the museum every point is that periods and chronology are evening for five consecutive days. If not, maintained as an external measuring in- they could still see the summarized and strument for the historian. Abstract abridged final version given as the final chronological time makes it possible to big evening show. draw a sharp distinction between past and The way the museum in Oslo enacted present, between the research object and the collected clothes as art history did not the research subject (de Certeau 2000: just transform the clothes into museum 216). This meant that placing dress ob- objects, it also established the structural jects into different periods not just estab- principle for how the entire event was en- lished dress as art history but also made it acted. When presenting fashion dress as a possible for the museum experts to posi- museum subject, the museum chose the tion themselves as subjects outside the diachronic and art-historical strategy field, away from the clothes and the which also made it possible for the mu- bodies on display. The experts in this seum to stage these garments as art-histor- 44 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

ical facts and rightfully belonging to a museum worked hard to create clear contrasts seum of applied arts. between old and new fashion trends, between the past and the present. As Direc- Enacting Past and Present as a Con- tor Kielland wrote in the museum’s annual trast: The Comparative Version report: “Only when seen against the back- What are historians doing when they let ground of our own time does the past the past become past? How can historians stand out in its proper relief” (Kielland tell when exactly it is time to put the past 1935:84−85). in its place? These are questions asked by The museum therefore wished to make a contrast the history philosophers Bevernage & between styles, dances and music of the various Lorenz (2013:23) and they play a pivotal historical periods and contemporary fashion. This role in this discussion. Letting the past be- ran like a common thread through the lectures and shows and was further underlined during the come past affects our notion of both the opening show and the shows that followed, as they present and the future. were followed every time by a demonstration of When the museum started work on the 1933’s rhythm in music and fashion. Every day upcoming dress event during the summer one of the leading fashion companies in the city and autumn of 1933, it soon became clear would present its own models and creations in the that contemporary fashion was going to be fashion shows (ibid.). a central part of the programme in order to Through the way the entire event was or- provide a contrast both to the fashion of ganized in lectures, exhibitions and histor- older times and to the dances and other ical fashion shows, the museum empha- cultural expressions of the ages in ques- sized the contrast between the past and tion. In the annual report, the Museum Di- present, then and now. This comparative rector Thor Kielland emphasized that: “in way of enacting time was part of an over- connection with these arrangements, it all dramaturgy and could be experienced was our intent to present models with in the evening shows with dress and dance fashion from various Norwegian fashion and more particularly in the demonstra- companies. It could be one or several tions of dress, such as the underwear companies who performed their fashions demonstration described below, and other each day. In addition we wanted to have a types of dress lectures combined with show where the first ladies of Oslo were practical demonstrations of the garments. exhibiting the latest fashion creations.”5 The past was thus established as a stable Several leading fashion companies were entity according to the present and en- involved in the parade, presenting the lat- abled by the presence of both “old” and est fashions from Paris. By bringing the “new” objects. latest fashion into the museum, the older The effect of enacting time in this way clothes became just old while contempor- was a physical one. The museum created a ary fashion came across as new, fresh and physical space for the audience to visit the fashionable. past where they could both look at and This is how the museum transformed meet the bodies and the subsequent bodily the collected pieces of clothing to become regimes of past times. After this visit that part of a set past. At the same time the mu- same audience could return to their con- Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 45

temporary world of fashion with its lowed an established tradition and con- models and experience the relief of their structed a normative hierarchy between contemporary body ideals – which at the past and contemporary clothes, where the time were characterized as modern by past somehow became the traditional ver- simple design and short skirts and which sus the present that was modern. It was the was considered to be clothes that allowed fashionable woman of 1933 that was seen women to move freely. The article “Old as the correct role model for contemporary and New Age Meet!” in the Norwegian women and which the museum wanted to newspaper Aftenposten described the im- hold up as a role model for the female mu- pact on the journalist: seum visitors. This also highlights Helge One studies and marvels over the intricate cloth- Jordheim’s argument about the relation- ing they used to wear in the old, old days. The ship between the past, the present and the clothes could be decorative and great, but how future: “How we ended up here” is thus awkward and bulky, even if the young ladies from entirely intertwined with how we consider the Rococo, Empire and the other eras lived in a different environment, where work and sports ourselves to be on the way and what we were not a part of daily life. In our eyes, the ladies should do to get there with our expecta- of 1933 have a charm that outperforms all past tions for the future and our opportunities women and their clothing.6 for action and intentions in the present” This comparative strategy also helped to (Jordheim 2012a:64). Jordheim’s argu- actualize dress history by pulling it into ments, transferred to the museum field, the “contemporary”. It produced a qualita- show how this museum enacted time: by tive difference between past and contem- letting the past become past in an art his- porary bodies where the modern fashion- torical way, the museum also presented its able body was seen as a physical emanci- expectations and even guidelines of how pation, a social improvement and as pro- women should dress in the future and sub- gress; contemporary women were both sequently influenced the female public, free and freely moving. their future consumption and dress prac- The history of dress was also used to tices. explain how contemporary women “got My point is that the two versions of do- here” in 1933. This was part of a chronol- ing time described above – the diachronic ogy where the movement from past to art-historical view of time as categorized present was understood as social progress. into periods and the comparative view of This approach to time and history is simi- time, the comparing of past and present – lar to what Michel de Certeau finds in co-existed throughout the event. Together modern historiography. He has likewise these versions transformed the clothes on suggested that modern historiography tra- stage into one museological and historical ditionally begins with the differentiation field of knowledge while at the same time between the present and the past and he legitimizing the presence of the contem- claims that: “It takes the ‘perishable’ as its porary. Together they managed to empha- object and progress as its axiom” (de Cer- size both the changing character of female teau 1975:18, in Beverage and Lorentz fashionable dress and the educational and 2013:14−15). As such the museum fol- moral aspect of fashion. 46 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

Synchronizing Historical Concepts dress” and “Norwegian dress”, which and Bodies: One Body Version meant “garments belonging to the past”. Let us take a closer look at the body and When dress was searched for through an- the bodily practices at play at the 1933 nouncements in the newspapers, these event. In recent years, the close relation were the terms that were used. At that time between the clothes and the body has be- the garments did not have a fixed museo- come the core issue for several dress re- logical identity. Instead, the concept of old searchers (Entwistle & Wilson 2001; garments referred to earlier dress events Klepp 2009; Gradén & McIntyre 2009; arranged by the housewives’ organization Hol Haugen 2014). As the British fashion “Hjemmenes vel”, where old dress as ob- theorist Joanna Entwistle claims: “Fash- jects did not belong to the present and ion is about bodies, it is produced, pro- which established a border between pres- moted and worn by bodies. It is the body ent and past. Old dress was clothes be- that fashion speaks to and it is the body longing to earlier generations, preferably that must be dressed in almost all social women’s clothing rooted in earlier gener- encounters” (2000:1). In this last section I ations (Hjemdahl 2013a:108). will examine the bodily enactment of the About one month before the opening clothes and explore what kind of versions the situation changed and the clothes were of time were enacted with the 1933 live transformed in line with a specific con- bodies. When studying the live bodies in cept. In an interview with Director Kiel- the dress event closely, we see that the al- land in the newspaper Morgenbladet, he ready described time concepts were in fact said: “we have obtained about 200 outfits distorted. that fall within the framework of the event To display clothes as objects belonging which we may call ‘200 years of urban to a body, the museum needed a bodily dress in Norway’. We are only interested form. In addition they needed linguistic in clothes worn in the cities since we be- concepts. I have already mentioned that lieve that peasant costumes belong to the actor-network theory has been character- Folk Museum” (Morgenbladet 21 Octo- ized as a semiotics of materiality (Law ber 1933). The concept of urban dress re- 1999:4; Brenna 2003:47). The relation- ferred here to the way the Norwegian cul- ship between linguistic concepts, fashion tural history museum, i.e. the Folk Mu- dress itself and the bodies wearing these seum, categorized its objects as either clothes became visible in two situations: changing and urban or rural and stable. when choosing a concept for the garments Whereas the art-historical perspective and when finding the right bodies to pres- seemed to govern the interpretation of ent these clothes on the museum stage. “objects from the city”, the ethnographic Time became intertwined with the gar- perspective seemed to govern how objects ments and bodies through these issues. characterized as rural and belonging to the Let me first point to the issue of naming peasant culture were interpreted and un- the garments. When the museum started derstood. It also referred to the way dress work on the event it first presented the ob- had become categorized in Nordic mu- jects it wanted to put on display as “old seums (Gradén 2011:13; Hjemdahl 2013a: Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 47

107). In other words, clothes were given a the museum in Oslo it soon became clear social identity. Urban became almost syn- that they wanted something different. onymous with the upper class and dress They wanted a scientifically accurate and history was seen as a particular type of “correct presentation” which emphasized history belonging to the upper classes. the right style and silhouette of the dress. Another core issue arising in the period Therefore, they also wanted bodies with before the event was: How to find the right the right shape and measurement for the bodies to model the old clothes? Clothes clothes. In other words, it was the art his- might be seen as a “second skin” (Horn torian way of enacting time as style 1975), tailored, used and belonging to one periods which was the preferred time con- singular body. They might also be ap- cept and which they wanted the bodies to proached as relics in the way they remind stage. us of bodies and people who once existed The museum ended up showing the (Wilson 1985:1; Mavor 1997). Most of dresses on a limited selection of bodies. the old garments collected were bespoke, The lists with names of the museum tailored to the one particular body that had models that I found in the archives, how- owned it. According to Director Kielland, ever, imply that the models were largely the bodies of 1933 differed from these recruited from relatives and friends of the past bodies often both in size and bodily museum’s staff and from the museum’s shape (Arbeiderbladet 6 November 1933). committees, all resident addresses being In the newspapers of the day we may read in the affluent western part of down town about the public’s interest in the museum Oslo. In other words, the museum’s live models and who they were. The news- bodies modelling the clothes all came paper Morgenbladet wrote about the work from the upper classes. These bodies also of getting the right models and bodies for helped transform and stabilize the gar- the garments: ments as objects belonging to the upper On this occasion they are more concerned about classes. Hence, the bodies presented the getting every detail of the clothes historically ac- garments and influenced perceptions of curate and to get the right silhouette rather than to the clothes on stage in the way the mu- boast the names of the families who have lent the seum wanted them to. By emphasizing the museum clothes for the exhibition. The museum materiality and the measurements of the does not want to create sensation but a sense of cultural tradition. In some cases, young ladies individual bodies, and not the individuali- wear clothes that have been in their respective ty of the models, these live bodies enacted families but we will have had to take the wearer’s dress history as a more general and ab- bodily measurements and her girt more into ac- stract piece of art history. count than her family traditions (Morgenbladet 9 The museum, however, did not always November 1933). manage to present dress history as abstract In earlier dress parades arranged by the and art historical. In some situations, rela- above-mentioned housewives organiza- tives wore garments obtained from their tion “Hjemmenes vel” there had been a own families, such as Miss Wikant who tradition for choosing models that had a was presented as a relative of the only fe- familiar connection to the garments. At male national hero, Anna Colbjørnsdatter, 48 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

and who wore her dress of red brocade These garments were presented with (Morgenbladet 9 November 1933). In this dances such as the Polka, the Mazurka and case, personalized genealogy became a the Rheinlander. Finally, garments from way of enacting dress history. In the case 1865 till 1930 was presented with dances of Miss Wikant, the past was presented as like Lachelier, Pas d’Espagne and in the a singular and individualized piece of end, the Cat Walk. genealogy with another temporality than Alongside the enactment of historical the style periods and in the comparative dances, both time in general and the past way of enacting time presented. This was in particular were co-produced in con- a past that was not an abstract one, but a crete ways. In the annual report, the Mu- singular past with both names and person- seum Director Thor Kielland described al bodies. This genealogy practice and the how he saw dress, bodies, dance, music live body of Miss Wikant were staged as and even the structure of the garden as an an alternative to the official art-historical integrated whole (Kielland 1935:80−82). way of enacting dress history. Time was understood as organic periods, My point is that although the museum an understanding belonging to the Ger- may have wanted to present dress in an man philosopher Johan Gottfried Herder abstract and chronological art-historical (Herder 1967). The whole concept of way of viewing history, the presence of aesthetic periods, including music and the live bodies not only opened up for dance, was based on the style periods of other temporalities but did in fact insist art history and was unfolded in front of on them. This was also the case when the the audience. garments were presented through music When the museum event was being pre- and dance. pared, a question arose: How to get the contemporary bodies of 1933 to under- Enacting the Past as Modern Dance: stand the historical way of moving? How Second Body Version to get the dancers to understand that their The museum opened the event on Friday great-great-grandparents touched the floor 10 November 1933 with a dress parade with their toe first when dancing? (Dag- consisting of live models wearing dress bladet 6 November 1933). It was the Nor- belonging to the Rococo period. First, the wegian dance instructor Inga Jacobi, mar- models danced the Polonaise, then they ried to the curator at the museum, Mr Hen- danced the Minuets, the Contre and the rik Grevenor, that organized the dances. Gavotte. On Saturday evening, the mu- Jacobi belonged to the free dance move- seum staged dress from the Louis Seize ment, inspired by famous dancer Isadora Age and presented it to the rhythm of a Duncan and emphasizing an improvised new version of the Minuet and the Alle- and natural dance that was performed mande. The following Sunday evening the barefoot (Johansen 2001:167−168). The museum staged “simple dress” from the free dance movement has been seen as a Empire period together with the Waltz. It reaction to the rigidity of the ballet in- was then time for the Biedermeier and the spired by the idea of the free human being New Rococo periods from 1830 to 1865. (Ibid.: 40−43). It was also a part of the Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 49

words, it was about producing the past with a contemporary temporality and aesthetics. The modern way of movement was a way of letting the past become present, both relevant and modern to the audience. The past and the present were intertwined in the way Koselleck emphasizes in his theory about multi-layered linguistic terms: all three dimensions of time were simultaneously included: past, present and future (Jordheim 2012b:165). The dance was also multi-layered in the same way. In the enactment of historical dances at the museum, we see the “contempora- neity of the past”, to use a concept from the cultural historian Helge Jordheim (Jordheim 2012a:63).

The Temporality of Dressing the Fe- male Body: Third Body Version The last version of bodily temporality that occurred in the dress event which I will underline also refers to bodily practice: Underwear: This photo, found in the dress ar- the demonstration of the act of dressing. chives as documentation of the female bright blue Research on clothes and fashion has seen corset dress dated 1750−1770, gives an impres- clothes as an integral part of bodily prac- sion of how the female underwear was documented and presented in 1933. From: The Dress Ar- tice and of “body dressing”. Dress is ap- chives. The National Museum of Art, Architec- proached as a situated bodily practice ture and Design, Norway. (Entwistle & Wilson 2001). As an exten- sion of this approach, some researchers in- then modern way of dancing . Unfortu- spired by actor-network theory emphasize nately, the sources do not tell us how how wearing specific types of clothes also Jacobi worked with her dancers although affects bodily practices. Clothes are seen they all tell us about the result and that she as actors having their own agency and as did manage to choreograph the historical providing a certain bodily choreography dances in a modern and elegant way (Mor- (Knuts 2006; Damsholt 2010; Simonsen genbladet 20 November 1933). 2011; Hol Haugen 2013). In this case, the museum did not As previously mentioned, there were a struggle to re-enact historically accurate number of different garment demonstra- dances. It was all about presenting the tions during the event, among them pres- clothes in ways that appealed to a contem- entations of underwear that took place at porary and “modern” audience. In other noon on the day after the great dress event 50 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

opened. The announcement read: “The thea Fischer and Lilleba Kielland; Fischer women at the Museum of Decorative Arts was the expert and Kielland her model. and Design reveal their secrets” and the These women gave the audience a bodily newspaper reported: demonstration of the various garments On Saturday at 1 p.m. only women ran up the and devices found under the outfits, such stairs to the Museum of Decorative Arts and De- as iron corsets, skirts and so on. The whole sign, to uncover the secrets of Rococo, Empire demonstration was presented as a story and later times’ underwear. Slowly the elegance about how women had to suffer in the past that characterized the models in the opening day because of their underwear and about the parade was to be revealed garment by garment – physical effort it required to get dressed in and with no limits (Aftenposten 11 November these garments − as demonstrated by Mrs 1933). Kielland who groaned and almost fainted The presentation was open to women only when Mrs Fischer tightened her iron cor- and it was arranged by the sisters Doro- set. In a newspaper article reporting this

Tea salon: As a part of the dress and dance event the ladies from the “ladies’ committees” arranged a tea salon in the museum. These ladies too were dressed in old costumes and the salon became a part of the reenactment of past style periods. From: The Dress Archives. Owner: The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway. Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 51

event, the journalist ended the story by Koselleck’s concept of multi-layered time writing: (past-present-future) was thus inherent in The demonstration was observed with enormous this demonstration too. interest. The atmosphere was cheerful and intimate and afterwards the public was served tea and Concluding Remarks: Synchronizing cakes. In addition, the women were so relieved Multiple Times and Bodies… that corsets and such installations constructed to As I mentioned, the museum transforms shape the human body no longer were a part of female fashion anymore (Dagbladet 11 November the things it is meant to reflect. In this ar- 1933). ticle I have wanted to open up for a more complex understanding of how time was Time was related here to bodily tasks and co-produced with fashionable clothes in co-produced as bodily temporality and as the first half of the twentieth century. I a daily routine: the time it took to dress the have also sought to underline how mul- female body in past times. The dressing tiple temporalities were produced and was enacted as a bodily practice with all how they co-existed in the event described its effort and its slowness. Also the agency in Oslo, how old fashionable dress be- of the underwear was emphasized to came enacted as museological artefacts demonstrate how the female body would with different temporalities and how the get the correct silhouette for a certain style different practices described had all three period. These garments had a clear agen- dimensions of time inherent: past, present cy, to shape the female body. As such the and future. The enacting of the past oc- demonstration was pedagogical. It let the curred in dance, demonstrations and the audience get to know the past through the parades at the same time as the present and workings of underwear. Furthermore, this the future were enacted as modern and as practice was also about the slowness of social progress. historical clothes. At the beginning of the article, I asked The act of dressing was also performed for what purpose the past came into being. as a moralizing tale. The agency of the un- In the interwar period female fashion derwear was demonstrated as oppressive turned towards “ready to wear”. New to the female body and therefore problem- technical principles in clothes production atic. This aspect of the clothes was per- and simple and “comfortable” designs formed as qualities belonging to the old made it possible to mass-produce fashion clothes, while contemporary clothing and in new ways. Fashion became cheaper and underwear were considered to enable free a product for the masses (Myrvang 2009: movements and not to be suppressive 173−195). In this climate, the fashion in- agents. Again the contrast between the dustry needed agents to spread informa- past and the present was staged in a pro- tion about modern clothes and get female gressive way where modern and contem- consumers to buy these new, simple and porary clothes were presented as social what were considered to be aesthetically improvement and an ideal for women in correct garments (ibid.). The museum in the future where it seemed that clothes no Oslo was such an agent, distributing mod- longer would have a suppressive agency. ern fashion ideals with its great dress 52 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

event. As such, the narratives that the mu- produced in more concrete ways when it seum produced and presented about fe- was related to the human body, which also male dress history were attempts to make seemed to disturb the two main time con- the female audience conscious of the bodi- cepts as already described. Time was en- ly restrictions and limitations inherent in acted as a concrete bodily style and as par- past dress and attempts to make future ticular silhouettes, while time was simul- consumers choose modern fashion. The taneously enacted as both genealogy and great dress event was not just about estab- private history. It was enacted as the slow lishing fashion dress as a field of museum temporality of the dressing act and as the research, it was also about educating a fe- way of moving these dresses across the male audience with the objective to get dance floor. The clothes became objects them to purchase new and simply de- related to the human body in that they sta- signed fashion garments both in the pres- bilized the overall and chronological time ent and in the future. My point is that stag- concept as well as challenging and dis- ing fashion pasts was also about staging a turbing it. modern fashion future. The great dress event with all its differ- In this article I have highlighted the dif- ent practices may be seen as an examina- ferent versions of temporalities that un- tion of the various aspects of fashionable folded in the dress event of 1933: the dress, intentional or not. It has been my art-historical way of organizing history aim to show how the different concepts of into different kinds of style periods and time were in play and how it was impor- the contrasting way between then and now tant both to establish facts and narratives which both established and confirmed the about female dress and also to establish past and present clothes as just old and fashion dress garments as museum ob- modern. These temporalities co-existed jects. The core question is thus: how may and made up the main structure of the the different versions of time and tem- event. porality be understood and how do they Even though they were embedded in relate to each other? And finally, how was different logics, the art-historical narrative any non-coherence handled? might be seen as an argument for the One could imagine that the different whole event and lending legitimacy to the versions meant that clothes did not emerge collection of old clothes by the museum as a singular or coherent phenomenon or and also establishing a scientific structure as one particular object of knowledge, and and logic of the garments. The compara- that fashion dress came to be several dif- tive narrative, on the other hand, seemed ferent phenomena. However, this was not to belong to both the educational and eco- the case. According to Mol, there seem to nomic aspects of the event. As mentioned, be number of ways these differences are the method of contrasting emphasized the regulated and held together to make them positive aspects of contemporary Norwe- appear coherent. One of Mol’s observa- gian fashion and appealed to the female tions is that one single and strong narra- audience and was aimed at possible future tive may be important, a narrative that consumption. In addition, time was co- smoothly joins different theories. In the Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance 53

dress event at the museum in Oslo the among the narratives, but also between the situation was that, although the singular different spaces in the museum and among and private narratives might challenge the the gendered bodies in the museum. art-historical understanding of history as a chronological evolutionary line divided Ann-Sofie Hjemdahl PhD into different style periods, this seemed to Statens vegvesen, region sør represent such a strong narrative that the Tollbugata 2 varieties were just subordinated to this NO-3044 Drammen main narrative. The garments remained email: [email protected] “city dress” with a shared historical past, stylistically speaking, despite the fact that Notes the clothes also were enacted as private 1 I would like to thank the editors of the journal for the good comments and input on this genealogy and additionally presented with article, as well as Mette Irene Dahl for great an emphasis on the physical practice of help with the English language. dressing a body, i.e. the temporality of 2 Or as John Law puts it: “if we turn to practice, we tend to discover multiplicity” (Law 2004: getting dressed. In other words, there 61). seemed to be a hierarchy between the dif- 3 This analytical point comes from my studies ferent versions of time and temporality. of the archival sources and newspaper reports, Here, the history of art appeared as the which describes the duration of the events and the things going on there. most powerful time organizer while the 4 Morgenposten 11 November 1933, Dagbladet other versions of time and temporality 11 November. 1933, Tidens Tegn 15 Novem- somehow joined in this grand narrative. ber 1933, Aftenposten 15 November 1933. The order could be seen in the temporal 5 NKIM – archive. “P.M. angående Museets dragtutstillings-arrangements høsten 1933” and spatial organization of the different 6 Quotation: Man studerer og undres over den practices involved. However, an effort omstendelige og “innviklede” påklædning i was made to separate some of the prac- gamle, gamle dager, som nok kunde være de- korativ og flott, men hvor upraktisk og plass- tices from each other. The art-historical krevende? Imidlertid, rokokkoens, empirens perspective dominated in the evening og de andre epokers unge damer levet jo i et shows, while the underwear demonstra- annet miljø, hvor f. eks. arbeide og sport ikke tion was held in the middle of the day and hørte meget med i dagliglivet. was open to women only. The implication of this was that the main narrative was References staged at prime time, in the evening, when Aftenposten 7 October 1933 . Norske drakter gjennem 200 år. the museum was filled with a large audi- Aftenposten 11 November 1933. Damene på ence and also with a number of prominent kunstindustrimuseet avslører sine hemme- visitors, while the other narratives to a cer- ligheter – kvinnedraktens tilbehør gjennem 200 år. tain extent were reduced to other parts of Aftenposten 15 November 1933. Atter en svensk the day and to other parts of the museum, beundrer på draktutstillingen. Dr. Åke Stave- often also with a female audience only. As now beundrer både dr. Kielland og draktene – such, the multiplicity was handled by og Oslo-damenes kulturinteresse. Arbeiderbladet 6 November 1933. Moro i Kunst- separation time-wise and location-wise. industrimuseet. Hvad de gamle draktene kan Hence, there was not only a hierarchy fortelle. 54 Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Dress and Dance

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Probably the most significant change in been criticized in the new dress studies by Western women’s dress in the twentieth pointing out, for example, the role of sub- century was the adoption of trousers be- cultural styles, creolization of fashion and cause traditionally trousers have been dress, the eclectic mixing of styles and the men’s wear and a symbol of masculinity subjective experiences of dress (see e.g. as well. Fashion designers have designed Hansen 2004). As Joannne Entwistle has women’s trouser suits since the beginning pointed out, fashion does not dictate our of the twentieth century but it was only in dress: individual clothing decisions are the 1970s that they were commonly ac- framed both by personal preferences and cepted as women’s wear (see e.g. Wolter by a wide range of social factors and cul- 1994:222ff). At the beginning of twenty- tural norms. Fashion is only one factor in- first century women’s trouser wearing has fluencing dress, and not all fashions are still sometimes been disapproved of (see adopted by all individuals (Entwistle Vincent 2009:132). As dress historian Su- 2000:49–52). san J. Vincent (2009:131) has pointed out, In this article I study the individual “although the twentieth century brought clothing decisions of those women who two world wars, universal suffrage, con- have not adopted trouser wearing or traception and the Equal Pay Act, it did whose dress is influenced by it only in to a not give women equal access to trousers”. lesser extent. The article is based on the The history of women’s trouser wear- premises of the ethnological and anthro- ing has therefore been seen as a story of pological dress studies that are interested women’s battle for the right to wear them in the individual and social meanings of and as a story of gender equality (Ribeiro dress and that analyse dress as part of the 1986:132–145; Wolter 1994; Vincent social and cultural context in a specified 2009:122–132). In this article I discuss time and place (Eicher 2000; Turunen how Finnish women have experienced the 2011:35–37). “Dress” refers here to the arrival of trouser fashion. I focus on those everyday dress and the act of clothing the women who do not like to wear them and body, and “fashion” means the abstract who even criticize women’s wearing of fashion system that produces new styles trousers. I ask why they prefer skirts and and garments as well as aesthetic ideas why they are not interested in having and discourses of dress. The relation be- ‘equal access’ to trousers because their tween these two is best described as fol- stories are interesting counter-narratives lows: fashion provides the “raw material” to the “battle” narrative. of daily dress and it becomes recognized The history of fashion and dress has only when it is accepted and worn by been typically represented in the academic people (Entwistle 2000:1–4, 48). and popular literature as a story of inevit- With the methods of oral history re- able evolution and emulation: new fash- search, the aim of the article is to give ions emerge one after another, replacing voice to those women who have rejected the old fashions and diffusing from the trouser wearing in one way or another and fashion centres and the fashion-conscious to investigate their perspective on the mat- elites to the masses. These views have ter, as well as to interpret their views by

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 57

looking explanations for their opinions questionnaire included questions about (Fingerroos & Haanpää 2012:87). I will both purchasing and wearing of trousers. I start by discussing, how and why the fash- asked, for example, in which situations ion of women’s trousers emerged in the and for what purposes the respondents had fashion world and how and why it has worn trousers and how and when they ac- been valued positively as sign of women’s quired their first pair of trousers. In order liberation and emancipation. After that I to get a better picture of their dress style I scrutinize the views of those women who included questions about their preferences do not share these interpretations of the in dress in general: for example, what are meanings of women’s trousers. Who are important qualities in dress when they they and how do they validate their argu- purchase new clothing.4 ments?1 The questionnaire attracted a total of 108 responses, ten from men and 98 from Research Material and Methods women. The oldest female respondents Research material for this article consists were born in the 1910s and the youngest of written narratives collected in 2006 and one in the 1980s, but the majority of the 2007 as a part of a project that was female respondents, altogether 91 women launched to gather and study memories of (91% of all female respondents) were born women’s wearing of trousers in Finland. between 1920 and 1949, which means that Research material was collected by circu- they were born at a time when women’s lating a questionnaire through the Folk- trouser wearing was uncommon and dis- lore Archives.2 The questionnaire that was approved of.5 Respondents contributing initiated by me and titled (in Finnish) this kind of written material collected “Women’s Wearing of Trousers” (Naisten through writing competitions and ques- housujen käyttö) was aimed at women tionnaires in Finland typically represent who were alive for example in the 1950s all social classes and all parts of the coun- when trousers were not commonly worn try (Helsti 2005:151). This was also the by Finnish women. I was especially inter- case with this material. Questionnaires ested in women’s own experiences and were returned from all provinces, and choices of dress. I wanted to study, how from manual workers, farmers and farm- the trouser fashion had arrived in Finland, ers’ wives, salespersons, housewives, how the respondents themselves had made nurses, teachers and university professors the decision to start wearing trousers and etc. The responses were mainly thematic how it felt to wear them for the first time. essays that followed the order of ques- Respondents were also asked to tell how tions. The length of the responses varied other people reacted to their trouser wear- from one page to more than twenty pages. ing or the new trend in general. It was de- The research material for this article fined in the questionnaire that I was col- consists of seventeen responses that are lecting memories of the wearing of (all written by women who never wear trou- kinds of) long pants,3 not underpants, but sers or wear them only occasionally. In some respondents wanted to share their this article I use the reminiscences both as memories and stories of them as well. The source material and as the object of my re- 58 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

search (see Fingerroos & Haanpää 2012: pation in sports resulted in improvements 88–89). First of all, the reminiscences are in women’s sportswear which made trou- sources to the respondents’ view of the sers an alternative for women who liked, matter that I am interested in. As I analyse for example, gymnastics, riding and bik- the respondents’ views, the reminiscences ing and who dared to wear them (Warner are the objects of my research because I 2006; Wolter 1994:119–195; Vincent am interested in structures and devices in 2009:126–129). Fashion designers started their narration, i.e. in how they validate to include trousers in their collections their choices of dress and what kind of around 1908 and 1909 but they were dis- meanings they attach to women’s trousers. approved of even in the fashion magazines In reading and analysing the reminiscence (Wolter 1994:223ff). Only the First World I follow Jyrki Pöysä, who has named his War made trousers an appropriate work method of reading written reminiscence as wear for women who worked in the facto- “close reading of the text”. By “close ries and fields replacing men who were at reading” he means reading the text as a co- the front (Grayzel 1999). herent whole and – like a book – with a Women’s trouser wearing made a beginning, middle and end (Pöysä 2015: breakthrough in the fashion world in the 9–37). In my case I am interested in the 1920s as part of the modern leisure wear life story of the respondents, especially that included beach pyjamas, shorts and their personal dress history, because it other trouser suits for the modern New forms the context for their history of trou- Woman who took care of her health by ac- ser wearing. tively participating in sports and by sun- bathing (Horwood 2011:79–81; Skillen Trouser Wearing as a Symbol of Gen- 2012:165–179; Wolter 1994:237–258). der Equality This fashion arrived in Finland as well but The first initiatives for women’s trouser it was adopted only by the upper-class and wearing were made in the mid nineteenth upper-middle-class women who engaged century by American feminists who en- in sports. For the majority of Finns who couraged women to change their long lived in the countryside, the new fashion dress into a more practical short dress with was both expensive and exotic: the long pantaloons underneath. With the ready-to-wear garments were too expen- so-called “bloomer-dress”, as the trouser sive for the rural women who, at the be- suit was called, feminists also highlighted ginning of the 1920s, still wore mainly the impractical aspects of women’s cur- home-sewn clothes made of homespun rent fashion. The dress provoked a storm fabric such as wool and linen (Lönnqvist of critical and amused comments since 1974:85–88; Kaukonen 1985:12–13, 266, contemporaries considered it a public at- 270). Women’s trouser wearing was also tack against men and the hierarchic gender strongly condemned as unnecessary and order that was seen as natural (Fischer indecent fashion. One respondent wrote: 2001:79–94; Wolter 1994:48–82; Vincent “There were five daughters in my family 2009:122–125). At the end of the nine- and our mother thought that it would have teenth century women’s increased partici- been too expensive to make such unneces- Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 59

sary purchases for us all, especially as we Quite a few of the respondents who got along quite well without them” (SKS participated the oral history project on KRA Housut 119.2006, born in 1928). women’s trousers seemed to have an- The worldview of the common folk was swered the questionnaire because they largely shaped by religious literature and wanted to tell how happy they were that teachings, according to which women also women can wear trousers nowadays. wearing trousers heralded the end of the These women wrote how as children they world. Women’s trousers were therefore had envied boys for their trousers and how criticized as an indecent and immoral fad happy they were when they got their first (Mikkola 2009). The respondents pointed pair of trousers (see Turunen 2016). Most out that not all older women even wore of the female as well as male respondents panties in the 1930s, for the same reasons, highlighted the significance of trousers by so the idea of women wearing long pants pointing that women’s life was hard in the was both exotic and terrifying. past, especially in the winter time, as they The Second World War was an impor- were not allowed to wear trousers: tant turning point both in Finland and in When I started the first grade in elementary school the other countries that fought in the war in 1953 I wore a dress and an apron, just like all because women were allowed and also other women and girls in my village at that time. recommended to wear trousers as work The winter cold brought nothing but pain to the wear and even as everyday wear, not only womenfolk. Even though the legs of panties reached almost to the knees, a narrow area of thigh as sportswear as was the case before the between the bottom of the legs and the top of the war (Turunen 2015; Turunen 2016). After wool socks remained uncovered, stinging and be- the Second World War, as the hyperfemi- coming flaming red in the cold weather. […] I can nine New Look was in fashion and the still remember how relieved I was when my ideal women was a housewife, Western mother bought red and blue fabric and took it to women were again asked to restrict their Hilma, who was our seamstress. She made a ski suit with trousers out of the fabric, which I liked a trouser wearing to sports. This dress code lot (SKS KRA Housut 157.2006, female, born in was however soon challenged by the jeans 1946). fashion and, since the 1960s, by the hippie and other counter-culture movements’ It was mid-winter in 1957–1958, when my sister’s anti-fashion dress styles that criticized legs froze. On her way to Helsinki, she had had to elitism and favoured practical aspects and wait for the bus in a snowstorm for quite a long time. As she had a skirt and nylons, the freeze had social equality in dress (Wilson & Taylor done its job: her legs were covered with blisters. 1989:155ff; Jacobson 1994:174–193; We took her to the hospital where the blisters were Turunen 2016). An important factor that punctured and her legs were bandaged. When this advanced women’s wearing of trousers story comes to my mind, I can only bless the civi- was women’s emancipation: the increased lized modern world that also lets women wear number of educated women who entered functional clothing (SKS KRA Housut 431– in businesses and professions started to 432.2006, female, born in 1936). wear them as work wear from the 1970s For them, the fact that women can now onwards (see e.g. Cunningham 2005: wear all kinds of trousers means important 201ff). progress in gender equality and significant 60 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

improvement for women. They wrote, for ters [during the war]. I had to ski every- example, as follows: “The one who in- where because there was no other trans- vented women’s trouser wearing should portation available” (SKS KRA Housut be awarded a medal” (SKS KRA Housut 2.2006, born in 1919). After the war she 339.2006, female, born in 1940). “Long had worn sweatpants as work wear for pants have liberated us women from the gardening and other outdoor work. Maria slavery of skirts” (SKS KRA Housut nevertheless preferred skirts, as she wrote, 474.2006, female, born in 1932). In this “I didn’t become a trouser wearer”, which narrative, the moment the respondent got means that she wears trousers only for her first trousers is described as a moment outdoor work. of relief and happiness. Many of the fe- The respondents’ stories show how the male respondents described themselves as adoption of a new fashion or a style is not “trouser wearers”, which means that they just a matter of approving and liking the wear trousers all the time nowadays. new aesthetics or the meanings attached to dress; our choices of dress are also based “I Don’t Feel at Home in Trousers” on our experiences of wearing the dress. So, who are the women who do not re- The respondents who haven’t adopted member the day they got their first trou- trousers explained it by writing that they sers as a special, happy day? First of all, feel at home in skirts, but not in trousers: they represent the oldest respondents of I bought long trousers in the mid 1970s. I noticed the inquiry because fifteen of the seven- as I tried them on that I don’t feel at home in them. teen respondents who do not like to wear I gave them to my sister. I have skiing pants in the trousers were born 1919 to 1935; the rest closet, I have worn them three or four times. Then were born between 1941 and 1952. Ma- I have a reddish sports outfit that consists of a shirt 6 and trousers. I bought it ten years ago in the sales. ria, the oldest of these seventeen respond- It happened to be the sales season. I have never ents, wrote as follows: worn them. But who knows if I’ll need them some I bought my first everyday trousers relatively late, day. I wear trousers when I clear up in the garden it was probably in the 1970s. But I didn’t become and when I go picking berries in the forest but a trouser wearer, there they are hanging in my otherwise never. I just simply don’t feel at home closet. I prefer skirts much more. On many occa- in trousers (Kaija, SKS KRA Housut 275– sions I have noticed that I’m the only one in a skirt 277.2006, born in 1941). (Maria, SKS KRA Housut 3.2006, born in 1919). The respondents’ stories illustrate that She had actually got her first trousers rela- dress is important for our identity because tively early, in the mid 1930s, as she had it is intimately connected to our sense of gone to study at a girls’ housekeeping self (Entwistle 2001:48); the respondents school that was also specialized in garden- explained their dislike of trousers by writing. In the gardening lessons the students ing that they are “skirt people” and not wore breeches as work wear. During the “trouser wearers”. Stories also highlight Second World War, Maria had bought how our opinions and choices of dress are herself a pair of woollen skiing trousers based on “embodied experiences of dress” that she had used as outdoor wear: “they which means that dress has an important were very useful during those frosty win- role in how we experience our body (Ent- Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 61

wistle 2001:44). Anna wrote that she as soon as I got home from the skiing doesn’t wear trousers because they do not track” (Helena, SKS KRA Housut suit her body: 196.2006, born in 1928). For Annikki and My trouser history is non-existent. I don’t belong Helena, the first trousers they tried on felt to the trouser people, I mean I never wear them in uncomfortable or strange to wear. There- normal circumstances. Of course there are situa- fore, they weren’t impressed by the new tions when they are useful, for example in exercis- item of clothing and they were not inter- ing, in some trips and on travel. For these situa- ested in wearing them even later. tions I have purchased trousers. […] Why don’t I wear trousers? Because trousers don’t fit a body like mine. They look good on a long and slim fig- “There Were No Long Pants for ure, if one must wear them. I think that I look ri- Women in My Childhood” diculous in trousers, I’ve got too short legs! (An- As almost all the seventeen respondents na, SKS KRA Housut 410.2006, born in 1925). were born before 1935, one explanation In these stories, the reason why these for their view of women’s trousers is their women do not wear trousers is that they age. They are women who were children found them strange to wear and their ex- as the trouser fashion arrived in Finland. periences of wearing them were not pleas- As Eila explained, “there were no long ant. Therefore, they didn’t become “trou- pants for women in my childhood, there- ser wearers”. Annikki wrote that she does fore I cannot appreciate them” (Eila, SKS not like to wear trousers because she KRA Housut 383–384.2006, born in didn’t like the first trousers that she had 1925). The responses indicate that “be- tried on. She had got the trousers from the coming a trouser wearer” means that a Swedish charity right after the war: “They woman should have learned both to ap- were too tight at the thighs and also preciate trousers and to wear them. When scratchy and I felt so anguished in them the seventeen respondent describe them- that I even didn’t want to show off in selves as “skirt-people” or that they are them. I have never been a trouser wearer, not a “trouser wearer” they mean that dresses have been my basic clothing till trousers are not part of their everyday today” (Annikki, SKS KRA Housut dress, let alone evening dress. Their re- 110.2006, born in 1928). In her study of sponses indicate that their individual the adoption of panties by Finnish women clothing decisions are framed by the con- at the end of the nineteenth century and ventions and expectations about proper the beginning of the twentieth century dress that dominated in their childhood Maija-Liisa Heikinmäki (1967) showed and youth. They learned in their childhood that some women didn’t wear them be- and youth in the 1920s and 1930s that cause the first panties they tried on were trousers were not decent dress for women. too tight and made of coarse fabric. This As I have argued elsewhere (Turunen was the case also with the long pants. He- 2015), attitudes towards women’s trouser lena wrote that she had bought her first wearing did not change much even during trousers, skiing pants, in the mid 1960s the war. Maria, for example, wrote that the when she was almost forty years old: fellow villagers didn’t approve her trouser “They felt a bit strange and I took them off wearing during the war: “they gave me a 62 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

mouthful for wearing such an indecent family as well as my father and his sister(s)7 al- outfit” (SKS KRA Housut 2.2006, born in ways dressed smartly, which means that they al- 1919). ways took the time, place and occasion into consideration when they chose dress. I’m used to Women’s wearing of sports trousers be- hearing that people comment on my dress by say- came more common only after the war, ing “She’s always elegantly dressed with match- but still, at least in the remote country vil- ing accessories, including the earrings” (Marjatta, lages, women and girls were mocked for SKS KRA Housut 461.2006, born in 1925). it. Kaija, who was born in 1941, wrote that I never saw my mother and grandmother in a trou- in her youth in the 1950s girls who wore ser suit. I started to wear trousers at school at trousers were called “surrogate boys” sports lessons and I only wore them for sports. In (Kaija, SKS KRA Housut 272.2006, born my youth I did like to wear Marimekko’s8 colour- in 1941), which was a way to tell the girls ful trousers but for all my life I have shunned trou- that it is ridiculous and inappropriate for ser wearing. The reason for this is my upbringing, them to wear trousers. As the older re- I think. For example, I have never worn jeans and spondents were young adults or in their it makes me sick to see young people’s tattered jeans and jeans that are made to look like they’re thirties in the 1950s, the dress code al- worn out (Anja, SKS KRA Housut 185.2006, born lowed women to wear trousers only as in 1932). sportswear and work wear in blue-collar work, but even that was in some cases Many of the respondents have never worn seen as too masculine behaviour for jeans and they also criticized other Finnish women. Liisa, who was born in 1935, women for wearing jeans all the time. One wrote that “It took a long time until I ac- of the respondents had even titled her cepted trousers into my dress. I’ve been a answer “Jeans people” because skirt-person. Trousers [in her childhood Finnish women love jeans. They wear them every- and youth] were worn by tomboys and by where and in all ages. […] My daughters fell for those [women] who exercised” (SKS them so much that they didn’t want to wear any- KRA Housut 30.2006, born in 1935). thing else, they had them, to my horror, even at the Nowadays she wears trousers only as school’s Christmas party. Mother’s insistence on smart dress was not paid attention to (Ritva SKS sport wear and work wear and she doesn’t KRA, Housut 41.2006, born in 1935). accept their wearing as evening wear: “My opinion and choice of an evening Those respondents who do like to wear dress is a full dress or a skirt and a jacket, trousers also wrote about how women’s not trousers. […] I’m old-fashioned. I trouser wearing was still sometimes disap- don’t dye my hair either” (SKS KRA proved of in the 1960s and 1970s, but they Housut 31–32.2006, born in 1935), em- didn’t mind because they liked to wear phasis by Liisa. Also other women who do them. For them, the dress code of the not like to wear trousers explained their 1950s and 1960s represents an outdated dress style by saying that they still follow and conservative dress code and they are the old dress code: happy that we don’t have it any more, I started to wear trousers “in public” only after whereas those respondents who do not they became in fashion. I however enjoy wearing like to wear trousers, miss the fashion and elegant dresses and also skirts. My mother and her the dress code of the 1950s and 1960s. Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 63

Resistance to Change clothing. I wear jeans, knits, t-shirts, quilted jack- In the histories of fashion and dress, the ets, beanies and flat-heel shoes. As evening dress 1950s are described as an era of conserva- I wear fancy black or linen trousers with jacket and blouse (SKA KRA Housut 191.2006, born in tive and rigorous dress code that was chal- 1952). lenged by youth fashion, especially by the jeans that preceded the liberation fashion Those respondents who do not like wear- in the sixties. The seventies are described ing trousers admit that they are old- as “style for all” and “anti-fashion”, which fashioned; they haven't changed even means a fragmenting and subdividing of though the world around them has: fashion. Both the liberation of fashion and I’m a skirt-wearer. I do wear trousers on some oc- dress codes and the subdividing of fashion casions but I don’t wear them as formal wear in have been seen as explanations why trou- any case. I wear a skirt also when I ride a bike, in sers became gender-neutral wear: as the cold weather too, with a long coat. When I go to formal dress code was replaced by a dress church and to other religious events, I always wear code that emphasized casualness and a skirt. I just can’t go to these events in trousers practicality in dress, even in formal situa- even though I know that many other women do (Aino, SKS KRA Housut 53.2006, born in 1921). tions, and labelled the wearing of formal dress as a sign of negatively valued con- Many of the seventeen respondents ex- servatism, women’s wearing of trousers pressed their dissatisfaction with the became acceptable and fashionable. Both changes in women’s dress since the 1950s men and women started to demand cloth- and 1960s. Helena, for example, wrote: ing that is more casual and practical and to A while ago my female relative got married in a wear casual clothing also in public places trouser suit. I wasn’t there. But her mother said and on formal situations. Fashion itself that it was a practical choice because she can wear was condemned as an elitist phenomenon it afterwards on many occasions. I don’t think that (Wilson & Taylor 1989:155ff; Jacobson a trouser suit is a proper dress [for the bride] in a 1994:166–191). At schools, for example, wedding – even a combination of a jacket and a pupils were allowed to wear jeans and skirt would have been better. And she could have even some teachers started to prefer the had use for it as well. Oh, how beautiful we used to be in the old times as girls always had beautiful combination of jeans, t-shirt and pullover dresses at parties (Helena, SKS KRA Housut 387– instead of formal dress. In the 1950s, this 388.2006, born in 1930). kind of dress was out of the question for both pupils and teachers (Turunen 2016; Helena is not the only one who underlines Jacobson 1994:180–190). her point by nostalgically reminiscing For the younger respondents, meaning about women’s fashion and dress code “in those who were young in the 1950s and the old times”. Aino pointed that in her 1960s, trousers have been a part of their childhood and youth it would have been a dress since childhood and they have also shame to wear tattered clothing. “Clothes adopted the later trouser fashions easily: had to be patched up nicely and the seams I got my first pants, dungarees, at the age of four. had to be finished with flat strings. Nowa- This happened fifty years ago, but my dress hasn’t days, it’s all the same” (Aino SKS KRA changed much since then because I like casual Housut 53.2006, born in 1921). 64 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

As researchers of nostalgia have noted, used to thinking that wearing trousers is not a nostalgic picture of the past is a recon- proper for women of their status. But nowadays struction for current needs (see e.g. Koski- people respect nothing and nobody (Aino, SKS KRA Housut 54.2006, born in 1921). nen-Koivisto 2015). In other words, nostalgia is cultural practice through which When I look at the fashion plates, you can see any one can evaluate today’s world against the sort of dresses in them. Why go to the extremes, I past (Koskinen-Koivisto & Marander- think women should look like women, shouldn’t they, and not like men. Isn’t it so that women are Eklund 2014). In the respondents’ stories, created as women and men as men and they nostalgia, the melancholic longing for the should dress according to their sex and to the cir- past, functions as a reaction to change. It is cumstances, women should wear trousers only at especially used to express resistance to outdoor wear and as work wear and when they get changes (cf. Davis 1979:9-10; Cashman the groceries and as skiing wear to go skiing in 2006; Koskinen-Koivisto 2015) as in He- Lapland (Eila, SKS KRA Housut 383–384.2006, lena’s story. For women like her, today’s born in 1925). fashion and liberal dress code as well as The nostalgic longing for the past, for ex- the idea of “style for all” represents “no ample for the 1950s, when men were men style at all”: and women were women, usually express Many times the legs of the pants are too long, they an anti-feminist counter-narrative to the drag the ground, the edges of the legs are frayed grand narrative that praises the increased and dirty, it looks so untidy. Sometimes there are level of equality between men and women even rips from dragging on the ground. Some- in today’s Finland (see e.g. Koskinen- times they are so tight that the bottom of the trou- Koivisto & Marander-Eklund 2014). In sers is worn-out and even ripped. Even the knees the narratives quoted above, however, the can be ripped, that’s the top of it all. In my youth everybody wanted to dress beautifully and smartly respondents are not so much against gen- (Helena, SKS KRA Housut 387–388.2006, born der equality as they are critical towards in 1930). the social and cultural changes that Finn- ish society underwent in the 1960s and In these kind of stories, the respondents 1970s. These significant and thorough- associate women’s trouser wearing, espe- going changes have been discussed a great cially the wearing of jeans, with overall deal in the media, in literature and in re- lack of manners or disrespect for them. search (e.g. Karisto et al. 2005; Peltonen They explain their attitudes by saying that et al. 2003; Miettunen 2009), but it is they do not value positively the social and noteworthy that these changes have been cultural changes in Finnish society since mostly discussed from the point of view of the 1960s and 1970s that emphasize liber- baby boomers who were young at that alization of dress codes and diminishing time and actively participated in the of social hierarchy and gender distinction: changes. For them the social changes of A few years ago I saw the vicar’s wife, who is as the 1960s and 1970s represent positive old as me and who has always been very conserv- changes and the 1950s represent a time of ative, in trousers. And my sister had seen also the dean’s wife, who is younger than me, in trousers conservative values and narrow-minded- in the centre of village. I know that they are ordi- ness. The views of those people who do nary people like us, but we [she and her sister] are not see the changes in positive light have Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 65

only gradually been brought into the aca- house to me. In the old times, mistresses of the demic discussion (Purhonen et al. 2008). house had a long dress in the kitchen and it looked good. And you could also tell who was the mistress of the house (Helena, SKS KRA Housut Defending Their Own Role, Identity 383.2006, born in 1925). and Style of Dress Many of the seventeen respondents are The status of a woman in agrarian society sorry that the meanings of dress have and the patriarchal family was low and changed. Kyllikki, for example, pointed subordinate to men (Olsson 2011; Helsti that even after the war women dressed 2000). Helena and Anna, however, saw beautifully, “They probably valued the her as a highly respectable farm mistress fabric and clothing that was finally avail- who would have lost her high position if able as the shortage of goods ended” (Kyl- she had worn trousers. They were prob- likki, SKS KRA Housut 401–402.2006, ably also standing up for themselves since born in 1930). In this narrative, the elderly one of them had been a farm mistress her- respondents argue that in today’s world, self and the other one a housewife. people do not seem to value clothing. As Jyrki Pöysä has noted, a reminis- Women’s wearing of trousers as formal cence that is written as an answer to an in- wear is in their opinion an example of how quiry is essentially an action that strength- fashion dictates women’s dress. Helena ens the agency of the person. The decision pointed that now as trousers have become to write, the framing, style of writing and, the new norm for women, it is difficult to in the end, the decision to send the final find proper underskirts anymore: “I like text to the archive are made voluntarily those beautiful silky underskirts there and subjectively (Pöysä 2015:129). This were in the old times. If there are under- means that respondents decide, from what skirts [in the shops] they are made of syn- kind of perspective they discuss the topic thetic fibres, I don’t like them, they are so and what kind of role they gives to them- sweaty” (Helena, SKS KRA Housut selves. By writing a text the author always 388.2006, born in 1930). creates a discursive representation of her/ Anna and Helena discussed the trouser himself. The “I” in the text is always situ- question by comparing modern women to ational and partial; it is never the whole the traditional agrarian mistress of the truth of the writer (Pöysä 2015:133). farm: When the narrative identities of those How would my grandma have looked like if she respondents who are against women’s had had trousers as she was standing by the stove wearing of trousers are analysed, they are with a scarf on her head? Quoting a saying she of- usually positive although they might note ten used, that would have made her a laughing that they are old-fashioned in their dress stock of the whole village. At my childhood home women never wore trousers. […] I wouldn’t mind and in their views. By presenting their revisiting those times of long skirts! It was a time views and validating their opinions and of femininity (Anna, SKS KRA Housut 410.2006, dress style they construct a representation born in 1925). of themselves as women who are not op- I’ve seen women in trousers [cooking] by the pressed even though they do not like to stove, they don’t look like the mistress of the wear trousers. They construct their own 66 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

identity as active agents: for them, wear- which there is only “one style for all” – ing a skirt is a conscious decision to dress meaning only trousers, usually jeans, for differently, not a sign of incapability to women – and the original idea of libera- follow fashion. To the contrary, they see tion of style and the co-existence of mul- women who do wear trousers as women tiple styles has been forgotten. In this nar- who are lured by fashion and not able to rative the criticism of women’s emancipa- think themselves. For example, the re- tion is most evident; the respondents value spondents noted that trousers are actually traditional representations of femininity not as practical wear as they are usually and masculinity. A closer reading of the seen; in many cases a skirt would be a narratives shows that in reality the re- more practical to wear than trousers: spondents are questioning the way Sometimes this women’s wearing of trousers women’s emancipation has been carried amuses me. On some occasions a skirt would be a out and represented, for example in dress better option. Once as the weather was really hot, and appearance. As Kyllikki asks, “What I had a skirt and I even had to fan with the hem of is equality? Don’t women have their spe- the skirt to get some cool air. These other women cial value as women and especially as were sweating with their jeans. I said to them, take off those jeans and put on a skirt, that would help, mothers?” and “Shouldn’t women pro- at least a bit. They kept quiet (Helena, SKS KRA gress as women?” She also commented Housut 388.2006, born in 1930). that Helena and Kyllikki also criticized women I have sometimes asked young girls who have for imitating men: problems in approving their womanhood to dress in a skirt and a hat. They have been surprised You don’t know nowadays who is a man and who themselves at their feelings (Kyllikki, SKS KRA is a woman because men may have earrings and Housut 402.2006, born in 1930). women wear trousers, just like men (Helena, SKS KRA Housut 387.2006, born in 1930). For these women, the trend for women to wear trousers doesn’t represent equality It makes me especially sad to see women wear a but deteriorating standards of dress and black trouser suit with a jacket and even with a tie. It is a direct copy of men’s pinstripe. There is so behaviour as well as the loss of certain as- much fuss about women’s equality. Shouldn’t pects of bodily control among girls and women progress as women? […] What is equali- women, who are not used to wearing skirts ty? Don’t women have their special value as and dresses and are no longer taught to ob- women and especially as mothers? I have never serve and control their bodily movements felt inequality in my life even though I have lived and gestures. Another woman who likes to in a very male world (Kyllikki, SKS KRA Housut 401-402.2006, born in 1930). wear trousers was worried about the dis- appearance of traditional femininity as a By arguing for the wearing of skirt Kyllik- flip side of the increased wearing of trou- ki and Helena highlight what they see as sers by women: problems of the women’s so-called eman- Women of my generation know how to wear a cipation: diminished status of those skirt: you should not stride along or stoop, because women who are feminine and who are the hem of the skirt has to be straight and the zip proud of it. They point that the idea of fastener should be either on the side or in the “style for all” has led to a situation in middle (at the front or at the back). In those times Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 67

you also had to have straight stocking seams and As they were adults in the 1950s, trousers should not show your slip. Sitting on a low-slung were seen as suitable mainly for young sofa in a narrow skirt needs special skills: the hem women and only as outdoor wear and should cover the knees, the thighs should be to- workwear. In the 1970s, as trousers be- gether, only ankles can be crossed, you should sit bolt upright, and you should rise at an angle (SKS came women’s everyday wear, it wasn’t KRA Housut 343.2006, born in 1947). easy for them to dress according to the new dress code; they preferred the old It seems that the decision to write an dress code. answer to an inquiry about the history of They do not, however, see themselves women’s wearing of trousers was based as oppressed women. Some of them admit on their will to criticize and question both that they are old-fashioned, but they also the current fashion and the general ideas point out why they think that things were of gender equality and women’s emanci- better in the past when women didn’t gen- pation: if emancipation means becoming a erally wear trousers. They argue that man and diminishing of feminine attri- wearing a skirt is a conscious decision on butes, isn’t gender equality understood in their part and not a sign of incapability to a totally wrong way? For these respond- be an active agent. To the contrary, they ents, the trends in women’s fashion since see themselves as individual agents who the 1970s have not represented progress consciously do not conform to the norm but steps backwards. As Helena put it, “I that they consider too narrow. They also wish this trouser boom would decline someday” (SKS KRA Housut 388.2006, question the general ideas – or what they born in 1930). think as general ideas – of gender equality and women’s emancipation: if emancipation means becoming a man and diminish- Women Who Do Not (Like To) Wear ing of feminine attributes, isn’t gender Trousers equality understood in a totally wrong The aim of this article was to study why way? With their own dress style they want some women never or seldom wear trou- to represent a different kind of positive sers and are even against women’s trouser role model for other women: a feminine wearing. The starting point for the article woman who appreciates good manners is the general conception of the history of and is proud of being a feminine woman in women’s trousers as a history of women’s a skirt. liberation and emancipation. The analysis of the reminiscences, especially of those Arja Turunen women who were born in the 1920s and PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher in Ethnology 1930s or before, shows that they were too Department of History and Ethnology old when women’s trouser wearing made Jyväskylä University [email protected] its breakthrough in Finland after the Sec- ond World War. In their childhood and Notes youth they had learned to think that 1 The article is part of the research project women’s trousers are indecent clothing “Happy Days? The Everyday Life and Nostal- that no respectable woman would wear. gia of the Extended 1950s”, funded by the 68 Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person”

Academy of Finland (project number Entwistle, Joanne 2001: The Dressed Body. In 137923). Body Dressing, ed. Joanne Entwistle & Eliza- 2 The questionnaire was sent to the Folklore Ar- beth Wilson, pp. 33–58. Oxford: Berg. chives’ network of respondents and informa- Ewing, Elizabeth 1986: The History of Twentieth tion leaflets were available for Folklore Ar- Century Fashion. Third edition. London: B. T. chive’s visitors. The network of respondents is Batsford Ltd. open to anyone, but most members have a con- Fingerroos, Outi & Haanpää, Riina 2012: Funda- nection to the archive and are willing and able mental Issues in Finland Oral History Studies. to express their memories in writing (Helsti Oral History 40 (2), 81–92. 2005:150; Hytönen 2013:89). I also published Fischer, Gayle V(eronica) 2001: Pantaloons and the questionnaire at seminars, and in public Power. A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in presentations and radio interviews. the United States. Kent, Ohio, & London: The 3 In Finnish the word housut is equivalent to the Kent State University Press. English words “trousers”, “pants”, “bottoms” Grayzel, Susan R. 1999: Nostalgia, Gender, and and “pantaloons” i.e. housut means all kind of the Countryside: Placing the “Land Girl” in the long pants that aren’t underpants (alushousut First World War Britain. Rural History 10 (2), in Finnish). Housut is also term for all long 155–170. pants, such as jeans, leggings, sweatpants etc. Hansen, Karen Tranberg 2004: The World in 4 The questionnaire is available in Finnish at Dress. Anthropological Perspectives on Cloth- http://neba.finlit.fi/kra/keruut/naisten- ing, Fashion and Culture. Annual Review of An- housut.htm. thropology 33 (1), 369–392. 5 Altogether 35 respondents were born in the Heikinmäki, Maija-Liisa 1967: Mitä hameiden al- 1920s (36% of all female respondents) and la. Naisten alushousujen käyttöön tulo Suomes- another 35 in the 1930s (36 %). Twenty-one sa. Suomi 112, 3. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjal- respondents were born in the 1940s (21%). lisuuden Seura. 6 All the names of the respondents are pseudo- Helsti, Hilkka 2000: Kotisynnytysten aikaan. Hel- nyms. sinki: SKS. 7 The Finnish word siskonsa means both “his Helsti, Hilkka 2005: Hedelmällisen tiedon jäljillä sister” and “his sisters”. – teemakirjoitukset tutkimuksen lähteinä. In 8 Marimekko is a Finnish design and fashion Polkuja etnologian menetelmiin, ed. Pirjo house that was established in 1951. Korkiakangas, Pia Olsson & Helena Ruotsala, pp. 148–159. Helsinki: Ethnos. Horwood Catherine 2011: Keeping Up Appear- References ances. Fashion and Class between the Wars. Cashman, Ray 2006: Critical Nostalgia and Mate- Stroud: The History Press. rial Culture in Northern Ireland. Journal of Hytönen, Kirsi-Maria 2013: Hardworking American Folklore 119 (437) 137–160. Women: Nostalgia and Women’s Memories of Cunningham, Patricia A. 2005: Dressing for Suc- Paid Work in Finland in the 1940s. Oral History cess. The Re-Suiting of Corporate America in Journal 87 (Autumn): 87–99. the 1970s. In Twentieth-Century American Jacobson, Maja 1994: Kläder som språk och Fashion, ed. Linda Welters & Patricia A. Cun- handling. Om unga kvinnors användning av ningham, pp. 191–208. Oxford & New York: klädseln som kommunikations- och identitets- Berg. skapande medel. Stockholm: Carlsson Bokför- Davis, Fred 1979: Yearning for Yesterday. A So- lag. ciology of Nostalgia. New York & London: The Karisto, Antti (ed.) 2005: Suuret ikäluokat. Tam- Free Press. pere: Vastapaino. Eicher, Joanne B. 2000: The Anthropology of Kaukonen, Toini-Inkeri 1985: Suomalaiset kan- Dress. Dress 27, 59–70. sanpuvut ja kansallispuvut. Helsinki: WSOY. Entwistle, Joanne 2000: The Fashioned Body. Koskinen-Koivisto, Eerika 2015: Negotiating the Fashion, Dress, and Modern Social Theory. Past at the Kitchen Table. Nostalgia as a Narra- Cambridge: Polity Press Malden, MA: Black- tive Strategy in an Intergenerational Context. well. Journal of Finnish Studies, 19:2, 7–21. Arja Turunen, “I Am A Skirt Person” 69

Koskinen-Koivisto, Eerika & Marander-Eklund, Sweetman, Paul 2001: Shop-Window Dummies? Lena 2014: Den röd-vit prickiga klänningen. Fashion, the Body, and Emergent Socialities. In Bruket av berättelsen om 50-talet i en politisk Body Dressing, ed. Joanne Entwistle & Eliza- familjekampanj. In: Talande ting. Berättelser beth Wilson, pp. 59–78. Oxford: Berg. och materialitet, ed. Katarina Ek-Nilsson & Turunen, Arja 2011: “Hame, housut, hame- Birgitta Meurling, pp. 135–147. Uppsala: Insti- housut! Vai mikä on tulevaisuutemme?” tutet för språk och folkminnen. Naisten päällyshousujen käyttöä koskevat pu- Lönnqvist, Bo 1974: Perinteellinen ja moderni pu- keutumisohjeet ja niissä rakentuvat naiseuden kumme. Kotiseutu (3–4), 85–88. ihanteet suomalaisissa naistenlehdissä 1889– Miettunen, Katja 2009: Menneisyys ja historiaku- 1945. Kansatieteellinen Arkisto 53. Helsinki: va. Suomalainen kuusikymmentäluku muisteli- Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys. joiden rakentamana ajanjaksona. Helsinki: Turunen, Arja 2015: Pukiko sota naiset housui- SKS. hin? In Urheilun toinen puoli, Suomen urheilu- Mikkola, Kati 2009: New Clothing Fashions as historiallisen seuran vuosikirja, ed. Heikki Expressions of Modernization and Targets of Roiko-Jokela & Esa Sironen, pp. 31–58. Hel- Resistance. Ethnologia Fennica 36, 35–47. sinki: Suomen Urheiluhistoriallinen Seura. Olsson, Pia 2011: Women in Distress. Self-under- Turunen, Arja 2016: “It wasn’t common for standing among 20th Century Finnish Rural women to wear trousers.” Memories of Women. Berlin: LIT. Women’s Dress in the 1950s. Journal of Finn- Peltonen, Matti, Kurkela, Vesa & Heinonen, Visa ish Studies, 19:2, 22–24. 2003: Arkinen kumous. Suomalaisen 1960- luvun toinen kuva. Helsinki: SKS: Vincent, Susan J. 2009: The Anatomy of Fashion. Pöysä, Jyrki 2015: Lähiluvun tieto. Näkökulmia Dressing the Body from the Renaissance to To- kirjoitetun muistelukerronnan tutkimukseen. day. Oxford & New York: Berg. Joensuu: SKTS. Warner, Patricia Campbell 2006: When the Girls Purhonen, Semi, Hoikkala, Tommi & Roos, J.P. Came Out to Play. The Birth of American (eds.) 2008: Kenen sukupolveen kuulut? Helsin- Sportswear. Amherst: University of Massachu- ki: Gaudeamus. setts Press. Ribeiro, Aileen 1986: Dress and Morality. New Wilson, Elizabeth & Taylor, Loy 1989: Through York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. the Looking Class. A History of Dress from Skillen, Fiona 2012: “It’s possible to play the 1860 to the Present Day. London: BBC Books. game marvellously and at the same time look Wolter, Gundula 1994: Hosen, weiblich. Kultur- pretty and be perfectly fit”: Sport, Women and geschichte der Frauenhose. Marburg: Jonas Fashion in Inter-War Britain, Costume 46:2, Verlag. 165–179. Collaborative Knitting Experiencing Tradition and Space By Anna Rauhala

The UNESCO Convention for the Safe- an ethnologist, I considered Knitting guarding of the Intangible Cultural Heri- Cafés to be an interesting experience. At tage (2003) defines traditional craftsman- the same time I saw it as an opportunity to ship as part of the intangible cultural heri- gain material about contemporary knitting tage.1 Even so, the position and status of for my research, and the idea arose of us- craft has been considered threatened, and ing collaborative ethnography as method- the need to find active ways to support ological experiment (Lassiter 2005). The craft traditions has aroused discussions.2 educational role of the museum was not Craft reflects its own time and culture and discussed in the planning context nor as- is often associated with tradition (Luuto- pired to as a main target for the events. nen 2014:94–95), but it can also be con- The Cafés were rather to be reciprocal sidered timeless and combing cultures as events where the visitors could gain new well as crossing cultural borders (Risatti ideas from traditional knitwear for their 2007:xv). contemporary knitting and take an active At the National Museum of Finland role in sharing ideas and experiences with knitted artefacts are among the objects each other. which have not been exhibited recently. A In this article I will examine how the temporary knitwear exhibition was ar- meaning of tradition was constituted, and ranged in 1972, concentrating on Finno- how the different spaces impacted on the Ugrian knitted artefacts. There has been creation of spatial practices in the Knitting no dedicated knitwear exhibition since Cafés. On an empirical level I will con- then, and very few knitted objects feature template the reasons and expectations of in permanent exhibitions.3 Nevertheless, the participants’ attendance, when they traditional knitting and knitwear still at- came to continue an active tradition in a tract a great deal of interest among hobby- place where tradition has been collected ists, and there is a desire for more infor- and still is built up. How did the partici- mation about craft making in the past.4 pants experience the museum as a place This article reports on an ethnographic for communal knitting, the atmosphere of study of four Knitting Cafés, arranged at the Knitting Cafés and their relation to the the National Museum of Finland in Janu- knitting tradition? And furthermore: What ary–April 2015, where knitting hobbyists actions were planned and what actions could gather in the museum to knit to- took place? And how did these actions re- gether and to hear about museum knitwear late to the different spaces that were used and knitting tradition at the same time.5 I for the Knitting Cafés? was asked, as an expert and researcher on Since the museum knits are referred to knitting, if I would be interested in plan- as “traditional knitwear” and as the par- ning and implementing four Knitting ticipants in the Cafés were asked about Cafés in 2015. As part of my dissertation6 their relation and attitude to “traditional research material consists of the knitted knits”, it is necessary to look into the con- artefacts from the collections of the Na- cept of tradition. Tradition as a process tional Museum, and as I have a diploma in can be compared to a process of chain re- crafts and design besides my education as action in which tangible and intangible

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 71

skills, knowledge and behaviour are and transnational in nature (Luutonen passed on in chains of different length 2014:96–99). Distinct skills which have from one person to another. Usually tradi- been learned in interaction with the sur- tion is transmitted from older generations rounding natural and cultural environment to younger ones as part of everyday life in maintain the continuity of tradition (Siivo- close interaction with different age groups nen 2011:166–168). (Bringéus 1986:103–110). According to the current knowledge Methodological Context and Re- knitting was adapted in Finland by the search Material seventeenth century (e.g. Luutonen 1997: The National Museum of Finland is situ- 77–79). Knitting has a rich tradition and ated in the centre of Helsinki. Information has been deeply rooted in Finnish culture, about the Knitting Cafés was disseminat- particularly in women’s lives, until recent ed in the museum’s own advertisements, decades. In earlier times knitting was as well as in social media and via the Mar- passed on as tradition from older women tha Organization’s and the craft teachers’ to younger girls in the family. Learning at mailing lists. Some yarn shops even ad- home took place gradually, imperceptibly vertised the event, which was free of and collectively, which affected the per- charge and open to everyone. This starting ception of the natural inheritance of craft position implies the coincidental setting of skills. (Heikkinen 1997:45–46). Knitting participants in the field – a field that was has been considered such an important created in a place that could be considered skill that every girl used to learn the basics the official “cradle of Finnish heritage”. In of knitting, if not at home then at the latest this sense the National Museum played through education at schools. Not only the role of a so-called “third space”, a new was the craft skill itself considered impor- and experimental, yet intentionally cre- tant, but also educational, economic and ated field (Marcus 2012:429–430). social values were attached to knitting, as According to the definition in the Ox- it provided necessary clothing in a cold ford online dictionary, to collaborate climate and a possibility for making addi- means “to work together with somebody tional income (Marjanen 2003:31–33; in order to produce or achieve some- Rauhala 2003:206–212). thing”.7 The collaboration in the Knitting The artefacts and other archived mater- Cafés entailed knitting together, sharing ial of the cultural heritage organizations experiences, learning from traditional cannot replace the importance of learning knitting techniques and using them to pro- and transmitting the craft skills in prac- duce creative, contemporary knitting. Eth- tice. Marketta Luutonen argues that if the nographical work is based on interaction chain of traditional craft knowledge and recognition of the researcher’s effect evolved over hundreds of years breaks on the environment, and on creating down, it is difficult to restore it. Craft tra- knowledge through interaction. In this ditions unite generations and communities sense collaboration is essential during all and maintain cultural identity, and they stages of the ethnographic process. Col- are continuous, changing, developmental laborative ethnography is even more de- 72 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

liberate and explicit in practice, and “pulls tion was based on reciprocal relations be- together threads of collaboration between tween the researcher-presenter and the ethnographers and their consultants”, as participants as well as their mutual rela- Lassiter (2005:17) states. It can be used as tions and active involvement in the Knit- a theoretical and methodological ap- ting Cafés. proach, and can also be applied to mu- The empirical sources on which this ar- seum work (Hämeenaho & Koskinen- ticle is based include qualitative data re- Koivisto 2014:10, 21; Lassiter 2005:15– flecting my expectations, experiences and 16). observations as a presenter of the Knitting Collaborative ethnography was used in Cafés before, during and after the events; the Knitting Cafés case as a methodologi- my discussions with the visitors at the cal experiment combining the interests of events, and 23 written responses to a ques- the museum and of ethnological research. tionnaire related to the events. In my ap- This could be considered a “double-agen- proach to the material I use reflexive eth- cy” method, with a smaller ethnographic nographical reading and analysis. Reflex- project, my PhD research, within a larger ive ethnography refers to the way in which main project, in this case the National Mu- the research is affected by the personnel, seum’s Knitting Café. Both agendas cre- and the included engagement of the re- ated conditions for this experimental ap- searcher in all stages of the process of do- proach and performed this double-agency ing research (Aull Davies 2008:3–7). role in action (Marcus 2012:440). Aside Since answering the questionnaire was from the double agency of the event, I had voluntary, the respondents do not repre- a dual function. First, I considered myself sent the range of all the participants in the a specialist and an inspirer, whose role Knitting Cafés. Nevertheless, the people was to introduce the audience to the se- who answered considered it important to crets of traditional knitting using ex- have their views, experiences and under- amples from the museum collections. I standing of knitting tradition documented chose the topics of each of the four Knit- for future generations, as they were in- ting Cafés on this basis. Second, I was a formed that their responses will be ar- researcher who wanted to participate in chived permanently in the Archives of the and observe the event. I realized that there National Board of Antiquities for further could be risks associated with this double use.8 role: I would not have time to make any The questionnaire comprised six ques- field notes during the event, for example. tions prepared beforehand. The answers I The questionnaire was distributed to pro- use in this article concern the following vide backup and at least some written data main questions put to the visitors: How covering the events. did you experience the Knitting Café? The collaboration was also implement- What were your expectations of the event? ed in the research setting, as the museum How do you relate to traditional knits? visitors were considered research partici- The participants were informed to write pants with influence over the research their answers freely, adding anything they process. In other words, the implementa- thought relevant, and consequently the Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 73

material is qualitative in character. Most In recent years the images associated people returned their answers after the with knitting have changed significantly. event, although some people completed Knitting has become an active action as- them during the event. Because not all the sociated with public, explicit, explosive respondents were willing to have their and even political elements.9 Today knit- names published, all the responses are ting is part of the “DIY” phenomenon treated anonymously. The respondents and the new Arts and Crafts movement ranged in age as follows: three between 32 which seeks alternatives to mass produc- and 40, three between 51 and 56, 16 be- tion and consumption. The passion for tween 62 and 73 and one aged 80. In the craft reflects the attitude in everyday life following the abbreviation “KC” is used not only through creativity, the process with reference to the Knitting Café, and and joy of making but also as aroused en- the birth years of the respondents with ref- vironmental and political awareness, by erence to the participants, all of whom making craft people connect with mater- were women. The majority of respondents ial, other people and the world (Gauntlett were people of retirement age, and this 2011:2, 45–79; Wolfram Cox & Minahan may also reflect the age distribution of the 2015:239). participants in the Cafés. The political elements of craft activity appear in people’s choices to make things Contextualizing Contemporary Knit- on a voluntary basis, as doing craft activi- ting ties is not a necessity in today’s world. By Since the turn of the millennium knitting making artefacts themselves people have has become ever more visible, “big the possibility to control their own labour, news” as Joanna Turney (2009: 1) states. the materials and the conditions in which Knitters have “come out of the closet” the objects are made. Knitting can also and feel they have a “licence to knit” in represent ethical and political choices public, as Helsingin Sanomat reported on when the knitter chooses to make clothing 31 March 2006. However knitting has to avoid buying industrially manufactured also been popular before this so-called garments made by poorly paid workers “new coming” and never really went (Gauntlett 2011:45–47, 69). The political away, although the images related to to- statements can also arise in more concrete day’s craft activity are drastically differ- manner: a pink cover for a tank was knit- ent. Historically knitting has been associ- ted as a protest against the 2003 war in ated with domestic life and images of el- Iraq (Wolfram Cox & Minahan 2015: derly ladies sitting in rocking chairs. 242). Knitting has been linked to those every- The craft activism of “yarn bombing” day activities representing the mundane, or creating environmental graffiti is an ac- the routine and unnoticed actions. By tive way of taking over public spaces. It these associations knitting has been spread over the western world largely strongly gendered as women’s craft ac- through the ideas shared on the Internet tivity which has also affected the valu- (Arnqvist Engström 2014:34). Not only ation of knitting (Turney 2009:9–17). the streets, parks and statues but also pub- 74 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

lic buildings, such as museums, are tagged and various Facebook groups where they by yarn bombers. The soft, colourful, can exchange patterns, ideas and get visi- woollen objects can be used as a means of bility for their work. On YouTube there critical comment, but still in many cases are plenty of knitting tutorial videos to the motivation is simply pleasure, humour support knitters all over the world, as the and joy. The yarn bombing phenomenon entry word “knitting” gives more than a remains strongly gendered; it is mainly million hits.13 women’s activity (Wolfram Cox & Mina- However, many knitters gather regular- han 2015:239–240). Even elderly ladies ly in yarn shops or cafés to knit together today can take an active role in creating face to face. In Tampere, for example, street art: 104-year-old Grace Brett is a people meet at the Kerä yarn shop every member of a secret band of guerrilla knit- Saturday and knit for three hours. This ters who have filled their Yorkshire town event is so popular that participants come with artful knitting.10 from other places, such as Helsinki.14 Arranged events, such as Knit ’n’ Tag Nowadays knitting is not considered a in Helsinki and Turku11 and the global craft exclusively for women, because men Knit in Public day, encourage people to also knit and even have their own knitting assemble in public places and to make events. their knitting accomplishments visible Making can play a positive role in local and connect with other enthusiastic craft and global communities through direct en- people. The increasing popularity of the gagement with particular charity cam- Knit in Public day attests to this knitting paigns, by helping or impacting local boom: it started in 2005 with 25 local groups or the environment (Gauntlett events, and in ten years has spread to be- 2011:66–68). This phenomenon can be come a global happening with more than recognized also in knitting. Not only do 800 events in 56 countries.12 people knit for themselves and people Along with spreading the ideas of who are close to them, they are also will- global knitting events and phenomena re- ing to knit for those in need. Campaigns lated to knitting, the Internet offers new promoting charity knitting for different visibility for presenting craft activities and targets, such as clothes for premature and pieces of work. As the knitting groups newly born babies,15 Mother Teresa blan- used to be small and informal gatherings kets for India16 or items for local children where participants drew on patterns from (e.g. Nastola-lehti 11 July 2012) are pub- the past, they are no longer ruled by local licized in the media. The current refugee tradition or personal relationships be- situation in August 2015 inspired a cam- cause knitting groups are accessible on- paign to knit woollen socks for asylum line. The enthusiasts throughout the world seekers. This led to the creation of Face- can be inspired by the work and ideas of book groups, one of which, called “Work- people with the same interest (Gauntlett shop Refugees welcome! Knits” meets 2011:62; Wolfram Cox & Minahan 2015: weekly, its aim being “to create a warm 239). Knitters have their own social net- and communal space and to offer the pos- works, such as Raverly, Knitideas.com sibility to provide concrete assistance to Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 75

people in need”.17 Knitting for those who are vulnerable and in need, and wrapping them up in something warm and cosy, are not only symbolic in terms of caring for others (Corkhill, Hemmings, Maddock & Riley 2014:40), but are also practical and concrete actions. Knitting together for unknown people creates opportunities for social interaction in contemporary life. Western media emphasize the wellbeing-related aspects of knitting. Headlines report positive effects on the memory and the mind (e.g. “Knitting improves the memory”,18 Helsingin Sanomat 22 Janu- ary 2015; “Knitting your way to a healthier, happier mind”, NZ Herald, 17 Sep- tember 201519). A substantial number of self-help knitting books have been published since the turn of the century (e.g. In the Auditorium the Knitting Café changes into Corkhill 2014; Gant 2015; Skolnik & a lecture during which it was possible to knit. Photo: Laura Svärd, The National Museum of MacDaniels 2005). These contributions Finland. are not really new to seasoned knitters such as myself, but they have attracted research interest in recent years. Eija The Ethnography of the Knitting Vähälä (2003) has confirmed the relax- Cafés ing effects of knitting in her research, and The themes of the Knitting Cafés were re- the related feeling of wellbeing is mani- lated mainly to traditional Finnish knits fested physically in a decreasing heart and tied to the knitted artefacts in the col- rate. Knitting also affects people’s mood, lections of the National Museum, but Es- making them feel happier, calmer or less tonian influences in them were also taken depressed. The repetitive movements and into account. The events started at 4 p.m. rhythm create a meditative-like state, and some 90 minutes was reserved for the whereas colours, textures and the sense occasions. This was due to the opening of creativity have also been reported to hours of the museum. In the information have positive effects on the knitter’s notices people were advised to bring their mood. On the group level, knitting im- own knitting or alternatively knitting proves social confidence and feelings of needles and yarn for experimental knitting belonging, and is also used for therapeu- linked with the theme of the evening. tic purposes related to mental health, to The first Knitting Café took place on 29 soothe pain, and to soften the effects of January 2015 in the room next to the mu- dementia and addiction (Corkhill, Hem- seum café. The doors of the café were mings, Maddock & Riley 2014). opened to give people the chance to walk 76 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

around and take more coffee while staying I had drawn out the instructions for the in connection with the primary space. The knitting patterns of two mittens and one museum staff20 had placed tables in the sock, which represented different Finnish room, the idea being that people would areas as well as knitting textures, and had bring their coffee with them and sit around them copied for the participants. I had also the tables in small groups, knitting. They started to knit one of the mittens, whose had also brought some new colourful knits pattern is based on knit and purl stitches, to brighten up the room, and yarns and and took other knitted samples with me as knitting needles in case people did not well, so the texture could be seen and have the equipment with them. Five pairs touched in practice. People started to of knitted socks and mittens from the mu- come into the room with their knitting seum’s collection were on display in a vit- needles just after three o’clock, an hour rine. Each event was to have different before the starting time 4 p.m. By a quar- knitwear on display, related to the specific ter to four the room was full and the mu- theme. seum staff started to bring in more chairs. The theme of the first Café was “Knit- By four o’clock it was crowded. People ting patterns in everyday and festive knit- were standing at the back and in the door- wear”. The presentation was based mainly ways leading to the corridor, and the café on the knitted mittens and socks, alto- next door was filled with people knitting. gether some 400 objects from the mu- The students counted some 130 alto- seum’s collections. I had prepared careful- gether, all of them women. ly for the evening in terms of content. I di- I noticed some people leaving when I vided the event into two parts. The first 20 finished my presentation, although most minutes comprised my introduction to the people sat down and continued with their subject, after which there was time for knitting. The number of people surprised questions and free discussion and a work- all of us. The trainees ran back and forth shop on traditional knitting based on the taking more copies for people, who museum’s collections. I was to pass on grabbed them gratefully. I realized that it knowledge and skill of knitting tradition was not possible to have the workshop be- through practice by using the examples of cause of the lack of space and the size of museum’s collections, and moreover, by the audience. I had to give up my original showing and advising on the making of idea of interactive knitting, and to change traditional knitting patterns and tech- the concept and my role. An hour that was niques participants could try and experi- still left was to be filled with the questions ence in practice. Three students of craft and free discussion. I started to act more sciences,21 who worked at the museum as like a host trying to inspire people to share trainees, were present and ready to help their experiences and knowledge of knit- with the workshop if necessary. On this ting, rather than a participating researcher, basis I hoped also to arouse discussion of teacher and knitter revealing the secrets of the ideas and the potential uses of tradi- traditional knitting. In this now changed tional knitwear as inspiration for contem- situation, passing on knitting tradition was porary knitting. possible only by sharing my own and the Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 77

audience’s knowledge and experiences speaker. Consequently it was not possible orally. The knitting samples were going to move around or to have the workshop, around the room from one person to an- and people were not even allowed to bring other, and people had the possibility to try their coffee into the space. This drastically the knitting technique in them. Still, when changed the composition of the event, passing on intangible heritage, such as which largely consisted of my own pres- skill, where tacit knowledge22 is involved, entation. Thus, the second Knitting Café it is not possible to pass on with pictures on 26 February was not really a “café” but or oral instructions only, but would have a lecture. The topic of the evening, “Vari- required closer interactivity and sharing of ous cuffs and edges from ribbing to lace experiences in practice. knitting”, had been settled before we The discussion that arose after my pres- knew about the change in the venue and entation was active and the atmosphere in the character of the event. When I chose the room was lively. At the end of the Café the title the workshop had been my start- quite a few people went to the trainees ing point, and it was challenging for me to asking for advice on interpreting the knit- change it to a lecture with such a limited ting instructions, for tips about different topic. This time there were about 80 par- knitting techniques and instructions for ticipants, and some questions did arise at making the knitwear that was on display. the end, but there was not the same enthu- There was also a small queue of people siasm or involvement that I witnessed in who wanted to have a word with me in pri- January. The lack of interaction with the vate. They asked questions about knitting audience in the Auditorium did not create techniques, talked about their own or a a potential field for the research. relative’s experience of knitting and gave me some ideas for my research. So, I was To make it easier to talk to people also a gaining part in the process of pass- face-to-face after the lecture, I asked for ing on knitting tradition. The space and some tables to be placed at the front of the the changed character of the event created stage for the third event on 26 March, a different kind of ground for research which we filled with books and knitted than I had planned beforehand. Thus, the items. The topic of the Café was “The re- lively interaction with and within the audi- gional specialities of Finnish knitwear” ence produced an unpredictable and utiliz- and I had also asked people to bring along able field for researching the continuity of some of their own knitting they would like tradition. to show to others. During my lecture, Following the success of the first Knit- when I was talking about “the Korsnäs ting Café the museum staff decided to sweater”,23 an elderly lady wearing one of hold subsequent events in the Auditorium. these sweaters came down to the stage and The change of place also signified a started to present her garment. Her pride change in the nature of the Knitting Cafés in the piece of work she was wearing was and in my role. The Auditorium is a space obvious and I gave her some time to pres- used for presentations, with raked seating ent the skilful knit before continuing with for the audience and a stage for the my topic. 78 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

This time, quite a few of the approxi- Estonian knits and simpler Finnish ones mately 80 participants came down after proved an eye-opener of Finnish knitting the lecture to touch, see and feel the knit- tradition for many and raised questions ted examples on the tables. Pia Ketonen, about why the Finnish knits have such one of the four writers of the knitting book neutral colours, have fewer details and the Sukupolvien silmukat (“The Stitches of making of them requires less skill than the Generations”, 2014) which has 30 patterns Estonian knits. At this time I was rather for old knitted socks and mittens from the more like one of the knitters than an expert museums’ collections, had brought her and discussed with them rather than just template knits on display. Another lady answered their questions. Together we had brought Estonian socks that old wondered how and why our knitting tradi- women had knitted in the 1990s and also tion has developed in such a way. mittens her mother had made in the Savo region in Eastern Finland. This setting and The Spatiality of Different Spaces gathering together by the tables led to Eilean Hooper-Greenhill emphasizes that more discussion and sharing of experi- “education is one of the prime functions of ences than in February, when most people a museum and the reason for the existence left straight after the lecture. of a museum” (Hooper-Greenhill 1994: Because the Auditorium was booked 229). Yet the museums’ role in today’s so- for something else, the last Knitting Café ciety is changing and finding new forms, with the topic “The Estonian influences on as museums have become increasingly Finnish knitwear” on 23 April took place interdisciplinary in focus and include in a spare room on the second floor of the broader constituencies and activists along museum. The room seemed cosy in com- with custodial agendas (Wolfram Cox & parison to the Auditorium, and the table- Minahan 2015:235). Though the educa- cloths, rag rugs and provision of free coffee, organized by the museum personnel, tional role of the Knitting Cafés was not restored the café atmosphere. There were outlined in the planning of or information tables around which people could sit in about the events, the desire to learn more small groups, and this time there were about knitting traditions was the primary about 60 participants. My place was in the reason why many visitors came to the middle of the room, with the audience events as was pointed out in their re- around me, and I felt more like a storytell- sponses. er in “the main square of a village” than a The only reason I came was for the lecture. I am lecturer in a room. The room created a interested in all kinds of crafts and their history communicative and homely atmosphere. (KC 1949). The warm feeling was such that after the I am interested in all sorts of information related lecture many people stayed on, and we to knitting. [From Knitting Café] I expected an in- talked until 6 p.m. when a member of staff troduction to museum knitwear (KC 1950a). came to tell us that the museum was clos- I came mainly because of the lecture. So the rea- ing. The differences between the colour- son I came was my thirst for knowledge (KC ful, detailed and technically demanding 1952). Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 79

The first knitting Café was filled with surprisingly many enthusiastic knitters. Photo: Hanna Forsell, The National Museum of Finland.

Consequently for many visitors the mu- ent spatial practices and formulated the seum was especially a place for education occasions. and gaining information, but how they ex- The space where the Café was held in perienced the museum as a place to prac- January created spatiality where people tice living knitting tradition does not stand found it easy to participate and have inter- out in their answers. Only one person action with each other. However, a sense commented on the museum as a place in of connection and community between the which to knit. She thought the museum participants was partly lacking. As a lived and knitting were a “promising combina- space the Auditorium created spatiality tion for people who are into traditional where the audience was more receptive craft” (NC 1951). For the others it was than participating, and the spatial interac- rather the lived space inside the museum tion was non-existent unless it had been in which the Knitting Café was held that created on purpose, as I aimed to do with mattered to them as it played an important the Café held in March. The room where role in creating the atmosphere at the the April Café was held created a feeling events. of warm cosiness, the same feeling that The National Museum represented the can be related to knitting and wrapping institutional spatiality by being an offi- oneself in warm and comforting knits. The cially created space for preserving, gener- small elements, such as the tablecloths, ating and sharing knowledge of the tradi- the rugs and the placing of the tables, tion, and serving the events as a tool for made the room a place for relaxation and action. It was remarkable how the differ- a positive atmosphere and also created a ent spaces inside the museum led to differ- good environment for spatial interaction 80 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

between individual knitters practising tra- ated a feeling of personal presence and a strong dition together. sense of community (KC 1959). The participants’ feelings related to the spatiality and the atmosphere reflected my Implementing and Feeling Tradition own experiences and feelings about each In the Knitting Cafés my role was to pass event. on craft tradition in the forms of knits that I went to two Knitting Cafés. The events were had been quiescent for decades in the mu- very different. I came to my first one, which was seum stores. I had brought up the con- held in the Auditorium, with my friend. The lec- cealed artefacts in the collections, made ture was interesting, but there was no discussion them visible and brought them to public with other people apart from with my own friend. consciousness. What followed was that Well, that was nice too. The April event was held the value of traditional knits also rose in in a confined room and I got a seat at a table. The 24 discussion about yarns, knitted items and needles the context of the museum’s collections. started immediately. The atmosphere was differ- There was plenty of time for free talk in ent, even though I came alone. […] What I expect- the first Knitting Café, and the enthusiasm ed from these events was an introduction to mu- and activity constituted a good basis for seum knitwear, which I got, and I especially liked conversation. The questions from audi- the event in April. When people get together it’s ence members related to the details in the nice to compare working methods and so on. This did not happen at the February event, but it did in knitwear, knitting traditions in general and April (KC1950b). in other countries, and the originality of the knitting pattern. Questions about what Knitting together itself created a sense of kind of knitted accessories there are in the communal spatiality, where the partici- national costumes, where the instructions pants found it easy to talk with people they for them could be found and who is in did not know beforehand. Through indi- charge of making them, were also raised. vidual spatial practices, the feelings to- Along with these issues people asked wards knitting as a very personal act, re- about quality, about buying yarns and vealing something about the knitter, inten- what is the right way to knit the heel of a sified the sense of togetherness and visi- sock. Because there was not one right tors’ spatial interaction. answer to the questions related to tech- It’s more sociable to knit with other people than niques and yarns used for knitting, I en- alone at home. There’s a sense of togetherness couraged the audience to share their own when everyone shares the same hobby (KC 1942). experiences on the matter. People who I came alone and was surprised there were so took part in the discussion had quite a many people there. Knitting together is nice. It strong emotion relating to some manufac- connects people, and conversation related to knit- turers’ yarns they did not consider to be of ting and yarn flows easily (KC 1951). good enough quality, but beside those The event was wonderful. The possibility of knit- comments experiences of “good quality ting brought a different kind of feeling than there yarns” were also shared and manufactur- would have been if the audience just listened to a lecture. People reveal something about them- ers mentioned by name. The experimental selves when they are knitting – the yarns, the col- knowledge of suitable yarns for different ours and the product all say something. This cre- knits was passed on. When the question Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 81

was brought up, people showed a great rience27 of active knitting. I was told that deal of interest in the knitted accessories an elderly lady had sighed at this: “Forty of national costumes and were astonished years, that’s nothing!” by the fact that there is no one organiza- Another question about doing things tion that is in charge of producing, pre- the right way came up at the April Knit- serving and selling the instructions.25 The ting Café, related to the way of knitting randomness of finding the patterns for tra- the thumb in a mitten. A lady who was ditional knitting was considered as a threat born in Estonia but had lived her to our costume and craft tradition. late-childhood years in Finland wondered The issue concerning the sock heels why the thumb had to be widened in the struck me as the most interesting one. The Fair Isle mittens they made at school, be- questioner was an elderly lady, and she cause in Estonia the thumbs were knitted wanted to know what I felt about the socks straight. In the discussion that followed sold at fairs. She felt strongly that many one of the attendants recalled that she had people did not know how to knit a good learned from her mother in the 1950s that heel, and found it astonishing that people widening the thumb was “the right way of were selling socks with heels that were too doing it”. short or not reinforced. My response was These questions about shaping heels that there were many ways of knitting a and thumbs, and the views expressed in sock heel, and that the heels in most of the response, show the extent to which emo- socks from the 1800s held in the museum tions are attached to these small details in were not reinforced, this was presumably knitting, which has been a compulsory not the preferred answer. I heard someone part of craft education for Finnish girls comment that a heel that is not reinforced since the establishment of elementary does not last long enough, with which I schools until the 1970s (Rauhala 2003: agreed, adding that some of the museum’s 207). Many children found knitting the socks clearly had re-knitted heels that re- heel of a sock the most frustrating element placed the worn-out ones. of learning to knit. If it was not done prop- I was told afterwards26 that some of the erly the teacher made the pupil unravel her younger participants sensed a slight ten- knitting, and in some cases the girl’s sion between the younger and the older mother or housemaid knitted heels for her women in the first Knitting Café. This had at home to take back to school as her own something to do with the atmosphere and work. Teachers and mothers have tradi- different attitudes to knitting, as if the tionally had the right to criticize girls in elderly ladies did not approve of the their knitting, even though the demands at younger knitters’ more carefree and crea- home and at school were not always in tive approach. At least one person felt that line with each other (Manninen 2003:78– someone of my age could not yet be a knit- 79). The ideological justification for ting expert. I had introduced myself as a teaching knitting was not only as a useful researcher on knitting and a trained craft skill to be learned, but also as an educa- practitioner specialized in knitwear, and tional method for learning patience, obe- also as a knitter with over 40 years’ expe- dience and discipline, which were con- 82 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

sidered feminine virtues (Marjanen 2003: terns have to be traced from different sources in an 31–33; Turney 2009:13). This ethos of extra industrious manner (KC 1951). “knitting the right way”, the way that is I am very interested in the knitting traditions and acknowledged and authorized, and con- traditional knitwear. I admire the active knitting sidered the right kind of tradition, seems traditions of Estonia and Latvia, and want to play to be passed on via knitting traditions, a part in continuing that tradition. I use traditional and is visible in the narratives of women patterns in my own knitting and I have also compiled knitting instructions from old museum knit- of retirement age. This seems to separate wear (KC 1961). the older and younger generations and the way they experience and practice the Concluding Remarks knitting tradition. The younger genera- When accepting the opportunity to be a tion questions the old ways of “right kind presenter at the Knitting Cafés, my aim of knitting” and use the traditional pat- was to find out whether a museum event terns more freely and creatively, while could be used as a site for research, the older generation considers it more where the method of collaborative eth- important to preserve and redo the old, nography could be implemented in prac- “authentic” knitting patterns and techni- tice. Knitting Cafés constituted a field cal details. and a space in the Finnish National Mu- In the participants’ approach to tradi- seum within which to conduct an experi- tional knitting two kinds of attitudes came ment on this subject. The planned vision up. To some the knitting tradition primar- of the Knitting Cafés was not realized be- ily meant using and re-creating old Finn- cause of the unexpectedly large number ish knitting patterns, whereas others saw it of participants, which made it impossible in a wider context, as a transnational craft to have the workshops and obliged the tradition for women that involved using museum to change the venue. My inten- old patterns from different countries. They tion was to assume the role of an inspirer all appreciated traditional knitwear even if and a participant, but it became some- not all of them reproduced it in their own thing else: I was forced to act as a host knitting. The availability of the relevant and a lecturer. In the case of the Knitting knitting instructions was considered im- Cafés the dual function of researcher did portant for continuing the tradition. Some not work out in the anticipated way, and had a deeper interest in the aspect of tradi- all this also changed the planned set-up tion. for my research. Still, the visitors who Traditional knitwear means a lot to me. It makes answered the questionnaire appreciated me feel part of a chain of knitting generations who the collaborative nature and spatiality of want to preserve the original culture for future the events as they were active partici- generations. […] The traditional materials and pants who shared an interest in knitting patterns are natural, inspired by nature, which for tradition and knitting together. me means aesthetic and harmonious. It also makes The museum implies a place of preserv- me feel part of a global tradition of women of all nationalities, we share similar elements, except ing, creating and sharing of tradition and that the materials and colours reflect the nature of knowledge. The visitors at the Knitting each country. […] Tradition disappears if the pat- Cafés experienced the museum primarily Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 83

as a place to gain information and this was noon, which may be difficult for those the main reason for their attendance. The who are working, as one participant point- museum’s institutional spatiality created a ed out (KC 1952a). Men also knit, but this frame for the Cafés and for practising tra- approach of communal knitting in the mu- dition, but it did not catch the audience’s seum and the themes related to traditional conscious attention. Instead, the different knitwear did not seem to interest them, at spaces inside the museum led to different least not this time. On the other hand, one spatial practices and had an impact on could conclude that the contemporary how the research field and the interaction younger knitters who relate to the wilder with and within the audience were con- DIY phenomenon of creativity, political structed. The spatiality was different in and environmental awareness and global each of the three spaces used, and influ- Internet networks do not identify so close- enced not only my role as a presenter but ly with “traditional knitting”. also the audience’s experiences and the at- Age seems to have something to do mosphere of each event. with how people understand and feel Although the space in the January Café about knitting traditions. Some elderly la- could have created a cosy, warmth and dies, at least, seemed to be slightly un- communal environment, it was not comfortable with the apparent disappear- achieved because of the large number of ance of what they considered the “right” participants. For the same reason the tradition. The influence of the old institu- planned workshop did not materialize. In tional learning was still strongly present February and March the Auditorium and among those of retirement age. Tradition the lecture format replaced the previously is understood as something authentic, per- planned café and changed the character of manent, repeatable and instructed, that the events. In spite of that, the majority of should be preserved and should continue participants were satisfied because their in the same way – “the right way”. The expectations mainly concerned the knowl- younger participants had a broader under- edge of knitting tradition. The April event standing of the knitting tradition. To them was the most successful of the four in con- tradition was connected to the global veying the idea of the Knitting Café. The heritage of women of all nationalities, and space had a strongly positive effect and practising tradition meant not only the created a relaxed, warm and even “home- repetition of old patterns but also new ly” surrounding. Active knitting resulted a ways of using traditional knits as a source sense of communal spatiality, a strong of inspiration. They also saw themselves sense of togetherness which was accom- as tradition carriers in a chain of knitting plished as a relaxing and sociable atmos- heritage. phere. My role and work as a researcher who The Knitting Cafés attracted ladies of passed on knitting tradition in the National retirement age in particular, although Museum also drew the public attention to younger women also came along. One ex- the museum collections’ knitwear. The in- planation for this could have been the creased interest had an influence on values starting time at four o’clock in the after- concerning the museum collections and 84 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

led to the systematic downloading of mu- 4 Feedback from active knitters who participat- seum knits for Finna.fi search services, ed in the courses and lectures on traditional knitting I gave in 2005–2006. which provides free access to the material 5 The idea of Knitting Cafés arose in my dis- available on the Internet. cussion with the National Museum’s Head Knitting nowadays is transnational, Curator of Education and ethnologist Hanna global and innovative in nature. It is not Forssell. The idea was inspired by the example of the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, the simply passed on as tradition from one Swedish National Museum of Cultural Histo- generation to another as it also develops in ry, where Knitting Cafés had been arranged peer groups that include knitting groups earlier. gathering face to face, Internet communi- 6 I am currently working on my dissertation Knitting as Skill, Heritage and Wellbeing in ties, blogs and videos, all of which play a Finland from the 1800s to the Present. I am major role in learning processes and the grateful to the Finnish Cultural Foundation passing on of ideas. Knitting as a skill is and the Seurasaari Foundation for kindly supporting me in my research. no longer a necessity to be learned and ac- 7 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ complished, but rather an enjoyable lei- learner/collaborate, accessed 9 August 2015. sure activity that gives a sense of achieve- 8 As my further PhD research material, beside ment through the creation of a product. the knitted artefacts, consist of questionnaires of the Ethnological collections of the National Traditional knitting patterns convey a Board of Antiquities, it was justifiable to feeling of tradition in a transnational field create a new questionnaire to be used in the of women’s craft. Old patterns and craft Knitting Cafés. By this questionnaire my aim knowledge from the past are not only was to get in contact with contemporary knitters and collect research material of their ex- copied but are also used creatively. All periences as knitters and their relation to knit- this proves how different ways of perceiv- ting tradition. Ultimately the material would ing the knitting tradition are alive and ac- be stored in the archive of the National Board tive, changing and developing in Finland of Antiquities to supplement the older questionnaires, originally created by the National today, as is characteristic of living tradi- Museum of Finland and produced in 1956– tion. 1996 (Olsson 2014: 65; Snellman 2014: 239– 242). Anna Rauhala 9 On everyday and active actions, see Pink MA, Doctoral Candidate 2012. European Ethnology 10 http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/trending/ P.O. Box video-104-year-old-knitter-who-yarn-bombed- FI-00014 University of Helsinki local-town-thought-to-be-world-s-oldest- email: [email protected] street-artist-1-7460171, accessed 23 August 2015. 11 http://taitoaboland.fi/suo/projektit/knit_n_tag_ Notes turku_2015/, accessed 23 August 2015; 1 http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/conven- http://www.supafly.net/knitntag-2012/, action, accessed 16 February 2016. cessed 23 August 2015. 2 For example in UNESCO World Forum on 12 http://www.wwkipday.com/, accessed 17 Au- Culture and Creative Industries 2009 (Luuto- gust 2015. nen 2014: 94, 118). 13 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ 3 This information is based on discussions with query=knitting, accessed 16 February 2016. Hanna Forssell, Head Curator of Education at 14 http://kera.fi/, accessed 23 August 2015; NC the National Museum of Finland. 1963. Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting 85

15 http://article.wn.com/view/2014/09/18/Tee_ Center of Finland’s consultant on national hyvaa_neulo_pipa_keskoselle_SOK_ costumes, Taina Kangas, November 12, 2015). Suomen_Osuuskauppojen_Ke/, accessed 23 26 I have since met some of the participants at August 2015;  other knitting events, for example. Their feed- http://www.savonmaa.fi/index.php?option= back came to light in personal discussions, not com_content&id=2778:martoilta-sukat-jokai- in the questionnaire responses. selle-vauvalle, accessed 23 August 2015. 27 I learned to knit when I was five years old and 16 Many churches in Finland arrange blanket- have been knitting ever since. knitting events: see, for example:  http://www.vantaanseurakunnat.fi/tapahtumat/ References 2015-09-01/peittopiiri#, accessed 2 Septem- ber 2015. Newspapers 17 https://rednet.punainenristi.fi/node/33388, ac- Neulominen parantaa muistia. – Helsingin Sano- cessed 25 August 2015;  mat 22 January 2015. https://www.facebook.com/events/ Lupa Neuloa. – Helsingin Sanomat 31 March 159795477692184/, accessed 25 August 2015. 2006. 18 The author’s translation: the original headline Kudo ja lahjoita villasukkia ja lapasia nastolalai- in Finnish was “Neulominen parantaa muis- sille lapsille ja nuorille. – Nastola-lehti 11 July tia”. 2012. 19 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11513344, accessed 17 September 2015. Literature 20 The workshop instructor Ulla Kostiainen and Arnqvist Engström, Frida 2014: Gerillaslöjd. the conservator Vuokka Ahlfors were in Garngraffiti, DIY och den handgjorda revolu- charge of the preparations. Senior Assistant tionen. Stockholm: Hemslöjdens förlag. Sari Tauriainen ordered the knits from stor- Aull Davies, Charlotte 2008: Reflexive Ethnogra- age. phy. A Guide to Researching Selves and Others. 21 Enna-Matilada Kukkola, Anniliina Omwami Second edition. London and New York: Rout- and Hanna-Kaisa Poutiainen. ledge. 22 Tacit knowledge is especially included in ex- Bringéus, Nils-Arvid 1986: Människan som kul- perimental craft skills learned in practice (e.g. turvarelse. En introduktion till etnologin. Ranta 2004:117). Malmö: Liber Förlag. 23 In Finnish “Korsnäsinpaita” and in Swedish Corkhill, Betsan 2014: Knit for Health & Well- “Korsnäströjan”. ness: How to Knit a Flexible Mind and More. 24 Because of the growing interest in the mu- Barth: FlatBear Publishing. seum knits the senior assistant of the National Corkhill, Betsan, Hemmings, Jessica, Maddock, Museum of Finland, Sari Tauriainen, upload- Angela & Riley, Jill 2014: Knitting and ed the pictures and information of collection’s Well-being. Textile 12:1, 34–57. knitwear to Finna, the internet service giving Gant, Lee 2015: Love in Every Stitch: Stories of access to the material of Finnish archives, li- Knitting and Healing. New York: Viva Edi- braries and museum. She also presented the tions. use of this Internet service at the Knitting Gauntlett, David 2011: Making is Connecting. Café held on March. The Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and 25 The Council of Finnish National Costumes knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0. Cambridge: worked during the years 1979–2010 and since Polity Press. then the National Costume Centre of Finland Heikkinen, Kaija 1997: Käsityöt naisten arjessa: has been working on the issues concerning the Kulttuuriantropologinen tutkimus pohjoiskar- new Finnish national costumes of Finnish- jalaisten naisten käsityön tekemisestä. Artefak- speaking areas. From the 1980s onwards the ta 4. Helsinki: Akatiimi. instructions and patterns for new national cos- Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean 1994: Museum educa- tumes have been made, but the instructions tion. In The Educational Role of the Museum, for making the older costumes have not been ed. Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, pp. 229–257. systematically created (The National Costume London and New York: Routledge. 86 Anna Rauhala, Collaborative Knitting

Hämeenaho, Pilvi & Koskinen-Koivisto, Eerika Ranta, Pekka 2004: Oppimisympäristöt, haku- 2014: Etnografian ulottuvuudet ja mahdollisuu- koneet ja hiljainen tieto. In Käsillä tehty, ed. det. In Moniulotteinen etnografia, ed. Pilvi Hä- Tarja Kupiainen, pp. 117–130. Joensuu & Hel- meenaho & Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, pp. 7– sinki: Pohjois-Karjalan koulutuskuntayhtymä 31. Ethnos toimite 17. Helsinki: Ethnos ry. & Edita Publishing Oy. Lassiter, Luke Erik 2005: The Chicago Guide to Rauhala, Anna 2003: Ei elämää ilman puikkoja. In Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago: The Uni- Tiltun kapiot. Iiittiläinen tekstiiliperinne, ed. versity of Chicago Press. Sanna-Kaisa Spoof, pp. 178–217. Helsinki: Luutonen, Marketta 1997: Kansanomainen tuote Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. merkityksenkantajana. Tutkimus suomalaisesta Risatti, Howard 2007: A Theory of Craft. Function villapaidasta. Artefakta 3. Helsinki: Akatiimi Oy. and Aesthetic Expression. Chapel Hill: The Luutonen, Marketta 2014: Tekemisen taito – kä- University of North Carolina Press. sityön kulttuuriperintö. In Muuttuva kulttuuri- Siivonen, Katriina 2011: Maton muisti. Haihtuvat perintö, ed. Tytti Steel, Arja Turunen, Sanna hetket ja taitojen juurtuminen materiaan. In Lillbroända-Annala & Maija Santikko, pp. 94– Aineen taikaa. Näkyvän ja näkymättömän 119. Ethnos toimite 16. Helsinki: Ethnos ry. kulttuurin jäljillä, ed. Aila Nieminen, Pia Ols- Manninen, Raija 2003: Käsityötuntien kuuden- son, Helena Ruotsala & Katriina Siivonen, pp. kymmenen vuoden turhaumat. In Lyhyt op- 159–178. Seurasaarisäätiön toimitteita 8. pimäärä koulukäsityöhön, ed. Simo Kotilainen Ethnos-toimite 15. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden & Marjo-Riitta Simpanen, pp. 67–84. Suomen Seuran Toimituksia 1336, Tieto. Helsinki: Suo- käsityön museon julkaisuja 21. Jyväskylä: malaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Suomen käsityön museo. Skolnik, Linda & MacDaniels, Janice 2005: The Marcus, George 2012: The Legacies of Writing Knitting Way. A Guide to Spiritual Self-Dis- Culture and the Near Future of the Ethno- covery. Woodstock: SkyLight Paths Publishing. graphic Form: A Sketch. Cultural Anthropolo- Snellman, Hanna 2014: Kansallisten karttojen ta- gy 27:3, 427–445. kaa. In Kotiseutu ja kansakunta. Miten suoma- Marjanen, Päivi 2003: Tyttöjen käsityönopetuk- laista historiaa on rakennettu, ed. Pirjo Mark- sen muutos kansakoulusta alkavaan peruskou- kola, Hanna Snellman & Ann-Catrin Östman, luun 1866–1970. In Lyhyt oppimäärä koulukä- 239–267. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden sityöhön, ed. Simo Kotilainen & Marjo-Riitta Seura. Simpanen, pp. 31–46. Suomen käsityön mu- Sukupolvien silmukat 2014: Writers Pia Ketola, seon julkaisuja 21. Jyväskylä: Suomen käsityön Eija Bukowski, Leena Kokko, Anne Backlund museo. & Sari Suuronen. Helsinki: Maanhenki. Olsson, Pia 2014: “Good Factual Knowledge” for Turney, Joanna 2009: The Culture of Knitting. Future Generations. Questionnaire Activity De- New York: Berg. fining Traditional Culture. In From Cultural Vähälä, Eija 2003: Luovan käsityöprosessin Knowledge to Cultural Heritage: Finnish Ar- yhteydet psyykkiseen hyvinvointiin. Kuopio: chives and Their Reflections of the People, Kuopion muotoiluakatemia. guest editors Pia Olsson & Eija Stark. Journal Wolfram Cox, Julie & Minahan, Stella 2015: of Finnish Studies 18:1, 65–89. Where Pop Meets Purl. Knitting, the Curation Pink, Sarah 2012: Situating Everyday Life. Prac- of Craft, and the Folk/Mass Culture Divide. Cu- tices and Places. London: Sage. rator: The Museum Journal 58:3, 235–249. Implied Meal Partners Ethnographic Accounts of Elderly Participants in a Clinical Intervention and Their Meals By Marie Haulund Otto

A couple who have been married for 15 years are eat or even plan their meals alone – not sitting on the double bed in what used to be their even those who have lived alone for a long shared home. The man has just moved out. It was time. As is the case in The Story of Us, his wife who made the decision that they should other people are always implied. These go their separate ways. They have just shared a cordial dinner and fraternization may be on the others may be a participant’s spouse, late cards – perhaps even make-up sex. They laugh at mother, children who moved out a long themselves, recalling their numerous attempts at time ago or the researchers in the clinical partner therapy. But the memory of a particular intervention. therapy session with a Freud-inspired psycho- By developing the concept of implied therapist suddenly brings the couple’s unrealized meal partners in this article, I investigate expectations, habits and deeply rooted reaction how the elderly participants’ meal prac- patterns back into their conversation. They end up having yet another heated argument. tices are formed and transformed. The concept should not be understood as This scene is from the American comedy something clear-cut or rigid, but rather as film The Story of Us from 1999. The film an analytical approach to understanding shows how different outlooks on life and and explicating how the elderly partici- family values are brought together and pants’ meal practices imply and connect a sometimes clash in marital relations. The number of different people, bodies and couple bring their parents’ viewpoints into feelings across temporal, biological and everything they do. In the film, this is il- geographical distances. lustrated by showing the parents’ physical I have drawn my theoretical inspiration presence in the double bed. They are seat- for implied meal partners from the Nor- ed next to the couple and participate in wegian cultural historian Ole Marius Hyl- their conversation. In this way, the parents land (2002). In his thesis on public educa- are very tangibly implied partners in the tion, Hylland uses the German literary his- marriage relationship. The film scene torian Wolfgang Iser’s ideas about the im- makes explicit how the parents are a part plied reader (1972) to investigate how the of the couple’s marital routines, their re- people are present in the Norwegian jour- peated arguments and their day-to-day ne- nal Folkevennen (Friend of the People) gotiations. and their particular significance in relation In this article, I argue that something to the form and contents of the texts in the similar applies to meal practices. The art- journal (Hylland 2002:96). Hylland ar- icle is based on ethnographic studies in gues that the people are often more than and around a clinical lifestyle intervention just a possible receiver: they are intended with elderly participants aged 65 and readers and they are offered an active, above. For just under a year and a half, I however, non-explicit role in defining the have been following 28 participants text; they become implied readers (ibid.: throughout the intervention.1 During this 99−100). The implied meal partners are period, I have conducted life-history inter- not representations but rather people who views in their homes. On several occa- exist or once existed. They are involved in sions during the interviews, it struck me several different ways in the organization that the elderly participants almost never of the elderly people’s meals. Like Hyl-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 88 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

land’s interpretation of the implied reader, human and non-human actors, memories however, the implied meal partner is also and habits as well as biology and sensory a kind of role or personification of specific engagement (Abbots & Lavis 2013). In- logics or rationales, which are created by deed, by choosing not to discuss the act of and contribute to the formation of the el- eating and instead focusing on meal prac- derly participants’ meal practices (cf. Hyl- tices, the aim is to grasp how meals are land 2002:100). Sometimes the implied embedded in everyday situations and rou- meal partner is explicitly present in the tines. For Ehn and Löfgren, everyday life daily lives of the elderly person, which is goes from being a given, where things just consistent with Wolfgang Iser’s use of the happen, to being something significant. concept of the intended reader: he points When everyday life is pointed out, the in- out that the reader can be present in a text visible emerges and becomes visible and via the author’s communication to him/ interesting. For example, something as ba- her (Iser 1978:33). At other times, the im- nal as whether a kitchen door is open or plied meal partners are only present via closed can show power structures or class the elderly participants’ perception of struggles (Ehn & Löfgren 2010). Similar- them. Thus, implied meal partners can ly, meals are often the site of negotiations also be a “fictional resident” (Hylland and resistance (Löfgren 2010:99). My ar- 2002:98) in the elderly people’s meal gument is that this involves not only practices – their own future bodies, for ex- people who are physically present but also ample; i.e. bodies that can take care of implied meal partners who are, in a num- themselves and perhaps also continue to ber of different ways, involved in ways in take care of others. These bodies are im- which the elderly participants structure plied meal partners because they are not their meals. simply an idea but rather they are assigned a specific role in the organization of The Elderly Participants’ Meals meals. Eating habits do change with age… but at the In order to understand how meals al- same time, they are still similar to the rest of us ways imply more participants than just when it comes to what they eat: Sunday is still those who are partaking, I also draw upon pastry day. the work of the Swedish ethnologists Billy − Dietician, meeting at the Clinic for Sport Medi- Ehn and Orvar Löfgren. In their joint pub- cine, 4 March 2015. lication The Secret World of Doing Noth- The quotation above comes from a meeting, they indicate that everyday practices ing about food registration I participated and routines are collective patterns rather in at the beginning of my fieldwork. The than individual habits (Ehn & Löfgren elderly participants are asked by the clini- 2010:120). Several recent ethnographic cal researchers to register everything they studies focus on eating as an analytical eat for three days on two occasions during tool – a “new way of seeing” – and, at the the twelve months they are involved in the same time, investigate eating itself as clinical intervention. This involves weigh- something that occurs both inside and out- ing their food and keeping a food diary. side of bodies in an “assemblage” of both The aim is to investigate how a dietary Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 89

supplement of either whey protein or cording to the physiologists in charge of sugar that the elderly participants are tak- the clinical intervention, the decreased ing twice a day as part of the intervention consumption of protein is one of the fac- might gradually change how or what they tors that lead to age-related loss of muscle eat over time. This is, in turn, part of an in- mass. In this sense, the intervention aims vestigation of whether an increase in pro- to produce more robust bodies by stabiliz- tein consumption can prevent age-related ing them with dietary supplements based loss of muscle mass. on whey protein, and physical training. The dietician had been invited to the Thus, in the logic of the intervention, the meeting by the physiologists and doctors good life in old age is an active and, first in charge of the daily work with the study and foremost, self-sustaining life. How- participants. She was asked to share her ever, according to researchers from a dif- experiences regarding measuring cups, ferent academic discipline, i.e. the micro- kitchen scales and registration forms. At biologists who are also involved in the the same time, she was also able to con- clinical intervention, giving the elderly tribute with her knowledge about elderly participants a protein-enriched dietary people’s meals. According to the diet- supplement may not necessarily work. ician, there is a turning point when The microbiologists have a kind of ethical people’s working life comes to an end and mandate in the clinical intervention. Their they retire: elderly people tend to eat less hypothesis is that people’s intestines be- regularly after they stop working. How- come less effective at breaking down pro- ever, the dietician pointed out that the par- tein with age. The microbiologists study ticipants are still likely to drink one too the participants’ faeces and, among other many bottles of wine at the weekend and, things, observe how the participants’ guts apparently, eat pastries on Sunday. There- convert the extra protein. Thus, their hy- fore, the conclusion reached at the meet- pothesis with regard to why we change ing was that the elderly people should reg- our eating habits over time is that our tol- ister their food intake on Wednesday, erance to the same foods may decrease Thursday and Friday, because: “this is as throughout life. The connections between close to normal everyday life as possible.” the body and food are by no means Although this exchange implies an clear-cut. They are not only manifested in awareness of continuity, of the durable the different academic approaches but structures of everyday life (Damsholt & also in the elderly people’s meal practices. Jespersen 2014), people’s eating habits Indeed, one of the objectives of this ar- change with age according to the diet- ticle is to challenge and add something ician’s experience. The others who were new to the apparently stable assumption present at the meeting, who are all either expressed by the quotation above, which physiologists or doctors, agreed with her is also fundamental to the clinical inter- basic premise. The assumption that vention; that is, that eating habits change people’s eating habits change over time, with age. Thus, the point is not to refute and that they consume smaller amounts of the idea that individual, biological bodies protein is a central tenet of their work. Ac- change their taste preferences and eating 90 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

patterns due to the biological ageing proof meal practices and implied meal part- cess, but rather to bring other relations ners. During the 18-month period I have into the equation in order to qualify the been going back and forth from the clinic, present intervention and future, similar my writing desk and the homes of the re- studies aimed at changing people’s eating search participants. The overall fieldwork habits. included observations of daily routines during entire working days in the offices Ethnographic Fieldwork and Three and participant observation in the testing Ethnographic Accounts rooms as well as in the training facilities This article consists of ethnographic ac- of the clinic. While in the clinic I have en- counts about three study participants’ gaged with scientific staff about their meal practices based primarily on life- work and also in more informal conversa- story interviews. The interviews have tions with research participants. Yet, my been conducted as part of fieldwork which primary focus on research participants and took place approximately 18 months from their experiences and relations with the winter 2014 to summer 2015. As the eth- clinical intervention have provided in- nologist Lene Otto has stated, the life- sights into how scientific knowledge story is not a prearranged narrative or a travels outside the clinic and the labora- detached retelling, but rather a problem in tories and how it is reshaped and repro- itself (Otto 1998:124). The pasts of the reduced (e.g. Mol et al. 2010; Moreira 2004; search participants and the life-historical Brives 2013). elements and experiences are not merely Thus, I chose the three participants be- waiting to be unveiled, but rather these are cause they are each involved in the clini- explicitly thematized and shaped relative cal intervention in a different way. For to the problems I want to work on and, all Tove, the intervention is an exceptional at once, picked out and organized by the state especially with regard to the protein research participants. All life-story inter- supplement. Her meals are carefully views have revolved around the same five planned and she is put off by the idea of themes: embodiment and experiences of consuming something that she considers ageing and ageing processes, everyday to be artificial or unnatural. Furthermore, routines, meal practices, physical activity she has experienced physical discomfort and experiences with the clinical interven- due to the supplement and continually ne- tion. The life-story interviews thereby in- gotiates with the physiologists and doctors terconnect pasts and present, home and as to whether she must take it. For Finn, in clinic, enabling the research participants contrast, the intervention is a revelation. to crisscross back and forth in time and His body has manifested itself in new space, establishing multiple chronologies ways and he tries to adapt his everyday in generative processes between me as in- life to the norms of the clinical trial. For terviewer and the research participants as Christian, who used to be a managing di- informants. The life-story interviews offer rector in the food industry, the clinical in- common spaces for reflection, but they tervention is a part of an ongoing process also configure space for specific analyses of personal development; for him, the in- Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 91

tervention is a community that he recog- crete manner. They maintain the structure nizes and of which he can comfortably be in which working life also functioned. a part. Tove: I eat lunch at precisely twelve o’clock. It was the same when I was at work. It is also a way Meals as Markers in a Daily Rhythm of marking that, okay, now I am moving on to the In the following section of the article, I next thing. And again, on the radio, there is also an focus on how Tove organises her day hour of classical music. And that too is a transition, so there is an hour of peace and quiet when I around mealtimes. As the dietician also can read the paper and things like that. indicated at the meeting about food registration, retirement tends to mark a change By looking at the details, the habitual, Ehn in meal practices. However, some con- and Löfgren (2010) describe how routines tinuity from a long working life still re- that otherwise tend to be perceived as in- mains. I show how the three main meals significant repetitions help to make every- become markers in a daily rhythm and day life function. Mealtimes and the role how daily life is sustained by virtue of they play are subject to renewed scrutiny meals. This is significant to the clinical when a person retires, and they take on a intervention in several different ways. In new significance for Tove, primarily be- particular, when the dietary supplement cause they maintain a kind of cohesion in has the same function, and fills up the her everyday life. Time can easily pass un- participants’ stomachs in the same way noticed when a person no longer has as a complete meal. somewhere to be or finishes work at a set The Swedish ethnologist Åsa Alftberg time, but the three main meals remain con- argues in her study of ageing, the body stant points of transition in everyday life. and materiality that the organization of However, Tove is not worried about wast- meals is a way in which her elderly in- ing time as Alftberg’s informants were. formants, who are all retired, can control Rather, Tove’s days are so full of activi- or tame time so that it is not simply wasted ties that she needs peace and quiet to do (Alftberg 2012:86). Something similar things she really enjoys, like reading the can be said of Tove. She is 70 years old paper and listening to the radio. The three and lives alone in a rented terraced house main meals are, in this sense, a contrast to in a Copenhagen suburb. She retired four times of activity. Mealtimes become al- years ago from her job as a librarian, most a space outside of time, in which which she evidently enjoyed a great deal. Tove is able to relax. However, she rarely She worked at the same library for 42 does so alone. At lunchtime in particular, years.2 The union magazine is still visible she tends to get her fill of either knowl- in her home and she speaks animatedly edge or company. When she meets people about a new era with more IT, and also now, it is often for lunch. Previously, she more top-down management, of which ate with her colleagues. she is glad to be free. For her, meals help Tove: A lot of my social circle is also retired, so to create continuity between working life we have some clubs. And then when I see people and retirement. In this sense, meals con- it is for lunch instead of in the evenings. Like I nect the past and the present in a very con- used to eat with other people at work. 92 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

Once again, this points towards continui- otherness, which I do not go into here, and ty between working life and retirement manifest absence. The manifest absence is and shows how meals, and in Tove’s case recognized as relevant to, or represented lunch, almost demand some form of so- in, presence; however, it is not directly cial interaction. The idea that it is better visible in that which becomes present (cf. to eat with others than alone is a persis- Law 2004:157). Similarly, the three main tent norm, which is produced and repro- meals are still significant routines even duced in both research and health recom- when they are missed or combined into a mendations (see e.g. Wilk 2010; Kayser single meal, and are fundamental to the Nielsen 2003). smooth functioning of daily life. Drawing Although Tove has lived alone for a upon Law, I suggest that they become long time, she prefers not to eat alone. At manifestly absent and thereby significant the very least, she has the radio on. Main- to the daily rhythm even when they do not taining a kind of lunch break is also a way take place. of breaking up the day into more manage- able segments. Breakfast, lunch and din- Tove and Her Late Mother ner can have different durations and con- For Tove, completely skipping a meal is tent depending on other temporal factors, almost unthinkable. Mealtimes represent a such as the season, for example. However, fundamental, physically embedded tem- the three main meals provide transitions or poral order, which structures everyday life fixed points around which everyday life is and which also helps to create or maintain structured – even if participation in other Tove as an independent and self-sustain- activities causes them to be moved or ing subject. In Tove’s case, it is clear that skipped entirely. consuming and preferably producing Tove: Even though it is a bit rigid in that way... three main meals is part of taking care of But I have also… Or no, I never skip meals. I oneself and living a “proper” or well-or- wouldn’t dream of doing that. Some people do, I dered life – as opposed to a life where one suppose. I am also the type who, if I am going is dependent upon being served by others somewhere, then I make a sandwich to take with or even fed, as was the case for Tove’s me. But if I am going to something or other, then mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s things can be moved around a bit. late in life. Thus, even in their absence, the three main Tove: My mother needed help with everything at meals are still important as a daily point of the end. With eating too. In fact, she needed help reference. In his book After Method: Mess to eat… (Tove sighs and wells up). It made her in Social Science, the sociologist John into a child again. She was unrecognizable in a Law shows how a situation, an expression way. or an object is a pattern of presences and For Tove, feeding epitomizes an asym- absences (2004:84). Law argues that pres- metric relationship; the person being fed is ence and absence are enacted with, and objectified, she is barely a subject, she constitute, each other. In his conceptual- loses her personality, becomes a different ization of a method assemblage, he distin- person or at least someone unrecogniz- guishes two types of absence: absence as able. A key point here is that the person Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 93

who is eating cannot be perceived as de- Tove: A lot of things about my mother’s medical tached from the relationships in which the history have weighed heavily on my mind in rela- meal is involved. The British anthropolo- tion to getting older. But really, she did have a decent life – good – until it went wrong, with gist Marilyn Strathern points to something Alzheimer’s, that is. similar in her publication on feeding and eating from 2012. Based on her fieldwork Through her mother, Tove’s concerns in Melanesia, Strathern shows how meal- about the future and her ideas about the times can be an incorporation of complex worst-case scenario – being dependent on kinship relationships and she argues that others – become a part of Tove’s meal- eating in particular ways constitutes sub- times. Similarly, a future self and a future jects and bodies. The meal does somebody that can cope without help from thing to people; it forms them and vice others is also an implied meal partner. The versa. Strathern emphasizes the process future independent ageing body and the whereby the person who feeds transfers old age that the clinical intervention prom- something to the person receiving the ises offer Tove a possible way to avoid the food, and argues that in the concrete decline that she witnessed in her mother. Melanesian context this movement may As Orvar Löfgren (2015:14) also points constitute the person being fed as a sub- out, memories, practices and rationales ject. Her point is that not only does the di- help to form everyday activities, as do gestive process that follows a meal co- plans, dreams and concerns about the fu- create the subject, the meal is also a distri- ture. bution of agency (Strathern 2012:12). For Tove agency is closely tied to the Implied Meal Partners and the Ex- individual subject, to her ability to pro- tended Household duce a meal herself and to decide when, The involvement of Tove’s mother shows how and what to eat. In her view being in- how working life is not the only partner dependent is both possible and crucial for that is present at mealtimes. Several logics being a subject. In this sense, Tove’s and rationales are materialized and per- mother is actively present in her meal sonified in the meal due to the implied practices. Just as the parents in The Story meal partners. of Us are present, sitting on the edge of the Indeed, the implied meal partner is bed, Tove’s mother is an implied meal never singular. Tove’s mother is present partner with whom she still debates. She is in Tove’s meal practices in several differ- not merely a memory but rather a part of ent ways. The mother who suffered from Tove’s rationales regarding the signifi- Alzheimer’s is implied in her meals, but cance of meals, and she is present in the the mother who ran her childhood home is choices Tove makes in relation to food. also crucial to the ways in which Tove or- Tove’s mother and her mother’s illness ganizes her meals. are inherent to the ways in which Tove’s Tove: My mother was also like that. We always meals are structured and structure Tove’s ate lunch at twelve o’clock and then it wasn’t daily life. Tove does not want to end up really possible to break up the day, so it could get like her. a bit – we just did it, but suddenly, when it was no 94 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

longer relevant, then there was the option of Tove considers others, there are more breaking up the day in a different way. Now as it people involved than just herself in the happens, I still do it. It is almost set in stone. I am household and in food preparation. One probably quite rule-bound in that sense. example is her daughter-in-law, who in Rather than being something that only Tove’s opinion has a somewhat question- changes with chronological age, it is clear able relationship to natural ingredients. that Tove’s meal practices and adoption of For Tove, natural ingredients are organic particular eating habits cannot be repre- ingredients and foods without any addi- sented by a chronology, but rather, in the tives. Her grandchildren should not be words of the ethnologist Tine Damsholt fobbed off with additives and flavour en- (2012:43), this chronology “collapses into hancers. Thus, when her daughter-in-law a simultaneous temporal plurality”. There buys food with added flavourings, Tove is not only a before and after; rather, pre- has to bite her tongue in order to prevent sents, pasts and futures form Tove’s meal herself from taking on the role of educa- practices. Thus, Tove’s mother is present tor. in a variety of ways and she is decisive in Tove: I mean, I have to be careful, you know… relation to Tove’s routines. However, she Sometimes I can hint a bit that… I mean, I have a is nonetheless a meal partner to whom daughter-in-law, and to her, I say that there is a Tove has an ambivalent relationship. Tove difference between something with strawberry has tried to liberate herself from her flavouring and something that actually contains mother’s routines without success. Al- strawberries. It’s not exactly the same thing. though Tove has, as previously men- As a single mother, Tove was responsible tioned, lived alone for many years and for the home and, not least of all, was the brought up three children alone, she is guarantor of her children’s good health. never alone in organizing her meals. This Her daughter-in-law upsets this order with lends support to the point made by Dams- her differing norms for what is good and holt and Jespersen (2014) that even when bad food. This shows how implied meal a person is single, their everyday life is so- partners can also challenge rigid family cially and culturally organized rather than patterns. Tove was used to being the only defined by individual needs. Tove lives mother and educator, but there are now alone but she organizes herself into a several people who share that role. This household nonetheless. When she buys role appears to often be fulfilled by women her groceries, the now adult twins are still (Wilk 2010), and I look more closely at this with her. Her children and grandchildren in another section of the article. should also benefit from the priorities she makes. In this sense, the household ex- The Intervention as an Exceptional tends beyond Tove’s own home; it is an State extended household. By preventing the loss of muscle mass, the Tove: I am an active member of a cattle-rearing aim of the clinical intervention is to main- club. When I make food for myself, it is often something that is just thrown together. Or with the tain and create elderly bodies that do not good veal. The twins get the best cuts and I get the require outside care. For Tove, however, it pieces for braising. is not necessarily easy to fit the clinical in- Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 95

tervention and the dietary supplement that routines are a site for negotiations and re- she required to consume into her meal sistance, and he shows how mealtimes in practices. In Tove’s view, the dietary sup- particular are a battleground upon which plement is an extra meal, and it also con- feelings, hierarchies and power are dis- sists of something that she considers to be tributed (Löfgren 2015:15). unrecognizable and unnatural. This is evident in Finn’s example. Finn Tove: Fullness is something else. It is when you has been married to Grete for 38 years. can feel that your body is well, that it is getting Their everyday life is synchronized in a what it needs. I don’t feel full from that protein number of ways. Although Finn has re- stuff. I think that I would rather eat food, not all tired, he gets up at six o’clock every morn- that nonsense there… not vitamin pills or that sort ing to make coffee for Grete before she of thing. has to leave for work at the local nursing Tove still wants to eat, but she is unable to home. They eat together when she gets do so. She becomes constipated and is home, and then they relax by watching only able to drink water in the morning. television or taking a stroll around a lake. Tove describes how the dietary supple- However, participating in the study has ment fills her stomach and decreases her given Finn a different experience of the appetite. However, she does not feel at all link between food and the body, which satiated, and longs to be able to eat as she does not necessarily match the routines he usually does. has constructed with Grete. He is thinking Tove: I am doing it now. I take it. But as soon as about continuing the training at the local this is over, I will never ever go near that kind of rowing club once the study is over. At the thing [the dietary supplement] again. same time, with this new knowledge he The dietary supplement displaces her moves into a domain that previously be- meal practices and disturbs her daily longed to Grete. To a great degree, Grete rhythm. As well as the fact that it is not, in had always taken care of the tasks of care Tove’s view, real food, the dietary supple- including the detailed coordination of ment is a biological barrier for Tove when their meals. Although Grete was active in it comes to keeping the three main meals the labour market just like Finn, she was as markers in a daily rhythm. The dietary responsible for most of their grocery shop- supplement is a parenthesis in her life, ping and food preparation. With Finn’s which she accepts while she is a trial par- participation in the clinical study, these ticipant. In this sense, the clinical inter- gender-segregated practices are suddenly vention becomes a kind of exceptional open to negotiation. state, in which normal household rules Finn: We do probably eat unhealthily.  and routines are threatened or displaced. Grete: Oh stop it! We don’t eat as unhealthily as Finn is making out! That’s probably why he has Finn and Grete, the Family and the Re- become aware of it – because of the study. We eat searchers too little. But the food we make, when we make something, is healthy enough. According to Löfgren, it is precisely in the home and in the organization of the house- When Finn was weighed at the clinic for hold that it becomes readily apparent that the first time, the needle on the scales 96 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

Finn shows the DXA scan image of his overweight body from the beginning of the intervention period. pointed to 90 kg. Furthermore, Finn was participant, he is made aware that his body given a scan image to take home, which has got out of control. At the same time, showed how overweight he actually is. He the intervention provides him with an op- was shocked. He was aware that he was no portunity to regain control. The interven- longer slim, but in the image, he could tion invites him to take control of his own suddenly see the outline of his stomach meals and physical training and thereby and his high body fat percentage. also of a future body. For Finn, the scan Finn: I got this [picture] from the DXA and it was image, along with his relationships with shocking. Yeah, damn. It was a kind of wake-up the researchers in the study, the training call, you know? Because then you can see your and the protein drink that he consumes bones, but you can also see the fat – the distribu- daily, produce new norms for what his tion. It’s a shock. Wow. You have to do something about that, I thought. It is also a matter of avoiding body is, and what it can and should be able those lifestyle diseases, diabetes and that sort of to do. The sociologist Christina Halse thing. A lot of times, when you stop working you points out how the twenty-first century also have a tendency to just take it easy. Thinking has been characterized by a moral panic that you have worked for so many years that now about a potential global obesity epidemic you can relax. It’s dangerous. (Halse 2009:45). This moral panic has The scan image disintegrates Finn’s un- fostered a particular bio-citizen who bears derstanding and sense of his own body but a personal responsibility not to become replaces it with something else. As a study overweight. If an individual neglects to Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 97

exercise or eat right, s/he is then an inade- feels that she can afford to let go, Finn re- quate citizen who chooses to ignore the awakens these feelings with his questions common good and is therefore a danger to and scan images. a well-ordered society (ibid.:50−51). As Damsholt points out how the home in such, Finn’s transformed sense of his own the late eighteenth century was designated body can be said to be formed in material- as the stage upon which the feminine emo- discursive practices (Haraway 1991; But- tional life could play out and where ler 1993). The clinical intervention is a women were able to live up to their obli- revelation for Finn. He has made himself gations as citizens, among other things, by available to science, but he is not just an raising their children (and their husband) object. The intervention co-creates a dif- to be good patriots (Damsholt 2015:104). ferent body as well as changeable and en- In this sense, the home became a precon- tirely new subject positions (Cussins dition for new civic practices and the pub- 1998). lic order. As Damsholt notes, in spite of For Grete, the scan image brings forth being a private sphere, the home is not ex- feelings of shame and inadequacy, feel- clusively a site of private subjectivity ings she would rather do without. Where- (ibid.). In line with this, the ethnologist as Finn, due to the intervention, suddenly Sigrid Leilund argues that women in Den- sees a danger in “taking it easy” in old age, mark in the 1950s were recognized as citi- and thereby being less active and less con- zens via their position in the home and scious of his body, for Grete, old age is a family, and were encouraged to take re- welcome opportunity to be much less con- sponsibility for the household “taking into cerned about food and her body. account the changing state and scientific Grete: We probably used to live a healthier life recommendations” (Leilund 2012:8). than we do now, because as a woman, you think a Grete was a child in the 1950s. Thus, she lot about whether you weigh too little or too much. grew up in what Leilund calls a “dense So we probably have done so since I was about grid of nutritional science, bacteriology, 32−33 [years old]. When I was very young, I lived unhealthily to maintain my weight, but when I was the home economics movement, state in my thirties, I did it in a healthier way. There commissions and so on” (ibid.:9), which were the kids too. But now it is more like I can’t ensured that girls and women became be bothered with all that. It is probably quite com- housewives and which equipped them to mon, I imagine. translate this knowledge into material Indeed, according to Löfgren, one impor- practices in various ways. Leilund’s point tant feeling associated with the organiza- is that it was not a particular bourgeois tion of a household is guilt or the feeling ideal of womanhood that made women of inadequacy (Löfgren 2015:10). into housewives, but rather specific histor- Throughout her life, Grete has been the ical circumstances (ibid.). Whereas being one who worried about whether she was a disciplined housewife – in a number of slim enough and whether they were living different ways – is something that be- a healthy enough life as a family. Feelings longed to a specific period of Grete’s life of inadequacy and guilt plagued Grete in as a woman, her bio-citizenship will last relation to eating, and just as she finally for the rest of her life. It is not something 98 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

that she can abandon because she has cision, but rather take place with a collec- grown older or because her children have tive in mind. Finn attempts to live up to his moved out, and Finn’s scan image re- perception of the intervention researchers’ minds her of this. ideas about the correct way of eating. At Thus, it has been Grete’s job as a the same time, he has become aware of the woman to keep herself and her family health recommendations for which Grete healthy and slim. As is the case for Tove, used to be the sole custodian. Grete was a housewife, mother and educa- Finn: We eat breakfast. And we usually eat break- tor. Just as women in the late eighteenth fast when Grete gets home. Then dinner is at half century were supposed to raise new patri- past five or six. It is normally vegetables, chicken otic citizens, Grete was responsible for en- and beef patties. And salmon – I am crazy about suring that her family were good bio-citi- salmon. Salmon for lunch too, even though it is damned expensive. When the kids come home, we zens (Halse 2009). Grete was the one who have pizza, spaghetti, lasagne and things like that. took responsibility for the health of the The slippery slope, as we call it. Otherwise, we whole family. She tried to keep up with live quite reasonably. I also eat a lot of oats. And and live up to health guidelines. Previous- we have started to eat skyr, or “skir”, right? But I ly, this was not something that had inter- prefer the one with vanilla otherwise it is too damn ested Finn. He used to be more interested sour for me. But Grete can eat it, but then again she can also eat a sour apple and I can’t. in his wine club, and was primarily the one who established relationships outside The health guidelines that are fundamen- of the family. This also applied to his tal to the clinical intervention, such as in- work as a property manager for the rental creasing protein intake, as well as also company that also owned his family’s other recommendations for achieving a residence. Grete always worked in the tra- slimmer body, are interwoven in Finn’s ditionally female caring professions. meal practices. These are personified in Thus, the objectification of the household the researchers who are involved in the in- and the home as a female domain has, to a tervention. great extent, produced Finn and Grete as Finn: But it is to gain muscle mass that you eat all gendered meal partners and their gendered the proteins, you know. That’s what they say over everyday practices. This, in turn, was one there. And they are researchers after all, and they of the constitutive factors for Grete’s feel- know these things. They give me an extra shove, ings of inadequacy and guilt, which now you might say. return. In this sense, Finn navigates be- However, in Finn’s attempts to adapt his tween several implied meal partners in re- lifestyle and navigate in relation to them, lation to his meals. Grete and her feelings he clashes with Grete. The roles they each explicitly co-create his meal practices, but have been assigned in their marriage and the researchers involved in the study are in their working lives are suddenly threat- also peering over his shoulder. Similarly, ened. In this sense, meals connect various a future elderly body is also an implied and contradictory rationales and feelings. meal partner and is important in relation to Their shared “normal state”, their co-ordi- Finn’s food choices. This clearly shows nated and highly gendered everyday prac- how food choices are not an individual de- tices and routines suffer a blow. As Ehn Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 99

and Löfgren (2010:117) point out, crises US, where he developed nutritionally often displace seemingly ingrained and complete food products for NASA astro- synchronized everyday practices and rou- nauts among other things. Later, he be- tines. For Grete, the intervention is exactly came the managing director of a large in- this kind of a crisis. The intervention mo- ternational food company. To a great ex- bilizes feelings of irritation and anger, tent, Christian’s relationship to his body even though she tries to support her reflects the food science discipline of husband. Thus, at one point I ask Finn which he was a part; that is, a food science whether it is hard to be involved in the that promotes a bio-medically fragmented study. The response comes rapidly from body by finding localized solutions for the sofa across the room where Grete is specific body parts and bodily processes sitting: in the form of vitamins and dietary supple- Grete: No, it is just a huge burden for the families. ments (McCabe & Fabri 2012:50). In this Finn: No, what do you mean by that?  sense, the incentive to take care of himself Grete: Oh, it has a big impact on our lives… But and have control over his body has been that is just because Finn is so into it. And that is a part of Christian’s life and work for a long good thing, of course. We all think it is positive to time, and this has had a concrete effect on have something to get up for three times a week instead of just sitting at the computer. his meal practices. In a number of ways, Christian is an exemplary bio-citizen, In the terminology of the ethnological which Halse (2009) and other Foucault- life-mode analysis (Højrup 1983) Finn has, inspired researchers (e.g. Rose 1996) ar- in his working-life, been a typical wage gue corresponds to a historically specific earner. He was fond of his job, but he governmental rationality, in which indi- worked in order to provide for his family viduals’ desire for personal development and indulge in his hobbies. Thus, the inter- is strengthened via a variety of strategies vention also ensures continuity between of empowerment, as a precondition for a working life and post-retirement life. Finn well-functioning liberal-democratic so- has apparently found a new hobby – a hob- ciety. In his close relationships with bio- by that turns his marital life and his rela- medicine, Christian has managed and ac- tionship with his body upside down. tively considered his body and his health for his entire life. Managing Director Christian and his Christian: I learned when I was a student that if Business Partners you take 1g of vitamin C every day, as I have done Whereas the clinical intervention is a for over forty years, it is good for your health. And revelation for Finn, but also constantly ne- I actually learned it from someone who won the gotiated with his wife, Christian partici- Nobel Prize twice. I followed his example. And pates in the intervention on a completely later, I learned that Q10 is good for keeping your different premise. The intervention is, to a brain going, so I have been taking that for thirty years. And fish oil helps to keep your blood ves- greater degree, a continuation of his previ- sels clean, but not your cholesterol level. And for ous rationales and practices. Christian is the past five years, I have been taking selenium an engineer and has a PhD in Food Sci- because it is good for the prostate. I do that ence from a prestigious university in the slavishly every day. 100 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

Thus, like Finn, Christian is interested in milk. I only used to do so when I was younger. In eating healthily and correctly as stipulated that way you also consume some. I sometimes eat by the intervention, but he is already a cakes, they can contain a bit of protein. There is protein in bread, of course. I know that you have member of the specific community that to get protein from a variety of sources, because the clinical intervention represents. He is otherwise you don’t get all of the amino acids, so familiar with the doctors’ and physiolo- I think that with this project, I am meeting my pro- gists’ hypotheses and methods, and is tein requirements. Because I suspect that I tend to aware of the nutritional value of specific consume too little in relation to the carbohydrates food products. Indeed, in one conversa- I eat. tion I had with the intervention doctor, he For Christian, the protein supplement is also highlighted Christian as an approach- just one experiment out of many that he able and knowledgeable participant in the has carried out with his body, and at the study, who is immediately able to under- same time, it fits in well with his daily rou- stand very complex information. Thus, tine as he had already replaced breakfast Christian is easily able to assimilate in a with dietary supplements. particular community: he is part of a so-called biosociality (Rabinow 1996). Christian: I take my Q10 and my vitamin C and fish oil. I have done so for decades, and then some The American anthropologist Andi Johns- strong coffee, sometimes with a glass of fibre. I son describes biosociality in a study of am not hungry in the morning. Because I have athletes in a laboratory as being based on travelled so much, I used to eat often in hotels and a complicity related to the possibilities restaurants abroad. And then 20–25 years ago, I and limitations of the body (Johnsson stopped being hungry in the morning, and I often 2013:881). used to skip lunch as well. Then I only used to eat in the evening. I think it was because of those din- In this sense, the intervention is just one ners in the evenings abroad with colleagues. element in the ongoing process of self-im- There, you would eat and drink a lot. You could provement and introspective evaluation almost get through a bottle of wine each in one that has characterized most of Christian’s evening. Fortunately, I always withstood it. The life. Thus, in contrast to Finn, a future others used to keep on going with cognac after- body and an ageing self was already an wards. I stopped doing that many years ago. Luck- implied meal partner in Christian’s meal ily. I think that those heavy dinners we ate in the evenings meant that I could skip breakfast, and practices. Christian constantly tries to then I would think that I could also skip lunch, be- keep his body functioning optimally, and cause in the evening we would do the whole thing the dietary supplement in the intervention again. I think that is how it slowly came about. has a clear function for him: Christian is Then I ended up not being hungry in the morning. married to a vegetarian, and he is Christian’s lack of hunger in the morning convinced that he does not eat enough was brought about by his long working protein. life. Retirement has meant an obvious de- Christian: My wife makes good vegetarian food parture from his previous meal practices and I understand that it makes sense to eat less in the sense that Christian no longer meat. But… sometimes I am afraid that I am eating too little protein, and therefore this study has travels or eats with business partners to been interesting for me. So now I get forty the same degree. Although he stopped gramms of milk protein a day at least. I don’t drink working at his managing director job two Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 101

years ago, the numerous meetings fol- focal point for analysis, although I have lowed by rich business dinners still play a only rarely referred to the concept itself. crucial role in his meal practices. Thus, his Instead, I attempt to show how, using the business associates are implied meal part- implied meal partners as a point of depar- ners in a number of ways. Christian sees ture, it is possible to understand how meal himself in contrast to those who let their practices are multi-dimensional and do hair down and drank large amounts of al- not only change with age. Thus, I argue cohol when they were away from home. that the implied meal partners synchro- Similarly, meeting his vegetarian wife got nize, connect and structure time, feelings him to stop eating steak. Nonetheless, the and routines in ways that are crucial to norms of eating as a managing director how meal practices are created and how and the way in which mealtimes are or- they can be transformed. Meal partners do ganized in working life still have an im- not belong to the past, present or future, pact on Christian’s post-retirement life. but past, present and future are material- As opposed to Finn, Christian’s working ized side by side, and are implied by the life has never been separate from his lei- ways in which the elderly study partici- sure time and his career still affects his pants organize meals, which are often meals. Specifically, he skips breakfast and contradictory. When the study partici- still eats a lot in the evening. His appetite pants go shopping, store things in the or lack thereof is thereby rooted in some- freezer, or lay the table, their meal part- thing very different to the biological pro- ners are always already present. At the cess of ageing. The lack of hunger that, in same time, they are implied in a very con- the logic of the intervention, is linked to crete manner in the cultivation of physical biological changes is, in Christian’s case, needs, which can be seen in relation to a socially mediated embodied practice, a Christian’s breakfast as well as in the case kind of naturalized effect of a repeated of Tove, for whom skipping a meal is an meal pattern. In this sense, skipping anomaly. Thus, it is not only the biologi- breakfast is not the result of either a mo- cal ageing process, understood as a chro- mentary experience or of an age-related nology, that is significant to changes in reduced desire for food. It is an embodied meal patterns and meal practices. Rather, incorporation of the routines and relation- what and how the elderly eat is both so- ships of working life and travel. Thus, ap- cially and temporally distributed and petite links and is linked to various levels formed. of time in everyday life, in the same way In this sense, the article highlights two as feelings such as euphoria or boredom very central points with regard to this in- (Löfgren 2015:8; Ehn & Löfgren 2010:27). tervention and those that may follow it. As Ehn and Löfgren (2010) show, changes to Conclusions everyday practices are often unpredictable In this article, I have looked for implied and invisible, even for those involved, un- meal partners. They were not difficult to til they suddenly become apparent as find. On the contrary, they have been a something dramatic and clearly evident. constant presence in my fieldwork and a The changes that the lifestyle intervention 102 Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners

attempts to bring about are therefore un- 2 A Pierre Bourdieu-inspired analysis focusing likely to occur as abrupt shifts, but are in- on class could have been developed here. Tove belongs to an intellectual middle class stead a slow process, which requires con- and possesses a great deal of cultural capital, stant negotiation and consideration. This enjoying and being familiar with classical negotiation and consideration must also music and literature. As can be seen between include the social and material constella- the lines, Tove’s class affiliation is markedly different from that of Finn and Christian, and tions of which the study participants are a is important to her meal practices; however, part. In this sense, changing everyday the article format does not allow for me to de- practices – including the organization of velop this further. In the sections about Finn meals – is not a matter of understanding and Christian, I briefly refer to concepts from Højrup’s life-mode analysis to show how individual behaviour. Instead, ethnology working life and class affiliation affect their can play an important role by taking into meal practices and form different perceptions account people’s life history and everyday of the clinical intervention. life as collectively created routines and patterns (Ehn & Löfgren 2010). As well as References showing how meal practices can be a site Interviews and observations for negotiations and slow transformation The article is based on fieldwork conducted from processes, the article also points to ethnol- February 2014 onwards at the Department for ogy’s potential when it comes to provid- Sports Medicine at a Danish hospital and in 28 ing alternative and complementary under- study participants’ homes in the whole of Zea- land. standings of practices, which are inextric- The interviews that are referenced in the article ably linked to norms of the good life in old are: age and the healthy (ageing) body. Christian, 16 October 2014 Finn and Grete, 10 March 2015 Marie Hauland Otto Tove, 4 March 2015 PhD Fellow, MA European Ethnology Copenhagen University Department of Ethnology/The Saxo Institute Literature Karen Blixens Vej 4 Abbots, Emma-Jayne & Lavis, Anna (eds.) 2013: DK-2300 Copenhagen S How We Eat and Why We Eat. Contemporary email: [email protected] Encounters between Foods and Bodies. Farn- ham: Ashgate. Notes Alftberg, Åsa 2012: Vad är det att åldras? En et- 1 This article is part of a PhD study in the inter- nologisk studie av åldrande, kropp och mate- disciplinary research project CALM rialitet. Lund: Avdelningen för etnologi, Lunds (www.calm.ku.dk), funded by the UCPH Ex- Universitet. cellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Re- Brives, Charlotte 2013: Identifying ontologies in search. I owe special thanks to my CALM clinical trial. Social Studies of Science 43(3): colleagues Rasmus Bechschøft, Søren Rei- 397−416. telseder and Grith Westergaard Højfeldt from Butler, Judith [1993] 2011: Bodies that Matter. the Institute of Sports Medicine, Bispebjerg Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Hospital, and the Institute of Biomedical Cussins, Charris 1998: Ontological Choreogra- Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical phy. Agency for Women Patients in an Infertil- Sciences, University of Copenhagen, for in- ity Clinic. In: Differences in Medicine. Un- viting me to take part in their working prac- raveling Practices, Techniques, and Bodies, ed. tices and for being so kind and supportive in M. Berg & A. Mol. Durham & London: Duke helping me find informants for my study. University Press. Marie Haulund Otto, Implied Meal Partners 103

Damsholt Tine 2012: Diversitet og museale hete- Science Research. London: Routledge. rotopier – om naturalisering og nationalisering Leilund, Sigrid 2012: Det havde været mere ratio- af kulturel diversitet i migrantnationer. Nordisk nelt straks at lægge pengene i skraldespanden. Museologi 2012(2):33−46. Madspild og husmoderdyder mellem materiali- Damsholt, Tine 2015: Staging Emotions. On Con- tet og ideologi. Tidsskriftet Kulturstudier 2, figurations of Emotional Selfhood, Gendered 2012. Bodies, and Politics in Late Eighteenth Centu- Löfgren, Orvar 2015: The Black Box of Everyday ry. In: Structures of Feeling. Affectivity and the Life. Entanglements of Stuff, Affects and Ac- Study of Culture, ed. D. Sharma & F. Thyg- tivities. Cultural Analysis 13:77. strup. Berlin: De Gruyter. McCabe, Maryann & Fabri, Antonella 2012: Vita- Damsholt, Tine & Jespersen, Astrid P. 2014: In- min Practices and Ideologies of Health and the novation, Resistance or Tinkering. Rearticulat- Body. International Journal of Business An- ing Everyday Life in an Ethnological Perspec- thropology 3(1). tive. Ethnologia Europaea 44:2. Ehn, Billy & Löfgren, Orvar 2010: The Secret Mol, Annemarie, Moser, Ingunn and Jeannette World of Doing Nothing. Berkeley: University Pols (eds.) 2010: Care in Practice. On Tinker- of California Press. ing in Clinics, Homes and Farms. Bielefeld: Halse, Christina 2009: Bio-citizenship. Virtue Transcript Verlag. Discourses and the Birth of the Bio-citizen. In: Moreira, Tiago 2004: Self, Agency and the Surgi- Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’. Gov- cal Collective. Detachment. Sociology of erning Bodies. London: Routledge. Health and Illness 26(1):32−49. Haraway, Donna 1991: Simians, Cyborgs, and Otto, Lene 1998: Biografi og subjektivitet, et bi- Women. The Reinvention of Nature. New York: drag til selvoptagethedens genealogi. Ph.d.-af- Routledge. handling. Københavns Universitet. Højrup, Thomas 1983: Det glemte folk. Copenha- Rabinow, Paul 1996: Essays on the Anthropology gen: Museum Tusculanum Press. of Reason. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Hylland, Ole Marius 2002: Folket og eliten: en Press. studie av folkeopplysning som tekst i tidsskriftet Rose, Nicholas 1996: Inventing Our Selves. Psy- Folkevennen. Thesis. Oslo University. chology, Power and Personhood. Cambridge: Iser, Wolfgang 1972: Der implizite Leser. Cambridge University Press. München: Fink. Strathern, Marilyn 2012: Eating (And Feeding). Iser, Wolfgang 1978: The Act of Reading. A Cambridge Anthropology 30 (2):1–4. Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore: Johns Wilk, Richard 2010: Power at the Table. Food Hopkins University Press. Fights and Happy Meals. Cultural Studies Johnsson, Andi 2013: The Athlete as Model Or- 10(6):428−436. ganism. The Everyday Practice of the Science of Human Performance. Social Studies of Sci- ence 43:878. Other sources Kayser Nielsen, Niels 2003: Madkultur – opbrud og tradition. Copenhagen: Forlaget Klim. The Story of Us 1999. Directed by Rob Reiner. Law, John 2004: After Method. Mess in Social Cells in Suspense Unboxing the Negotiations of a Large-scale Cell Transplantation Trial By Andréa Wiszmeg

Throughout scientific work and research, necessary changes and negotiations relate many processes and procedures are made to the aims and standards presented by the routine, mundane and then taken for rationale of evidence-based science, and granted. So are some underlying assump- the implications they have for research tions – not only about the state of the nat- practice of future trials and for research ural world, but about what its different ac- ethics. tors are supposed or expected to be or I argue that investigations such as this work like. These assumptions are not only are crucial to better understand how ethi- descriptive, but prescriptive. If we pro- cal dilemmas are not primarily abstract ceed from the notion that expectations and deliberations addressed in policy docu- beliefs are written into our everyday prac- ments, but embedded in everyday practices and made opaque even to their practice. I will also address the importance of titioners, it becomes an urgent issue to ethnographic practices to this end. find tools to better scrutinize and evaluate In the following, the content and the them. This is, I argue, a matter of ethics. conditions of the trial will be presented in How such assumptions are written into context. practices is perhaps as available as ever, in the instructions, documents and processes The Fetal Cell Transplantation Trial of evidence-based science. When some Parkinson’s disease is a neurological de- premises and practices are locked to each generative disease becoming more com- other, others are excluded. The aim of this mon with an ageing population. The most article is to explore the dynamics of this widely recognized symptoms are tremor process in a biomedical research practice, and rigidity of limbs, but often also in- with regard to how it affects what are conclude dementia and depression. Research- sidered ethical issues and how they are ers have been able to pin down the major handled. cause of the disease to damage in a spe- Based on ethnographic fieldwork, I will cific brain region and subsequent loss of investigate what happened when staff in a dopamine production. Dopamine is a neu- large-scale and multi-site cell transplanta- rotransmitter that, among other things, tion trial in Parkinson’s research had to regulates body movement and plays a ma- scrutinize their procedures. I want to un- jor role in mood regulation. Even if the derstand what subsequent negotiations cause of the disease is known, the treat- needed to be done in order to progress; or, ment of Parkinson patients still today more specifically, what deliberations mainly consists of relieving symptoms. about perspectives, procedures and ethical Many biomedical research initiatives and issues of the project were required to see resources are directed at finding ways to the trial through. The focus is on what the treat the cause of Parkinson’s disease staff described as causing the major delays directly, and ultimately, it is hoped, to be that they faced, and temporality is subse- able to cure the disease. One of these is quently conceptualized as an important the TransEuro study (http://www.Trans- factor in the homogenization and repro- Euro.org.uk), which in the first large-scale ducibility of science. I discuss how the trial will transplant fetal neural cells to the

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 105

brains of patients, with the aim of making connect to their surrounding tissue and their brains start producing dopamine start producing dopamine, once trans- again. This trial is the empirical case for planted to a host brain of a rat or a human. this article. This trial aims at developing a better tem- Being the first large-scale cell trans- plate for being able to move on to using plantation endeavour, pose some former- e.g. stem cells from leftover IVF, with the ly unseen challenges of coordination and final (but still distant) aim of curing Par- standardization. These changes are re- kinson’s disease. As such, the fetal mate- quired in order to produce the big data rial derived from abortions used in the sets needed to legitimize the results as trial is not regarded as a final solution. “evidence-based science”,1 a concept and Four aborted embryos are required for one a standard that has, it can be argued, more transplantation in a human, but the medi- or less grown to define “good” medical cal abortions which are so commonly per- basic research, as well as its implementa- formed in the home of the patient nowa- tion in health care. An infrastructure al- days have created a shortage of donated lowing not only the procedures at hand to embryos available for research. In addi- be done, but in the long haul with stem tion, the sometimes failing logistics be- cells from leftover IVF2 embryos or fur- tween abortion clinics and research facili- ther along, reversed skin cells, needs to ties jeopardizes the already scarce mate- be established and up and running. These rial. The situation is not helped by that fact new circumstances require clear guide- that the material, since it is developed lines, reproducibility and better outcome “naturally”, is not homogeneous and predictability. Such implementation therefore not reliable in terms of quality needs adaptations to new standards and and usefulness. It has not formerly been to other trial sites, which is a contrast to relevant to prepare for moving on to hu- earlier work done on a small scale and lo- man embryonic stem cell lines for trans- cally. All of a sudden – when forced into plantation, mainly due to risks of tumour a new narrow, but large-scale, frame- growth. But with developments in the work – the cells seem to start to behave in field and the recent breakthroughs in au- an unruly fashion. togenous skin cell reversal, a new flame of The trial process includes the harvest of hope in cell transplantation has been lit. cells from aborted embryos, their preparation and preservation and the subsequent Methods and Materials implantation of the fetal cells, in the form Being part of an interdisciplinary en- of a liquid cell suspension, into the brains deavour where my project is co-financed of a number of affected individuals volun- by the Medical Faculty of Lund Uni- teering as research subjects. Lund Univer- versity, I was granted access to planning sity has from the start been at the forefront group meetings and to general infor- of cell transplantation research and per- mation on the project. Based on their own formed very early fetal cell transplanta- interest and availability, I also made tions back in 1987. Proof of principle was contact with some staff for interviews and then established that fetal neural cells can observations, for example, in the laborato- 106 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

ry. When the local planning group of have also made a relational analysis of TransEuro met at BMC or the research sorts, of the different documents (which hospital in Lund, I often attended and will be addressed in more detail in the em- made observations and notes regarding pirical and analytical parts of this article) perceived progress, obstacles and meas- with regard to how they facilitate the cre- ures needed to be taken. The nine meet- ation of the cell suspension and try and ings that I attended took place during make it mobile, by managing the delay in spring 2013 and onward throughout 2015. the course of events. For my purposes in BMC just as often rather functioned as a this text, they are not so much analysed virtual node of reference to or from e.g. le- with respect to their detailed textual con- gal and practice documents, notes from tents, but rather for the processes they en- meetings, e-mails and phone calls. Docu- abled, disabled or in any way regulated; ments used as source material could be, i.e. how they were put to work as actors. for example, SOP (standard operating pro- The analysis will be made of the materials cedure) and GMP (good manufacturing as a combined source of information. practice) protocols, which are supposed to After first backtracking and describing inform and guide the minutiae of laborato- the events that occurred while the staff ry processes, and ensure that cleanliness were waiting to get started with the trial, I and reproducibility are guaranteed. These will investigate what kind of negotiations are the kinds of heterogeneous sources I of procedures and rationales were taking used to construct my material. The story place. I will use the concept of black box- that I let my empirical material tell here is ing and unboxing (as will be developed centred on junior researcher Emma,3 who further below) to understand the role of was my main field contact whom I usually the events. I will return to my field mate- e-mailed, called or met when I wanted rial to discuss where certain problems something confirmed, explained or prob- arose and how and where their subsequent lematized, or just needed access to the solution was sought by the different staff BMC building or other sites relevant for involved. In order to make sense of how my research. She was truly invaluable for different events, actions, actors and prob- my research. lems were connected to each other and to In the following I will, with the help of questions of knowledge, scientific stand- the materials described above, trace how ards, ethics, evidence and mobility, I start- and why occasions perceived by the plan- ed to map out how different problems ning group and by my main contact as pas- were dealt with in different ways. sive and uneventful, could rather be – as My diverse research practice taps into a argued by Billy Ehn and Orvar Löfgren long tradition of creating ethnographic (2010) – seen as productive and creative material of a bricolage kind, which com- within, and of, the process. I have gone bines and compares diverse materials to through my notes and e-mails in chrono- each other so that a new picture will logical order and recreated the course of emerge (Ehn & Löfgren 2011:203f). It is a events as they were described to me. By multi-methodological inquiry of sorts. combining the recreated course of events I Such an approach has advantages, I argue, Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 107

when researching knowledge-producing tures and procedures that the project un- practices, since they are in themselves derwent. highly heterogeneous in both the forms of Having defined my method and mate- information used for constructing and for rials, I will now move on to the perspec- expressing, legitimizing and communicat- tives I will use for analysis. The aforemen- ing knowledge.4 The context of my re- tioned concept of unboxing helps direct search also lends itself well to the kind of attention towards the production of the fe- shorter, sometimes close-to-home field- tal cell suspension and the negotiation of work reality of applied cultural analysis, the network and structure needed to make often producing a compositional eth- it homogeneous, reproducible and mobile nography (O’Dell & Willim 2015). in a multi-site trial. The mixed material was constructed through what can also, to some extent, be Production, Homogenization and Mo- called a mobile ethnography (Marcus bilization 1995:96) done over the course of about The cell suspension carries an inherent three years between late 2012 and late value of vitality (Rose 2006:7), or “force 2015. I mainly follow the relation between of life”, since it has the ability to repair the the time, delay, negotiation and progress brain and restore some functions. The vi- of the project, in order to create my eth- tality can be transferred to the human nography and my arguments. The con- brain and repair some of its functions. struction of the cell suspension and the This value is the main reason for taking on framework needed to produce and main- this challenging research endeavour. The tain it took place in meeting rooms, in pol- value of vitality is, it can be argued, a kind icy and practice documents, in frustrated of potentiality. This inherent potential discourse and in the subsequent negotia- points to expectations and promises of the tions taking place between sites. In a sense future but also to the ability of humans to I have been “following things” (1995: control and manipulate the potentiality in 106), the things in this case being the de- the desired direction. This gap between lays in relation to the creation of the cell present and future and the imagined evo- suspension and its maintaining networks.5 lution in between also grants mythical and I have let the staff, and the documents they magical qualities to this potentiality produce, explain to me what the sources of (Taussig, Hoyer & Helmreich 2013:4ff). delay are, where they occur, what the ef- For the cells to finally fulfil their poten- fects of this delay may be, how it is con- tiality, they need to be made mobile in or- nected to other processes and how this der to reach the patients in the trial, and connectedness may in turn cause more de- this requires getting a certain infrastruc- lay. The delay of course had different ture in place between sites of supply, pro- causes, and theses causes led to sugges- duction and research. Logistics, time- tions as to how they could be overcome to tables, measurements and protocols must prevent further delays and move on. Fol- be standardized, formerly having been a lowing the chain of delays led me to the local issue only. The construction of this vital points of negotiation of new struc- infrastructure tends to get messy the more 108 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

sites that are involved simultaneously, and knowledge of the biological or chemical delays and subsequent waits occur. It is material processed, as well as of the com- the role of time and delays that I will now ponents of the system and their relation, set out to investigate in the “mangle of will have to make a judgement and take practice” (Pickering 1993) as it occurs in action. Once action is taken so that the project. In order to better understand everything works as expected and parts how the homogenization and mobilization and operators or staff are once again of both procedure and product are en- aligned (ibid.:184), the process will once abled, the concepts of black boxing and again become routinized and black boxed. unboxing can help us visualize and ration- The “black box” status is what is always alize the negotiations and unveiling of for- striven for, and a default setting of sorts. mer opaque practices and points of depar- When a process is black boxed, its sep- ture that the staff have to go through. arate parts will behave and be perceived as When procedures are established and one. They are acting together as an assem- routinized so that a process runs smoothly blage in which they can be hard to distin- and a technology or science is successful, guish from one another. It is important to its workings are “black boxed”6 (Latour remember that this goes for viewpoints, 1999:183). For instance, as I press the analyses, positions, philosophies, con- keys on my laptop writing this, I do not cepts, politics and ethics just as much as (usually) spend any time wondering about for parts, components, materials, ele- the microprocessors and the wiring en- ments, people, animals, etc. abling the impact of my fingers to be Beginning to unbox something is often turned into signs on a screen through soft- done on the basis of something not work- ware. I doubt that I would even if I were a ing, and it is the part suspected of failing computer scientist or and engineer, and that is first recognized as a separate and not a scholar of the cultural sciences. discrete part again. If it turns out not to be When the results that come out of a re- faulty, or that exchanging or repairing it search practice or method make sense and did not fix the problem, a trial-and-error are coherent, there is no focus on internal process will begin. This process is the es- complexities (ibid.:304), whether you are sence of unboxing. In the case of the intimate with the workings or, like me, in start-up of the cell transplantation trial, the the example with the laptop, are oblivious. “breaking down of machinery” is to some It is only when some things break or stop extent foreseen. The participating sites working, or when results are inconsistent, know that they will eventually need to un- that it is necessary to open the box (ibid.: box some or many of their formerly local- 184f). If something inside the box breaks, ly taken-for-granted routines in order to be it needs to be taken apart by someone who able to cooperate; both on a practical and understands the relation between the parts on a more abstract level. What this can and can identify what component or con- mean will be demonstrated in the empiri- nection is faulty. If, let’s say, the products cal material and analysis to follow below. of a biochemical procedure start varying But if black boxing is the almost uncon- in content or concentration, someone with scious process of making something an in- Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 109

visible routine by habit, how does one go plantations of the medical trials were about unboxing the “forgotten” and eventually to be carried out, a number of opaque? To unbox something or to make dress rehearsals (called “dry runs”) had to what is described by Latour as a “reversed be done. Finally, after seven months of black boxing” (ibid.:184) takes a whole anxious and frustrating waiting for me, the lot more work and effort than the opposite. staff and the patients, these started to be In larger cooperative endeavours where prepared for. I had been informed that the abstract goals and concepts and not “only” dry runs were to start in early February concrete matter need to be manipulated in 2013, and that I would be updated as soon order to reach the level of smooth func- as any information relevant to me was tionality that the new subsequent black available. I got some preliminary dates for boxing offers, a lot of negotiation and me- planned dry runs throughout February and diation has to be done. Attentive readers was very much looking forward to starting will probably themselves spot many of my fieldwork. However, as February these instances in the story of the trial, but passed, there was negative information I will now join you and the researchers of week after week that they had not got the the trial in unboxing this story. right amount of fetal material in order to be able to perform any dry runs. I received Preparing a Large-scale Trial – Deal- weekly e-mails with an aura of resignation ing in Delay from Emma, stating that there would be no Prior laboratory results on which the par- dry run this week either. Transplantations ticipating research sites wished to base the to rats could, however, still be done with trial seemed inconsistent between the the available amount of fetal material. sites. Guidelines, practices and ultimately At this point, I started to realize that timetables, partly, therefore needed to be these delays could be said to be quite nor- revised and the project was facing an in- mal in such a large cooperative medical creasingly serious delay. A lot of practices trial. All the coordination and common and points of departures were questioned, standardization that needed to be done, in rethought and rejected during these times, combination with reliance on a delicate but maybe just as many new ones would and obviously scarce material such as fetal ultimately need to be established and con- tissue, paved the way for delays. Recur- solidated in order to move on. The re- ring practice in order to get into routines searchers needed to go through an un- for performing the procedures was much covering of formerly opaque practices and needed by all involved parties in such a processes in order to make such change big project. Sites and procedures needed happen. to be coordinated in order for a common Since December 2012 I had been in goal and a common understanding of it to contact with junior researcher Emma, who be imagined and created. So far, there was happily agreed to help me gain access to consensus that the participating sites the sites that I would need and to guide me would produce a cell suspension for trans- through all the steps of the process. In or- plantation in a common fashion, do all der to prepare the staff for when the trans- transplantations the same way and have a 110 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

shared follow-up procedure within a cer- happening – can be traced to the right fetal tain time frame. At this point, the local source. Otherwise it cannot be considered procedures were in a sense black boxed safe enough to transplant. If this is not from each other and from everyone at achieved, the cell suspension cannot be- their local laboratory due to routine, and come mobile, neither over research sites even more so for the staff at the other trial nor between donor and receiving patient. sites. By making the tissue and the recipient anonymous but traceable by allocating the Achieving Stability, Reproducibility corresponding numbers or codes, a tag- and Mobility ging system is created. The key to the Throughout the process and later during code system, containing the “real” identi- the spring of 2013, participating in the ties, is held by one trusted person and is meetings of the project’s local planning protected by strict secrecy. This procedure group gave me even further insight into may be familiar to the ethnographer and information on how this coordination anonymizing interviews. was performed. At a meeting in late April, Since the researchers – because of the points of concern were a number of legal constant shortage of fetal tissue – wanted and procedural documents that needed to to be able to use all available tissue for be homogenized and standardized be- both experimental and clinical purposes, tween the researcher groups in the partici- this posed a practical problem for them. pating countries. One such critical docu- How were they going to design the ment was the ethical permit for donation use-of-tissue ethical permits in order to of fetal tissue and the informed consent make most use of the total amount of tis- sheet that needs to accompany each dona- sue, whether it is earmarked for experi- tion. There seemed to be differences re- mental or clinical use? It was suggested garding how the information on the con- that including a pre-clinical stage in the sent sheets was to be formulated, depend- project plan could help overcome this is- ing on whether the tissue was to be used sue. It was suggested that the constant for experimental or clinical (as in this overarching shortage of fetal tissue should case, transplantation) purposes, and gen- be targeted by allowing not only gynae- eral differences between the countries. cologists but also midwives to ask abort- Further, if the tissue is to be used clinical- ing women to donate their embryos. They ly for transplantations, the UK legislation also planned to present the project and the demands total traceability of the tissue. procedures to gynaecologists in clinical This circumstance presented another issue facility in a neighbouring city, in the hope for the Lund researchers, now having to of obtaining fetal tissue from them too. first establish a tagging system for the tis- The researching team hoped that this sue, and second, to establish a biobank to would generate more fetal tissue all in all. store the traceable tissue. Traceability is The researchers delegated responsibilities needed to make sure that any possible infor different tasks to be solved or at least fection in the patient caused by the trans- targeted before their next meeting. The plant – however minimal the risk of this practical circumstances of access to and Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 111

the state of the right locations and equip- importance to be able to make a standard- ment were to be taken care of by a surgeon ized and reproducible cell suspension. The and one of the laboratory staff – my con- planning group agreed that what the labo- tact Emma. The information and format of ratory personnel would need to look to the ethical permits and finding a model for was that there would be access to a con- a tagging system for the fetal tissue, was trolled environment although not needed to be taken care of by the official project to be sterile, and that there was an airlock leader. in this room. This was considered good It was stated by Emma and others in the enough for the dry runs. The researchers laboratory staff that they needed to do at and the laboratory personnel referred to least three dry runs before Midsummer concepts such as good manufacturing and one in early September, in order to be practice (GMP) as being an index for the properly prepared for the transplantations standard of the cleanroom, and standard planned to September. This was because operation protocols (SOP’s) as the proto- they needed to practice the procedure of cols regulating the procedures of cell washing the fetal cells of all unnecessary washing and preparation. Both can be said tissue and other kinds of cells. The prac- to be crucial for creating a homogeneous tice of washing could be done on untagged product in the form of the cell suspension. tissue, which would save them some time It was concluded during the meeting that considering completing the tagging sys- the laboratory personnel and junior re- tem and the special permits and consent searchers (such as Emma) would be taking sheets needed for it. They all agreed that care of adapting and homogenizing these the bottleneck for progress seemed to be documents, such as the SOP’s, guiding the the question of access to sites and equip- procedures of handling the cells. ment, and the traceability of tissue. One of the reasons why access to sites was a Fetal Demand bottleneck was that the room in which the In early May 2013 Emma and other la- dry runs were going to be made need to be boratory personnel observed that three a strict cleanroom and free from polluting embryos were not enough for the dry runs, particles such as microbes. This too, and at one of the recurring planning group would grant the cell suspension mobility meetings, a considerable amount of time from laboratory to patient. First, there was was allocated to discussing this specific a problem in finding a room that can be problem. Four embryos were needed, guaranteed to have this status for such a which made it even more difficult to reach long time, and that it would be available and complete the dry runs, since there is a when needed. There seemed to be compe- constant shortage of embryos throughout tition over such sites with other research Europe. The demand for the vital force projects. Second, guidelines and standards embedded in the embryos is larger than between the participating countries need- the supply, which hinders not only the ed to be tuned and homogenized, and in production of cell suspension, but of the this there seemed to be some ambiguities. specific and homogeneous cell suspension To get this in place was of the utmost needed. Even if the staff in Lund had for- 112 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

mal access to supply from at least three lo- the researching sites. Someone would cations, they couldn’t seem to meet the de- eventually have to adapt to the other’s mands of using four embryos. routines, but so far it was not clear who The traceability issues remained, and would. project management had nothing to report The concept, or the idea, of the cell sus- on the progress of this. However, they pension had to be homogenized and made suggested that they could copy the proce- geographically mobile in order to be dis- dures of tagging insulin-producing cells, cussed, understood and reproducible be- from another facility. Doing this would tween the research sites. In the same way, save time and avoid further negotiation it also had to be homogenized as a con- and unboxing of rationales behind the sys- crete, material and specific object with tem, which could possibly have been specific properties, to be made mobile be- needed if a system were to be first invent- tween organisms and fit for transplanta- ed and then agreed upon. tion in the human brain. The group of researchers was now hop- The participants at the meeting were in- ing for fetal tissue to use in the dry runs to formed by project management that the arrive from the UK in the middle of June. other participating Swedish research site Related to this, they discussed how the had also decided to expand its fetal tissue differences in fetal tissue collection proce- collection from one to three days a week, dures within this project deviated from which was the number of days Lund al- normal procedure, and that these differ- ready had. The meeting ended with Emma ences needed to be communicated to their bringing up for discussion the gravity of contact at the abortion clinic in the nearby not being able to access the cleanrooms city from which they hoped to collect soon enough. Was it possible for them at more tissue. The testing of the donating least to perform dry runs out of cleanroom women for sexually transmitted, and so that they could get started? She argued, other, diseases was also a question of ne- without success, that they needed the gotiation. While the other participating practice in order to be able to perform cor- Swedish location tested for a variety of in- rectly when the actual trial was to be done. fections, in Lund they tested only women who were considered to belong to risk Fetal Supply groups for two of them. Here, a consensus In order to best manage the shortage of between researching sites had to be embryos and to get most material avail- reached as well, in order for the cell sus- able from the abortion clinic in the nearby pension to be made mobile. If consensus city, a meeting with a midwife there was was not reached about the level of safety arranged. I went there together with Em- (or risk) concerning infections the cell ma, who was to hand over protocols de- suspension, it could not travel between scribing the new routines needed for sites without worrying the staff in some of handling the embryos for dry runs and them. In a sense, this negotiation was a transplantations. She was also going to matter of instilling trust not only in the pa- supply them with new pots and a different tients to be transplanted, but also between hibernation fluid.7 Formerly, whatever Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 113

plastic pots were available in the laborato- cision to donate or not. The midwife told ry had been used, the lid on it kept in place us that with the procedures they had at that with tape, and the pot put on ice. But now, time, no pot for collecting the passing moving from small-scale experimental re- from the abortion was used in such early search to a large-scale trial involving hu- stages of fetal development as we re- man patients, a more standardized proce- quired. This, however, seemed like some- dure was required. The temperature need- thing they could easily incorporate in their ed to be monitored and only sterile equip- practice. Emma handed over the protocols ment was to be used. It did not seem and informed the midwife that they need- certain that this new procedure would ac- ed to use sterile cloths and disposable for- tually make a difference to the state and ceps.8 Emma and the nurse promised to quality of the embryo as material, but look to supply the abortion clinic with when material is to be transplanted into a these things. Emma also gave instructions human being, there can be no risk of con- to the midwife on how the new hiberna- tamination, no matter how minimal. All tion fluid was to be used. They agreed that measures taken were to serve the end of Emma would inform the midwife when a achieving a reproducible cell suspension, dry run week was to be expected, so that mobile between the organism of the em- they could prepare at the clinic. The bryo and the organism of the patient. shared responsibility for implementing When entering the midwife’s office, we the new guidelines and practices across were asked whether a recently aborted the sites made the creation of a unified and embryo in their fridge would be of use to reproducible cell suspension simultane- us. The aborting woman just gave her con- ously messier and more necessary. An un- sent for using it in research. Emma could boxing of procedures had been done, and immediately tell that it was way too old establishment of new ones awaited. The and developed to be of use to us. The more parties involved, the more work. TransEuro trials require fetal material Later, back at BMC, Emma told me that from embryos six to nine weeks old. This access to the cleanroom was still the major age span is where the neuronal cells of the issue of delay. This was felt to be extreme- fetal brain are at just the right pre-stage of ly frustrating. No one seemed to know development needed for transplantation. what had happened, or what would hap- We found out that in their normal sched- pen. Here, the cleanroom itself was in a ule of abortions they usually obtained the sense a black box, into the workings of embryos of interest to TransEuro on Fri- which not many seemed to be allowed to days. This was unfortunate, since the peer. The lack of a cleanroom went on transplantations within the trial were to be hindering the staff from proper practising made those weekdays, which made Friday of the routines. The practice was in this the one day impossible for the researchers case not hindered by, say, financial issues to receive material. Emma seemed confi- or by lack of knowledge but by lack of ac- dent that adjustments of the schedule cess to a specific site. The question of the could be made to better fit the trial, pro- cleanroom was an interesting example of vided this did not impact the women’s de- how issues of place and materiality were 114 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

so highly interconnected with issues of for capturing and understanding practices knowledge and evidence. Cleaning proce- and practical skills), it is difficult to under- dures for normal working laboratories still stand and even more so, to master a tech- have high standards to prevent pollution. nique only by reading about it or having it However, the need for a legitimate clean- described to you. It is not until you try, room was based on the need to be able to practise and embed the knowledge into be trusted to produce evidence-based sci- your own body that you will truly have ence, and subsequently to be allowed to learned (1990:50f; 60). take part in the large-scale trials and thus Finally, in October 2015, the laboratory enable the mobility of the cell suspension. had undergone major renovations and a Gaining access to a cleanroom was not an dedicated cleanroom was established. The end in itself, but aimed at the production shortage of fetal material did not seem to of a homogenized fetal cell suspension ac- have been solved, even though the pro- cepted for travelling on to a patient and at cedures and logistics between abortion gaining the legitimacy of evidence-based clinics and the cell laboratory had got bet- science. ter. However, it was a system based on Earlier during that year, problems with former personal contacts and oral agree- very varying results in cell survival were ments, rather than on routinized or formal- found across some participating sites. This ized procedures. When staff changed or caused a lot of confusion and worries went on sick leave at the abortion clinic, among staff and management, but was there were recurrent hold-ups in the sup- finally overcome when Emma travelled to ply. It seemed to be a fragile system. Up make observations in the laboratory of the until the autumn of 2015, not all dry runs site with the largest deviations. Not until planned and needed had been performed. she witnessed their procedures live could Some had, but not enough to get reliable it be detected that they treated the cells data. Just during October, they had been somewhat differently. After this, an even cancelled three weeks in a row. Another more specific SOP (standard operating later occurring cause of delay was the procedure) was created to use across the clearance of the permit for the procure- involved cell laboratories. It was also dis- ment and use of tissue, which still needed covered that there were differences in the to be issued by the Health and Social Care measurement and calculation of the inner- Inspectorate (HSCI).9 This was the last le- vation (nerve growth) in rat brains across gal hurdle for the project to overcome in some sites, and this too was handled by es- order to be able to transplant. On top of the tablishing a new standard for all. These problem with the deteriorating state of measures aimed at establishing a homo- health of the waiting patients as time geneous cell suspension for transplanta- passed, HSCI being dilatory concerning tion and at a way of making it mobile as a the permit was another reason for concern conceptual object of knowledge, across since the funding would run out in De- the sites. As Jonas Frykman (1990) point- cember 2015. The planning group per- ed out (concerning the need to develop ceived the chances of Lund getting added and establish better field work methods funding less probable if they could not Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 115

show any transplanted patients before rationale behind the procedures must be so then. Fortunately, the project was never- firmly built into it that no there is no need theless prolonged, and as of February again to open the black box in which it 2016 was hoping for their first transplan- lies. In reality of course, such strong locks tations to patients to be performed during can never be made. The cell suspension that same month. and the new knowledge produced around it was created by reaffirming old knowl- Negotiating Time edge (Walford 2013:30f), such as data on As it seemed, time passing and “nothing expected cell survival and innervation. happening” as it was experienced by the This was because the cell suspension to be involved researchers and other staff wait- created already has a script to follow. ing for access, information, protocols, sig- There is a “right” cell suspension, and all natures, equipment etc., actually con- other variations are wrong. If this were the tained a lot of productive components. first cell suspension around which all to Following the delays of the trial proved to follow would be moulded, it would allow be a crucial move for understanding the and presuppose an openness to uncertain- moulding of the fetal cell suspension, the ty, past as well as present and future (ibid.; common understanding of it and the paths Pickering 1993:579), which is not the case to its mobility. The black box may be a now. spatial metaphor, but it certainly also has Managing manuals and guidelines temporal dimensions in this case. The seemed first of all to be a matter of adjust- opaqueness of its surface in a sense makes ing either material procedures or circum- the box itself invisible. The lack of infor- stances to what had been written; as in the mation was rather experienced as a frus- case of adding pots for the fetal passings at trated waiting and eventless time passing, the abortion clinic at certain dates, or the rather than the non-transparency of a box. other way around, adapting what had been The biomedical trial I have been ob- written to the concrete materiality and ad- serving is both large-scale and aiming to justing what had been written in one loca- develop a future research model on cell tion or on one level to what had been writ- transplantation with hESC. These circum- ten on another, which we have seen in the stances make it, I argue, a case where fu- cases of local guidelines and permits be- ture generations of trials are concerned. ing homogenized. The adjustments were a The trial has what Karin Knorr-Cetina way of coordinating the process with its calls genealogical time (1999:186ff), involved actors in order to be able to reach since it “matches collective mechanisms a common product for transplantation. with long-term thinking” (ibid.:188) in its Some of these adjustments, such as how negotiation of procedures and guidelines. the ethical permits relate or dissociate Opening the box, reassembling its con- women to embryo and patient, were a re- tents and their relations, enables a new sult of unboxing the process. As such, knowledge-producing machine. In order they acted to create discrete objects in spe- to make this machine endure over time cific categories. The subsequent new and future trial generations, the scientific black boxing that inevitably needs to fol- 116 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

low upon the unboxing of the former order could be said to be aiming at proving an at some point will act to establish the cat- even more specific difference; the differ- egories as rigid and “truthful”, as an effect ence this specific treatment does in that of the new opaque and black boxed pro- specific situation; a tailored vitality. cess. Such categories make simpler the Charis Thompson writes, concerning in process of creating laboratory procedures, vitro fertilization practices, that it is the medical trials and thus, evidence-based spatial and also temporal separation be- science. The documents of course have a tween the donor, the created object (the great influence on the end result of the cell fertilized and implanted egg) and the pa- suspension and the trial as a whole. They tient that creates a successful treatment are an important part of the network of and practice (Thompson 2005:100ff). making it all work − or part of a knowl- This is true also for the cell suspension I edge-producing apparatus (Barad 2007: studied. However, evidence-based science 148, 176). takes it further, by reducing what has al- The preparations for the trial can be ready been enacted into discrete objects said to have been aiming at maintaining and started to act independently, to a con- the vitality of the embryo throughout its trollable behaviour pattern that, by pro- transformations into a mobile cell suspen- ducing sameness, produces the specific sion and a subsequent treatment. A “snap- sought-after difference that the trial wants shot” was, as mentioned earlier, made out to prove. One of the reasons why the staff of a biological process with technological needed to unbox their procedures was that aid. This was required for fitting this ob- a working and intact black box in bio- ject into the evidence-based framework of medicine requires homogeneity and re- knowledge required for the trial. Still, it producibility. These are two characteris- was a simultaneous moulding of a new re- tics that do not naturally apply to the fetal lational infrastructure and of the travelling material. object: the cell suspension. The trial can Delay and wait can therefore also be be said to aim for creation of sameness seen as consequences of the priority of rather than difference, since the aim is ho- creating general sameness or reproduci- mogeneous and reproducible procedures, bility within the trial, in order to produce, as well as a cell suspension made to these identify and prove as a result the specific same standards. The delays, the time pass- difference that is the effectiveness of the ing and the subsequent frustrating wait specific vital force. This is a force that can were mainly a product of trying to create be essentialized and removed intact from sameness out of a resisting nature insisting its original context: the aborting woman on being different. So, if it is the “differ- and the embryo. Thompson’s perspective ences that make a difference that matter” on temporality can help us better under- (Barad 2007:36, 72), it is here more pre- stand that matter not only matters in space cisely a question of the material differ- but also in time, when we consider how ences which tirelessly resist being made the laboratory-working researchers in the the same. In evidence-based science, quite trial tried to backtrack for errors that pro- contradictorily, the creation of sameness duced failures and how this was a way of Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 117

managing past and “lost” time into the fu- more tissue could be available for making ture (ibid.:105) as part of producing the cell suspension to implant to rats. When cell suspension. The reaffirmation of old the transplantations to humans are to be- knowledge (Walford 2013:30f) was used gin, the clinical stage regulations must be to create a standardized object. In a way, put to use again. A tagging system is al- the researchers can be said to have tried to ways required when using biological ma- reverse or transpose time. terial in clinical trials to make the tissue Time and delay helped visualize the traceable in the event of contamination or crucial negotiation points of the project, disease. This helps create chains of refer- and made visible to the staff what proce- ence and makes back-tracking easier, and dures and premises had to be unboxed and is in itself a requirement of doing science what could maybe, in later phases of the (Latour 1999:25−79). This chain of refer- process, be routinized and put in another ence allows not only for abstract knowl- opaque black box. Since premises are not edge production of the fetal cell suspen- neutral however simple and small they sion and its relations, but also for putting a may seem, we now need to consider what matter-creating apparatus (Barad 2007: implications the black boxing process 148, 176) into action, producing e.g. may have for ethics. documents and biological samples and a filing system. Ethics in Practice Trying to adapt abortion schedules and How did the negotiations of practices in add pots to collect fetal passings in the and of the trial affect what were con- abortion clinic was considered a safe way sidered ethical issues and how they were of trying to gain more material without handled? What unconscious premises having to enter ethical deliberations, as were black boxed, and which ones had to was necessary with the adoption of tag- be unboxed in order for the trial to pro- ging systems, biobanks and adding SOP’s gress? (standard operating procedures) for a The fact that there was a constant short- pre-clinical stage as described above. The age of embryos did not stand unaffected manipulation of matter described above by other problem clusters in the project. did not seem to be directly considered by For instance, in order to find a solution to the staff as being connected to ethics, in the shortage (a problem in itself unsolv- the way that manipulation of documents able by ethics regulation) management and permits seemed to be. However, the tried to adopt or to design a tissue tagging local procedures still install a new order, system and a biobank, which would allow which comes with premises. Here, the the use of more of the already available premise was that other facilities' routines tissue. The system had to fulfil the ethical can be remade and unboxing “out- demands on both preserved integrity of sourced”, so that unboxing and negotia- donors and the safety of recipients. They tion in one’s own project could be avoided hoped to be able to do this by adding a – as long as no pressure is put on the abort- pre-clinical stage to the trial, with less ing women. rigid regulations on traceability. This way, As we have seen, both ethical and sci- 118 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

entific considerations meant having to dures, in order to be able to create evi- open up the black box for relational recon- dence-based science (as discussed by e.g. figurings, which meant more hard multi- Kruse 2006 and by Berner & Kruse et al. sited work from the staff: for instance, 2013) and to progress in the trial. having to remake and then homogenize Problems that were handled by man- permits, or needing to travel to see and un- agement in the first instance as adminis- derstand how practically different but trative ones were issues such as responsi- theoretically equal procedures at other bility for testing the fetal tissue for sexual- sites could produce inconsistencies be- ly transmitted and other diseases in an ac- tween them. Taken at surface value, it ceptable and standardized way; which of looks as if connection and reference to the the protocols were to be adapted to regula- making of the fetal cell suspension and of tions and homogenized (which is in prac- evidence by pursuing more fetal material tice done by laboratory staff), and how ended here. This holds true if we only con- randomization of human research subjects sider the efforts to obtain greater volumes. – the participating patients – was to be However, it was just as much a matter of done. On a closer look, however, these selecting the right embryos, since their problems inevitably connected to issues of size and age were crucial factors in mak- evidence and knowledge. This was being the cell suspension an accepted travel- cause since they all dealt with issues of ler, with the right qualities, to the brain of how knowledge can be reached in a legit- a patient. imate way and how all surrounding sys- The documents that seemed to cause tems needed to be adapted to support such most problems and subsequent delay were credible knowledge production, thus re- the national ethical permits for the trial itself, for the donation of fetal tissue, and producing a homogeneous fetal cell sus- the tissue permit. The adaptation of the pension, a certain research paradigm and a SOP’s and other protocols of more practi- worldview based on the assumption that cal and manual-like character was handled certain mechanisms and causations are by laboratory personnel and junior re- valid even outside the specific paradigm. searchers. This, for two reasons, made this This is also a good example of when is- process easier and faster. Firstly, the sues of knowledge connect to ethical is- junior researchers and laboratory staff did sues. For instance, deciding which of the not have the same load of paperwork donating women is regarded as belonging needing to be taken care of as did more to a risk group, or how randomization of senior researchers in managerial posi- patients is best arranged in order for them tions. Secondly, this adaptation was done to still be granted anonymization and un- in dialogue with an actual material re- affected health care can very well be research environment, which the document garded as ethical decisions. In a way, was mainly produced to describe and to these are examples of instances where in- some extent manipulate. The adaptation visible premises are being black boxed was also done in relation to the other in- into the apparatus of evidence-based sci- volved research facilities and their proce- ence. Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 119

Problems causing delay seemed to oc- an unboxing must be done for some rea- cur most often concerning issues of either son will some ethical issues need to be re- access or supply. In some occasions the visited. It is therefore of great importance problems arose directly on a prescriptive to try to be aware of and accountable for and almost metaphysical level, as in the what one locks inside the box. However, cases of e.g. homogenizing protocols and this is easier said than done. As has been ethical permits. Decision making in spe- discussed over time and at length by eth- cific issues, planning ahead both on local nologists (and medical anthropologists), level and in communication with the other there is a constant need to investigate (and sites and with ethics boards, required revisit) the everyday practice of medicine managerial and administrative action. from a cultural-analytic perspective in or- Most often these actions had direct conse- der to get at how the ethical dilemmas are quences for questions of knowledge and most often embedded in their contexts and evidence. Curiously enough, they did not mundane actions (see e.g. Fioretos, Hans- as often have a direct effect upon the more son & Nilsson 2013; Lundin (ed.) 2007). practical issues of supply of fetal material Even if these points have mainly been or access to sites. These issues were more made in relation to health care and doctor- often targeted directly by the staff most af- patient relations (see e.g. Hansson (ed.) fected by and in closest contact with the 2007; Skott, Dellenborg, Lepp and Nässén situation. The problems handled by staff 2013), I argue that they are just as applic- in e.g. the cell laboratory almost exclu- able to basic research and medical science sively had to do with practicalities of as such. It is important to map out the solid, material infrastructure not working black boxed assumptions of what research to make the healing potential of the fetal in medicine can and should do, even in the cell travel as expected. The problems absence of, and prior to meeting with, a handled by management had more to do patient of flesh and blood. Only then can with the judicial and research-ethics prob- also the most routinized processes be un- lems of making the cell suspension mo- boxed and opened to scrutiny. The close- bile. However, both had their roots in is- to-practice and context-aware “everyday sues of reproducibility and mobility and ethics” perspective, as suggested by Ingrid subsequently a legitimate evidence-based Fioretos, Kristofer Hansson and Gabriella trial with intact notions of ethical conduct. Nilsson (2013), is just as relevant here. And they both, I argue, had a comparable amount of influence over the areas they Ethics in Suspense related to. Entering philosophical (and ethical) de- As has been addressed earlier, however, liberations complicates things. It opens up once negotiation is done, procedures and for the possibilities of a topic to become material stabilized and problems forgot- heatedly debated and consensus imposs- ten, it will all be routinized and mundane, ible (or at least much harder) to reach. If a and eventually black boxed again. Prem- topic is instead discussed and unboxed ises will be written into the procedures mainly as practical matters, such debates themselves and made invisible. Not until can more easily be avoided, consensus 120 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

kept and progress of process continued at discussion of them. The possible conse- a steady and faster pace. The rationale of quences of such a pragmatic strategy in avoiding discussions of knowledge and of my case study is not easily observed or being is the gain of a maintained consen- summarized. There certainly is an ethical sus and a less fragmented staff opinion- awareness, adherence to ethical guidelines wise, as well as an ultimately faster trajec- and accordingly a plan of action that the tory towards a homogeneous cell suspen- group agrees on; not much discussion sion made to travel within a legitimate seemed to be needed to sort out acceptable evidence-based trial. I cannot argue that from non-acceptable actions when sensi- this process is in any way exclusive for tive issues appear. All discussions, how- biomedical or life sciences research, but ever, were based on the assumption that one can see how it effectively helped to the transplantations would be carried out. create and distribute the value that the cell What is made to come into being to en- suspension is attributed due to its vitality dure and the knowledge of this being is in (Rose 2006). itself an ethical issue. Science as such has It is important to point out that the value great influence over, and therefore great of the cell suspension will not be available responsibility for, what is created and ac- on an open market, since it is not patent- knowledged as being and what ought to able due to European Union legislation on be. The ethical aspects in need of con- commercialization of materials of human sideration in the case trial were most often origin.10 Neither can the production or disintegrated into questions of knowledge, tribution of the cell suspension be large- evidence and meeting goals. It was most scale, because of the scarcity of the fetal often also embedded in the negotiations of material. Still, it can be considered a pro- practices. Ultimately, the aim was to be totype for future embryonic stem cell able to continue the trials, even if large therapies, which may not be patentable changes were needed to make it ethically either, but still tentatively possible to ap- acceptable to donors, patients, the public, ply on a large scale since they can be more their peers, themselves and to ethical easily homogenized and reproduced. The boards. Since the researchers needed to investment in the trial itself cannot, due to lock the opened black box as fast as poss- the given limits of the fetal material, yield ible in order to continue, some ethical per- any gains or advancements for this spe- spectives would be approved while some cific form of therapy. However it is argu- would be left out. Keeping both the cells ably still important for them to move for- and staff in suspense also enabled practi- ward within the trial, so that it can eventu- cal solutions to ethically delicate matters, ally “pay off” in the form of development which would otherwise have led to quan- of embryonic stem cell trials and hopeful- daries about issues of knowledge, evi- ly future therapies. dence and ethics. The delays that occurred The tendency seemed to be to prefer for practical reasons helped keep some and suggest easily incorporated practical ethical deliberations at bay. If a procedure solutions in answer to raise ethical or did not immediately by its design suggest philosophical topics, rather than extensive a certain perspective, premise or problem, Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 121

it would not be considered relevant – or ethical dilemmas offer relate to different rather, not considered at all. This gives a philosophies of ethics, and give practical very pragmatic outlook, and is in accord- advice based upon that. Still, their more ance with what Susanne Lundin (2012) abstract working methods do not lend states concerning her study on ethical re- themselves as well to scrutiny of practice flexivity in biomedical researchers: “The and the effects of routinized and unreflect- fact that everyday practice is connected to ed behaviour. To some extent, the ethicists professional ethics leaves no visible ef- themselves often also need to be part of fects on how biomedical knowledge is the black boxing process in order to fur- produced – as I have discussed here, ethics ther the progress of the research, hence mirror the conditions of the laboratory in a locking some premises and practices to pragmatic way” (2012:35). This effect, each other while excluding others. being more or less a “natural” part of the Ethical questions concerning guidelines black boxing process that inevitably needs and permits without doubt still need to be to take place in order to progress the re- raised and discussed in board meetings. search, fortunately does not need to be The crucial role of policies and guidelines completely opaque. in regulating the demeanour of science The ethnographic method can help and research cannot be stressed enough. visualize to researchers, stakeholders and However, since research in practice in- to the outside world what is unconsciously evitably enters a state of oblivion when being locked into the black box of scien- becoming mundane to its practitioners, it tific negotiations. O’Dell and Willim needs to be examined and addressed just (2015), among others, raise questions con- as carefully as do guidelines and policy cerning “for whom is ethnographic work documents. being done? How might it engage society, Andréa Wiszmeg or even contribute to processes of change? PhD Student In what ways can academic work be par- Dept. of Arts and Cultural Sciences ticipatory?” (2015:98). My field of re- Lund University Box 192 search is an example of where ethnogra- SE-221 00 Lund phers can offer a valuable oscillation be- email: [email protected] tween an insider-outsider perspective and help add new knowledge and insights, Acknowledgements which may have potential to raise aware- I would specifically like to thank the fol- ness and spur change in some scientific lowing people for supplying ideas and processes. It is crucial that we continuous- valuable comments throughout the pro- ly develop and evaluate our ethnographic tracted process of writing this article: Lars methods, so that they better target the Kaijser, Stockholm University; Mark practical dimensions of possible ethical or Elam and Dick Kasperowskit, the Univer- philosophical blind spots in research pro- sity of Gothenburg; Orvar Löfgren, Ro- cesses. bert Willim, Susanne Lundin, Kristofer Medical ethicists can offer valuable Hansson and Lars-Eric Jönsson, Lund perspectives on how different choices that University; and the two anonymous re- 122 Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense

viewers. I would also like to thank the 6 I am aware that actor network theory (see e.g. Medical Faculty of Lund University and Latour 1999; 2005), from which the concept of “black boxing” has been borrowed, has a the research consortiums Bagadilico and strong focus on things and materiality. The TransEuro for making my research poss- same is true for ethnology, which has a strong ible. and long tradition of investigating the role of things in everyday life (see e.g. Löfgren 2015). Things are also very present and active Notes in my empirical material, but I have still cho- 1 For the limited scope of this article, I had to sen to omit any deeper theoretical and analyti- omit definitions, the historical background cal elaboration on the topic. This is primarily and discussions of the concept of evidence- due to the need to limit my analysis for the based science and its consequences. I will be purposes of this article, but also because the referring to evidence-based science as a refer- things in this specific empirical material are, ential framework without further developing as will be shown, primarily experienced by the concept considering its presumed ideal me as abstract entities in the discussion and logic and rationale in science theory. My in- negotiations of the staff. I believe the abstract terest for this article primarily lies in how the level would disadvantage an analysis of staff of the project work practically to achieve things. this ideal and the legitimacy that comes with 7 A fluid inducing a state of inactivity and it, rather than what it is thought, or ought, to metabolic depression in the cells, hindering be. Thus, for me, evidence-based science here development into neurons. is equal to the practice and procedures of the 8 A special kind of nippers used in medicine trial, as well as how the material and ma- and medical research. chines are used to achieve it. Last but not 9 In Swedish: Inspektionen för vård och omsorg least, the discussions and deliberations on – IVO. how to best achieve reproducibility and mo- 10 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ bility of the fetal cell suspension and the pro- TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A31998L0044 cedures of its production, is of course of the (retrieved 9 March 2016). utmost importance here. 2 In vitro fertilization, an artificial reproductive References technique. Barad, Karen 2007: Meeting the Universe Half- 3 Emma is an alias given in order to protect my way. Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of contact’s privacy. Matter and Meaning. Durham & London: Duke 4 Entering the field of biomedical research and University Press. practice as an ethnologist, I also affiliate with Berner, Boel & Kruse, Corinna (eds.) 2013: a modern and strong tradition of Lund Uni- Knowledge and Evidence. Investigating Tech- versity ethnologists researching relations of nologies in Practice. Linköping Studies in health, illness and sickness to the cultural and Technology and Social Change, No. 1. The De- epistemological consequences of medical re- partment of Thematic Studies – Technology search and practice – as well as the bounda- and Social Change, Linköping University. ries of life and death, of nature and culture, of Ehn, Billy & Löfgren, Orvar 2010: The Secret body and mind and the body and its parts, in World of Doing Nothing. Oakland: University medical research (see e.g. Hagen 2013; Hans- of California Press. son 2011; Idvall 2006; Jönsson 2013; Lundin Ehn, Billy & Löfgren, Orvar 2011: Att fånga det 2015; Lundin, Liljefors & Wiszmeg 2012; undflyende – kulturanalytiskt bricolage som Lundin & Åkesson 2002). metod. In Många möjliga metoder, ed. K. 5 Besides what will be used for analysis in this Fangen & A.-M. Sellerberg. Lund: Studentlit- article, numerous observations in laboratory teratur. and interviews have been performed through- Fioretos, Ingrid, Hansson, Kristofer & Nilsson, out these years. These materials are excluded Gabriella 2013: Vårdmöten. Kulturanalytiska from analysis here since the topic of this text perspektiv på möten inom vården. Lund: Stu- is delays. dentlitteratur. Andréa Wiszmeg, Cells in Suspense 123

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Despite the Internet, television, cell tested position. This is true also today, phones and other technologies supposed when ethnologists are still engaged in the to connect and even out spatial and cul- rural and in regional development: as aca- tural differences, rural-urban divides are demics, civil servants, consultants, mu- still widely articulated. We can observe seums or as private individuals. From the these spatial differences in media and aca- first documentations of rural customs, to demia, but they are also all around us in the present engagement in territorial de- places like food festivals and in the pack- velopment: when ethnologists have been aging of supermarket products. From an involved so too has the state. ethnological point of view, distances and In this article I will review the histori- differences between urban and rural local- cal, cultural and social formation of rural ities and their inhabitants are also cultural- development policies in Denmark and ly produced. What is understood as the ex- situate these in a Scandinavian context. treme geographical outskirts in Denmark The review is based on a reading of com- (“Udkantsdanmark”), would hardly quali- mission reports, law documents and texts fy as even semi-peripheral in Finland. produced by the planners and scholars in- Thus, what is close-by in one country can volved in regional development, the latter be far-away in another. Even in policy dis- often reflecting upon and justifying their cussions, problems and solutions to rework. This gives us a retrospect on how gional development are sometimes cultur- ethnologists have interacted with rural ally shaped and change over time and policies and rural areas in transition. In the place. Examples include the very notions latter part of this article, I will have a par- that describe the rural, the outskirts or the ticular focus on examining the so-called periphery and the pictures and dynamics “new rural paradigm” (OECD 2006) and linked to these categories. Implicitly poli- its implications for ethnological scholars ticians, planners and probably everyone and practitioners of today. In the “new ru- else have cultural images of distinct liveli- ral paradigm”, bottom-up processes, hoods and ideas of the (often determinis- “place-bound” cultural and historical val- tic) direction of “development”. Indeed, ues are highlighted as essential to local de- far from just a definition in public plan- velopment. This of course empowers the ning laws, the rural and urban are cultural ethnologists, but also put us in a position categories with composite connotations, at the very centre of a commodification of which are important ingredients in deci- “the rural” and rural communities. The ar- sions on where to live and with which ac- ticle therefore concludes with a discussion tivities to achieve “the good life”. of current trends in regional and rural development and the challenges it poses to The Rural in Transition ethnologists today. During the last hundred years ethnologists have engaged in rural-urban divides, occa- Rural and Regional Perspectives sionally serving as the mediator between The central focus in this article is rural and the state and local communities. This has regional development. In a policy context, given ethnologists a central but also con- these can belong to different ministries or

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even be distributed between the EU, state, Regional Development in Scandinavia regional and local authorities. The shifting Despite some rather diverse geographic distinctions between rural and urban, local settings, there are many similarities in the and regional can be accessed in different Scandinavian countries with regard to re- planning documents and similar sources. gional development. As a common trait In this article, however, I will treat rural the Scandinavian countries have all been development as a unified number of prac- involved in a wide-ranging industrializa- tices, policies and efforts aiming at devel- tion of provincial areas and towns. These oping a locality, small community or area. processes have arguably been functional Regional development is understood as in shaping the basis for “modern” welfare policies and strategies concerned with the societies, but in ways which have also led regional balance and distribution of in- to controversies between rural dwellers come in a national perspective. Thus the and state authorities (Hansen 1998; Vike notions here include more than the mere 2012). Industrial production and infra- policies, but also local practices and ambi- structure have been promoted and in- tions. It is an important point in itself that stalled in order to supply the population should be made already here, that rural de- with stable incomes and living conditions, velopment in Denmark is only partly (and but urban housing and recreation activities mainly negatively) related to agriculture. have not always appealed to the rural Rather, rural development began as a dis- population, and ethnology have tried to tinct policy object and activity when agri- answer why (see for instance Højrup culture ceased to employ the majority of 1983). In fact, the spatial reshaping, distri- the rural population and serve as the im- bution and centralization of private and age of growth and development. Only public services linked to the industrial later have diversification and linkages be- economy and planning regime have been tween agriculture and other sectors en- the root cause of continuous conflicts be- tered the policy agenda. This will be fur- tween local populations and an increas- ther elaborated in the section on the for- ingly professionalized state planning au- mation of rural and regional development thority. in Denmark. For Denmark, as in Sweden On the other hand, rural development and Norway, regional development is con- has happened in Scandinavia against a nected to an industrialization of rural areas background of very different experiences and to the promotion of (urban-based) and starting points. Seen from today’s welfare services. In other words we are point of view Norway has perhaps led the dealing with a profound “modernization” most progressive regional policies, using of space, social life and its material basis. differential tax incentives to decentralize Regional development and equality is thus people and businesses while actively inherently linked to underlying assump- moving public institutions to remote tions of benefits and causes of urbaniza- towns. But this has also been done on a tion and to modernistic beliefs in rational historical background of war-torn north- planning. I will discuss these beliefs and ern parts, an extreme geographical situa- images later. tion and a to some degree economically 126 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

marginalized rural population. Swedish planning proposals (Hansen 1998; Høj- regional policies in the 1960s are an ex- rup 1983). This reluctance, according to ample of a more active and determined ur- Ottar Brox, has resulted in a sort of fric- banization process. The combination of tion against modernity (Brox, Bryden & wage control and a massive housing pro- Storey 2006), that is, a force of local re- gramme was imperative in centralizing sistance creating the social drive for al- the Swedish population in specific cities, ternative planning solutions and welfare while at the same time creating the dwin- services. Interestingly, in the end these dling rural settlement (“glesbygd”) as a alternatives often went beyond and im- cultural image of decline and impoverish- proved the initial rationalistic planning ment (Hansen 1998). By building a mil- proposals. lion flats and houses in and around urban agglomerations, the Swedish government Ethnology in the Periphery engaged in a centralization of people and Historically Scandinavian ethnology has industrial development. Likewise Finland been deeply involved in agricultural, rural shares traits with Sweden and Norway and peripheral areas. Firstly, rural com- with urban agglomerations being mainly munities and agricultural practices were in the southern parts of the country, while the intrinsic object of early ethnological rural core activities like agriculture and and folkloristic attention, carried out in or- forestry have been under increasing pres- der to understand, save and document the sure from economic globalization in re- vanishing traditions of peasant life and cent years. On the other hand, tourism is community (Campbell 1957; Rasmussen often promoted as the new key industry. 1968; Steensberg 1969; Stoklund 1972; The “rural idyll” with its beaches, forests Sundt 1971). This disciplinary heritage is and mountains lends itself (as an image) to still visible today in museums and ar- recreational activities which in turn influ- chives. At the time a theoretical lens of ence everything from housing costs to so- diffusionism and evolutionism was used cial composition (George, Mair & Reid to view the material, articulating a divide 2009; Ilbery 1998). between traditional and modern, between Today, Denmark, Sweden and Fin- community and society (inspired among land, as EU members, have rather similar others by Tönnies 1957). However, later rural development strategies, with the the remote and rural communities became Common Agricultural Policy (for agri- a favoured destination for community culture) and the Local Action Groups (for studies of the 1960s and 1970s. Thus, ru- rural development) as the most central ral villages and peripheral fishing towns tools. Norway stands outside this policy served as stepping stones in a disciplinary framework, but on a general level has transformation introducing social anthro- similar strategies and methodologies pology approaches and community stu- (Det kongelege kommunal- og regional- dies into Scandinavian ethnology (see for departement 2013). Common for all Scandinavian examples Daun 1969; Löf- countries has been a population reluctant gren 1977; Moustgaard & Damgaard to move and to adhere to rationalistic 1974). The influential works of Fredrik Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 127

Barth and Ottar Brox in Norway should Rural Development as a Governance also be mentioned here (Barth 1963; Brox Problem 1966), as they had an innovative focus on To understand the beginning of rural de- social change and state policies in rural velopment as a public governance area, Norway. As the Scandinavian welfare that is, as a distinct concern for the Dan- states evolved, ethnology became in- ish state, it is necessary to look at the volved with the complex transition of ru- shifts in primary and secondary produc- ral areas. In Sweden Kjell Hansen has tion. What explains the beginning of “ru- thoroughly examined the relation between ral development” is on one side the loos- public policies and rural populations with ening economic role of agriculture and a keen interest in the diverse interpreta- farmers in rural areas (a process occur- tions and “reluctant counteractions” com- ring in the 1950s) and on the other hand ing from rural dwellers faced with welfare the growth of industrial production as the state planning schemes (Hansen 1998). A economic and ideological backbone of similar conflict between 1970s welfare the economy. state planning and local resistance served Historically, the political stronghold of as the entry point for Thomas Højrup with Danish farmers went back to land reforms regard to developing an understanding of in the nineteenth century. From around the rural and urban life-modes (Højrup 1983), 1790s land reforms enabled individual a theme also taken up by Palle Ove Chris- operation of farmland and by the end nineteenth century Danish farmers had at- tiansen (Christiansen 1980). Today, the tained a strong political position as an im- rural has become a busy field with which portant element in the Danish export econ- ethnologists engage in many different omy. Faced with the declining grain prices ways, academically, politically and practi- in the latter decades of the nineteenth cen- cally. The following section will examine tury (Ejrnæs, Persson & Rich 2008), Dan- the formation of regional and rural devel- ish farmers succeeded in reforming the opment as a governance problem in Den- sector by introducing communal owner- mark. This perspective is partly inspired ship and joint investments in processing by interactive governance (for an intro- facilities (i.e. dairies and slaughter- duction see e.g. Kooiman 2003; Torfing houses). With individual farm ownership 2012) and partly by ethnological explora- and joint ownership of new and modern tion of social groups through a structural steam-powered production facilities, pro- analysis, in which the state has been introduction was streamlined and directed to- duced as a central focus (Højrup 2003). In wards the more lucrative dairy and meat this perspective policy changes may be export markets (Bjørn 1988; Svendsen & linked to transformations in strategies in Svendsen 2000). From these many fami- the governing system (state and munici- ly-owned operations and their co-owned palities), but the analysis must also have production units, Danish butter and bacon an open eye for the local resistance and in- reached the British breakfast tables in dividual counteractions wherever the large quantities. Agriculture was the back- policies are introduced. bone of the rural economy and featured 128 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

significantly in the national economy as ing recognition that the problem could well. As a result farmers were a respected neither be solved by a growth in the num- and powerful social class. However, with ber of farms nor through labour mobility. the intensive utilization of land (up to 76% What was needed, it was argued, was in- by the 1930s) and with the simultaneous dustrial development and stable occupa- mechanization of agricultural production, tion (Andreasen 1957; Kampmann 1957). the employment potential in Danish agri- Factories and industrial production was, culture was soon reached. By the 1950s accordingly, the only mode of production the sector was beginning to produce sur- which could provide year-round jobs for plus labour power. It is against that back- the rural populations. ground that the first Danish regional de- This shift in means and goals mirrors velopment policy from 1958 (Egnsud- the change in primary production out- viklingsloven) should be understood. The lined above, a change that is much easier policy was therefore not related to the de- to observe retrospectively. However, as velopment of agriculture, but to the sur- a special commission established in plus population coming from agrarian 1956 stated, they anticipated a future communities struggling to find a new eco- “where urban and industrial occupations nomic basis. This became known as the would become more important” (Ar- unemployment problem. bejdsministeriet 1958:15, author’s translation). In relation to that is a concern The Unemployment Problem that is easily forgotten, but pointed out The law in 1958 was the result of almost a by the commission, namely the costs of decade of discussions of the so-called “un- further concentration and urbanization employment problem”. What is important around Copenhagen (Arbejdsministeriet to note in this context is the discursive 1958). At that time, almost one third of shift that took place in the 1950s. In this the population was settled in the Copen- period the perceived solution to unem- hagen region, including half of the jobs ployment changed from solving unem- in industrial manufacture in Denmark. ployment through improvements in the Continuing this development would lead primary sectors (more farms and farmers) to further economic and social inequality combined with increased labour mobility, between the regions and would increase to a solution based on a country-wide pro- the costs of urbanization and infrastruc- motion of industrial production. In the ture. early 1950s a number of rural areas had From other sides it was argued that an become known as “unemployment is- expansion of public infrastructure such as lands”, and as late as 1955 a commission roads, electricity and water supply into the proposed labour mobility as a solution (in rural areas was not only reasonable but other words to move the surplus popula- also fair (Kampmann 1957). The indus- tion to urban areas), a proposal that was trial protagonist behind Cheminova, Gun- met with widespread local opposition (Il- nar Andreasen, author of several leaflets leris 2005). However, through the 1950s, on local development, emphasized the and as the problem grew, there was a ris- fairness but also the business case in rural Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 129

1. From the late 1950s and onwards regional development meant an industrialization of provincial areas. The illustration above is from a booklet published by a regional development board, imagining a spatial future complete with factories, roads and housing quarters. From the publication “Landsud- vikling” (Andreasen 1961). development. In a radio interview he the passing of the law in 1958 focusing on stated that an industrialization of Denmark’s provin- We ask for support based on the fact that we are cial areas. citizens in a society with equal rights, and we will Over the first ten-year period of the ru- explicitly express the point that it will be a good ral development policy, the number of business to invest in us.1 (Quoted from Høst & Ra- policy instruments was significantly en- door Larsen 2016) larged in order to prepare and install what By the end of the 1950s, and as a conse- was necessary for the industrial mode of quence of the discursive shift in the policy production. Initially the policy was based discussions, rural areas had become on the use of state-guaranteed loans, but known as “neglected areas”. The shift the law was continuously expanded and here is more than just semantic. It is a shift soon allowed municipalities to carry out that indicates a new position in the wider business analysis and investments in in- societal economy. “Neglected” should dustrial facilities. The actual investments thus be understood as seen and measured and developments coming from the law it- from an urban and industrialized point of self were limited, a mere 4 per cent ac- view. The discussions in the 1950s led to cording to one estimation (Illeris 2005). 130 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

However, the law and the discussions ber of factors. As the range of instruments leading to it probably paved the way for a in the law grew, the municipalities became recognition of the rural areas as (a neglect- more and more involved, while more faced) part of the industrial economy and tors became instrumental in attracting com- thus to an inclusive national growth con- panies from the outside. Looking at the ru- cept with regard to regional economic de- ral development policy from 1958, it thus velopment (Illeris 2005). has clear signs of exogenous state-driven development, while processes on the The 1960s – Industrialization and ground are more diverse (Illeris 2005) and Changes in Production changed over time. In the 1970s and 1980s For a short assessment like this, the indus- there was evidence that the most successful trialization of provincial Denmark can be industrial endeavours in Denmark were in summed up as a success. The largest provincial areas and in fact initiated locally changes occurred where there was the (Maskell 1986). least manufacturing industry to begin A final characteristic that should be with. While the industrial mode of pro- noted in this regard is the changing occu- duction was rolled out rather successfully, pational pattern in the Copenhagen region. there are a few structural characteristics While the industrialization of provincial that should be noted here as they might Denmark brought stable wage-earner jobs nuance the understanding. To some de- to the rural populations, the occupational gree the first phase of investments and composition of the capital changed simul- “movements” of factories to the provin- taneously from being 50 per cent in manu- cial areas were only movements of the facture to a larger weight on the service space-consuming production facilities, sector. This development was parallel to while the headquarters often remained in that in many other big cities in the West- the capital region (Gad 1968; Hovgaard ern world and related to the so-called in- Christiansen & Hovgaard Christiansen ner city problem or urban crisis (Harvey 1973). This was facilitated by the tele- 2012; Zukin 1980). Thus a new problem phone and fax on one hand and the im- of regional development began to emerge provements in roads on the other (tar, with slums and de-industrialization in the truck and automobiles). inner urban areas. The profound implica- Another point is that a large portion of tions of this change were not well under- the labour consumed in these new forms of stood at the time and were interpreted as a production was unskilled labour, of which logical function of the division of produc- 40 per cent were women entering the work- tion, thus conceived in a thinking still force for the first time (Hovgaard Chris- dominated by the industrial mode of pro- tiansen & Hovgaard Christiansen 1973). duction: space-consuming operations Thus the driver seen from company per- moved to places where land was cheaper. spective was access to cheap labour and However, more than just a concentration land. Also seen from company perspective, of service activities in city centres, re- the policy support and subsidies were in search, legal services, cultural and knowl- that respect just one aspect of a larger num- edge-based activities were becoming a Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 131

proper basis for a metropolitan urban geographical shape of public service, but economy. Only later were these processes also decentralized a large range of ser- acknowledged and studied under notions vices and – to some extent also – political such as the creative class and the network decisions from the central state level to the society (Castells 1996; Florida 2004; new 275 “large” municipalities (amalga- Zukin 1995). As described above, from mated from approx. 1,100 municipalities). the 1950s onwards industrial activities The municipal reform was important in were rather successfully redistributed to creating regionally distributed occupation and later initiated in provincial, rural and in the growing public sector. In the new coastal areas. The successful industriali- consolidated municipalities, new profes- zation of provincial Denmark did not sional administrations were to take care of happen with the 1958 policy as the only social services such as schools and nurser- driver. The expansion of infrastructure ies – but also of business facilitation and played an immense role and so did devel- public infrastructure. This profoundly opments in technology. Through time, de- changed the quality and nature of service velopment and adaptation of new technol- deliveries and transformed the relation be- ogies enabled industrial production in tween citizens and the public service pro- much smaller setups and allowed the divi- vider (Blom-Hansen 2012). It was also in sion of production, management, adminis- the 1970s that a disconnected number of tration and research into different locales. city plans and agricultural maps were inte- The economic boom in the 1960s brought grated and institutionalized into a fully optimism about welfare services, and in modern and nation-wide planning system. 1970 the municipal structure was changed to better fit the social democratic ideas Contested Planning and a modern welfare state (Blom-Hansen In 1970, a new “planning law” divided 2012; Nordrefo 1991). In the following Denmark into a rather inflexible system of section I will describe the municipal re- urban, rural and holiday zones. These are form of 1970, which in many ways served still in place today, rigidly protecting rural as the motor behind the welfare state and landscapes from industrial development, its policies of rural and regional equality. but also hindering new activities (and Interestingly, Denmark has recently gone therefore keeping the rural rural). The new through a process of municipal amalga- planning law contained a section describ- mation (similar to processes occurring ing its overarching aim as “equal develop- now in Finland, Norway and Sweden), ment in the country”. The balance be- and the crucial role of the former munici- tween the wishes and ambitions of an in- pal structure (from 1970 to 2006) in re- dividual place and the overall economic gional equality can now be better under- rationality was to be coordinated through stood. a number of “regional plans” (from 1977). On the local level, however, large areas of Welfare State Planning industrial zones were planned for and With regard to welfare service the muni- highways called upon to attract develop- cipal reform in 1970 not only changed the ment. Almost every small town or city 132 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

wanted to be part of a growing industrial production and the stable wage-earner economy and its welfare system. On the lives it provided as its product. This was other hand, seen from the state perspec- institutionalized through the 1970 muni- tive, funding was limited and the impact cipal reform aiming at delivering identical lost if efforts were too scattered. One service to all Danish municipalities theoretical approach to this puzzle was the (Blom-Hansen 2012; Nordrefo 1991). A idea of growth poles, which were cities social democratic policy paper on plan- large enough to support a region, and ning from 1978 stated that “All people through which development could be ini- should be able to get well-paid and varied tiated and controlled. The idea of growth work in the immediate vicinity of the poles was discussed internationally in replace where they want to live” (So- gional economics and promoted by the cialdemokratiet 1978, author’s transla- economist Perroux (1950). Through tion). growth poles public investments could be Thus, the spread of the industrial mode targeted and redistributed regionally of production was considered (at least in while not being too much scattered around the social democratic leadership) as a (Illeris 2005). The theory of growth poles goal, as long as it formed the basis on was central in Danish (as well as Swedish) which life conditions could be improved planning and gave the planning system a and regional inequality decreased. Life crucial role compared to laissez-faire eco- was to be structured around the good life nomics. However, the tension between lo- of a wage-earner, which in reality meant a calism and state centralization still divid- life in the vicinity of factories and welfare ed the national parliament and ultimately services, in other words intrinsically urban led to a less strict interpretation, where the facilities (Højrup 1983; Socialdemokratiet municipal plans were not changed accord- 1978). The Danish social democratic vi- ing to state needs and overall rationality sion was ambitious in scope and covered (Nordrefo 1991). Instead of supporting a all aspects of life, from wages, property limited number of already existing region- relations, housing, work relations, social al centres, the actual political outcome led security, education, health and traffic ser- to a new category valid for governmental vices to spare-time activities (So- support, namely that of “regional centres cialdemokratiet 1978). On the state level under development”. However the actual this – somewhat elitist – vision was in- discussions and tensions with regard to duced and modified into a concrete plan- limited funding and the location of new ning scenario, where urban centres investments were often just postponed or (growth poles) were to be distributed in moved to other fields (Illeris 2005). Denmark, each big enough to motor a regional economy fully equipped with hos- Social Democratic Ideologies: A Good pitals, high schools and other advanced Life for All services. Later in this article I will discuss As we learned above, the central motor in the theoretical underpinnings and in-built the Danish economy from the late 1950s image of development that was contained onwards was perceived to be industrial in this planning ideology – ideology Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 133

meaning the intrinsic ideas of good and with a strong external state holding the re- bad in regards to different ways of life, so- sponsibility for regional development, but ciety and development. However, despite also with a vibrant and influential resist- being ambitious, the social democratic vi- ance from below. The dominant image of sion was lacking sensitivity to local cul- development in planning authorities was tural variations and aspirations (Højrup modernistic and urban biased, but also 1983; Nordrefo 1991). In the social demo- highly contested by rural populations. cratic planning culture was something to be delivered in a modern and urban way, Modernism in Crisis not something to be preserved and nur- For the first period described in this art- tured locally, or performed outside state icle, rural and regional development was influence. For rural areas this meant that strongly influenced by modernistic think- public and private services were to be cen- ing in a broad sense. Part of this was a firm tralized and that development should be belief that future development was going planned around urban facilities only. to be urban and based on industrial modes The urban bias and concentration was of production. Modernization of the econ- an economic necessity in order to deliver omy and society would bring about posi- top-standard housing, education, health tive changes and was going to be a com- and spare-time services. When it turned plete reform of traditional (rural) life. As a out that local populations were reluctant consequence, it was only in cities that and voted against this development, eth- modern, healthy and good lives could be nologists were employed in order to un- assisted. In addition to this, through the derstand the (otherwise inconceivable) re- second half of the twentieth century there sistance to modernization (Brox, Bryden was an increased faith in large-scale plan- & Storey 2006; Hansen 1998; Højrup ning in everything from housing to the 1983). Ethnological enquiries revealed provision of health care, most evidently in that rural life provided lots of opportuni- the functionalistic planning and design ties and social networks. Rural life was tradition (Lefebvre 1991; Scott 1998). The not materially backwards, and modern Swedish efforts to build a million houses material and equipment (cars, fibreglass, or the Norwegian efforts to construct in- freezers, motors, etc.) were continuously dustrial parks reserved for companies with employed to uphold and renew rural prac- more than 1,500 employees are concrete tices (Højrup 1983). What was at stake examples of this, as is the demolition of was different “modernities” and a political whole neighbourhoods for new highways practice unable to see this (Hansen 1998; and the zoning of cities into functionally Højrup 1983). I will return to this urban distributed spaces. These modern devel- and modernistic image of development opments were to be supplemented with su- below. Here I want to note one other thing, permarkets, schools, parks and play- namely that this combination of welfare grounds for the modern citizen and con- ideology, municipal structure and central sumer. Rural areas and rural life were con- planning authority was the concrete way sidered backwards and needed to be fully that the welfare society came into being: replaced with modern ways of life and 134 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

consumption. This thinking even had its gree lost their powers with regard to some impact in the discipline of rural sociology, public planning. Instead the continued in- which tried to tackle this dichotomy and dustrial development has morphed and its relevance (see e.g. Pahl 1966). now occurs around notions of creativity, In the discipline of regional economics innovation and sustainable technologies. these assumptions were less questioned, There seems to be a theoretical shift from and there was a strong modernistic and modernist neo-classical thinking to a line thus urban bias. Therefore the relocation of cluster theory emphasizing specializa- of productive industries, especially from tion and regional competitiveness. With Copenhagen to rural and provincial areas, this shift, however, there is also a loss of a was also an object of scholarly debate in state-coordinated planning and a greater the 1960s. The dominant economic theory reliance on market forces. As an image of at the time, as already mentioned, saw in- development, modernity became contest- dustrial development and urbanization as ed, but the city did not. The big city, as inherently linked. Therefore advanced in- David Harvey has noted, succeeded in a dustrial development demanded advanced transition to become the site of post-mo- cities with research, legal service and dernity (Harvey 2008), and the image of other facilities to cater to its development development today is in that way still an (Illeris 2005; Kaufmann 1966). As a con- image of urbanization. In the 1980s the sequence, it was economically inefficient partial recognition of the limits of to relocate industries to provincial large-scale planning and modernization (non-urban) spaces. Although strongly fed into a broader process of deregulation represented in planning authorities and and a search for competitive edge along schools, these assumptions were chal- the lines of technology and creativity, lenged and contested, especially when in- which also had an impact on regional and dustrial technologies (from around the rural development policies (Nordrefo 1970s) were adopted successfully in pro- 1991). It is from this crisis and trans- vincial areas, often with different scales formation that the new rural policies of to- and different social organizations. Rural day were shaped. family operations managed to grow and become successful exporters without the The End of Regional Equality and the proximity of a large city (see further Coming of a New Rural Paradigm Maskell 1986). By the end of the 1970s it The rural development policy from 1958 was evident that the most exporting and and the investments that followed in its profitable business were located in pro- wake had succeeded in a wide-ranging in- vincial areas. This brutally challenged the dustrialization of provincial Denmark. Af- modernistic and urban-biased theory on ter peaking in the 1970s, subsidies for ru- its very foundation, namely that “develop- ral industries were reduced in the 1980s, ment” was linked to advanced urban ag- partly by reference to the fact that regional glomerations. Even though modernistic inequality was now limited. In addition, thinking and large-scale planning have by the end of the 1980s the image of hardly disappeared, they have to some de- development was transformed from the Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 135

industrial mode of production to a (some- trary as a precondition for a strategic effort for de- how related) focus on technology and velopment in the different regions according to creativity (Nordrefo 1991; Olesen & their own terms (National planning document 1990, author’s translation). Richardson 2012). Slowly, discussions changed into what we can recognize today What was beginning to be conceptualized as the idea of regional competitiveness was an understanding of a new regional and the new rural paradigm (see below). dynamic in an EU with an integrated inner The tension between localism and state market (Illeris 2005; Nordrefo 1991; centralism was left somewhat unsolved, Olesen & Richardson 2012). In 1990 the but with a strong recognition that it was rural development policy from 1958 was necessary to respect local diversity and phased out and, in fact, the aim of “equal ambitions. In fact these re-emerged as the development in the country” was deleted central resources and potentials and fitted from the planning laws. In the quotations well into a growing focus on creativity, lo- above we also begin to recognize a focus cal adaptation and life-long learning. An on the individual locality, valorization of example from a 1989 national planning local assets, specialization and local po- paper illustrates the point: tentials. These aspects are all part of what A regional balance is primarily promoted by local has been termed territorial development, initiatives, building on locally based opportuni- new rural governance or framed in the no- ties. Absolute equality and homogeneity is a uto- tion of the new rural paradigm. pia with terrifying perspectives, especially when it is the specific local potential that is the engine of The New Rural Paradigm development (National planning document 1989, In rural sociology many scholars have author’s translation). pointed to the significant shifts that oc- In this quotation the distancing from the curred in rural development and govern- former social democratic doctrines and ance somewhere along the 1990s and the idea of homogeneity is clear, as is the 2000s, and which were also observed in positive focus on the local as a starting the Danish case above – in short, the shift point and solving point of development. is caused by changes in geography, de- But it is also assumed that market forces mography and the economic situation of will be better at finding and initiating rural areas (Ilbery 1998). These changes “development” than the exogenous state have led to new forms of rural governance power. There is however more to it than and development discourses (among traditional political division over state and others see Horlings & Marsden 2012; Ray market. On the state level a new recogni- 1999; 2001; Shucksmith 2010; Svendsen tion was beginning to influence regional 2004). On the other side of the coin, old planning, namely that of growing interna- paradigms have supposedly failed to de- tional competition between regions and a liver development. In an EU context, for subsequent search for a regional competi- example, the emergence of a “new rural tive edge: governance” can be linked to the estab- The current specialization between the different lishment of the partly bottom-up rural de- regions is not regarded as negative, but on the con- velopment method named “LEADER” in 136 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

2. Food festival, cooking competition and picnic-to-go at Knuthenlund estate in Southern Denmark. In the new rural paradigm “place-bound qualities” are to be promoted and social, cultural and human capital activated in the search for development.

1991 (Ray 2000). This came about when These shifts in rural development are, as the Common Agricultural Policy was described in the above quotation, argued highly contested for producing the vast to include many actors and institutions surplus situations popularly known under and are claimed to introduce new modes names such as “wine lakes” and ”butter of rural governance. Through the EU mountains” (see further Rieger in Wallace these have been implemented and main- & Wallace 2000). But the scene for new streamed in Denmark, Sweden and Fin- rural governance is wider than agricultural land through the Local Action Groups, to- policies. On a more general level, we are day under the notions of Community-Led witness to a long-lasting and profound Local Development. New roles are ac- change including cordingly assigned to civil society and a new role for the state as co-ordinator, manager or also to the state as governor, which has to enabler rather than as provider and director; the for- facilitate networks and participation, more mation of tangled hierarchies, flexible alliances and than to enforce hierarchical planning. networks through which to govern (often to the con- Similarly, also voicing a clear shift, the fusion of most citizens); the inclusion of new partners, notably from the private and voluntary sectors; transformation can be described as a and indeed “governing through community” or change from exogenous (externally in- “government at a distance” (Shucksmith 2010:4). duced) development to a neo-endogenous Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 137

mode of development (Ray 1999). In the stantial part of state attention and subsi- first the state and other outsiders initiate, dies. sponsor and control development, while in The OECD publication is however an the latter these come together with local indication that the idea of a new rural pol- “bottom-up” forces. This shift was cap- icy – and a technocratic need for the same tured by the OECD through the much-re- – has been widely accepted and is now ferred-to publication “The New Rural discursively urged by OECD on its mem- Paradigm: Policies and Governance” from ber countries and their civil servants. A re- 2006 (OECD). The OECD report articu- cent 2015 OECD report repeats this claim lated the change from an “old” to a “new” and its pervasive implications for rural rural paradigm in a rather schematic way policies. The policy focus is however on (see table). local development, small-scale entrepreneurial activity and diversification, and in Table 1. Source: (OECD 2006) more general terms on the “softer” sides of development in rural areas; attracting Old New approach highly educated people, facilitating ser- approach Objectives Equalization, Competitiveness of vice innovation, improving life quality, farm income, rural areas, etc. The resources articulated and in- farm com- valorization of local volved in this new paradigm are indeed of petitiveness assets, exploitation of unused resources a diverse kind, ranging from cultural-his- Key target Agriculture Various sectors of torical assets to an emphasis on innovation sector rural economies (e.g. and generation of entrepreneurial spirit. rural tourism, manufacturing, ICT Central keywords are “area-based” or industry, etc.) “place-bound” resources, and the devel- Main tools Subsidies Investments opment paradigm is also referred to as Key actors National All levels of “territorial development”, pointing to the governments, government farmers (supra-national, human and social capital that can be acti- national, regional vated only from within a locality. The and local), various question is; where does this put the ethnol- local stakeholders (public, private, ogist engaging in the new rural paradigm? NGOs) Conclusion: A Neoliberal Turn? The binary positioning and the descrip- In the above I have described the formations of a shift in Table 1 could easily give tion and change of rural policies. These rise to an idea that an old paradigm has have changed in accordance with the been surpassed, and that we are now – or larger transformations in material and so- should be – via a “radical change”, in the cial conditions in Denmark as well in re- midst of a new paradigm (OECD 2015:2). sponse to the Danish position in a glo- It should be noted, though, that both con- balizing economy. The Danish state has ventional agriculture and the industrial had shifting responses to rural crises, but sector have – so to speak – carried on in overall the above reveals a process where the old paradigm – and still take up a sub- the state has withdrawn as the central 138 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

3. The current remaking of rural communities based on entrepreneurship and tourism and based on the cultural images of the rural is also a precarious process introducing commodification and gentrification of rural areas. Development also means new lifestyles, seasons and opportunities for some, while others are potentially marginalized in the same process. caretaker of rural and regional develop- most as a methodology we can follow in ment. As I have discussed, ethnology has order to institute development. However, engaged with the rural in many ways and we should not engage in rural develop- on different bases. Former museological, ment unaware of the potential undesirable community-oriented and state-critical implications and the critical questions that practices of ethnology have now been ex- are left untouched. As I have argued tended with an ethnology engaged with above, regional and rural development re- the territorial and cultural development of volves around social and cultural transfor- rural areas. For a discipline like ethnology mations as much as around investments in it is tempting to quickly grasp the method- roads, parks and factories. ology and terminology of the new rural Firstly, the new rural paradigm suggests paradigm. Instead of industrialized agri- that the overall policy objective has culture and large-scale planning trends, changed from equalization to competive- we suddenly see a positive focus on bot- ness of rural areas by valorization of local tom-up methods and a cherishing of our assets. The historical process described in core disciplinary attributes; culture, histo- this article supports this shift. However, ry, creativity and other human capitals. there might still be an important role for The new rural paradigm presents itself al- the exogenous state in securing equality in Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms 139

opportunities (instead of equality in out- grasp the current remaking of rural areas. come). In Denmark the change in plan- This is a risk as the social science with an ning can be summed up as a shift from a interest in rural areas is often policy- positivistic Keynesian rationality to “ad driven, producing policy evaluations and hoc project planning without any overall impact analysis for the bureaucracy. We coherent spatial policies” (Olesen & might have a role as a discipline to balance Richardson 2012). In addition the “state’s this research with an eye for the ordinary. role was reduced from provider to enabler Thirdly, while rural entrepreneurship of development” (Olesen & Richardson and linkages to tourism and urban markets 2012). Inherent in this shift from equaliza- have proven to be promising development tion to competitiveness is what could ar- paths, there is also a risk of producing guably be termed a neoliberal turn; a with- tourism-dependency and a commodifica- drawal of state responsibility and an em- tion of rural communities (George, Mair powering of markets and individuals & Reid 2009; see figure 3). This might (Hadjimichalis & Hudson 2007). There is lead to a urban-rural relationship where a risk that the ethnologist becomes the the latter will have to simulate or produce co-driver of this process as the new rural “rurality” in order to be accepted or even paradigm might have a specific function given a voice (Anderson 2000). This is of in this process. We might fear that the new course out of the hands of the single eth- rural paradigm is the governance instru- nologist, but with our role as communica- ment that endows civil society, civil tors of cultural history and ability to iden- groups and certain individuals with the tify “place-bound” qualities there also task of rural development instead of the comes a responsibility to do this on a re- state. By engaging in this process we flected basis. therefore risk legitimizing the withdrawal Finally, related to the above points, we of the state in rural and regional develop- should be aware that the processes we par- ment. ticipate in are similar (despite many dif- Secondly, engagement in the new rural ferences) to the urban gentrification and paradigm as a policy might limit our focus renewal that has taken place in larger and attention. As an integral strategy “best Scandinavian cities and towns. If the old practice” reports are used to spread rural paradigm was built upon the factory well-proven methods and projects to other and promoted the life of a wage-earner, areas and countries. The winners and their the new rural paradigm revolves around fascinating projects are picked up and cir- creative entrepreneurs and territorially de- culated in policy evaluations and media voted human resources (Ray 1999). We coverage. However, for each best practice should be conscious of the new social pat- example and winner produced inside the terns we take part in promoting, and renew rural paradigm, there is an even larger frain from treating development as linear number of ordinary places losing ground and unquestionably good. In conclusion, in terms of equality and opportunities. therefore, while the ethnologist can en- Processes in these places will also need to gage in rural development and through be documented and understood in order to that empower communities, create cul- 140 Jeppe Engset Høst, Changing Rural Paradigms

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Birgit Hertzberg Johnsen/Kaare, 1948–2016

for having “moved the focus from the narrative to the narrator, from the object to the subject”. Birgit was early in bringing women’s studies into folklore. In 1982 her book about the wicked stepmother, Myten om den onde stemor. An essay in 1986 about the insider perspective in women’s history has been frequently cited in Nordic women’s studies. In 1990 Birgit, along with Beth Elverdam in Denmark and Åsa Ljungström in Sweden, edited Kvinnfolk: Kvinnor i tradition och kultur, a NIF publication about women in tradition and culture. Birgit was also early in studying mass-media culture. The book about stepmothers from 1982 has a subtitle meaning “From folk tradition to mass literature”. Magazines were central source material here. The studies concentrated on “the potential of commercial mass culture for meaning making and the relationship between media cul- Birgit Hertzberg Johnsen/Kaare was born in Oslo ture and folk culture”. on 25 March 1948. She passed away on 21 Febru- Birgit occupied a prominent position in the ary 2016 after a serious cancer illness which she Nordic study of humour. The central work here is suffered in her last year. the book Hva ler vi av? Om nordmenns forhold til Birgit took her master’s degree in folklore at humor (1997), about what makes Norwegians the University of Oslo in 1976. In 1979 she be- laugh. She wrote: “As culture researchers we can came a research associate in folklore in Oslo and focus on social and cultural variation in humour in 1986 gained a scholarship from the Norwegian and its forms of expression, its use and signifi- Research Council. In 1988 she was appointed to cance”. She considered humour from a gender the post of senior conservator (corresponding to perspective in an essay in Ethnologia Europaea lecturer) at the Department of Folklore in Oslo. In 1999. 1995 she became professor at the Department of During the twenty-first century Birgit was Culture Studies in Oslo and in 2005 professor at busy studying the way young people use the In- the Department of Media and Communication at ternet. It was therefore logical that she moved in the same university. She retired in 2013. In the 2005 to the Department of Media and Communi- 1990s she was member of the board of the Nordic cation in Oslo. In this way she became a link Institute of Folklore, NIF. She has had several ad- between folklore and media studies and con- ministrative positions at the University of Oslo tinued to be a productive author and lecturer. and she was highly appreciated for the care with Birgit’s passing leaves a large vacuum in which she fulfilled her duties. Nordic culture and media studies. Her broad An important research area in Birgit’s works scholarly contribution will live on for a long time was the festivals and rituals of the life cycle. In to come. 1985 she published a popular standard work on Birgit was socially open, which made her a confirmation in Norway entitled Den store da- much-appreciated colleague and friend. When I gen. She wanted to illuminate the experiences took up my post as professor at the University of that confirmation candidates had in older days. In Oslo in 1997, it was Birgit who welcomed me 1993 came her doctoral dissertation on confirma- with a bouquet of flowers that I was long able to tion and memory, Konfirmasjon og erindring. enjoy in my office. The first opponent at the disputation, Nils-Arvid Anders Gustavsson, University of Oslo,  Bringéus, noted that the author deserved praise Norway/Henån, Sweden

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Biographical Notes 143

Anna-Leena Siikala, 1943−2016

that Siikala led had a long history. In the 1970s she had lectured on the folk religion of the Finno- Ugric peoples, and at that time was of the opinion that the ancient folk religion had sunk into history. The opening up of the Soviet Union from the 1980s radically changed many things. In the spring of 1990 Siikala found out from a colleague in Tartu that ancient folk religion still thrived in places in Udmurtia in the form of communal village sacrificial rites. Hence she travelled with an Estonian research group in the summer of 1991 to Udmurtia, through the col- lapsing Soviet Union, and got to see and document the sacrificial night festival arranged in honour of the god Inmar. From this began a lively collaboration with the Finno-Ugric world, which also led her on demanding field trips to the Khan- ty areas of Siberia. With her husband Jukka, Anna-Leena Siikala Anna-Leena Siikala (née Aarnisalo) was born on also made long research trips to the Polynesian 1 January 1943. Her family background was part- Cook Islands. This gave rise to a contextual in- ly in Helsinki, partly in Pori, and partly in the vestigation of the Maori narrative tradition. Thus countryside of eastern Finland – as a small child she was well positioned to investigate cultural she heard Kalevala-metre lullabies from her processes on a global scale over the course of grandmother. She went to school in Helsinki and millennia. studied at Helsinki University, with Matti Kuusi Siikala was perhaps above all the student of as her professor, and finally gained her doctorate Lauri Honko in that she was interested in living in 1978 there on the topic of the rite techniques of culture and tradition in its context. Nonetheless, the Siberian shamans. Apart from Kuusi’s super- her most important output has been a weighty vision, she was also guided by Martti Haavio and monograph on the relationships between Finnish Lauri Honko. Her interest in folk belief, tietäjät folk belief and epic tradition, Mythic Images and and shamans had already fascinated her from an Shamanism: A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry early age. In her lectures she related how in her (2003), and, expanded from this, the Finnish- fieldwork in the early 1960s she had met a genu- language Itämerensuomalainen mytologia, which ine, ecstatic tietäjä, but the true nature of the dra- she tenaciously completed in 2012, as her matic encounter dawned on her only later. strength had already weakened. On the other Anna-Leena Siikala worked in Finland in hand, her interest in the developmental frame- many universities, taking care of professorial work of Finnish mythology and epic linked her duties as a locum in Turku and Helsinki. She was with her old teachers Kuusi and Haavio, and at appointed professor of folkloristics at Joensuu the same time with a long trend in Finnish folk- University in eastern Finland in 1988, and from lore studies. there she was invited to become professor of Another field where Siikala advanced research folkloristics at Helsinki University in 1995. In the markedly is storytelling and narrator research. early 2000s she worked as Academy professor for She took part in the field trip arranged by the a five-year period, devoting herself primarily to Finnish Literature Society’s folklore archive in her research projects. As a young researcher she 1970 to Kauhajoki in West Finland, and apart had become familiar with academic life in the from gathering folklore, the researchers were in- USA on visits, and later she worked as visiting terested in the narrators and even made social- professor at Hamburg University in Germany. psychological tests for them. The materials lay The project “Mythology of the Uralic Peoples” for many years untouched, but after completing 144 Biographical Notes

her thesis, Siikala applied herself to investigating At the same time she was a friendly and caring the prose narration. The result was first a older colleague, who was easy to approach; she Finnish-language work in 1984, and, developed was generally not called “Professor Siikala”, but from that, the English-language Interpreting Oral “Anna-Leena”. To many Finnish folklorists she Narrative (1990). was like a big sister, who listened and sorted out Anna-Leena Siikala was appointed in 2009 a problems, and helped to forward careers. member of the Academy of Finland, which was Anna-Leena Siikala completed many impor- the highest recognition an academic may gain in tant monographs and brought many research pro- Finland. jects to a conclusion. She was also a main organ- Siikala was pivotal as an organizer of research izer at many international academic gatherings. and research collaborations, both in Finland and With other projects she has left to younger col- internationally. Along with Lauri Honko, she de- leagues a rich heritage to carry forward and com- veloped the international Folklore Fellows’ Sum- plete, for example the Mythology of the Uralic mer School research courses, and, succeeding Peoples project, mentioned above. Ars longa, vita Honko, she worked as editor of the FFC publica- brevis. tions series from 2002 to 2009; her own research Pekka Hakamies, Turku projects too were of course widely international. Biographical Notes 145

Jan-Öjvind Swahn, 1925−2016

vourite field of research for a long time. Not only did he publish great commented collections of both Swedish and international folktales, but in the field of folktale research he was also a fore- runner for he observed differences between female and male narration and he devoted interest to the important area that covers the relationship between written and oral tradition. This complex bond was really relevant when Swahn left West- ern folklore and turned to the Far East. There he collected folktales in Thailand, Laos, and Viet- nam and all the research problems that are connected to field research were raised, such as how to collect and document oral tradition, what importance variants bring, how to archive the tales and other topics. Customs and food were also targets of his writing. He published an impressive book about the Swedish Christmas, filled with facts about this Jan-Öjvind Swahn, one of the grand old men in complicated and many-faceted custom. His stu- Nordic folkloristics, passed away on 21 March dies about food are mainly concentrated around 2016. He had studied with Carl Wilhelm von everyday dishes, but he also combined his dual Sydow at Lund University and defended his interest in cooking and customs in studies about doctoral dissertation, The Tale of Cupid and feasts and food. Psyche, in 1955. He was influenced by the idea of Jan-Öjvind Swahn was an excellent speaker. oikotype, a special kind of variant of a tale that When he gave a lecture the auditorium was was marked by the environment. According to crowded. The combination of solid facts, a deep the prevalent theory of his time he worked with historical knowledge, acquaintance with local tra- the historical-geographical method, but he re- ditional culture and language and wit was a price- fined it by introducing the concept of subtype. He less foundation for captivating lectures. He was compared the subtypes and was able to tell which ahead of his time for he was able to create a brand one was the oldest and which of the large number of himself. This brand was certainly supported by of subtypes had literary influence. his role as a television personality in several Today this kind of folkloristics seems obsolete. popular programmes in which scientists and The historical-geographical method came under scholars answered questions from the public. His severe criticism and consequently, sixty years af- profound knowledge of cultural matters came ter Swahn’s dissertation hardly anybody works in perfectly to the fore the bigger his audience was. that way. Swahn, however, found his way out of Swahn had never a chair at a university in the dilemma a researcher experiences when Sweden but in 1955–78 he was a lecturer at Lund, everything changes, from the research material Uppsala and Gothenburg Universities. Moreover, and research questions over theories into he functioned as a librarian at the University methods. During Swahn’s time this process was Library in Lund and in 1978–83 he was the chief turbulent and ongoing. He addressed folklore as librarian at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm. an expression of cultural history. His most impor- He also had a publishing house Cygnus, meaning tant production is within this field of research. swan, he was the editor in chief of Bra Böckers Being a folklorist he looked for genres that hardly Lexikon, Bra Böckers Bildlexikon and Barnens anybody had studied, such as the verses made up uppslagsbok. When the new national encyclopae- when eating rice pudding at Christmas, or other dia in Sweden was planned he was engaged as a expressions for a very down-to-earth kind of folk member of the scientific board and contributed to culture. The study of folktales remained his fa- more than two hundred articles. 146 Biographical Notes

In the years 1974–92 Swahn regularly visited when he came, for his lecturing was not only Åbo Akademi University in Åbo (Turku), Fin- filled with expertise but also flavoured with im- land twice a year. Until 1981 the discipline of plied and silent puns. folklore was combined with other disciplines, and I had the joy of knowing Jan-Öjvind Swahn for it was the obligation of the leading professors to thirty-five years. Now an admirable colleague find a person who would teach folkloristics. and a friend has passed away. He had a long and Jan-Öjvind Swahn accepted this offer and took rich life and the traces that he left behind are responsibility for the quality of both teaching and good. exams. It was often a day of humour and laughter Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo (Turku) Biographical Notes 147

Haci Akman, Professor in Bergen

Urban Spaces in Bergen (2001). Akman and Sol- berg were especially interested in the use of urban spaces. Their analysis of Torgalmenningen in Bergen is an original and stimulating piece of research. A more accessible introduction to this research is Akman’s article “The cultural diaspora of place: Torgalmenningen – an urban space in Bergen” (in Norwegian), published in Tidsskrift for kulturforskning 3–4 (2002). The concept of ethnical territorialization has an important place in the analysis. From the beginning of 2000 Ak- man became increasingly interested in different aspects of diaspora culture, publishing articles on Jewish diaspora in London and on Kurdish diaspora more generally. In 2014 Akman edited the book Identity in Scandinavia: Women, Migration and Diaspora Negotiating (New York/Oxford: Berghahn). His own contribution to the volume is on art as a political expression of diaspora. Some of Akman’s best research focuses on the challenges and possibilities of diaspora. In recent years Akman has been working in the Haci Akman was appointed professor of cultural field of museum studies. In 2008 Katherine studies at the Department of Archaeology, Histo- Goodnow and Akman edited the book Scandina- ry, Cultural Studies and Religious Studies, Uni- vian Museums and Cultural Identity (sponsored versity of Bergen, in 2015. Akman was born in by UNESCO). Akman’s contribution to the vol- Ankara in 1953 and came as a Kurdish refugee to ume is “Pluralism, cultural heritage and the mu- Norway in 1982. He trained as a teacher in Anka- seum”, an analysis of how Norwegian museums ra and studied anthropology and ethnology at the handle the question of cultural identity. This University of Bergen. After his master’s degree theme was further developed in the article “Mu- in ethnology in 1988, Akman was research assis- seums and diversity in a Norwegian context” (in tant at the section for the study of the language Norwegian), published in Nordisk Museologi 2 and culture of the Middle East, and researcher at (2010). Akman has recently also published other the CMI in Bergen. In 1994 he finished his interesting studies in museum studies. doctoral thesis in ethnology. The title of the thesis Besides being a highly interesting researcher, is Exile: An Ethnological Investigation of Vietna- Akman has also done an excellent job building up mese Refugees in Exile. From 1997 Akman has teaching modules in migration and ethnical rela- been associate professor of ethnology/cultural tions. He is also very well known in Norway as a studies at the University of Bergen. prolific public intellectual. He has given hund- Akman has mainly been working within two reds of extramural talks and lectures on refugees, research fields. At the beginning of his academic diaspora, cultural identity and the conflicts in the career he was especially interested in ethnologi- Middle East. Akman has actively used exhibi- cal research concerning migration, refugees, exile tions and newspapers in cultural communication, and diaspora. In recent years he has also been in- and he has taken part in many programmes on ra- terested in cultural communication and museum dio and television. In this way he has shown how studies. One of his best studies of exile and dias- cultural research and knowledge can be commu- pora is the monograph written together with Sig- nicated and disseminated to the public. ne Solberg, Ethnical Atlas: Cultural Diaspora of Nils Gilje, Bergen 148 Biographical Notes

Pertti Anttonen, Professor in Joensuu

discusses tradition, one of the basic concepts in folkloristics, as a discursive tool for constructing modernity. Drawing on postmodern critical theories, the book reflects upon the “paradigm of loss” in relation to making traditions as a modernist project, the production of “nationalized antiquities”, locality and identity, processes of homogenization and other topics of the politics of folklore. In 2014 a Greek translation of the book was published. Anttonen has also published significant articles that addresses the political uses of folklore and its relationship with national identity. Unlike scholars who consider myths as an extinct genre, he proves the continuous relevance and cultural functionality of myths in the world today. In his article “The Finns’ Party and the Killing of a 12th-Century Bishop: The Heritage of a Political Myth”, published in Traditiones (2012), he has Since 2014 Pertti Anttonen has been working as discussed the role of the myth about the murder the professor of cultural research and folklore stu- of Bishop Henry in the ideology of the Perussuo- dies at the University of Eastern Finland. He re- malaiset political party. ceived his MA degree at the University of Helsin- Together with the great Finnish folklorist Matti ki in 1987 and a doctoral degree from the Univer- Kuusi (1914–1998) Anttonen has co-authored sity of Pennsylvania in 1993. His dissertation was Kalevalalipas (1985; 1999) – a general handbook entitled Tradition and its Study as Discursive for wide readership about the genesis of the epic Practice: Modern and Postmodern Perspectives Kalevala, its adaptations and role in Finnish na- on Folklore Research. Anttonen has worked as tional culture. He has also studied classical gen- research secretary of the Nordic Institute of res of Finnish folklore, such as folk songs. His Folklore (1991–1995), associate professor of article “Ethnopoetic Analysis and Finnish Oral folklore studies (1996–1997) and researcher Verse” (1994) analyses the aesthetic expressivity (1998–2000) at the University of Helsinki and re- and poetic structure of Finnish folk songs. The search fellow of the Academy of Finland (2001– article “The Rites of Passage Revisited” looks at 2004). Later he worked as professor of folkloris- Finnish-Karelian wedding rituals in the light of tics and director of the Kalevala Institute at the van Gennep’s theory (1992). Remarkably, this University of Turku (2004–2006), professor of article has been chosen by Alan Dundes to repre- ethnology at the University of Jyväskylä (2006– sent Finnish folkloristics in the prestigious inter- 2007) and professor of folklore studies at the Uni- national anthology Folklore: Critical Concepts in versity of Helsinki (2007–2009). In 2009 he be- Literary and Cultural Studies, published in 2004. came the university researcher and lecturer at the In the article “Two Medieval Ballads on Betrayal University of Helsinki and in 2014 he was visit- and Deception: Interpreting the Story of the First ing professor of folkoristics at the University of Christian Bishop in Finland through the Story of California, Berkeley. Judas Iscariot” Anttonen has studied the ballad Anttonen is one of the leading folklorists of the version of the myth of Bishop Henry in the Nordic countries who has made a remarkable medieval context, comparing it with a twelfth- contribution to international scholarship. His century English poem and showing their connec- monograph Tradition through Modernity: Post- tion in depicting a similar opposition – between a modernism and the Nation-state in Folklore hero and his opponent, who helps to accomplish Scholarship (SKS 2005) has become a landmark the hero’s divine task (2013). (The Performance in Finnish and European folkloristics. The work of Christian and Pagan Storyworlds: Non- Biographical Notes 149

Canonical Chapters of the History of Nordic is a leading author in theoretical folkloristics and Medieval Literature. Mortensen, L. B. & Lehto- in the critical study of the history of the discip- nen, T. M. S. (eds.).) line. Anttonen’s works are important not only for Anttonen has been invited to deliver plenary folkloristics and ethnology but also for related lectures at the most important forums of his field, disciplines, such as cultural studies, history of such as the 9th congress of the International So- ideas, literary criticism and political science. Col- ciety for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) in Derry, leagues in many countries are looking forward to Northern Ireland in 2008 and the 16th Congress his next publications and welcome his appoint- of the International Society for Folk Narrative ment to a full professorship. Research in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2013. In 2013 Ülo Valk, Tartu he was elected member of the board of SIEF. He 150 Biographical Notes

Tone Hellesund, Professor in Bergen

together with another woman. The thesis is based on a broad selection of different historical sources. Hellesund has done excellent research showing what made this form of life possible and how it was undermined by the sexual discourses in the 1920s and 1930s. Hellesund’s research highlights in a very interesting way a specific form of female adaptation and marginalization and its many problems and challenges. Helle- sund’s work on the Norwegian spinsters has become a successful paradigm of how this kind of research can be done, and it has been an important source of inspiration for younger researchers. Hellesund has also done some interesting research on young homosexuals. The monograph Identity Concerning Life and Death: Marginality, Homosexuality and Suicide (2008) is based on interviews with twelve homosexuals who in their youth either contemplated or attempted suicide. Hellesund’s book focuses on what she calls a modern homosexual narrative about identity. The In 2015 Tone Hellesund was appointed professor basic narrative is that homosexuality is a natural of cultural studies at the Department of Archae- condition and not a choice, and that sexuality ology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, represents a truth about the self. Hellesund’s in- University of Bergen. Hellesund has a master’s terpretations of the material are very well done; degree in ethnology from 1997. Her doctoral the same can be said about the way she develops thesis from 2002 has the title The Norwegian her arguments and conclusions. She has analysed spinster: on the cultural constitution of gender similar topics both in articles and in book chap- and the organisation of single lives. Since 2002 ters. Recently she has also done research on re- Hellesund has had various academic positions at making “intimate citizenship” outside the con- the University of Bergen, most importantly five ventional family, published in Remaking Citi- years as a senior researcher at the Rokkan Centre, zenship in Multicultural Europe (2012), a collec- and three years as one of the chief librarians at the tion of texts based on a large EU project. University Library in Bergen. Besides being a very productive researcher, Tone Hellesund has an extensive publication Hellesund has also been very active in obtaining list. She has published four monographs and a funding for large-scale research projects. She number of articles in journals and anthologies. acted as research leader of three RCN projects The scholarly articles have been published in and one EU project involving 15 partners and 50 highly different journals such as Dugnad, Ethno- active researchers. logia Scandinavica, Tidsskrift for kulturforsk- Tone Hellesund’s main research areas include ning, Suicidologi, Journal of Homosexuality, gender studies, homosexuality and history of Tidsskrift for den norske legeforening, and Soci- sexuality. She is already actively engaged in de- ology. veloping new teaching programmes and modules Hellesund’s doctoral thesis has a special place within these fields. Hellesund will be a positive among her publications. She investigates women resource person and a fine asset to cultural studies from the middle and upper classes who at the end at the University of Bergen. of the nineteenth century found it possible to de- Nils Gilje, Bergen velop and realize a vocation either living alone or Biographical Notes 151

Kyrre Kverndokk, Professor in Bergen

rative was produced and internalized in each pupil. The thesis is based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism and different approaches to rituals and narratives. Two important articles can also be placed in category 1. An article from 2011 called “War heroes and victims: Akershus fortress as a landscape of war” (in Norwegian) was published in Material Culture and the Materiality of Culture (eds. S. Naguib and B. Rogan). Kverndokk’s main argument is that Akershus fortress in Oslo includes several conflicting narratives. An article called “Negotiating Terror, Negotiating Love: Commemorative Convergence after the Terrorist Attack July 22, 2013” was published in 2014 in The Therapeutic Uses of Storytelling (ed. Camilla Asplund Ingemark). Kverndokk shows how Facebook and other social media played an important role in the mobilization after July 22. In articles like these, Kverndokk has documented that he has become a specialist in this field of In 2015 Kyrre Kverndokk was appointed profes- folklore studies. sor of cultural studies at the Department of Ar- Kverndokk’s second area of research is inter- chaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Re- pretations and narratives of natural disasters. An ligious Studies, University of Bergen. Kverndokk early contribution to this field is the article has a master’s degree in folklore studies (2000) “‘Ach! Hvilken Domme-Dag, min GUD! Ach! from the University of Oslo. He has a doctoral Hvilken Dag!’ – on exemplarity and strange signs degree from Linköping University (2007). The in the Danish-Norwegian reception of the Lisbon title of the thesis is “Pilgrim, tourist and pupil: earthquake in 1755” (in Norwegian), published in Norwegian pupils on school trips to death and Tidsskrift for kulturforskning (2010). The article concentration camps”. From 2010 to 2014 Kvern- is based on a poem by the Danish author Chris- dokk held a postdoctor position in cultural history tian Henric Biering. Kverndokk develops an in- at IKOS (Department of cultural studies and teresting interpretation of the semiotic cosmos of oriental languages) on an RCN-financed project the early modern period – in this case also includ- on the cultural history of natural disasters. In the ing the Enlightenment period. Another contribu- period 2007−2010 he was lecturer at IKOS. In tion to research on natural disasters is the article 2014 he became associate professor of cultural “Mediating the Morals of Disasters: Hurricane studies at the Department of Archaeology, Histo- Katrina in Norwegian News Media”, published in ry, Cultural Studies and Religious Studies, Uni- Nordic Journal of Science and Technology versity of Bergen. (2014). In the new monograph Naturkatastrofer: Kverndokk’s published studies – monographs En kulturhistorie from 2015, Kverndokk sums up and articles – can be categorized under two and further develops much of the research he has headings: (1) cultural heritage, memory and ritual done in this field in recent years. practice, and (2) cultural history of natural dis- Professor Kyrre Kverndokk brings new com- asters. The doctoral thesis clearly falls within the petence and expertise to cultural history at the first category. It is based on ethnographical mate- University of Bergen. The new professor will be rial from fieldwork where Kverndokk followed a welcome and important resource person in se- pupils (tenth grade) on their way to Auschwitz. veral fields of teaching and research. Kverndokk very convincingly shows how a Nor- Nils Gilje, Bergen wegian version of an international Holocaust nar- Reviews

New Dissertations science and everyday life. In collaboration with Glostrup Hospital, the proposal presented a specific ethnological take that emphasized everyday life to Cultural Analysis of the Brain address an overall question of the experiences of fa- Michael Andersen, A Question of Location – Life tigue among people who have had a stroke” (p. 3). with Fatigue after Stroke. Det Humanistiske Fakul- Here it is the stroke that makes the absent brain no- tet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 2014. ticeable and a factor that changes the person’s be- 187 pp. Diss. ing-in-the-world. More specifically, Andersen is interested in the disruption that can be seen as that  The brain has received little attention in ethnolo- situation where the mundane everyday life becomes gy. Yet it is the brain that in many ways both shapes visible. From an ethnological perspective this dis- our actual lives, and today, through neuroscience, ruption, as Jonas Frykman has pointed out in the shapes the way we look at ourselves. Knowledge book Berörd (2012), lets us notice the culture phe- produced by neuroscientists is to a large extent nomena that we are enclosed in; it can be the body shaping our understanding of the Self. In simple or how we relate to our brain. For Andersen the em- terms we could say that we have gone from seeing pirical fieldwork let him uncover fatigue as a conse- the man with a Soul to seeing the man with a Brain. quence of the stroke and something that the persons This is knowledge in constant transformation, which he study is struggling with in their everyday life. should be of ethnological interest as regards how Andersen writes: “As the exposition demonstrates, knowledge is produced and reproduced in people’s stroke is a disruption and, as such, an event that in- everyday lives. It can be neuroscientists’ work in the stigates a change to the experience of fatigue. Thus, laboratory or living with, for example, Parkinson’s it institutes a range of new locations as well as pro- disease, a degenerative disorder that results from the vides old locations with a new force” (p. 7). So, dis- death of dopamine-generating cells in the midbrain. ruption becomes a central methodological percep- But the reverse perspective is also of interest for the tion to open up empirical and theoretical questions cultural analysis of the brain. Even if the brain is ab- concerning location. In “Locating fatigue” these sent in our everyday lives and we don’t need to questions are defined from a theoretical background think on or with the brain, it is part of our bodies’ where Andersen connects his study to an existential- being-in-the-world. This becomes clear when a per- ist-phenomenological tradition, as well as to the son gets a brain disease and the symptoms become field of STS and ANT. But he makes an important something that defines the features of our being. remark here and it is that his study focuses more on From this perspective the brain becomes a thing that the human subject than the object. At the same time an individual starts relating to, but also something as ethnology is the study of things and objects, it is that the individual no longer can control. For a per- “the study of how reality is perceived and how son with Parkinson’s disease the brain is the uncon- people attempt to create order and intelligibility in trollable factor that rapidly changes the perception their world” (p. 15). of the everyday life of eating, walking and dressing In chapter two, “Introducing fatigue through oneself. The experiences of the brain, the everyday acedia and neurasthenia”, the history of acedia and with an illness and the neuroscientific knowledge neurasthenia is focused on as a genealogical ap- will together create and affect what we can call be- proach to give an explanatory framework for fa- ing-in-the-world. Ethnology should be more pro- tigue. Of special interest is how fatigue is explained gressive when it comes to research questions that re- as located in different positions and how location is late to these field because it is rapidly changing. central if we want to understand these conditions. In Michael Andersen’s PhD thesis A Question of But Andersen also has a theoretical objective for Location – Life with Fatigue after Stroke these per- this chapter, which is to combine the genealogical spectives are highlighted and developed in a very approach with the existentialist-phenomenological exiting book. In the beginning he defines his thesis tradition. This is a big assignment in which one by writing: “A fieldwork oriented cultural analysis chapter is not enough, but he opens up a number of of how fatigue is diagnosed, treated, understood and interesting perspectives for ethnology to continue managed with an emphasis on the relation between developing. Finding a methodology for historical

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 Reviews 153

studies with an existentialist-phenomenological per- The chapter “The regimes of hope” is related to spective is interesting, and as Andersen also points the two previous chapters, and here the narratives of out, a possibility to avoid both essentialism and uni- “hoping for progress” are analysed. Hope is related versalism. here to the bigger narrative that “being positive will The next chapter is more of a methodological change one’s life for the better, even in case of im- chapter that is focused on the ethnological field- mense crisis” (p. 110). Here the stroke can be seen work. Most often these are placed in the introduc- or described as the crisis, but what follows is the tion, but here it is between the more historical chap- search for a will. This can be a hope for progress, or ter and the fieldwork. Andersen justifies his differ- a hope that no further negative changes will occur in ent methodological considerations well and gives a life. But it is also related to Kierkegaard’s perspec- good perspective on why he has chosen interviews tive that the person understands the crisis back- as the main material. He also discusses how he de- wards, and in this way narrates a hope for progress velops this method, not only listening, but also ob- in the future. serving how the interviewees become tired. “[L]is- Narratives are central in “Locating pain” too, tening”, he writes, “is not only a passive exercise, even though the main theoretical perspective is that but aside from body language etc., also entails say- it is the body that is in pain. Andersen finds instead ing the right things at the right time” (p. 63). in his fieldwork that the pain is communicable, but, In “A disrupted return to everyday life” Andersen as he writes, “not by how it is physically felt, but by presents the interviews and what they can say about the location of the object to which it is connected” everyday life after a stroke and living with fatigue. (p. 121). The thematic narratives in the chapter are He is interested in how the stroke impacts the narra- very interesting, both how pain and sleep are inter- tive identity as a part of the individual’s overall twined, and how the persons manage the pain. Cen- illness narratives. Important themes that are present- tral for these themes is the analytical point that pain ed are the anxiety about returning to everyday life can “be located in multiple places at the same time” and living with the healthcare monitoring. Anxiety (p. 129), and that it is often intertwined with fatigue. is also connected to loneliness and returning home In “Being normal – stigma and progress” the is- to an empty house, or to a husband or wife who sue of normality is further developed as one of the doesn’t understand. From a theoretical perspective perspective that is dwelled upon in previous chap- fatigue is discussed as something that after a while ters. Andersen emphasizes that it is mostly in the in- is incorporated in one’s being and everyday life is terviews with the younger informants that questions once again filled with meaning. of normality arise. This is interesting and could be A rather short theoretical chapter called “The nar- used to give a culture-analytic understanding of the ratives of fatigue” explains how narrations are an meaning of age when it comes to different illnesses. important part of how self-identity is constructed. In the chapter the informants struggle to present Andersen discusses how multiple and contradictory themselves and their condition is discussed, and configurations can make sense within a specific nar- Kleinman’s “sickness limbo” is used as a good rative. With these perspective self-identity is some- metaphor. Also everyday stuff, like the bicycle, is thing that, as he writes, “is constantly open for explained here as an object that the informants use changes and may co-exist along with other narra- to appear more “normal”. tives” (p. 99). But the chapter shall be read in rela- In the chapter “This ‘Other’ brain of mine” An- tion to the chapters that follow. In “The narrative as dersen focuses once again on the brain. What is cen- communal” history is used to understand how the tral in this chapter is that he presents “the brain as individual makes sense of his or her own self. Here both an invading force on one’s sense of self and as Andersen uses the stroke as the historical event an integral part of this self” (p. 140). Going to the where narratives can be used to make sense and pro- narratives from the informants, Andersen explains vide meaning for one’s own self. It is a chapter that how the brain becomes a retrospective Other that focuses too much on psychoanalytical perspectives; forces the person to (re)construct the self. Also cen- the already used Kierkegaardian take would in fact tral is the relation the body and Andersen has a pres- be sufficient, that life must be lived forwards, but it entation of how ethnology can study the brain and is understood backwards. the body. So, even if the brain – as part of the human 154 Reviews

body – has received little attention in ethnology, this once again by antiquarians, and in 1931 the Uppsala chapter is a very good beginning of such a develop- archaeologist Mårten Stenberger (1898−1973) un- ment. dertook a small test excavation for his dissertation In the last chapter, “A question of location”, the on Öland’s Iron Age settlement. In 1964, when concept of location is discussed and further devel- Stenberger had retired from his professorship at oped as a perspective to analyse and understand that Uppsala University he initiated a major research “location is both place and practice” (p. 161). Fa- project about the fort called the Eketorp Excavation. tigue should therefore be understood not only as The main purpose was to clarify the chronology of situated, but also experienced as tied to its manifes- the fort, which had remained uncertain after the test tation in its specific location. Andersen argues here excavation. In 1974, after eleven field seasons, the that ethnological analysis should understand and excavations were completed. By then the interior of study the location of fatigue, and I would say all the fort had revealed three settlement phases: the types of physical phenomena. A very good point he oldest phase, interpreted as a refuge stronghold from makes is that ethnology can bring in the experience the fourth century AD, a fortified village in the fifth of everyday life, instead of quality of life. to seventh centuries, and a medieval fortified garri- Andersen’s study is an important contribution to son from c. 1170−1240. Stenberger died suddenly in the growing field of medical humanities, where eth- 1973, when the fieldwork still had not been com- nology has an obvious place as a subject that works pleted. A huge corpus of material had been collected in and with the medical field. To be established in and was awaiting analysis and interpretation. In the this field, however, we need to rely more on and be meantime there had been discussions of a recon- even closer to the empirical data from the field. It is struction of the fort. When the project Eketorp Redi- in the field that we can start to develop a cultural- viva was established by the National Heritage analytical understanding of what it is like to have an Board, work began on rebuilding the fort on a scien- everyday life with a brain that does not work as we tific experimental foundation. As the years passed, expect it to do. Andersen’s study is a good begin- the work was increasingly geared to teaching the ning of an ethnology that is interested in the neuro- cultural heritage. The project was now managed by science issues that are growing today. the County Museum in Kalmar, which created a Kristofer Hansson, Lund visitors’ site with various activities to bring the past to life. In her doctoral dissertation, the title of which Folding Time in Archaeology means “The folds of Eketorp: How archaeology Elin Engström, Eketorps veckningar. Hur arkeologi shapes time, space, and gender”, Elin Engström dis- formar tid, rum och kön. Stockholm Studies in Ar- cusses the position of Eketorp in archaeology from chaeology 63. Institutionen för arkeologi och anti- the start of Stenberger’s project until today’s tourist kens kultur, Stockholms universitet 2015. 287 pp. attraction. With the “new cultural history” and its Ill. Diss. ISBN 978-91-7649-152-2. focus on meaning-making processes concerning how cultural history is made rather than what it is,  One of Öland’s best-known tourist attractions is Engström lets different analytical themes and em- the Eketorp fort in the south-east of the island. Eke- pirical evidence meet. She formulates the purpose of torp belongs to the archaeological group of ring- the dissertation thus: “to show how Eketorp as a mu- forts, circular stone walls enclosing an inner area. In seal site interacts with archaeological text, and ar- Sweden these are mainly found on Öland and Got- chaeological and antiquarian practice, and to show land. With its diameter of 75 m, Eketorp is regarded the material effects of these relations” (p. 32). as a “fairly small fort” (Stenberger 1964:549). The Engström’s dissertation is part of the growing site attracted antiquarian attention early on, with field of research in the history of archaeology. By J. H. Rhezelius visiting it in 1634. Linnaeus saw focusing the questions on the meaning of societal Eketorp fort “with its ruins and fallen walls” on his processes, largely interpreted on the basis of archi- tour of Öland in 1741 and stated that the fort had val material, Engström wants to view herself chiefly served as a “refuge” for the population. A couple of as a representative of externalist historiography (p. times in the nineteenth century the place was visited 94; see Gustafsson 2001). Reviews 155

The approach is interdisciplinary. Through a fields of knowledge, or in Fleck’s terminology, the method that combines participant observation and question of how “a scientific fact” arises (Fleck interviews, she studies Eketorp Rediviva and its 1997 [1935]). In a critique of the logical positivism present-day form, what Engström calls Eketorp as a of the Vienna school, with its demand for objective museal place. By analysing archival material and ar- truth, Fleck declared that research work is related to chaeological publications from the Eketorp Excava- historical, social, and psychological factors. Scien- tion she clarifies different processes by which the tific practice takes place within a thought collective, project came about and fundamental ideas about its the members of which exchange ideas and opinions. implementation and the archaeological interpreta- Through this interaction the members form a shared tions. As regards the temporal dimension of these system of opinions, a thought style. Fleck thus ac- different processes, and other processes concerning knowledges a social dimension of scientific work, prehistoric and archaeological Eketorp, Engström whereby the implementation process, including its does not perceive time as a straight chronological methodology and technical apparatus, creates the line. Instead time consists of different events and scientific facts of its time. In Engström’s words (p. processes from separate occasions and contexts 27): “Knowledge is formed through the practices of which are linked together by shared points of con- the thought collective.” tact. This creates what Engström sees as folded time. This leads on to Engström’s third theoretical ap- The discussions are conducted elegantly. The dis- proach, the feminist perspective. Fleck’s view of sertation is arranged in a clear and analytically strin- science as a historical, social, and cultural product, gent way. The language is lucid and accessible and his practice-based entities thought collective throughout. The illustrations, with few exceptions, and thought style, according to Engström, are simi- are good and well chosen. In several cases the cap- lar to the feminist view of the scientific gaze as situ- tions add interpretations which take the discussion ated. In feminism too, research is not regarded as much further than the text sources alone would per- being neutral and objective, but historically, social- mit. Another great merit of the dissertation is that it ly, and culturally situated. Moreover, it is gendered, tests several clear theoretical and methodological with a stamp that is shaped and confirmed through perspectives. All this makes up a well-composed its use, or in Engström’s words through performa- whole. tive practices. To arrive at knowledge that is as reli- Engström’s outlook is influenced by ideas from able as possible it is important, according to femi- critical culture theory – not to be confused with the nist analyses, to clearly identify and illuminate the traditional way in which archaeology, history, or situated scientific gaze. For archaeology this gaze other neighbouring disciplines understand different has largely been in a masculine context which has cultures as normative and holistic units. For Eng- been considered self-evident and natural and there- ström a culture-historical perspective means posing fore has not been identified as a scientific problem. the research questions so that they can be studied Consequently it is an important research question with theoretical breadth, preferably at different for Engström to investigate how masculinity has levels of scale, and understanding the formation of been constructed through the practices that can be knowledge as a process that is created and imple- observed in the Eketorp thought collective and mented in meaningful social practices (p. 24). thought style. This perspective is combined with another of In the studies of how the Eketorp thought collec- Engström’s theoretical premises: that research and tive and thought style were shaped by the members’ knowledge production are inevitably related to their actions, Engström includes the actual fieldwork at own times, which in the case of Eketorp means both the excavation site, the experiments and reconstruc- the temporal context in which the Eketorp Excava- tions. She also examines internal discussions as they tion and Eketorp Rediviva were conducted and the are expressed in archival material and scholarly present-day context to which Engström herself be- articles. longs as a researcher. As an analytical tool for these During the years of the excavations, about 150 discussions Engström, inspired by Evert Baudou people took part in all. The unifying figure was (2004), uses the theories of the Polish physician Mårten Stenberger. He acquired the finance, formu- Ludwig Fleck (1896−1961) about the emergence of lated the questions and excavation strategies, and set 156 Reviews

the guidelines for the implementation and prelimi- involved, albeit to differing extents and at different nary interpretations. At his side was his wife Lisa stages of the projects. To regard key persons in Stenberger (1904−2001), who assisted with the or- these network, who were moreover colleagues and ganization and practical tasks of all kinds. Sten- specialists in their subjects, as parts of the exoteric berger had a lasting circle of about half a dozen circle is perhaps correct from Fleck’s point of view, close younger collaborators, most of them at the Na- but it would have been interesting to see a discus- tional Heritage Board or Uppsala University. The sion of which circle they belong to; in a research mood among the participants was good, both at work it is no disadvantage to elaborate on the theor- work and in leisure time, and an “ Eketorp spirit” etical framework if observations and evidence point developed. in an unexpected direction. Having said this, I must In the exchange of ideas that leads to the rise of a admit that Engström’s consistent view of the eso- scientific fact – a thought style − the members of the teric and exoteric circles also has advantages. The thought collective are divided into different circles, hierarchical structure in Fleck’s concept of circles what Fleck calls an inner “initiated” esoteric circle does in fact work well when applied to the Eketorp with specialist knowledge and an outer exoteric excavations. It also makes the analysis well struc- circle with various participants, in this case more tured and clear, giving methodological clarity to the peripheral staff, administrators, local politicians, discussion of the source material. and members of the general public with an interest Engström’s source material is large. One catego- in the subject. Engström places Mårten Stenberger ry consists of the archaeological texts about Eketorp as the centre of the esoteric circle. This also in- written by Stenberger himself and other members of cluded his close colleagues, all young men, with a the esoteric circle. About ninety titles by them are single exception at an early stage of the excavation listed in Engström’s bibliography. Engström uses (p. 223). They had assignments such as site leader, these to study the thought style in the form of shared report writers, and authors of essays and articles on ideas about topics such as the spatiality of the place, various topics. Others who were involved in the the archaeological artefacts, social relations, and study, “the big network of participants and finan- power practices (p. 157). Engström’s suggestion is ciers” (p. 87), are assigned by Engström to the exo- that the shared thought style creates an Eketorp as teric circle. There was communication between the collective text. two circles, but it was through the inner circle that The other type of source is a rich body of archival the outer circle had access to the thought style. The material from the Eketorp Excavation and Eketorp outer circle did not play any active role in shaping Rediviva. The Antiquarian-Topographical Archive this. They were under the influence of the thought (ATA) contains registered documents about Eketorp style and contributed to its maintenance. fort from the seventeenth century onwards, and Since Engström structures a large share of her documents from Eketorp Rediviva comprising a analyses according to which circle the actors belong total of 13 archival units. There is also Mårten Sten- to, it is in some measure crucial for the results of the berger’s personal archive containing correspond- analysis how she has chosen to place any particular ence, documents about various subjects, and books individual. Here, I think, is one of the unclear points of press cuttings. ATA also has a large photo collec- in the study, since the author does not explain or dis- tion and its archive “Eketorp as a Tourist Attrac- cuss why she has placed people. It seems to be done tion” contains further material. In addition there are on an a priori basis, as if it was self-evident where seven numbered find boxes with unsorted documen- an individual belonged. This can be viewed as a tation from Eketorp fort. Altogether the material is problem, for example if the empirical material in the enormous. archives should point in a different direction – I Work on a dissertation can sometimes bring sur- shall return to this. Another matter concerning the prises, and this happened here. Material unknown to two Eketorp projects is that an unusual number of Engström, twenty unregistered moving boxes of ma- supporting institutions in the archaeological world, terial from the Eketorp projects, were discovered such as the Royal Academy of Letters, History and early in her work on the dissertation (pp. 98, 99, Antiquities, the National Heritage Board, the Swe- figs. 27, 28). “Half through hearsay” Engström dish History Museum, and several universities were found out “that the boxes had been discovered in the Reviews 157

attic of the National Heritage Board but are now in- istence can sometimes give contradictory material- stead kept in the store in the basement. The boxes izations within the same unit. had been moved from Uppsala University, but no A fundamental belief in the projects was that the one knew when they had ended up in the attic” (p. Eketorp fort was a national treasure of unique value, 99; Engström later managed to sort out the history of significance for writing the history of the nation. of the moving boxes, pp. 154−155). Engström shows how the practices in the Eketorp Engström’s starting point is to regard the archives Excavation and Eketorp Rediviva confirmed this as material phenomena, and she thinks that the ar- perception, not least of all because the projects bore chived documents express the materialized practices the imprint of the ultimate national symbol: royal of the thought collective (p. 98, fig. 29). The archi- presence. This was evident in everything from Sten- val material is compared to archaeological artefacts, berger’s archaeological discussions with Gustav VI which can be studied in terms of their “social life” Adolf over the years, and the king’s recurrent visits (p. 98). In this way the placing and order of the dif- to the excavation site, to the financial contributions ferent archival materials, including the unsorted through the King’s Fund and private support from wooden crates and the moving boxes, illustrate the the king’s own pocket. The symbolism is evident dynamics of the Eketorp Excavation and Eketorp when the king, less than six months after Sten- Rediviva. berger’s death, at his last council in 1973 signed a The sorted and unsorted archives required differ- decision to grant parliamentary funding to the pro- ent methods. The sorted documents need a critical ject Eketorp Rediviva (p. 17). In an interesting ana- eye in view of the general principles of archive man- lysis based on ceremonial speeches and press pic- agement and the possible intentions of those who tures from King Carl XVI Gustaf’s opening of the did the sorting. Engström’s thesis is that the unsort- new museum in Eketorp in 1984, Engström shows ed documents can shed light on other questions, how the thought style of royal presence, including such as structures and practices that can be lost with its value for national and regional politics, was the reorganization that results from an ordering of given continuity (fig. 30) and illustrated the hierar- archival material. chy of the thought collective. On one of the museum Engström sees here a possibility to develop new walls there is an enlarged photograph of King Gus- methods of analysis. Inspired by Per Cornell tav VI Adolf and Stenberger. They are both photo- (2003), she compares the unsorted archive with an graphed in half-profile, one behind the other in archaeological site. Engström takes this idea to its similar poses. In the photograph they look like par- extreme by investigating two of the moving boxes allel persons, or as if one were the shadow of the in the same way as an archaeological excavation is other. Both are pointing in the same direction – and conducted. She keeps a field diary, registers the on the newly arranged museum wall this can lead documents and their position by means of photo- the eye to a large commemorative medallion depict- graphs, plans and section drawings, and she draws ing Stenberger (fig. 31). The thought style could up a Harris matrix to visualize associations and re- scarcely be given a more explicit material form, and lations to the events that created the documents the example demonstrates the strength of Eng- (figs. 41−45). With this method Engström distin- ström’s way of working. guishes relationships between a number of actors One of Engström’s purposes, as we have seen, is and different temporal horizons. A marginal note to study how Eketorp was a place where a gendered may be made here. In box 4 the documents are in archaeology took shape. An example is the experi- relatively clear chronological order, but the oldest mental and reconstructive elements. One aim of documents are at the top − they were thus deposit- Eketorp Rediviva was to rebuild part of the fort and ed last − and the youngest ones at the bottom; in bring it to life. To give this scientific credibility, other words the sequence of layers is the opposite various experiments were performed. One of these of what archaeologists are familiar with. This indi- was to reconstruct an Iron Age house based on exca- cation that the moving boxes also had their own vation observations and then live in it for a time. history could have been elaborated by Engström, Engström says that the archaeological interpreta- thereby yielding clear evidence that the documents, tions overvalued masculine-coded artefacts and their organization, and the time they came into ex- built contemporary ideas about public/male and pri- 158 Reviews

vate/female spaces into the rebuilt house. Moreover, berger and her influence. There are many examples the actual dwelling experiment, with its shared hard- here of how she was thoroughly familiar with rela- ships and discussions, confirmed that a homosocial tions and connections within the project, not least masculinity with a thirst for adventure was an im- because she administered finances (e.g. figs. 39; portant part of the Eketorp spirit. 131; 136−137). The matter becomes even more At the same time, Engström is able to show how complex in that the unsorted archive contained four the part of the thought style that consisted of the files of letters and other documents about “Eketorp loyal and unifying Eketorp spirit, with a feeling for in the 1980s, Various documents from Lisa Sten- “gentlemen’s agreements”, began to crack and berger” (see note 138:281). The material, which was gradually led to “deep division” (p. 125), precisely arranged chronologically and alphabetically, con- through the work on the reconstruction. In the eso- tained many comments. This shows that Lisa Sten- teric circle there were two attitudes to reconstruc- berger was still active in the completion of the Eke- tions. On one side there were people who wanted to torp Excavation and the implementation of Eketorp follow the archaeological evidence strictly and re- Rediviva a decade and a half after her husband’s frain from things that could not be defended with death. This demonstrates once again the strength of certainty through archaeological science. On the Engström’s method of treating the sorted and un- other side there was a more open and permissive sorted archives as different materializations of per- view of reconstructions, which were regarded as formative practices. In the archive that Lisa Sten- showing one possibility among many, above all berger deposited in the ATA, Mårten Stenberger’s bringing the place to life in an educational way. In personal archive, she has created a picture of her articles in journals especially, the two approaches husband as a central scholarly figure and made her became increasingly polarized, while the education- own contribution invisible. In the unsorted archive, al reconstructions and experiments came to domi- however, she seems like a strong and influential ac- nate in Eketorp Rediviva, the heritage site of Eke- tor with a large informal network of contacts within torp. The opposition noticed by Bodil Petterson the formal antiquarian field, and the formal field (2003) between the archaeological side and the anti- also permits her to adopt this place. quarian or museum-education side is confirmed by This is observed by Engström but not really prob- Engström through her analyses of the unsorted ar- lematized. There is room here for further reflection. chive. Perhaps it can be seen as an indication that the Eke- After the death of Mårten Stenberger, the central torp spirit and its thought style reached far beyond figure in the Eketorp thought collective and thought the actual cultural object and was in fact part of a style, his memory was cherished by the circles he larger archaeological field? Maybe the thought style affected. Engström shows that this process was was partly a product of this field, which thus “main- complex by highlighting the importance of “the tained itself” in the figure of Eketorp? other Stenberger” (p. 121). Thirteen years after Likewise, Lisa Stenberger’s position in the Stenberger’s death, Lisa Stenberger donated her thought collective seems to have been more com- husband’s private archive with correspondence, plex than Engström shows. I hinted at the beginning scholarly material, scrapbooks, and so on to the of this text that Engström’s placing of the actors in ATA. Lisa Stenberger had put the contents in order either the esoteric or the exoteric circle might need and sometimes added comments, for example, mar- to be reappraised on the basis of what the empirical ginal notes. Engström says that Lisa Stenberger, material showed. As a reader one asks whether this through this kind of memory work, actively created might not apply to Lisa Stenberger, at least after the an image of Mårten Stenberger for posterity. In this death of her husband. Engström writes that Lisa archive she made herself virtually invisible. In Eng- Stenberger, through her archival work, functioned ström’s terminology “she strengthened her hus- both to order and to preserve the Eketorp thought band’s place at the centre of the esoteric circle” style, at once concealed and fully visible (p. 247). while she herself took up a place in the exoteric The complexity is illustrated by the following astute circle of the Eketorp excavation (p. 123). When observation of an archival note by Lisa Stenberger, Engström goes to the unsorted archive, however, shortly after her husband’s death. As a comment on she gets a completely different picture of Lisa Sten- a memo to the Eketorp committee she writes that the Reviews 159

text was “noted down as a draft by Lisa Stenberger sifted and percolated” (p. 234). Here Engström de- after views expressed in conversation by the late velops a well-found analytical concept, folded time, Mårten Stenberger. He never had the opportunity to to deal with the associations between chronological- read the transcription. The ‘I’ in the text is thus ly distant and contemporary or parallel practices and M.S.” Engström’s conclusion is that Lisa Stenberger events. For the Eketorp events treated in the disser- virtually “takes over Mårten Stenberger’s identity to tation, Engström visualizes connections and time put his voice across” (p. 127). with a model made of folded ribbons and pins (fig. There is a complexity here concerning the 79). In this (positively meant) creative way the thought style and its circles which Engström only folds, waves, and ripples are shaped by the effects of hints at, although it could have been elaborated on. the pins. What is connected by the pins marks a link Engström admits that the boundary between the two between the time of archaeological and antiquarian circles could be fluid (p. 223), but allows this fluidi- practice. The ribbon is accompanied by an explana- ty only to central collaborators whose subject tory text and together they constitute a whole. Here changed direction after some time. After her hus- Engström succeeds in the feat of using and develop- band’s death Lisa Stenberger could possibly have ing an analytical perspective that can become im- been placed in the esoteric circle – she is in fact portant for many other archaeologists who want to named in this circle on one occasion (p. 108). work with time in other ways than linear chronolo- Fleck’s principle for division into circles would thus gy. As a curious reader, however, one would have have a less static effect. Another way to approach liked to see some concrete comments on the model the question of Lisa Stenberger’s special place could of the folded ribbon: how big it was, how long it have been to develop the discussion about her medi- took to make it, whether more hands than two were ating or linking position between the inner and outer needed to make it, and so on. circles, as Engström mentions (e.g. p. 91) but does Based on Donna Haraway’s critique of the no- not develop. The Hermes position assigned to Lisa tion of a neutral and objective scientific gaze, Eng- Stenberger, inspired by Michel Serres, shows that ström positions herself as the situated and critically Engström is conscious of her distinctiveness and subjective researcher. Critical subjectivity permits significance in the thought collective. A clarification others to unfold the ribbon and pin it in new ways of this could have added something to Fleck’s to discover other connections. With this perspec- circles, a new constellation which sometimes coin- tive, Engström’s ribbon model can be seen as a ma- cides with the circle and sometimes follows an orbit terialization of the thought style of the critically of its own. situated researcher. As Fleck claims, both method Engström shows in her analyses how a number of and technical equipment help to shape a thought different events and processes can be linked to Eke- style. Engström demonstrates this is a highly torp fort. There can be many years between them, instructive way in her discussions of how Sten- but it is still possible to demonstrate interfaces, as- berger’s documentation through aerial photogra- sociations, or ties. With a beginning in the fortified phy created an idea of the objective bird’s-eye per- village and an end that gazes into future excavations spective, which moreover communicates the mason Öland, one could see the series of years as a long culine connotations of the aeroplane. As for Eng- timeline. This could produce a “directed, homo- ström, her pins and ribbons are material that is geneous, chronological historiography” (p. 233), but usually associated with a feminine practice. The Engström does not think that this would fit her an- folded time-ribbon with its reshapable materiality alysis. She believes that the interwoven practices expresses an openness to new interpretations and performed at Eketorp as an archaeological, antiquar- other situated perspectives. ian, and museal place require a different way of un- With her dissertation, Elin Engström has inter- derstanding time, namely, as “linked times” (sam- preted the Eketorp projects as a section from the his- mankopplade samtider). Engström proceeds from tory of Swedish archaeology. From the time when the way the French philosopher and historian positivist archaeology flourished, she lets us follow Michel Serres (Serres & Latour 1995) understands Eketorp until it becomes a heritage site geared to the time as complex blends of fixed points, accelera- educational communication of living history. She tions, and ruptures, as time “is folded and twisted, thus demonstrates processes by which Eketorp’s ar- 160 Reviews

chaeology has shaped time, space, and gender. The 1990 (die Wende), and what their lives have been author has also brought out the value of combining like from the end of the German Democratic Repub- archaeological sources with multifaceted archival lic until the present day. In this quotation Janusz ex- material. She also has detailed discussions of the presses great ambivalence: On the one hand he felt methodology of archival studies. Perhaps Eng- free when die Wende came; on the other hand he felt ström’s major contribution is that she has performed great confusion when his old homeland, the DDR, a theoretically stringent analysis based on a situated suddenly disappeared and no one knew what the fu- research perspective. The dissertation invites reflec- ture would bring. tion on the basis of many research interests: archae- Glaser adopts an interesting approach in his dis- ology and its history, ethnology, archival research, sertation where he sheds light on changes in society and feminist research are the most prominent ex- in Germany before, during, and after die Wende by amples. It deserves to have many readers who will looking closely at how eastern German supporter certainly enjoy a well-made dissertation with unusu- culture changed during this time. Football supporter ally many aha reactions. culture constitutes an interesting micro-history Elisabeth Arwill-Nordbladh, Göteborg which Glaser links in his analyses to the macro-history, namely, the political and economic changes in eastern Germany during this time. East German Supporter Culture Glaser examines the dialectic relationship be- Joakim Glaser, Fotboll från Mielke till Merkel: tween identity-making processes surrounding foot- Kontinuitet, brott och förändring i supporterkultur i ball clubs and changes in society. He seeks to show östra Tyskland. Arx förlag, Malmö 2015. 384 pp. “how football supporters’ identity formations are af- Ill. English summary. Diss. ISBN 978-91-87043- fected by and have affected historical and social 61-1. changes in eastern Germany in the last 50 years” (p. 15). By looking more closely at how and why foot-  “Janusz: For me it was an extremely exciting ball supporters identify with certain clubs, he wants time. Looking back now, I can say that I am happy to get at the clubs as “meaning-making institutions” that I was able to experience the two freest years for (p. 15). Glaser further studies the meaning of nation, German youth in the history of humanity. I was able power, and generation in these identity- and mean- to be part of that at an age that was perfect for the ing-making processes. He also considers the signifi- time. I was 15, 16, 17, and those two years in eastern cance of the clubs’ history for the supporters’ identi- Germany were sheer anarchy. Everybody could do ty formation. what they wanted, and for two years I could do what The dissertation is mainly based on interviews I [wanted], nobody cared. I was so free. I can smile with football supporters and observations in connec- now, because it’s so wonderful, this experience. On tion with football matches, which is an interesting the other hand, […] it was actually the biggest de- approach for a dissertation in history. Four sup- feat in my life, even though I was just 15 years old porters’ clubs are particularly studied in the disserta- […]. The DDR was my Heimat. No, no, no, wrong, tion: Erzgebirge Aue, 1. FC Magdeburg, Berliner wrong, wrong, my Heimat is Berlin. Prenzlauer FC Dynamo, and FC Union Berlin. These clubs Berg is my Heimat. The DDR is my fatherland and I were selected partly because they draw crowds of no longer have it. I can live with that, I must. I don’t locals who regularly attend home matches. They ex- run around with a DDR flag, but I wouldn’t run isted during the DDR era and they have managed to around with a German flag either (pp. 182–183, survive in eastern Germany since die Wende. These italics in original). clubs have had some success but they are not among The informant Janusz gives a good summary of the big clubs and have not attracted much attention the subject matter of Glaser’s book, the title of in the media except during certain brief periods which means “Football from Mielke to Merkel: when they were successful. Continuity, rupture and change in supporter culture Glaser primarily examines the political, eco- in eastern Germany (2015), namely, how citizens of nomic, and social context by using existing re- the DDR were affected by the DDR dictatorship, by search and accounts in popular scholarship and the the upheavals during and after the reunification in media. It would have benefited Glaser’s study if he Reviews 161

had done some research of his own in the archives support their local clubs, which managed to sur- to get at the public aspect. Studies in the archives vive because these clubs were given a certain free- of DDR authorities, for example, could have given dom, but to some extent they also had to adapt to more detailed insight into what the plans for sports the demands of the state (for example, the club policy looked like and how different football clubs “Aue” who were allowed to play home matches on in the DDR were observed and judged by the au- their home ground, but only under the name “SC thorities. Wismut in Karl-Marx-Stadt”). Glaser thinks that The theoretical framework seems rather large and the supporters’ identification with their club was somewhat diverse. There are theories of identifica- not politically conditioned. Instead it was an ex- tion, narrativity, and memory, together with per- pression of a local and regional identity and com- spectives of discourse analysis. It is probably the munity. But sometimes the football arena could discourse analysis à la Laclau and Mouffe that gives nevertheless be used for political stances or pro- the analyses in the dissertation their greatest acuity. tests, although not to such a large extent as, say, in It would have been good if Glaser had elaborated the evangelical church or the citizen’s movement more on the theories and analyses of memory and in DDR in the 1980s. Some clubs were described generation, since he has primarily analysed his in- as being closer to the state than others. BFC Dyna- formants’ recollections of a bygone time. Another mo, for example, was positioned as a reflection of suitable point of access could have been through state power, as witnessed by the clear presence of theories of place and memory, since place – for in- Stasi people at matches. Something I find remark- stance, the local and the regional – plays a major able is that Glaser does not challenge to any great part in the study. A clearer gender perspective could extent the way his informants make light of the also have given greater depth, since Glaser is deal- racist and anti-Semitic statements that could be ing with an area with a distinct hegemonic mascu- heard in the stadiums during matches. linity. After the reunification of Germany, football, like The dissertation contains three analytical chap- many other areas, was affected by a hegemonic ters with a more or less chronological structure West German discourse and in autumn 1990 the making them easy to follow. One strength is that East German football association was incorporated the empirical material is presented in a clear and into the West German association (Deutscher Fuss- comprehensible manner. In chapter 4, “Football in ball-Bund, DFB). The East German Oberliga also the welfare dictatorship”, Glaser analyses the form disappeared, replaced by the West German Bundes- taken by supporter culture in the DDR era. During liga. This meant that East German football would this period there was increasing state control of all now be played on West German terms. One conse- sport in the DDR, including football. For the foot- quence was that many good players from the east ball clubs this meant that the clubs were mostly fi- went over to clubs in the west, where they saw bet- nanced by state institutions or big industries such ter economic and future potential for their careers. as those in chemicals or steel. Many clubs took The East German clubs had to struggle against poor their names from the occupational category to economy and competition from West Germany. But which they belonged; this gave rise to some names Glaser also shows how his informants themselves that may seem rather strange today, such as Aktiv- reproduced a hegemonic West German discourse, ist (the mining industry), Dynamo (the police), and for example, when they say how, even in the DDR Lokomotive (the railway). An independent sports days, they admired several West German clubs movement was impossible in the DDR. Glaser (which they could see on television) and that they shows in this chapter how everyone involved had themselves also thought that these West German to compromise to get football to work: The state clubs played better football than their own club. could not govern local clubs exactly as it wanted, “The west entices”, as Glaser fittingly calls it. The and local clubs had to adjust to some extent to state attraction of East German football declined signifi- control, but they could also achieve some scope for cantly during the first years after die Wende. Glaser freedom. Moreover, it was not easy for the state to explains this not solely in terms of the strong attrac- force the supporters to back one of the state-con- tion of West German football but also the fact that trolled clubs against their will. Many continued to many people in eastern Germany became unem- 162 Reviews

ployed and they had to cope with many changes. Al- The informants mostly spoke in positive terms most overnight they were incorporated in a com- about the reunification of Germany in connection pletely different political, economic, and social sys- with football, which surprised Glaser. What was tem. In the 1990s hooliganism was also a problem at found most positive was that the informants now some matches in eastern Germany. Interestingly, the had access to “more” football, in both eastern and problem was greatest at the club which, according to western Germany, and international football, which the informants, was closest to the government in the they found stimulating. But one disadvantage was DDR years, namely BFC Dynamo. After die Wende that football in the east now had to be played on right-wing violence and hooliganism became a ma- western terms, as a result of which few clubs in the jor problem at many football matches, which had the east managed to get into the Bundesliga – partly be- effect that some of Glaser’s informants did not go to cause many of the best East German players were so many matches at this time. According to Glaser, bought by West German clubs. Even today the clubs these problems can also be linked to the confusion in the east are regarded as inferior to those in the that arose after the fall of the DDR regime, where west; a West German hegemony is still articulated there was not yet any state to guarantee security and here. It was interesting to read Glaser’s discussion a kind of lawlessness prevailed. of the informants’ opposition to the commercial Glaser has an important discussion of the Nicht- football that the East German clubs encountered af- anerkennung of East German experiences in the re- ter die Wende. Big commercial clubs, such as RB united Germany, which also contributed to unequal Leipzig, are not regarded as genuine; it is felt that power relations between west and east Germany. they are bought. Here the supporters object to a His informants’ narratives of the football reunifica- structural inequality in sport, in that those with the tion are full of a sense that their experiences were most capital can buy up the best players and man- never acknowledged by West Germans, which rein- agers at the expense of the smaller regional and lo- forced the differences between east and west and cal clubs. This critique, however, is not only typical added to the sense of inferiority. I would say that of East German supporters but can also be heard in this does not only apply to football but to East Ger- West German supporter circles. man experiences as a whole. One can compare Glaser’s findings with earlier In chapter 6, “East meets West”, Glaser ana- studies of aesthetic forms of expression such as art lyses the significance of the informants’ percep- and music, and of politics. There too it is common tions of and encounters with West German teams. that artists and musicians regard artistic creation as West German football was generally considered to something genuine that is above politics and has be of high quality by the informants, and most of nothing to do with that. At the same time, they are them had already had a specific West German team dependent on economic means with which to pursue that they admired. Of course, those in power in the their activity and they have to compromise with the DDR disapproved of this, so it had to happen in state in which they live. It is also common for artists secrecy. The informants nevertheless stressed in and musicians to criticize the commercialization of the interviews that this admiration had nothing to art. An artist who is thought to adapt too much to do with politics, only football. They sometimes felt suit the audience and the sponsors can be viewed by that football in the DDR was limited, since the colleagues as not being sufficiently serious and pro- same teams met so often. Before the reunification fessional, acting more like an entrepreneur than an their interest in football in West Germany and in artist. Europe sometimes allowed supporters to travel to Glaser’s study gives good insight into how the international matches in the DDR or elsewhere in sports world, in this case football, is always influ- the Soviet block. In the 1980s, however, these enced by its political and economic context and how journeys had an additional meaning. They also be- much a sport like football can say about the political came an expression of a longing to travel freely, to and social conditions of its time. One deficiency in be able to go wherever you wanted. But despite his study, however, is that there is quite a lot of this interest in West German and international repetition in the text. This could have been avoided football, support for the local or regional team al- if he had incorporated his excellent analyses, which ways remained strong. mostly come in the “Conclusion”, in the parts where Reviews 163

he describes his empirical evidence. But his way of and it can lead to rejections or organ failure, which writing can also be an advantage for a reader who is then throws the patient back to hemodialysis. Gun- primarily interested in Glaser’s empirical material narson shows how, from the patient perspective, a and less so in his theoretical reasoning. This kind of kidney transplant is not a final cure restoring ‘nor- reader can thus concentrate on the empirical de- mal’ health; it is not a ‘solution’ the only barrier to scriptions and the summaries in the analytical chap- which is a ‘shortage of supply’ as the campaigns for ters. more organs would often suggest. By following the Glaser’s study is not just a fine analysis of foot- patients throughout their illness trajectory, Gunnar- ball’s supporter culture in the DDR and eastern Ger- son uncovers an untold story with an important mes- many before, during, and after die Wende, but also sage about transplantation as a pragmatic solution gives a fantastic glimpse at micro- and macro-level rather than a final cure, a story that deserves to be of changes in Germany in the last fifty years. Glaser read not just by ethnologists and other scholars with manages to show how major political and economic an interest in disease and organ transplantation, but changes affect individuals and groups and how their by health professionals and policymakers in the or- actions at local and regional level simultaneously gan transplant field and dialysis care, as well as by help to make changes in society possible. For this patients and their relatives as they strive to make reason his dissertation should be read not just by sense of kidney failure. people interested in football but also by all those The thesis builds on what Gunnarson calls a cul- who want to learn more about changes in Germany tural phenomenological framework. Taking point in the late twentieth century. of departure primarily in the work of philosophers Petra Garberding, Huddinge Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Drew Leder, read in the company of Swedish phenomenologists Kristin Zeiler and Fredrik Svenaeus, Gunnarson focuses on the bodily meaning-making processes through The Lives Lived in the Shadow of Kidney which people live their lives and learn to orient Failure themselves. Gunnarson goes back to the original Martin Gunnarson, Please Be Patient. A Cultural philosophical texts and does not engage the anthro- Phenomenological Study of Haemodialysis and pological adaption of phenomenology to ethno- Kidney Transplantation Care. Södertörns Högskola graphic fieldwork developed by Michael Jackson and Lund University. Lund Studies in Arts and Cul- (1998) and others. The theoretical framework is tural Sciences, Lund 2016. 435 pp. Diss. ISBN elaborately and, I must add, beautifully laid out 978-91-981458-3-0. and Gunnarson carefully describes how it has shaped not only his methodological choices but  Martin Gunnarson’s doctoral thesis Please Be also the analytical orientation and nature of this Patient deals with the lives lived in the shadow of findings. kidney failure. It is a book about how persons be- The methodological design is both simple and come patients and how kidney disease on the one complex. Gunnarson encounters patients at dialysis hand reconfigures their lives while they, on the other units and observes their care. Through interviews he hand, reconfigure the disease as they strive to make reconstructs their path into illness and disease as sense of their illness experience and the available well as their treatment paths. While it might sound treatment options. Work on kidney failure typically simple, Gunnarson engages dialysis in both Sweden focuses on the transformative drama that a kidney (Stockholm) and Latvia (Riga). In Sweden (not Lat- transplant is associated with according to which a via) there are three different forms of hemodialysis ‘gift of life’ is passed onto a patient who is restored with varying degrees in self-care, wherefore Gun- to normal health. Gunnarson outlines the patient narson has enrolled all three in his study. The two route from early detection of symptoms, to becom- countries are different in many ways, not least with ing ill, entering hemodialysis, and sometimes ac- respect to the economic situation of the healthcare quiring a transplantation only to find that it is in a systems, but Gunnarson strives to show that the pa- sense just a new stage in the illness trajectory. A tient lives are in many ways similar. The language transplant requires continued medication and care, differences do however add to the methodological 164 Reviews

complexity because Gunnarson does not speak Lat- is in many ways the culmination of the thesis as vian. Observations in Riga were marked by the in- Gunnarson revisits the transplantation narrative and ability to understand what was said and interviews now, building on the elaborate understanding of the with patients had to be done with an interpreter. To wider patient experience, allows the reader to under- ensure an adequate flow in Latvian interviews Gun- stand how the widely spread narrative both misrep- narson had to delegate some of the questioning to resents patient experience and is politically danger- locally trained ethnographers understanding his re- ous because it focuses resources on procuring more search interests. Gunnarson interviewed 15 Latvian organs. Gunnarson illustrates how many patients patients and 10 Swedish patients and including in- consider transplantation much more as a pragmatic terviews with health professionals and policymakers choice than as a final solution. They also learn to he interviewed a total of 42 people. Though 27 of think of hemodialysis and transplantation as com- the interviewees were Latvian, the Swedish ma- plementary treatment options each having their own terial is more frequently referred to throughout the downsides. book which might partly reflect the different quali- The book can be read as a contribution to Swe- ties of the material from the two countries, partly dish ethnology in as far as it brings the phenomeno- the fact that degrees of self-care was only observed logical strain of this tradition into closer dialogue in Sweden, wherefore the differences between with its philosophical heritage and because it serves forms of care remain based on Swedish material as an invitation to think beyond local contexts while only. retaining a focus on the mundane practices of every- So what does Please Be Patient convey about liv- day life. It can also be read as an empirical contribu- ing with kidney failure? Gunnarson describes how tion to philosophical phenomenology as it teases out multiple routes can lead to the dialysis unit, but he the complex temporalities of the processes involved also emphasizes the elements patients share as they in acquiring a bodily orientation. The thesis can fur- learn to cope with kidney failure. The prospect of a thermore be considered a contribution to the social transplantation can enter into the patient life in dif- science study of organ transplantation, which has of- ferent ways and at different stages, and it changes its ten replicated the focus on the transplant experience meaning in the course of the patient trajectory, not identified by Gunnarson as characterizing the public least when patients realize the difficulties involved policy discourse. Scholars such as Sharp (2006) and in living with a graft – or even experience rejections Lock (2002) have shown how living with a trans- and organ failure which takes them back to hemo- plant can be difficult and how the difficulties are dialysis. He argues that people typically engage kid- deeply embedded in social narratives of body, self, ney failure through three modes of coping. Firstly, illness and disease. Kaufmann (2015) has shown they embrace a biomedical notion of organ failure how transplantation can be a double edged sword whereby part of their bodies is construed as an ob- which is anything but easy to embrace, and how it ject with a function that can be replaced either by a can become a duty to pursue ever more health ac- machine or a kidney transplant. This objectification cording to standards that are set by a medical system is part of a phenomenological reorientation and not, and surrounding societal discourses rather than by as some ethnographers would have it, a biomedical patients living lives that will never be ‘perfectly alienation. Secondly, patients undergo a process of healthy’. Gunnarson adds to this literature both with acceptance. Thirdly, they enter a form of ‘thought his local ethnography and by including an even monitoring’ whereby Gunnarson means that they wider patient path. As mentioned above, the book learn to ‘think positively’ and with particular pro- also ought to be a contribution to health policy dis- spects in mind. This thought monitoring potentially cussions in this field and to patients and relatives. involves a sense of guilt when they cannot live up to However, it will require different formats to address the expected patient role. Gunnarson also unfolds these audiences. how people bring the hopes and concerns of their Martin Gunnarson has written a deeply engaging private lives (and what he calls their personhood) book. It does a fine job of situating and relativizing into the clinic and how the experience of illness and the transplant narrative and of providing its readers clinical care affect their understanding of who they with a better understanding of what living with kid- are and what they strive to achieve in life. Chapter 7 ney failure and getting a transplant really implies. Reviews 165

Gunnarson furthermore situates patient lives in eighteenth century, made of worsted cloth manufac- wider societal developments with prominent ideals tured in England. The geographical span is large yet of freedom and activity which can in turn come to demarcated, from the production in England to the feel as obligations. I personally think the book could forms of practice in the plains and forest districts of have been shorter and that it would have helped the eastern Norway, with the centre of gravity in the best parts of the thesis to get the attention they de- source material from Hedmark, where Haugen has serve. I also think Gunnarson could have done more worked for years as museum curator. to theorize central concepts such as that of ‘person’ The main question in the dissertation is how these and ‘personhood’, ‘hope’ and what it means to say textiles acted in the dress practices of the peasantry, that a choice is ‘pragmatic’. Furthermore, the com- and Haugen tries to elucidate this through different parative setup with its inclusion of both Latvian and categories of sources. These categories provide the Swedish patients comes across as a consequence of structuring principle for the chapters and analyses. the thesis being carried out as part of a bigger pro- The aim of the dissertation is to follow the textiles ject imposing this comparison on Gunnarson rather into and out of a selection of historical dress prac- than a matter of searching for the optimal research tices, as the worsted textiles appear together with design to pursue the research questions Gunnarson and in opposition to other textiles – and together sets out to answer. Still, this is probably partly an ef- with the people who used them. “Agency” is clearly fect of contemporary funding structures, and it assigned to the worsted textiles right from the intro- should be said that Gunnarson does his very best of duction to the dissertation, where the author notes turning this premise into an advantage and making it that: “The worsted textiles thus open up the histori- serve his own purposes. Irrespective of these critical cal dress practices, and involve both people and remarks, the thesis remains well-construed and it other textiles. Occasionally the worsted textiles are contains very important messages. The thesis therefore deserves a readership way in the shadow of other materials and people, at other beyond Swedish ethnology and philosophical phe- times the shiny, sleek, colourful textiles move dress nomenology. I hope that Gunnarson will engage practices in new directions” (p. 13). the work in front of him of translating his insights The source material comprises, firstly, costumes to formats that can be read by health professionals preserved in museum stores, in other words gar- and policymakers as well as patients and their rela- ments that can be accessed by professionals (conser- tives. In the end, it might be in the living rooms vators, researchers) and the interested general pub- and dialysis units from which this book emanates lic. An important key to understanding the garments that the real impact is found as these ethnological is non-textual, the material and the concrete cata- narratives find their way into the coping mechan- logue cards. The written descriptions of the gar- isms with which people come to make sense of dis- ments in the museum catalogues are supplemented ease and the multiple treatment options offered for with and analysed in the light of other sources: col- kidney failure. lections of cloth samples, topographical descrip- Klaus Hoeyer, Copenhagen tions, accounts of travels, reports by officials, estate inventories, auction records, contemporary paintings, and so on. Textiles in Eastern Norway The dissertation follows the textiles from their Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen, Virkningsfulle tekstiler – production in England and across national borders i østnorske bønders draktpraksiser på 1700-tallet. in order to find out why they became so popular and Humanistiske fakultet, Universitetet i Oslo 2014. widespread among Norwegian peasants. How did 327 pp. Ill. Diss. these clothes become a part of the Norwegian cultural heritage?  This dissertation deals with a classical and fascin- By following the textiles from the producers in ating topic in ethnology, folk dress, but in a new eighteenth-century England to the consumers in Nor- way. The aim is both ambitious and well thought way, the dissertation aims to shed light on the net- out, and it builds on a large body of varied source works and circumstances of which they were a part material. The main empirical foundation is pre- and which they simultaneously helped to shape. Here served costumes or dress items in Norway from the the most important theoretical resources are Ac- 166 Reviews

tor-Network Theory with Bruno Latour, John Law, Chapter 7 gives a much-needed problematization and Annmarie Mol. The focus is on the effect of the of the widespread belief in dress research that state material objects in the peasants’ dress practices, with regulations and ordinances to restrict luxury did not a deliberate symmetry between human and non-hu- mean anything in practice. This chapter presents a man actors and with an ambition not to reduce objects fine analysis of the role of rural officials in ensuring to expressions (or symbols) of something else. propriety in the border zone between peasants and Occasionally, however, it seems as if the ANT other classes in society, convincing by virtue of the approach is toned down in favour of more classical huge amount of source material. Haugen’s thor- strategies and problems in cultural history, although oughness in his archival work flourishes here to its the author does not specifically explain why. This is full. In chapters 8 and 9, about socio-material prac- seen, for example, in his rather ambiguous position tices in relation to class and gender, the ANT angle in relation to classical ethnology, which he pays is used in a performative version with a focus on homage to and simultaneously claims to be radically “doing”, with convincing argumentation about how different from. At the same time, the dissertation dress is a crucial component in the socio-material brings other analytical strategies, such as phenom- practising of class. This gives important nuance to enology, into the analysis of the objects. the idea of class as something unambiguous and ex- The dissertation is successful primarily thanks to clusively social. the detailed and nuanced analyses of an ambitious In chapters 10 and 11 the inspiration of ANT is and impressive body of source material which is clearly visible and used to the full, not least in the rich, extensive, and composite – and here the unam- complex analyses of “dress bodies” and how the biguous and dominant focal point is the extant cos- way of doing gender and movement is practised and tumes and dress items of eighteenth-century peas- can be brought out. Here the author also activates ants in eastern Norway. Not only are the objects in the phenomenological impulses by bringing in other the focus of the analysis, they are present throughout senses than vision to get at bygone and gendered the dissertation in the form of thick and detailed de- dress practices. At the same time, however, one can scriptions and high-quality photographs. Haugen discuss to what extent Haugen manages to free him- shows his ability to communicate knowledge about self in his analyses from the gendered optics and the his objects through the text and other visual means, dominance of the visual sense, when the dissertation nicely using the interaction between objects, text, is permeated throughout by a personal and subjec- and pictures. tive aesthetic with special attention to strong col- After the introductory chapters where Haugen’s ours, sheen, and patterns – everything that made the own position and his contribution to the field are English worsted textiles special. So even though we clearly expressed, the analysis begins with chapter 4 have here an experienced museum person, who has about “Pockets of time”. What is problematized here had the textiles in his hands and who cites the book is chronological time and its division into stylistic Sensing the Past: Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tast- periods, but his expression “non-simultaneous si- ing, and Touching in History (Smith 2007), there is multaneousness” (usamtidig samtidighet), which he not much sound, smell, or taste in the descriptions, coins as an alternative perspective, could well have which do not go beyond the strong colours, the been used more. In chapter 5 the questioning of rela- patterns and the shiny surfaces. But clothing is tions between dress and place is an innovation that much more than visual communication in that all the works well, convincingly puncturing notions about senses are affected for the person who wears or national dress, folk dress, and place-specific dress. handles the material. Cloth has a particular smell Chapter 6, about the British trading houses, sheds an and a special sound when one wears it and moves original and welcome extra-national light on the around in it. It has a special feel against the skin, and peasants’ dress practices. The use of the ANT per- the weight and density of the weave are crucial for spective in this chapter is not as successful, how- the way we sense a garment. Dress and movement ever, serving more as a glaze without permeating the shape each other and shape the experience of the in- analysis. The deliberate and promised symmetry be- dividual wearing or touching it. All this could have tween human and non-human actors often takes sec- added further dimensions to our understanding of ond place to more traditional cultural history. how materiality matters. Reviews 167

The dissertation has a clear theme running all Fashions as Museum Objects through it, displaying how theory, concepts, and em- Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl, Liv i museet. Kunstindustri- pirical evidence are connected. Haugen presents museet i Oslo gjør kropp med moteklær 1928–1960. theories and concepts while simultaneously clarify- Universitetet i Oslo 2013. 318 pp. Ill. English sum- ing his own position. The author’s voice is clearly mary. Diss. heard all through the dissertation. Although he pro- claims a principle of symmetry between human and  What happens to bodies and people when things non-human actors, there is one human subject who once used are incorporated in collections and ex- stands out very clearly, beyond any form of sym- hibited in museums? To find an answer to how metry with others, and that is the researcher subject: bodies and people are performed in relation to arte- Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen. This researcher subject facts, Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl investigates fashions as stands out so clearly that it often has to have its own museum objects in the collections of the Museum of font style to underline its subjectivity: it prefers to Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo. When things speak in italics! It is a matter of taste whether this are turned into artefacts in a museum’s collection works, but the usual dissertation genre is expanded they are also detached from the life and the people to contain the strong sensory and subjective experi- who used them. They are transformed from being ence of the textiles. In any case, it is a researcher parts of someone’s life to become objects in an eth- subject with distinct preferences that emerges: a re- nographic collection and an element in a different searcher subject with great veneration for classical knowledge system. The objects become museal ethnology, and a researcher subject with a clear aes- facts which the museums use in different ways when thetic, as the reader encounters detailed descriptions they create and recreate narratives and write history. of the “colourful and glossy textiles”. The severed relations to body and life are the mu- The use of pictures raises some questions. Text seums’ problem, to which they seek solutions by and pictures appear to be integrated, even though the means of presentations, educational programmes, pictures in places are more like mere illustrations and experience-oriented exhibitions. In this disserta- than actors and resources in the analysis. An alterna- tion, the title of which means “Life in the museum: tive strategy could have been to use the pictures as The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo analytical commentary, expanding on aspects of performs body with fashion clothes 1928–1960”, what is said in the text. Here it would also have been Hjemdahl focuses on some conceivable solutions to good to see a more detailed discussion of the digiti- restoring the close relationship between things zation of the collections and its significance for our which have become museum objects and their for- understanding of the textiles and the material char- mer users. acteristics that Haugen highlights. Hjemdahl starts with the establishment of fashion This dissertation is nevertheless well thought-out dress as artefacts and a field of knowledge at the in every way, well substantiated, informative, and Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo nicely written. It is an impressive piece of meticulous from 1928 to 1960. For Hjemdahl body does not work based on an overwhelming amount of source necessarily refer to the concrete physical body. She material and with skilled and nuanced analyses, mak- uses the word in a broader sense: how the body ing it a significant contribution to basic research comes into existence and is done in practices. She which provides new knowledge to Nordic dress re- shows how the question of the body’s presence was search. It can also serve as a model for how museums particularly relevant at the time when fashion can contextualize their collections, and as such it is a clothes came to the museum and were transformed clear result of a deliberate drive for research in inter- into museum objects in accordance with the bour- action between museums and universities. A particu- geois ideal of the female body in the 1930s. The ef- lar strength of the dissertation lies in the extensive in- fect of the living bourgeois women’s bodies was ternational references and the material’s own that they also helped to define the kind of knowl- strength, and we may wish that the dissertation will edge field that fashion dress constituted at the time. reach a broad international research community. The dissertation explores the different practices as- Lizette Gradén, Stockholm sociated with fashion garments as they were collect- Tine Damsholt, Copenhagen ed and exhibited in the museum, with the work of 168 Reviews

exhibiting, registering, and photographing, and with time. Thirdly, the author further delimits the study the research into the clothes. Hjemdahl shows that, by investigating only the clothes shown in the as the fashion clothes were incorporated in the col- exhibitions, that is, those displayed to a general lections and established as museum objects, the liv- public, along with the archival material related to ing bodies disappeared from both the exhibition and the exhibitions. Through a relatively narrow fo- the registration. Fashion dress was related to life and cus, the dissertation gains depth on the empirical body in completely different ways, through formal- level. ized art-historical catalogue texts and standardized The aim of the dissertation is “to show that the systems. Personal narratives disappeared. The effect museum too is connected to bodies, lives, and hu- was that the fashion clothes appeared to be objective manity” and that it is “these connections” that the and free-standing, on the verge of being isolated ob- author seeks to bring out. The main question she jects, as part of a field of knowledge in applied art asks is: “How is body done in the museum?” This with professional credibility. is then broken down into: “What kinds of bodies With the aid of actor-network theory (ANT) and are co-produced with the knowledge of clothes? the concept of doing, Hjemdahl refers to different How does the museum enact body in its daily deal- ways in which bodies with fashion dress, what she ing with clothes? How does the museum relate to calls “dress bodies”, are enacted at the museum, for bodies that were there, and what kind of bodies are example, in fashion parades, in exhibitions, and in added? Where does the museum get its bodies archives from the re-establishment of the museum in from?” 1928. The author puts special emphasis on the actors The material is analysed in terms of actor-net- taking part in the shaping of the bodies: the founders work theory, with Bruno Latour, Madeleine of the museum, the curators working with the mate- Akrich, John Law, and Annemarie Mol as the main rial, and the exhibitions themselves. She shows that sources of inspiration. One of the points taken museums tend to produce lives in a way that is all from ANT, as formulated by Latour, is about mak- their own, and perhaps the material is given eternal ing visible what has been rendered invisible life in that the museum is managed while the mate- through oblivion and neglect. A strong driving rial is being collected, selected, and displayed, later force is the desire to analyse marginalized actors becoming an object of research. and give them the power to act. Through her metic- Hjemdahl’s dissertation is a good example of ulous analysis of the source material the author what detailed studies of archival material can add shows that Museum of Decorative Arts and Design to analyses of the rich collections built up in mu- was inhabited by privileged rather than marginal- seums and exhibited to the public. The author has ized bodies. Besides references to Latour and Law, gone through and examined a large corpus of Hjemdahl also attaches great importance to a small source material in the museum and has also looked selection of dissertations and articles published in at institutions abroad with similar collections – recent years by Nordic colleagues using ANT to chiefly the Costume Institute in New York. The analyse museum collections. source material comprises archival documents, With inspiration from Annemarie Mol, Hjem- photographs, exhibition programmes, and fashion dahl applies a performative ANT perspective. garments from the collections of the Museum of Here it is less clear how these practices enact dif- Decorative Arts and Design. The way Hjemdahl ferent delimited versions, and the way these ver- identifies the museum’s archival material and sions are expressed in the encounter between dif- brings it to life is an impressive research achieve- ferent actors seems arbitrary. The discussions of ment in itself. performance in relation to the performative vari- The task that Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl has taken ant of ANT (Mol and Law) could have been writ- upon herself may at first seem well demarcated, ten more clearly; now it is somewhat difficult to perhaps even too convenient. Firstly, the material follow how the performances that take place in the consists of a whole separate category of objects, museum happen and how they contribute to the namely, fashion clothes. Secondly, these fashion performative versions investigated by Hjemdahl. clothes are in the collections of a specific mu- The result is that certain actors’ practices are seum, moreover within a clearly defined period of toned down. Yet another actor that is not taken Reviews 169

into consideration is the role of the researcher, and nicely through the many thick descriptions resulting also the author’s own role. What bodies are per- from solid work in the archives. The material in this formed in the museum through Hjemdahl’s selec- chapter could have yielded a dissertation in itself, tion and analysis? and literature about festivals, parades, and interna- Hjemdahl’s dissertation has 318 pages, divided tional exhibition could have put the local event in a into eight chapters. After chapter one, “Lost wider global content. bodies”, and two, “The museum as a laboratory”, Chapter five, “Technologies: Shaping the indi- which present the aim, questions, and theory, there vidual mannequin”, focuses on the mobile technolo- come six empirical chapters. The dissertation ends gy of the exhibition medium. In this chapter, how- with a brief chapter summing up the results. Let us ever, there is no discussion of miniature exhibition present a summary of the empirical chapters. mannequins – the dummies that were particularly In chapter three, “Prelude: Versions of prac- important for spreading knowledge of new fashion tices”, Hjemdahl describes the different practices collections in times of economic recession. They through which fashion dress was established as a were easy to send and required a minimum of cloth, field of knowledge at the Museum of Decorative and they became very important for the European Arts and Design and which versions of bodies fashion industry in the 1930s. The fashion houses of arose, for example, through the collecting and Paris sent these to private customers and to fashion exhibiting of fashion dress. She also describes houses in Europe and the USA. This example of a how the garments were a part of practices that pre- network, acting at a distance, was a perspective that sented class, gender, and the like. In chapters four could have been used in the analysis; movements of to seven Hjemdahl continues with a deeper exam- miniature bodies created connections that would not ination of the practices that are particularly char- otherwise have been possible. As regards bodily acteristic of the museum. These are: the process of ideals as script in this chapter, discourses of health establishing a collection and a field of knowledge; and gymnastics could well have been included and making exhibitions of the objects; and doing developed in an analysis of how the dressed bodies scientific documentation. Throughout all the chap- came into existence. The museum’s work of creat- ters the author asks how bodies are made through ing dressed bodies was done in relation to the past these practices and what the bodies do with the but also in relation to the surrounding society and its practice. current bodily discourses. This spiral process drives the discussion in chap- Chapter six, “Documentation I: Photographs of ter four, “The thing: The body and the clothes”. In clothes – versions of bodies”, presents photographs this chapter Hjemdahl analyses a ten-day long festi- of dress taken both inside and outside the museum. val entitled “Dress and Dance” arranged by the Mu- These photographs are now in the archives of the seum of Decorative Arts and Design in 1933. The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the starting dress parade was the culmination of a nationwide point for Hjemdahl’s interest. In this chapter she collection of dress, and the author convincingly ar- successfully explores the bodies produced in the gues that the clothes become one with the pageant of museum’s pictures and how they were represented which they were a part, the event itself. There scien- in the texts about them. tific correctness was central, while the event simul- Chapter seven, “Documentation II: ‘Photos of taneously made the historical fashion clothes into a Edle Due Kielland and Tor B. Kielland in attire specimen of Norwegian applied arts, chiefly through from the 1950s (of private character)’”, contains the way the aesthetic and craft qualities were em- photos of a different, private kind, with the focus on phasized above other aspects. During this period the museum director and his wife, Thor and Edle scientificness was identical with historicization and Kielland. This chapter considers a unique collection, musealization. The problem that the collected fash- and together with chapter four it is one of the strong- ion garment deviated from more natural bodily est in the dissertation. It analyses the museum’s ideals of the time was dealt with by historicizing and management and employees as actors, the executive musealizing them. They are presented as belonging bodies and how these bodies make knowledge in the to the past. This transformation of the view of fash- museum. ion clothes in a museum context is brought out very Chapter eight, “Life in the museum”, brings the 170 Reviews

thoughts together as the author sums up the bodies cially since the museums’ collections have been at that are enacted in the museum – from the official the centre of much of this discussion. The mu- bodies to the most private ones. Although Hjem- seums in the Nordic countries have a unique posi- dahl does not herself use Erving Goffman’s con- tion in that folk dress, upper-class dress, and fash- cept of performance in her analysis, one can say in ion have long been collected and have thus helped his terminology that the author and the disserta- to make the dressed body a museological topic. tion transformed the museum’s backstage to front- The fact that clothes have been collected and regis- stage. tered in terms of categories such as folk and upper The dissertation can be read as a good example class has consequently produced rural and regional of careful methodology, where the researcher has a bodies, urban and international bodies. Hjemdahl thorough knowledge of the material. It can also be refers to a small number of Norwegian colleagues read as an example of a dissertation whose empiri- who have studied dress collections, such as Bjørn cal focus is on the collection itself. The close-up Sverre Hol Haugen. But she does not relate her re- reading of the archival material and the garments search to the discussion of the clothed body that in the museum’s collections and exhibitions is par- has been going on among Nordic scholars working ticularly interesting for research in museology and in museology, ethnology, and fashion studies in the ethnology, since it makes a contrast to Internet- last ten years. based research where the actual objects are mediat- The theoretical position adopted by Hjemdahl in ed and the analysis is limited to a visual rep- her dissertation is thus not wholly clarified. The resentation. Hjemdahl had devoted considerable theoretical and methodological argumentation time to getting to know the material itself, its tex- lacks a number of building blocks, such as several ture and tactile qualities. recently published Nordic ethnological works One of the chief strengths of the dissertation is about museums and fashion which use the same the excellent archival work; the author’s system- theoretical framework. The author could have in- atic and dogged efforts have yielded previously un- cluded these in the dissertation to clarify her own researched material. This means that Hjemdahl position and her approach to the material. The link makes a collection available for further research. between the performative and the more phenom- Her major contribution is to basic research, dig- enological theoretical resources is used in an in- ging out material that was unknown and scrutiniz- strumental rather than a reflective way. The same ing it to arrive at fine analytical insights and nu- applies to the concept of practice as it is used in the anced observations. The merit of the dissertation dissertation. One consequence of this is that the se- thus lies in the analytical details rather than the lected versions of practices presented in chapter large theoretical lines. Because the dissertation of- three seem somewhat arbitrary, lacking historical fers so many observations and analytical insights, background and a systematic presentation. Some of it would have been beneficial if they had been the theoretical resources are presented in the form twined into a clear red thread, explicitly linking of secondary literature, which diminishes the im- theory, concepts, and empirical material. The pression of an independent grasp of the theoretical strength of the dissertation, which lies in the close material. reading of a limited corpus of material, also sheds The strongest part of the dissertation is in chap- light on some of its challenges. ters four, five, six, and seven, which contain good, The treatment of existing literature and the on- thick descriptions of the material. Theory is not al- going discussion of the clothed body in ethnology, ways used as convincingly in the analysis, but many museology, and fashion studies seems less fully good analytical points are made in these chapters. worked than the solid grounding in the material. Among the very clear strengths of the dissertation Hjemdahl could well have cited the extensive dis- are the profuse illustrations with their precise and cussions that have been conducted on the subject in nuanced observations. In chapter seven in particular, the last ten years, at conferences, in journals, and there is an archival scoop with the private photos of in the international networks for dress and fashion. the Kiellands, which are analysed in a convincing Particularly lacking is a dialogue with current Nor- way, also revealing how their vision of a future Nor- dic research on museums, clothes, and body, espe- way was embodied in the collections. Reviews 171

To sum up, we would say that this dissertation, think that it exists only in the minds of fiction despite certain theoretical weaknesses and the lack writers and film-makers. They express surprise of a discussion of recent research in the field, is when they learn that Transylvania exists as a real re- highly readable and a fine contribution to an under- gion. standing of how a collection is built up and peopled. Transylvania – today part of Romania – is there- A summary in English could spread an interest in fore strongly associated with both the historical the rich material to be found in the Museum of Vlad Tepeş and Count Dracula from Stoker’s novel. Decorative Arts and Design and contribute to the in- How these two figures – the real and the fictional – ternational discussion. The dissertation has the po- affect the heritage of history and tourism in today’s tential to arouse other researchers’ interest in build- Romania is the focus of Tuomas Hovi’s doctoral ing on Hjemdahl’s work and continuing to ask burn- thesis, presented at the University of Turku (Depart- ing questions about how dressed bodies perform life ment of Folkloristics) in 2014. The book comprises in museums. 224 pages including references and index, and con- Lizette Gradén, Stockholm sists of 7 chapters, including a summary and synthe- Tine Damsholt, Copenhagen sis (7). It represents a very interesting case study on the interplay between fictional and historical facts Dracula Tourism regarding the use of history and heritage. Hovi in- Tuomas Hovi, Heritage through Fiction. Dracula vestigates heritage in the context of Dracula Tour- Tourism in Romania. Annales Universitatis Turku- ism in Romania, a term that refers to tourists visiting ensis, Sarja – ser. B osa – tom. 387. Turku. Univer- places connected with either the fictional vampire sity of Turku, Faculty of Humanities, School of His- Count Dracula or Vlad Tepeş. tory, Culture and Arts Studies, Department of Folk- Is it possible to uncover Romanian heritage loristics, Turku 2014. 224 pp. Ill. Diss. ISBN through popular fiction in Dracula tourism? And if 978-951-29-5764-4. so, how can Romanian heritage and culture be shown and promoted through a seemingly super-  Count Dracula is the very archetype of the aristo- ficial Dracula tourism which is based on Western cratic vampires known in popular culture for more popular culture? Tuomas Hovi approaches these than a century, beginning with Abraham “Bram” problems through several smaller research questions Stoker’s famous novel in 1897. For almost as long, and with concepts like authenticity, heritage, folk- there has been speculation about whether the novel lore process and popular culture. In the introduction has any basis in real history, or if it is purely based (Chapter 1), Hovi introduces his research questions, on the author’s imagination. Views on this have var- as well as methods, key concepts and research mate- ied considerably, but in recent years it has become rial. He describes his research as mainly empirical in common knowledge that the Romanian fifteenth- nature, with the fieldwork carried out in 2010 and century prince (voivode) Vlad Tepeş (“Vlad the Im- 2011 as the main sources, together with the websites paler”, also known as Vlad Dracula) is the historical of ten Romanian travel agencies that offer Dracula model for the novel’s character, Count Dracula. tourism. The stories and images they present form This theory was widely spread by a work of popular the bulk of the research material. scholarship published in 1972, written by the two The emphasis and perspective of the dissertation historians Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu: In is folkloristic, with the main theoretical approach Search of Dracula. In this and some following formed by what is described as critical discourse books, the authors presented extensive and seeming- analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. Tuomas ly convincing evidence that Vlad Tepeş was the Hovi defines discourses as manners of speaking, template for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. ways of thinking and ways of representing a subject, Ever since Stoker’s novel gained its fame, Tran- and multimodal discourse analysis as an approach sylvania has been known as a land of superstition, which focuses on how meaning is made through the vampires and myths. In the Western popular imagi- use of multiple modes of communication. In addi- nation Transylvania has become synonymous with tion the research material is approached through in- Dracula’s country, the home of vampires and other tertextuality, folklore process, hybridization, au- supernatural beings, and many foreigners actually thenticity and social constructionism. 172 Reviews

According to Hovi, tourism is a field where inter- word vampire is not known or used in Romanian textuality can be adopted, especially in literary tour- folklore it can technically be said that there is no ism, movie-induced tourism and media tourism, as a such being in Romanian tradition. It is, however, helpful tool to understand both the appeal of this clear that the vampire as phenomenon is common in particular form of tourism and the tourist’s own ex- Romanian folklore, under indigenous names. periences. Dracula tourism is well suited to this kind Chapter 3 introduces Dracula tourism, its history of approach because it utilizes different sources, and the locations that are visited on the tours. The literature, movies, fiction, history and tradition, and author investigates the stereotypes and discourses is therefore intertextual in nature. Another analytical used on the websites of the studied travel agencies. tool is the folklore process outlined by the Finnish Through this analysis Hovi suggests ways of under- folklorist Lauri Honko. Hovi has the ambition to see standing the interplay and negotiations between tra- if it is possible to use, redefine and improve Hon- dition, history and fiction and how Romanian tradi- ko’s original idea and use it when dealing with con- tion and history coexist with Western fiction in cepts such as authenticity, tradition and tourism. Dracula tourism. One interesting result is that the In chapter 2 Hovi introduces the two central char- tour agencies do not use much imagery involving acters of Dracula tourism, Vlad Tepeş and the ficti- Dracula from popular culture, but mainly pictures of tious vampire Count Dracula, with a brief but in- locations visited on the tours, promoting the histori- formative historical overview of Vlad Tepeş and the cal and cultural side of Romania. It is very clear that traditions connected with him. He also explains the the tour agencies do not want to promote the idea of connections – or rather lack of genuine connections Romania as Dracula’s country or as the mysterious – between the two characters. The reason why they and magical vampire-infested land known from are often linked is mainly because of the writings of popular culture. By using historical and cultural im- Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu, men- agery and by narrowing the use of fiction discourses tioned above. Nevertheless, Tuomas Hovi traces this to the places that are connected to popular fiction, connection earlier, and he is probably the first re- they actively try to separate the fictional and foreign searcher to refer to Stephen Csabai’s article from elements from the factual history and culture. 1941 “The Real Dracula” as being the first scholar Chapter 4 shows the kind of tradition and history to suggest the link between Vlad and Count Dracula. that are used in Dracula tourism and the eras of his- Previous research has indicated that this connection tory highlighted at different sites. Hovi argues that was first made by Bacil F. Kirtley in his 1956 article even if some traditions may be constructions, selec- “Dracula: The Monastic Chronicles and Slavic tions or even inventions, they can still be seen as au- Folklore”. thentic and interesting in themselves and form cul- Hovi also outlines the Romanian vampire tradi- tural phenomena that have value. Because Dracula tion and offers some possible explanations as to why tourism is very much a composition of fiction, tradi- it is rather downplayed in Dracula tourism. His theo- tion and history Hovi finds intertextuality useful in ry is that this can be explained as being for both po- order to understand the experience and expectations litical and cultural reasons. The political reasons had of tourists. In Dracula tourism this intertextual read- to do with the official reaction towards Dracula ing of the locations visited is set against a back- tourism and vampire lore, especially in the 1980s, ground of a preconceived conception of Romania, when the words Dracula and vampire were applied Transylvania and Dracula. The questions about to Nicolae Ceauşescu in the Western press. This dis- whether Dracula tourism can be seen as Romanian suaded the government from associating itself with culture or tradition and whether all Dracula tourism the Western Dracula, making both this character and can be reduced to divisions between foreign popular vampires something negative. This is also some- culture and Romanian culture, or between inside thing the author of this review has personal experi- culture and outside culture, or between global cul- ences of, from my travels in Romania in those days. ture and local culture are further considered in chap- The other reason has to do with cultural identity, ter 5. Tuomas Hovi approaches these questions with many Romanians not wanting their country to through the concept of hybridization, which basical- be reduced to the “home of vampires”. One further ly means the mixing of cultures to produce new explanation has to do with semantics. Because the forms of culture. Although the origins and demand Reviews 173

for Dracula tourism are very much a global phenom- cause the Western Dracula myth was almost com- enon and Dracula tourism can be seen as a hybrid pletely unknown there at the time. For many of form of culture, cultures have always been hybrid. those Dracula enthusiasts who wanted to see the lit- The conclusion is therefore that it may be futile to erary or the supernatural roots of the Dracula myth, make a strict difference between global and local the most sought-after place was Dracula’s castle in culture in this case. Dracula tourism can be seen the Borgo Pass in northern Transylvania, on the bor- both as a form of hybrid culture and as Romanian der with Bukovina, where Stoker had placed his fic- culture which has been influenced and affected by tional castle. Since there was no castle there, foreign global cultural forms. tourists were instead taken to Castle Bran, far from In chapter 6 the author researches the connection the Borgo Pass, which had already become a tourist between the concept of authenticity and Dracula site, although as a museum of feudal art. Bran has tourism and how heritage is manifested in Dracula been dubbed Dracula’s castle since the 1970s be- tourism. Authenticity and heritage are concepts that cause it is easy to get to and it looks like a Gothic might seem difficult to link with Dracula tourism in vampire castle. Vlad Tepeş might have visited it on Romania at first. Although authenticity is a contro- occasion, but it was never his castle. Yet the castle is versial concept within folklore studies, Hovi found being marketed as Dracula’s castle even today, and it necessary to address it because it is widely used is the most visited of Dracula sites in Romania and both in tourism studies and in tourism itself. He also one of the best known. Bran is a place where the his- tests the concept of the folklore process, introduced torical Vlad and the fictitious Count Dracula are by the late Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko in re- merged, something that Hovi finds especially inter- searching the use of folklore and tradition. Hovi esting since neither has very little if anything to do finds that by simplifying the process that Honko de- with this place. scribed, it can be used as a framework to research a The local reaction in Romania towards Dracula piece of folklore or tradition, its history and its cur- tourism has been ambivalent and mixed. Most of the rent form and use. The folklore process can also be criticism has been because it is seen as something seen as a dynamic construction of a tradition, a pro- strange and unfamiliar or even non-authentic. It may cess that is constantly evolving and is constantly ne- be seen as a foreign and unfamiliar form of culture gotiated. In Dracula tourism the understanding of that has been forced on Romania or as a combina- authenticity has been one of the main reasons why tion of indigenous and foreign culture, or even as a this kind of tourism has been opposed in Romania. part of modern indigenous culture. It can also be Still, most of the stories used in Dracula tourism are seen as a case of global versus local culture and authentic pieces of Romanian folklore, if what is even as “glocal” culture. Hovi approaches these meant by authenticity is something that is old and definitions through the much-debated concept of hy- has been alive and used in the community for a bridization. By definition and in origin Dracula tour- number of years. On the other hand, even if the sto- ism is very much derived from Western popular cul- ries and narratives used were new, they would still ture and the expectations of Western tourists coming be authentic as pieces of current folklore and tradi- to Romania. Although originally a foreign idea, tion. Tuomas Hovi therefore divides the concept of many Romanians have become very heavily in- authenticity into so-called historical or scientific au- volved with Dracula tourism. thenticity and experienced authenticity. This form of I consider Tuomas Hovi’s dissertation a very authenticity is not so much connected with the ac- valuable contribution to research into cultural herit- tual historical knowledge of a certain site or tradi- age and tourism, as well as into modern folklore. It tion, but rather with the experience of authenticity of is a thorough study, well written, with an interesting the tourist. theoretical and methodological approach. Of special When the first Western tourists started to travel to interest is the analysis of the interplay and the nego- Romania in the 1960s and 1970s, some of them tiations between tradition, history and fiction in wished to see the places connected with Dracula that Dracula tourism, how Romanian tradition and histo- they knew from Bram Stoker’s novel and from the ry coexist with Western fiction, and whether Dracu- movies. The locals in Romania for the most part did la tourism can be considered as Romanian local cul- not know what the tourists were talking about, be- ture and tradition or if it is purely global culture. 174 Reviews

Hovi’s study also shows how this Dracula tourism very interesting discoveries, possibly of great im- can be used as a gateway into broader aspects of Ro- portance for the understanding of the background of manian history and culture, how popular culture can Bram Stoker’s novel. be used to present heritage and how heritage can be What he came across was the history of Vlad Te- used as a form of protest against a cultural threat. peş’s descendants, with one branch forming a Hun- A few minor factual errors are present in the text, garian noble family using the name Dracula (Draku- but nothing that disturbs in any significant way. An lya) as family name until the late 17th century. Un- example can be taken from page 115, which states like Vlad Tepeş himself, his descendants actually that Castle Bran is not located in Transylvania but in were rooted in Transylvania, in manors situated in Wallachia. It is true that Bran (a medieval fortress of its northern part, not far from where Stoker places the Teutonic Order in the early thirteenth century, Dracula’s castle in the novel. One of these places is later Hungarian Törcsvár) constitutes a border for- Sucutard (Hungarian: Szentgothárd), where the tress, but it is nevertheless located in Transylvania, castle was destroyed by the regime after the Second on the border with Wallachia, 30 km south of World War, and Țaga (Hungarian: Czege) where Braşov. part of the mansion is still standing. The connection Finally, I cannot refrain from presenting some to theses places is due to the fact that Vlad Tepeş’s personal reflections on the possible relationship be- great grandson Ladislaus married Anna Wass de tween Count Dracula of the novel and historical Czege, a member of the famous Hungarian noble characters. As Tuomas Hovi mentions in his book, family Wass. Ladislaus and his descendants are also Vlad Tepeş as the inspiration for the fictive Count connected to the village of Band, and especially the Dracula is far from undisputed. Alternative theories place in its vicinity that until this day is called Dra- have been put forward, more or less spectacular. culea after the family name. Even though it is a fic- One example, but not the only one, was presented to tive novel and nothing else, the consistency between a wider audience in the acclaimed Austrian film the story of the Drakulya family in northern Tran- from 2007, Die Vampirprinzessin. The film illus- sylvania and the story told by Count Dracula to trates the hypothesis that the Austrian Princess Jonathan Harker in Stoker’s novel looks more than a Eleonore von Schwartzenberg (1682−1741) served coincidence. Unfortunately this theory had little or as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel, not least no impact, although Paul Binder managed to get an for the existing prologue to the novel, named “Dra- article published in Revue Roumaine d’Histoire cula’s Guest” (published posthumously in 1914), in 1988 (vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 301–314: “Une famille which a female vampire occurs. According to this noble roumaine de Transylvanie: les Dracula de Sin- hypothesis, Stoker chose to place the story in the more remote Transylvania instead of Bohemia, pri- testi”). This article is unfortunately still almost un- marily for atmospheric reasons. known in research, despite its well documented and My own interest in Transylvania and its cultural interesting content. history goes back more than thirty years, when as a Paul Binder became a personal friend of mine, young student in the 1980s I travelled extensively in and I got research material directly from him with Eastern and Central Europe. I then had the good for- his blessing and desire that I should use it, as I later tune to get to know people who gave me insight into did in the Swedish popular science book Dracula a world that today is largely gone. Especially one och hans arv – Myt, fakta, fiction (Dracula and his man, the Romanian historian Dr Paul Binder heritage – Myth, facts, fiction), published in 2009 (1935−1995), who belonged to a German-Hungar- (Efron & Dotter: ISBN: 978-91-85653-40-9). For an ian family in Braşov, Transylvania, deepened my alternative and intriguing view of the cultural histor- knowledge of the cultural history of this region. ical background of the fictive Dracula, I recommend This fine scholar, who was a dissident during the Paul Binder’s article as well as this reading. late Ceauşescu era, unfortunately died much too ear- Last but not least, I of course strongly recom- ly although then completely rehabilitated. As part of mend the reading of Tuomas Hovi’s very interesting his interest in Transylvanian cultural history, he also and well-written dissertation. studied the genealogical history of some noble Tran- Anders Kaliff, Uppsala sylvanian families. In this research he made some Reviews 175

The Meanings of Paid Work derstand both the ways of narrating and the precon- Kirsi-Maria Hytönen, Ei elämääni lomia mahtunut. ditions for women’s paid work. They give an idea Naisten muistelukerrontaa palkkatyöstä, talvi- ja of the ways in which womanhood(s) has been con- jatkosotien jälleenrakennuksen aikana. (English structed and how they were part of the social reali- summary: “There was no time for holidays in my ty at the time. However, it is the reminiscences and life”: Women’s memories of paid work during the the experiences they describe that play a central Second World War and in the years of rebuilding role in the research; the magazines are highlighted in Finland.) Suomen Kansantietouden Seura, Joen- mainly when discussing the different discourses suu 2014. 282 pp. Diss. ISBN 978-951-9451-05- concerning the integration of motherhood and paid 03. work. Hytönen has focused her research on women  The quotation ‘there was no time for holidays in working on the home front, which she sees as a my life’ in the title of Kirsi-Maria Hytönen’s disser- group whose role has long been overlooked in re- tation in ethnology captures the message Finnish search. As such, her research is also part of a wider women have wanted to pass on about their wartime research field that has become popular especially at experiences: a great deal of work was done at the the beginning of the 21st century, where the experi- time by women without question or complaint. This ences of war as told from the viewpoints of gender, is something that has been shown also in earlier re- family, children and other groups and actors previ- search on Finnish women’s wartime experiences. As ously dismissed have become of interest. The re- such, for Hytönen this is only the starting point for search questions approach women’s experiences her research, which concentrates especially on from various viewpoints. She is interested in the women doing paid work. ways women depict their experiences decades after In Finland, the proportion of women in the labour the events took place, and in what kinds of mean- force was relatively high already before the Second ings they have given to their paid work, work com- World War. Still, the war has been seen as a game munity and working environment. She also dis- changer for women’s lives with respect to their role cusses the ways gender was experienced in the work at home and in working life. Although Hytönen places and the ways the women tried to fit mother- critically examines the ways in which war affected hood into their working lives. women’s lives, she also agrees with the idea that the Hytönen connects her research to the oral history decades surrounding the war years represented an tradition, although her material is mainly written exceptional time for re-negotiating gender roles. No material. She emphasises the meanings of personal doubt, these negotiations were visible in women’s experiences and the ways people talk about them. everyday lives during the war, but what did it mean She also positions her research within women’s his- in the longer term perspective? tory instead of gender history. Through her research, In her research, Kirsi-Maria Hytönen analyses she wants to take part in the discussion within Finn- women’s experiences of paid work both during the ish ethnology and history about the ways in which Second World War and the so-called ‘years of re- the image of the ‘strong Finnish woman’ has been building’ that followed. To do this, she has analysed constructed and to question the hierarchies, values an extensive range of material compiled from four and patterns based on gender. different archives and eight different collections, in- In doing this, the reflexive role of research and cluding both women’s written reminiscences and the researcher is also important. This is why she some interviews. Altogether, her material includes also carefully describes the processes by which the the personal reminiscences of 411 women. The pro- reminiscences were produced and in what contexts fessions they represent are multiple, including in- and the role of archives with different kinds of dustrial work, office work and sales as well as those aims. However – and perhaps surprisingly – the working in crafts trades, nursing and the building different collections did not add diversity to the trade. general overview; in the end, the stories told were To contextualise the reminiscences, she also quite similar to one another. Or, at least the differ- analysed women’s magazines published in the ences cannot be traced to the different archives. 1940s and 1950s. The magazines helped her to un- Hytönen points out, though, that this observation 176 Reviews

mainly applies to the contents of the reminis- author states, this way of narrating is very much cences. A more diversified picture might have ap- connected to the way the archives have wanted to peared if the focus had been on the means of nar- record wartime experiences. rating. The themes analysed in the study concentrate Stories of loyalty and obligation, of learning and mainly on the wartime period. This is understand- surviving, and of new responsibilities are central able because of the sources used. The analysis pro- when analysing women’s reminiscences from war- ceeds chronologically, and in the end attention is time. On the other hand, the material reveals insecu- paid more to the years of rebuilding. Some of the rities about managing new duties because of the themes, however, recur throughout the various con- physical difficulty or because of a lack of experi- texts. Nonetheless, I think – as the researcher herself ence, training or proper instruction. However, the does – that women’s experiences during the rebuild- descriptions of changes in duties emphasise the ing years and the way they themselves analyse them more positive aspects: the women were motivated to still form an interesting research theme that Kirsi- take on the new role they were being offered and Maria Hytönen could continue working with. The they also felt they had a chance to make choices in research at hand provides a solid foundation for do- their working life – at least more freely than later in ing just that. life. The descriptions of conflicts reveal, however, For some of the narrators, the change from war to how ideas of professions were intricately connected peace was just as big as the change from peace to with ideas of manhood and womanhood. Despite the war. Those who experienced this change most nega- changes in and negotiations about gender roles, the tively seem to be those who reacted most strongly to material creates a picture of gendered work, espe- them in their narrations. The individual narrations cially in industry. are also more polarised than a more general homo- The uniform stories of women who could suc- genous narration of war. This means that the stories cessfully do a man’s job create a crystallised narra- are as much about continuities as they are about tive whole. The ability to manage and to learn are breakages. What is interesting is the way the styles the positive elements when talking about paid of narrating also change when the women start to work during wartime. According to Hytönen, the discuss the post-war period. Hytönen briefly ana- men are invisible in these stories, away at the front lyses her material within the context of nostalgia for or in a supportive role, like foreman, in the work the 1950s. Although her examples do not create a places. She argues that the changes in gender roles uniform picture here, the time of rebuilding seems to may have been more visible on the micro level, in the concrete work done by the women, than in the be pictured in quite positive terms. There might be statistics or discourses at the macro level. How- differences when compared to rural women strug- ever, the narrated experiences also have varying gling outside the field of paid labour, for whom the emphasis in terms of how well the changes were years after the war did not seem to become any adopted in the end. This depends partly on the way easier. the women themselves contextualise their stories The number of stories analysed by Kirsi-Maria within either the circumstances before the war or Hytönen is massive. Still, or because of that, the sto- after it. ry of the strong Finnish woman can also be heard in Hytönen has paid special attention to the way in this material – loud and clear. The uniformity of the which the women have narrated experiences of narration is broken, however, by the researcher tiredness and exhaustion. This is an interesting bringing out counter narratives and different points choice, as women’s war-time narration often of emphasis from her sources. The analysis shows stresses resiliency and fortitude. To do this, Hytönen that there is no easy answer to questions of why or analysed the factors surrounding feelings of tired- when. Instead, questions of how help us understand ness: haste, experiences with the work being diffi- the nature of change: the different kinds of factors cult, a sense of hunger and uncleanness. All of this promoting or inhibiting it and the different ways of had to do with the war, which seems to have become reacting to it. intertwined with all aspects of life, and the stories Pia Olsson, Helsinki are structured as part of the shared war effort. As the Reviews 177

Mothers from Rural Areas Discussing more with health care and welfare studies than eth- Their Wellbeing and Networks nology as such; the whole disposition resembles more the fields of medical or the natural sciences Pilvi Hämeenaho, Hyvinvoinnin verkostot maa- than ethnology. But all in all, the logical approach seudulla asuvien äitien arjessa. Etnologinen tutki- taken by the author describes well the content of the mus palvelujen käytöstä ja hyvän arjen rakentumi- study. The first chapter, ‘Rural Services in Focus’, sesta. (English Summary: Everyday networks of includes background information on the study, main wellbeing in sparsely populated rural Finland. Eth- nological research on mothers’ perceptions regard- terms and concepts as well as how the countryside is ing public services.) Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin lai- viewed as a place and a space. It also includes the tos, Helsinki 2014. 236 pp. Diss. ISBN 978-952- analytical tools used to study everyday life. 302-221-8. Hämeenaho describes carefully her main concepts, which is one dimension and aim of the study and  Ethnological dissertations today are often written which is firmly grounded in ethnographic study. Her in co-operation with the field of ethnology and other main concepts include everyday life, countryside, disciplines. Pilvi Hämeenaho’s dissertation is the re- services and wellbeing. In addition to these con- sult of a co-operative project between the National cepts, she also uses other concepts as an aid; they in- Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in Helsinki clude rurbanisation, social capital, idyll, living and the University of Jyväskylä’s Department of countryside, everyday life knowledge, networks of History and Ethnology. This aspect is quite evident wellbeing and timespace. All in all, Hämeenaho in the study, and it offers some good points and also studies local rural society as a part of the wellbeing challenges for the dissertation, which I will discuss network where the families are living. The networks at the end of this review. and everyday life are quite important issues The dissertation is a study of everyday practices throughout the study. and perceptions regarding the good lives of mothers The second chapter focuses on Hämeenaho’s ma- living in sparsely populated rural areas near the terial and methods. Her principal material consists town of Jyväskylä, in Central Finland. The opinions of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and partici- of young mothers, public welfare services and their pant observations, which are the result of two differ- importance in everyday life are the focus of the ent projects conducted in 2008 and 2009. The main study. The author studies public services as part of a material consists of 14 focused interviews and sev- wider network of distributing wellbeing. Wellbeing eral diaries written by the informants. These how- consists here of the private, local and public re- ever, seem not to have played a large role in the sources available to mothers in their everyday lives. study, though they might have been more central in The author focuses on the following questions in the interviews. In addition to this material, she also her study: ‘How do mothers define a good life and uses interviews from another project in which she what elements does it include? What is the meaning interviewed seven social leaders in municipalities. of the countryside and the local community to those Hämeenaho discusses quite clearly the positive and living their daily lives in sparsely populated rural negative aspects of her material, but she might still areas, and what role do public welfare services play have paid more attention to how the material has – in the everyday networks of wellbeing in mothers’ or could have – directed the study. Would it have daily lives?’ (p. 8). Her intention is to give space been better to write two separate publications; one and voice to mothers, who will provide answers to for the project and a second one as a dissertation? the questions based on their own points of view. In The ethnology is barely visible in this book, al- addition, the mothers – or this study – will unravel though it is a dissertation done in the field of eth- the cultural stereotypes so easily attached to life in nology. rural areas. This is an important part of the study, The choice of informants is very important in since we can all so easily tap into our own preexist- these kinds of studies, and Hämeenaho pays a great ing stereotypes with when discussing life in the deal of attention to it. The focused interviews might countryside. have been good choices for this study, but the num- This study consists of five main chapters. The di- ber of them is still quite small. The reader also needs vision of the study is logical, but it somehow deals to bear in mind the choice of municipalities and vil- 178 Reviews

lages. The author has used the so-called snow ball portant both from the point of view of the inform- method, which is very often used in ethnological ants and current developments in the municipalities. studies. In this study, however, it might have had its We can read about positive and negative examples own particular effect on the results, which and about the local practices that help users manage Hämeenaho describes well. The informants and the in the face of weakening networks. Social networks material seem to be quite homogenous and unchang- are also important for maintaining or obtaining well- ing. Is the area in which the study was conducted so being services in rural areas. The local community is homogenous that no religious differences, families quite important in terms of both giving and receiv- with a large number of children or families experi- ing help and care. As Hämeenaho writes, neverthe- encing some problems could have been included in less the local informal networks cannot replace the the material? To my knowledge, there are families public services needed by people on a daily basis. in the area who might belong to different religious The hard and difficult role of mothers in participat- minorities or have a large number of children, for ing in and contributing to local activities is de- instance. In that sense, the overly homogenous pic- scribed well. However, the author should also have ture given by the study seems at odds with reality. included more about the role of other members of The author has, however, reflected on her own point the extended family. For instance, she could have of view quite carefully and describes her role at the interviewed fathers on this question. They might border of what is common and unfamiliar. Thus, the have provided a slightly different picture – or per- study describes Hämeenaho herself at the same time haps not. Then, the name and the perspective of the that it describes the informants. study would have needed to be different. As the basis for the whole study, Hämeenaho In the final chapter, Hämeenaho discusses what uses critical theory and phenomenology. She also constitutes a good and safe everyday life in rural uses an ethnological ‘from below’ aspect or point of areas and the role of networks in wellbeing. The review, which is very suitable to the study. One good sults of the study show that public services play an point of the study is how carefully Hämeenaho reads important role in constructing the subjective sense and introduces her material together with the ques- of wellbeing of mothers. As the author writes, the tions. Ethnological knowledge shows its relevance importance of services is twofold: they are an im- and importance in her analyses, even in spheres portant system of support for everyday life and at other than where we ethnologists are used to using the same time they are the basis for feelings of basic such knowledge. In that sense, this book can serve security. The study calls attention to the fact that as a good example of how ethnological tools and mobility and multi-sited spaces of living in the material (ethnographical fieldwork) can be used by countryside are current and relevant topics with re- ethnologists to answer questions in other fields of spect to the realities of everyday life in the country- the study. side. After the two introductory chapters, the two main This study also reflects current ethnological chapters discuss the everyday life of families in ru- knowledge about everyday life in rural areas and the ral areas (Chapter 3) and the networks and agents re- services provided to families in such areas. Both are sponsible for wellbeing (Chapter 4). In these chap- very important issues, and in the next years they will ters, Hämeenaho discusses how difficulties with ac- undoubtedly undergo many changes, which will cessing services and the problems surrounding their have even more of an impact on the everyday lives use reduce locals’ trust in the social service system of families living in the countryside. The Finnish and at the same time also weakens their feelings of countryside is undergoing big changes and this fact security. She also shows how public welfare ser- is also in the background of Hämeenaho’s study. It vices are very important to mothers, who are in des- would be interesting to read more about everyday perate need of services on a daily basis. A day care life in rural areas after several years and maybe get a is a good example of the type of service that mothers more heterogeneous picture of the families. desperately need. This publication is also an example of the in- In Chapter 4, the author discusses the networks creasing co-operation and joint-projects being con- and agents responsible for wellbeing. She discusses ducted between ethnology and other disciplines, how the services are changing and why they are im- where publications also serve as applied studies. It is Reviews 179

a good and desirable trend because we ethnologists neighbourhood based on immaterial values such as are experts in everyday life and ethnographic field- the sense of community spirit and the intangible work. However, the results must not be obtained and heritage transferred from generation to generation. presented in such a way that the original discipline, The inhabitants’ experiences are encapsulated by ethnology, occupies only a minor role in the study. the concepts of home and hometown, which are Helena Ruotsala, Turku built around and reflect collective stories about the buildings. As Karhunen puts it, this interpretation Cultural Heritage Built through Stories both challenges and completes the knowledge of the officials. Eeva Karhunen, Porin Kuudennen osan tarinoista Karhunen’s research material consists of official rakennettu kulttuuriperintö. (English Summary: documents, reports and historical data as well as the Narrating Cultural Heritage in the Sixth District of inhabitantsʼ personal experiences and memories of Pori.) Turun yliopisto, Turku 2014. 302 pp. Ill. Diss. the Sixth District. The variety of research material ISBN 978-951-29-5697-5. enables the researcher to study the district from multiple perspectives, giving the study a solid context  Home and hometown are concepts that bring forth and a platform for scientific discussion. This disser- a great deal of meaning and emotions for each and tation not only sheds light on the process of giving every one of us. Homes are places for engaging in daily life and activities. Hometowns are often meaning and value to an old wooden town environ- viewed sentimentally in a world where people mi- ment. It also raises questions about who gets to de- grate more now than ever before. Therefore it is im- cide what is valuable in an old wooden house en- portant to stop and think more closely about the con- vironment and what is not. It also sheds light on cepts and what they mean to us. With time and age, questions of why homes and hometowns are mean- we seem to appreciate both home and hometown ingful and valuable for us and in what way. more and more as part of our identity. Nostalgia for The content of the book is divided into seven times gone by and anticipation of what the future main chapters, including a fairly long introduction, may bring are also present in Eeva Karhunen’s contextual chapters with historical data, theoretical study of the cultural heritage constructed through and methodological chapters, and an analysis of the stories of the Sixth District in the Finnish town of research questions. At the end, Karhunen briefly Pori (Porin Kuudennen osan tarinoista rakennettu summarises the findings and outcomes of her study kulttuuriperintö). and topic of research. Karhunen’s book is a good read for anyone inter- Karhunen’s study highlights the complexity of ested in questions concerning home and hometown. the legislation and the different types of enactments In this book, which is also Karhunen’s doctoral dis- that help ensure the preservation of old environ- sertation, attention is given to the interaction be- ments. Karhunen describes the legislation policy tween officials and inhabitants in the process of ur- concerning the old town districts and shows how in- ban planning. The study is anchored in the Sixth tertwined the legislation and different kinds of prac- District in the town of Pori. The district is one of the tices around them can be. She demonstrates that the largest nineteenth-century wooden house districts in web of actors playing a role in the preservation is Finland and has been classified as one of Finlandʼs vast and that the uses of the old urban sites are most significant cultural sites due to how well the numerous. She also discusses the role and impor- homes have been preserved. tance of the plans, projects and people involved in In 2012, 405 buildings in the Sixth District were these preservation processes. listed as protected objects. This means that the The chapters are impressive in their scope. They buildings were guaranteed preservation for future offer readers a thorough insight into the problems generations via planning. Meanwhile, Karhunen’s and questions concerning the preservation of old en- study shows that the preservation of the district was vironments. I was impressed to learn how many done from very different perspectives. The officials people and factors are involved in the processes. dealing with the preservation efforts based their ap- Still, in the end, old environments like the Sixth Dis- preciation of the district on explicit, official knowl- trict in Pori are in practice in the hands of the inhabi- edge. The inhabitants, on the other hand, value their tants, who add their own flavour and twist to the di- 180 Reviews

lemma of preservation — how to preserve and, most part of the dissertation from both an ethnological of all, why. and personal standpoint. They give a valuable addi- I was also impressed by the theoretical discus- tion to the view of the experts and to the general dis- sions and applications to the inhabitants’ experi- cussion of life in the neighbourhood. With the help ences and contextual knowledge about the Sixth of personal viewpoints and memories, we are given District. Karhunen applies a hermeneutical-phe- the chance to dig deeper into the life of the inhabit- nomenological approach to her material of the sto- ants of the Sixth District. The whole environment is ries told by inhabitants and to the wider connec- filled with different kinds of stories, revealing the tions attached to the environment. The study em- back stage of the environment for those of us used to phasises the birth, inheritance and evolution of lo- only seeing the front stage. cal cultural heritage. It also includes interesting Therefore, the study conducted by Eeva Karhu- discussions about the key concepts, such as cultur- nen is a welcome and important addition to ethno- al heritage, preservation, oral history, memory and logical studies done in the past decades. Karhunen’s locality as well as hermeneutics and phenomenolo- study reflects the interest that ethnologists and cul- gy. These concepts are well worth continuous dis- tural scientists have in trends, processes of change cussion and re-evaluation at a time when their con- and continuity in society and among individuals. It tent and importance are undergoing a transforma- is timely and part of an ongoing discussion in which tion. old environments are compared to new environ- The concepts are also in focus in the negotiations ments and the values that play a role in our actions between the different parties involved in the preser- regarding such environments are shifting. There- vation processes as well as in the current use of the fore, an English summary of the study and its out- Sixth District. From page 139 onwards, Karhunen comes would have been necessary and would have explains and discusses the intense interaction be- opened up the questions, which are a global topic of tween the different actors during the years when the discussion, to a larger audience. preservation plan came about. No one wanted to Karhunen’s study not only gives new insights preserve old buildings during the modernisation pe- into the Sixth District and its existence in Pori, but riod in the 1950s and 1960s, but later on environ- broadens our understanding of a built environment ments with old building stock became more and with multiple meanings and connotations in relation more important for both town inhabitants and the to immaterial and material values. decision makers. This process of becoming cultural Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Åbo (Turku) heritage is discussed as a political and socioeconom- ic issue, but also as a personal and private issue dealing with roots and personal heritage. The Good Late Life One of the important questions discussed in the Aske Juul Lassen, Active ageing and the unmaking study is the question of why it is important to pre- of old age. The knowledge productions, everyday serve old environments. This discussion takes place practices and policies of the good late life. Faculty from page 142 onwards, providing the dissertation of Health and Medical Sciences & Department of with a valuable addition. The stories shared by the Ethnology, SAXO-Institute, Center for Healthy Ag- old and contemporary inhabitants of the Sixth Dis- ing, Copenhagen University 2014. 252 pp. Ill. Diss. trict are presented fairly late in the dissertation. I would have preferred to hear their voices much ear-  This dissertation examines the way an ageing lier in contrast to the official discussion. At the population is formed, disputed, negotiated and same, I understand the chronological layout of the transformed into a societal challenge and thus a mat- content in the book. Nevertheless, the personal inter of concern, using Bruno Latour’s concept. More sights and memories attached to the Sixth District specific, the object of inquiry is active ageing, give a broader and more complete background to the which the author Aske Juul Lassen claims to be a individual voices presented and analysed from page concept or key policy response to the global chal- 173 onwards. lenge of ageing. Active ageing radically transforms The 50 pages dealing with the memories and ex- the view of old age as a limited period of passive- periences of the inhabitants are the most interesting ness and dependence into a long life phase of activi- Reviews 181

ty and independence. How is active ageing prac- research institutions, humanitarian organizations, tised, negotiated and formed, and what kind of good entrepreneurs and private companies. The way eth- late life does active ageing produce? How can age- nology may sometimes be trapped and treated as a ing as a matter of concern be researched empirically, “help science” more than an equal partner in multi- and how can ethnology contribute to this research? disciplinary projects is well described in article A, These are some of the questions posed by the author “Innovating for ‘active ageing’ in a public-private when he considers ageing and active ageing on sev- innovation partnership: Creating doable problems eral levels: policies, knowledge productions and and alignment” (written with Julie Bønnelycke and everyday practices. Lene Otto, published in the journal Technological This is an ethnological dissertation, but presented Forecasting & Social Change 2014, Vol. 93, pp. at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at Co- 10−18). Lassen states that ethnography often brings penhagen University. The growing number of eth- forth practices and users that do not fit into the pre- nologists working in multidisciplinary fields and defined scope of the innovation process. The disser- constellations will of course affect the design and tation project thus ended up by studying the innova- layout of the ethnological texts that are produced. tion project as well as participating in it. For example, this is a compilation thesis, which is Lassen then describes how the fieldwork from the not so common among ethnological dissertations. innovation project led to an interest in different ver- The first part of the dissertation is introductory or sions of good old age and a study of how policies, summary chapters, followed by four articles and a practices and technologies form ageing. In a very summary. The structure of the dissertation and its detailed and transparent account in the summary consequences for the content will be dwelled upon chapters, the reader is given the possibility to follow below. the research process and the formulation of research The point of departure is that the ageing process questions. The author adopts Bruno Latour’s con- has been transformed from a historical matter of fact cept matter of concern and outlines the actors within to a contemporary matter of concern. Ageing as a it: the different sciences and knowledge practices, matter of concern means that it is perceived as a predominantly from social gerontology and critical problem that needs to be solved. The solution that gerontology; the welfare institutions and ageing pol- has come to be presented globally, through the icies (WHO and EU); and the everyday practices of WHO and also the EU, is active ageing. The concept older people. Ageing as a matter of concern is re- of active ageing is created by different knowledge garded as an entanglement of multiple ontologies, productions and policies, aiming for a new and dif- composed and gathered under one concept. Lassen ferent approach to later life. Active ageing is an develops the metaphor of fibres in order to explain ideal of the good late life, which emphasizes partici- how the matter of concern can be understood. The pation and activity. The aim of the dissertation is to interweaving of the smallest fibres – such as every- engage in the way active ageing is formed. How- day routines, activities, bodily decline, retirement ever, the author declares that it is not a matter of de- programmes, models, political networks, confer- constructing, criticizing and dissecting active age- ences, bills – holds the matter of concern together. ing, but of engaging in its formation and recompos- The fibres are interwoven and condensed into more ing the threads that constitute it. This position solid and robust formations, in this case knowledge should be understood in the light of the origin of the productions, everyday practices and policies. dissertation project, as part of the Center for Healthy Knowledge productions are characterized by Aging at Copenhagen University and the Public-Pri- their production of forms, such as standards, models vate Innovation Partnership, which is thoroughly de- and classifications, which in this case generate what scribed in the summary chapters and further devel- and how ageing is known about scientifically. In the oped in one of the articles. The dissertation project summary chapters, Lassen examines some of the was initially an innovation study with the aim of de- key forms that are gathered in the matter of concern, veloping new technologies that would target differ- and how active ageing is knowledge produced to ent aspects of older people’s everyday lives, mainly solve the matter of concern. The author emphasizes health improvement. This innovation study con- that there is no coherent knowledge production (Sci- tained collaboration between Danish municipalities, ence), but various forms of knowledge (sciences), 182 Reviews

which dispute and negotiate knowledge about age- tivity, but collectivity, social activity and enjoying ing. Still, a specific knowledge about ageing can be life. said to have been produced: a transformation from The last article, article D, “Keeping disease at old age, regarded as a rather stable standard with in- arm’s length – How older Danish people distance herent expectations of health and social status, to disease through active ageing” (published in Ageing ageing as a process, individualized and dependent & Society 2015, Vol. 35(7):1364−1383), continues on a healthy lifestyle. Biomedicine, prevention and to explore the concept of active ageing from the health promotion have created new standards and older person’s perspective. Lassen shows how knowledges of ageing. activities are used to distance experiences of disease Article B, “Unmaking old age: Political and cog- and illness, and to create a health strategy that si- nitive formats of active ageing” (written with Tiago lences rather than emphasizes the sick and ageing Moreira, published in Journal of Aging Studies body. As the author concludes: 2014, Vol. 30, pp. 33−46) explores the relationship “The older people in this study engage in activ- between knowledge and policy. A comparison is ities and participate in their local communities, made between policies produced by the World and lead active lives in various ways. But they do Health Organization (WHO) and the European not necessarily engage and participate in medical- Union (EU). Active ageing in the WHO concen- ly healthy activities or health-focused communi- trates on the individual life course, with activity and ties. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that active lifestyle interventions as mechanisms and proce- ageing seems to be a dominant discourse and a dures through which the problem can be addressed powerful rearticulation of old age: it is such a and solved. Active ageing in the EU, on the other broad concept that older people can appropriate it, hand, is about institutionalizing the new late life and become independent, engaged, participating, through a change of structure and expectations. self-caring, healthy or active in their own differing Through pension reforms, age management pro- ways without embracing all the different aspects grammes and labour market policies the EU coordi- that make up active ageing in the WHO and the nates the creation of an active later life. Both organ- EU” (p. 238). izations accordingly attempt to unmake the concept Unlike the document study of policy papers and of old age which previously has been linked to pas- the document study of social gerontological litera- siveness and disengagement, but they use different ture on activity, the methodology concerning more approaches. traditional ethnological empirical material (field Articles C and D apply a more ethnographic notes and interviews) is carefully discussed in art- methodology than the previous articles. Here, every- icles C and D. Nevertheless, the summary chapters day practices of older people are scrutinized. The lack a satisfactory description of the different sets of empirical material consists of participant observa- empiric material, the selection process and descriptions and interviews with members at two activity tions of the analysing process. For example, how is centres for older people in the Copenhagen area. the selection process performed in the document Lassen obviously has a rich corpus of material, with studies? How are the documents analysed? And how copious notes from fieldwork observations and quo- do these different empiric materials relate to each tations from interviews. Article C, “Billiards, other, apart from being tangled up in the matter of rhythms, collectives – Billiards at a Danish activity concern? centre as a culturally specific form of active ageing” Overall, the dissertation is a balancing act be- (published in Ethnologia Europaea 2014, 44:1, pp. tween the considered need of policies to make older 57−74) discusses the collective socio-material prac- people lead a healthy active lifestyle, and a more tice of playing billiards in order to dissolve the di- critical approach, common in ethnology. The role of chotomy between activity and passivity present in the ethnologist is discussed and Lassen draws on active ageing policy. Lassen suggests how the Latour’s proposal of the term diplomat, as opposed rhythm of the game shapes a different version of ac- to the advocate. The diplomat is the negotiator be- tive ageing, bound up with gender and class. The tween different worlds, with the role of bringing type of active ageing created at the billiard table is these worlds together and attempting to compose not focused on physical activity, health or produc- some kind of unity. The relevant question for the Reviews 183

diplomat is not how a phenomenon is constructed As regards theory and method, the study is inter- but how it is manufactured. Accordingly, the ethnol- disciplinary and engages in dialogue with research ogist is not an advocate, a defendant of everyday that has been done on topics such as health and practices but brings these practices into the negotia- healthcare, rape, masculinity, gender, and age. Lind- tions about the matter of concern. berg positions himself as a post-structuralist and is Lassen thus takes part in a new development inspired by “discourse ethnology” (Gunnarson which claims that the humanities and social Payne), that is, how cultural phenomena and identi- sciences should be regarded not as in the service ties are created through everyday activity, and the of or in opposition to biomedical discourse and political potential for change (p. 19). science, but as productively entangled with it and The fieldwork was carried on for six years, from therefore must commit to new forms of interdisci- 2009 to 2014. During this period Lindberg com- plinary and cross-sector collaboration. As Vincey, bined a series of qualitative methods. He inter- Callard and Woods at the Centre for Medical Hu- viewed seventeen employees in Swedish healthcare, manities, Durham University, declare in an article all of whom have worked with raped men in differ- from 2015: “a critical collaborator, one based on ent ways. He did participant observation, for in- notions of entanglement rather than servility or stance by spending time in waiting rooms and fol- antagonism”. lowing a nurse in the day-to-day work at an emer- From a reader’s point of view, the role of the dip- gency department. He also took part in the meetings lomat has its risks. The concept of power within of a regional project which had the aim of drawing knowledge productions and policies is not highlight- up guidelines for the care of raped women, children, ed by a mediator; rather, the ideals of the good late and men. life remain unquestioned. Perhaps this is where the In addition, the author has studied a large corpus structure of the dissertation has its greatest disad- of written material: first of all, law texts, medical vantage. A more in-depth and intensive discussion records, reports, action plans, and the like; secondly, may be hard to develop in a compilation thesis books, television programmes, and films. The where each article has a different focus and aim. On sources from popular culture are not directly ana- the other hand, Lassen takes a new approach by in- lysed in the dissertation, but according to Lindberg troducing STS studies in ethnological ageing re- they have been important as a contextual framework search, and the use of the diplomat concept. during the work, since rape against men is a topical Through his dissertation he not only raises the ques- phenomenon. tion of how ethnologists can work in a multidiscip- One of the main findings in the dissertation is that linary way, he also tries to give a fruitful answer. the way Swedish healthcare treats raped men is in Åsa Alftberg, Kristianstad large measure random. There is good empirical evidence for this through the insight we are given into the treatment of raped men at two different hospitals: Frögrenska and Ramberg. This is a comparative Men as Victims of Rape approach which works well because it complicates Jens Lindberg, Orsak: våldtäkt. Om våldtagna män i the picture and leads to a nuanced discussion. It re- medicinsk praktik. Carlsson Bokförlag, Stockholm veals, firstly, that raped men are placed in different 2015. 246 pp. English summary. Diss. ISBN patient positions in the different hospitals, and sec- 978-91-7331-729-0. ondly, that this has consequences for the treatment received by the patient group.  In his doctoral dissertation, the ethnologist Jens At Frögrenska raped men and women were rou- Lindberg has as his overall goal to explore “how tinely admitted and sent on to different places – meanings about rape and raped men are produced women to the gynaecology department and men to within Swedish healthcare” (Abstract). He is par- the surgical department. In addition, heterosexual ticularly concerned with how different patient posi- and homosexual men were separated (unlike tions and ideas about rape against men are created women, who were treated irrespective of their sex- through medical practice and how this affects the ual orientation) and treated in different places. The treatment of men who have been raped. author problematizes the way care staff handle these 184 Reviews

patients, for example, that surgeons do not neces- when he examines this in depth and shows how dis- sarily have the competence to deal with rape, and courses are manifested in concrete practices – or the that raped men are associated with skewed identities absence of practices. He devotes a chapter (pp. rather than injury resulting from rape. 143−164), for example, to describing and analysing At Ramberg there were no set routines for the work of a regional project about the develop- handling raped men. Since raped men did not belong ment of routines for rape. There he followed a pro- to a defined patient group, men with this experience cess whereby men for the first time were formally were outside the system. Lindberg uses a case to treated as a patient group. He illustrates how the demonstrate the possible consequences in practice. gender differences in rape practice – for example, He found that, in the absence of routines, it was the different procedures for admitting rape victims – are feelings of the staff that determined the handling of reproduced in a cultural context. Instead of innova- the patient. tive thinking, the project participants ended with The study exposes and analyses a number of im- solutions based on established norms for body, gen- plicit ideas about gender and sexuality which both der, and specialization. It was organizational aspects underlie and maintain today’s practices in the – functioning care rather than good care – that dic- healthcare system. For example, rape implicitly tated the work. The conclusion therefore was to re- means anal rape when a man is the victim, and vagi- fer patients to surgery rather than gynaecology be- nal rape when it is a woman. Earlier research has cause it seemed to be the most friction-free alterna- documented how diverse the reality is when it tive for raped men – although there was an aware- comes to the type of attack and the victim (see e.g. ness that it would not give the best treatment to this Menn som har begått voldtekt – en kunnskapsstatus, group of patients. The study moreover shows that Kruse et al., from Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om gynaecologists construct a clear gender difference vold og traumatisk stress, 2013). There are often and do not wish to treat men, as this quotation ex- overlaps in experience across the sexes. Despite emplifies: this, similarities between raped men and women are under-communicated. This is well discussed in the Maria: Many of my colleagues [gynaecologists] dissertation. Both sexes, for example, can have been don’t want to examine men. raped anally or orally. Psychological damage (which Jens: Is that so? at least potentially can affect both sexes) must take Maria: Yes, because they don’t think that they are second place to the gendered body which is at the … they’re not trained for it so they shouldn’t ex- centre of the treatment. amine it […] we are specialists in female sex organs Lindberg finds that it is ideas and beliefs about and we shouldn’t examine … (p. 104). rape, and not lived life, that is constitutive of practice. He links this to a “logic of need” (p. 165). In Even though the difference between men and other words, this is a socially constructed under- women has been fundamental in the practice of rape standing of needs which is not necessarily logical, care, it is not consistent. Lindberg complicates the but which often appears logical to healthcare em- picture by analysing a number of interesting bound- ployees (p. 166). In the empirical data of the study ary shifts, and suggests viewing these as “co-pro- this is expressed as a need to satisfy the patient’s ductions” (p. 114). The arrangement of rape care is care needs and provide good care. A concrete ex- exposed when expert systems with different gender ample is the belief of staff that raped men need ex- discourses meet in a practice – thus a “co-produc- amination and care for anal injuries, and in contrast tion”, he claims. He convincingly argues this by us- to women are therefore routinely sent to surgeons, ing as an example the way medicine thinks in terms as at Frögrenska. In reality a raped man may have of differences and the way the judicial system thinks other needs, for example, if he has not suffered an in terms of equality by securing evidence and anal assault. handling rape cases. As regards gender differences, healthcare follows He also interprets it as boundary shifts when the a biomedical model by which men and women are participants in the study reflect on raped men in the constructed as fundamentally different. It is particu- light of similarity across the sexes, rather than some- larly interesting to follow Lindberg’s reasoning thing that concerns men especially. Rearticulation to Reviews 185

thinking in terms of equality may be what is needed of Gothenburg. Göteborg 2015. 255 pp. Ill. Diss. for gynaecologists to be able to treat men, Lindberg ISBN 978-91-7346-821-3. suggests. There are two things I miss when I turn the last  The Norwegian cultural scholar Leidulf Mydland page of the book. First, I would have liked the dis- has worked at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural sertation to have included a discussion of how the Heritage Research (Norsk institutt for kulturminne- healthcare system handles (or fails to handle) men forskning/NIKU). He has presented a Swedish doc- who have been raped by women. I miss this particu- toral dissertation at the Department of Conservation larly because women’s attacks are represented in the at Gothenburg University about Norwegian school- empirical data of the study, and because the analysis houses as cultural monuments. The core of the dis- explicitly considers cultural ideas about rape against sertation consists of six articles which the author men and the consequences these ideas have for prac- published separately in different journals during the tice. There is still little awareness of women’s sex- years 2006−2014. Each of these constitutes a major ual assaults as a phenomenon (which makes it all the chapter. The dissertation is thus a compilation. Four more important to study), but there has been a of the articles are in Norwegian and two in English. trickle of research in the last few decades (see e.g. Since they are reprinted here with no changes, the the survey article “Ingen penis – ingen skade? Når author is aware that some of the content has over- kvinner begår seksuelle overgrep”, Haugland et al., laps and repetitions. In my opinion this happens so Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening, vol. 48, no. often that it would have been better to edit these 6, 2011, pp. 522−528). Secondly, I would have liked texts. The introduction and the concluding chapter, to see the study entering into more dialogue with re- however, are newly written (pp. 21−59 and search across national boundaries on the subject of 221−240). The book is richly illustrated with photo- rape against men (e.g. Torbjørn Herlof Andersen’s graphs, many of them by the author. doctoral dissertation from 2009), since it is such a After the Norwegian Parliament decided in 1860 limited research field. to construct permanent schoolhouses all over the These two objections do not mar the total impres- country, 4,600 schools were built in Norway, most sion of Lindberg’s dissertation as a solid piece of of them (82%) with just one classroom. Inspiration handicraft where the research questions are thor- came from reforms implemented in the USA. Type oughly discussed and a good empirical foundation is plans for the construction of new schools in Norway provided for the arguments. It is refreshing that the were published in 1863, modelled on American author does not yield to the temptation to paint a plans from 1849. In 1886 the Norwegian govern- simplified picture; instead he gives us a nuanced in- ment issued new guidelines for the construction of sight into a challenging topic throughout. With this new schools. These were to serve as the norm for study he has made a valuable contribution to the what school buildings looked like. These schools fields of both research and practice. He has identi- were used for children from grades one to seven. A fied a number of problems in today’s system and law on compulsory schooling had been passed in gives concrete examples along with suggestions for Norway in 1827. Before 1860 there had been only solutions. In addition to being theoretically interest- travelling schools, with the teachers moving from ing, the dissertation can therefore serve as a tool to home to home during the year. With the passing of a improve how the healthcare system handles raped new School Act in 1959 with nine-year compulsory men. I hope it will be used. school, new central schools were built. The older Rannveig Svendby, Oslo schoolhouses therefore ceased to be used in the 1960s. The author has studied schools built in 1860−1920. The aim of the dissertation is to study how old Norwegian Schoolhouses as Cultural schoolhouses – which are so distinctly linked to na- Monuments tion-building, democratization, and public education Leidulf Mydland, Skolehuset som kulturminne. Lo- – have been perceived, preserved, and protected as kale verdier og nasjonal kulturminneforvaltning. cultural monuments. This concerns both voluntary Gothenburg Studies in Conservation 35. University efforts at the local level and nationally through the 186 Reviews

state authority, Riksantikvaren (the Directorate for cultural value of closed-down schools. People even Cultural Heritage). Why did it take so long for the speak of schoolhouses as “a National Icon” (p. 229). national authority to pay attention, and why so little In Iowa, where the author did fieldwork, 60 school- attention, to these schoolhouses? houses were designated as cultural monuments, as As regards theory, the author has been inspired against none in Norway in 2011. The social role of by discourse analysis. He argues that there has been schools in the local community and their importance a hegemonic heritage discourse in Norway. The as symbols of the construction of the nation has term Authorized Heritage Discourse is used to de- been emphasized over the architectural aspects. note what the Directorate for Cultural Heritage rep- Many of the schoolhouses in Iowa have become resents. On a theoretical level the questions in this school museums. The Norwegian schools, by con- dissertation can be compared with those in the book trast, have not been associated with the construction about the making of cultural monuments published of the Norwegian nation during the late nineteenth by NIKU in 2013 with Grete Swensen as editor (re- century, which led to the dissolution of the union viewed by me in Arv 2014, pp. 233−235). with Sweden in 1905. The author has worked for many years in Nor- The fourth chapter is based on an analysis of 18 wegian cultural heritage management and declares local applications from 2002 to 2009 submitted to that he is therefore not “an objective, external ob- the Norwegian Heritage Fund, established by the server of the field I am studying” (p. 22). On the state in 2002. The applications were for subsidies to other hand, he does have good “inside knowledge”. renovate old schoolhouses. The author wants to ar- In the first of the six main chapters the author rive at a picture of how these schoolhouses have conducts an in-depth study of 71 schoolhouses in been perceived at the local level and how they have three selected rural municipalities in southern Nor- been assessed by the Norwegian Heritage Fund. way. Responsibility for building the new schools lay Seven of the eighteen applications were turned with the local councils. Information about old down. The reasons given concerned “antiquarian ap- schoolhouses in Norway has been available since proach”, “authenticity”, and “heritage values”. It is 2007 at www.skolehuset.net, a site established and thus only the physical aspects of the buildings that maintained by the author. are evaluated. Nothing is said about social aspects, In the second chapter the author examines what such as the significance of the school as an educa- happened to the schoolhouses when they were no tional institution, as a local meeting place in the longer in use. Of the 71 specially studied buildings, present day, or as a school museum. This happens 25 are still in use as parochial halls. Twenty-one even though such aspects were emphasized in schoolhouses have become homes or holiday cot- eleven applications. The author finds that local as- tages, while the rest are still standing in dilapidated pects mean very little to the national heritage institu- condition or have been demolished. On only one oc- tions. For him this is a clear example of a “hege- casion, in 1963, did one of the municipalities de- monic heritage discourse”. The absence of an “ar- liberate about whether a particular school had any ticulated antiquarian approach” and “authenticity” value as a cultural monument. are the main reasons cited for rejecting applications. The first act on the protection of historic build- The fifth chapter continues the discussion from ings was passed in Norway in 1920. Today 3,800 the fourth chapter, raising the question of how the buildings are protected, but very few of them are old schoolhouses are perceived and preserved by the schoolhouses and none of these are in rural munici- local environment and in state heritage manage- palities. At the local level too, it seems that school- ment. The author’s critique is aimed at the exces- houses are not valued as cultural monuments. In sively narrow criteria applied by the Directorate for other words, schooling in bygone times has no sym- Cultural Heritage when assessing what should be a bolic significance. cultural monument. Physical aspects are at the The third chapter is a comparative study of how centre, while social aspects are neglected. schoolhouses in Norway and the US Midwest have The sixth chapter is based on an essay published been preserved and perceived as cultural monu- in 2014. It looks at the first old rural schoolhouse ments. The differences are considerable. There is a that was declared a cultural monument by the Di- much greater awareness in the USA of the national rectorate for Cultural Heritage in 2012. The school Reviews 187

was built in 1865/1866 and was used until 1955. “take place”, how they happen somewhere. For ex- The author analyses the written documents in the ample, Märit Simonsson shows how museological archives of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage. research focuses on important fields such as mu- He is openly critical of the time it has taken to im- seum objects, exhibitions, and visitors, but often for- plement the preservation process. A crucial ground gets the significance of the space for the experience for preservation concerns material aspects, namely, and the creation of meaning. She wants to remedy issues of authenticity and aesthetics. On the other this deficiency with her study of the significance of hand, nothing is said about the role of the school as the museum space for how we experience exhibi- an educational institution from the nineteenth cen- tions. tury onwards. According to Simonsson, museology needs to de- In the last chapter the author concludes that it is velop an understanding of how we perceive the mu- the lack of architectural and aesthetic qualities that seum space and the way these perceptions become a lies behind the low interest of the state heritage part of how we create understanding for the exhibi- management authority in protecting old school- tion in the space. Studies of museum architecture houses. This authority has sought more to safeguard highlight technical perspectives and design history matters to do with tradition and continuity than ob- in relation to museum buildings, while more visitor- jects representing change in the form of democrati- oriented studies shed light on people’s movements zation and public enlightenment since the late nine- in the space and their interactions with the exhibi- teenth century. Schoolhouses belong to the latter tion texts, artefacts, and layout. But what can be category. communicated through the way the space is de- A final question concerns how one should assess signed, and how does it become a part of the overall the decidedly subjective and critical researcher role exhibition experience? How can such “spatial de- adopted by the author. He has a burning interest in sign” contribute to the experience of authenticity in ensuring that old schoolhouses are upgraded as his- a museum? These questions are elucidated and dis- torical monuments because of the role they have cussed here through studies of five museums in played in the development of Norwegian society. In Rome: Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Palazzo Doria Pam- his case the boundary between research and active philj, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Museum Cen- culture politics may seem very fine. However, I trale Montemartini, and MAXXI. These five mu- think he has stayed within the boundary that is seums represent a number of different exhibition necessary if the work is to be regarded as research. forms, and the interesting thing for this dissertation The empirical foundation is extensive and well ana- is how the exhibited objects relate to the physical lysed. The author’s practical experience of cultural space in which they are exhibited. Museo dell’Ara heritage management has been of assistance in his Pacis is built up around an ancient object; Palazzo analyses. In the future he will have opportunities to Doria Pamphilj is a palace displaying its private art bring about a change in the prevailing heritage dis- collections; Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is part of course, now that he has begun working for the Di- the National Roman Museum showing collections rectorate for Cultural Heritage whose policy he has excavated in Rome at the end of the nineteenth cen- criticized so sharply. tury; Museum Centrale Montemartini is an old Anders Gustavsson, University of Oslo/Henån power station from around 1900, now housing a collection of ancient sculptures; MAXXI, finally, is a newly built art museum (opened in 2010) exhibiting Spaces in Museums contemporary Italian art and architecture. Märit Simonsson, Displaying Spaces. Spatial De- A quick survey of these five museums shows that sign, Experience, and Authenticity in Museums. In- the design of the different museum spaces differs in stitutionen for kultur- och medievetenskaper, Umeå relation to the aims that the actors involved had Universitet 2014. 206 pp. Ill. Diss. ISBN 978-91- when they created the exhibitions. In that process 7601- 141-6. the amount of thought given to the design of the space has varied. The dissertation describes the mu-  There is an insensitivity to space in much re- seums in detail, each in its own chapter, and the search. People don’t care about how things actually starting point is Simonsson’s own experiences of re- 188 Reviews

peated visits to each museum. Exhaustive descrip- present, Simonsson argues that historical museums tions are interlarded with theoretical reflections and are an excellent place to develop this understanding end with quotations from interviews with first-time precisely because of the potential for authentic ex- visitors for comparison with the author’s own re- periences. An authentic experience can thus be de- flections. fined as the idea that it is possible with the aid of the The theoretical premise is that the space is more imagination to enter into the illusion that is built up than a physical room demarcated by walls, doors, in the exhibition, but that the authentic objects root and windows. The space is also an abstract phenom- the experience in history. The result of this is that enon. A museum explanation takes place and is cre- the debate as to whether it is the object or the experi- ated through our physical perception, the ideas and ence that is the most important in the museum be- prejudices we bring along, and which relate to the comes obsolete since the two complement and rein- intentions that are found, so to speak, built into the force each other. actual design of the space. A space can thus never Despite this important focus, there is an interest- be “innocent”; it is always an active part of what is ing ambivalence in Simonsson’s text. On the one experienced in the space. Here I think that Simons- hand she emphasizes, with the support of the French son’s dissertation paves the way for a deeper explor- philosopher Merleau-Ponty, how perception is a ation that is badly needed in the field, of the rela- subjective physical experience that starts in the body tionship between body, mind, and environment, and and is not so easy to differentiate in separate sensory what that relationship means for our sense-making categories such as sight, hearing, and so on. For in museums. In that relationship perception, for ex- Merleau-Ponty sensory perceptions were a way of ample, is central. Not just how perception can be un- being-in-space, which leads on to a discussion of derstood from a social and cultural perspective but how, with the aid of our senses, we become inter- also the way ideas about how perception happens twined with space and how it takes place for us that are built into the museum practice are material- when we move through it. This meaning-making in- ized more or less consciously in the design of the cludes not just our own experiences and preconcep- museum space and its exhibitions. Several examples tions about what we are supposed to experience; of this are well described in the dissertation. By ex- perception is also embedded in the social, cultural panding our understanding of how the museum and bodily practice in which the visitor is engaged space can be developed, she makes an important during the visit. The materiality of the space, of point here. course, is an important general staring point in our The study leads to discussions about two ques- different ways of experiencing space, but the point tions in particular: (a) What is good design? (b) is that, in this relational perspective on space, the What is a correct museum experience? The fact that subjective bodily experience has an important func- these issues in particular are brought up looks like tion in what reveals itself to us. What I find remark- an ironic wink at ambitions to arrive at uniform able is that, even though the dissertation highlights answers to these – to say the least – normative ques- space as an abstract concept in this sense, that the tions, but the answers nevertheless contribute practi- space is lived, Merleau-Ponty’s theories about the cal advice. Simonsson says a great deal, for in- interweaving of body and space are ignored. This is stance, about the importance of balance between remarkable since Simonsson writes that she wants to free choices and guiding, facts and free interpreta- help break up dichotomies such as mind−body and tions, to make the museum visit pleasant. That bal- thought−feeling in her study aimed at reaching an ance can be achieved through strategic design of understanding of the role played by spatial design in space. the experience of museums. Despite this, she uses The discussion also reveals a history-teaching these concepts with the argument that there is no al- perspective on authenticity. Simonsson argues that ternative – which is a dubious conclusion. Concepts the restoration of places and artefacts to their former such as “embodiment”, for example, are held up in appearance gives opportunities to come closer to an phenomenological literature as an alternative to the understanding of how they were perceived in the body–mind division. And in the spatial turn that the past. Citing Gadamer’s idea that the understanding social sciences are said to have undergone in recent of history is grounded in our understanding of the years, there are also concepts such as “emplace- Reviews 189

ment” to describe precisely this interwoven under- many Youtube clips, for example, showing how standing of body−mind–space. people go through the museum spaces and comment Instead there is a turn in this dissertation towards on their experiences. It would be interesting to see a more realistic claims, such as that, because we are study tackling this material in Simonsson’s theoreti- biological creatures, we can nevertheless say some- cal spirit! thing general about how light and colour in particu- My overall picture of the dissertation is that there lar affect us. This feature also permeates the descrip- are two underlying trails running through it. The tions of the museums, which are chiefly based on way these trails are connected, however, does not Simonsson’s own observations of her experiences. convince me. But the ambition is highly praise- Here the authorial voice is transformed into an ob- worthy and exciting. Simonsson writes: “In order to jective narrator describing what the museum space develop a museological language, methodology, and looks like and how it is experienced. As a reader I theory concerning space as a significant factor in have no problem in believing these descriptions, but museum practice and studies, we need to strive for a the confusion that arises after having been put on a new approach to the relationship between space, hu- different theoretical train in the opening chapters man beings, experience and meaning making” (p. lingers. The reflexivity and the participant research 187). There is a lot to be said for this, and the ambi- methods promised by the phenomenological starting tion is made clear by the way the text bubbles with point are missing in the empirical part, which leaves ideas. The dissertation is highly relevant for the field me with some questions. How does the study relate because it considers important factors which make to the concept of “space” and how does the subjec- historical museums and institutions unique when it tive body really participate in the creation of space? comes to possibilities to build learning environ- Is subjectivity desirable in the study or not? How ments where authentic objects and opportunities to did the author really experience five visits to the revive historical contexts complement each other same museums? Did she discover new things each and thereby reach visitors in unique ways. These re- time, or did it become boring? What role did other flections would not have been possible unless Si- visitors in the space play for her experiences? Is it monsson had been brave and enthusiastic enough to not likely that a completely empty museum space tackle the complex spatial perspective and strive to would give a totally different experience from one make it function in the museum context. It also that is filled with people? In my reading of the dis- opens the way for methodological development, sertation it grapples with concepts such as subjec- with the analytical focus on the body−mind–en- tive/objective, dualistic/non-dualistic, humans as vironment relationship. My concluding comment is biological/cultural beings, that we experience things that this is a dissertation that is worth reading both similarly/differently, that the space is material or a inside and outside academic circles. hybrid, adopting the visitor’s/museum’s perspec- Vaike Fors, Halmstad tive. These are not unusual discussions, and what I suspect after having read the dissertation is that the author is grappling with herself in these issues, The Joy of Dancing without actually arriving at a clear answer. This may Heidi Stavrum, Danseglade og hverdagsliv. Etikk, be one reason why the phenomenological premises estetikk og politikk i det norska dansebandfeltet. in the introduction did not have clear methodologi- University of Bergen 2014. 346 pp. Ill. Diss. ISBN cal consequences in the empirical part. This may 978-82-308-2833-5. very well be due to the intellectual tradition, with its conventions, in which the dissertation is written.  Heidi Stavrum’s dissertation starts with a visit to This identifies a potential sphere of methodological a danceband festival. The visit provokes questions development within the same field. An interesting about the whole danceband activity. The starting corpus of material which, to my knowledge, has not point is that danceband music is in many respects a yet been explored in museology is all the films and successful genre. CD sales are high and festivals are pictures made and uploaded by museum visitors. well attended. Yet it is a genre that lacks coverage Reading this dissertation inspired me to search for and status among music critics and in the media. It these five museums on the Internet, where I found is also a field in which little research has been done. 190 Reviews

Stavrum’s ambition is therefore to contribute to our bution to perceptions of the Norwegian cultural field knowledge of danceband music, chiefly by analys- and cultural politics. The reservations serve as clari- ing how the field is perceived by those who take part fying instructions to the reader as to how and in in it. The aim is to describe and analyse the different what context the results and research questions values and distinctions that are active in the dance- should be understood. It is essential to point out here band field and the ways in which they help to create that the dissertation – despite all Stavrum’s reserva- and maintain a social community. To do this, the au- tions – does have something important to add to the thor starts with the practices of the audience at Nor- field of musicology and to broader culture studies. wegian danceband festivals. There are insights here that are interesting outside The dissertation has a clear and informative the academic contexts where cultural policy is stu- structure. Stavrum explicitly presents the different died. steps in her thinking which led to her choice of The aim of the study is thus to understand the method, problem, and theory. She continuously danceband sphere as it appears to the people who sums up her analytical points and insights. It can participate in it. To be able to achieve that goal, sometimes give a repetitive impression but it gener- Stavrum has chosen to work with participant obser- ally adds to the clarity of the dissertation. She posi- vation and has approached the dancebands in the tions herself clearly in relation to the different tradi- contexts where they perform, chiefly at festivals, but tions of thought and academic subjects from which also on cruises and in ski hotels. The method is well she derives inspiration. She emphasizes that the dis- established and reasonable for the purpose. In addi- sertation arose in two academic contexts. First, she tion Stavrum has interviewed and spoken to people has been attached to Telemark University College she met in the field, such as festival goers, musi- and a research environment where the main object cians, arrangers, and journalists. Stavrum has also of study has been Norwegian cultural politics. Cul- used written sources, especially the danceband ture should be understood here in the sense of aes- world’s own magazine, De Danseglade. The thetic activity, and the predominant perspective is a method and material are well suited to the ambition cultural sociology influenced by Bourdieu. In ad- and objective. The different categories of material dition, Stavrum has worked at the University of complement each other, both nuancing and confirm- Bergen with its stronger tradition of cultural analy- ing the results they yield on their own. sis. Her study should thus be viewed in the light of The dissertation is based to a large extent on ob- these two academic settings, and she describes the servations and interviews. These give the reader an work on her dissertation as moving back and forth idea of what the festivals in general are like. It also between different traditions of thought. Stavrum seems to me that the findings as presented are well chisels out her research project by continuously grounded in the evidence on which the study builds. highlighting and countering potential challenges or What I wonder about is primarily how Stavrum’s alternative approaches to her object of study. She empirical material is presented in the dissertation. makes clear reservations in relation to scholarly There is a recurrent heading “Excursus on Method” contexts and knowledge goals alongside her own. where Stavrum, on the basis of her own experiences This is not a cultural history of how the danceband in the field, discusses boundaries, taste, and values genre emerged, nor is it an analysis of how the in the danceband field. Here she convincingly uses Swedish danceband scene has influenced Norway, herself as an instrument. She writes in an exciting and it is not an analysis of the lyrics and sounds of a way about how her choice of cava in the bar is iden- musical genre. The dissertation, according to the au- tified by the informants as fancier, somewhat posh. thor, is not intended as a contribution to musicology, This is contrasted with the drinking habits of the culture studies, or sociology. Instead the dissertation others, and Stavrum carries on an interesting discus- is a contribution to the ongoing discussion of the de- sion of taste and social belonging. In other cases, fects and normative challenges in research on cul- when it is no longer Stavrum herself who is the tural politics and a study of how social community centre of the empirical focus, the ethnography is and aesthetic expressions go together. The intention more summary in character. She describes what is that the dissertation will produce new knowledge dancing, the festival life, and the performances tend of an unresearched social context and make a contri- to be like, often using quotations from a field note. Reviews 191

Here I would have liked Stavrum to have considered the music business people. The close contact be- the empirical examples with the same depth as she tween fans and musicians is another recurrent theme applies in the excursus on method, where she paints emphasized by musicians and audiences alike. The a more nuanced, less schematic picture of the situa- musicians may stick out with their stage outfits and tions she has studied. If Stavrum had quoted and dis- hairdos, but the same rule applies to them: they must cussed her observations and notes, for example, be nice, not haughty in any way. To be able to live from the dance floor and the camping site in the up to the various ideals for the dances, the musicians same way, the dissertation would have made an even have a double quality demand to meet. Their music more reflective contribution to our understanding of must appeal to the feet and the ears. It has to have the danceband field. good rhythm and tempo you can dance to, the tune The strength of Stavrum’s dissertation lies in the must be simple and the words about everyday topics way she exposes the danceband field step by step, that people recognize. When the music is good, the revealing its characteristic values and distinctions body responds and people dance. and how this gives rise to a community. The empiri- Recurring all through the dissertation are the two cal starting point is the danceband festivals. Visitors themes in the title, namely the joy of dancing and come here to have a nice time, to relax and meet everyday life. The author shows convincingly how like-minded people. An initial and recurrent obser- these make themselves felt in matters of ethics, aes- vation, one that the informants emphasize, is that it thetics, and cultural politics. It may be mentioned should be “nice”. To fit into this nice atmosphere, here that these two themes are both well found and the festival goers have to be down-to-earth and in well grounded in the empirical study, but that ethics, good spirits. In addition to the niceness there is a aesthetics, and cultural politics are better grounded multitude of different distinctions comprising a rela- in Stavrum’s research premises. One of Stavrum’s tively broad range of things associated with dance- ambitions is to examine the danceband field on its bands. There is the size of the dance floor and the own terms. Based on the findings of the dissertation, facilities surrounding the dances. The lighting and in keeping with the constitution of the dance- should be warm, the air good, and the volume not band field, it would have been possible here, and too loud to make conversation impossible. There perhaps more justified, to speak of consumption should be clean toilets, hot food, and cold drinks. rather than cultural politics. That would have been a Food should be reasonably priced and the people clearer reflection of the use of culture – in an aes- who serve it must be nice. Everything should be thetic sense – in the danceband field. practical, not contrived. The food should not be Stavrum’s careful study enables her to identify a exotic; suitable items on the menu are pizza, ham- social position where certain shared values and taste burger, or salmon. The security people should be preferences emerge. Stavrum describes the social nice and maintain order. “Nice” is thus a frequently position in relation to the anthropologist Marianne recurring distinction that identifies the community Gullestad’s working-class descriptions and a taste of the danceband field. The danceband field can position that is identified as popular, of the people. mainly be found in villages and small towns. There Here Stavrum is particular to point out that, al- is dancing in sports arenas, in community halls, and though she cannot say so much about the festival in exhibition areas. It is an activity that takes place goers’ social background, through the distinctions outside the spheres where the more acknowledged that emerge it is nevertheless possible to interpret culture takes place. taste and values in relation to Gullestad’s studies. Stavrum identifies four ideal types of people at She describes a social position characterized by the danceband festivals. First the dancers, who can classical Protestant ethics and morals, where decen- be recognized by their dancing shoes, indicating that cy and self-control bring recognition and where tra- dancing is the main thing for them; then the dance- ditional gender roles prevail. Morality has a promi- band fans, who wear caps and t-shirts with the band nent place. Those in the danceband field position names and who come to the festival to listen to the themselves in relation to the rowdier “country field” music. There are also the “yeehawers” who go to where people eat more hamburgers (the danceband festivals to party and meet people. Other people at world prefers hot dogs) and drink too much alcohol. the festivals include the danceband musicians and Participants in the danceband field also have to re- 192 Reviews

late to the finer culture of the middle class, who are which the people interviewed in the study relate. I identified as doctors, lawyers, and professors. In re- find it difficult to talk about how community and lation to these, the people in the danceband field are distinctions of taste are established, without con- more relaxed and less affected. Those who take part sidering continuities or changes in history, especial- in the danceband field belong to the social position ly in a context like the danceband field where the in- that is perceived by the public sphere as lacking cul- terviewees continually refer to what it was like in tural interests and therefore are believed to need the past. There are several examples in the disserta- extra support to find their way to cultural activities. tion of how danceband music is seeking new forms In contrast to this, people in the danceband field re- of aesthetic expression, and acknowledged dance- gard themselves as large-scale consumers of culture. band musicians are also becoming a part of the more This is one of the dissertation’s contributions to re- established cultural scene (as when Ole Ivars, for in- search on cultural policy, since the participants in stance, played at the opening of the new opera house the danceband field usually stay outside the cultural in Oslo). A closer look at this could have given activities supported by public money, which are thus some dynamism to the relations constituted by the identified as important. Here we see a parallel to the field. It would likewise have been interesting to ex- way people in the danceband field view their own amine the significance of country music to find position as being outside the more recognized forms more nuances. Country is used in the dissertation as of culture and they distance themselves both from both a social and an aesthetic category. Here Oslo and from the Swedish danceband world. They Stavrum could have enlisted Bourdieu with his dis- think that their danceband culture should be able to tinction between field of production and field of stand on its own two feet. They themselves pay for consumption. The field of consumption includes the culture they consume, and they think other those who buy records, join in the dances, in short, people ought to do the same. those who in different ways consume danceband Here I lack a more concerted discussion of music. The field of production includes those who self-images, or perhaps rather self-representations produce what is consumed in the danceband field. on the social position of the danceband field. The This may seem like a narrow distinction, and many self-images can include the sense of being alongside of the people who take part in the danceband field the established culture, and the sense of being nice. belong to both. The important thing here is that it is Another recurring self-image is that danceband is not a matter of individuals but of positions, which not harry. The Norwegian adjective harry is under- are regulated by different values. With this way of stood here as marking something tacky, in bad taste, thinking, country music as a social context is a laughable. Being interested in danceband music, ac- negative social reference in the field of consump- cording to the participants in the field, is not harry. tion, while country as a musical influence in the So what is harry? Is it a gender-coded taste? Where field of production can be a positive reference (in can harry be found? Or is harry perhaps a designa- the interviews it is pointed out, for example, that the tion for the others, those who do not need to be de- use of saxophones has been toned down and that fined and therefore can help to shape a social posi- steel guitar, which is perceived as a country instru- tion of their own? Perhaps harry should simply be ment, has become more common). understood as a boundary marker, a way of signal- As regards theory, the dissertation derives inspi- ling one’s own good taste as cultural outsiders. ration from two main frameworks, Bourdieu’s cul- Stavrum, as I have said, is careful to point out tural sociology and ritual theory. Bourdieu’s theory that her temporal perspective concerns contempo- is rather well tried and tested in such contexts. rary culture and that this is not a dissertation in cul- Stavrum thus adds her study to other investigations tural history. Yet even in a present-day study there of Bourdieuan fields of force. This tradition enables is a history to relate to, a history that reflects earlier both a subjective and an objective understanding of power relations in the field of music/culture and the what is studied. It is, as Stavrum points out, a theory changeability of the aesthetic expression. A social that is capable of considering and integrating both position is not constituted out of nothing, but in rela- aesthetic and social qualities in interpretations and tion to earlier practices, values, and distinctions analyses. In Stavrum’s study it is particularly the which also recur in the ideas about danceband to concepts of field, recognition, and distinction that Reviews 193

are useful, although other concepts such as doxa and question and describes the danceband field as a con- illusio are also used. The danceband festivals are a text where conflict is avoided. She sketches a social central event for those who are interested in dance- position with clear values and attitudes. The con- band music. Because of the crucial importance of flicts that occur concern what can be perceived as the festivals in the danceband field, they are ana- danceband and how the participants are supposed to lysed as social rituals that help to produce, confirm, behave at danceband events. For anyone outside the and maintain the values, practices, and ideas of the field, these discussions may seem limited, more like danceband world. Stavrum approaches these from ripples on the surface than a real battle over the the perspective of ritual theory. She proceeds from field. But this is surely always easy to say for some- classical ritual theory as represented by Durkheim, one outside the field where a battle is being waged, van Gennep, and Victor Turner, but also from the so I do not intend to act as judge on the matter of study of secular rituals like those described by whether this is a Bourdieuan field or not. What I can Moore and Myerhoff (1977) and used in ethnology say is that the boundaries are much clearer when it and folkloristics. The use of ritual theory goes well comes to the relationship to country festivals, the at- with Bourdieu’s observation that rituals help to titude to cultural support, or how those who are maintain the fields, to confirm the participants’ studied constantly relate to the idea that danceband existence as members of a particular group with cer- music has a low status. The question of the autono- tain rights. Both theories clearly contribute to the my of a field is important in more orthodox results obtained by the dissertation and provide Bourdieu studies. Perhaps it is not as important for answers to the questions stated by Stavrum in her Stavrum’s study, where the major contribution lies aims. in the way she manages to highlight the position of Stavrum’s use of Bourdieu calls for reflection. danceband music alongside or even outside what is She writes in the introduction that she wanted to usually included in the field of cultural policy. In avoid Bourdieu and that she was critical of how his any case, Stavrum shows through her reasoning that theory almost automatically defined danceband as she is aware of what is expected to be included in a an example of low culture. She therefore tried phe- Bourdieuan study. For the sake of the dissertation, nomenology but returned to Bourdieu since this however, I think it would have been more interest- made it possible to approach the actors’ own reflec- ing if she had grappled more with the social position tions and how they often included external assess- that she has identified and had been less concerned ments in their reflections. According to Stavrum this with whether the danceband field itself is a was a way to problematize and not excessively ro- Bourdieuan field or not. Stavrum’s findings as re- manticize her object of study. A wise choice. gards the position that is sketched would have been It is reasonable here to reflect on whether the equally interesting even if the field had been defined danceband field is a Bourdieuan field. This is a as a field of music or perhaps of dance music. question that Stavrum bears in mind all through the I think it is important here to make a distinction dissertation. She points out that it is an empirical between using Bourdieu’s concepts as analytical question, not a theoretical one. Stavrum assumes in- tools and the larger Bourdieu-influenced project of itially that it is a field and to a certain extent she also identifying all the positions and distinctions of a arrives at that conclusion. This can be taken to mean field (for example, the field of Norwegian cultural that she succeeds in demonstrating what she sus- policy). With Bourdieu’s tools Stavrum is able to pected from the beginning, but it can also give an show the distinctions and values that create the impression of circular reasoning. It is reasonable danceband field. There is scope here for nuances that the danceband sphere can be seen as a field and surprising results. When dealing with cultural from an aesthetic or a social perspective. It has its fields as a whole, however, Bourdieu can be a little own distinct actors, a market, arenas for production predictable; this can be interpreted as praise of and mediation, and channels for critique and quality Bourdieu’s acute theoretical apparatus, but it also assessment. There is also, as we have seen, a fairly gives the impression of one subfield after another uniform morality. But is it also possible to identify a being checked off as they are studied, so that they field where there is a conflict in Bourdieu’s sense, confirm Bourdieu’s theories step by step. This does and if so, what is it about? Stavrum discusses the not mean that Stavrum obediently accepts all of 194 Reviews

Bourdieu’s assumptions. Rather, she displays an arjessa (Intersections in the Everyday Life of Har- awareness of the limitations of the theoretical con- bors) focuses on representations of dock workers ceptual apparatus and its potential determinism. She and other people employed in or in the social en- shows, for example, how entrepreneurs and music in vironment of the Finnish harbors of Helsinki and the danceband field do not work from such dry Kotka in the extended 1950s. For her book, a doc- economistic calculations as Stavrum had expected toral thesis in European Ethnology, Steel has herself and as is ascribed to the position in Bourdieu’s own conducted or brought together a total of almost fifty studies; instead they put more emphasis on the mu- interviews with people who have worked in these sic for the audience’s sake than on sheer profit Finnish harbors, creating a holistic oral history that (which is an example of yet another self-image that presents an intersectional view of harbor culture. could have been discussed in more detail). This collection of memories is already in itself a All in all, Heidi Stavrum’s dissertation is a good valuable ethnological contribution to the study of contribution to research on cultural politics and to Finnish harbor culture. Steel has skillfully organized the cultural analysis of an aesthetic expression. The her data into categories of gender, ethnicity, class dissertation makes one curious about how other gen- and age in relation to the experience of and dis- res could be examined with an equally close-up courses about working in a harbor. The study is par- analysis of distinctions and taste preferences. How ticularly strong in its inquiry into the narrated and do country music fans, for example, perceive them- discursive construction of manhood and woman- selves and their musical interest? She portrays a hood in 1950s Finland, where the significances and genre of music with a clear utility aesthetic. She dichotomic relations of gender were more fixed than demonstrates a social context alongside or perhaps today. At the same time, Steel succeeds in showing completely concealed from the strategies and con- how masculinity and femininity were negotiable siderations of cultural politics. In this respect the cultural constructions already half a century ago. dissertation also fulfils Stavrum’s ambition to ex- The fact that harbor work in Finland was globally pose the taste distinctions and values of the dance- exceptional in that there was a large female minority band field. among the workforce makes the study even more in- Lars Kaijser, Stockholm teresting in terms of gender studies. In addition to stories of and by Finnish dock workers Tytti Steel’s data includes abundant narrative about two interesting and culturally marginal Harbor: a Cornucopia of Cultural Signifi- groups in the harbor context, prostitutes and foreign cance seamen. Each group seemed to be regarded as mar- Tytti Steel, Risteäviä eroja sataman arjessa (English ginal by the narrators for different reasons: the pros- summary: Intersections in the Everyday Life of titutes for residing in the shadows of the moral land- Harbors). Filosofian, historian. kulttuurin ja taitei- scape and the foreign seamen because of their eth- den tutkimuksen laitos. Helsingin yliopisto, Helsin- nicity and language. To the reader’s delight, Steel ki 2013. 279 pp. Diss. ISBN 978-952-10-9012-7. manages to find interesting variety in the views on both groups. As well as the sinful image of the pros-  A harbor is a nexus of goods, people and ideas, titute, there are interesting hints of attributions of saturated with representations of exoticism, hard strong individual agency to prostitutes as people work and dubious moralities. No matter if it is who had dared to venture outside conventional mo- Socrates descending to the colorful streets of the ralities. In the case of foreign seamen, imagery de- Port of Piraeus in Plato’s The Republic or Luke Sky- picting representatives of an inferior ethnicity with walker entering a shady spaceport tavern in planet lower mental capacity is counterbalanced by por- Tatooine in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope traits of culturally and materially superior men from 1997 (directed by George Lucas) harbors have exotic lands. always enjoyed a certain reputation for untamed Steel also makes a thorough inquiry into histori- otherness and liminality. Thus, they are a goldmine cal and contemporary studies on harbor work, draw- for an ethnologist. ing on them as contextual data but also, delightfully Tytti Steel’s monograph Risteäviä eroja sataman critical, analyzing them as part of the representation- Reviews 195

al universe of harbors. However, what really proves mation on how multifaceted the role of an individual Steel to be a broad-minded ethnologist is her deci- in a given culture is, but in Steel’s study the catego- sion to include over twenty documentary and fic- ries seemed slightly too predetermined. That is per- tional films in her data, extending the reservoir of haps inevitable in any study whose aim is to test a harbor representations and proving that there are hypothesis. Perhaps Steel could have viewed her certain key discursive elements in portraying har- categories of intersectionality as part of a hypothe- bors, regardless of the source of discourse. sis, rather than as emerging from the data. In this Putting fictional films under the ethnological mi- connection it might have been helpful to have a di- croscope shows how the harbor of “real life” and rect statement of a hypothesis setting out the catego- “fiction” is – like any other cultural phenomenon – ries as the objects of study to be tested through the intertwined and interacting, creating a two-way data. As it stands there seem to be other categories channel of communication where both sides use the at least as relevant as her four categories that make a other as representational fuel to construct imagery difference in a dock-workers social life and identity, of the subject at hand. Considering not only the sig- for example consumption of alcohol and attitude to nificance and power of popular fiction in everyday work. These could also have been treated as catego- lives but also its ability to condense and reflect the ries of intersectionality. Nevertheless, the categories Zeitgeist, it is time ethnologists took it seriously. used did provide relevant results and functioned That is what Tytti Steel has laudably done. How- well as a clear method of sorting the data. At times ever, perhaps a bit too loyal to her discipline, she at- Tytti Steel’s interpretation process could have been tempts to defend traditional ethnological inquiry for more explicit, for example in some cases where ignoring film studies on the grounds that, informa- events related by informants were interpreted in the tion-wise, film as a medium is very challenging to a context of gender or ethnicity, but the overall im- scholar. Steel describes how film includes visual, pression gained from reading Steel’s analysis is that textual and auditory information, making it too com- the author is a trustworthy captain of her analytical plex for researchers to study. However, there is rea- ship, and one is persuaded to take her word for it. son to believe ethnology has shunned the study of In her dissertation, Steel presents Tapio Berg- film because it has not been considered a worthy ob- holm’s picture of harbor history as situated in an un- ject of study, being too “modern” a product of cul- comfortable intersection of international, national ture, and perhaps merely because films connote en- and local histories. This sort of complexity – or, to tertainment – worlds apart from the traditionally call a spade a spade, messiness – of the field exists studied peasant subject toiling away in conditions of not only in the case of harbor research but in almost scarcity. However, films and particularly fictional any contemporary object of research in the glo- films could and perhaps should be considered hy- balized world. The interconnectedness of social perreal elements of culture, objects that reflect the groups, the fractal-like appearance of culture and the values, norms, social structures and beliefs of their amoeba-like structure of society are part and parcel time in a condensed form as if summaries of what a of an ethnologist’s object of study, which is further society is at a certain point in time. In Steel’s treat- complicated by the intermingling of facts and fig- ment of film material, there is no hint that the me- ures with selective memories, discourses and narra- dium is a challenging field of study but it is seen tives. The result of this is a set of multilayered data, rather as a bountiful source of culturally relevant in- a field that has only varying degrees of truth value, formation. but immense cultural significance. It is indeed a As Steel’s study focuses especially on gender in challenge, but a cornucopia to those who dare to the cultural construction of the harbor, her approach tackle it. In the final chapter of her monograph, Tytti drawing on intersectionality is well justified. It is a Steel was modest enough to write that she had diffi- popular if contested method of gender research, but culties finding multidimensionality in her data. Per- overall fits well in the study. However, the approach haps it was indeed challenging, but there are no suffers slightly from the application of the social traces of this in the end result, which is a well- categories that are commonly used in intersectional- rounded, wide-ranging and captivating excursion ist gender studies. Ethnicity, gender, class and age into harbor life. do provide valuable points of reference and infor- Jukka Jouhki, Jyväskylä 196 Reviews

Becoming One’s Identity “becomes” one’s identity in the homosexual club Philip Warkander, “This is all fake, this is all plas- scene of contemporary Stockholm. Style, gender tic, this is me”. A study of the interrelations between and sexuality are obvious focal points to explore the style, sexuality and gender in contemporary Stock- complex processes of becoming an individual and holm. Centre for Fashion Studies, Stockholm Uni- defining oneself in relation to the expectations of versity 2013. 234 pp. Ill. Diss. ISBN 978-91-87235- conventional society – if these really exist. They do, 20-7. at least, exist as a cultural imagination, among both those who seek to distinguish themselves from the  This thesis is something special, in the sense that norm and those who seek to define themselves as it is the first thesis of the new interdisciplinary pro- identical to it. gramme in Fashion Studies at Stockholm Universi- In the course of the thesis, the reader is intro- ty. Around the turn of the twenty-first century, this duced to ten identity producers, ten informants, all research programme is a collaborative initiative of initially presented via the characteristics of their in- scholars from art history and ethnology with a dividual sartorial style. None of the ten informants common interest in dress and fashion studies, made is an ordinary person. On the contrary, they appear possible by generous financial support from the to be extraordinary people within their individual family foundation behind the world’s largest fast- communities – performers, actors, club organizers, fashion company, H&M. In 2006, the Centre for political activists, etc. They stand out in their man- Fashion Studies was inaugurated, and two years ner of dress, and through dress, they negotiate their later the centre launched its PhD programme. Stu- considerably-negotiable identities. They are all ne- dents whose backgrounds included art history and gotiating in opposition to perceptions of hetero- ethnology were enrolled, and Philip Warkander, sexual norms. Identifying with the sex of their birth trained as an ethnologist, became in 2013 the first is not an option. Instead, their negotiations and style doctoral candidate to complete his studies and to be production are viewed in the realm of language and entitled to present himself as a Doctor of Fashion of the discourse that shapes the perceptions of dif- Studies. This was celebrated not only at Stockholm ferent style productions. Warkander shows how the University, but in the international world of fashion process of naming a certain style is important for studies, and was proudly announced by Dr Valerie making their identities, just as it is important for Steele, editor-at-large of the most prominent inter- them to acquire a pseudonym that they can use to national academic fashion journal, Fashion Theory: capture the specificity of their style. Identity negoti- The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture (Blooms- ations are further explored in relation to space, to bury Academic). The field of fashion studies had where and when a certain sartorial style is explored, matured as an academic discipline. And with its re- and to bodily matter. The body is at the centre of search topic, this thesis articulates the way Fashion sartorial experimentation and negotiation. It is not Studies sees fashion: as a cultural practice centred just fantasy, but fantasy materialized as sartorial on the body and expressed through different choices and style production. The thesis clearly self-fashioning practices that have the potential to demonstrates the Latourian perspective. Style is pro- tell us what it means to be a post-modern human, duced collectively, involving many actors beyond through an understanding of ways of living, negoti- the actual wearer of a selection of garments and be- ating identity and styling. The entanglement of dis- yond the garments themselves. Style is bricolage, as ciplines in Warkander’s study is striking. The focus Claude Lévi-Strauss and Dick Hebdige would call on fashion makes it fashion studies, but the outcome it, but to Warkander it is important also to stress the and lessons of the study could just as well be pack- importance of gender, and not only the social con- aged as an ethnology of the present. The theory and text in which an individual style emerges. method chosen for the study support its point. As is Warkander gives his reader a close understanding the case with many current ethnology studies, of the ten informants’ sartorial style production Latourian actor-network theory informs the study’s through his ethnographic fieldwork. Warkander analytical perspective, and ethnographic fieldwork joined the queer club scene for a period of two years informs its method. in Stockholm, doing participant observation and in- The thesis studies the processes by which one terviews with the informants. The thoughts and con- Reviews 197

straints that go into the informants’ definitions of was) possible to read meaning over the shoulder of their identity are overwhelming. Even if the identi- informants. That would be speculative. With his the- ties of these ten persons seem settled, this is merely sis, Warkander offers an alternative path to studying a momentary perception, as it is a central part of the contemporary – fashion – and demonstrates the their identity to be constantly negotiating. Even mutual interests of ethnologists and fashion schol- though this is not part of Warkander’s objective, it is ars, which must have further potential. The Centre rather incredible to observe the flexibility and possi- for Fashion Studies has good reason to be proud of bility these extraordinary informants have for their first Doctor! self-fashion, not only within their own communities, Marie Riegels Melchior, Copenhagen but also in the Swedish legal context, compared to the situation in the past. However, Warkander lets the informants recount a series of incidents when the The Sparsely Populated North style of an informant has been too controversial, Elisabeth Wollin Elhouar, Tillhör vi Sveriges fram- causing others to have a physical reaction or to hurl tid? En etnologisk studie av vardag och hållbarhet i insults. Much is possible these days, compared with norrländsk glesbygd. Stockholms universitet, Insti- the past, but we have not yet arrived at the point tutionen för etnologi, religionshistoria och genusve- where anything goes. The freedom to choose, which tenskap, Stockholm 2014. 218 pp. English summa- is a value we often fight for in Western societies, be- ry. Diss. ISBN 978-91-7649-052-5. comes almost too much in the study. Considering that the majority of the informants are past their ear-  “What does the word ‘enough’ mean? Is Sweden ly twenties – their formative years – it appears to be full? Is Scandinavia full? Are we too many people? stressful, and not simply an expression of creative […] I often fly over the Swedish countryside. I potential, to constantly renegotiate oneself. would recommend others to do so. There are endless Methodologically, the thesis is interesting, as it fields and forests. There is all the space you can im- explores the boundaries of participant observation. agine. Those who argue that the country is full, they Warkander was given access to the informants be- need to show where it is full.” cause he was acquainted with a few of them from The words are from an interview with the former his own time in the club scene. But this seems also Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in the to be a challenge for the study – a challenge to ob- Danish newspaper Politiken, published on 6 Decem- servation skills – since elements can become neu- ber 2014, only a few days before Elisabeth Wollin tralized via participation. The lack of photo docu- Elhouar’s dissertation was defended. Although by mentation is one outcome of this neutralization, I some regarded as a hypocrite, Reinfeldt’s famous suppose. With the study’s emphasis on the material- last words before he lost the election in 2014 were ization of style and identity, it is strange not to have that the Swedes should “open their hearts” to immi- included images in the thesis. How do the inform- grants in need. After that, the rhetoric on immigra- ants actually look? What kind of style bricolage do tion changed drastically over almost the whole polit- they actually produce? As a reader you want not ical spectrum in Sweden, and so did the politics. Al- only to know it, but also to see it. though visionary, the mere observation of how The contribution of this thesis, despite its lack of much free land there is (and a very non-sustainable images, is rich. A view of style is presented: an in- requirement of more domestic flying to see for your- side definition of style as production. Style is some- self) is not exactly the same as providing a realistic thing that is done, and should be understood in this possibility to live there. We will get back to that. context. It is negotiable, always “becoming”, offer- The dissertation “Do we belong to the future of ing hereby a contrast to previous studies of style as a Sweden? An ethnological study of everyday life and reading of cultural meanings, as in Dick Hebdige’s sustainability in the sparsely populated northern seminal book Subculture: The Meaning of Style area” takes a closer look at areas like the ones (1979). “This is fake, this is plastic, this is me,” says viewed from the ex-prime minister’s aircraft win- one informant, demonstrating the complexity of dow, and engages in the possibilities and obstacles contemporary queer identity making. With such for living in these places. The dissertation has the complicated individualism, it is no longer (if it ever purpose to investigate “how social sustainability is 198 Reviews

constructed, experienced, practised and perceived in cussion on sustainability. The empirical material a field of tension between local everyday life and clearly demonstrates how people do not see the bus political discourses”. This is done by studying as an alternative to the car, due to the few departures everyday action in relation to life experiences and and general inflexibility. It is mostly regarded as un- rhetoric about sustainable development. reasonable for people to subordinate themselves to As a starting point for the project are observa- the bus, which is viewed as impractical and slow – tions carried out in the municipalities of Ström- especially for the men, it might be added. Wollin sund, Gislaved, Örnsköldsvik and Falkenberg. Elhouar states that among the informants it is virtu- This was part of the Vinnova-sponsored project ally only the women that use the bus, a point that “Travelling in Rural Areas: Life Circumstances clearly shows how the possibility for movement is for Women and Men”. The main material used for also affected by gender. Most of the women, how- the dissertation, however, consists of interviews ever, do not have the bus as a part of their everyday with thirteen informants in the municipalities of life either. The preferred car is used not only for per- Strömsund and Örnsköldsvik, and in addition field sonal transportation but also for work and needed notes from observations. Furthermore, observa- also for the transportation of things, and the chapter tions from Gislaved and the municipality of Bro- clearly shows how the car is both a necessity and a ken Hill in the Australian outback have also been norm. Not having a car can even be grounds for so- included and are referred to as secondary data. cial exclusion, as shown in one of the interviews. Newspaper articles, research papers and political This clashes with the official rhetoric where the documents are used to study the discourse on sus- train and the bus are regarded as the sustainable al- tainable development. ternatives. The train is just as irrelevant as the bus, Methodological inspiration from hermeneutics at least for the people in Strömsund; Wollin Elhouar and phenomenology is used for the interpretation of here points to a relevant divide between the centre the data and Wollin Elhouar’s theoretical frame- and the periphery within the studied area, which is work is primarily influenced by phenomenology and marked by the railway, since the main investments constructivism. Central concepts from phenomenol- in infrastructure have been made on the coastal ogy are Alfred Schütz’s lifeworld, provinces of Bothnia Line and not the Inland Line (which is meaning and typifications. Wollin Elhouar is also mainly used for timber and tourists). The interview- influenced by Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the sys- ees show an awareness of how their car practices are tem and more specifically how it “colonizes” the perceived, that they clash with the province of lifeworld by affecting everyday life. To analyse so- meaning that preaches sustainability. This is there- cial sustainability, specifically in relation to rural fore challenged by other provinces of meaning, in and sparsely populated areas, Wollin Elhouar uses this case the conditions for everyday life in sparsely for example the concepts of policy, as defined by populated areas, for which the car is regarded as a Chris Shore and Susan Wright (1997). The concepts rational choice. From a social perspective, the car is of place and centre and periphery are used to ana- therefore the most important maker of sustainability lyse power structures that affect sparsely populated for the locals, Wollin Elhouar argues. areas, although it is pointed out that a place can be The third chapter, “Work and leisure”, also has a understood as both centre and periphery, depending focus on the clash of sustainability as a rhetoric and on comparison and context. as a practice, but in relation to occupational work. The dissertation is arranged in five chapters. The The chapter shows that what is regarded as a mean- introduction is followed by three empirical chapters ingful life is often equivalent to a life located in the that are ordered thematically, before the final chap- home village. Because of the few work opportuni- ter that holds the concluding discussion. Chapter ties in the municipalities the informants expressed two, “Space and movement”, examines how dis- gratitude at having a job “at home”. Proximity be- courses and policies on sustainability are interpreted comes an important value and local companies prac- in the local reality of the municipalities of Ström- tice social sustainability by not relocating. However, sund and Örnsköldsvik. Wollin Elhouar shows how new technologies also opens up possibilities to the car is regarded as a necessity for the people liv- bridge geographical distances through the ability to ing there, and how this collides with a political dis- work from home, not least for local entrepreneurs. Reviews 199

This however also requires a dependable infrastruc- Hansen 2009; Rosengren 1991; Vallström et al. ture, here in the form of broadband. 2014). In a global framework, the dissertation can In the fourth chapter, “Time and tempo”, the use also be linked to the study of place and how peri- of time in the studied municipalities is examined. phery is marginalized, as explored for example by This chapter shows how the interviewees relate to Rob Shields (1992), Chris Philo (1997) and Paul J. the discussion about the countryside as slow and Cloke and Jo Little (1997). old-fashioned and how this has an actual influence The theoretical framework, although somewhat di- on how they perceive themselves. The interviewees verse, drives the analysis forward. The clear structure distance themselves from the fast urban pace and as- of the dissertation is also helpful in this: the thematic sociate “urban time” with stress. Slowness can thus organization of the chapters is an excellent choice. A be used for business as a specific value, for example strength of the dissertation lies in the ethnographic through tourism specifically designed for stressed material, the quotations from the interviews reveal a city dwellers. The image of rural areas as slow and thorough ethnographic fieldwork. Some methodolog- the inevitable effect of otherization in that sense, ical choices could however have been further evaluat- however, also contributes to the exclusion of these ed, a longer discussion about the choice to include the areas from the discourses of sustainability. The material from Australia, and its role in the analysis people living there can also experience a feeling of could have been rewarding, for example. unfairness in terms of time control, due to the lack Something that makes the dissertation highly rel- of infrastructure, for example. evant is that, from a Swedish perspective, it touches In the final chapter Wollin Elhouar summarizes upon one of the most demanding contemporary her conclusions, a central point of departure being questions for social sustainability; where should we that social sustainability is about people’s possibili- all live? It has been said in the political debate that ties to live where they wish to live. Sparsely popu- housing equivalent to a new Million Homes Pro- lated areas are not at the centre of the discussion on gramme is needed, but no one seems to want to re- sustainability, however, which is instead focused on peat exactly that. urban lifestyles. Political priorities effect the lives of Sweden reached a demographic turning point citizens – for example when money is spent on when an equal amount of people lived in rural and Bothnia Line but not on bus communications, politi- urban areas in the 1930s. In the 1960s the Million cians contribute to a process of peripherication of Homes Programme, combined with a special re- the inland, only those who live by the coast or close settlement allowance that was paid to those who to the railway stations can be classified as central ru- moved closer to jobs, further contributed to the mi- ral dwellers. The inland dwellers are then left with gration to the cities. Now, the Swedish urbanization practically no other option than the car. In the re- movement is basically completed, the increase in the mote areas there are also few work opportunities but urban population has slowed down and the rural the concluding discussion emphasizes the change population in terms of absolute numbers is no longer brought by digital communication, although more declining, according to the latest figures from Statis- broadband investments are still needed. The impor- tics Sweden. The largest migratory flows from the tance of also stressing the social dimension of sus- countryside are not to the big cities but to towns tainability is mentioned once more; this can mean, with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. In fact, be- for example, that the car must be regarded as sus- tween 2010 and 2015 more people moved from a tainable, but it can also mean that “slowness” in it- big city to the countryside than vice versa. Immigra- self can be experienced as a meaningful value. tion, together with the large number of births in ur- The dissertation naturally places itself in the field ban areas are the main factors that are driving popu- of sustainable development and within the critical lation growth in the cities. perspective that explores power relations between Let us return to the former prime minister’s air- urban and rural areas. In a Swedish context, sparsely craft window. Yes, there is undoubtedly a lot of populated areas, and everyday life there, have been space in Sweden. But as Wollin Elhouar’s closer studied before, not least by several ethnologists (e.g. look points out, the experiences of the people that Agnidakis 2013; Blehr 1994; Hansen 1998; Nordin live in the sparsely populated areas are that they 2007; Daun 1969; Forsberg 2010; Frykman & struggle to live their lives there in spite of the some- 200 Reviews

times poor infrastructure, not because of helpful  Swedes living permanently on the Costa del Sol is politicians. The dissertation confirms that interview- the subject of Annie Woube’s PhD thesis, Finding ees unsurprisingly do not live in these areas because One’s Place, which was defended at Uppsala Uni- they have no other options, but because they really versity in 2014. Woube carried out fieldwork among want to. It seems like a decent idea to make these Swedes in Fuengirola, Spain, during various periods areas more convenient for the people who already over a year, and her work on this contributes to the live there, but also to make them more attractive for field known as lifestyle migration. Woube works those who would like to, if they could. with theoretical notions of diaspora, being and be- We cannot all be entrepreneurs in wildlife tour- longing, orientation, and translocational positional- ism, or toy store owners, like the two self-employed ity. Her approach is phenomenological, which in- interviewees in the dissertation, neither can we all volves a reflexive methodology, where she brings in be the IT entrepreneurs turned bakers, who open her own impressions and senses, contributing to the fancy pizza restaurants in the woods, or the artists interpretations all along. Woube aims to investigate: that are turning abandoned school houses into “How a collectivity of Swedes is made significant ateliers, who often attract media attention. But other and valuable in creating feelings of belonging” (p. places than the big cities are also attractive to fami- 23). lies with children that get more value for their The theoretical concepts are presented in the ini- money there than in the city and anyone, really, who tial chapter, and in chapter two some of the persons for various reasons simply prefers the life in these interviewed are presented and interpreted by way of areas. Increased accessibility and thereby increased narrative analysis with a specific focus upon their attraction would also create a further need for local “migration narratives”. Woube applies narrative jobs in health care, education and so on. Other than methods from folklore and phenomenology; tools that, a changed job market combined with new tech- such as turning points, temporal positions, and Sa- nology will, as Wollin Elhouar hints, probably make rah Ahmed’s metaphor of “orientation”. This is fer- it an option for a lot more people than today to work tilized with theories of modern identity, indicating from home one or two days a week. New technolo- that the interviewees are presenting ideals of a mod- gy such as fossil-fuel-free cars might even silence ern and reflexive middle-class individual, aiming to the persistent complaints about people driving and present oneself in a narrative of success and inde- polluting too much in the countryside. With a grow- pendent behaviour. From the individual, narrative ing population combined with a decreased urbaniza- identity Woube moves on to investigate how the in- tion, and one of our most acute sustainability issues terviewed Swedes in Spain, by means of practices in being housing, especially in the city regions, many their everyday life, construct a collective belonging signs indicate that the areas studied in this disserta- and identification while positioning themselves in a tion most certainly belong to future of Sweden – at variety of ways in relation to images of otherness. least if they are given a reliable infrastructural con- The construction of the “other” can be targeted at nection to the rest of it. Wollin Elhouar’s disserta- other Swedes, at immigrants from Africa, as well as tion shows the importance of understanding the towards Spaniards. Most of the Swedish lifestyle everyday motivations and needs of people living in migrants differentiate their identities and positions sparsely populated areas, instead of turning them by comparison with Swedes living in Sweden, but into exotic, unsustainable “Others”. since they consider Sweden to represent a superior Lisa Wiklund, Stockholm nation state in an international perspective, they also configure themselves to be on the top of a hierarchical position among different groups living and acting on the Costa del Sol. Feelings of Belonging on the Costa del Sol Home-making is important for lifestyle migrants Annie Woube, Finding One’s Place. An Ethnologi- as well as for so many others, because it is a creation cal Study of Belonging among Swedish Migrants on of a place to feel safe, secure and relaxed; a place the Costa del Sol in Spain. Etnolore 35, Uppsala where one can feel at ease. Woube shows how they universitet 2014. 209 pp. Ill. Diss. ISBN 978-91- create a transnational belonging, both to the place 506-2424-3. where they are living concurrently and to their for- Reviews 201

mer homeland, Sweden. They connect with their grants. Several interesting issues are touched upon own past, homeland, and social networks in Sweden in the book, which this review does not allow space with the help of material entities such as foodways, to mention. One of them, however, is the theme of a IT communication, furniture etc. This is an em- hierarchy of a global power order, where Sweden is bodied process of maintaining familiarity, but si- marked in a superior position due to its welfare sys- multaneously they are also embodying belonging to tem, providing a “transnational capital” according to their current host land, because daily rhythms and the interviewees and the author. This is mentioned practices help them in creating a reorientation, inte- intermittently in several chapters of the book, and it grating a translocational positionality. When it is a very interesting and important perspective in a comes to the feeling of belonging and connection to societal and international context. It would have the homeland, Sweden, the positions among the in- been very stimulating to have a more thorough and terviewees differ as well. With the phenomenologi- focused analysis of this statement and its implica- cal approach Annie Woube shows that practices of tions on a societal as well as a personal level for the embodiment are important in creating and/or main- migrants and the interrelationships between the two taining a strong connection to the homeland, but countries regarding societal responsibilities for ser- also that some people do not need this in reality, vices such as economy, social services, health and since modern technology such as the Internet and medicine. Woube’s material, the interviewed per- Skype can also enable persons to be “distantly pres- sons, represent all ages, but the focus of interest is ent” in their homeland Sweden while sitting on their not really on aspects in everyday life which involve balcony on the Costa del Sol. Some of the inter- problems where one is dependent on specific so- viewees also show a concern for close relatives liv- cietal services, in other words, when illness or old ing in Sweden; older parents who may need compa- age require intervention or help from social net- ny or help from their adult children, who are now works or from society. living on the Costa del Sol. This means that a few a statements posed by the In their migration life Swedes abroad share the author may be questioned, because the material condition of being away from their homeland and does not really reveal a documentation of the fact, living in a new host land. They are not fully part of for instance that “Swedish migrants live within a one or the other place, but belong to both. There- context of relative affluence, where material bor- fore, this double belonging is celebrated and ritual- der crossing is a simple and taken-for-granted ized in several ways in order to emphasize and en- practice of transnationality” (p. 127), and that they force the social community among the migrated “do not only have the privilege to choose their resi- Swedes; they arrange various events of more or less dence, but also the privilege and the resources to national character in order to meet, such as a “hat return to their home country, whenever their ad- parade”, Christmas traditions and so on. The idea of venture abroad has come to an end” (p. 65). This their common translocal positionality is a significant may be the case among the relatively little group of phenomenon in migration life. Swedes permanently living in Fuengirola who are Lifestyle migration is not yet a very common interviewed here, but does it imply that this can be topic in migration studies, which is also the case generalized to apply to all Swedish lifestyle mi- with studies of the closely connected field of inter- grants? From my studies among Danish international retirement migration, although the latter fo- national retirement migrants living in different cuses on the elderly population only. In her studies, places, under different economic and social cir- Annie Woube does not so much reveal new find- cumstances, and representing widely varying ings, compared to previous studies on these sub- health status, such a statement would exclude mi- jects, but she delves deep into analyses of emplace- grants who are in a bad state concerning one or ment, the plurilocational belonging by means of ma- more of these life situations – even though they teriality and narratives, which makes her study very come from a Nordic welfare state. An example of interesting and reveals how ethnology can contrib- this from my recent fieldwork in 2015 among Dan- ute to this field of studies. The involvement of re- ish retired migrants is a demented Danish woman flexivity and the author’s senses and impressions are placed at a Spanish nursing home in Torres de Mar, valuable help in understanding the lives of these mi- where she spends every day from dawn to dusk in a 202 Reviews

living room with 20−25 demented Spanish inhabit- chair; this adds new aspects of “belonging” to the ants, some of them screaming and shouting, some situation of being a Scandinavian migrant on the of them wandering around, picking up imaginary Costa del Sol. Migrants like this woman may not dirt on the floor. This Danish woman used to be a have the means, access or possibility to return to lifestyle migrant; now she is literally tied to her their homeland, no matter what their desires. wheelchair with cords holding her arms to the Anne Leonora Blaakilde, Copenhagen Book Reviews tinuity. As this case concerned the distant past, the use of heritage did not cause many political discussions. When Industry Becomes Heritage The article by Roger Stand and Rønnaug Indre- Når industrisamfunnet blir verdensarv. Hans Jakob gaard outlines the fascinating story of the small vil- Ågotnes, Randi Barndon, Asbjørn Engevik & lage of Bjerkvik and the recent collective memory. Torunn Selberg (eds.). Spartacus Forlag / Scandina- In 1940 at the Hartvikvannet eleven German trans- vian Academic Press, Oslo 2014. 274 pp. Ill. ISBN port planes of “Junker 52” type sank through the ice. 978-82-304-0110-1. Four were raised in 1986 by a German recovery group, and after many years of opposition and emo-  The focus of this book is the processes through tional discussions of the heritage of World War II which sites become heritage sites. Especially how the planes were never exhibited in Bjerkvik but the near past is transformed into heritage is always a transported to Tromsø. Bjerkvik was almost de- highly complex issue. Several of the articles in the stroyed by the bombardment of artillery from allied volume are inspiring and very refreshing contribu- warships that caused significant civilian casualties tions to critical heritage literature. at the beginning of World War II. Therefore the lo- The volume contains ten very different articles on cal living memory of the Allies is more ambivalent the subject. The “photo essay” by Karen Kipphoff is than in the rest of Norway. very powerful and gives the reader a sense both of a Other examples from the volume could have been derelict area and of an idyllic preserved area. The mentioned. In general, however, the authors of the book is based on a seminar “Global Heritage – local book are interested in the political processes behind context” which took place in Odda in Hardanger in heritage sites. These sites are not born to be herit- August 2012. The setting was the local smelting age. They become “world” heritage sites due to plant, Odda Smelteværk, which went bankrupt in strong political wishes. The book can be seen as part 2003 and ever since there has been a strong debate of the “heritage crusade” debate, referring to the locally about the future of this former smeltery. critical heritage literature by David Lowenthal, Bar- Some argue that the decommissioned industrial bara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, Jan Turtinen, etc. The buildings should immediately be turned into a heritage crusade has not become less relevant since World Heritage Site. Others argue that they cannot David Lowenthal wrote his first book in 1985, The see themselves as part of a heritage tourist site. The Past is a Foreign Country. This is also relevant community remains severely divided on the issue when dealing with the recent past which is still in and due to the many disagreements the future of this living memory. area is still not decided in 2015. All arguments for The World Heritage List now includes 1,031 sites and against are very well described in Randi Bår- all over the world. When sites are nominated for the tvedt’s article. list the formal supporting arguments are always A key theme of the book is how the designation clear, simple, and non-controversial. It could be in- of a heritage site is nearly always a social or politi- teresting to see an international comparison of the cal statement. Torunn Selberg reminds us in her local discussions preceding the nomination of a site article that the change of Odda from a small rural for the World Heritage List. What were the argu- village to an industrial city around 100 years ago ments locally when the Ruhr district was trans- also was a huge transformation and a subject of lo- formed and the coal mine and coke furnace Zoll- cal debate at the time. Changing the identity of an verein was nominated for the list? Or the arguments area will always cause conflicts and discussions. locally behind the nomination of the town Blaen- Selberg also describes the example of how the pil- avon in Wales, which grew out of an iron, steel and grim route in Norway, which was forbidden to use coal industry? after the Reformation and largely forgotten until For those interested in aspects of preserving the 1990, became a world heritage site. It was a highly near past it is a highly relevant book with all the political project, and part of the formal Norwegian important nuances of the political discussion argument put forward for the site to become world behind heritage. Chapters of the book could very heritage was that the pilgrim route represents con- well be used by both teachers and practitioners and

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 46, 2016 204 Reviews

not only in the Association of Critical Heritage the book is that the editors have not limited them- Studies. selves to (supposedly) “old Danish traditions”; in- Bobo Krabbe Magid, Copenhagen stead there are also articles dealing with, for example, line-crossing ceremonies (“Equatorial bap- tism”), stag and hen parties, and contemporary car- Mumming and Masks in Denmark nivals. Traditions connected to the last day in school, Halloween and the Jewish festival of Purim Maske og forklædning i Danmark. Inge Adriansen are likewise discussed in separate articles. There are & Carsten Bregenhøj (eds.). Aarhus Universitetsfor- also more thematic texts in the book, for example lag, 2014. 410 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-87-7124-139-6. about masks in art and advertising, masks and eroti- cism, the history of banning masks and the manufac-  In recent years, the scholarly interest in masks turing of modern latex masks. and mumming customs has increased. For ex- Unlike Masks and Mumming in the Nordic Area, ample, from 1999 to 2002 several ethnologists and which in many respects is written by researchers for folklorists took part in a large documentation and researchers, the editors of Maske og forklædning i research project about masks and mumming tradi- Danmark have aimed at reaching the interested pub- tions. The project leaders, Carsten Bregenhøj and lic as well. The book is well written, beautifully de- Terry Gunnell, have helped to revitalize the study signed and very richly illustrated while neither ref- of the traditions; the former not least with his erences nor theoretical discussions are missing. As a ground- breaking book Helligtrekongersløb på reader one is struck by the wealth of imagination, by Agersø: Socialt, statistisk og strukturelt (1974) and the customs as creative expressions in the border- the latter for example with his thesis The Origins of land between playfulness and seriousness. Overall, Drama in Scandinavia (1995). Gunnell also edited the book also effectively conveys the traditions as the book Masks and Mumming in Nordic Area social phenomena, how the activities contribute to a (2002), 850 pages about Nordic masks and mum- sense of belonging and community but also the op- ming traditions. posite. As the book deals with masks and mumming Together with Inge Adriansen (Museum customs from the Viking Age to the present day, Sønderjylland, Sønderborg Slot), Carsten Bregen- many of the authors also discuss – directly or indi- høj is now one of the editors, and main authors, of rectly – the interplay between continuity and the book Maske og forklædning i Danmark change; it is undeniable that many of the traditions (“Mumming and Disguise in Denmark”), pub- have a long history although traditions like these al- lished by Aarhus University Press. The book con- ways reflect their time and the participants’ values, sists of 32 articles. A range of different traditions hopes and fears. In short, Maske og forklædning i and perspectives on the traditions are discussed. Danmark is a highly valuable source both for a The examined time span is wide: there are contri- knowledge of the traditions and for inspiration for butions concerning the Viking Age as well as the future practitioners. present day. While there are many international Fredrik Skott, Göteborg comparisons, the focus is on masks and mumming customs in Denmark, in various parts of the country and in different social strata. The contributions differ in character. Most of the writers are re- The Gyrfalcon Trade searchers but some of the texts are written by peo- Sigurður Ægisson, Icelandic Trade with Gyrfalcons. ple outside academia. For example, in some of the From Medieval Times to the Modern Era. Self-pub- essays the organizers and participants describe lished, Siglufjörður 2015. 98 pp. Ill. ISBN 978- their own experiences of the customs. 9979-72-762-0. A wide range of masks and mumming traditions are presented and analysed in the book. Written de-  Birds are not just a concern for birdwatching scriptions and images tell of Christmas goats, Santa nerds and cruisers, as we are sometimes led to be- Claus figures and Twelfth Night mumming. Other lieve; there are great many other, perhaps more ex- contributions deal with court masquerades and dif- citing, aspects of bird-human relations, besides the ferent kinds of Shrovetide mumming. A strength of broad interest as cultural history. Different forms of Reviews 205

hunting and trapping belong here. Hunting with the 1734, where he quotes interesting testimony about aid of birds of prey, however, is rare in Nordic tradi- Dutch falcon catchers who came to the area each tion, although there are archaeological finds from year to acquire new falcons. It was an old tradition, the Viking Age testifying to the occasional keeping and one can say that it persists – illegally – in our of hawks here, which were perhaps even used for own times. The desirability of falcons from Norway hunting. But there is little evidence for this. Instead and western Sweden on the Continent has previous- the Nordic countries have supplied falconers, on the ly been considered by Olav Bø in Studia Norvegica Continent and in early times even more distant cus- 1962 and Gunnar Tillander in Fornvännen 1964. tomers, with young birds of prey. Gyrfalcons espe- Since the Middle Ages, however, Iceland has been cially (a bird of kings according to the Boke of Seynt more important for the demand for good gyrfalcons Albans from 1486, while princes had to content on the Continent and in western Asia, as we see themselves with peregrine falcons) were highly es- from Giraldus. This trapping and trade is now thor- teemed. They were trained and then had to serve as oughly examined in a recent monograph by the ver- helpers in hunting. The art of falconry goes back a satile ethnozoologist, ethnologist, ornithologist, and very long way and is described in ancient sources. priest, Sigurður Ægisson, who has already authored During the Middle Ages it was widespread in many a number of fascinating books about birds, crypto- parts of Europe. Falconry is often regarded as a pur- zoological creatures, and whales. As usual when it suit of the aristocracy and the ruling classes, a status comes to Sigurður, it is a well-written and well- symbol and a form of entertainment for people who documented book he presents. could spend their wealth and who also had access to Sigurður describes in nine chapters the detailed open landscape in which to hunt. The royal house of history of Icelandic falcon catching and falcon ex- Denmark developed the institution of falconry in the port, with many illustrations and with information sixteenth century through purchasing, training, and that has previously received little attention. He starts hunting. Falconry, however, means not just owning, with a survey of the tricky taxonomy of the species, tending, and hunting with falcons; the birds also had as well as the vernacular names in the languages of to come from somewhere, and there is a long chain Europe, particularly the Germanic and West Norse of fascinating aspects, involving local knowledge, designations. This is followed by an account of the trapping, trade, care of the birds, and early interna- gyrfalcon’s biology and distribution. The back- tionalization. This is where the West Norse area ground to the Icelandic trade in gyrfalcons is given a comes in. The gyrfalcon, which is still one of the separate chapter – the export appears to have begun most popular and most expensive species in the to develop as early as the mid tenth century – and it sport of falconry, has a northern, circumpolar distri- was initially a very expensive commodity. This is bution, occurring all year round in mountains and on followed by a discussion of the difficult question of tundra. The demand for gyrfalcons from the high whether white gyrfalcons were always from Green- north developed early on, and medieval accounts land, reaching the Continent via Iceland. In fact, it mention the Nordic birds in positive terms. White was normally Icelandic white falcons that were gyrfalcons were the most highly prized. The traded. An Arabic source from the thirteenth century twelfth-century author Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1146 states that the Sultan of Egypt bought white falcons – c. 1223) states that the gyrfalcons from “Yslandia” that came from Iceland, and Olaus Magnus depicted are the best that can be obtained. In a chivalrous ro- a white falcon (falco albi) in northern Iceland on his mance about Guy of Warwick from the fourteenth Carta Marina 1539. Such expensive commodities, century we read that a milk-white gyrfalcon was the of course, needed much care and concern. Special dream of every king. When the successful Ottoman aviaries were established in Iceland to house them warrior, Sultan Beyazit I, in 1396 captured the son before they were exported. At the beginning of the of Philip II of Burgundy he demanded, and received, nineteenth century falcons were still being sent from as a ransom twelve white gyrfalcons. Iceland to the courts of Portugal and Russia. Trade In Norway and Sweden too, gyrfalcons were actually continued, but by now it was unofficial and caught for the international market. Interesting evi- unlawful. The significance of the gyrfalcon trade in dence of this comes from the young Linnaeus in his Iceland is also evident from the part the birds played account of a journey to the Särna mountains in as symbols in heraldry and other contexts. Place 206 Reviews

names too still bear witness to the importance of the lius’s linguistic ability and cultural affiliation, al- gyrfalcon in cultural history. The bibliography in the though he himself never felt any conflict between book is as good as exhaustive. his linguistic identities, but according to his biogra- This is a fascinating history that goes beyond lo- pher Erik Tawaststjerna he has “become a pawn in cal ornithology and Icelandic matters. White gyrfal- the increasingly bitter language battle”. cons have continued to fascinate the world. It may There is not room enough here to describe or be mentioned here that there were plans in Nazi comment on the often highly detailed studies in this Germany to set out white gyrfalcons, and in 1938 volume, which all devote considerable space to the the Hermann Göring Foundation therefore financed methods employed. For ethnomusicologists in the an expedition to western Greenland in order to study other Nordic countries the most rewarding parts of the species. Five white Greenland falcons were “Songs in the Mother Tongue” are the new readings brought back by the expedition to Germany where and expanded explanatory models applying the lat- they were kept in an “Arctic” experimental station est theories in anthropology and ethnology. What in the Riesengebirge in Bohemia. The war, however, the articles have in common is that they regard put a stop to the continued experiment (Göring, inci- Swedishness in Finland as a diverse range of im- dentally, is also said to have bought gyrfalcons from agined communities, and they are based on theories Bohuslän, see Fornvännen 1964, p. 135). And just a such as constructionism, neomaterialism, and few decades ago, crafty bird poachers came to Ice- imagology. Sometimes that aspect takes over, espe- land to steal gyrfalcon eggs to smuggle out so that cially when the theorists who dominate the texts – they could sell the young to rich customers in the Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari with their not al- Arabian peninsula. Modern systems to monitor nest- ways easily comprehensible terminology – become ing birds can effectively prevent this today. Now- the main premise on which the concrete examples adays white gyrfalcons are often smuggled out of are judged and ordered. The authors often use the Kamchatka and on to the international market. Ac- term musikande or “musicking” to denote any activ- cording to current information, the price is over ity to do with music; besides playing and singing $10,000 each. The ones that are sold in Germany, this means also speaking, writing, reading, dancing, however, were probably reared there. and so on, along with the audiovisual and bodily di- Ingvar Svanberg, Uppsala mensions of music. One example is Hanna Väätäinen’s study, the title of which means “Swedish features in a Swedish Songs in Finland woman’s music, dance, and verbal narration about Modersmålets sånger. Finlands svenskheter fram- disability”. This is a report based on what was for- ställda genom musik. Johannes Brusila, Pirkko Moi- merly called participant observation but has now sala & Hanna Väätäinen (eds.). Svenska litteratur- been developed via Guattari’s “rhizome perspec- sällskapet i Finland 801. Folklivsstudier XXIII, Hel- tive”. The author has not only interviewed her sinki 2015. 289 pp. ISBN 978-951-583-340-2. 289. sight-impaired mother but has also played, danced, and talked with her to be able to explain in detail her  This volume containing six studies is something mother’s perception of herself as a sight-impaired of a horn of plenty as regards both the musical cul- Finland-Swedish individual, not a representative of ture of the Finland Swedes and ethnomusicological one or other category. The interviews covered her method in general. In the introduction the editors mother’s musical experiences as a whole, the sounds mention an impressive number of previous research and silences, the family background, and many reports on the topic (many of which are doctoral dis- other memories. The study, according to Väätäinen, sertations) from different geographical areas, musi- is an example of a combination of scholarly and ar- cal genres, and club activities where the language is- tistic work, of interest to ethnology in general. But I sue is the shared foundation. Swedes in Sweden may lack a reflection on the ethical aspects of the find it difficult to imagine that language can have method, since the researcher and the informant are such great significance as a dividing factor in all so close to each other. musical subcultures and genres in Finland. There is Another example is Pia Maria Ahlbäck’s imago- still discussion today, for example, about Jean Sibe- logical study (also printed here in English), “Step- Reviews 207

ping out of the Tune”, which examines Arvid structions of ethnicity, that is, maintaining a distinc- Mörne’s poem Sjömansvisa (better known as tion between “us” and “them”. The article describes “Båklandets vackra Maja”, put to music by Hanna in detail the growth of major-chord dance music in Hagbom in 1906). The song has attained almost different mixed forms, exemplified by the Österbot- iconic status as a symbol of Finland-Swedishness, ten danceband Charlies. but it has also been in the repertoire of many Swe- Pirkko Moisala, in “The (Finland-Swedish) Life dish singers such as Harry Brandelius and Fred that Music Enables”, discusses the relationship of Åkerström. The study is in places a complicated dis- Swedish speakers to their Finland-Swedishness via cussion of the relationship between text and music 32 musical life stories (according to Deleuze’s (the pictures and conceptions that are aroused or ex- model) submitted in response to a call in the period- cluded when the poem is just read or sung), and of ical Källan 2007. The author also refers to similar Mörne’s images of women in the archipelago. “The Nordic studies by scholars such as Even Ruud, transformation of a work of verbal art, a poem on a Thomas Bossius & Lars Lilliestam, and Alf Gab- page in a collection of poems, into a song that has rielsson. Besides the musical choices of the respond- set its stamp on a specific culture to such an extent ents, she also discusses thoughts, values, and mean- that ‘everyone’ knows it, requires analytical tools ings associated with music. As illustrations to the that are out of the ordinary,” the author declares. analysis there are quotations (“verbal pictures”) In “Two Troubadours from Åbo” Niklas Nyqvist, from the narratives. The author observes that they applying an imagological outlook, distinguishes “confirm the diversity of lifestyles, cultural prac- four central motif cycles in Finland-Swedish ballads tices, and tastes that occur among the Swedish- (archipelago romanticism, nostalgia, universally ap- speaking population in Finland” and that using the plicable culture, and a fantasy or fairytale landscape language is scarcely enough to make a person be- like Moominvalley) and discusses the images of long to a group − there must be music too. She notes Swedishness in the songs of the troubadours Tom that “the songs Slumrande toner and Modersmålets Gardberg and Olle Söderholm. Ros-Mari Djup- sång, which in an earlier phase of history helped to sund’s “Singing in three places in Swedish-speaking construct the Finland-Swedish identity, can still Finland” is a more traditional study in the sociology evoke a powerful atmosphere when sung today”. of music, based on 224 questionnaire responses But she also notes that it can cause some listeners to from the municipalities of Kökar (Swedish-speak- feel distance, anxiety, and a sense of suffocation if ing), Korsholm (71% Swedish-speaking), and the they find this kind of Finland-Swedishness alien to city of Esbo, along with a number of interviews. Not them. The concept of “territorialization” occurs unexpectedly, she notes that choral singing is an im- here, as in several other articles, in the sense of fix- portant identity-creating trademark and a uniting ing or fencing in an area: “Music as something ab- link for Finland’s Swedes. The tendency to sing in a stract is thus, in Deleuzian philosophy, a force that group increases with age, but many people also sing can create territorial environments while it can si- alone, in the shower, in the car, or at the computer. multaneously also change and open new lines of Johannes Brusila’s text on major/minor keys in flight with the new impressions offered by this pro- relation to danceband music and territory is a highly cess. In this way music is a part of coming into ex- detailed study following the model of Deleuze and istence.” Guattari, and the result can be simplified thus: major What is most interesting for readers in Sweden is = Finland-Swedish, minor = Finnish. In the back- thus perhaps not primarily the details of the music- ground there are reflections on a “Finish national king of Finland Swedes but the insight into how per- soul”, expressed in the central themes of folksongs, sonal and collective identities are created and mani- loneliness and sorrow, and the differing popularity fested with the aid of a particular musical genre. of major and minor keys in Sweden and Finland. In And − not least of all − that both identities and ex- extreme cases this has even been linked to genetic pressions are mobile and changeable, especially in factors, the idea that folk tunes in minor keys could today’s media flow. But it ought to be possible to be associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular apply the same explanatory models to all musical diseases or a predisposition to pessimism. At bot- identities, whether they have accompanied us since tom, however, this surely has to do with social con- childhood or have been acquired via media, and re- 208 Reviews

gardless of whether one chooses to be a Wagnerian, Constitutional government was closely associat- hard rocker, gospel singer, techno fan… you name ed with liberal ideas about power ultimately being it. legitimated through the people. But the question Henrik Karlsson, Uppsala was, who were the people? The romantic notion that a shared ethnicity and language constituted the foundation for what characterized a people played Borderland Architecture an important part here. The encounter and union of the ideals of liberalism and romanticism gave birth Peter Dragsbo, Arkitektur til grænsen – Arkitektur to nineteenth-century nationalism. In the first half of og nation i europæiske grænselande 1850–1940. the nineteenth century nationalism was in many re- Museum Sønderjylland, Sønderborg Slot 2014. 336 spects a radical movement that was not infrequently pp. Ill. Deutsche Zusammenfassung. ISBN 978-87- in conflict with conservative monarchists and abso- 87375-28-3. lutists. The popular revolts that flared in the 1830s and 1840s paved the way for the breakthrough of  Peter Dragsbo, the author of this book on border- constitutional government in much of Europe. Na- land architecture, has for many years been head cu- tionalism and the emerging nation states stood for rator at Museum Sønderjylland in the Danish-Ger- something new and revolutionary in the mid nine- man borderland. Dragsbo has thus been able to ob- teenth century rather than something conservative. serve border buildings in a way that might not be possible for many other researchers. One can specu- We should bear this in mind today when nationalism late about how significant geographical location is is chiefly associated with conservatism. Dragsbo’s for the development of a research perspective. In historical account begins in the 1850s. History and Arkitektur til grænsen Dragsbo raises his gaze far heritage at this time were important instruments for above narrow national horizons and views the histo- legitimizing political power. People sought folk ry of architecture from a truly international stance, communities in the past. Innovative architecture and yet with a regional foundation. The object of his design invoked attributes associated with perceived study is buildings in border zones between different historical community. states in Europe. The interpretations give us a much In several chapters Dragsbo has a particular focus deeper understanding of the complicated history as- on architecture in Poznań, Schleswig-Holstein/ sociated with the development of architecture in Eu- South Jutland, and Alsace-Lorraine. These prov- rope between 1850 and 1940. inces were within the boundaries of the German Among the places Dragsbo takes us to, there are Empire between 1871 and 1919. The populations regions in Poland, Denmark, and France which were here were ethically mixed and there were large a part of the German Empire in the period groups of German speakers in all three. When bor- 1871−1919. The development of architecture in the ders in Europe were redrawn after the Treaty of Ver- Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy and the Russian sailles in 1919, most of these areas ended up outside Empire is also considered. The varied expressions of Germany. Dragsbo cites a long series of interesting architecture in different border zones are related to examples to illustrate how a power struggle was political events, the language of power, ideology, fought, with the aid of architecture, between the and the shaping of national and regional identity. German Empire and the Polish, Danish, and French The political-ideological legitimation of power has population groups. This struggle is still plain to be created the framework for the architectural idiom. seen today in the buildings dating from the period Architecture and power have been associated from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1910s. with each other since before classical times. During One of the many examples that Dragsbo adduces the absolutist era of the seventeenth and eighteenth is from Metz. Here we find one of the most monu- centuries, the monarchs’ claim to power ultimately mental buildings from the Wilhelmine era in Al- rested on the belief that they ruled by the grace of sace-Lorraine, namely, the central station in Metz. It God. These beliefs began to change in much of Eu- was built in Romanesque style, alluding to the early rope after the French Revolution. The monarchies Middle Ages when the first German imperial dynas- generally persisted, but the power of the rulers was ties dominated politics in Central Europe. The archi- curtailed by parliamentary constitutions. tect Jürgen Kröger’s original suggestion was that the Reviews 209

station should be built in pure Jugendstil. Kaiser strument in marking an Italian identity. Buildings Wilhelm II’s personal view, however, was that the were often given a classicist form with stylized allu- station should be given a much more distinct histor- sions to ancient Rome, which was typical of the fas- ic style evoking the German Middle Ages. The sta- cist aesthetic. Yet no historically inspired Tyrolean tion was therefore built in a style that satisfied the counter-architecture can be discerned here. The po- Kaiser’s wishes. Wealthy French individuals and litical scope for achieving anything of the kind was families likewise had imposing buildings construct- limited. Dragsbo thinks that certain modernistically ed, but they instead borrowed elements from French inspired buildings may be viewed as examples of history. Moreover, Dragsbo has found several inter- this. The hypothesis is hard to prove, however. esting quotations from the architectural debate of There are several examples of stylistically pure the time, shedding light on the political struggle be- modernist architecture, totally shorn of historical tween French and German. In French-language references to the fascist movement. The highly newspapers from Alsace-Lorraine, for example, modernist aesthetic was likewise well rooted in the buildings in German style could be described as fascist idiom. In his analysis of architecture in South “chocolate palaces”. When the new Protestant Gar- Tyrol Dragsbo continues the reasoning in today’s rison Church in Strasbourg was mentioned in a Ger- political tensions and shows how the cultural heri- man periodical in 1898 the article said: “this is tage is used by neo-fascist Italian movements. Ques- where the Germanic tribes assemble for mutual pro- tions about history, heritage, and ethnic identity are tection and defence”. The author also shows how still sensitive in today’s Europe, as the author dis- nationalistically inspired architecture developed in cusses in several chapters. Alsace-Lorraine, Schleswig-Holstein, and particu- Dragsbo clearly shows how historically inspired larly in Poznań after the new boundaries were drawn architecture was used for national identity construc- after the First World War. tion and political purposes in disputed border zones Dragsbo chiefly focuses his analysis on the ten- with different population groups in Europe during sions between the dominant population groups. In the period 1850−1940. The author’s analysis is this context it could also have been worth consider- multi-levelled. He does not simplify history by let- ing, for example, the architecture associated with ting it appear solely as a struggle between different the Jewish population. The big synagogue at quai fixed national identities. The regional dimension is Kléber in Strasbourg which was completed in 1898 also brought into the discussion. In what Dragsbo and destroyed by the Nazis in 1941 could have been calls a hjemstavnsstil, the style of the regional interesting in this connection. It was designed by the homeland, it was above all the more locally rooted architect Ludwig Lewy and built in a distinctly Ger- historical forms of buildings that were highlighted. man neo-Romanesque style. It was erected at the These were in contrast to the national romantic time of the Dreyfus affair when anti-Semitism was styles that often attained a very wide geographical strong in France. Was it an expression of solidarity spread, such as the neo-Gothic style of Mark with the German Empire? Brandenburg in northern Germany. The ideas for the In another chapter Dragsbo discusses the case of regional styles that gained popularity in architecture South Tyrol. Austria-Hungary had been defeated by in the 1890s and the years before the First World Prussia and Italy in 1866, when Venice was one of War are traced by Dragsbo back to the British Arts the places incorporated in the kingdom of Italy that and Crafts movement. had been formed in 1861. Several of the new Italian Dragsbo points out how the Arts and Crafts provinces had formerly belonged to the Habsburg movement was a reaction to the rapid industrial dual monarchy. The vast majority of the population changes that took place in the nineteenth century. in these regions, however, had Italian as their The movement was more or less directly influenced mother tongue. After the First World War the for- by the social and economic critique that Karl Marx merly Austrian province of South Tyrol was award- and Friedrich Engels aimed at the new mode of pro- ed to Italy. Since a large share of the population was duction. Engels lived in England in the 1840s and German-speaking, the province was subjected to in- was able to see the negative side of industrialism, tensive Italianization under Benito Mussolini’s fas- partly through his visits to the slums of Manchester. cist rule. Here too architecture became a crucial in- In the book The Condition of the Working Class in 210 Reviews

England, published in 1845, he recorded his obser- portant than often assumed – that it is ‘full of … vations. The designer William Morris, who laid the topics as unknown as the deep sea or outer space’. foundation for the Arts and Crafts movement to- They want to show how this realm can be ‘ex- gether with the art historian John Ruskin, sought to plored’, its hidden depths discovered, described, combine social commitment with ideas about cul- and, perhaps, explained. Their text [covering some tural conservation, the revival of traditional handi- of the same ground as Ehn and Löfgren’s Kultur- crafts, and healthy housing environments. Dragsbo analytiska Verktyg] will interest the general reader. shows in this book how the ideas of the Arts and But it is principally directed at students – ‘When Crafts movement were widely disseminated on the you have just a month for producing an essay or an Continent, partly in the form of garden cities. The outline of a PhD dissertation, the advice and ex- houses in these garden cities were often designed in amples in this book will help you, from finding ini- regional styles. The garden cities, like the regional tial ideas for a topic to writing the finished product.’ homeland styles, are closely associated with the Before considering the book’s effectiveness as a Jugendstil. One of the most important Danish ‘how to do it’ manual however, let’s first ask how Jugendstil architects, Anton Rosen, for example, well it makes the case that ‘everyday life’ is worth drew the plans for the first garden city in Denmark, investigating. Maybe it’s a surprise that this key Gerthasminde in Odense. Dragsbo emphasizes that concept isn’t specifically defined. What the student/ the Jugendstil and art nouveau flourished in Eu- reader is encouraged to explore is the ordinary, rou- rope’s regional cities, such as Barcelona in Catalo- tine, ‘normal’, immediate world they themselves are nia, Glasgow in Scotland, and Munich in Bavaria, already involved in. Wilk’s chapter ‘Demystifying and in the border zones of the big countries, more so Fieldwork’ contrasts this kind of investigation with than in the capital cities. One exception here is that of the ‘classical’ anthropologist who drew a Vienna, but the Habsburg Empire was really sharp boundary between ‘home’ and ‘field’, the dis- polycentric; Vienna could be regarded as one of tant place with already ‘strange’ inhabitants where many capital cities in this mosaic of nations. they conducted their research. But this kind of ac- Jugendstil and the regional homeland styles can count elides strangeness or normality to the re- therefore be viewed as a reaction to the centralist searcher, with the characteristics of what is being tendencies of the nation states. researched. If we define ‘everydayness’ in terms of Dragsbo’s analyses in Arkitektur til grænsen frequency or ordinariness of a practice for its par- sweep away taken-for-granted ideas about centre ticipants, then classical anthropologists frequently and periphery. The book moreover demonstrates studied the quotidian – though their subjects’ not how the intricate interplay between architecture and their own. Moreover, it’s not just anthropologists politics was enacted during a time of upheaval in travelling to far-flung lands who can find them- Europe. This is a book that deserves to become a selves investigating worlds routine to their respond- standard work. ents but not themselves; the white middle class stu- Björn Magnusson Staaf, Lund dent of their city’s black lower class ghetto provides an example. And to complicate matters we could point to situations – the courtroom or the maternity Everyday Life ward perhaps – which are part of the daily, normal Billy Ehn, Orvar Löfgren and Richard Wilk, Explor- working life of some of their participants but for ing Everyday Life: Strategies for Ethnography and others constitute an exceptional, one-off experience. Cultural Studies. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Or note that routinely recurring features of certain Maryland 2016. 152 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-0-7591- settings are extreme rather than mundane. Is there 2406-6. an everyday life of the war zone or the battlefield? Distinguishing between everyday life as what is al-  In Exploring Everyday Life: Strategies for Eth- ready familiar to the researcher and everyday life as nography and Cultural Studies, Swedish ethnolo- a particular kind or level of social existence, is rele- gists Billy Ehn and Orvar Löfgren with American vant when considering why the everyday is worth anthropologist Richard Wilk, aim to reveal that studying and strategies for doing so. ‘everyday life’ is more strange, interesting and im- The authors have long experience of ethnogra- Reviews 211

phic study, and the examples they use, drawn from aging ‘doable’ student dissertations, but as a more their own and others’ research, clearly show that general programme for social research, sticking so there is much more going on in peoples’ day-to-day close to home has some limitations. Not least, as the lives than they themselves generally realise. So, for authors themselves show, one means to better un- example, Wilk analyses family meals and unpicks derstanding of one’s home environment can be com- how differences in partners’ parental-derived, but parison with other peoples’. (Wilk gained an unex- unrecognised norms about food, hospitality and pected insight into the way food was offered and re- waste can cause initially puzzling tensions and confused at his in-laws dinner table, when examining flicts. For his part Löfgren investigates ‘atmos- how Mayan villagers found someone to serve as phere’, something we often feel and are influenced mayor!) Moreover, unless researchers are drawn by but may pay little attention to. Taking himself to from all social backgrounds, patchy overall societal Copenhagen station he tries to discover and account coverage will result. We are unlikely to find out for the different moods it evokes for him. Sounds, about the quotidian lives of the aristocracy or rough smells and tactile qualities we may only be sublimi- sleepers. Also, whilst the authors declare their text nally aware of are moved from back to front of ‘presents a cultural perspective on everyday life as a stage. But there are limits to the depths the authors way to understand larger issues in society’ they per- go to. They don’t direct us to that tradition of work haps downplay the extent to which broader societal seeking to reveal how sense-making, conversation, factors have to be brought into play to help fully ex- everyday interaction is even possible at all. They plain what is happening at the ‘local’ level. And that don’t look at research querying how as social beings these factors often can’t be understood simply with we create any firm sense of reality out of the con- the kinds of ethnographic techniques described. tinuing flux of on-going life. Maybe the everyday Thus Löfgren notes how his attempt to capture at- encompasses processes even ‘stranger’ and more mosphere in the Danish station fostered an interest important than they suggest. (Goffman, is listed in in ‘the ongoing discussion of urban commons in the ‘References’ but Garfinkel not.) modern cities’. And we could suggest that a full ex- The authors’ discussion of why people tend to planation of what’s spread out on Wilk’s family din- live their everyday lives ‘on the surface’, unreflex- ing table, requires reference to global food markets. ively, also has its limits. They note that taking things But understanding the latter or the contemporary for granted can be efficient and that it would be im- privatisation of ‘public’ spaces requires, for ex- possible to live life continuously questioning every ample, some understanding of the dynamics of assumption and consciously thinking about the rea- global capitalism, knowledge of how food com- sons for all one’s actions. But their own assertion panies work, and of dealings between big building that there are uses for the kinds of ‘unpacking’ ac- firms and the local and national state. The value and tivity they demonstrate, suggests that lack of under- difficulties of grasping the interplay between standing can also have its drawbacks. So it’s odd ‘micro’, ‘mezzo’ and ‘macro’ levels of social action that they do not consider if there can be differences and structure, mainly lie outside the remit of this of interest in concealing or revealing what is not im- book. mediately self-evident. They might have asked Judged as a ‘how to do it’ guide, what the authors whether one can see, or obscure, more from some do illustrate well is a grounded way of researching social structural positions than others. Or what kinds one’s own everyday world, not by initially deriving of power might affect capacity to impose one’s own hypotheses to be tested from existing theory, but by definition of the situation on others. Though not en- beginning with a careful, probably sideways look at tirely absent, they could have made more of the in- places, situations and people doing things. Theoreti- terplay of structural and cultural factors (Bourdieu, cally-derived concepts and ideas, it is suggested, briefly cited in the text, fails to make the ‘Refer- may then be adopted on what appears to be a rather ences’ list). ad hoc basis as and when they are come across and The structural location of researchers themselves appear to be useful. Overall, a bricolage approach is is also worth considering if it is proposed that they advocated, going for a range of modes of idea gener- should study their own home turf. As this book ation and data collection. Internet chat rooms, shows, there is a lot to be said for this when encour- novels, photographs, autoethnographies, short inter- 212 Reviews

views with friends, can all provide inspiration for It could also be helpful to be offered a more con- getting started. With the focus on uncovering what solidated and developed discussion of the status of is not immediately apparent, a variety of distancing ethnography than Wilk’s and Ehn’s brief comments strategies are suggested, including learning from provide. Can it be ‘objective’, should it aspire to be artists’ techniques of alienation, writing about the ‘scientific’ and what are the criteria for this? Does present in the past tense, and one’s own experiences being scientific necessarily depend, as Wilk seems in the third person. Looking at the relation between to suggest, on being able to mobilise ‘standards of persons and the material elements of their lives is measurement and mathematical language’? Ehn shown to be revealing, and ‘following the object’ to speaks of the ethnographer as using ‘not just scien- have the potential to open up unexpected insights. tific methods’ to generate knowledge, but also them- So is watching out for situations which generate selves, their body, their mind, their personality, and seemingly disproportionate emotional responses and asks if this affects the possibility of value-free an- ones which are new to their participants. For ex- alysis. But it’s not just any potential (positive or ample, when two people first move in to share a negative) impact of the ethnographer’s subjectivity home together. In general the payoffs from looking that needs raising. We should also ask how the dif- for small openings, and asking oneself and others ferences between the social and the natural world af- questions about specifics rather than generalities in fect them as objects of study. The social world is a order to avoid bland and predictable responses, is world of meaning to its participants. Therefore we well illustrated. need to ask how the researcher can be sure that they Students should find this encouraging and helpful have correctly grasped these meanings. And also and will appreciate being shown (via discussions of consider in what ways and to what extent they have the authors’ own investigations) that the research causal relevance for social explanation. Rather than process is always more messy and less linear than Wilk just telling us that ethnographers are now pay- implied by many standard methodology books. ‘The ing ‘a great deal more attention to their methods and practice of ethnography,’ notes Ehn, may be de- to how anthropologists might lay claim to truth’ it scribed as a continuous oscillation between observ- would be good to be given a bit more insight into ing, listening, thinking, interpreting, writing, read- their arguments. ing, sensing, discovering and making new observa- The final chapter ‘Taking Cultural Analysis Out tions’. His chapter uses reflections on making a Into the World’ provides a particular take on what duckboard for his shower, to consider parallels be- the kinds of understandings and skills the book has tween ‘crafting wood and crafting words’ and to promoted have to offer. It discusses this not in terms provide some tips for ways to do the latter. Writing of any general contribution to social science. Nor to up his DIY experience in three different modes (as living one’s personal life more satisfactorily − in an instruction manual, a story and as ‘analysis’) though the earlier chapters suggest this could be the he argues each provided him with insights, though case. Rather it focuses on how the cultural analysis not all forms may suit for final academic reports. approach is useful in the job market and the world of But there are some areas the authors might have work. Readers are offered suggestions as to how considered further, or more systematically. None of they can impress potential employers or clients with the chapters pay much attention to the observer/ob- the relevance of their studies. Past students talk served relation. How could this be affected by dif- about how they have been able to offer new insights ferences of power and status? How might being ob- and suggestions to initially sceptical employers and served affect the observee, and what needs taking how an ability to reflect on the culture of their new into account if observation shifts into more direct workplace can be useful in furthering their own participation or intervention? What about trust and aims. But it’s all a bit mainstream. Working for consent at the various stages of research? What are business, the public sector, NGOs or independent the problems in writing up material about one’s in- consultancy are what are presumed. So the value of teraction not with wood and tools, but with people cultural analysis of the everyday to those challeng- who may themselves read and be affected by one’s ing employers, corporations or governments for ex- account? Nowhere are research ethics discussed or ample, gets no consideration. How might it help even mentioned as something to be thought about. fragmented low paid workers realise common inter- Reviews 213

ests and devise strategies that might improve their plemented with detailed commentary by the author lot? Could it help environmentalists – perhaps by and extensive notes. The material left by the artist is unpicking what cars mean to their owners as a first mostly held by the Johannes Larsen Museum on the step to discouraging their routine use? How about island of Fyn in Denmark, an art museum in memo- investigating the cultural meanings of dirt not to in- ry of the bird painter Johannes Larsen. This museum crease vacuum cleaner sales but decrease them? has also published this book. Much of the artist’s Despite such reservations I’d happily put this correspondence with the author Martin A. Hansen book into the hands of its intended audience and and others is preserved in the Royal Library in Co- would expect them to enjoy and be inspired by it. penhagen. A large number of photographs, litho- You could hardly reach its end feeling ‘I’ll never be graphs, drawings, oil paintings, and letters are pri- able to think of anything to study’. Or ‘I just can’t vately owned. imagine how to get started’. But it is not, and Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen had a great longing to doesn’t set out to be, a comprehensive methodology travel in order to discover new natural environments text, nor presentation of different theoretical takes that he could depict in sketches, drawings, litho- on what constitutes the everyday and how it should graphs, woodcuts, photographs, and oil paintings. be studied. Thus I’d hope the struggling PhD stu- He took a keen interest in living folk culture which dents mentioned in the introduction would soon find preserved archaic lifeways, costumes, and building time also to investigate some of the more specialist styles, uninfluenced by the modern age and industri- literature. alization. The artist yearned for the authentic and Hilary Stanworth, Swansea University original. He therefore deliberately sought to get far away from towns and cities to distant, sparsely populated places which tourism had not yet reached. West Nordic Explorations He wanted to live close to people, observing their everyday life and their festive occasions. On the Mette Eriksen Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Nordisk læng- west coast of Norway he took part in fishing and sel. Møde med folkekulturen i Sven Havsteen- whaling, and in the Faroe Islands he hunted pilot Mikkelsens rejsedagbøger og billedverden. Udgivet whales and birds on the steep cliffs. He appreciated af Johannes Larsen Museet, Kerteminde 2012. 163 and participated in the archaic Faroese chain dance. pp. Ill. ISBN 978-87-92620-18-7. This really was participant observation. In Norway he was fascinated by the medieval stave churches.  The Danish ethnologist Mette Eriksen Havsteen- The artist also visited the farm of Havstein near Mikkelsen has analysed the artist Sven Havsteen- Trondheim where he had distant ancestors. His Mikkelsen’s (1912−1999) diaries, photographs, harsh criticism of tourism was based on his view drawings, sketchbooks, lithographs, woodcuts, and that it had a destructive effect on old and authentic oil paintings resulting from his explorations in the culture. This had to be allowed to live on without West Nordic countries. This means Norway, the disturbance from modern civilization. On 14 June Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, which were 1950 the artist wrote: “tourism is the basilisk of our part of the Danish realm from the Middle Ages until day; all living things die when it looks at them” (p. 1814. The journeys from Denmark were undertaken 31). from the late 1920s onwards, but the majority in the The book is of obvious ethnological interest in 1950s and 1960s. Several of the voyages in the that the artist has done detailed and repeated field- 1950s were made together with the author Martin A. work in distant places with archaic culture and left Hansen before his death in 1959. The artist contrib- us meticulous reports through his notes and his pic- uted illustrations in books that Hansen published in torial material. the form of travel accounts, such as Rejse på Island Anders Gustavsson, University of Oslo/Henån (“Journey to Iceland”, 1954). These are descriptions of folk life based on fieldwork. The author of this book is married to the artist’s youngest son Olaf. The book is richly illustrated Maritime Foodways in the Days of Sail with the artist’s own works. Copious quotations Mette Eriksen Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Skibskost i sejl- from the diaries are rendered in italics. This is sup- skibstiden – fortællinger fra Marstal. Marstal Sø- 214 Reviews

fartsmuseum, Marstal 2015. 115 pp. Ill. ISBN 978- supplies for the sea voyages, etc.). Whether at sea or 87-89829-62-3. at home, the Marstalians took pride in the sailing fleet of the home town. This legacy, and the fact that  In recent years Scandinavia has witnessed a wave they formed part of the same social networks, fos- of general interest in food and cooking. Cookery tered a sense of loyalty between the crew and the book sales flourish, culinary tourism is rising and commander. In times where the quality of the food successful chefs have become celebrities. Along served onboard did not comply with legal provi- with this there is a renewed interest in traditional sions, the crew was usually lenient and understand- cooking. Infotainment television series on historic ing in order not to bring the Marstal ships into dis- food and eating have hit record-high ratings, and repute. slow food is gaining new ground. What then could This leads on to the main issue of the book; what be a timelier subject for an ethnological book than the seaman’s diet really was like. It is widely be- the foodways of a sailing community back in the lieved that food and water on the ocean crossing late nineteenth and early twentieth century? ships were substandard, not to say horrible. But was Skibskost i sejlskibstiden is a welcome addition to it really? The author cites several seamen remem- a line of studies produced and published by the bering ship’s biscuits full of weevil larvae and fresh Marstal Maritime Museum. The study draws on the water turned foul, but we are also told that such con- rich collection of seamen’s narratives in the archives ditions were not very common. The regular diet was of the museum. It centres on the period 1850−1940, based on rye bread and hardtack, peas, cabbage, when the ships of the small Danish town of Marstal beans and potatoes, often supplemented with meat traded not only in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, and fish. From time to time the seamen also had the but sailed all the way to Newfoundland, the Carib- opportunity to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. Al- bean and South America. though salty and monotonous, food was generally The book begins with a brief description of sufficient and nutritive, and did not differ much Marstal’s shipping industry during the last century from what was eaten in the Marstal surroundings. of sail. After this introduction, it concentrates on The naming of some of these dishes, however, cooking facilities, rules and living conditions on underlines the fact that they were consumed at sea, board the vessels. It contains rich descriptions of and not in a provincial Danish town. During the how the food was cooked and prepared, how it was reading we are introduced to several dishes with consumed and how provisions were stored onboard. maritime sounding names. For example bread was These chapters are important in setting the scene, broadly referred to as “anchor stock” or “cable before introducing the reader to the supplies and yarn” and reddish tinned beef was termed “Indian common dishes. After a detailed account of what arse”. In contemplating these names another aspect was on the menu, the author returns to Marstal, and of sailor culture springs to my mind, namely the im- discusses the local cuisine and food traditions of the agery of sailor tattoos. In contemporary tattooing area. The reader who wishes to become even better anchors, cables and stereotyped portrayals of Indian acquainted with traditional dishes served on the chiefs were among the most common designs. The Marstal vessels, and perhaps try to eat like a sailor, book thus adds to the understanding of how certain will be glad to find that it ends with a collection of references were recurrently used by the sailors, and recipes. A great many quotations give colour to the how food, tattoos, handicraft, etc. all played a part in reading and each chapter is richly illustrated with constructing the sailor identity. beautiful photographs of life on board the sailing Another aspect that becomes clear from the book ships and illustrative drawings of utensils and kitch- is that food and eating also contributed to maintain- en tools. ing the Marstal identity. As already touched upon, In the period studied, shipping was the nerve of the food served on board had a lot in common with the local community of Marstal. A large number of the local cuisine of Marstal. The cook was often the male population spent periods of their life at sea brought up and trained in Marstal, and the crew had and almost every inhabitant earned a livelihood a preference for the tastes and dishes of their native from shipping (by trading, building or repairing town (and sometimes rejected fresh but foreign ships, equipping the ships and the seamen, growing commodities). In that sense, one could picture each Reviews 215

ship setting sail from Marstal as a little floating is both informative and approachable and should be piece of the town itself, forming part of a glocal of potential interest both to academics and to a geography. It is a fascinating thought that different wider audience. After all, cooking and food lie at the variants of the popular “Marstal soup” was prepared heart of our cultural identity. and consumed all around the world, in the seven Mirja Arnshav, Stockholm seas. As is hopefully clear from the brief examples above, the book has a lot to offer to anyone interest- Nazism and Ethnology ed in maritime history and food traditions. Apart Petra Garberding, Vetenskap mellan diktatur och from giving a detailed account of an essential aspect demokrati. Svensk och tysk folklivsforskning i of life onboard, it opens up for a wider battery of skuggan av nazismen och kalla kriget. Universus questions and touches upon several fields of interest. Academic Press, Malmö 2015. 342 pp. Ill. English What I particularly like about it is that it does not get summary. ISBN 978-91-87439-15-5. lost in the fog that tends to surround the slippery concept of a maritime culture. Instead, the author  When we are faced with political demands in the convincingly links the ship, the crew and the home twenty-first century to make research “useful”, or as town tightly together. It is clearly shown that mari- a Danish politician put it, to move “from research to time and terrestrial history do intersect with each invoice”, it is in no way an unfamiliar situation. In other, that no ship is an island and that an excessive- 1935 the German ethnologist Herbert Freudenthal ly unidirectional focus may lead to a poorer under- argued that his subject should play a part in the edu- standing of sailor culture. cation of the nation. This applied ethnology (ange- If I am to submit some critical comments, it wandte Volkskunde), in which research findings would be that it seems to me that there are more re- were to be translated into societal practice, was one flections and insights to be drawn from the study step on the way, but researchers were expected to than what is provided to the reader. One could have develop a political ethnology with a focus on the asked for a bit more theoretical discussion of the Volksdeutsche and their relation to the Führer. He many ways food and drinking intersect with every- therefore recommended Mein Kampf as a good text- day life and maybe also some references to this area book of ethnology. of research. As pointed out by several researchers, In his review of the book Die deutsche Volks- food and eating can be understood as an endlessly kunde (1935), which included Freudenthal’s article, evolving enactment of gender, family, and com- the Swedish ethnologist Sigfrid Svensson vigorous- munity relationships (an example of the way food ly denounced these ideas in Stockholms-Tidningen marks social differences, boundaries, bonds, and (1935). He points out with irony that ethnology risks contradictions onboard slightly older sailing ships being transformed from a branch of research into an can be found in the archaeologist Niklas Eriksson’s advertising business, and declares that “the Nazis dissertation Urbanism under Sail). Although much link Volkskunde with expansionism”. Svensson’s of this lies implicit in the reading of Skibskost i sejl- review balances between praising the publication of skibstiden, an introduction to the analytic concept of the book, because it highlights Volkskunde, which foodways might have been helpful for the reader as now occupied a more prominent position in Germa- well as the author. On the other hand, it is possible ny than before, but at the same time he has to dis- that such a discussion would have interfered with tance himself from the articles with opinions that the tight focus on Marstal shipping and the popular, could be seen as serving the Nazi ideology. detailed and descriptive character of the book, The example comes from Petra Garberding’s which I believe is one of its great advantages. Per- analysis of scholarship between dictatorship and de- haps this is a theme to develop in forthcoming writ- mocracy, where she examines relations between ing on the subject. Swedish and German ethnologists in the 1930s and To conclude, I think that Skibskost i sejlskibsti- 1940s and then follows up the situation after the war den – fortællinger fra Marstal is a much more time- and in relation to the years when Germany was di- ly and fascinating book than its title would at first vided into East and West. When Garberding tackles indicate. I have read the book with great interest. It Swedish-German relations under two dictatorial re- 216 Reviews

gimes, Nazism and communism, it is due to her own of archival material found in Swedish, German, background. She began her ethnological studies in British, and American archives (thirteen in all), and Kiel, where there was a tradition of culture-histori- has followed in the tracks of different scholars; she cal research with a focus on everyday life in histori- has explored the sometimes complicated networks cal perspective. After graduating from university, of organizations and institutions which enabled – or Garberding moved to Sweden, where she received a else tried to prevent – the exchange of experience scholarship in 2001 to do her doctorate in ethnology between German and Swedish/Scandinavian schol- at the universities of Södertörn and Stockholm. Here ars before and during the Second World War. she was fascinated with how differently the subject The book is divided into six chapters. Garberding of ethnology could present itself. Whereas Swedish begins with the development of ethnology in Swe- ethnologists emphasized the significance of theory, den and Germany before and after the Second people in Kiel were more concerned with methods. World War, and she describes her considerations Garberding aims to discover the reasons for the about the source material, which consist partly of great and lasting difference between German and correspondence and other written sources, partly of Swedish ethnology, where it turns out that Nazi interviews with a number of selected people with in- ideology played a crucial role in the 1930s, and to formation about, for example, contacts with scholar- analyse how selected scholars have navigated in the ly circles in the German Democratic Republic. schism between the goals of research and the de- The second chapter, about scholarship, politics, mands of politics. Did they draw a clear line in the and race in Swedish-German contacts, paints a pic- sand, as Svensson does in the example quoted ture of five Swedish ethnologists, some of whom, above, or did the choice between collaborating with like Sigfrid Svensson, Åke Campbell, and C. W. and repudiating the Nazi-dominated research in the von Sydow, clearly rejected the ideology of Nazism, Germany of the 1930s depend on the concrete pro- while others remained silent (Sigurd Erixon) or ex- jects in which there was a shared interest? The pro- plicitly approved the racial ideas (Valdemar Liung- jects to publish atlases of European popular culture, man). Garberding shows that the Swedes had a cer- for instance? And how easy would it have been to tain understanding for the Germans’ balancing act denounce Nazism in a climate permeated by racial between politics and scholarship, and that silence on thinking and expansionist ambitions? With the the Swedish side about reprehensible research did benefit of hindsight we can all very well imagine not necessarily mean agreement with the racist dis- that we would have clearly distanced ourselves from course, but a desire not to put German colleagues the Nazi ideology and would have combated the Na- into dangerous situations. zis’ attempts to invade the world of scholarship. But Chapter 3 is about relations with the Nordische was it as simple as that? And was it perfectly obvi- Gesellschaft in Lübeck, an originally neutral cul- ous in the early 1930s what direction the German re- tural institution which was taken over in the early search community was headed in? Garberding does 1930s, by the Nazis, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. not paint a black-and-white picture here, but shows In 1935−36 a seemingly neutral conference was how a number of scholars in Sweden tried to navi- planned and held, with invited scholars from other gate between scholarship and politics, some clearly countries; the theme was houses and farms. The in- dissociating themselves from Nazism, others trying vitations to this conference and to other events or- to maintain their contacts and collaboration with chestrated by the Nordische Gesellschaft reflected Germans even when they more or less accepted Na- an attempt by the Germans/Nazis to bring Nordic zism and its racial ideology. It is at least thought- scholars into what was apparently an academic dis- provoking that even Swedish scholars bought the cussion of Northern European house and farm types idea of Jewish dominance over German finance and from prehistoric to historic times. Sigurd Erixon was culture, and therefore excused the Germans for stag- invited as the main speaker for the historical part of ing a necessary revolt, whereas the situation in Swe- the conference. The papers were later published in den was different, with well-integrated Jewish fami- book form, which Garberding unfortunately fails to lies who did not constitute a threat! (See e.g. the sec- note, and if we read the articles by the German tion on von Sydow, p. 88.) scholars, who made up the majority at the confer- Garberding has accumulated a very large amount ence, we can clearly see the intention: to demon- Reviews 217

strate how “the cultural expressions of the superior In the last two chapters of the book we then fol- Nordic race” slowly spread south and displaced the low ethnology in the wake of the Second World cultural expressions of “weaker” peoples, as one of War. What happened to the scholars who had em- the papers puts it. Whereas Erixon attended the con- braced – or at least tolerated – the Nazi ideology? ference, along with a couple of Danish scholars, the And what significance did the Cold War have for invitation convinced von Sydow and Åke Campbell Swedish-German relations, for example, as regards of how risky it was to have close contact with Na- contacts with ethnological research in East Germa- zi-infected research environments. ny? Some of the German scholars, such as Lutz The conference took place during a period when Mackensen, who had occupied a central position in Germans were doggedly trying to infiltrate and the work on the cultural atlas, continued as universi- dominate Nordic ethnology, not only through the ty employees after the war ended, but not with the Nordische Gesellschaft but also through collabora- same status as before. In a letter to von Sydow tive projects such as the Atlas der deutschen Volks- Mackensen portrays himself as a “victim” – of war kunde and organizations for international coopera- and Nazism, a self-presentation that was not uncom- tion such as the IAFE (International Association of mon in the years after 1945. Folklore and Ethnology), and the later IAEEF (In- When it comes to contacts with German scholars ternational Association for European Ethnology and after the war, their Swedish colleagues tried to keep Folklore). Both organizations had as their purpose to in touch with both sides of the divided Germany. As coordinate the work of collection and publication in for contacts with researchers who were subject to order to map the folk culture of each country, to re- the ideology of communism, Garberding finds some sult in a European cultural atlas, and to publish com- of the same features as in the earlier historical mate- mon journals (FOLK and later FOLK-LIV). rial. Swedish ethnologists were cautious in the The fourth chapter in the book is about the com- actual encounter with research environments in East plicated (North) European cooperation in the 1930s Germany, so that they would not expose the Ger- which led to the establishment of international mans to reactions from the regime. They were aware bodies. Some of this history has already been told of the control that was exercised, but they also no- by Bjarne Rogan in articles describing the predeces- ticed that as Swedes they were given a more open sors of the present-day SIEF (International Society welcome than, say, people from NATO countries. of Ethnology and Folklore). Garberding examines This book can be read in many ways. I myself the organizational history in terms of the Swedish- read it from cover to cover the first time, because it German cooperation, where Åke Campbell, as sec- reveals discourses, relations, and networks which retary in both organizations, played an important can be difficult to grasp when one comes across an role as navigator between Nazi desires for expan- isolated statement in archival material. But it is sion and Nordic/British scepticism about the aggres- without doubt an indispensable reference work be- sive Germans. As secretary first of IAFE, which was cause it has assembled the pieces of the huge puzzle heavily infiltrated by pro-Nazi German scholars – of Swedish – and German – ethnological research in and later IAEEF, which was actually established to the 1930s. The situations and discussions highlight- detach Scandinavian/British research from German ed here are rarely present in the biographies of indi- dominance, Campbell was forced to make a choice vidual scholars that have appeared in the last few when he saw through the Germans and their inten- decades. There the focus has been much more on the tions for the cooperation. He mobilized, for ex- scholars’ – e.g. Erixon’s – significance for Swedish ample, his Irish/English network of ethnologists, ethnology in the long term. In Garberding’s book we thus preventing German participation in an ethno- meet instead the scholars in some situations where logical congress in Edinburgh. As a consequence of they have to make existential choices, and here they the Germans’ heavy influence on the first joint Eu- reacted very differently. Whereas Sigfrid Svensson ropean journal FOLK, Campbell also succeeded, to- and Åke Campbell, for example, quickly suspected gether with Erixon, in founding a new journal, – and rejected – the Nazi ideology, Erixon was hesi- FOLK-LIV, with Irish/British participation. But it tant. He was prepared, for example, to accept the was not possible to exclude Germans entirely from title of honorary doctor at Heidelberg University in the editorial board. 1936 when the university celebrated its 550th anni- 218 Reviews

versary. The jubilee and the honorary doctorates visit or get some information about the belief in the awarded to mark the occasion were largely orches- afterlife in a foreign country. How do we furnish our trated by the Nazi regime. The suggested candidates dead relatives on their next step, and what do we were subjected to careful analysis to ensure that want to achieve through our grave customs? their research was sufficiently “Germanic” and “ra- Not only what we do in the moment of burying cially pure”. The fact that the whole event was sup- our dead relatives is culturally interesting, but also posed to promote the racist ideology cannot have the grave itself. In his richly illustrated and strictly been unknown to the Swedes, since the university systematic investigation Anders Gustavsson con- had already dismissed 44 teachers in 1933 on ac- centrates on the grave memorials in his case study count of their race or their political/religious convic- about Orust, an island in south-western Sweden. He tions (p. 103). Garberding interprets Erixon’s ac- focuses on the time span between 1800 and 2000, tions – willingly taking part as a speaker at aca- which means that he covers the period with the most demic conferences but staying away from the more influential changes in Swedish society. From a spectacular Nazi celebrations – as a reflection of socio-cultural standpoint, change is certainly one of how Erixon put scholarly work first, before political the issues in his book. He also regards the graves a stances, and as a Swedish scholar he regarded him- kind of cultural heritage, and, consequently, ques- self as politically “neutral”. At any rate, throughout tions of value and restoration arise. Since the begin- the Nazi period he continued to collaborate with ning of the nineteenth century permanent grave me- German research circles, both with declared Nazis morials have been erected. To some extent they are and with those who tried to distance themselves now obsolete and they cause some practical prob- from the regime. lems for the congregations. The problem that Petra Garberding tackles is al- The book focuses on well-demarcated and sys- ways relevant, and she has documented it with a tematized themes. Gustavsson examined the differ- wealth of detailed information from correspondence in graves and grave memorials. The graves ence, invitations to conferences, and the like. And, were placed in different ways and they had different as I have said, the 1930s saw complex relationships forms and had or did not have fences. They were in the efforts to build up relevant research networks made from limestone, cast iron, and granite, with or and simultaneously avoid large-scale political/Nazi without inscriptions. Gustavsson demonstrates how infiltration. The Achilles heel of ethnology was the different social strata buried their dead in varying fact that the research findings could be used – and ways during the two hundred years and he also were used – as support for expansionist ambitions shows how practices changed in the shaping of the towards the east. In Germany ethnology has worked graves and the grave memorials. For instance, hard to come to terms with its tainted past, for in- cast-iron crosses on graves indicate that the dead stance in Hermann Bausinger’s critical account of person had a relatively high position. Or, the higher the influence of Nazism (1961). It is important that a stone on the grave was, the higher was the position Nordic research is also subjected to a critical gaze. of the deceased in society. Annette Vasström, Copenhagen Gender is another important theme in the book. Gustavsson opens for several thoughts about women’s position as dead persons. In analysing the The Graveyards Report inscriptions he learned that a young dead woman Anders Gustavsson, Grave Memorials as Cultural was first presented as a daughter of her father. Since Heritage in Western Sweden with Focus on the 1900 she has received her husband’s name and iden- 1800s. A Study of Materials, Society, Inscribed tity. Through marriage, there was a change of her af- Texts and Symbols. Novus forlag, Oslo 2014. 67 pp. filiation. Sometimes she could even keep her own Ill. ISBN 978-82-7099-796-1. position beside her husband. Family graves demonstrated the patriarchal society, the husband’s superi-  Grave memorials are good sources for knowledge ority, for his name was always inscribed on top of about society. Archaeologists build entire cultures the stone. Not until the 1920s was a woman’s first on grave finds. Many graveyards are targets of tour- name visible. However, Gustavsson shows that even ists who want to know more about the place they single women might have a grave of their own and Reviews 219

that a woman’s professional title was not mentioned which deals with how the Nordic region is made in until very late. Children’s graves and graves of different historical, political and cultural contexts young adults were rare in the nineteenth century. through diverse media structures and channels. The After this “material” segment of the book Gus- authors, in keeping with a constructivist perspective, tavsson studies the perspective on the afterlife on are not interested in the region itself but in the medi- Orust. Now the religious context is more important ated region, as it is discursively communicated as a than the social connections. The inscriptions re- unit within and outside the region. The studies cover ferred to theological matters. They were often a wide thematic field, with extensive geographic brought from the Bible and the hymnal. More inter- breadth and historical depth, for example from a esting were the pictures found on the stones, such as study of the nineteenth-century Scandinavian move- lights and candles, crosses, stars, angels, birds, Je- ment in the Nordic region to the journal Fram’s in- sus, or other symbols of life, love and hope. Some- tention during the years 1914−1954 to create a dias- times the crosses were black and sometimes they pora community of the scattered Nordic migrants in were painted in a light colour, which might support South Africa. The extensive thematic variation is Gustavsson’s finding that the perspective on death commendable but has at the same time been detri- could be both positive and negative, or at least that mental to the arrangement. There is no clear justi- the living persons did not want to see death only as fication of the order of the twelve empirical case an appalling catastrophe. studies in the volume, and therefore there are some- The last chapter deals with the protection and times quite abrupt shifts between the contributions. preservation of graves. This is partly a matter of cul- Jonas Harvard proceeds in a similar discussion, tural heritage, respect, and devotion. It is also partly asking whether it is legitimate to speak of a commu- an economic issue. How should we honour our dead nity across the Nordic borders or not. He examines even if nobody knows the deceased any longer, and whether there was a need to establish an immediate how should we combine this charge with the fact “communication now” in the region when it was that there is greater need for space in the graveyards made technically possible by the coming of the elec- the more people there live in a place or – and that is tric telegraph in the mid-1800s. The telegraph abol- the other reality of today – nobody left to take care ished the inertia in communication that the geo- of the old graves since most people move to towns graphical distances constituted. Northerners in dif- far away? Gustavsson tries to argue for what should ferent parts of the region could hypothetically speak be defined and protected as a piece of cultural herit- to each other with the same immediacy as if they age. The book can be of help to those making deci- were standing face to face. But to what extent did sions about this issue. the boundaries of the Nordic region set limits for the Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo (Turku) new type of electronically transmitted conversation? The interesting thing about the telegraph was that it knew no boundaries as regards the distances over Making the Nordic Region through Media which instant relationships could be established. Communicating the North. Media Structures and The enthusiasm for the new communication tech- Images in the Making of the Nordic Region. Jonas nology potentials proved not to stop within the Nor- Harvard & Peter Stadius (eds.). Ashgate Publishing dic countries, but came to include an interest in talk- Limited, Farnham 2013. 364 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-1- ing to the entire global community. Sending tele- 4094-4948-5. graph messages between Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark was no different from communicating  Much has been written about how nations are rep- with any other country on earth. News from the resented and constructed by the press, radio, televi- Nordic countries were added to the section of for- sion, film, books, and more recently the Internet, eign news. The telegraph was therefore the nation- while the role of the media in the formation of trans- state’s extended arm into the world, not a transnational regions has long been a neglected field of national shared access for Nordic internal and ex- research. That is the opinion of the communication ternal communication. The intention of the tele- researchers Jonas Harvard and Peter Stadius, editors graph was moreover not to serve in the national or of the voluminous book Communicating the North, regional community construction. It primarily 220 Reviews

served economic interests by offering opportunities Nordic countries in relation to the European state for rapid business agreements between spatially dis- system, which spurred sympathy for Scandinavian- tant parties or giving the newspaper-reading public ism. When Prussia declared war on Denmark in highly up-to-date news reporting. However, there 1864 to regain Schleswig and Holstein, Swedish were exceptions. A type of occasions when the Nor- troops did not join in on the Danish side because the dic region’s cities were bound together in a com- Swedish parliament went against the king and the munity was in connection with manifestations of willingness of media-Scandinavianism to assist the Scandinavianism. Norwegian newspapers could, for sister nation in the south. That meant a quick de- example, use the telegraph to report from a Scandi- feat of the Danish army. War seems to be a good navian student meeting in Stockholm at about the measure of value for judging the depth and character same time as it took place. Harvard’s chapter offers of the community. If the feelings for the Scandina- an interesting historical perspective on the contem- vian people had been as unquestionable as for the porary globalization debate by showing that there Swedish, the question of assistance or not in the war were both a technical basis and a desire for instant against Prussia would never have been raised. Our communication with the world long before the ad- country was attacked, it must be defended. The loss vent of late modern communication technology. of troops from Sweden- Norway gave a clear indica- Why stop at the transnational region when the whole tion of the Scandinavianism movement’s shortcom- world seemed possible to reach here and now? ings. After 1864 strong nationalist winds blew, Jonas Harvard continues with Magdalena Hill- which with hindsight resulted in Norway’s seces- ström to dig deeper into the phenomenon that the sion from the union with Sweden in 1905. former touched upon in the previous chapter; the War is likewise the theme of Tora Byström’s media’s role in nineteenth-century Scandinavian- study of how the “Nordic Region” as a concept ism. The authors polemicizes here against the re- shifted in meaning during the course of the Second search that divides the Scandinavian movement into World War. The material consists of the journal two phases: before and after 1864, a story of rise Nordens frihet that was published in Sweden from and fall. First, a pure elitist movement with enthusi- March 1940 to December 1945. The Nordic coun- astic political plans for a territorially and dynastical- tries during the war years were confronted with the ly united Scandinavia, then a more pragmatic period complexity of, on the one hand, taking an anti-Nazi of increased cultural and economic integration, position, reinforced by the occupation of Denmark called cultural Scandinavianism. If one considers and Norway in 1940, and on the other hand, dealing the history of Scandinavianism from a media per- with the alliance between Finland and Nazi Germa- spective, as in this chapter, the periodization is diffi- ny in the joint war against the Soviet Union starting cult to maintain because the alleged shift is more in 1941. This created friction between those writers about the key players adapting to a changing media who saw Nazi Germany as the major threat to the landscape. It can therefore be questioned whether Nordic countries and those who regarded Bolshe- the rise-fall story holds. I will not go into the de- vism as a greater danger to liberty. However, the tailed description the authors provide to show that majority could agree that the threat came from two the Scandinavian movement in 1855–1864 was ba- directions. People were convinced that the Soviet sically the same as the media message of it, because Union would not be satisfied with Karelia. The aim of the movement’s massive presence in the coun- was to reach the Atlantic Ocean. Germany’s inten- try’s leading news press. Another detail is however tions had already been revealed. The feeling of vul- important to comment on. It is apparent that major nerability also meant that visions of a federal Nordic political power alliances and wars played an impor- union were articulated. The West’s victory in 1945 tant role in the movement’s rise and fall. When Den- marked the end of any thoughts of a united region, mark in 1849 went to war against Germany to con- so also the magazine Nordens frihet. quer Schleswig, the Swedish-Norwegian King Scandinavianism was practised not only in the Oscar contributed by sending Swedish and Nor- Nordic region. In South Africa the monthly maga- wegian troops to Denmark’s assistance. The West- zine Fram (published 1914–1954) pioneered the ern powers were also in direct opposition to Russia formation of an imaginary community between the owing to the Crimean War. This strengthened the Nordic migrants in the country. Erlend Eidsvik Reviews 221

shows us how a movement that was largely forgot- changed Britain’s neutrality policy in relation to the ten in those days could get new life as the basis of a Schleswig conflict in 1864. diaspora community in the African continent. In this We remain with the British interest in the Nordic case too, war was a central component in the con- peoples in Linda Andersson Burnett’s chapter on the struction of the Nordic community. The story that Sami family that was shown up as an exotic attrac- evoked patriotic feelings, repeatedly reproduced in tion of the exhibition organizer William Bullock’s Fram as an example of common interests, was the highly acclaimed tour of Britain in the 1800s. The participation of Scandinavians in the South African background image was Linnaeus’s idealized image War 1899–1902. Although the Nordic Volunteer of the Sami as children of nature, noble savages. It Corps, which fought on the side of the Boers against was the role they were expected to play, and as long the British, suffered a catastrophic defeat in the first as they did it well, people flocked to the shows. The and only battle on the outskirts of the town of Kim- media played an important role in the marketing of berly Diamond in 1899, stories were told in retro- the stereotypes. When the Sami family got tired and spect about a battle marked by success and heroism. started to live in a way that did not match the image, A memorial was erected which became a kind of they were forced to leave the country. Burnett said cult site for the Scandinavian identity. Racist ideolo- that this showed that the romanticized non-threaten- gy flourished in those times, not least in South Afri- ing noble savage had been transformed into an un- ca. In Fram it was openly propagated that the Scan- controllable savage who did not fit into the urban dinavians belonged to the superior race. The maga- environment. Racist discourses gradually replaced zine opposed Jewish immigration and hoped that the idealized image of the Linnaean Sami as inno- South Africa would get a Mussolini as a leader. All cent children of nature. As we have seen in Newby’s this ended abruptly when Germany attacked Den- contribution in this volume the Brits liked to see mark and Norway in 1940 and after the Second themselves as akin to the Scandinavian peoples, but World War Fram was no longer the mouthpiece for the racially inferior Sami did not belong to these Scandinavianism. people, and their origin consequently could not War is raised again in Andrew G. Newby’s chap- possibly be in the Nordic region. So it was not as a ter on how Britain is constructed as part of an ex- representation of the North that the Sami family was tended Nordic region. This construction was used by exposed to satisfy the British audience’s lust for liv- both British and Scandinavian newspapers to create ing exoticism. a community on both sides of the North Sea. This In the next essay we move to southern Europe had to do with military strategy. A united Nordic and Spain. Elena Lindholm Narváez writes about front would be formed as a defensive wall against the tall, blonde Nordic bikini woman as a popular Russia, which during the 1800s was seen as the pri- media character from a somewhat surprising per- mary threat. At the same time there was no strong spective. When this woman began to appear in the political figure from Scandinavia who could mobi- popular press and on the Spanish beaches when sun lize the British for mass attendance. Although this tourism from Scandinavia took off in the 1960s and grandiose idea of creating a strong united power 1970s, it was an old dream of social progress and bloc across the North Sea never became political re- modernity that was resurrected for the Spaniards, ality, the blood ties between the UK and Scandina- hopes which had been frozen during General Fran- via were often pointed out in different contexts dur- co’s long dictatorship. Lindholm Narváez argues ing the 1800s. The British wanted very much to see that the Nordic woman achieved iconic status during the expansionist Vikings as their ancestors in line Franco’s last years, and the reasons for this must be with their aspirations as empire builders. The fact sought far back in time. Bergman’s and Fellini’s that the British saw themselves as the descendants Swedish film actresses certainly played a part in of the seafaring warriors from the North seemed to this, but we must go back to the end of the nine- be proved by a variety of ancient monuments in both teenth century to trace the origin of this media icon. Scotland and England. The ethnic and historical kin- The first progressive woman from the North who ship expressed in the popular press in the mid nine- wowed the Swedish middle class was Nora in Ib- teenth century, however, played a minor role in for- sen’s play A Doll’s House, which premiered in eign policy. No alleged cultural ties with Denmark 1890. She embodied the ideal of the liberated Scan- 222 Reviews

dinavian woman when in the final act she left home the countries grappled with, the Nordic states could and marriage to be free as a human being. In 1891 be used as examples of ideal social structures in for- Wagner’s The Valkyrie premiered in Madrid, an eign news reports, travelogues, books, etc. The basis opera based on Nordic and Germanic mythology of of this “happiness” in the Nordic countries was that the legendary female warrior, which gave a basis for governments, as the American journalist Marquis progressive fantasies about female emancipation in W. Childs put it, had chosen “the Middle Way”; the a modernized Spain. Franco’s authoritarian, con- North was neither capitalist nor communist nor fas- servative rule, however, put an end to Spain’s devel- cist. The US was tormented by capitalism’s aberra- opment towards European modernity of the Nordic tions, in the late 1920s in the form of the Great De- model. In 1975 the journey forward resumed with pression. Childs was particularly impressed by the the blonde bikini babe as a symbolic escort. Scandinavians’ “industrial democracy”, how em- Nikolas Glover takes us to the World Exhibitions ployers and workers through peaceful negotiations in Montreal in 1967 and Osaka in 1970 to show how and compromise reached collective agreements, the Nordic regional identity was negotiated in the which created social peace and stability in the la- interaction between exhibitors and visitors. No mat- bour market. In Europe, the image of the Nordic ter how much the presenters wanted to enlighten countries emerged as a “happy” counterpart to the visitors about the Nordic region’s specific character- continent’s fascism, Nazism and communism. They istics and advantages, they had to take into account admired social democracy, a reform socialism the images of the Nordic countries that already cir- through which parliamentary practices could handle culated abroad in order to capture the audience’s at- modernity in a way that it did not lead to totalitarian tention. Glover argues that the reason for the five fascism or Marxist socialism. The 1930s were nations’ choice to present themselves as a unit was marked by racist thinking, and from that perspective that the world, at least outside Europe, regarded the too, the Nordic region could figure as a model of ex- Scandinavian countries as intimately interwoven. cellence. The Nordic Aryan population was con- The chapter describes in detail the intricate and sidered to be superior to all other Teutons. This an- tense decision-making process behind the images of cestry was thought of as one important reason for the Nordic countries that the five nations’ represent- the good and happy life in Scandinavia. As authentic atives finally agreed to demonstrate in each Scandi- Aryans they oppose Hitler’s Nazism, according to navian pavilion. For the unit to be manifested, a the French-Russian correspondent Serge de Chessin number of things that showed fragmentation had to (who incidentally also saw the Nordic countries as a be excluded. War figures here again as a problem- positive antithesis to Russian Bolshevism). Their ra- atic factor in the construction of a community. The cial superiority proved that the Nazi German policy many bloody wars between the Nordic countries in was improper for a true Aryan. For Chessin the Nor- the history were thus given no place in the demon- dic countries represented for the true democracy. stration because they disturbed the harmony that the There were of course also pro-Nazi commentators, exhibitors wanted to show. As a unit the Nordic such as the poet Hanns Johst who glorified Nazism countries represented a considerable power bloc in by highlighting the Germanic kinship with the Nor- Europe, and as such the identity was strategically dic peoples and the common Gothic and Viking his- propelled, Glover argues. The national differences tory. Finally the author points out, these pictures of were put on hold because the regional identity gave the “happy countries” in the North were just images. the parties political and commercial benefits. Swe- The need for positive role models in the US and Eu- den won the most as they had the greatest political rope actually made existing social conflicts and ra- power over which Nordic “us” would be displayed. cial institutions in the Nordic countries almost invis- Peter Stadius writes about how the Nordic coun- ible. tries during the interwar period (1918–1939) come Carl Marklund’s chapter does not seem to be as to be represented as the “happy countries” in domes- much about the image of the Nordic region as about tic political debates in various other countries. The what the Nordic countries really are good at with re- image of the Nordic region was stretchable in the as- spect to the ability, for example, to combine high signed paradigm as “happy” so that regardless of the growth with social equality, despite high taxes and political-economic problems and ideological battles government spending. The region’s representatives Reviews 223

are also skilled at marketing themselves as a region Throughout the text, the dystopian images of the with strong business climate and the ability to re- Nordic countries gets a more prominent place than spond successfully to global economic crises. This in the book’s other chapters. No period is portrayed is claimed to be the foundation for the rest of the as unambiguously positive in the authors’ depiction world’s renewed interest in the Nordic model in the of the media representations. The 1960s can be pre- early 2000s. The purpose of the chapter is, however, sented as a progressive and prosperous decade, but historically oriented: to discuss the diverse interest at the same time it was attacked by the (mostly of the Nordic countries’ “image” of the world (espe- American) conservatives as a socialist planned cially the US) at different times, starting in the inter- economy, experiment leading to increased alcohol- war period. Initially, there is hence some overlap ism and high suicide rates. It is an important re- with Stadius’ discussion of the Nordic region as “the minder of how the images vary with news agencies Middle Way” in the previous chapter. But Mark- and political and ideological alignments. The au- lund’s analysis differs from the book’s other chap- thors also discern a more general trend in the media ters by dividing the North in their individual parts, history where the dystopian images gradually take and putting a special focus on Sweden. The author’s precedence over the utopian ones. Since the fall of thesis is that different countries in the Nordic region the Wall in 1989, criticism of the Nordic model has have taken the lead and had to represent all the Nor- intensified. The crisis of the welfare state becomes dic countries in different periods, and Sweden has more apparent with declining economic perform- been outstanding in that role, leading the region ance and high unemployment figures. Xenophobia from the interwar phase to the end of the Cold War. is increasing, which affected Poles as labour migra- The Nordic model became synonymous with the tion to Denmark and Sweden took off when Poland Swedish model. But Sweden is not today what the and the Baltic States joined the EU in 2004. The country once was. Marklund sees a clear tendency journalist Maciej Zaremba’s critical articles about that Sweden is gradually losing its position as the the “Polish plumber” in Sweden were published in representative of the Nordic region along with the the Polish press, fuelling the dystopian images. De- emergence of neo-liberalism and the growing criti- spite this, the Nordic countries still figure as mod- cism of the supposedly “socialist experiments”. ernist front runners in Polish media representations When the bourgeois government came to power in regarding their ability to respond to the contempor- 1991 it sent signals to the world press that the Swe- ary social and economic challenges. dish voters were tired of the Swedish (socialist) Scandinavia’s unique know-how when it comes model. During the 1990s, the Danes gained ground to addressing global financial crisis was also pre- as the representative of the Nordic countries, and to- sented at the World Economic Forum in Davos in day perhaps Norway and Finland are the strongest 2011 in a new pamphlet called The Nordic Way. As candidates, the author argues. As a kind of spokes- proof that the message has been received with great person for continued Nordism, Marklund concludes interest in the world, the considerable attention in by emphasizing that each country has the most to the international media has been adduces, with sev- gain from continuing to market itself under the re- eral news stories and television spots. The editors gional designation as the “North”, because it is still Harvard and Stadius thus begin their summary of a stronger brand than the individual countries. the book by showing how strong the idea of Nordic But Carl Marklund’s positive image of the Nor- exceptionalism still is. Nordic remains viable as a dic countries in the contemporary world does not brand, to politicians and business owners. Ever quite correspond to what Kazimierz Musial and since the era of Scandinavianism, elites with politi- Maja Chacinska write in the book’s last empirical cal motives have understood the need for the media chapter. They write about the media image of the as a means to turn propaganda into impartial report- Nordic region in two historic stages: between the ing. Similarly, the media reshape exhibits and ad- wars (where “happy nation” and “the golden middle vertising of ingenious products to demonstrations of way” metaphors were raised once again), and after Nordic technology and culture. Here the editors con- the Cold War ended in 1989, and they do so from an vey the more cynical aspect of Nordic regionalism, Eastern European perspective, with a principal focus which says that “the North” still exists because the on reports about Scandinavia in Polish newspapers. elected officials and the business community have 224 Reviews

an instrumental advantage from tying together a the impact that different contexts have on these pro- number of states under a common name. The Nordic cesses. The arguments presented are based on the brand is highly valued internationally, the authors qualitative analysis of a reasonable amount of em- state with ill-concealed pride. This is shown not pirical data, collected by the author in different peri- least by the fact that the UK and the Baltic States ods and with an ethnographic approach. The meth- gladly highlight their alleged historical kinship rela- ods used include participant observation, semi- tions with the Nordic countries. But the Northern- structured interviews, informal interviews, field- ers’ interest in their regional belonging is mainly notes, and so on. Given the research questions, the strategic. We celebrate the Nordic region because it study adopts a “contrastive” cut based on non- benefits our nations, a role similar to that which the systematic comparisons, which allows to highlight EU often plays for the member states. some specificities linked to the different contexts The book is consistently interesting, the individ- analyzed. ual chapters are of a consistent high quality. At the The basic premise of the book is that the pro- same time, this review has had a tendency to be a cesses through which people negotiate their identi- presentation, which is probably connected with the ties manifest themselves in daily practices (such as fact that it has been hard to feel enthusiasm for the dressing, eating, working), during religious and cul- basic theoretical theme. Clearly the scholarly value tural festivals and in those practices linked to impor- is situated more in the empirical than the theoretical tant life-cycle events (birth, wedding, death). The area. The editors point out in the introduction the author focuses on the cultural identity of the sub- lack of studies of how regions are constructed by jects, by adopting a definition of culture as a fluid media. Although the editors are to some extent right, matrix of meanings that guides people by providing the constructivist approach, focusing on the nation them with values, norms and patterns of behavior, or region, is by now quite old-fashioned. And we all but that presupposes an activity of re-interpretation know that without communication in some form or by subjects themselves. Consistent with this ap- another it is impossible to create communities proach, Hirvi adopts a postmodern definition of across vast distances. Despite this, there are many identity, assuming that it is not something fixed, but pearls of an empirical nature in the book. I appreci- rather that it is flexible, fluid and situational, negotiate the historical approach, not least the one that ated in relation to others and therefore subject to dy- gives new perspectives on the globalization thesis. namics of power and control. Therefore, culture is Mats Lindqvist, Huddinge presented as a structural plan in relation to which subjects’ agency manifests itself through performed actions. These practices may reproduce and pass on Sikh Identity cultural frameworks as they are, but may also intro- Laura Hirvi, Identities in Practice. A Trans-Atlantic duce possible reinterpretations and negotiations, Ethnography of Sikh Immigrants in Finland and in thereby fostering cultural change. Throughout the California. Studia Fennica Ethnologica 15. Finnish book, and through the study of empirical materials, Literature Society, SKS, Helsinki 2013. 183 pp. Ill. the author successfully demonstrates the validity of ISBN 978-952-222-470-5. these theoretical premises. Hirvi contextualizes the data analysis also with respect to the concepts of  Laura Hirvi’s book is an ethnographic research on diaspora and transnationalism, showing that the Sikhs living in two different geographical locations: practices through which people may renegotiate the metropolitan area of Helsinki in Finland and the their identities may be multi-sited. semi-rural area of Yuba City in California (USA). In the first chapter of the book the author explains The study focuses on Sikhs’ identity negotiations her premises and the adopted methodology, circum- and regards first-generation male and female immi- scribes the object of analysis and reflects on her po- grants and their children. The text is addressed to sition as a researcher, demonstrating attention to scholars and also to a wider audience of readers and issues as reflexivity, power relations between inter- focuses on three main research questions: the rea- viewer and interviewee and the effects of these rela- sons for migration, the ways in which cultural iden- tional dynamics on data. The second chapter ana- tities are negotiated through everyday practices and lyses the reasons for migration and the main features Reviews 225

that Sikh migration assumes in different contexts. time to demonstrate to non-Sikhs that, despite reli- Although there are some recurring aspects (such as gious difference, they also identify with the country the desire to improve family’s standard of leaving as in which they have settled. In chapter 6 the author a basic motivation, or the fact that the first migrants analyzes the transnational practices that may origin- to arrive in both countries are males and that the rea- ate from life-cycle rituals. These practices regard sons for migration are gender dependent), the analy- childcare and naming of children, choice of spouses sis shows other differences between the USA and and organization of wedding ceremonies, retire- Finland, also due to the different historical moment ment, possible choice of return to the country of ori- in which the migration from the Punjab has taken gin and ritual practices surrounding death. The last place and to the specific national legislation. Chap- chapter contains some final reflections. ter 3 explores the relationship between processes of Hirvi’s book adds a significant element to the lit- identity construction and work. The different socio- erature on the Sikh diaspora. This is an original text, economic contexts explain the diverse and prevalent which provides the first insights on the Sikh com- productive insertion among Sikh first migrants in munity living in Finland, which is still little studied. the two countries (farming in Yuba City and work- The author accurately defines her analytical limita- ing in restaurants in Helsinki). At the same time, tions, the object of study, the methodology and the Hirvi demonstrates that, in order to carve out posi- conceptual references adopted, accompanying the tive identity positions for themselves in their respec- reader clearly in her arguments, also with a clever tive contexts of settlements – claiming to be good use of quotes. The analysis uses an inductive meth- Finns/Americans and therefore the right to be ac- od by which the practices studied are traced to the cepted –, Sikhs refer to their religious and cultural theoretical concepts outlined in the first part of the values related to work ethic (“work is worship”) book. In addition, one of the book’s major strengths which are compatible with local moral principles is the comparative/contrastive approach between the about work. The Sikhs then present themselves as data collected in two different settings of migration, people that base their success on hard work alone with the intention to evaluate the influence of con- (this combines well with the American Dream and texts on the identity practices of Sikhs. with the idea of “self-made man”), and as people Future analysis should further investigate the role who do not exploit the welfare system of the host that other structural plans (besides the cultural one) (Finnish) country, in fact contributing to the wealth may have, affecting identity practices of Sikhs. of the state. In Chapter 4 the author analyzes identi- Above all, future studies may point out more clearly ty negotiations through dressing. Practices in rela- the ways in which the legislative framework of a tion to clothing are considered, ways in which sub- country (which affects the migratory choices of subjects position themselves with respect to the cultural jects and which sometimes forces them into trans- references of origin and of the context of acquisi- national practices) rather than the transnational so- tion. Special attention is given to the turban, meant cial and kin networks in which people are embedded as external marker of religious identity, which is (that can affect people’s life choices through bonds given a different importance over time by respond- of affection, debt and reciprocity) may intertwine ents, also as a result of political events such as the with subjects’ agency, resulting in innovative prac- civil war in the Punjab and 9/11 in the USA. Chap- tices from the point of view of culture. These argu- ter 5 studies the role that religious and cultural sites ments are also highlighted in Laura Hirvi’s book but have for Sikhs in both Yuba City and Helsinki in marginally, because they don’t constitute the analyt- maintaining and transmitting their own religion and ical focus of the author. In addition, the question of tradition to the next generation, as well as in making power should be deepened, not only with respect to tangible and visible the largely imagined, scattered the majority population in the different countries of and not numerous Sikh Finnish community. These settlement but especially among the Sikhs; in other sites may be stable (as for example a gurdwara or a words, the question of power related to agency re- Sikh pre-school) but also of a more fleeting visible garding cultural practices should be further investi- nature (like the annual Sikh parade or Nagar Kir- gated with respect to gender and to the generational tan). Again, data analysis shows that, although they membership of respondents. claim their peculiar identity, Sikhs try at the same Barbara Bertolani, Scandiano (RE) 226 Reviews

Faroese Foodways ods and tested useful theories. There is thus exten- Jóan Pauli Joensen, Bót og biti. Matur og matarhald sive knowledge about individual features of food- í Føroyum. 2 volumes. Faroe University Press, Tórs- ways, but not so many holistic perspectives. havn 2015. 258 + 296 pp. Ill. English summary. One researcher who has chosen to attempt an ISBN 978-99918-70. all-round approach to the historical and contemporary diet and meal habits of a whole nation is the  A few years ago my colleague Gary Paul Nabhan Faroese ethnologist Jóan Pauli Joensen, who is well wrote an interesting essay about what he called grounded in the methodological and theoretical cur- “microbial ethnobiology and the loss of distinctive rents that have been developed in Nordic ethnologi- food cultures”. He observed that in most traditional cal research in the post-war years. In this newly pub- food cultures all over the world microbially-fer- lished two-volume work Bót og biti (“Stock and mented food products play a very important part – Bite”) about foodways in the Faroes, Joensen illumi- as the Norwegian ethnologist Astri Riddervold has nates the topic carefully, incorporating many dimen- previously pointed out in various writings – and that sions and factors in the analysis, and considering one can detect differences in taste, smell, appear- both changes and tenacious structures. Joensen, ance and other properties in the dishes and dietary through his many published studies, knows better elements that are produced and conserved in this than anyone else the lifestyles and habits of his com- way. This also applies in large measure to traditional patriots in modern times and in history. He can food in the Faroes, where the population as a whole thereby offer a solid analysis of food supply and still knows how to appreciate fermented fish and dietary habits in the Faroes. His prose style is meat in different forms as both festive and everyday straightforward and accessible to a broad audience, food. In the Faroes they have also – as in many other without the tiresome clichés that unfortunately bur- countries – begun to discover the great value of lo- den many ethnological presentations today. cally produced fermented fish and meat products as Through a long series of previous ethnological an important cultural heritage that must be main- studies of fishing, traditional folk culture, pilot tained. As recently as in December 2015 a confer- whale hunting, and marriage customs, Joensen has ence, “Ræst 2015”, was held in Tórshavn about this accumulated extensive knowledge to fall back on. It fascinating biocultural domain. It is no longer just is difficult not to be impressed by this and the gener- clean ingredients from the sea that fashionable mod- ous way he shares it. Joensen naturally has a com- ern restaurants, such as Koks in Tórshavn, can now plete mastery of the available source material, but offer to tourists who are interested in food, but also over the decades he has also collected a huge exciting gustatory experiences, by adding raw-fer- amount of data with the aid of interviews, question- mented fish and meat products when cooking. In a naires, fieldwork, and participant observation of time when industrially produced food is eliminating Faroese life. For this study Joensen has also enlisted sensations of taste and smell, fermented animal the assistance of social media. Starting in history, products with a distinctive accent are becoming an from a time when the population were self-suffi- attraction. cient, Joensen carries the discussion up to around In the Nordic countries there is a long tradition of 1960, a watershed when a new society took over. research on diet and meals, both as cultural history This does not prevent Joensen from sometimes con- and as contemporary studies. This research field fo- tinuing the analysis up to the present. From today’s cuses on fundamental factors in people’s lives. We almost potlatch-like confirmation parties, which all have to eat, but there are frames for what we eat have not yet been the subject of any detailed study, which are dependent on ecology, economy, ethics, he reports direct from his field diary (a good re- learning, communication, culture, lifestyles, society, searcher naturally does not miss any opportunity for taste preferences, traditions, values, and of course data collection even when invited to a party; any- fashions as well. Dietary habits, perhaps more than thing else would be unthinkable for someone who any other form of cultural expression, say something studies meal habits) about the copious dishes and important about people and the society they live in. cakes served at a reception in Runavík in autumn Nordic ethnologists have been very successful in re- 2014. This field observation also gave him insight search on diet and meals and have developed meth- into the significance of the mutual assistance in pre- Reviews 227

paring party food that is so typical in Faroese com- but is now also of great symbolic significance for munities. national identity. Foreigners who protest against Much of the book is descriptive, interlarded with pilot whale hunting, which is pursued in a sustain- analytical discussions, some of which are conducted able fashion and in a reasonably ethical way, simply in notes, especially concerning sidelights of a theor- have not understood (and of course do not want to etical or comparative kind, in order not to overload understand). In a special chapter we also learn more the text. The author has chosen what is almost thick about the significance of big whales, the species as- description, inspired by the anthropologist Clifford sociated with the commercial whaling that was pur- Geertz, an analytical concept with which he is sued in the first half of the twentieth century, which thoroughly familiar. This too makes the text more once gave the Faroese cheap meat. Naturally, we are accessible to a general audience that is perhaps more also told more about the importance of fish and sea interested in empirical details than theoretical nice- food, with special sections on cod, saithe, and hali- ties. This is not mentioned as criticism. Readers are but – by and large the species which, together with given much new knowledge! haddock, are still the dominant food fish in the The volumes are divided into large main chap- Faroes. There are also interesting sections about the ters. An introductory chapter deals with vegetable historical significance of seaweed and shellfish (at food, that is, cereals (barley), root vegetables, and least mussels have been rediscovered). garden angelica. There is also a detailed examina- A very detailed chapter is about storehouses and tion of peat, which used to be important as fuel for lean-to stores (Faroese hjallur and kovi). The hjallur cooking (it was only a few decades ago that it was is important not just as a storehouse but also for the completely replaced by oil and electricity). Animal preparation and conservation of food, through fer- topics are divided into several sections. One is de- mentation, drying, and other processes. On pages voted to livestock, with the focus on sheep and 139–141 we are given an interesting list of words cattle, but also pigs and goats which, although they associated with the taste and qualities of food, a are purely historical phenomena, each get a section. kind of taxonomy of food associated with its conser- There is also a description of the introduced Nor- vation. The significance of fermented food and its wegian hare and its significance as a game animal. tastes is obvious. Slaughtering and butchering are In a section on poultry we get a very interesting ex- described with an exemplary wealth of ethnographic position of the Faroese goose and its history, but detail. The second part is devoted to housekeeping, chickens and domesticated ducks are also con- food and cookery, and meal habits. It goes without sidered. Wild fowl have for a long time played a sig- saying that the foodways of the Faroese are also in- nificant role for the people, and the fulmar (Ful- fluenced by globalization, market forces, and urban- marus glacialis) is still a significant contribution to ization. Being young in Tórshavn means that it is the household food supply. Eggs and chicks have possible there too to prefer caffè latte or pizza to also been used. Joensen states in an interesting pas- what is offered in the countryside. But there is still sage that modernization had the result that many widespread awareness and interest when it comes to birds were rejected as food. I myself have experi- things such as fermented fish and meat, and the enced how a person being interviewed simply did “loss of distinctive food cultures” that Nabhan pos- not want to tell – out of shame – how they had eaten tulates elsewhere has not yet reached the Faroes. starlings and other small birds before the Second Home-made food is important, and Faroese food can World War. Interviewees give very brief answers still compete against “foreign food”. when asked about things like this. It has become a An all-embracing work comparable to this can kind of taboo to admit (which is an example of how scarcely be food in any other language. The book is interviews and similar recorded material are diffi- exemplary in its layout and design, and it is lavishly cult to handle from the point of view of source criti- illustrated, which adds an important dimension for cism). our knowledge of diet and meal habits in the Faroes The importance of whale and seal in the diet is (many ethnologists today seem to ignore illustra- naturally treated at length, and the section about the tions, which is unfortunate since they have so much pilot whale is of particularly high value, since its to give). This is a worthy study which was published meat was not just a part of the household economy to coincide with Jóan Pauli’s seventieth birthday. 228 Reviews

To readers who know Faroese, we may wish: Væl All of the articles are written in Finnish and have gagnist! The book is a treat. But since 99 per cent of Swedish summaries. The Swedish summaries are Europe’s ethnologists, food historians, and nutri- very short and only deal with some of the issues de- tionists probably cannot read Faroese (Nordicism scribed in the articles. This is unfortunate since the appears to be dead among many ethnologists too), it book could have been a real asset for Nordic read- would be good if the book could also be published ers. However, the foreword as well as the introduc- in a more international language, because it certain- tory article by Professor Anna-Maria Åström have ly deserves international attention. been written in both Finnish and Swedish. The book Ingvar Svanberg, Uppsala contains of a number of old photos to illustrate the content of the articles. The various articles describe bourgeois life as be- Life and Social Relations among the ing busy and consisting of large families, studies abroad, arranged marriages and numerous social Ostrobothnian Bourgeoisie, 1750–1850 events and opportunities to make money and expand Pohjanmaan porvariston vuosisata 1750–1850. business. The articles describe the privileged life of Asuminen ja elämänmuoto. Seija Johnson & Sanna- the bourgeois, but also the down sides of such a life. Maija Kauppi (eds.) K.H. Renlundin museo – Kes- Despite prosperity, life in the 18th and 19th centuries ki-Pohjanmaan maakuntamuseon julkaisuja 5. Kok- still meant great losses and tragedies at a personal kola 2013. 334 pp. Ill. Swedish summaries. ISBN level in terms of the early death of women during 978-952-5619-25-6. childbirth or children dying at a very young age. The articles are divided into five chapters accord-  This study of the Ostrobothnian bourgeoisie ex- ing to the bourgeois households of Roos, Lindskog, plores and describes the life of four bourgeois fami- Lang and Falander-Wasastjerna. All of these house- lies and their social network in the Ostrobothnian holds are situated in Ostrobothnia, in the western towns of Kokkola, Pietarsaari, Raahe, Vaasa and part of Finland. The grandiose and lavish houses or Seinäjoki. The articles deal with life and family tac- mansions built by the families are all preserved to- tics and strategies among the Roos, Lindskog, Lang day. The Falander House in Vaasa was built by and Falander-Wasastjerna families. For these fami- Abraham Falander, later titled Wasastjerna, in 1780. lies, as well as for the bourgeoisie in general, being The house is today the oldest brick building in Ost- successful economically manifested itself in main- robothnia. The second oldest home is the Lindskog taining a high standard of living and loyalty towards House, named after its founder Per Adolf Lindskog. the family and business relationships. For them, a The house was built in 1797 in the very heart of Pie- wide social network and its benefits played a par- tarsaari/Jakobstad. Östermyra Mansion, built in ticularly important role and is described thoroughly 1806 in Seinäjoki, was the home of Abraham Fa- in the articles. landerʼs son Gustaf Adolf Wasastjerna. The two re- The book consists of 12 articles written by remaining houses were built at the beginning of the searchers and museum directors. In these articles, 1800s. The Lang House in Raahe was built in 1812 the writers describe, contextualise and analyse bour- by Johan Lang, whereas the Roos House in the geois living conditions and lifestyles during the centre of Kokkola/Gamlakarleby was built by An- most lucrative decades between the years 1750– dreas Roos in 1813. The Roos House receives a 1850. The Ostrobothnian bourgeoisie mainly ob- great deal of attention precisely because the book tained its wealth through the international export of was released in honour of its 200-year anniversary. tar and other goods. The town of Kokkola was at the For me personally, the Roos House is more than beginning of the 19th century one of the largest familiar. Being from Kokkola, I once worked at the towns in Finland and an important merchant ship- Roos House, which is a part of the K.H. Renlund ping centre with an expanding international trade. Museum. Therefore, it is also easy for me to under- The main item of export was tar, produced in Cen- stand the fascination for old houses or mansions like tral Ostrobothnia. Successful trade made the town the ones described in the book, where the spirit of and its inhabitants wealthy, bringing with it interna- former residents is still tangible, as pointed out by tional influences and a high standard of living. the writers. Reviews 229

Besides offering a cross-section of bourgeois life means that you often have to dig yet again and ever in Ostrobothnia during a certain period of time, the deeper to reach the next source of information, book also makes it possible for the reader to under- which will only lead you further to more informa- stand the value of archive material as a source of in- tion, in a cycle that may never end. formation and data. The writers have gathered an The book could have said more about the back- extensive amount of material, which gives us a very grounds of the writers, as it is difficult to know who thorough picture of the bourgeoisie in Ostrobothnia they are and what their relation is to the study at at the time. What has been left unsaid or undis- hand. It would have also been interesting to know covered is hard to say, maybe some details about a how the book project began, where the idea came personʼs life or the meaning of some social contacts. from and how long it took to write the book. I would The writers seem to be aware of the restraints of the also have wished to find a summary of the articles at material and therefore about their ability to find out the end. all the details about the people’s lives. This study of Ostrobothnian bourgeoisie is a This book has a catalogue-like nature, consisting fresh and welcome addition to previous publications as it does of a great deal of information, names, on the bourgeoisie and shows that bourgeois life- dates and connections between the different fami- styles can be studied from various angles and with lies. The number of names and amount of the infor- different research questions. Therefore, the book is mation presented with respect to them is challenging an asset to all those who have an interest in bour- for the reader. It is sometimes difficult to keep up geois lifestyles, especially those of bourgeois fami- with the names and how they are connected to each lies in Ostrobothnia. other. It is also almost impossible to maintain a The book provides excellent insights into bour- proper knowledge and understanding of who they geois lifestyles, networking, values and outlooks on really were and to fully understand and comprehend life. The book is a successful example of a the role and significance of these people in the bour- well-structured and interesting publication, which geois network. Therefore, the genealogy tables deepens our knowledge and understanding of bour- th th found at the end of the book are priceless. I could geois life during the 18 and 19 centuries. I there- also imagine that these tables have a significant fore look forward to additional studies on the topic, value for genealogists and others interested in the which the foreword mentions will soon be forth- bourgeois families originating from Ostrobothnia. coming. What the articles do reveal is how intertwined Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Åbo (Turku) and premeditated the lives of the bourgeois were. They married within their bourgeois networks, chose godfathers and godmothers according to Using the Power of Humour socio-economic status as well as strategically, and Anu Korhonen, Kiusanhenki. Sukupuoli ja huumori studied abroad at prominent schools to be able to be uuden ajan alussa. Atena, Jyväskylä 2013. 304 pp. successful in their carriers. As an ethnologist, I ISBN 978-951-796-930-7. would have wished to know more about the daily life of the bourgeoisie at the level of the individual  Anu Korhonen is a cultural historian and special- but realize at the same time that it would probably ist in the early modern English culture in its many be impossible to obtain such information. Certainly shades. She is affiliated with the University of Hel- our understanding and knowledge of these families sinki. Since her dissertation, Fellows in Infinite Jest: and their family members is now at a different level The Fool in Renaissance England (1999), she has than it was before this book was written. written fascinating books and articles about e.g. Besides the amount of information about the dif- beauty, baldness, hair, masculinity, family violence ferent bourgeois families, the articles also demon- and the theory of laughter. Her book, Kiusanhenki: strate how history can be made lively and interesting Sukupuoli ja huumori uuden ajan alussa, deals with by combining different sources of information. At gender and humour in Early Modern England. How- the same time, one can also sense the difficulties ever, she does not limit her interest only to English and problems concerning the manifold ways of us- humour but also gives many Swedish and Finnish ing such material. To dig into archival material examples. 230 Reviews

In the beginning of her book, Korhonen explains women; it could help these people express their why humour is worth serious concern. It is an insep- ideas. Simultaneously, hierarchical social structures arable part of every culture but varies considerably could be challenged or strengthened by jokes. Hu- in time and space, therefore often being difficult to mour was an area of social life where one could understand. However, in the hands of a skilful prove to be very stupid or very civilized. The skill of scholar even the humour of the past can speak about laughing and making people laugh required intelli- its time and culture, in this case about the 16th and gence and wit. One who could make people laugh 17th centuries. Of course, jokes do not always allow was socially successful. us to know what really happened in the past, but Culturally awkward, challenging, frightening or they do reveal the possibilities and limits of past embarrassing situations, topics and things beg for thinking while describing everyday situations at humour that can help to discuss them. In the history home and in the village or town. Humour also tells of western humour sex seems to be one of such top- us about the joys and fears of people. ics, and jokes connected with sex are the most com- Korhonen focuses on spoken and written humour. mon variety of humour. As a feminist scholar Kor- Using an abundance of contemporary sources – honen particularly asks how gender was constructed diaries, memories, biographies and notes as well as and challenged by humour and jokes, how women printed jestbooks – she focuses on gender and sex in were seen in the realm of humour, how masculinity the jokes and finds out how these topics were seen was treated, what kind of topics were used and and constructed by using humour. She also relies on whose voice was heard in the jokes of the early plentiful English and Finnish research literature. modern times? The first English satires and humorous texts were Using various examples and scholarly notes Kor- published in the 1490s but the first proper book of honen writes about garrulous women, wives in need jokes appeared in 1526. During the 16th and 17th cen- of taming, cuckolded husbands, and the fun of forni- turies dozens of jestbooks were published in Eng- cation. No matter what women did they were always lish. Many kinds of writers, even physicians, col- ridiculed in jokes, but men were not completely lected jokes and wrote jestbooks, and most authors saved from mockery either. Even elderly people were from the educated upper classes of society. were depicted as ridiculous, which sounds almost Some books were written at home but translations cruel. Luckily, in many jokes old people answer also appeared. In any case, the humour books did cunningly to their scorners and in turn make them not follow the rules offered in the books on good laughable. On the basis of today’s jokes, it is easy to manners, which were also very popular during the understand that toilet humour and jokes about same era. breaking wind made also early modern English men and women cackle, chuckle and giggle. During the early modern era humour was, as it still Jokes are almost always ambiguous, and so they is, international. Therefore it is very difficult to trace were in the 16th and 17th centuries, too. They got dif- the origin of a particular joke. Slightly different ver- ferent interpretations depending on the context, the sions of the same funny stories were repeated and social status of the speaker and the viewpoint of the retold in many countries. Therefore even the early listeners. However, many old jokes connected with modern jokes often sound familiar to us because we their time cannot be understood at all today; even meet the same kind of stories in our own culture. Korhonen who speaks English almost as a native Nevertheless, the historian must be constantly suspi- has to admit that for today’s people certain old jokes cious about familiarity – it may lead astray. How- are quite incomprehensible. One realizes that hu- ever, today’s people may find certain forms of early mour is always historical and connected with the modern humour strange and different even though situation. the function of jokes has not changed much. Korhonen writes eloquently, colourfully and Although the collections of jokes were written by thoroughly about her topic. An English translation educated people, humour was not the privilege of of the book would make it available for larger audi- anybody in particular. Jokes were told in all social ences. However, even a slightly shorter version groups, and even scholars cultivated humour. It was might do. also the weapon of the weak, the underdogs, and Leena Rossi, Turku Reviews 231

Natural Catastrophes yard of the West” but in a new media landscape. Kyrre Kverndokk, Naturkatastrofer. En kulturhisto- (The emblematic destiny of the Titanic in 1912 was rie. Scandinavian Academic Press/Spartacus, Oslo a consequence of the telegraph and radio, as Stephen 2015. 300 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-82-304-0125-5. Kern demonstrated in his pioneering book The Cul- ture of Time and Despair, 1983). In New Orleans  In this book Kyrre Kverndokk, professor of cul- modern media gathered and partly staged the drama, ture studies at Bergen University, examines three which could be followed all over the world in real major catastrophes: the earthquake of Lisbon in time. Another story is narratives about the feeling of 1755, the volcanic eruption on Martinique in 1902 togetherness, of a communitas, of humanitarian em- and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. All pathy. three had far-reaching consequences outside their We live in a semiotic world, searching for signs epicentres and created what is called catastrophe and meaning. Our fears in this risk society (Ulrich culture. A substantial part of the book treats media Beck) to a large extent concern the weather, which coverage. Thus Lisbon is the first media catas- mankind has defended itself against through history. trophe, setting the parameters for how to describe Perhaps the author underplays the role of science and understand the catastrophe, while the New and its interpretative potential. He has an extensive Orleans hurricane flooded the media. discussion of the geological ideas in Bishop Erik Kverndokk examines the deep structures of the Pontoppidan’s Afhandling om verdens Nyehed interpretation of catastrophes, the long lines of the (1757) but does not follow up this thread. At least risk society, whether natural catastrophes are given catastrophe – or the fear of it – triggers science and any meaning, when catastrophes became more secu- the general discussion about safety, progress and larized, how popular myths such as the looting of what to believe. Catastrophe also raises moral ques- devastated cities spread, catastrophe tourism, the cations. According to the older interpretation, man is tastrophe on display in popular culture. Chrono- sinning against God, who via Nature justly punishes logically and structurally the three cases are well man, and according to secularized logic man is sin- chosen, but of course they could have been supple- ning against Nature which in turn is taking revenge. mented with others, e.g. Krakatau 1883 and San Man is the central agent and catastrophe culture is Francisco 1906, and recently Haiti 2010 with moralistic. 230,000 victims. Kverndokk writes effectively, the scope is wide: The focus is on reception history in Norway and there are many digressions, such as press history, his- the primary sources are mainly Norwegian: chap- tory of meteorology, catastrophe in film industry, ca- books, poems, newspapers, exhibitions. All through, tastrophe logic. One possible objection – which ap- however, international research is used. It is a very plies to many other academic studies – is the constant up to date treatment, quoting even Donald Trump on referring to other scholars in the body text. It makes “the global warming hoax”. On the early period for cumbersome reading. Of course, it is necessary to Kverndokk has benefited from Kristiina Savin’s the- give credit to earlier research, but where have all the sis Fortunas klädnader (2011), on the Martinique beloved footnotes gone? Narrative is endangered as a case Ernest Zebrovsky, The Last Days of St Pierre result of academic research documentation. (2002). There are many fine observations along the Another way of putting it is to stress that the au- road, e.g. how during the nineteenth century the thor is in complete command of his field. His book model catastrophe was no longer Lisbon but Pom- ranges from biblical influences on popular thought, peii, probably because of Bulwer Lytton’s best- from history of science to media history, from histo- seller. There is also a close-up study of the adven- ry of concepts to events. It confronts some of the turer traveller Carsten Borchgrevink as an example fundamental questions since time eternal: how will of primitive medialization of the catastrophe. it all end? But it also considers the present interest in Catastrophes bring distant places to the fore, as apocalyptic themes and how they are mediated: how media coverage unites the globe. Important factors are catastrophes transmitted to us, in a way con- are geographical locality, Lisbon, capital of a structed by media? This is a rich and rewarding powerful nation and harbour along the trade route, book. Martinique in the Lesser Antilles and in the “back- Gunnar Broberg, Lund 232 Reviews

How to Make Cultural History instead proposing that human beliefs are like maps. Making Cultural History. New Perspectives on There may be different maps of a given area, maps Western Heritage. Anna Källén (ed.). Nordic Aca- that are better or worse in explaining some situation demic Press, Lund 2013. 208 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91- or occurrence. The map may be more or less accu- 87351-19-8. rate, more or less useful, and more or less comprehensive. But the point of the perspectivist, in  Making Cultural History: New Perspectives on Nietzsche’s view (as explained by Geuss) is the de- Western Heritage is an intriguing title for a book nial of one single Super-map which combines all the which is one of the best in the field of cultural an- virtues of all possible maps, without loss, and gives alysis and cultural history this reviewer has read in a view of the world that has absolute priority over quite a long time. If not an instant classic, then this all others, independent of variations in human pur- volume comprising 17 essays, rather short ones, poses, values, interests and context. Or to put it an- about 10 pages each, is indeed one to turn to when other way, as for instance Donna Haraway has done, pondering on how to make cultural history and espe- all knowledge is partial and situated. From this cially how to bring out ideas and narratives of the viewpoint, of academic knowledge as situated, as a research going on in this vast field, a field which in partial perspective, follows the realization in the in- itself is extremely hard to define, something the vol- troduction that all narratives, representations and ume wisely refrains from even trying to do. Both claims of culture and history are in some sense polit- cultural/culture and history are so-called universalia ical. By clearing the table and making both the re- or general concepts which a strict a priori definition search and the research questions in this type of dis- might have great trouble in explaining conclusively. course political as it were, the table is open for for- As stated in the short but quite illuminating intro- mulations of new critical questions and, indeed, new duction to the book, written by Anna Källén and methodological and theoretical perspectives. Inga Sanner, the volume has sprung out of the Re- As to the themes of the book, one of central im- search School for Studies in Cultural History, or portance is the interplay between past and present, FoKult, at the Faculty of Humanities of Stockholm which Källén and Sanner wrote about in the intro- University. FoKult was established by the faculty in duction. There is a view here that the different disci- 2009, in order to promote interdisciplinary collabo- plines cover different fields but on more or less cen- rations and find new fertile ground for research on tral and well illuminated, much in the same way as cultural history. Eight professors from different de- Orvar Löfgren in his overview of cultural studies in partments within the faculty joined the steering the anthology Kulturstudier i Sverige (2007) noted committee, and in the following two years nineteen that there are black holes and white spots in cultural excellent postgraduate students were enrolled in the studies connected to a libidinous discursive field in- FoKult programme. The need for different perspec- volving different disciplines. In this kind of scenario tives, the introduction states, is based on the duality the strength of the FoKult programme and the book of history itself. The past has created the present and becomes obvious. If one looks a little more deeply is a source for our self-knowledge, but at the same into the texts, there are several essays here with an time, the image of the past is continuously created intersectional way of thinking. Texts with this kind and used in the present. So, for the group of young of focus also imply that there are questions of power researchers this creative interplay between past and and of identity involved. present is key to all activities at FoKult. Of the nine- One such text is the first one in the book, by Elin teen doctoral students enrolled in the project (born Engström, about an archaeological project on the is- between 1967 and 1985) seventeen are represented land of Öland, the Eketorp research project from the with an essay in the volume. early twentieth century, involving strong displays of So what do we mean when talking about perspec- both visible and invisible masculinities, with espe- tive and perspectivism? My understanding of this is- cially the long-standing leader of the excavations, sue stems from the one proposed by thinkers such as Professor Mårten Stenberger (1898–1973), de- Nietzsche and later on Raymond Geuss, who has ex- scribed in some texts as sporting thick auburn hair plained the use in Nietzsche’s case as indicating a and a proud smile, making him an iconic archaeolo- step away from a systemic explanation of Nietzsche, gist comparable both to a real-life icon such as Reviews 233

Heinrich Schliemann or a fictional one such as In- does not prevent the influential experts from still be- diana Jones. Elin Engström tackles what she con- ing nationalistic in their approach, with a combina- siders a vastly under-theorized dichotomy of place tion or intersection between the national and the Eu- within which research has been carried out, the con- ropean taking place. cepts of a male outer room and a female inner room, Niklasson also refers to the archaeologist Mi- a room of pottery and a room of weapons, or, as was chael Shanks, who has taken issue with a thinking stated by Stenberger and his colleagues, a room of obviously common to archaeology, and to several leadership and one with domestic purposes. What other disciplines, of a dualism of practice and con- Engström stresses, applying Judith Butler’s ideas of text, in which funding is reduced to something in- symbols used in relation to notions of masculinity evitable but irrelevant for the research process. By and the distinction between the symbol and that combining the two approaches of Addelson and which it symbolizes, is that the distinction under- Shanks, Niklasson rightly aims at greater clarity and mines the perception of a “real” connection between better focus in the analysis, at the same time recog- masculinity as symbolic expression and the male nizing power imbalances between different ele- body itself, leading up to questioning why other ments. She is interested in showing how it is at the bodies could not also perform masculine expression meeting point where archaeologists’ ideas and prac- just as well or even better. Related to the masculini- tices and EU political structures interact and are zation of the Eketorp project are also some festivi- blurred that the research is becoming really interest- ties and commemorations of Stenberger, viewed al- ing. most as a cultic hero in this context, something A third essay from within the archaeological field which has larger repercussions since it points to- is one written by Ingrid Berg, who, just like the two wards the gendered nature of the discipline of ar- earlier ones discussed, also points to the importance chaeology itself. The myth of the father-figure is of reflexivity in research practices. Berg’s text con- connected both to notions of the researchers’ objec- cerns what she calls the dumps and ditches of an ex- tive gaze and to the strong connection between mas- cavation in Kalaureia in Greece and how the prac- culinities and hierarchies. tices and well-trodden paths (to use Orvar Löfgren’s Another quite important essay is the one by Elisa- expression) of the discipline lead to a certain distor- beth Niklasson, also involving archaeology and in tion of the archaeological past as seen in this type of this case the ambitious programme launched by the archaeological excavation. Here the first Swedish EU, called the Raphael Programme, meant to high- involvement in the excavations in Greece in 1894 is light a distinctive European heritage in the archaeo- the point of departure for Berg. Her grip on the story logical field, as opposed to the more traditional na- is intriguing since she treats the remains of spoil tional and nationalistic views of archaeological and heaps and excavation ditches as archaeological fea- cultural heritage. Niklasson is able to ask critical tures and part of the materiality of the history of ar- questions about the whole establishment process of chaeology. She discusses how the remains from this the programme as involving strong components of earlier excavation at Kalaureia came to serve in later elite thinking, hierarchies and new networks to be archaeological excavations as a backdrop for “the woven by experts in the field, often working as archaeological gaze”, which operates with a hierar- some sort of “double agents” between the intellect- chical vision and a presentation of history as layers. ual and the political arenas in question. Issues of One such building, Stoa A, is used as an example of cognitive authority are highlighted in the essay, how history can be seen as some sort of container, drawing on the feminist philosopher Kathryn Pyne formed from these same dumps and ditches. One Addelson’s thinking about funding in science. A conclusion she draws is the invisibility of the hands conclusion made by Addelson is that the cognitive of the diggers, contrasted to the visibility of the authority of specialists in science and academia as a minds of the archaeologists. The invisibility also whole lies in their social arrangements and positions concerns the present time of the place of excavation of power, allowing them to spread their metaphysi- which is seen as vastly inferior to the time repre- cal commitments by telling other researchers what sented in the buildings and sites excavated. And the their problems should be. And in the Raphael case, level of time favoured here is classical Greece, al- the newly pronounced pan-European approach here though Berg notes that lately also some other histor- 234 Reviews

ical levels have been the foci of excavations in September 1937, contemplating the remaining parts Greece, e.g. the Frankish times. She concludes by of the Pergamon temple’s marble frieze, where the saying that the practice of archaeology is inter- Olympian Gods violently thwart the attempted re- twined with identity formation, on both a personal bellion by the Giants. The novel’s protagonists start and a collective level. Such a history of classical ar- debating the political significance of the piece, chaeology becomes a history of class, gender, race something which for Strand is a possibility to show and power, hidden in the ruins of antiquity. how Weiss’s novel not only demonstrates the poten- Concerning questions of theory in the volume, tial of anachronistic appropriations of the past (per- there are a couple of texts which are especially reformed by the three antifascists) but also provides a warding. Both involve meditations of the meaning dialectic approach to the institutionalization of cul- of rhetorical figures. The first is Robin Wahlsten tural heritage. How is this done? In Strand’s view Böckerman’s take on textus and rhizome, an experi- the novel shows how the creation and distribution of ment with two metaphors, as he calls it. The mixing cultural heritage can be conceived of in terms of so- of or intersection between textus and rhizome aims cial relations between groups who produced histori- at seeing what will happen with intertextuality when cal discourses and control the means of production an extreme standpoint is adopted and the metaphor and distribution, and groups who are largely exclud- textus is brought to bear on its relation to materiali- ed from this ownership. Strand notes that such rela- ty, and then juxtaposed with another type of meta- tions are never entirely fixed, they can be seen as the phor which both challenges and modifies the first contingent outcome of negotiations and conflicts for metaphor. Instead of textus with its associations of the material control of the production of history, as weaving and fabric, the metaphor of rootstock well as the power to determine which segments works in another register of intersection and inter- should be transferred to the future. The selection of connection. Applying the textus metaphor first high- certain things as cultural heritage and the rejection lights its powerful iconicity, but also – as is almost of other things is, Strand notes, ultimately deter- always the case with metaphors as analytical tools – mined by conflicting social interests (and thus being its insufficiency – because textus tends to be too political, if we want to follow the lead made by the “longitudinal” concerning the fabric of time. Using book’s introduction). a well-known text by the Roman author Ovid – his Another way of stating this is the talk about the Metamorphoses – as a test case of textus in action in merging of past and present, which is where the no- history leads him to the conclusion that the textus tion of anachronism is being introduced, by way of metaphor cannot stand too much stretching before it another historical example, Peter Watkins’ movie snaps. Then the other metaphor rhizome (made fa- from 2000, La Commune, an event which took place mous by Deleuze and Guattari in their book A Thou- in Paris in 1871. The movie, lasting five and a half sand Plateaus) is introduced, bringing with it a hours, is a re-enactment of the rise and fall of the strong element of anarchy, an anarchic principle of Paris Commune. The film consciously blends past knowledge, as Wahlsten Böckerman states. To and present to a point where the distinction between make a short version of a difficult and exciting tex- actor and character evaporates altogether. And tual analysis performed here, one could say that the Strand notes: “By breaking down the dichotomies essay ends up on a positive, if slightly bizarre note: between actor/character and fiction/reality La Com- The textus, by covering the material and complex mune demonstrates how the reifying historical real- features of intertextuality, is at risk of becoming in- ism of standard Hollywood representations of his- flexible and too visible, which calls out to the rhi- torical events can be jettisoned for an anachronistic zome to illustrate the non-hierarchical and hidden historiography which takes the immediate present as dimensions of the process of intertextuality in time its point of departure. And consequently, if the past and place. is to be transported into a productive force in our In another text working with a rhetorical device, own time, that sort of dialogue seems more impor- the concept of anachronism is introduced. Daniel tant than empirical reports of what exactly happened Strand analyses Peter Weiss’s 1975 novel The Aes- at a particular historical moment.” His answer is that thetics of Resistance, in which three young antifas- instead of treating the past as an object to be exca- cists stroll through Berlin’s Pergamon Museum in vated it should be seen as an endless slew of marks, Reviews 235

traces, voices and images that the present can appro- into the dark corners of this era when the actions priate for itself. The anachronisms will then return mentioned supposedly took place, seen via the text to the past again and again, seeking creative open- from a somewhat later era, the years when Snorri ness, utterances we need for self-expression. wrote the text, and then trying to figure out, in our Silence in history is a key concept in an essay own era, with a normative universe quite unlike the written by Anders Lindström, “Tracing the Silence one described by Snorri, what really is going on of the Tragic”. There is a highly interesting argu- here. To be more precise, Wallenstein is able to ment driving the text, namely that the unity of the show the reader that there is a reason and a logic go- tragic and of tragedy as an art form came to a halt ing on in the passage he is analysing, in a text which with Euripides’ Bacchae and as a result of this lost is based on the scant material available, even though unity of the tragic, seen as an oscillation through the exposition is quite speculative and the research polarity (light/dark, life/death etc.), the loss of har- is full of both theoretical and methodological prob- mony also has its repercussions on art and art lems. forms in the modern era, but with a twist. As he Questions of “manliness” and “unmanliness” and writes, “seemingly at an infinite distance from the Christianity versus paganism in Old Norse society Greeks, after 2,000 years of dialectics [] the are at the heart of the conflict laid bare here by Wal- tragic once again becomes possible to articulate lenstein, in a masterful exploration of variations in when modernity, in a horizontal confrontation, re- the four different sources available to the researcher. activates the tension of Greek tragedy, the tragic as His conclusion is that the problems raised are nu- articulated through its own void.” So, for Lind- merous and many of the questions at hand are hard ström the silent trace of the tragic resonates in mo- to answer, adding that it seems probable that there dernity through its own void, or negativity. Lind- are sources aplenty when it comes to traditions, ström’s two examples or articulations of this void mentalities, conceptions, and ritual practices that lie are the murals of Mark Rothko and the architecture beneath the surface of the sagas, and that these in of Mies van der Rohe. This text with its high level part are traditions of great age and traditional depth. of abstraction and speculative nature is one of the Not taking note of this would leave the interpreter of most intriguing in the book, philosophical and el- the culture with a highly skewed picture. liptical in tone, driven by concepts such as vertical/ Questions both of movement and of the majestic horizontal, virtual, negativity, language as absence, abound in the text by Britta Zetterström Geschwind, leaving as much out of the text, in its creaks and si- called “A Majestic Copycat in Motion”. The word- lent corners, as pushing the thought forward play in the title hints at both these qualities. The through words. copycat in question is a majestic lion, more than Equally fascinating, and speculative, is the prop- three metres high, standing in the hallway of the osition made by Frederik Wallenstein on ways to Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. The re- understand an especially disturbing episode in Snor- searcher describes her own experience of the monu- ri’s Old Norse saga, the burning of Rognvaldr réttil- ment in the following fashion: “He has red runes beini, son of King Haraldr hárfagri (Harald Fair- scribbled on his flanks, which are shining from the hair). Rognvaldr is executed by his own brother – hundreds of curious hands that have explored the and Harald’s favourite son – Eiríkr blóðøx (Erik carvings and stroked his pale body over the years. Bloodaxe) – because he has been accused of practis- He sits calmly, proud. Gazing in the distance, his ing the hateful type of sorcery called seiðr. King face looks a bit sad. He is a full-scale plaster copy of Haraldr sends Eiríkr to Haðaland where he burns his the Piraeus lion, and it is he who will be the subject brother Rognvaldr to death together with eighty of this essay.” other seiðmenn. And Snorri adds that “this deed was Zetterström Geschwind is then able to describe much praised”. The whole episode of course, as the various movements involving the lion, both the Wallenstein retells it in his text, is both highly dis- original marble lion erected in the port of Piraeus in turbing and extremely difficult to understand for a Athens in the fourth century BC and taken by the modern reader, uneducated in the norms and prac- Venetians from Athens as war booty after their vic- tices of Old Norse society. What Wallenstein is do- tory over the Turks in 1687, placing it by the Ar- ing in his textual analysis is really a form of descent senal in Venice, and then the plaster copy made of it 236 Reviews

in 1895, which was the brainchild of Swedish poet new body: Blake’s illuminated book is a cyborg ma- and art connoisseur Fredrik Sander, who donated the chine. lion to Swedish History Museum. Another form of materiality is at the centre of The one thing which is especially noteworthy Emma Hagström Molin’s text, the materiality of war about the lion in a Swedish and Nordic context are booty books. The case she investigates is that of the Viking runes on the marble lion, discovered by a Strängnäs cathedral library, which during the years Swedish diplomat in 1800 and thereafter sparking of Sweden’s involvement in wars on the European continuous interest both in the plaster lion and in the continent in the seventeenth century led to the accu- runic inscription. mulation of spoils of war in huge quantities. The ob- One of Zetterström Geschwind’s acute observa- jects were used to found or enlarge royal and elite tions concerning the lion is that it may be important collections of art, archives, and books, and also the to distinguish between the representations of the Pi- library of Strängnäs cathedral. raeus lion and the lion’s physical materiality. They The theoretically and methodologically smart cannot automatically be read the same way, she con- move Hagström Molin performs is, by avoiding a cludes. focus on the literary content of the war booty Equally fascinating is Per Isakson’s essay on the books in Strängnäs, to explore the materiality of extremely strange composite art of the English poet the books, what the material did and what kind of William Blake, and in particular his engravings relations it created when entering a new context. called The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Here ques- More specifically she discusses a single object, the tions of original and copy are addressed in a novel catalogues of the cathedral book collection, and way, since what Blake was doing was sort of com- how its sub-collections were mixed and separated bining the two, by making a limited number of vari- over the centuries, for the materiality of war booty ations of these engravings (fewer than ten), making books played an active part in the process of mak- the distinction between original and copy almost ing the collection. She concludes her impressive disappear or at least putting it in quite a new light. essay by noting that a book collection evidently is The same holds for the contents of the engravings, not just a reservoir of literary content. On the con- which are a strange, even grotesque combination of trary, the meaning of materiality as a quantity, a text and picture, and at the same time neither of provenance, or a sign of history and memory these in any conventional way. This leads Isakson, should not be underestimated when analysing war reasonably enough in my view, to describe these booty objects in Swedish collections. And para- “unnam’d forms”, as Blake called some of them, as doxically the war booty acquisitions seem both to an emergence in Western literature and art of the strengthen the Swedish cultural arena and to draw fantastic, seen as a genre, a literary and an existen- Sweden closer to the European “Republic of tial mode. Learning”, which was at that time much stronger Isakson is hesitant about treating the plates as a on the Continent than in the North. material configuration of text, image and design. It In Robert Nilsson’s text, “Oral History and the seems rather that, as much as Blake’s drawing on Interpretation of the Recent Past: Remembering the the copperplate is execution and invention in one Swedish Miners’ Strike of 1969–70”, there are a and the same act, so every treatment of the illumi- couple of interesting questions raised as to the com- nated book is an act of invention, involving the plex of remembering in a larger historical and cul- reader in creative configuration. The fantastic trans- tural context and the various positions of identity formation of knowledge in the chambers of the and relationality involved in the storytelling, in this printing house becomes an equally fantastic bridg- case of the famous Swedish miners’ strike in Gälli- ing, and breaching, of the subjectivity of the reader, vare in Swedish Norrland and the different forms Isakson claims. And with the advent of digital stor- these remembrances and identity questions take on age and knowledge production, and in this case a through the years. Since the focus here is on oral Blakean archive on the net, the chances for further storytelling there is a special problematic involved, exploration are vastly enlarged, in what Isakson de- one which in Nilsson’s text is heavily relational and scribes as the cybernetic co-production of new per- focusing on multivocality, since much of the mate- ception and new experience and the production of a rial involved consists of recorded interviews made Reviews 237

in different situations and different times, with the couldn’t be more different, as Hjortén notes. But at strike and its repercussions at front stage. the same time, both were gifts by one nation to an- Nilsson wisely ends his text with a set of ques- other (from France and Sweden, respectively, to the tions instead of answers. What kind of possibilities USA) and both highlight questions of universality of discussing the effects of public work on the and nationality (seen as a form of particularity), and strike, and also the relation between history and also the paradox that the monument that to the great- memory as distinct ways of knowing about and ex- est extent still retains this function as a signpost of periencing the past can be created by working on the friendship is the seemingly dead monument in Dela- recorded interviews? What can oral history do for ware. Unlike the Statue of Liberty today, the New the memory of the strike? How does this compare to Sweden Monument mainly stands as a representa- other ways in which the strike has been presented? tion of past connections between two countries. So In the end it need not be about deciding which way what kind of symbolic work is going on in these two of relating to the past is the better, but of facilitating types of monument? discussions between different perspectives, he con- Hjortén notes that the rhetoric of a monument can cludes. either be close to the particularities of the represent- In his essay, “Fictionalized Cityscapes: Lisbeth ed past – it can be preoccupied with quite literally Salander and the Heritage of Stockholm” Johan telling history – or it can lean towards universalism Linder examines the use of the Swedish crime writer in its pronunciation of values, ideas, or ideals that Stieg Larsson’s Millennium books and films made are generalized from the historical context. Univer- from them in guided city tours in Stockholm. Ar- salism and particularism should not be regarded as ranged by the City Museum of Stockholm, an insti- fixed entities or ideal types. Being rhetorical dimen- tution that is a focal point in the local heritage dis- sions, they are constantly negotiable and they al- course, these tours are offered alongside ones that ways coexist. He even suggests that universalism take in more obvious heritage objects, such as exhi- and particularism are crucial dimensions in monu- bitions, designated heritage sites, and so on. Taking ments standing on United States territory, the reason part in such a tour and adopting a tourist gaze, cali- being the dimensions connection to nationalism. brated through the fictional works of Stieg Larsson, And what makes quite a difference is the fact that Linder ponders on the question of what fiction does US nationalism is characterized by its very original- to heritage. In addition, he examines how the tours ity, its sense of exceptionalism which has been quite interpret the social critique embedded in the fiction- strongly connected to the Statue of Liberty and the al works of the Millennium series. symbolism one can deduce from it. Because the His conclusions as to how the heritage of Stock- other monument, the Swedish-American one, is still holm is handled by the museum are critical of the much more oriented towards the giver than the one museum’s role both in the marketing of the Millen- in New York, the whole context of the two monu- nium series and in placing its fictionality on an equal ments is vastly different. At the same time the statue footing with other materials in the museum. But his by Carl Milles is largely forgotten in the public im- main focus is on the way the museum, by making agination today except as a token of friendship be- the books a source for the touristic gaze, ends up ne- tween two countries. And Hjortén convincingly ar- gating their function as a critique of Swedish socie- gues that the Swedish-American monument as a ty. representation is entangled. The act of making it was In his essay, “The Past is a Present: On the Rhet- mutually constituted across imagined borders, so oric of Monuments and United States Universal- that it is impossible to describe within fixed catego- ism”, Adam Hjortén reminds us of the value of com- ries of nation, ethnicity, or region. The monument, parison in cultural studies and cultural history. he says, is not a representation that can be meaning- Hjortén has been “reading” the networks of meaning fully defined as Swedish, as American, or as Dela- attached to two monuments in the United States, one warean. It is all of those things, and more. Compare extremely well known and the other much more ob- that to the French-American statue, as one might scure in the public imagination, the Statue of Liber- call it, today more than ever a symbol of the USA ty in New York and the New Sweden Monument in and American particularism, but also of a universal- Delaware, two monuments which on their face value ism which seems to concern the whole world. But, 238 Reviews

Hjortén concludes, this is something of an illusion, has it, achieved as much with his pen as his prede- because nothing is, in fact, as particular as the uni- cessors had done with their swords then his insist- versal. While the particular feeds on history for its ence on handling the vast amount of paper himself interpretation, the universal is dependent on contem- became his and his kingdom’s undoing. The paper porary contexts to be understandable. For the Statue king became paralysed by the sheer amount of pa- of Liberty this context has been characterized by the pers around him and complaints about inefficiency evolving conceptions of US exceptionalism. started to be heard as the economy was ruined in Eu- Another form of narrative can be found in Lisa rope’s first great economic crisis, Wickberg Måns- Ehlin’s take on Google and the mediation of cultural son writes. memory, in which she lays bare some quite absorb- Close up is also the word to be used when dis- ing questions about history and memory making. cussing the text by Mats Lindström on historical What is happening in a world and reality in which micromedia of a special type, quite hot in the inter- the memories of humans and machines are being war period of the twentieth century and today more and more entangled? Her case in point is the viewed upon with either a rather sad smile or as a rapidly growing use of Google maps and what kind memento of the unproductive paths onto which the of consequences this use has for our understanding technological revolutions of our times might lead us. of the world and ultimately our own place in it. Ar- These micromedia were then a strange combination guably, she says, rather than replacing reality or of reading and viewing film or other visual media, making the world a pure representation, the map and microfilms of various kinds inspired by a vast the physical world converge in a vision of augment- amount of different techniques, from advertisements ed reality. and commercial signs in the cityscape to Wall Street Ehlin notes that as we interact with bots and ticker tapes, creating various technologies of repro- software, we are also active participants even when duction and representation on the smallest possible we are not aware of it. This of course, in turn, leads scale, beyond the very limits of human perception. to issues of control and power, to notions of sur- What is especially intriguing here is the fact that the veillance and privacy, but also to understanding change of scale, the miniaturization of texts and pic- what we are doing when we socialize and coexist tures, has at least two consequences for the use of online. The Internet, as culture, is here looked these media, the first one being the idea that the upon from an intersectional perspective, it is not changed scale also might lead to a change of speed something “out there”, but made and recreated in a of conception, e.g. fast reading, and the other being constant process of doing, enmeshing humans, ma- that the miniaturization makes storage of vast quan- chines, bodies, and images. Google, once a search tities of information possible, with the Westing- engine, now in effect mediates experience as well house Time Capsule, containing a microphotograph- as data, blurring the boundaries between human ic archive for “the future”, being a particularly and machine memory. strong case in point. And of course this dream of an Viewing Google maps as a form of medium – or “endless information archive” is today being real- perhaps several media meshed up together – leads ized to a large extent in the form of digitization and the initial texts in the volume, those focusing on me- the Internet. dia — media understood both as intermediate and as Another type of media history, no less interest- concrete media with their own medial history. Both ing, is brought to the fore in Tove Thorslund’s text aspects of media are highlighted in Adam Wickberg “A Matter of Quality”, dealing with a problematic Månsson’s essay on the paper king, King Philip II of which might be seen as quintessentially Swedish, Spain, a kingdom vastly expanding in this particular namely the co-existence of two strands of modernity era with new colonies added to it and also expand- in society, those of capitalism and socialism, which ing as a paper bureaucracy with the king more and are in fact mostly blurred in a more detailed analy- more functioning as a sort of almost Kafkaesque sis. figure, writing his orders in the solitude of his study, Here Thorslund is studying a form of double quiet and unwilling to confront his subjects face to standard and even spying activity on behalf of the face, becoming in the process a kind of almost Swedish Radio and TV Corporation (Sveriges Ra- shadowlike king in his castle. If he, as one witness dio) in the 40s and 50s, when television was in its Reviews 239

infancy in the Nordic countries. Sveriges Radio was seems to be that ministers are conservative and, con- supposed to be, from the very start, a non-commer- sequently, that Luther’s hierarchic classification of cial, public service enterprise, much like the BBC, people lasts long, perhaps longer than in other kinds which traditionally produced programming of a of households. On the top sits the husband, under “high quality” to “educate and enlighten” the gener- him comes the wife, after her the children and serv- al population. ants. At least in non-professional rhetoric, Luther When television broadcasts started in Sweden in was claimed to have said that the male party in a the mid-50s the debate about commercial television marriage is more powerful than the female and that often centred on good and bad taste, and high and her position is less important than his. low quality, in which horrific examples of the latter Another starting point is a will to investigate the were taken from North American television. Ameri- relationship between ideal and reality in the lives of canism, or Americanization, was in this sense ministers’ wives. Being a kind of model for other thought of as something vulgar. women in the congregations, they should live as a What Thorslund convincingly shows is the de- combination of super-housewives, wonderful loving gree of a double standard practised by the company mothers, pious believers and intellectual partners to and its leading bureaucrats. The simple fact is that a the highly intellectual minister. Sex is not worth couple of the most popular of all Swedish pro- mentioning, for obviously ministers’ children are grammes of those days – and of all days ever since – not engendered in a normal way. The authors try to were in fact modelled on American programme for- see how different kinds of sources come to grip with mats. This is the case both with the extremely popu- the discrepancy between this ideal and a reality lar quiz show Kvitt eller Dubbelt (1957–1989) and which, from a certainly modern but quite common of the talk show Hylands Hörna (1962–1983). There experience-based analysis, must have been extreme- was even “a spy” of sorts active in the States, one of ly tiresome and strenuous. Sveriges Radios own foreign reporters, Claes Dahl- Oloph Bexell has investigated texts based on the gren, who with maximum secrecy reported continu- memories of deceased ministers’ wives. They are a ously to his superiors in Stockholm about interest- kind of obituaries and wisely enough Bexell read ing, promising American programmes and pro- them after having scrutinized them thoroughly from gramme formats. To add to this, some of the most the perspective that one hardly ever writes anything popular of all the programmes on Swedish televi- but flatteringly about a dead person. Still he was sion were American shows, such as Bonanza, Perry able to see what a burden of work a minister’s wife Mason, Lassie, I Love Lucy. had to manage even until the end of the eighteenth Just like some of the other essays in this volume, century. She was the heart of a big rural household this text ends with a question rather than an attempt and, consequently, she was responsible for child at some final answer to the problems discussed. The rearing, guests, maids, farmhands, cattle, food and conflict between high-quality cultural television and drink for a whole year, for cleaning and garments commercial entertainment raises interesting ques- and much more, not to mention that she often had a tions about taste, Thorslund writes and adds: what is big family with many children, in-laws and relatives good taste, and who are its arbiters? in the house. It was her duty to free her husband for Sven-Erik Klinkmann, Vasa his intellectual work. However, this is not surprising taking into consideration the responsibilities of women in the countryside in general. Bexell also Even the Minister’s Wife! demonstrates how the relationship between the min- Vid hans sida. Svenska prästfruar under 250 år – ister and his wife had a pastoral dimension that is ideal och verklighet. Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson & Bir- missing in other marriages. In his article Bexell gitta Meurling (eds.). Artos & Norma bokförlag, shows the ideal of a minister’s wife. Hardly any- Skellefteå 2015. 202 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91-7580- thing was found about difficulties, problems or fail- 769-0. ure. The same way of mastering a big household we  This book is about ministers’ wives in Sweden meet again in Cecilia Wejryd’s article about minis- since the eighteenth century. The starting point ters’ wives in the nineteenth century. Her material 240 Reviews

consists of memories of life in Swedish rectories but on the other hand: who, at a time when parents published in quite a comprehensive series from the and children were anything but equal, would com- 1930s. However, there is a difference in the quality plain about everyday life to one’s children? of the material compared to Bexell’s sources. The Birgitta Meurling investigates the most recent ministers’ wives are certainly dead but it is still time, i.e., the 1990s. Feminism, a general democrati- possible to write about them in a more free tone than zation process in Sweden, more higher education in obituaries. It was even possible to mention some also for women and other social changes are seen in negative characteristics. The genre thus decides the the interviews that Meurling conducted with a form of the narrative. In comparison to the life of a couple of bishops’ wives. Certainly, they were re- minister’s wife in former centuries the late nine- spectful towards former bishops’ wives’ notions of teenth-century woman saw some of her tasks profes- an ideal way to support their husband. However, sionalized, for instance, within the field of caring they very clearly expressed their will to keep their and nursing. Instead she took over new kinds of own job and identity as independent women. At the work, such as Sunday schools, Red Cross work and same time they also knew how to pick the cherries institutionalized charity. out of the cake and enjoy the nice sides of the Alexander Maurits describes the lives of the min- bishop’s work, such as public duties in and outside isters’ wives in the early twentieth century. His ma- Sweden, provided they themselves could decide terial consists of questionnaires, which certainly when and how to participate. In this way they acted makes a great difference compared to older sources, just as any other woman of today who has the op- for here we can hear the individual voices of the la- portunity to lead an independent life. However, dies. Still the wives were part of their husband’s Meurling demonstrates that the bishop’s wife still is work, leaving him free to concentrate on his the one in a couple who, when “needed”, sacrifices spiritual tasks. But now there was a change, for be- her time and strength for her spouse. It was never sides all the other duties she had looking after in the mentioned that he had renounced anything for her household, she assisted him in reading his texts or career. listening to his problems. Another change happened This book gives a good review of the position of during this time when Sunday school teachers were women through history up to our time. With the appointed, when charity was institutionalized and help of some theory from gender studies the reader publicly funded. After the Second World War even can see that ministers’ wives have struggled with the ministers’ wives had an education of their own and same problems concerning equality as other women could stick to it although they also kept the responsi- have done, at least since the beginning of the twenti- bility for the household. The number of children in eth century. Ideal and reality meet to some extent, the family was also reduced due to the acceptance of but not until our time is the ideal of the independent contraception, and thanks to more mechanization, and self-sufficient wife even plausible. However, the household was easier to maintain. The picture of this is the perspective of the twenty-first century. the ideal minister’s wife was changing due to a This book does not ask questions about how the ministers’ wives felt when their tasks as good changing society. spouses changed. At the beginning of the investigat- The lives of bishops’ wives are treated in two ar- ed period they were the centre of the congregation, ticles. Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson looks at a description but eventually their role changed to that of periph- of Maria Danell (1870–1943). Her son was the au- eral women without a position there, just as Doris thor of the source text, but Nilsson also had Maria Riemann demonstrated in her dissertation from Danell’s letters to her ten children at hand. It turned 2014. out that Mrs Danell had just the same tasks as minis- Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo ters’ wives in general plus quite a lot of public duties together with her husband. Sometime she felt tired and complained about the duties and about herself as not fitting into the life of the high bour- Cities and Memories geoisie, but mostly she let her children see her as a Muistin kaupunki: Tulkintoja kaupungista muistin ja happy wife of a successful bishop. In this article it is muistamisen paikkana. Katri Lento & Pia Olsson clear that even a bishop’s wife could be exhausted, (eds.). Historiallinen Arkisto 138. Suomalaisen Kir- Reviews 241

jallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2013. 391 pp. ISBN Tytti Steel writes about the harbour city Kotka 978-952-222-449-1. and its people on the basis of interviews conducted in the famous harbour restaurant Kairo in 1997–99.  In the book Muistin kaupunki fifteen urban schol- The citizens frequently encountered foreigners and ars from several fields of research have written thir- were known to be tolerant. However, many had dif- teen essays about the urban environment and memo- ficulties in accepting difference, even when the ry. The articles represent a large variety of urban re- ‘Others’ were local harbour workers, ship girls or search themes. Most of the authors are ethnologists Finnish seamen. or historians but there are e.g. museum workers, bi- Eveliina Asikainen and Kirsi Mäkinen write ologists, and city planners among them as well. The about the possibilities of interview promenades: original idea of the book began with a series of lec- How does the method activate memories, especially tures focusing on memories about Helsinki and their those of the urban nature? The authors give an ex- meanings, but it was considerably widened. Al- ample from Helsinki and another one from Tampere though several articles have the Finnish capital as and prove that most memories in nature are connect- their scene, there are also essays dealing with other ed with places and motion. Thus remembering also towns. Even foreign cities are presented. Thus the requires moving about. approaches are both locally and generally interest- Pia Olsson uses 17 ethnology students’ written ing. The authors look at the physical and social ur- memories about Helsinki as her material; writing ban space from different points of view, but memory was part of their studies. In their reports all the gives them a shared frame of interpretation. Re- students told about their experiences during their membering and forgetting, individual and collec- studies, but the local youth also wrote about their tive, private and public memories are key words in childhood. On the individual level students gradual- the articles. ly apprehended the milieu and learned to interpret it, In their introductory essay, Katri Lento and Pia but certain experiences were given collective mean- Olsson emphasize the wide scale of urban studies ings. and remind the readers of the importance of investi- The second chapter Symbols of Collective Memo- gating both physical and lived environment. Urban ry consists of three articles. Anne Pöllänen is con- space is an entity producing and maintaining cultur- cerned with the documentation of contemporary life al meanings as well as subjective experiences. The in museums for future generations. The museums essays are divided into three chapters dealing with have an institutional role and a responsibility as pre- different ways of remembering. They are all worth a servers of the memories of citizens. However, short introduction. there’s always the problem of what should be saved. In the first chapter, City as an individual place of Can we preserve our time without any objects? memory, there are five articles. First, with oral histo- Jari Harju presents a contemporary documentary as source material, Anna-Maria Åström writes tion project run by Helsinki City Museum in the about Helsinki’s past from 1945 until the end of the suburb Myllypuro. In the endeavour the everyday century. Quite convincingly she utilizes the personal life of citizens has been documented via interviews, memories of the everyday life of citizens from dif- questionnaires and photographs. The project con- ferent social classes and shows how their lifestyles tinues the tradition that began a century ago with became more heterogeneous while the city grew, Signe Brander documenting the city with her camera. more immigrants came in and certain areas were The only non-Finnish writer in the book is gentrified. Rainey Tisdale from Boston Museum. She writes Then Oona Ilmolahti presents a valuable diary about the role of city museums in the 21st century. from the time of the Finnish civil war in Helsinki in How do they interpret and present the past of the 1918. The writer was a high official in the National city? She describes her observations in certain Euro- Board of Education and he reported in detail the war pean and North American city museums; in every events and daily life in the city first occupied by the museum the past is presented chronologically and reds and then by the whites. To his honest com- one episode or event often labels the past and domi- ments and reflections he adds his intimate emotions nates the collective memory. She also suggests alter- and personal evaluations. native activities for museums. 242 Reviews

In the third chapter, City and the Memory Politics has been sparingly revised, but the result is an up- with four essays, Anja Kervanto Nevanlinna first dating, and this is now a good occasion to remind writes about the built city as a focal point for memo- people of this basic textbook in the field of ethno- ry and meanings. Urban life produces many kinds of musicology. As I observed when the first edition meanings connected with buildings. But when we came (Rig Kulturhistorisk tidskrift 2003/3), the book speak about meanings we have to know whose is easy to read; without going into too much depth of meanings those are, since individuals and groups detail it manages to say a little about all the relevant give the city different meanings, not only aesthetic, areas. It also provides information on the topic that but also economical, social and political. is of interest to Swedish students since it refers to Tanja Vahtikari is interested in the historical town Swedish studies and musicologists. centre of Rauma. A century ago, a few artists from The book discusses what ethnomusicology is and the capital expressed their concern for the picturesque how the subject has developed. Each chapter is fol- old town with a medieval city plan and wooden build- lowed by a list of recommended reading. A large ings. Thus the value of the town was defined on a na- share of the book is devoted to fieldwork, also in ar- tional level. In 1991, it was also defined on an inter- chives, and transcription. Analysis of music and cul- national level, when UNESCO accepted it onto the ture is likewise given considerable space. The reader list of world cultural heritage places. gains insight into the concrete working methods of Writing about Jyväskylä, Tiina-Riitta Lappi an ethnomusicologist, such as sound recording, and states that both planners and citizens give different simultaneously the difficulty of choosing among meanings to the city and its past. In the public dis- methods of analysis. How researchers in the subject cussion the planners, officials and media conscious- work today is mixed with how different ethnomusi- ly build and maintain narratives to strengthen an at- cologists have done comparisons and analyses dur- tractive imago for the city; the private discussion is ing the time when the subject was being developed. based on the subjectively lived reality. While the The revision means that a number of new publi- public discussion stresses change, the citizens stress cations in ethnomusicology have been added to the continuity. bibliography, and a few titles have been removed. The book ends with Hanna Mattila’s and Tuomas The list of works suggested for further reading at the Ilmavirta’s inspiring article about the heritage indus- end of each chapter has also been expanded some- try. Leaning on several fashionable authors, they re- what. Some pictures have been replaced and some flect on turning old industrial environments into aes- sentences added, partly on account of the impact of thetic entities while their historical, political and new technology. No new sections have been added; moral meanings are forgotten. As an example they the chapters are the same as before, with the excep- use the Pasila engineering works and ask an impor- tion of a list of terms and concepts that has been tant question: Whose history is preserved for whom? omitted from the new edition. Otherwise the revi- The book Muistin kaupunki has been planned as a sion is, above all, a polished version of the original textbook for ethnology students and to raise discus- text. sion about cross-disciplinary urban research and its Magdalena Tellenbach, Marieholm possibilities. Anyone who is interested in urban research should read it. Leena Rossi, Turku Baltic Liquor Smuggling Johan A. Lundin & Fredrik Nilsson, Spritsmuggling på Östersjön. En kulturhistorisk studie av nätverk i A Revised Ethnomusicological Textbook tillblivelse. Makadam förlag, Göteborg & Stock- Dan Lundberg & Gunnar Ternhag, Musiketnologi. holm 2015. 229 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91-7061-181-0. En introduktion. Gidlunds förlag, Möklinta 2014. 160 pp. Ill. 2nd revised edition. ISBN 978-91-  It may appear foolhardy to choose network analy- 7844-914-9. sis for a close-up study of liquor smuggling during the inter-war years. How can one describe the way  Twelve years after the first edition of Musiket- social networks among smugglers were built up and nologi, a new edition has appeared. The new edition consolidated when more than a human life has Reviews 243

passed since then? And how is it possible to analyse historian Pål Brunnström’s study Ägare och kapital: such shady activities and informal agreements all Klass och genus hos kapitalägare i Sverige those years ago? The rather clumsy subtitle of the 1918−1939 (Lund, 2014). This exposes the web of book – indicating a culture-historical study of “net- business and family connections that was an impor- works in the making” – would seem to suggest that tant condition for a couple of successful big busi- the authors felt some hesitation. nessmen and their families. But this study of liquor But it is precisely this approach that interests the smuggling in the Baltic Sea is about people at the two scholars. The book consists of two studies, “The other end of the social hierarchy. This is about the Social Connections of Liquor Smuggling” and “The dubious activities of small dealers, networks of so- Technological Connections of Liquor Smuggling”, cial deviants, organized crime, and the culture of the one following the other seamlessly. The authors are poor. What they had in common, of course, is that two professors: the historian Johan A. Lundin at social networks are sustained by individuals, and Lund University examines how the networks of while it is scarcely problematic to name the individ- smugglers actually were constructed, while the eth- uals at the top of the business world, it is another nologist Fredrik Nilsson at the Centre for Öresund matter when it comes to criminals. Reproducing Studies is interested in the material conditions that their portraits or describing their family situation applied to smugglers and those who combated and life circumstances in detail can entail many eth- smuggling. They have found a rich and multifaceted ical problems. Even if the leading characters are body of source material in police and customs ar- dead, perhaps their children and grandchildren are chives, and they have penetrated a huge quantity of still alive, and it is far from certain that they want to investigation reports, court records, inquiries, de- be reminded of or associated with their law-break- scriptions by local coastguards, police interroga- ing ancestors. Researchers tend to handle that kind tions, newspapers, and the specialist press. In this of difficulty by avoiding the use of real names, but way the smugglers’ activities and the authorities’ ef- not so here. Instead the authors skilfully handle the forts have been brought out of oblivion, and any no- problem by painting a mitigating background con- tion that the material might be too limited for a de- text to illustrate the social vulnerability, the political tailed study has to be abandoned. turbulence (the Great War had left ragged individ- The picture they paint is convincingly rich in de- uals and nations), the high unemployment (over tail, allowing the reader to follow everything from 30% of organized workers lacked jobs at the end of exciting chases to everyday toil. Huge quantities of 1932), and the economic misery: “Many sought alcohol were smuggled into the country (the comfort in the bottle; some tried to make a living by 400,000 litres confiscated in 1922−1924 were prob- selling illegal liquor.” ably just a fraction), and as far as I understand, the The introduction to the book presents a whole majority was concentrated and could therefore be gallery of liquor exporters, smugglers, and dealers diluted many times before being sold. Two ten-litre who had the restrictive alcohol policy and the intro- cans, for example, could be blended by the owner of duction of rationing in 1917 as the foundation for Café Helenehem in Malmö, Alfrida Fast, to make 50 their illicit side income. In darkness and fog, and litres of aquavit. A veritable flood of spirits thus sometimes with considerable hardship, the liquor poured in. We are seldom told who drank all this al- was brought – via big and small vessels, fishing cohol, but that is not the focus of this book. In the boats and rowing boats, into fishing harbours and re- case of Alfrida Fast, we are told that “the aquavit mote bays, concealed in ditches and bushes – closer thus obtained had then been sold by Mrs Fast on dif- and closer to the consumers in Malmö, Gothenburg, ferent occasions, half a litre at a time, at the Helene- and Stockholm. Johan A. Lundin convincingly hem Café here in Malmö for 4 kronor and 50 öre, shows that many of the networks created around the and for the same price had been sold by the half litre smuggling were relatively small. This was not so through the mediation of the roofer Georg Persson”. much a case of centrally controlled and organized The book belongs to the research field where so- crime, but more of individual actors who were re- cial scientists use network study as a method. One cruited for periods of varying length. At the same work of this kind which is not in the bibliography time, there were clusters of professional criminals but which deals with the same inter-war years is the who built transnational networks of a larger geo- 244 Reviews

graphical scope and more lasting over time; they at- lectic that characterized the smuggling networks – tracted the attention of the media and were somehow they were built up and dismantled, reformed times portrayed as exciting freebooters. And there and collapsed. They also show how the crime fight- were some professional skippers who were engaged ers gradually strengthened their position through a as transporters on account of their local maritime series of interventions, detective work, and success knowledge. But the local networks of distributors in ringing in the criminal networks. And they con- appear to have consisted of fairly ordinary men and vincingly analyse how both the smugglers and the women who lived in meagre circumstances, looking anti-smugglers exerted themselves to adapt and op- for an easy meal ticket and taking the chance to earn timize their material and non-material resources in some money when the opportunity presented itself. their efforts to eliminate each other. A few were professionals in the sense that they had It is a solid piece of handicraft that the two re- “employment” as distributors or go-betweens, but searchers have delivered. Some references to their functioning networks could also be based on kinship theoretical role models could well have been added and marriage connections, with helpers among to the ambitious notes; the references in the text friends, neighbours, and workmates. seem like scaffolding that has been allowed to stand The struggle against smuggling was initially pur- after the building is completed. But fair enough, sued with substandard equipment. While the big each discipline has its conventions and writing smugglers could have speedboats with aircraft en- styles, and this is an academic product – albeit un- gines and could use fast vehicles to mount what usually exciting, well illustrated, and easy to read. could be called “dromocratic” attacks on the state, Anders Björklund, Stockholm the coastguards had only simple customs yachts and boats with weak engines. And when the authorities were investigating the possibility of cutting down on Critical Heritage Research expenses and procured bicycles (because they “en- Vägskälens kulturarv – kulturarv vid vägskäl. Om abled movement four times faster than walking att skapa plats för romer och resande i kulturarvet. pace”) for their staff, the smugglers drove cars be- En rapport från forskningsprojektet Rörligare kul- tween the landing places and the nearest storage turarv. Ingrid Martins Holmberg (ed.). Makadam place. It would be easy to make fun of the head of förlag, Göteborg & Stockholm 2014. 262 pp. Ill. the 19th coastguard district and his view of the use ISBN 978-91-7061-165-0. of cars in combating smuggling as “a trial arrangement”, or the way the slow-witted Swedish Board of  Ingrid Martins Holmberg, lecturer in conservation Customs contemplated the risk the cars could be at Gothenburg University, has edited an extensive abused. But the author Fredrik Nilsson avoids this. report about making a place for Roma and Travel- Instead he methodically describes how the anti- lers in the cultural heritage. smugglers adopted new communication technolo- To begin with she provides a survey of the terms gies – “vectors” – such as aerial reconnaissance, ra- and concepts used in the book, and the different dio, and telephone and gradually evened the odds in contexts in which research has been done. The con- a kind of arms race. The battle was complex, how- texts mainly concern the way heritage management ever, and it was not only fought on land and sea but has dealt with participation and diversity in society, also concerned ideals and views of justice. The which she traces back in an interesting way to the smugglers sometimes had an image of folk heroes; 1970s. Ultimately, of course, this is a question of bold and dedicated businessmen with a special abili- democracy, which means that heritage management ty to trick the coastguards and lure the alcohol po- should be constantly subjected to discussion and re- lice. It is indicative that yarns about big smugglers appraisal, preferably with the addition of new like Algoth Niska in the Stockholm archipelago and knowledge from outside, such as this. Mabou Erik along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia Roma historical sites have attracted increasing at- are still orally transmitted, whereas the dogged work tention, and recently ten “knowledge projects” have of the customs authorities and the brave excise men been carried out in the public heritage sector in Swe- has scarcely attained the same heroic status. den. These are presented in different ways in the All in all the authors demonstrate the fragile dia- book. The overall research project, however, is “A Reviews 245

More Mobile Heritage”, which is the basis for this groups concerned have taken part in the identifica- book, having run from 2012 to 2014 at the Depart- tion of sites and have been given preferential right ment of Conservation at Gothenburg University, of interpretation. An interesting question about what with finance from the National Heritage Board. The may be called heritage shift has accompanied the idea of mobility is conveyed in the title of the book work. By this is meant that the understanding of cul- through a thought-provoking ambiguity: “the cultur- tural heritage is being reshaped within the sector, al- al heritage of the crossroads” and “cultural heritage though it is not yet fully established, in a process management at the crossroads”. Outside Sweden, pointing towards a broader and more complex un- Roma historical places have also attracted increas- derstanding of identities as heterogeneous. There is ing attention; the introductory chapter presents sev- thus critique of the current heritagization, which in eral examples from Europe. fact leads to homogeneous identities. A critical un- Claiming to delimit places and cultural heritage derstanding and analysis of heritage is extremely on an ethnic basis makes special demands of re- valuable, but one wonders if it does not mean ho- search. A footnote points out that Sweden has no of- mogenizing the identified places if one binds them ficial registration on the basis of ethnicity, which to Roma and Travellers. Is there not a risk here of means that individuals’ self-identification is count- falling victim to one’s own critique? If all identifica- ed; it is important to bear this in mind since identifi- tion is supposed to be open and changeable, and if it cation is never fixed, simple, and homogeneous, but is possible to go into and out of identities and to constantly changing, something that a person can change them, is it not therefore necessary to con- choose. This also means that a place can carry mem- stantly reinterpret and change places and memories ories that individuals do not wish to be identified too? True, questions are asked about whether an eth- with, while simultaneously memories can also shift nic interpretation is the most strategic and how a dark historical burdens from individuals to society. place can suitably come under the protection of a It is therefore very important that seemingly dark public authority. Many good questions are posed in memories in society also receive attention in the the introduction, but difficulties evidently arose in heritage context. the course of the work since not all the questions are As regards the ethnifying terms used in the book, answered. they need a special discussion, as always in contexts The first empirical chapter describes a historical- like this. The authors have chosen to mark when the ly oriented pilot study of Roma places in Gothen- words used are not their own choice, while they burg 1890−1960. In this attempt by the building themselves alternate between the terms Roma and conservator Erika Persson to identify the places Travellers. Many other seemingly obvious expres- used by Roma we are given a deeper knowledge of sions are also explained at length. Chief among how Roma have used and established different these are the terms place, landscape, and cultural en- places. The first question she asks is what places in vironment, but also history and cultural heritage. All Gothenburg the Roma have historically frequented. these terms are, of course, crucial in the subject of But she also problematizes how different social con- conservation. Cultural environment is a Swedish ditions can explain how places are created and used. term intended to comprise both place and landscape, Her method is detection, and she notes that even a whereas landscape concerns relations between mobile history can be bound to places. Moreover, places. Place is the central concept that is used most, she sees ambivalences and difficulties both in the referring to both spatial perspectives and the actual source material and in the interpretation of it. The materiality of a place. History is regarded as a tem- text has its background in Persson’s BA essay and poral dimension which can be simply described as differs from other texts in the book by being a spe- bygone time, while cultural heritage is defined as cific history of the situation in a city, while it still re- something that is achieved in legitimating heritage tains the character of the essay. The interesting dis- processes, whereby something from past time is sep- cussion of collective memory is nevertheless a valu- arated and publicly acknowledged as being cultural able contribution to the book, along with the fact heritage. that Persson manages to show how the rest of socie- How have the researchers gone about identifying ty affects settlement and landscape through the pro- the heritage places of Roma and Travellers? The cesses of marginalization that dictate the framework 246 Reviews

for what is possible. She also has a knowledgeable is that wants this survey and identification. Mobile and important discussion about the available sources groups have not previously considered it desirable and how they can be interpreted. It should also be to be identified with specific places. Our thoughts mentioned here that a book published in 2014 in here are easily led to previous registrations and sur- Gothenburg – Boken om Popp och hans mamma veys in history which had unpleasant consequences. Alice by Magnus Berg and Jan Popp – also deals They were admittedly conducted by other authori- with several of the places described by Persson, al- ties than those responsible for the cultural heritage, though not from the point of view of the place; it but is there not a risk that they can interact? Can the tells the story from the viewpoint of the vulnerable fact that Travellers and Roma themselves are the people. ones who participate and identify in the knowledge In the next chapter the archaeologist Maria Pers- process not also be used against them? As history son provides a simple survey of the archaeological has shown us, these are extremely complex pro- excavations concerning Roma and Travellers in Eu- cesses; a simple ethnic and cultural recognition does rope. She also describes the excavations that have not always mean that the people concerned are also given monument status to the sites of Snarsmoen in given full human rights. When history is written, it northern Bohuslän and Krämarstan outside Finneröd- should not only include participation but also the ja in Örebro County. At both these sites there are re- possibility to choose where one wants to belong, mains of Travellers’ settlements. The chapter ends by and a social history that shows how society has mar- discussing how archaeological methods can find ginalized both people and places. The collective people who have not left any traces in written sources. memory not only has its potential but also some The third descriptive chapter is a survey by Erika limitations. In future I would like to see a clearer Persson of the research that has been done on Roma discussion of what the fixation of homogeneous and Travellers in Sweden and Europe. This is a very identities and demarcated places means for the general overview that takes in more than just places people who abandon one identity to assume another, or cultural environments. It is presented in the form or how identities necessarily are always hybrids of of a commented bibliography. heterogeneous constellations as regards both people Next the editor Ingrid Martins Holmberg returns and places. together with the building conservator Sebastian The two projects The Travellers’ Map and Rom Ulvsgärd in a commented catalogue of the traces left San are heritage projects which have examined by Roma heritage activities in the cultural landscape some of the difficult questions in depth, and there- in Sweden. The data come from the public heritage fore they have been given plenty of space, each with sector in the 21 counties of Sweden. Some sixty inter- its own chapter in the book. Also presented here are views were conducted by telephone and e-mail with ethical considerations about which history is suit- officials at county museums and county administra- able for telling and how one can act when presenting tions, asking what they think is known about places personal data about ethnicity. It is an interesting and that can be linked to Roma or Travellers. The survey important discussion, but here too ethnicity seems to includes a presentation of ten recent projects and a list be something fixed and immobile, even though the of material in museum collections and museum ar- authors discuss how the principle of caution relates chives. Some literature on local history is also com- to self-identification. Must we not presume that eth- mented on, as well as the officials’ private experi- nicity is about social life, about different ways of ence. The authors consider challenges and opportuni- living? Where would this lead us otherwise? ties to create landscape-based heritage from the Martins Holmberg and Jonsson go one step fur- places of Roma and Travellers, and discuss concealed ther in analysing the knowledge production that is knowledge and the scope of the source material. achieved with The Travellers’ Map as they classify What kind of knowledge is created by a survey of places into five categories with subcategories. This more than a hundred places? The question asked is means, of course, that the material is ordered, but is whether the public heritage sphere can produce a this not getting into deep water with the problem of landscape-based Roma cultural heritage. But no one what happens when one classifies, sorts, and catego- asks why this should be produced, and therefore rizes on the basis of ethnicity? How does mobility there is no answer, which makes one wonder who it relate to classification and sorting? Reviews 247

The Travellers’ Map has its origin in the work Nature for Me with Snarsmoen and the permanent exhibition about Naturen för mig. Nutida röster och kulturella per- the Travellers that has been on show at Bohuslän spektiv. Lina Midholm & Katarina Saltzman (eds.). Museum since 2012. The exhibition is based on ob- Institutet för språk och folkminnen i samarbete med jects from the excavations at Snarsmoen. Folklivsarkivet, Lunds universitet, Göteborg 2014. Another project described by Martins Holmberg 384 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91-86959-14-2. and Jonsson is Rom San – Are You Roma? which is run by Gothenburg City Museum and others, with  As a child in the 1950s I spent a lot of time in the EU finance. What is discussed in this book is how forest, picking berries with my mother and grand- the fieldwork for the project was done. The aim of mother. Harvesting bilberries and cowberries for the Rom San was to stimulate a change in the attitude of autumn and winter was a natural part of life, and the the majority population to the Roma, but the main forest was never far away. It was located where sub- focus here is on how the heritage sector reacted to urban development began in the 1960s and 1970s. the working method of the project. The work, which The sixties also involved the forest, but this was the involved Roma participation in all phases of the pro- decade of car excursions. The family – often with jects, has been greatly appreciated in the sector, and the addition of a grandmother – took the car out to a several other museums have copied it. “the forest”, which was usually just a few metres The book ends with some short theoretical reflec- from the A1 or some other major road. The camping tions on cultural heritage, place, and nomadism by table was set up and laid with salami sandwiches, a the social anthropologist Staffan Appelgren. This is thermos flask, and plastic mugs. The wobbly and presented as a paper in English which ought to have uncomfortable camp chairs were unfolded. It was been integrated better with the other texts. It means almost always windy and drizzling, so Mum was that the volume has the character of a report more never without her rustling mackintosh. than a book of general interest. On the other hand, Neither the berrying nor the car excursions were this is where interesting theoretical questions are ex- particularly enjoyable for a child. It was much more plored, such as what the price can be of being recog- fun to build a house in what we called “The Little nized as a heritage object; or what the differences Forest”, a clump of trees just a hundred metres from between mobile and immobile entail. If, as Appel- home, or to play about with no supervision in the gren believes, modern society has a hegemonic, family’s huge garden in the residential area of Örby, static, immobile unshakability as its organizing prin- or to be at grandmother’s summer cottage with its ciple, studies of mobility must actively question own jetty. While at the cottage we were outdoors fixed, homogeneous, and authentic identities. And almost round the clock, and there was the proper this is the first time in the book the problem of herit- forest where we fetched drinking water from a well. agizing and territorializing nomadic lifeways is dis- At the cottage, nature became palpable and alive, an cussed. exciting adventure for us children. In the last thirty In its own way this is a study in local history. All or forty years, however, I have hardly set foot in the the authors are based in Gothenburg University, and forest we lived in then. the investigated sites are mostly in western Sweden, My dual relationship to the forest is typical of the as are the museums and places described. But there time in which I grew up. Nature was mostly a place are also some interesting discussions to carry further for excursions and games, but also a larder where as regards critical heritage research, such as ques- one could collect food. The latter was a feature of tions about the conditions for writing history and the peasant society, where nature was chiefly viewed as significance of registering people; this means that a resource and a necessity for survival. People went the local examples have a broader significance in a there to get food, building material, and fuel. But discussion that also comprises much knowledge nature was simultaneously an unknown and alien about comparable international research. We may domain, which aroused wonder and respect in hope that this is only the beginning of a larger con- people. It was inhabited by various solitary or col- tribution to critical heritage research. lective supernatural beings – skogsrå, näck, vättar, Birgitta Svensson, Stockholm vittror, troll – which helped people to explain the in- explicable and which were partners in nature with 248 Reviews

whom humans could converse and negotiate so that knew a lot about nature because that was essential they did not need to feel alone there. for survival. In the modern industrial society that emerged People’s efforts to master life sometimes took the from the early twentieth century, nature increasingly form of a desire to order and classify. Like the world became a place of recreation. This had the conse- as a whole, nature, animals, and plants have been quence that “ordinary” people worked less and less subjected to systematization and classification. Our in nature, which in turn meant that the supernatural most famous example, of course, is Linnaeus with beings became more and more peripheral. Encoun- his taxonomy. In a paper about lobster fishing, the ters with them became unusual when people seldom ethnologist Simon Ekström touches on matters of had any other reason to use nature other than to en- classification and mentions that Linnaeus assigned joy it. Beliefs and narratives were instead associated lobsters and crabs to the insects whereas we today with other phenomena such as immigrants and mod- class them as crustaceans. The discrepancy is due to ern technology. Space was populated with creatures the fact that Linnaeus had a different basis for his from other planets or galaxies, beings which, like classification. He proceeded from the lobster’s hard their predecessors in nature, were very like human shell and its lack of an internal bone structure. That beings … is not how we work today. Another example of how This volume, entitled “Nature For Me”, considers the initial premise has consequences is this: when a different aspects of humans and nature under eleven preschool boy in the 1990s called the hedgehog “the general headings. Twenty-seven authors – fourteen bird that can’t fly” he proceeded from the place, the women and thirteen men, mostly ethnologists – have bush, which was home to many birds. This meant contributed papers on everything from birdwatching that the hedgehog, which also lived in the bush, was and letting the cows out to berrying and elk hunting. a bird, but an unusual one in that it could not fly. About half of the authors work at the archives of tra- The hedgehog is in focus in Göran Sjögård’s dition in Uppsala, Lund, Gothenburg, and Stock- article “The Good-natured Guest in the Garden”. holm. The volume is the result of a major project Here it is not counted among the birds, but the mam- that started in 2010, when the questionnaire Nature mals. The hedgehog, which is a really old mammal, For Me was distributed by the Folklife Archives in has been a protected species in Sweden since 1972. Lund, the Institute of Language and Folklore in From the responses to the questionnaire on which Uppsala, and the Nordic Museum in Stockholm. Sjögård bases his article it is clear that the hedgehog The roughly 300 responses received by the archives is a very popular animal. Sjögård’s essay is also ac- are an important basis for the volume. Information companied by the fantastic story of a hedgehog that about people’s relationship to nature has also been managed to warn people about an injured young collected via interviews, web questionnaires, and hedgehog in need of help. That story affected me participant observations. The project was geared to most of all the contributions in this book. It also led the present day, but historical considerations are me to think of the beliefs mentioned above about also included, as one would expect. animals as omens in close contact with humans. The contents of the book vary greatly, but what One section in the book is about children and na- the essays have in common is that they describe nature. There Professor Gunilla Halldén writes about ture and humankind from an everyday perspective. the forests of childhood as places for both play and The recently deceased ethnologist from Lund, Jo- thought, for work and leisure. Professor Ella Johans- chum Stattin, writes about folklore concerning na- son writes in the same section about games in a dif- ture. Here he has a huge amount of material to draw ferent kind of nature, namely, in the gardens of resi- on. The archives are filled with beliefs about ani- dential houses and among the tower blocks. She mals and plants and how they can affect people and notes, among other things, that the play repertoire of their living conditions. Examples are omens for children in the latter setting has decreased in com- weather, seedtime and harvest; how animals can parison with a survey from the 1970s. This sounds warn humans of danger; or what it was like in the plausible, but it does not bode well, although per- days when animals could talk. The amount of beliefs haps it should not only be interpreted negatively. and narratives shows the importance of having a Outdoor games have surely been replaced by indoor good knowledge of nature. In peasant society people exercises at the computer, the iPad, or the mobile Reviews 249

phone. And perhaps outdoor settings are not always  At least 95 per cent of our museums have been suitable for play, since cars are taking up more and founded since 1945, as Brita Brenna, professor of more space, pushing children aside. museology at Oslo University, points out in the An interesting contribution by the ethnologist foreword to this edited volume. Moreover, “the Susanne Nylund Skog is about birdwatching. The breadth as regards what a museum can be about ap- article takes the reader into a world with abstruse pears to be infinite,” she writes. The academic disci- specialist terminology such as “jizz, drag, and dip”. pline of “critical museology” or “museum studies” Birdwatching is often regarded as a pursuit for is a new creation in Norway, with the status of an in- “nerds”, but here the author shows us a fascinating dependent major subject at Oslo University since hobby that offers not only knowledge about birds 2010. Like the previously established international and nature but also comradeship and a chance for museology, this is an interdisciplinary science, healthy outdoor life in our health-conscious days. I where knowledge of the museum’s roles in society leave it to the reader to find out what “jizz, drag, and is at the centre. Why is it that our modern society is dip” mean. founding a growing number of museums? What so- The essays in the volume are all short, at most cietal functions and needs lie behind this? The vol- ten–twelve pages. It is richly illustrated with beauti- ume contains papers by nine master’s students of ful colour photographs, often from private photo al- museology at Oslo University. They look at mu- bums. This makes “Nature For Me” into a highly at- seums from just as many different angles – which tractive book. Yet I feel uncertain about the audi- also testifies to the great breadth of the field. The es- ence it is aimed at. It can hardly be used as course says deal with catalogues as museological “expert literature in higher education, since many of the art- witnesses”; exhibition theory “from system to con- icles do not problematize their topic. I am also un- text”; architecture at an international exhibition certain about whether the book will appeal to the or- (1893); shared museum stores as idea, practice, and dinary reader outside the academy, that is to say, potential new museum genre; artistic intervention in whether the tone is sufficiently popular. Is it perhaps museums of cultural history; Internet technology as too ambitious and “scholarly” in its approach? a motor of change in museums; objects in museums On the other hand, the volume can be regarded as of natural history – “borrowed plumage”; photo- a fine example of a coffee table book, suitable for graphs as cultural history; and the recurrent question flicking through or reading in depth in the waiting of whether art museums need text in their exhibi- room of a doctor, dentist, or lawyer. But I think that tions. An overall aim of the volume is to illuminate the book would work well literally on the coffee and analyse parts of the museums’ extensive breadth table at home, where it can stimulate interesting dis- of practices. Unfortunately, there is not enough cussions with guests about nature and the environ- space here to describe the content of all the essays in ment in our days. I don’t know if that was the inten- detail, so I shall concentrate on a few that particular- tion behind this beautiful and interesting book, ly caught my interest. simply because I find it difficult to understand the Analyses of the museum as an institution often thinking behind it, who is expected to read it and proceed from the image of practice consisting of a when. It is too big and heavy to take on the train or front stage (exhibitions and events) and a back stage bus or to read in bed. It can only really be enjoyed (collecting, storage, cataloguing, administration, when sitting at a desk or in a comfortable armchair, etc.). Janne Werner Olsrud’s opening article tackles and that is a pity because a book is not read as it an important, but little-studied, aspect of the latter. ought to be when it is not easily portable. The article is about “museum catalogues as museo- Agneta Lilja, Huddinge logical ‘expert witnesses’”. His historical approach deals with cataloguing in the nineteenth century in Norway’s oldest museum (Arendal Museum). The Museologists in Museums article gives detailed examples of how the cata- Museologer på Museum. Fra undring til kunnskap. logues were structured and how their logic changed Janne Werner Olsrud & Christine Snekkenes (eds.). in pace with the emergence of new scholarly prac- Novus forlag, Oslo 2014. 213 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-82- tices. The catalogues went from a gift-oriented logic 7099-786-2. to one with a scientific orientation. Museum collec- 250 Reviews

tions were adapted for existing or potential research. the exhibition principles of the early twentieth cen- A marginal note here is that Olsrud’s account lacks tury were also established with ideological borrow- a broader contextualization – in what way did the ings, for example, from the international exhibitions changed catalogue practice change the museums’ and the general industrialization of the Western self-image in relation to the collecting ideology that world. Here Rashidi could quite easily have gone was then so central? It is also somewhat regrettable further with her interesting quotations and discus- that the author of this article was not familiar with a sions of the ideology of popular education and con- new doctoral dissertation on the topic, Bengt sumption and link them to a broader societal con- Wittgren’s Katalogen – nyckeln till museernas kun- text. One of the merits of Rashidi’s article, however, skap? Om dokumentation och kunskapskultur i muis her examples showing that the debate about “the seer (Umeå universitet, 2013). But one strength of dullness of museums”, and the consequent need to the article is the concrete empirical example that is adapt the educational methods to arouse interest the framework of Olsrud’s presentation. This effort among the general public, has been going on for a to proceed from a museum-related practice and then very long time in the museum world. interpret it with the aid of selected methods and Since the coming of the Internet and the subse- theories recurs in all the essays, which also makes quent need to set up websites, there has been a the book worth reading. change in the museums’ forms of professional ad- Ingrid Halland Rashidi, in her article “From Sys- dress, which Lisa Amalie Elle writes about in her tem to Context”, examines the debate about the ex- article, “Internet Technology as a Creator of hibition medium and the task of mediation in the Change”. She has particularly studied the websites years just after 1900. Rashidi is interested in the still of the National Gallery and the National Museum of topical debate about which exhibition principle Art, Architecture and Design in Norway. The web- should ideally govern museums. The essay is about sites meant that the curators’ knowledge now had to the imagined conflict between “scientific prin- be marketed in a new way, which required new ciples” and “popular education”, here exemplified knowledge of technology and net-based communi- by museums of natural history and their strategies to cation. This in turn had the result that the issue of create environments (dioramas), for example, for who is responsible for mediation and message be- stuffed animals. Rashidi compares the exhibition came more burning than ever. Before the Internet, principles in museums of decorative art with mu- the museums could set up an exhibition and then seums of natural history. The author’s point is to leave the interpretation to the visitor. When the show that the former borrowed their classification same kind of exhibition is shown on the web, how- principles and their typologies from the latter. ever, the question of who has the responsibility for Around 1900 the earlier taxonomies and their inter- the message, the target group, and the preferential nal, scientifically steered exhibition principles were right of interpretation makes itself felt more than be- replaced with a “natural exhibition principle” fore. whereby the artefacts would now be placed in the- With reference to Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, Lisa matic settings. The objects were thus contextual- Amalie Elle exemplifies how the museums’ self-im- ized, from being scientific type examples to become age regarding its task of mediation has changed. physical parts of larger societal contexts which con- From an earlier “transmission model”, where the cerned everything from technology to cultural cus- imagined objective and inherent message of the ob- toms. As the museums began to be adapted for jects was to be conveyed to a homogeneous mass broader popular education, Rashidi also shows that audience through classification as a uniform prin- the pedagogy switched focus and instead of address- ciple, we now have a late-modern view of media- ing producers addressed consumers. Although the tion, where both the sender and the receiver interact museums of decorative art would still continue to in the creation of different kinds of meaning. The provide good models for producers, they would now latter attitude indicates that the visitors are now no aim to inspire visitors to consume commodities of longer viewed as an unspecified mass, but more as good quality. users actively creating meaning and interpreting in In this essay too, a reader may sometimes miss a accordance with variables such as gender, class, slightly broader contextualization. It is obvious that education, ethnic origin, etc. As a consequence of Reviews 251

this “cultural turn” in the outlook on mediation, the these texts by enthusiastic master’s students; all of need for well thought-out dialogue has made itself them (according to the foreword) have a background felt in museums and in culture policy as a whole. of working in the field. The book is a welcome addi- Here websites can come in as springboards to create tion to Nordic museological literature, and we may new forms of accessibility and interactive interpre- hope that it will be taken as evidence of a greater tation of objects and contexts. It is just a pity that need for museological education and research in this Elle does not give the reader any concrete examples sector. of what this communication can look like. Richard Pettersson, Umeå Matters such as interpretation potential, target group, and responsibility for the message are also the topic of the article by Arlyne Moi, “Do Art Mu- Thinking in Time seums Need Mediating Texts in Their Galleries?” Sten Rentzhog, Tänk i tid. Se framåt genom att The question of the need for texts, especially in art blicka bakåt. Carlsson Bokförlag, Stockholm 2014. museums, has been discussed for a very long time 200 pp. ISBN 978-91-7331-628-6. (and should continue to be debated, always!). Moi exemplifies with a telling quotation from the direc-  After having read this fiery sermon about the tor of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor: “How benefits and joys of history, it is obvious to me that far should we intervene in our visitors’ experience “thinking in time” is something we all do, virtually of a picture?” The perception that texts, although all the time – for example now, at the start of 2016, they can help and explain, unfortunately also disturb when a series of prominent cultural figures have and (negatively) affect the individual visitor’s ex- passed away, including the musician David Bowie perience, illustrates the constant navigation between and the author Umberto Eco. Collective memories Scylla and Charybdis that is the task of mediation. are quickly highlighted in social media. We remem- In this article too, there is discussion of the dialogue ber our own lives, large and small events become between “sender and receiver”. But Moi applies a visible, in the light of the stars. Orientation points in bold approach with direct borrowings from ancient the atlas of life are marked out. Eco’s book, The philosophers (think Plato); a dialogue is enacted Name of the Rose, I read in 1984. Individual frag- here between two museum employees who are fic- ments of memory reappear − 1984, that Orwellian titious! The interesting thing is the actual dialogue year, when I got my first job. I relive the smell of an and the arguments for or against texts in exhibitions, April morning and a strong belief in the future. embroidered with references to various sources and “We live to remember ... one of the great joys of theoreticians. This device is a refreshing way to life,”, as Umberto Eco said recently in an interview, tackle the topic, with the two speakers given the and he called himself “Proustian” − a fine epithet to roles of ideal types representing different philosoph- describe this profoundly human ability to imagine ical stances, circulating around the epistemological time through books, music, art, things, and some- possibilities and limitations of the exhibition. The times just through a feeling, a special taste − a smell. aim of the article is not to deliver solutions for mu- Sten Rentzhog’s book is about this ability. He writes seums, but to show the advantages and disadvan- about how, in a time of rapid development, we tages of different mediation solutions. One conclu- ought to free ourselves from habitual thinking and sion is that there are scarcely any unambiguous from today’s therapeutic focus on living in the pres- answers to the question of whether texts in exhibi- ent. History, he argues, gives meaning in life and tions are good or bad. Having no texts at all, how- faith in the future. And surely he is right. ever, tends to reflect an elitist attitude to the task of The well-known museum man Sten Rentzhog mediation. (former head of Jamtli and the Nordic Museum) has This volume contains many interesting articles. It formulated his credo clearly in this book. Sounding is true that there are certain small flaws in the form slightly like a missionary, he speaks to anyone with of the occasional use of more supporting quotations an interest in matters of the future and personal de- than are necessary, or references to sources that do velopment (and to me as someone who has worked not really add anything new to the discussion. But it with museum education since, yes, 1984). has been refreshing and thought-provoking to read I peruse the book and think: Sten Rentzhog, he 252 Reviews

has been there all the time, an insightful leader who establish connections in the present, to get a per- always put “Homo ludens” first. Many of the coun- spective on the future? Here the author becomes try’s museum educators have shared the dramatized personal and political, and here his message be- journeys in time at the Jamtli open-air museum in comes urgent. For how aware are we today about Östersund and in the Playhouse at the Nordic Mu- history and memory? How do we go about it? Qai- seum in Stockholm. Now these pleasurable activi- sar Mahmood, department head at the National ties, which involve practice in understanding one’s Heritage Board, has coined a new expression to do place in history, can be found in most of Sweden’s with cultural heritage: we are all “cultural heirs”, he museums. says, adopting Rentzhog’s approach, that everyone There is powerful commitment in the book, inter- should make a claim on yesterday by using it – fo- woven between the logical and confiding lines. But cus on making sense rather than on the objects, and it is when the author lets his passion loose that his on the link between yesterday, today, and tomorrow, message becomes clearest. Then he is the eyewit- “not just nostalgically yearning for times past.” ness who can tell this story: The chapters at the end, condensed and complex, “I never forget how I discovered the immense joy arouse me, and my gut feeling tells me that here, in of history. Suddenly it was as if I escaped from a these parts, the book lives up to its intentions to give shell and the world expanded. Presumably it is the keys to a deeper awareness, an inner compass, his- same feeling as you can have when you first look torical empathy, and sound judgement. through a periscope and get a glimpse of the immen- In this genre of self-help books it is proper to as- sity of space. But history and the periscope differ in semble the names of philosophers and historians in that history is about ourselves. With growing fasci- an appendix, with commentary on each chapter. It is nation I explored beyond the question-and-answer a bit of a guessing game in the text, however, as we teaching in school, and soon discovered that in al- wonder who is meant when we read a reference like: most everything I did there was a historical dimen- “as a historian of ideas writes”. This, the concluding sion.” part of the book, is a memory capsule, full of Rentzhog believes that the past is real and con- thoughts about the utility of history and – yes, tains everything that has been and happened right up Nietzsche is important here − the damage it can to the moment that just passed. By history he means cause. However, I miss Ricœur’s Memory, History, knowledge of this reality and the work of exploring Forgetting and Karl Popper’s The Poverty of Histor- it. Memory is a co-creator in this process, as is for- icism in the otherwise full bibliography. But, Rentz- getting, for most of what has been is gone for ever. hog writes, knowledge is like building blocks. So I Only a tiny fraction of bygone reality is recreated in urge you to build on this book, which is a solid our consciousness, but this is nothing to be sorry foundation and a noisy, somewhat irritating alarm about, Rentzhog writes, “for the meaning of life clock (yes, I can hear!). The question, as usual, is: must lie outside ourselves”, such as the understand- How can we get the people in power to consider this ing that new ideas and new generations will come. serious topic in depth, all those who seem to believe “We see ourselves as a link, a long chain, and that that history should pull itself together and who per- gives obligations.” Life thus takes on other pro- haps are prepared to help it on the way, at the cost of portions if we think in time, use history, train our lost freedom and democracy? memory. Every event in human history is unique, essen- An important section in Rentzhog’s book is about tially different from every other historical event, the danger of lacking history, with examples in “everything flows”. But Sten Rentzhog places the George Orwell’s novel 1984, about the manipula- responsibility on all of us. No, we cannot predict, tion of the past so that people would not have any- but perhaps we can foresee what will happen if we thing to compare the present with. Those who con- learn to think in time, he says. It is a way for people trol the past control the future − those who control to relate to each other and to permit people to make the present control the past. A society like that lacks their own history. Rentzhog writes: the questions by which history is taught: when, “Not only people’s decisions but all types of where, how, who, why − and then? What happens events and situations are easier to understand if one when citizens lose the ability to interpret the past, to tries to come close to and live in them. So let us see Reviews 253

and listen. Let us approach the past as a big paradise out the presence of the users. There is in this way a or an alien world where we can wander around free- circular relationship between the houses and the us- ly with the aid of history. We will never manage to ers that is not explicit in the book. So the houses discover everything, but enough to fill our lives with must in some way reflect the users’ values regarding content.” what constitutes a good holiday. The goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, who is If the authors had used more of an ecological and also the mother of the muses, can provide useful a historical perspective, then it would have been eas- help in this endeavour. ier for them to explain the differences between the Eva Klang, Helsingborg countries. More precisely, this might include how the physical environment may be viewed as an attractive resource for the users of second homes, or A Book on Second Homes quite the reverse why a particular element of the landscape is not viewed as an attractive resource by Second Home Tourism in Europe. Lifestyle Issues possible owners of second homes, meaning that and Policy Responses. Zoran Roca (ed.). Farham: there are not so many second homes in the area. Ashgate 2013. 358 pp. Ill. Maps. ISBN 978-1- The explanations for the observed phenomenon 4094-5071-9. and its variations are mostly synchronous, e.g. con-  cerning roots tourism where owners and users are  In the last years there has been a growth in the lit- returning to the region where they perhaps grew up erature on second homes – which are also called or where their kin perhaps lived several generations summer cottages as an alternative. An interesting ago. However, the study lacks a diachronic perspec- book has now been added to the literature on this tive; the modernization of a country or region may topic – the market views on and analyses of this het- have happened a short time ago – and in another erogeneous area of research are still not mature; country or region several generations ago. The ef- hence, there is still room for more studies. The study fect is that the tradition in the first type of country or reviewed here is on second homes in several Euro- region is perhaps still active and in the second type pean countries of country or region may be lost so there is not a The authors in the study (Second Home Tourism base for roots tourism. in Europe. Lifestyle Issues and Policy Responses) The explanations in the articles are statistical; the for the most part stress that it is difficult to link this work acknowledge serious problems with the statis- phenomenon to such concepts as leisure time and tical data. From this it becomes clear that the book tourism. One reason is that the research on second in general is an overview of the heterogeneous sec- homes has only just begun; another reason is that ond-home phenomenon. Due to the basic statistical there are differences between second homes in the material used for the book, the perspective is more countries that are treated in the book, so the way in on second homes than on second-home life, i.e. the which this phenomenon is conceived and discussed social life of the users or owners of the second is shifting. The countries that are treated in the book homes is for the most part missing. Their cultural are Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portu- constructions of second-home life are not explored gal, Russia, Spain and Sweden. It should be added at all. that it is difficult to find reliable statistical data on It is evident from many of the articles that there is second houses. a need to regulate the ways in which the landscape is The perspective in the book is mainly at the mac- used, i.e. physical planning with a point of departure ro level, shifting between a national and a regional focusing on the local impact of the process and on perspective with use of statistical data from taxa- the stakeholders’ impact. tions, censuses and other data. Another perspective Ole Rud Nielsen, Åbo is that the second-home phenomenon should be considered as a part of tourism. I agree in that this is correct given the caveat that these second homes are a physical means for realising the user’s idea about Ideas of Furniture Design this type of a life. On the other hand, the houses Kirsten Rykind-Eriksen, Griffe, hejrer og ulve – nytt would not exist or perhaps even be maintained with- syn på design og møbelindustri 1830–1930. Nyt 254 Reviews

Nordisk Forlag Arnold Busck, København 2015. ers in the company assembled into items of furni- 500 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-87-17-04333-6. ture, often to suit a particular customer’s wishes. There is a painstaking account of how work in a  Architecture, interior design, furniture, and other furniture factory at the end of the nineteenth century fittings in homes and public environments have al- could be organized. Much of the production was ways had a message to convey, have always been done with machine planes, bandsaws, and circular expressions of a meaningful content, an ideological saws as the most important tools. The carving of or- stance – more or less, and whether consciously or namentation was rationalized but it was still a handi- unconsciously. Among those in Denmark in recent craft even though there were many machines for years who have highlighted the ideology behind the cutting ornament. nineteenth-century debate on style we have Mette One of the advantages of the book is the focus on Bligaard and Mirjam Gelfer-Jørgensen with their re- a person who exerted great influence over the whole spective works on historicist architecture and in- applied arts movement in Denmark. The Danish phi- terior design (Frederiksborgs genrejsning: Histori- losopher Gustaf Friedrich Hetsch represented the cisme i teori og praksis, 2008) and historicist furni- same ideals as the contemporary British art critic ture (Møbler med mening, 2009). John Ruskin, but like William Morris he was much Now it is Kirsten Rykind-Eriksen who adds an- more positively inclined towards the possibilities of other dimension to art history and ethnology with industrial manufacture. The author shows how her contribution to the history of the underlying Hetsch had as his goal “to make art a part of ideas in this magnificent volume, the title of which people’s everyday lives through craft and industry” means “Gryphons, herons, and wolves: A new out- and that the essential thing was to use art to “exert look on design and the furniture industry 1830– influence on the character of the people”. We are 1930”. Many years of impressive work lie behind given a thorough illumination of Hetsch’s aesthetic this. In the preface the author describes how, early and ideology, the idea of art shaping character, how in her career, she came into contact with the ar- useful everyday objects with an artistic design could chives of two major companies, C. B. Hansen and be made available to everyone in the industrialized Severin & Andreas Jensen, now in the Museum of society. Art and Design in Copenhagen, which constitute the It has long been known that the applied art move- main empirical material for the project. ment was active well before the Arts and Crafts The two furniture firms illuminate in different movement. What is new is that the author links this ways the ideological movements of the time, and be- movement to the philosophers of the time. She asks cause their respective repertoires were aimed at dif- how “aesthetic” was defined by them and by the ferent categories of customer, the material they have pioneers of applied art, and she examines corre- left invites comparisons: “While S. & A. Jensen spondences in their way of using formulations and were forward-looking and enjoyed the favour of ar- concepts: “Can an agreement in a given case reflect chitects from the Academy of Art, C. B. Hansen de- the thinking behind the ideas and products of Danish veloped its establishment in a solid bourgeois direc- architects, art historians, craftsmen, and manufactur- tion.” ers?” It is an interesting starting point – and a new We are given an impressive documentation of the way of approaching the ideology of the Arts and work of the two firms. Of the 430 illustrations in the Crafts movement. book, most show the designs and the finished furni- The book contains a multitude of concrete facts ture. Anyone who has worked with text and image and interesting analyses of the underlying ideas. A on this scale must be impressed by the author’s body of text as large as this must be structured in a achievement in bringing this huge project safely into logical way to help the reader to find, and find port. again, the particular information that is sought. The documentation includes a detailed descrip- A first glance at the table of contents and a quick tion of the practical conditions. The author gives us flick through the 500 pages gives the impression insight into how the material for the furniture pro- that the structure is logical. It feels promising, but duction was procured and she records the many de- gradually one becomes aware that information about liveries of semi-manufactured parts which the join- a specific topic can appear where the heading sug- Reviews 255

gests something different. The organization of furni- ness and give beauty in everyday life”. After reread- ture manufacture is described in a section that ana- ing this several times I still wonder what she could lyses the historical development of the underlying mean. And a couple of pages later I realize the diffi- ideas. The section with the heading “Perfection – culty of illustrating values and ideological differ- bourgeois morality” deals in large measure with the ences in metaphorical terms. The language is ele- way the firm worked with service for its customers. gant and decorative, but not very lucid: “The two It is very interesting, but this is not exactly the head- wings for which the two firms made furniture can be ing under which I would look for that information. contrasted as manufacturer style and college style, Why do the interesting details about how many where the differences are contingent on each other apprentices worked on a particular piece of furniture like the bearing and the borne in the architectonic appear in the part entitled “Ideology and market structure… It is a struggle over patriarchal attitudes conditions”? I would never have thought of looking and two versions of educational values.” Differ- there. Indeed, it is incomprehensible to me why the ences that define each other in the same way as the author considers ideology and market conditions in bearing and the borne in an architectonic structure. I the same section. must confess that I lose my way here. Why does she examine “the flow of work for fur- The subtitle “A new outlook on design and the niture manufacture” in one place and “specialists furniture industry 1830–1930” is enticing but also and sub-suppliers” in another place, more than fifty dubious since it does not state explicitly what the pages later? These two pieces of information about “new outlook” refers to. It could allude to the new the delivery of semi-manufactured pieces from spe- nineteenth-century way of perceiving furniture and cialists, in my opinion at least, are closely associated other applied art as character-forming. But when the and ought to have come together. Nor are there any author claims that her “analysis is a different and cross-references between these two parts. new way of interpreting historicist/neo-Renaissance And why do we not read about the last period in style than the previous perception of neo-Renais- the history of the company until the conclusion of sance as stylistic confusion”, I nevertheless interpret the book where the chapter heading suggests that we the “new outlook” as referring to the view the author are to learn here in what way the author’s view of claims to have of the furniture art of historicism. the era is “new”? But how new is this outlook? The author’s ambi- The questions and analyses in the book provoke tion to make the reader see historicism as a way to curiosity, and the author deserves praise for her am- fill the styles with meaning is laudable, but it is not bition to provide something more than documenta- new. I would claim that this outlook has character- tion, to put everything into its context in the history ized research in the last forty years. It is a long time of ideas. But sometimes it is difficult to follow her since anyone viewed the neo-Renaissance as a con- reasoning, and the reader is expected to possess a fusion of styles. Renate Wagner-Rieger (Wiens Ar- thorough pre-understanding to be able to grasp all chitektur im 19. Jahrhundert, 1970), Klaus Döhmer that is implicit: “In the functional perception of aes- (“In welcher Style sollen wir bauen?” Architektur- thetics greater significance is attached to the decora- theorie zwischen Klassizismus und Jugendstil, tive element than that form and ornament idealize a 1976), and Kurt Milde (Neorenaissance in der specific symbolism.” Here I can only guess as to deutschen Architektur des 19. Jahrhunderts, 1981) what she means. Is she saying that functional aes- are among those who long ago conveyed a view of thetic means that ornament is more significant than nineteenth-century architecture resembling the one ornament as symbol? Or does she mean something Rykind-Eriksen regards as new. Nor is it a new in- completely different? It is no easier to keep up when sight that among those who produced and used fur- she adds the concept of “functional symbolism”. niture there were also many who had basically the The difficult formulations become even more nu- same ideas about the meaning of the different styles merous towards the end of the book when the author as those nurtured by architects and the interested tries to bring it all together: “It is wholly crucial for general public about the art of public buildings. In the educational project to reshape the inspirations in Sweden, for instance, Bo Grandien and Elisabet a new synthesis which can express the implemented Stavenow-Hidemark in the 1970s and 1980s were intellectual work to frame the individual’s aware- exegetes in different contexts of this outlook on the 256 Reviews

nineteenth-century art of furniture and interior first decades of the movement in England up to the decoration. founder’s death in 1941. The second part of the What is new, on the other hand, and worthy of book focuses on the establishment of scouting in great respect, is the author’s focus on the way the Norway and its subsequent development there. firms managed their customer contacts, marketed Baden-Powell was a military man, which affect- their goods, and organized their manufacture. It is ed the scouting ideology. Life as a soldier constitut- precisely this in-depth look at a couple of Danish ed the model, with features such as uniforms and pa- firms’ concrete activities, together with the author’s trols. Baden-Powell gave detailed instructions in the description of design and the furniture industry as a book Scouting for Boys from 1908. The term “boy mirror of the ideological and market-oriented forces knight” meant that scouts were supposed to aspire to of the time (when this is not obscured by verbal be like medieval knights, emulating King Arthur smokescreens), that gives weight to the book. and St George. Baden-Powell wanted to assemble A particularly interesting and new dimension is boys from all social classes and imprint strict disci- given by the author to the story of the prehistory of pline, obedience, and internal cohesion. It was also a the Arts and Crafts movement in her account of the matter of building up a strong national sentiment role of Hetsch and other philosophers. Also interest- and applying the motto “back to nature”. Practical ing is the author’s emphasis on the social aesthetic, tasks became important in connection with camp the line of development running from the early life in the outdoors, and the pleasurable aspect was twentieth-century favouring of the simple and func- emphasized. Religion could assist in the disciplining tional to the social welfare programme of function- process, but it was not particularly prominent for alism. Baden-Powell. In the long term, scouts were sup- It can only be healthy in our own times, when so posed to become good soldiers when they grew up, much present-day design and craft is the subject of able to defend their native country. Initially Baden- theoretical research, to look back at the Arts and Powell was highly successful, and the scout move- Crafts movement and its roots. And to do so through ment expanded vigorously in England. the work of two Danish furniture firms, when it is as The scout movement was known in Norway from meticulously documented as in Kirsten Rykind- 1909, and the focus on outdoor life was popular Eriksen’s work, makes the idea both concrete and there. The first Norwegian scouting association, credible. The book undoubtedly deserves a place as Norske gutters speiderkorps (NGS), was founded in a source of inspiration and knowledge on the 1910 and a handbook for Norwegian scouts was shelves of every historian of art and design. published. The military element was prominent, Johan Knutsson, Linköping University along with sport and outdoor life. The NGS, however, was terminated in 1912 and replaced by the rival Norsk Speidergut-Forbund (NSF), founded in 1911. Unlike its short-lived predecessor, the NSF The Historical Development of the Scout maintained the importance of Protestant Christianity Movement in the scout movement. Religion even took the place Espen Schaanning, Barneridderne. Baden-Powell of the military element as an ideological basis. A og den norske speiderbevegelsen. Cappelen Damm scout was supposed to have Jesus as his model. The Akademisk, Oslo 2015. 651 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-82- great outdoors where the scouts spent their time 02-48728-7. showed the way to God. The NSF had its own handbook, Speidergutboken, published in 1912 and from  The Norwegian historian of ideas Espen Schaan- 1911 issued its own newsletter, Speideren. Sport ning has written a very thorough study of the ideo- played a central part, but not for competition. Disci- logical development of the scouting movement from pline, cooperation, order, and patriotism were the its start in England in 1907. As a boy he was a scout guiding stars in accordance with Baden-Powell’s in- himself in the years 1964–1974, which gives him instructions. No class differences were to occur. On side experience. The first part of the book concen- the other hand, the NSF insisted that political mat- trates on the philosophy of the founder of the Boy ters should be kept outside the scout movement. It Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell (born 1857) and the was to be apolitical and not have as its goal to Reviews 257

change society. But peace was an important issue. starting point of this book, to the level of practice in Peace could only be established if the individual be- the reality of scouting. came a better person. This was a basic condition in Anders Gustavsson, University of Oslo/Henån the scout movement. The apolitical stance would soon be criticized by the alternative “red” scout groups founded within Danish Folklore the labour movement in the 1920s to take part in the Danish Folktales, Legends, & Other Stories. Timo- class struggle. The NSF was accused of representing thy R. Tangherlini (ed. and transl.). University of the outlook of the bourgeois. The “red” scout Washington Press, Seattle & London, Museum Tus- groups, like the NSF, gave priority to sport and out- culanum Press, Copenhagen 2013. 234 pp. + DVD. door life, but also discipline, internal cohesion, uni- ISBN 978-87-635-4118-3. forms, and patrols. The “red” scout groups enjoyed no success, however, and ceased to exist in the  Danish Folktales, Legends, & Other Stories is 1920s and 1930s. one of those books representing the end result of The 1930s saw the growth of Norwegian national years and years of dedicated work. It presents the socialism, Nasjonal Samling, with its youth associa- repertoires of five storytellers, three of them men tion Nasjonal Samlings Ungdomfylking (NSUF) and two women, drawn from Evald Tang Kris- emerging as a new political movement. As a conse- tensen’s collections of Jutlandic folklore. The aims quence of its apolitical stance, the NSF did not de- of the work are ambitious: to provide a considerable nounce Nazism. After Germany’s occupation of body of Danish folklore in English translation; to Norway in 1940, the NSF was banned in 1941 and map the uses to which storytellers put oral stories in its assets were seized. Some former scouts then dealing with the profound changes affecting Danish joined the Norwegian resistance in its struggle society in the 19th century; to explore the relations against Nazism. This happened against the back- between the tellers and their stories, both on an indi- ground of the scout movement’s ideology in which vidual and community level, and to reestablish the the struggle for the native land was central. There relations between stories in the repertoires of indi- were also some similarities between the NSF and vidual tellers. the NSUF, such as discipline, obedience, physical The book opens with an introduction discussing activities, and internal cohesion. This may explain the concepts of folklore and tradition, stressing the why some scouts joined the NSUF. dynamic nature of folklore and its role as a vehicle When the war ended, the NSF resumed its scout- of negotiation of cultural ideology. As the individual ing activities with great success according to the belongs to many different groups, and the traditional same guidelines as those prevailing before the war. expressions associated with each may be contra- A major change took place in 1978, when the Norsk dictory, reconciling them implies a negotiation of Speiderforbund was founded. This was the first time the contours of tradition, potentially resulting in female and male scouts could work together in a changes in the ideology of both individuals and joint organization. groups. This is followed up with an account of Dan- Schaanning’s study is impressive for its thor- ish rural history in the 19th century, with a focus on oughness. A rich corpus of empirical material is social change. Danish agriculture was reorganised in combined with in-depth analyses of the historical this period, as was social organisation: the parish development. The author always puts the scout emerged as the main unit for local government and movement in its contemporary context; this applies social activity, the town guilds lost their control to political movements and various youth move- over agriculture, being replaced by farmers and ments. The sheer wealth of detail means that this smallholders acting as individual market players, book will scarcely attract a broad readership. On the etc. other hand, it can and should become a standard This is followed by a brief history of Danish folk- work in the future in research on youth culture. It lore studies from Saxo Grammaticus – with the re- provides a foundation for future ethnological studies quisite excuses for his not really being a folklorist in of individual scouts’ and scout clubs’ experiences. any modern sense – via Anders Sørensen Vedel, the This will mean a move from the level of ideas, the first true folklore collector, to Svend Hersleb 258 Reviews

Grundtvig and his Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, between active and passive participants in tradition, Henning Feilberg and Axel Olrik. The work of to modify von Sydow’s concept of active and pas- Evald Tang Kristensen naturally receives its own sive tradition bearers. As Tangherlini states, being chapter, focusing on his working methods, both in an active participant in one part of the community’s field collecting and publishing. tradition does not mean one is active in another, and Chapters on folklore genres, particularly ballads involvement in a tradition during the life course is and folk songs, folktales and fairytales, legends, and not necessarily stable. miscellaneous other genres, set the stage for the In the chapters on folklore genres and tradition– commented texts later in the book. In the chapter on individual repertoires, Tangherlini combines in- ballads and folksongs, the historical orientation of sights from the old genre discussion with ideas earlier Danish ballad scholarship and its neglect of sampled from discussions on ritual, structuralism ballad melodies is contrasted with the more recent and narratology. In some respects, the account ap- interest in the interplay between textual and musical pears more structuralist than it actually is, but aspects of the ballads, and the relationships between Tangherlini also puts analysis of narrative structure ballads and other genres such as fairy tales and leg- to good use. His own specialisation on legends is ends. The study of folklore repertoire, aided by the apparent, as his reflections on this genre are much present book, is advocated as a means of elucidating more stimulating and far-reaching than those on bal- the choice of genre made by individual performers lads and folktales. in expressing certain ideas. The chapter on folktales The final chapter in this introductory section pro- primarily relates to the structural study of folktales, vides the rationale for choosing the five performers once again emphasising those aspects that can serve included in the book, based on the size of their to highlight the impetus behind individual tellers’ repertoires (forty stories or more), gender, geo- narrative choices. The chapter on legends opens graphical distribution, age, education and occupa- with a discussion of Tang Kristensen’s own classifi- tion. The fact that Tang Kristensen himself regarded cation system, and proceeds to outline the applica- them as competent performers is also taken into action of Labov and Waletsky’s classic model of nar- count. rative structure to legends as a tool for discerning The first performer presented in the book is the effects of cultural ideology on stories. Tangher- “Bitte Jens” Kristensen, who had a large repertoire lini argues that the nature of threat and the objects of of legends, ballads, folktales and items belonging to threat in legends are of great significance for under- various other genres. In the selection of his folklore standing the relation between the stories and their transcribed in the book, many showcase his sense of context, particularly how they connect the real ef- humour and predilection for racy stories and songs. fects of such threats on storytellers’ lives to contem- Conflicts between the classes, or rich and poor, are poraneous social, economic and political change. other recurrent themes in his stories, as in those of Legends are glossed as a safe environment for ex- many other smallholders. ploring the outcomes of various counteractions to Kirsten Marie Pedersdatter is the second per- these threats, and they can be further commented on former, and she specialised in oral narrative. Her in the resolution of the story, which can be used to repertoire included legends and folktales, and she propose a particular ideological evaluation of the se- was unusual in the positive outcome she gave to her lected strategy. legends, even in cases where other storytellers fa- Notions of tradition, from the superorganic view voured a negative one; the sunny disposition of the reigning in the early days of scholarly folklore fairytale rubbed off on her legends. Being a farm- studies, to questions of repertoire and the individu- owner’s daughter marrying down into the cotter al’s relation to tradition, is also considered. Tang- class, she had a sense of social rank that is also re- herlini criticises the tendency of much earlier reper- flected in her stories, where property is mentioned to toire studies of focusing excessively on individuals an uncommonly high degree. with strong genre specialisations, pointing to the The third performer, Jens Peter Pedersen, was a need for recording wider repertoires in order to un- day labourer and lathe turner, who specialised al- derstand the interplay between individuals and tradi- most exclusively in legends and descriptions of tion. He also introduces the idea of a sliding scale topography, and local beliefs and practices. He often Reviews 259

used place-names in his stories to localise them Songs of the Border People thoroughly. Compared to Pedersdatter’s stories, his Lotte Tarkka, Songs of the Border People. Genre, are far darker, more sinister and violent. Reflexivity, and Performance in Karelian Oral Poet- The fourth performer, (Ane) Margrete Jensdatter, ry. Folklore Fellows’ Communications 305. Aca- had an extensive repertoire of folktales, some of demia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki 2013. 631 pp. them shading into the legend. Supranormal creatures ISBN 978-951-41- 1091-7. figure frequently in her stories. She was also a ballad singer, though her repertoire in this area was  Lotte Tarkka, a folklorist from Finland, in a smaller. Some of her stories are a bit sinister, and translation and a rework of her dissertation from many deal with the harshness of life in the country- 2005, has published Songs of the Border People. side. Her focus is on archival information from the Peder Johansen is the fifth and final performer. White Sea, Archangel Karelia. This covers an era He was a miller, and also played the fiddle; unfortu- from the 1820s to the 1920s when oral poetry was nately, his music was never collected. Several of his very much alive and a part of daily life. She has longer stories feature tricky young men, and the su- done insightful work and it is a privilege to read pernatural lore covers well-known Scandinavian her text. The study is divided into 12 chapters, legend types. He was an unusually young informant, ranging from her theoretical insights and discus- given Tang Kristensen’s preference for more elderly sions to historical experiences of World War I. One tellers; since few of the stories of people from his of the more interesting parts, as I see it, is her ana- age group were collected, analysing their idiosyn- lyses of the performer and the analyses of the per- cracies is difficult. formance itself. Where the performer becomes the An additional benefit of this book is the DVD – song or the poem, he is presented as a hero, like Danish Folklore Nexus – that accompanies it, which Väinämöinen’s voice in the Kalevala. She says that allows the reader to access more information on tell- in the “performance the singer and audience came ers, places and stories, as well as on Tang Kris- to identify with the characters from the epic” (p. tensen’s fieldtrips. In addition to the whole extant 170). Tarkka is not looking for the ancient past, as repertoire of the five performers, parallels to their earlier researchers in particular did. She focuses stories and songs in the repertoires of other tellers more on the singers’ and sages’ intellectual tradi- and singers are included. The narrative material is tion heritage, their vernacular poems. As readers complemented by maps, both historical and modern we also get glimpses of their lives in the village of ones. Being a Mac-user, viewing the digital contents Vuokkiniemi. The poems are transcribed and print- did not work at all with Safari, and I had to switch ed in both Karelian and English, I do not have any my web browser to Mozilla Firefox, which I recom- competence to comment on the Karelian lyrics and mend other Mac-users to do too. After this initial the translation, but Tarkka has good expertise to hurdle had been breached, the interface itself is very help her with that from Leila Virtanen, so I pre- user-friendly, and navigating in the database is easy. sume that the translations are correct and mirror A lot of work has been put into constructing it, as the original text as closely as possible. In any case, Tangherlini’s previous publications have demon- it is a gold mine for future researchers to use and strated, and I can only commend the result. In all, perhaps draw other conclusions or extract new the book will indubitably prove an invaluable re- knowledge from Tarkka’s work. It is not only the source for the study of Scandinavian narrative in the lyrics; we also learn about language history and 19th century, and function as an excellent introduc- how the language was used in the 1800s. tion to older Danish folklore. As for the ambitious For my own work, what I find very interesting aim of the book, it is not wholly carried through in are the similarities to Sámi yoiking traditions. There the comments on the stories of each performer, but are several examples where Sámi persons take part as the work offers much food for thought in this rein the story, reflecting the visibility of the Sámi spect as well, the reader can draw her own conclu- people in Vuokkiniemi territory. The people of sions. Venehjärvi were taught, according to local knowl- Camilla Asplund Ingemark, Lund/Åbo edge, from poems of Lapland, mostly healing incan- tations and magical adversaries (p. 164). What ski 260 Reviews

track shall I sing/for which cause shall I rumble/I University Press, University Park PA 2013. Ill. 222 shall sing Lapland’s ski tracks/those trod by the pp. ISBN 978-0-271-06071-2. hut-boys/those once sung by Lapps/hastened along by the hut-boys, this poem is a good example of the  The ethnologist Liv Emma Thorsen is one of the singer’s journey in words and also a journey in the very few scholars among my colleagues who has landscape, describing its nature and life, a cross-cul- taken a serious interest in the significance of ani- tural relationship between different ethnic groups. mals for humans, both past and present. It is over ten Tarkka not only performs the explicit analyses, she years since her much-appreciated book about dogs also searches for the elusive or implicit interpreta- appeared, and since then numerous articles of hers tions. A knowledge of the intangible traditional heri- have appeared in edited volumes and journals, deal- tage is necessary to draw these conclusions. En- ing in different ways with humans and animals. In textualization is an approach that folklorists like recent years Thorsen has had a project concerning Richard Bauman and Charles Briggs have applied the animals we meet in museums of natural history. before, and it is fruitful for studies like Tarkka’s, in There are, of course, many ways in which we can re- my opinion. What is interesting and useful is how late to these stuffed animals and birds, but there is she shows us the old days and the spiritual contacts. always some animal that sticks in one’s mind and I wonder if it is possible to achieve a recontextual- can be remembered for decades. The two-headed ization of the Karelian hymns? Can we recreate the calf in the Swedish Museum of Natural History is singing traditions and stories and perform them for a remembered by many visitors from their childhood new audience today? Like sages in the past who when we interview them. Older visitors no doubt were knowledgeable and highly esteemed, able to have some relationship to Simba the lion in the en- make a living from their skills, should not today’s trance hall of the Gothenburg Museum of Natural singers also have an option to make a living from History, because Simba was once, while still alive, a their intellectual traditional heritage? There is a dy- national celebrity when he lived in the home of Sig- namic relationship between the audience and the vard Berggren and starred in Nils Poppe’s film performer. As a part of an audience I would really “Lion about Town”. I myself have always been fas- like to see and hear such a performance and if I cinated by the labels on the bases of the stuffed ani- could understand the Karelian language I would mals, telling about the provenance of the animals, love to do that. Tarkka (p. 501) concludes that the since they often provide a condensed history of re- Kalevala-metre poetry established bonds between search and science (expeditions, old collections, people, bygone ancestors and future generations and menageries, etc.). But my interest in cultural zoolo- the “precious others” taking part in the creation and gy, or whatever we may call it, has been greatly in- the traditional discourse. I think that these are really spired by Yngve Löwegren’s classical Zoologisk beautiful words to end a book with; it gives us hope museiteknik (1961), which contains a vast amount of for the future and that history will always be part of exciting cultural history of different kinds. The de- us. We all carry our own history within ourselves. tails alone of the “giant bones” in St Stephen’s Ca- Krister Stoor, Umeå thedral in Vienna have fascinated me ever since I read about them in Löwegren’s book in the early 1960s. My copy has been read to pieces. Thorsen does not include Löwegren in the list of Biographies of Stuffed Animals – Animals references, even though he was a foremost historian on Display of science and his book sometimes touches on her Liv Emma Thorsen, Elephants Are Not Picked from topic. Instead she works rather in the same way as Trees. Animal Biographies in Gothenburg. Natural Melissa Milgrom did in her readable book Still Life: History Museum. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus Adventures in Taxidermy, published in 2010. While 2014. 256 pp. Ill. ISBN 978–87-7124-212-6. Milgrom is primarily interested in the men (for it is mostly men) behind the stuffed animals, Thorsen fo- Animals on Display: The Creaturely in Museums, cuses instead on the biographies of individual Zoos, and Natural History. Liv Emma Thorsen, Ka- stuffed animals. She has selected a number of very ren A. Rader & Adam Dodd (eds.). Pennsylvania skilfully prepared animals in the collections of the Reviews 261

Gothenburg Museum of Natural History which are the same animal that ended up in the zoo at Skansen, often highly popular among visitors: a gorilla from which was recorded in the annual report of the Rowland Ward, a macaque from Sulawesi, a stray open-air museum but soon afterwards disappeared walrus from Rörö, and a huge African elephant, shot from the documents, perhaps culled (thus put by David Sjölander in Angola. All these animals down), perhaps sold on. have been given a place in the hall of mammals in Four biographies of now stuffed animals have the museum, but they also all have their individual provided material for interesting discussions – with histories in which Thorsen is interested. In recent historical, cultural, and social dimensions – about years we have read several biographies of charis- the role of animals in human life. This obviously matic and famous animals which have ended up in says something about ourselves too. captivity and zoos, for example, Jumbo the elephant, M’Pungu the gorilla, and Zarafa the giraffe. Some Animals matter, including stuffed animals. The sig- of them also finished up in zoological collections. nificance of animals – living, dead, or even in the Thorsen’s book tells stories that are at once mov- cybersphere – for humans should not be underesti- ing and exciting, simultaneously giving us fascinat- mated; animals (in some research circles with the ing glimpses of the work of the conservators in our silly and analytically meaningless categorization zoological museums. The work of the highly skilled “non-human animals”) play a central role in our ex- David Sjölander, about which I had previously read istence, even if we may perceive that they are highly in Löwegren’s book, is given new dimensions, and marginalized, as Liv Emma Thorsen, together with just like Carl Akeley, whose artistically perfect her colleagues Karen A. Rader (Virginia Common- specimens one should see when visiting the USA, wealth University) and Adam Rader (University of Sjölander was also a hunter who was able to triumph Oslo) as editors, shows in this collection of case when he finally managed to kill the big elephant studies within the broad research field of human- from Angola and bring it home. animal studies. The book is a product of the research We are of course affected by Monjet the ma- project “Animals as Things, Animals as Signs” caque, born in 1916, and her vicissitudes; she was (2008–12) and the articles focus on the significance brought back by the ethnographer Walter Kaudern, of animals in exhibition contexts, especially in mu- but since he could not look after the monkey himself seums, but also in zoos and in different media. when he returned to Sweden, it was Leonard Jäger- The book is divided into three sections. The sköld who took pity on her, on condition that she opening section is entitled “Preserving”, with three had no injuries (as she was to be stuffed later). She chapters, one of them by Brita Brenna, professor of was kept at the museum of natural history, where museology in Oslo, who writes about the glass cases she sometimes succeeded in getting loose and caus- in which the stuffed animals in museums of natural ing mischief. For many years Monjet lived in the history are displayed. What does this do to the ani- museum in Gothenburg until she was finally put to mals and to our perception of them? sleep in 1938 and was then mounted a few years If there is anyone who could be called an icon in later by Sjölander. Today she is on display in a taxidermy it is Carl Akeley (1864–1926), whose showcase together with other primates. Thorsen group of stuffed elephants and other skilfully does not confine herself to telling Monjet’s life mounted animal groups and dioramas many of us story; she puts her into the context of a broader have admired at museums of natural history in the primatology and analyses monkeys kept as pets. USA. He is of course a rewarding person to write It will be obvious that there is much of interest in about. Nigel Rothfels, known for his book about Thorsen’s book, and she has tackled a subject with Carl Hagenbeck and his significance for the growth multiple dimensions which can be developed in dif- of German zoos, has focused in recent years on our ferent directions. The empirical material is solid and ideas about elephants. Akeley is of course inescap- the craft is good; even Kaudern’s 97-year-old son able in this context, and here Rothfels proceeds from has been interviewed to find out what he remembers the travelogue In Brightest Africa (1923). Rothfels’ of Monjet. The text and the notes contain many analysis can be compared with the one by Thorsen small details that give us something to think about. I about a stuffed elephant in her own volume. wonder if the ocelot mentioned on page 103 is not The second section is entitled “Authenticating”, 262 Reviews

and here Henry A. McGhie, Manchester Museum, Torell’s explicit intention with her book is to shift analyses researchers’ ideas about Ross’s Gull from the traditional focus on production in cultural- (named after the British explorer James Clark Ross), historical studies and focus instead on consumption, a species that has had a special status for naturalists, arguing that the cultural history of sugar consump- collectors, and birdwatchers. McGhie explores the tion is inherently not the same as the cultural history complexity with which this little species of gull is of sugar production. Torell takes her point of de- presented in literature and in museum collections. parture in how sugar entered Swedish households by Thorsen herself returns to Barry the Saint Bernard looking at the different representations, functions dog, legendary but also preserved stuffed at Bern and meanings of sugar in Sweden. This takes Torell Museum, a topic she has previously treated in her on something of a journey through the Swedish book about dogs which was published in Norwegian sugar landscapes, each landscape succinctly depict- some fifteen years ago. ed and outlined in the different chapters. Thus, The concluding section, consisting of three chap- Torell moves stylishly from chapters on sugar as a ters, is entitled “Interacting”. We may single out the medical remedy sold in pharmacies in Europe and analysis by Guro Flinterud, also in cultural studies Sweden to the production of sugar in Sweden from in Oslo, of Knut the polar bear, a world celebrity for the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) that was previously a short time, and the blog he wrote – just think what primarily used as fodder; to differences in patterns our postmodern society can offer! of consumption as indicative of class; to the materi- Books of this kind can easily become disparate, ality of sugar exemplified by the multiple physical and the articles could equally well have been pub- shapes of sugar in confectionary; to what happened lished separately in academic journals. At the same when sugar became a basic food to be consumed by time, of course, it is handy to have a volume that as- everyone in Sweden; and to the public health de- sembles several interesting essays, articles that we bates concerning excessive consumption of sugar. A have already had reason to refer to in our own central aim for Torell is to repudiate a history of studies, and that alone is a good testimonial, I think. sugar as a naturally desirable good. As she argues, Human-animal studies is a rapidly growing research this story has been written many times before by field, unfortunately with an unnecessarily heavy economic historians. She uses a series of arguments ideological ballast, but in this case we escape a lot to counter this historical representation of sugar, of this. An important contributory factor here is that such as the differences in the consumption patterns the Scandinavian researchers have a solid back- of sugar in Sweden, and the difficulties of initiating ground in the humanities. national production of sugar in Sweden. Torell simi- Ingvar Svanberg, Uppsala larly avoids describing contemporaneous consumption of sugar as naive, i.e. that sugar consumption was previously seen as solely beneficial, as she ar- Sugar and Sweets in Sweden gues that restraints on sugar consumption have been Ulrika Torell, Socker och söta saker. En kulturhi- advocated throughout the Swedish history of sugar storisk studie av sockerkonsumtion i Sverige. Nor- consumption – thus not necessarily a product of diska Museets Förlag, Stockholm 2015. 367 pp. Ill. modern-day sugar awareness. It is the way she spe- ISBN 978-91-7108-571-9. cifically avoids representing sugar as a “naturally desirable” substance that we have come to a higher  As an ethnologist, it’s hard not to think immedi- and more evolved understanding of in contemporary ately about Sidney Mintz’s Sweetness and Power society, which makes Torell’s book stand out, and (1985), when first encountering the work of Ulrika which makes it so very relevant to ethnological Torell, Socker och söta saker. However, it is far studies, as Torell thus insists that sugar consumption from the kitchens of Sweden to the sugar cane fields is inherently cultural. Torell operates with the ana- of Papua New Guinea, and apart from a short survey lytical concept of cultures of consumption (konsum- of the cultural-historical literature on international tionskulturer) throughout the book to show how sugar production and issues of post-colonialism and sugar and sugary products became objects of mean- the slave trade, global connections in the sugar trade ing. Thus, the social organization of sugar consump- are not a very significant part of this book. Rather, tion is seen through the ideals and meanings of Reviews 263

sugar at the time, but without arguing for any ration- people), is however also what makes one wonder al chronology in the change of ideals and meanings. why Torell’s cultural history of Swedish sugar con- Rather as a classically ethnological take, Torell fo- sumption is framed as it is. Especially the relation- cuses on the different notions of “good” sugar. This ship between the different chapters may seem insuf- further allows her to touch upon important areas of ficiently explained, as Torell switches from one race, class, gender, nationalism and religion in her sugary landscape to the next. That Torell nonethe- analytical chapters, showing for instance how Euro- less accomplishes a coherent narrative throughout pean displeasure with the conditions for the black the book is not due to a chronological history of slave labourers on the sugar plantations, combined sugar consumption, but to the stringency with which with notions about “rational” housekeeping, led to she presents the different, and often ambiguous, the further exploration of the production of Swedish contexts of meaning in which sugar was continuous- sugar. ly constructed as meaningful. Thus, the desire for As Torell notes in her epilogue, the flexibility of sugar presented by Torell is primarily a desire con- sugar is what makes its history so interesting. This structed through the contemporaneous imaginations flexibility of sugar, which in modern consumption about sugar and, as mentioned, not by a “natural” has allowed for a huge variety in flavoured candy, sugar inclination. This strong point remains as a for example, and thus also in individual preferences guiding thread throughout the chapters – connecting (just think of all the different chocolate bars, sodas them elegantly. etc. that are available and preferred by different Michael Andersen, Copenhagen

Ethnologia Scandinavica A JOURNAL FOR NORDIC ETHNOLOGY ISSN 0348-9698

Published by THE ROYAL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ACADEMY FOR SWEDISH FOLK CULTURE

Cover illustration: Svenska dalahästar på världsutställningen i Shanghai 2010. Photo: Charlotte Hagström.

2016 Ethnologia Scandinavica A Journal for nordic ethnology Printed in Sweden Textgruppen i Uppsala AB 2016 ISSN 0348-9698 VOLUME 46 • 2016