Contents

Papers på kulturarv i Finlands svenskbygder med folkmusik som exempel. Rev. by Patrik Sand- 3 Editorial. By Birgitta Svensson gren 5 Undesired Contacts. The Troubled Boundaries 167 Der Osten ist wie der Westen – Sofi Gerber, of Colonial Bodies in Greenland. By Sniff An- Öst är Väst men Väst är bäst. Östtysk dersen Nexø identitetsformering i det förenade Tyskland. 29 The Bog and the Beast. Museums, the Nation, Rev. by Petra Garberding and the Globe. By Peggy Levitt 171 The Upgrading of Wooden House Areas in 50 An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table. The Mate- Finnish Towns – Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, riality and Sociability of Tea and Coffee. By Från kåk till kulturarv. En etnologisk studie av Kari Telste omvärderingen av historiska trästadsområden i 64 Affective Ordering: On the Organization of Karleby och Ekenäs. Rev. by Gösta Arvastson Retrologies in Music Networks. By Sverker 175 Changing Communities of Pilots and Light- Hyltén-Cavallius & Lars Kaijser house Keepers – Harri Nyman, Uloimmalla 86 Family Land. Generational Succession and rannalla. Luotsija majakkamiesperheet ase- Property Transfer in Two Swedish Agricultur- mayhdyskunnissaan. [On the furthest shore. al Areas from 1870 to 2009. By Iréne A. Fly- Maritime pilot and lighthouse keeper families gare in their station communities.] Rev. by Katriina 101 Beyond the Village and Across Borders. Expe- Siivonen riences of Mobility in Rural Northern Finland. 177 Care and Control – Claes G. Olsson, Omsorg By Eeva Uusitalo & Kontroll. En handikapphistorisk studie 121 “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as 1750–1930. Föreställningar och levnads- They Like …” About Men who Suffer Inti- förhållanden. Rev. by Markus Idvall mate Partner Violence at the Hands of Female 179 The Wooden Past – Elina Salminen, Monta Partners. By Tove Fjell kuvaa menneisyydestä. [Cultural Heritage and 131 Images of Housewifery. Women narrating Images of the Past.] Rev. by Sirkku Pihlman their Choice to be a Housewife in the 1950s in 181 Twin Towns Görlitz/Zgorzelec – Marie Sand- the Swedish-speaking Parts of Finland. By berg, Grænsens nærvær og fravær. Europæise- Lena Marander-Eklund ringsprocesser i en tvillingeby på den polsk- 147 Walking the Streets of Suzhou. Approaching tyske grænse. Rev. by Maja Chacinska Urban Spaces through Embodied Experiences 183 Women in Trousers – Arja Turunen, “Hame, and Visual Interpretations. By Tiina-Riitta housut, hamehousut! Vai mikä on tulevaisuu- Lappi temme?” Naisten päällyshousujen käyttöä kos- kevat pukeutumisohjeet ja niissä rakentuvat naiseuden ihanteet suomalaisissa naistenleh- dissä 1889–1945. [“Skirt, trousers, divided skirt! Or what is our future?” How the ideals Biographical Note of womanhood were negotiated in the discus- 162 Lars-Eric Jönsson, Professor in Lund. By sion of female trouser–wearing in Finnish Anna-Maria Åström women’s magazines, 1889–1945.] Rev. by Maija Töyry

Reviews BookReviews NewDissertations 186 Sites of Memory in Denmark – Inge Adrian- sen, Erindringssteder i Danmark. Monumen- 163 Older Women’s Lives – Anne Leonora Blaa- ter, mindesmærker og mødesteder. Rev. by Ulf kilde, Bedstemorsnak. Et kulturanalytisk stu- Zander die af ældre kvinders liv i dansk familiekultur i 187 Legends of War – Camilla Asplund Ingemark det 20. århundrede. Rev. by Inger Lövkrona, & Johanna Wassholm, Historiska sägner om Ulf Palmenfelt & Niels Jul Nielsen 1808–09 års krig. Rev. by Mirjaliisa Lukkari- 165 Folk Music as Intangible Heritage – Johanna nen Kvist Björkholm, Immateriellt kulturarv som be- 188 Collecting Field Material in the Nineteenth grepp och process. Folkloristiska perspektiv Century – Palle Ove Christiansen, De for-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 svundne. Hedens siste fortællere. Rev. by An- 201 People in the Cold War – Kriget som aldrig ders Gustavsson kom – 12 forskare om kalla kriget. Andreas 189 Deportation Home to Ingria – Toivo Flink, Linderoth (ed.). Rev. by Niels Jul Nielsen Kotiin karkotettavaksi. Inkeriläisen siirtoväen 202 Built Heritage as the Viewpoint of National palautukset Suomesta Neuvostoliittoon vuosi- History – Linnoista lähiöihin. Rakennetut na 1944–1955. Rev. by Pekka Leimu kulttuuriympäristöt Suomessa. Pinja Metsä- 192 Changing Cottage Culture in Norway – Norske ranta (ed.). Rev. by Aura Kivilaakso hytter i endring. Om bærekraft og behag. He- 203 Material Culture and the Materiality of Culture len Jøsok Gansmo, Thomas Berker & Finn – Materiell kultur og kulturens materialitet. Arne Jørgensen (eds.). Rev. by Eva Löfgren Saphinas-Amal Naguib & Bjarne Rogan 194 Methodology and Reflexivity – Etnografiska (eds.). Rev. by Richard Pettersson hållplatser. Om metodprocesser och reflexi- 207 Uses of History – Niels Kayser Nielsen, Histo- vitet. Kerstin Gunnemark (ed.). Rev. by Jo- riens forvandlinger. Historiebrug fra monu- hanna Björkholm menter til oplevelsesøkonomi. Rev. by Fredrik 195 Foreignness – Nordic Perspectives on Encoun- Skott 208 Analysing an Interview – Haastattelun analyy- tering Foreignness. Anne Folke Henningsen, si. Johanna Ruusuvuori, Pirjo Nikander & Leila Koivunen & Taina Syrjämaa (eds.). Rev. Matti Hyvärinen (eds.). Rev. by Pia Olsson by Göran Hedlund 209 Some History of Finnish Furnishings – Leena 195 Heritage and Cohesion – Heritage, Regional Sammallahti & Marja-Liisa Lehto, Kalusteita Development and Social Cohesion. Peter kamareihin. Suomalaisten keinutuolien ja pii- Kearns et al. (eds.). Rev. by Mikkel Venborg ronkien historiaa. Rev. by Sanna Eldén-Pehrs- Pedersen son 196 The Swedes of Finland – Sven-Erik Klink- 211 Swedish-Finnish Relations – Svenskfinska mann: I fänrikarnas, martallarnas och dixie- relationer. Språk, identitet och nationalitet ef- tigrarnas land. En resa genom det svenska i ter 1809. Maria Sjöberg & Birgitta Svensson Finland. Rev. by Gunnar Ternhag (eds.). Rev. by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts 198 Swedish Legend Types – Bengt af Klintberg, 212 The Materiality of Museum Objects – Fra kau- The Types of the Swedish Folk Legend. Rev. pang og bygd 2011. Festskrift til Ragnar Ped- by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts. ersen. Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen et al. (eds.). 199 New Openings in European Ethnology – Eth- Rev. by Göran Hedlund nology in the 21st Century. Transnational Re- 213 Aristocratic Life in Finland – Kirsi flections of Past, Present and Future. Jussi Vainio-Korhonen, Sophie Creutz och hennes Lehtonen & Salla Tenkanen (eds.). Rev. by tid. Adelsliv i 1700-talets Finland. Rev. by Pirjo Nenola Eva Helen Ulvros 3 Editorial ByBirgittaSvensson

This year’s Ethnologia Scandinavica ing diversity and encourage visitors to en- covers some of the many topics in ethno- gage with global issues. Ever since the logical research. The articles point in many leaders of the new French Republic opened different directions, but the main focus is the doors of the Louvre to the general pub- on studying cultural encounters, whether in lic, cultural institutions have played star- postcolonial contexts, in the transnational ring roles in the drama of nation building. borderlands of music, or in the immediate Her discussions are based on research on family. Relations between the sexes is an- museum professionals in the USA, Europe, other noticeable theme this year: the vari- Asia, and the Middle East, but her main fo- ous expressions of masculinities, women’s cus is on Sweden and Denmark. Her study choice to stay at home in the 1950s, and is- contributes to a discussion of how museum sues of the complex transfer of economic staff think about citizenship as well as glo- and cultural capital in family farming. balism versus nationalism. What this year’s articles have in common is Kari Telste’s article considers the Nor- the complexity of everyday life, whether it wegian museum landscape, but she too ap- is national or transnational, reflected in mu- plies a global perspective. Starting with an seum exhibitions, or taking shape in the pe- eighteenth-century tea table, she examines ripheral countryside of northern Finland, in the materiality and sociability of tea and an exotic Greenland, in Swedish agricul- coffee by showing how cultural exchanges ture, or in the cultural encounter that street can be studied through the consumption of life in a Chinese city represents for a Nor- new and exotic beverages like tea, coffee, dic visitor. and chocolate, imported from the Far East. Sniff Andersen Nexø starts by describ- By proceeding from seemingly limited ob- ing a cultural encounter at the last turn of jects, she shows how an understanding of the century, which resulted in proposals to sociomateriality can give insight into the displace Greenlandic women known for way habits and manners inspired by Eng- promiscuous behaviour to some nearby de- land and the continent were adapted to a sert islands during the season to prevent Norwegian way of life in complex interac- their contact with foreign men. Bodily con- tions between people and things. tacts were undesired by those who were as- Music too can be historicized, and in signed power to regulate colonial contact their article entitled “Affective Ordering”, zones. The author uses bodies as the type of Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser contact zone that has been described by demonstrate how 1970s music is reformu- Marie Louise Pratt as imagined social lated in complex negotiations. Using Bruno spaces where different cultures meet and Latour’s sociomaterialistic theory of retrol- clash – in this context in highly asymmetri- ogy, they construct an analytical model for cal power relations, the surveillance of understanding the formation of history in bodies to prevent polluting culture. Yet we networks by applying it to the question of see that governmental technologies do not how Swedish progressive music rooted in always produce the intended effects. the seventies is recognized and reinter- In her article on museums, the nation, preted in different settings in the present and the globe, Peggy Levitt examines how day. To understand how retrologies are museums showcase their nation’s increas- constituted they also use Lawrence Gross-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 4 Birgitta Svensson, Editorial

berg’s concept of affective alliance. Their By conjuring up images of housewifery, model shows how the dynamics of transna- Lena Marander-Eklund, in her article about tional collaborative formations of pasts can women narrating their choice to be a house- be visualized. wife in the 1950s in the Swedish-speaking By regarding history as a factor shaping parts of Finland, shows how people relate conditions for people on farms in Sweden, to different kinds of imagery in their narra- Iréne A. Flygare discusses the meaning of tion when they recollect their experience. generational succession and property trans- The women interviewed recollect not only fer. She sees strong continuities since the the 50s, but also relate to later discussions 1870s and states that the ongoing moderni- and later imagery of housewives. zation of agriculture through farm enlarge- In her article about walking city streets, ment is very much a family affair. One in- Tiina-Riitta Lappi reflects on the meaning teresting finding is that women were fos- of urban spaces through embodied experi- tered to regard the farm as more than econ- ences and visual interpretations. She asks omic capital, and as mothers they played an whether places can carry meanings only for essential part in maintaining and even rein- those who possess insider knowledge, or if forcing patrilineal inheritance, taking as ac- it is possible to analyse urban spaces and tive a part as men in identifying the inter- places on the basis of other kinds of cultural ested son. Flygare shows that they were as competence. On a field trip to the Chinese passive as the men in letting the daughters city of Suzhou she observed urban public take on more demanding farm work. spaces and spatial practices to approach the Eeva Uusitalo, in “Beyond the Village city’s spatialities, as juxtapositions of so- and Across Borders”, describes how expe- cial and material environments. She uses riences of mobility in rural northern Fin- multi-sited ethnography to emphasize land let her see that localities through glo- places as unbounded, diverse, polyphonic, balization no longer can be seen as small in transparent, and always having connections scale but as part of broader networks. She with other places. Her article is inspired by considers mobility as a part of village life Henri Lefebvre’s concept of dominated and shows how urban lifestyles affect vil- space and Doreen Massey’s approach to lage life in a northern periphery. spatiality as a product of interrelations. What happens when men, contrary to The reviews give a good idea of what cultural expectations and society’s percep- Nordic ethnology is interested in. The tion of gender, suffer partner violence? many different directions in ethnological This is the question Tove Ingebjørg Fjell research are also expressed in doctoral dis- asks to find out whether hegemonic mascu- sertations and other newly published litera- linity is modified by partner violence ture. Several of this year’s reviews of new against men. She seeks the answer in in- works in Nordic ethnology display the terviews with men over the age of 20 who same focus as the articles, revealing a live or have lived in a heterosexual rela- growing interest in sociomateriality and tionship. Interestingly, her findings show museum collections, and in the complex that, rather than being modified, the con- dynamics of music and postcolonial prob- cept of hegemonic masculinity is sustained. lems. Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing 5 Undesired Contacts The Troubled Boundaries of Colonial Bodies in Greenland By Sniff Andersen Nexø

Introduction guidelines to preclude sexual relations In 1908, the Board of Guardians of the with native women (as well as extensive colony Frederikshaab discussed the recur- rules for, or against, mixed marriages and rent problem of local women fornicating -children).1 with the crews of foreign ships during ship In the decades around 1900, this had de- season. The Danish and Greenlandic veloped into a host of regulation and legal members agreed on displacing the women provisions concerned with the social inter- known for such promiscuous behaviour to course between the local Greenlandic some nearby desert islands during the sea- population and Danish/foreign employees son to prevent their contact with foreign working in or visiting Greenland: Rules men. for instance curtailing locals’ presence in When asked for approval, the inspector foreign ships or in mining settlements; or of Southern Greenland – the head of the stating the required supervision and cur- Danish administration in the region – re- fews when foreign sailors were to partake plied that a similar solution had been sug- in a local dance. gested by the local board of Godthaab al- ready in the 1880s. However, the Com- Analytical Framework – Problematisa- mission on Greenlandic Affairs had at that tions and Spatiality time stated its disapprobation of displace- An at first hand surprisingly large amount ment as preventive measure and instead of published and unpublished material referred to established means of punish- bears witness to the persisting topicality, ment such as excluding promiscuous as well as to the practical difficulties, of women from the colonial store and confis- maintaining the boundaries between na- cating allotment from their heads of tive and non-native bodies throughout the household. colonial history of Greenland. Thus it has The creative idea developed in Fre- been necessary, for the purpose of the pre- derikshaab, thus, was not an isolated inci- sent article, to focus on selected historical dent, even if others preferred somewhat instantiations in which these undesired less radical solutions. Multiple minutes contacts were addressed and handled. My from colonial boards as well as from the main emphasis is on the last decades of the provincial councils of Greenland in the 19th and the early decades of the 20th cen- late 19th and early 20th centuries speak of turies – a time when Danish activities and the deep concerns in Greenland over the presence in Greenland were increasing; undesired sexual contacts between Green- the traditional sealing life form was chal- landic women and foreign (most often lenged; and concerns as well as aspira- Danish) men; and of the persistent efforts tions to the future of the colony and its to contain such bodily encounters or deal populations were expressed by both colo- with their consequences. nisers and colonised. A broader historical Danish authorities too had their eyes perspective is supplied by reference to the fixed on the problem. Already the first In- first Instruction of 1782 for employees of struction for Danish employees in Green- the Royal Greenlandic Trade Company land from 1782 laid down extensive and to relevant research literature con-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 6 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

cerned with earlier colonial history. The practical solutions. It is problematization that re- primary source material is comprised of sponds to these difficulties, but by doing some- archival documents from the Danish State thing quite other than expressing them or mani- festing them: in connection with them, it develops Archives as well as printed texts. It con- the conditions in which possible responses can be tains among other things minutes from given; it defines the elements that will constitute local colonial boards (the mixed Green- what the different solutions attempt to respond to.3 landic-Danish Boards of Guardians) and Investigating problematisations – of mad- the two Provincial Councils; letters and ness, of sexuality, or of intimate colonial different regulations issued by Danish co- encounters – is a way of stressing that that lonial authorities; and medical and other historical ‘solutions’ are not mechanic ef- reports on colonial matters – all docu- fects of any ‘real’ or pre-discursive phe- menting the concerns regarding intimate nomenon; they are part and parcel of the contact in the arctic colony. problematisation, which again “is depend- Two simple, and closely interrelated, ent on our knowledge, ideas, theories, questions make up my analytical point of techniques, social relations and economi- departure: How did intimate relations be- cal processes”.4 This, however, does not tween colonisers and colonised constitute imply a denial of any relation between a problem for Danish and Greenlandic au- problematisations and the world in which thorities? And how, accordingly, did they they emerge. On the contrary, Foucault in- endeavour to confine, if not entirely solve sisted that “it was precisely some real ex- the problem? istent in the world which was the target of These questions put to the forefront the social regulation at a given moment”.5 more theoretical question of the character This quotation also draws our attention to- of a problem. Drawing on the work of wards the close link between problemati- Michel Foucault, my analysis does not ad- sations and ambitions and practices of so- dress problems as well-defined historical cial regulation. ‘facts’ posing themselves to their contem- To sum up: Thinking with Foucault, I poraries and necessitating certain kinds of define problematisations as particular his- practical solutions. Instead, it is concerned torical ways in which phenomena (diffi- with what Foucault defined as processes culties and obstacles) become linked to- of problematisation. This notion is per- gether and configured as a certain kind of haps not as fully developed as more well- problem – with certain characteristics, known foucauldian concepts, as he intro- certain causes and effects, and, according- duced it only late in his life.2 In an inter- ly, certain means that come to be appreci- view with Paul Rabinow in 1984, he de- ated as fit to act upon it.6 This implies that scribed his on-going work as a ‘history of problematisation is what transforms such thought’ trying to unordered obstacles into a specific phe- … rediscover at the root of these diverse solutions nomenon accessible for regulatory prac- the general form of problematization that has tices. My article explores the rationalities, made them possible – even in their very opposi- tion; or what has made possible the transformation as well as the regulatory technologies in- of the difficulties and obstacles of a practice into a volved in the problematisations of ‘unde- general problem for which one proposes diverse sired contacts’ in Greenland. Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 7

This line of investigation obviously im- er Danish or Greenlandic. They were car- plies a focus on bodily and spatial aspects nal encounters that emerged as particular- of the colonial history of Greenland – is- ly problematic as they challenged catego- sues that have gained a prominent place in ries of identity and difference at the heart recent colonial studies.7 I take inspiration of the colonial system. Thus the main from the notion of the body-as-contact- question remains how these carnal en- zone put forward by Tony Ballantyne and counters were constituted as undesired, Antoinette Burton and the co-authors of and handled as such. their two edited volumes, Bodies in Con- As a consequence, this Greenlandic tact, and Moving Subjects.8 Taking up lit- case is not so much about the complex dy- erature scholar Mary Louise Pratt’s con- namic encounters in the colonial contact cept of colonial space as contact-zones – zone, as it is about the reasons for avoid- that is, material as well as imagined social ing contact, and the means to do so by spaces where different cultures meet and drawing and keeping boundaries – by clash, most often in contexts of highly what we could think of as ‘zoning’ or spa- asymmetrical power relations – the au- tialisation. Here too, thinking tools are thors suggest that bodies may be con- supplied by the existing literature; for in- sidered such colonial contact-zones, and stance by colonial geographer Sara Mills, hence constitute methodological entrance who stresses that ‘space’ must be con- points into concrete analysis of colonial sidered neither as a plain surface across encounters. What has struck them is “the which actors move, nor as a fixed site in extent to which women’s bodies (and, to a which acts are performed and power ap- lesser degree, men’s) have been a subject plied. There is, she argues, no passive of concern, scrutiny, anxiety, and surveil- space as mere ‘backcloth to history’ – we lance in a variety of times and places need instead think in terms of spacing or across the world”.9 This has prompted spatialisations.12 their attention towards bodies – raced, Hence, when exploring the problemati- sexed, classed, and ethnicized – as “sites sations of bodily boundaries I particularly through which imperial and colonial wish to elaborate on how spatialisation is power was imagined and exercised”.10 at work both as a ‘work of thought’, a ra- That is, sites for theoretical rationalisa- tional tool for categorisation and differen- tions of colonial encounters, for regulato- tiation of colonial bodies; and as practical ry practices, as well as for strictly physical techniques for establishing and policing contact between colonial subjects. the boundaries between them: Bodies Bodies are, as Ballantyne and Burton were also literally (attempted to be) kept suggest, the most intimate colonies, as apart by distinctly spatialising practices well as the most unruly ones.11 And the such as surveillance, enclosure, and dis- bodily contacts that this article is con- placement. cerned with were indeed of a distinctively intimate kind. They were also distinctive- Problematising Sexual Contact ly undesired by those assigned power to How, then, did sexual contacts between regulate the colonial contact zone, wheth- Greenlanders and foreigners come to be 8 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

considered a problem toward which au- banning any foreign navigation and trade thorities felt compelled to take profound (except in case of emergency); and practi- precautions? In order to answer this ques- cally by centralising the trade, hitherto tion, I will first turn towards the rationality rather unsuccessfully delegated to private of vulnerability and need for protection companies, in the new Royal Greenlandic established in the early decades of coloni- Trade Company (KGH). In addition to the sation; and then relocate to the last dec- trade monopoly, the company was also in ades of the 19th Century when new chal- charge of the entire colonial administra- lenges brought into the colony by external tion until 1908, when trade and adminis- contacts became enrolled in a partial re- tration were separated. In spite of several configuration of the problems and the attempts by other nations to impugn the means by which to counter them. Danish(-Norwegian) claims on Green- land, monopoly as well as sovereignty was for all practical purposes maintained Enclosing the fragile colony until 1953 when Greenland formally ob- The Danish colonisation of Greenland tained the status of an equal part of the took its start with Danish-Norwegian Danish kingdom.13 priest Hans Egede’s establishment of a The overall colonial strategy in Green- missionary post near today’s Greenlandic land can be characterised as one of enclo- capitol, Nuuk. From the very outset, the sure: The arctic colony was formally and colonisation built on a close interrelation practically ‘fenced in’ and established as a between missionary work and trade: zone in and out of which the flux of goods When Hans Egede set sail for Greenland, and people was densely regulated from the he had been appointed Missionary of metropole, and thoroughly supervised by Greenland by the king; the expedition, its representatives in Greenland: Increas- however, was funded by a company of ingly detailed regulation specified what merchants from Bergen hoping that their Greenlandic goods were encompassed by ships would return with a cargo of arctic the trade monopoly, what European goods goods – fur and blubber – to cover their should be imported, and to whom and un- expenses and pave the way for future der what circumstances they may be dis- profit. Their economic aspirations were tributed. Access to the colony was restrict- sadly disappointed, though, and as a con- ed, and granted exclusively to individuals sequence, the Danish-Norwegian state either engaged by the mission, administra- took over the trade in 1727 – along with tion and trade; or otherwise contributing the challenge of securing access to the to the colonial project, not least by pro- limited merchantable commodities that ducing knowledge on the Greenlandic ter- could be brought home from Greenland. ritory and its resources, population, lan- For decades, the ambition of monopolis- guage, culture etc.14 ing the Greenlandic trade was contested Obviously, this enclosure of the colo- primarily by Dutch whalers and mer- nial zone relates very closely to the econ- chants, but in 1776 the monopoly was in- omic rationale of the colonial project: stitutionalised: Legally by a royal decree That it should, if not generate any major Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 9

The emblematic image of nature-bound, and hence culturally fragile Greenlandic tradition: the male kayak sealer. His female counterpart was the hunter’s wife capable of transforming the capture into modest life necessities – food, clothes etc. Photo: Arthur a. Vaag, dated 1924–26. www.arsukfjorden.gl, with the kind permission of Søren Martinussen, profit, at least be economically sustain- explicitly defined their dual task: along able. That is, the expenses of the mission with attending to the procurement of local and the administration should be met by products for the Trade, they should “deal the income generated through the trade.15 with the Greenlanders in love and gentle- Foreign presence in Greenland constituted ness, lead them by the good example and a threat to this ambition of economic equi- ensure that no injustice or molestation be- librium. falls them”.17 However, it is pivotal to understand that the endeavours to limit access to the colo- Polluting culture – infecting bodies ny did not emanate solely from economic considerations, but also from a particular The dangers lurking on native Greenland- conception of Greenland and its native ers of both sexes stemmed, according to population as fragile and vulnerable to ex- the Instruction, from their all too wide- ternal influences. Hence, the maintenance spread dealings with sailors, colonists, of the colony as a bounded zone was, in and other Europeans in the colonies18 – the colonial rationality, not least regarded where “bad examples, dangerous tempta- as a protective measure taken in order to tions, strong liquor, abuse of beer and limit the harms that too sudden and too ex- Danish victuals” would easily beguile the tensive exposure to anything foreign may natives into a “depraved life”, spawning otherwise inflict on the colonized.16 The laziness and “neglect of sealing”, as well 1782 Instruction for the trade employees as “extravagance, excesses and much dis- 10 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

order”; not to mention pose a substantial nial differences, and this was the case also threat to their health.19 Particularly the in mixed marriages. The mixed children children and the youth were not to be or ‘blandinger’ should be reared as “good spoilt by European habits, but reared as Greenlanders”; boys should preferably be true Greenlanders – “that the traditional adjusted to the kayak, girls educated as native hardiness and simple way of life hunters’ wives, and neither should “idle not with time degenerate into softness, away their time or be pampered in the Eu- causing the ruin of the country, as well as ropean kitchens and private service, since the Trade”.20 such will only beget laziness and render If excessive contact in general was to be them inept to make their living in either vigorously prevented, Trade employees the European, or the Greenlandic way”.23 should particularly refrain from “any sus- Mixed children, too, were vulnerable to picious intercourse with the female sex”.21 strictly European influences. Several rules in the Instruction – and in Recent studies by Søren Rud and Inge practically any regulation for foreigners in Seiding have explored the significance of colonial Greenland that was to follow – the racial and cultural categories of Green- aimed at preventing such relations, or landers, Danes/Europeans, and – not least dealing with their consequences. I shall – of the blandinger in the 19th century. return to the practical measures below; at Seiding investigates the detailed and com- this point I wish to emphasise the way in plex government of mixed marriages which such sexual encounters were first transgressing these racial/cultural/social problematised. To illustrate this, let us categories. Rud’s focus is on the ambigu- dwell for a moment on the potential prod- ous ambitions of obtaining the perfect cul- ucts of sexual relations between natives tural admixture of Greenlandic tradition and foreigners: their children. and European civilisation in mixed bloods If a trade employee (every prohibition chosen for further education. The authors notwithstanding) was recognised as the share the understanding that the notion of father of an illegitimate child born by a the true Greenlander was closely linked to Greenlandic woman, he was to pay a cer- the traditional sealing culture. Rud in par- tain sum to support the upbringing of the ticular addresses the conceived vulnera- child. Illegitimate children were to be bility of this Greenlandic culture, and the placed in the care of competent sealers efforts made by the colonial administra- who should attend to their education in the tion to protect it against excessive foreign skills necessary to become a “capable (Danish) influence. Both address the ways Greenlander”. Whatever could be saved of in which racial/cultural subjectivation and the modest maintenance sum from the fa- differentiation was deeply intertwined ther should be invested in traditional with colonial governmental techniques. equipment such as kayak, riffle, tent and Blandinger were the most unruly element umiak (a women’s boat).22 The preserva- of the colonial population; but exactly tion and maintenance of traditional (seal- their ambiguity potentially qualified them ing) skills was at risk in sexual relations as the kind of cultural mediators relied and reproduction transgressing the colo- upon by an increasingly elaborate colonial Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 11

administration.24 They seemed to recon- all too easily tempted, beguiled, misled cile the natural and Greenlandic, and the etc. If unhindered by protective measures civilized and European, in one and the of the colonial administration, foreign cul- same body; and in time, they came to form ture would spill into the colony and cor- the core of the emerging Greenlandic elite rupt the local culture in and by its strange- that would occupy administrative posi- ness. tions and speak on behalf of ‘modernised This form of problematisation, I sug- Greenland’ in Boards of Guardians, Pro- gest, envisioned colonial contacts as a vincial Councils etc. source of pollution to the natural, and It should be evident that my article in hence fragile, Greenlandic culture. A pol- many ways relates to these works. What I lution that would not simply introduce im- would like to contribute is a slight shift in morality to the natives in a narrow sense, perspective from categorisation and ad- but soften their bodies, weaken their wills, mixture – to the spatial rationalities and and consequently endanger the very icon technologies related to the problem of of the nature-culture intertwinement as- contact, and to the ways in which contacts signed to the colony and its inhabitants: in themselves were conceived as harmful. The sealing. In my reading, the Instruction was imbued The problem of sexual relations be- with a particular colonial rationality that tween Greenlandic women and European framed the radical difference between men was embedded in this rationalisation colonisers and colonised as emerging of colonial difference as engendered by from the different geographical and natu- natural or geographical space. The carnal ral spaces to which their culture belonged. encounters were not merely immoral. What could be harmed, according to this They were potentially problematic even rationality, was an original native culture when kept within the proper matrimonial inextricably linked to the extreme natural institution, indicating that the pollutable circumstances of the arctic; a culture that object was not the virtue of native women had hitherto remained undisturbed and un- – no particular virtue or innocence was at- spoilt by the sophisticated habits of west- tributed to Greenlanders in sexual matters, ern civilisation. However, as creatures of as we shall see. Rather, vulnerability in nature, the natives’ hardiness in relation to these cases pertained to the virtual repro- the natural space they inhabited did not duction of culture, that is, to the children correspond to a similar strength in cultural generated from these relations. When they encounters; that is, when facing some- were problematic, it had as much to do thing introduced from the ‘outside’ that with an idea of embodied spatio-cultural did not naturally belong to their world and capacities, as with racial categories in ways.25 Foreign contacts were framed as a anything near the biological sense pre- perpetual threat to the literally natural dominant by the turn of the subsequent form of life of the Greenlanders, towards century. which they had only little, if any resistibil- This colonial rationality establishing ity. As the quotes above indicate, when the culture of the colonised as fragile and exposed to external influence, they were vulnerable to external influences – and the 12 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

colonisers as the stronger part obliged to press on the local population “how dan- protect the immature Greenlanders gerous it would be to them if such disease against such dangers – remained very gained territory in the district”. The Direc- much alive throughout the entire colonial torate for the Royal Greenlandic Trade in period. As an example, let us listen to the Copenhagen a decade later expressed their physician Gustav Meldorf reporting in fear that the population would be “threat- 1898 from his work in the settlement Ar- ened by extinction” or “doomed” by such suk, close to the cryolite quarry at Ivigtut, diseases – a sentiment they maintained Southern Greenland: According to Mel- well into the 20th Century.28 dorf, the contact with Ivigtut workers and Whereas sexual encounters had hitherto sailors was highly damaging and corrup- first and foremost been problematised as a tive to the natives of Arsuk who had “be- threat to the fragile Greenlandic culture, it come pampered and sluggish”, as well as was now the native population as a physi- “deplorably influenced” in a moral re- cal, biological entity – their bodies, health, spect. Male Greenlanders would likely and reproduction – that appeared to be se- disdain a cigar if offered them; females verely endangered and hence in need of hardly accept a loaf of bread, lest express protection. This, of course, did neither di- gratitude. And, not least, “only very few minish the problem, nor decrease the in- of the Men could be said to engage in tensity of the measures taken to keep the Sealing; they are at large bad kayakers”.26 native and foreign bodies apart. The bad influence in general, however, was not Meldorf’s primary concern. He The Technologies of Sexual Bound- had his eyes firmly fixed on a more spe- ary-work cific problem: “A source of imminent dan- As I have argued, the problematisations of ger of infection, as well as moral destruc- sexual encounters between Greenlandic tion, is the access for the women to forni- women and European men related to the cate with the workers at the quarry (and transgression of boundaries between what probably with the sailors as well)”, he had been rationalised as distinctively dif- wrote.27 ferent geographical spaces and according- Meldorf’s alarming report represents a ly different populations whose contact partial reinterpretation of the problemati- would inflict cultural and physical harm sation in terms of what foreign contacts on the weaker part, the Greenlanders. In might bring to Greenland that was gradu- the remaining text, I address the practices ally taking form from 1872: the year when of drawing and policing the boundaries venereal disease was first detected among between native and foreign bodies. Greenlanders exactly in Arsuk. For the Whereas Søren Rud in his dissertation em- decades to come there was no shortage of phasises such governmental strategies and warnings against the new danger that had technologies aimed at moulding self-gov- crept into the colony. When the Board of erning subjects in accordance with bour- Guardians in the neighbouring district dis- geois ideals, the aspects of colonial rule cussed the appearance of syphilis in 1874, that I address below did not indicate any the district physician urged them to im- such aspirations.29 Rather they seemed to Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 13

rest on the assumption that promiscuous Young female Greenlanders were not to native women as well as rude male work- work in European houses or join expedi- ers were too primitive to be expected to tions. Employees were not to idle in native govern their own sexual conduct in a re- houses, least of all at suspicious hours ear- sponsible way. Hence, the answer was dis- ly in the morning or late at night, or when ciplinary practices in a more narrow the male residents were away sealing. The sense. I thematise these practices as differ- 1873 Instruction repeated the prohibition ent technologies managing colonial space against young female servants, and added and the bodies populating it: Technologies that no female Greenlander was allowed engaged in zoning colonial space; surveil- on board the Trade’s ships.30 ling colonial bodies; and placing problem- This sort of regulation aimed at manag- atic bodies by means of isolation and dis- ing the paradox of on the one hand the location. concern for the negative consequences of colonial contacts; and on the other, a colo- nial reality that relied, per definition, on Zoning contacts exactly such contact. One answer was to The 1782 Instruction charted the course divide colonial space – what Pratt coined for a continuous flurry of regulation aimed as the contact zone – into native and at constraining the undesired sexual con- foreign zones exactly to avoid contact by tacts. The first post outlined several re- determining the terms of ‘external’ access strictions in such contact, in particular any to them both. To put it simply, it worked “suspicious dealing” with the female sex: by means of prohibitions and curfews de-

The mobility of settlement women depended on the umiak – the traditional women’s boat – that al- lowed them to visit foreign zones by themselves or as crews. The same dependence, on the other hand, would make it possible to leave promiscuous women on an island during the ship season. Undated. www.arsukfjorden.gl, with the kind permission of Søren Martinussen. 14 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

fining who were allowed where, when, spaces of non-Greenlanders. The instruc- and with whom.31 tion for the Controller of the Ivigtut quarry As Danish presence in Greenland in- from 1885 obliged him to observe that lo- creased in the latter half of the 19th Cen- cals did not live and work at the quarry ex- tury with the development of a mining in- cept when granted individual permission. dustry and a larger number of ships arriv- Whereas men could acquire such permis- ing at the harbours, so did the problemati- sion from the regional Inspector, women sations of Danish workers’ and ship needed approval from the Ministry of the crews’ presence in native settlements. In- Interior in Copenhagen. Boats carrying or structions and circulars for Danes working crewed by native women should prefer- in Greenland repeatedly stressed that they ably anchor at Arsuk; alternatively, the could visit local settlements only with Controller should – if necessary with the strictly professional intentions or on spe- aid of the male boat crew – prevent any cial socialising occasions under close in- contact between these women and Danish spection by their superiors.32 workers. Umiaks were entirely prohibited Such special occasions included ar- at the quarry during venereal epidemics.35 ranged dances ashore with the participa- Just as the mining areas were defined as tion of local inhabitants and visiting ‘foreign’ zones with restricted access for groups of miners, sailors etc. – a phenom- locals, so were the ships, as we have seen. enon not in itself particularly problematic, Instructions for shipmasters repeatedly but what might happen after the dance stressed that in order to prevent immorali- was. Hence, dances were subject to partic- ty native women were not allowed access ular curfews, for instance in the 1886 rules to the ships.36 for shipmasters and their crews: Initiatives to restrict natives’ presence When the crew partakes in a dance ashore, the in foreign zones and vice versa did not shipmaster or one of the mates must be present at only come from the colonial administra- the dance and ensure that the crew returns aboard tion. For instance, in 1910, the Board of at the exact hour when the manager has decided Guardians of Julianehåb convinced the In- 33 for the dance to end. spector to prohibit workers of the cobber The protocol of the Board of Guardians of mine to visit sealing grounds when Green- Jakobshavn from 1910 indicates what landers were there.37 The Board in may otherwise happen: Facing another Godthåb in 1908 suggested excluding fe- ship season, the board agreed on instruct- male workers from the harbour whilst the ing the ship crews to return to their ship at ship was there to prevent venereal disease. the agreed hour, and on enjoining the local In this case, the Inspector declined, since girls to go straight home after the dance, female labour was indispensable during rather than “follow the seamen into the ship season.38 hills”.34 One thing was defining the zones – an- Parallel to the restrictions on foreign- other enforcing them. The Board of ers’ presence in the zones of the local Guardians in Julianehåb in 1885 reported population, other rules were concerned that on several occasions, almost the en- with limiting Greenlanders’ access to the tire crew of the trade ship “Nordlyset” had Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 15

stayed ashore after the 10 o’clock curfew, that an Arsuk sealer was known to take his “entertaining themselves with the young umiak to a site near Ivigtut “to allow the girls of the colony” in the home of the Ivigtut workers to have intercourse with Greenlandic midwife, and later three the female crew”. Since none of these named girls had spent the night at the ship. sources mention any kind of payment to 15 years later, it was again complained the women or to the sealer, the limited ma- that “an abundant youth were crowding to terial would only allow us to speculate on the place during the ship season, the fe- the nature of the encounters, the exchange male part committing all sorts of wicked- and power balances involved.42 What we ness and indelicacy with the ship crews”.39 can conclude, supported also by the recur- Similar problems were experienced in rence and spread of venereal disease, as the Arsuk-Ivigtut relations: Just as the well as the increasing number of ‘illegiti- sealing ground at Julianehåb appeared to mate’ children with Danish fathers, is that be a problematic site of contact in-be- neither native women, nor foreign men, tween zones, so did the fishing grounds would always comply with the zoning for the seasonal fishing of angmagssat regulation, despite of its protective inten- (capelin) between Arsuk and Ivigtut. The tions.43 local Board of Guardians decided to di- vide the fishing period between the two Surveilling bodies groups to forestall sexual and other con- tact.40 But the mentioned physician Mel- To counter this lack of compliance, an- dorf found the promiscuous dealings at the other kind of technology aimed at ensur- fishing ground more intentional than acci- ing that both populations were kept under dental. According to him, the two popula- strict surveillance by those in a position to tions had in Ikerasarsuk “found a way to exercise authority over them. reduce the distance and facilitate their in- In the case of trade or administrative tercourse” – in the most improper sense of employees, mining workers, and ships the word: Each summer, at least one male crews, such authority was formalized in resident of Arsuk would supposedly camp written general regulation and individual at the site along with a number of young contracts, and assigned to their profes- village girls and claim to be fishing; while sional superiors. As we have seen, ship- in fact, he was “running a literal brothel masters should accompany their crew on for the Ivigtut workers”, some of whom shore leave to observe that no improprie- were also infected by gonorrhoea.41 ties took place. It was their responsibility It may be disputable if ‘brothel’ is the that the crew returned to the ship at 10 most fitting label for the Ikerasarsuk en- p.m. after dances; and that no female counters, even if the Frederikshåb Mis- Greenlander was taken on board. And it sionary, too, reported on rumours that “a was also in their power to punish staff – Greenlander from Arsuk partly makes his corporally, economically, or by discharge living as a brothel keeper”. Several mem- – in case of serious violations of the rules. bers of the Board of Guardians had al- Similar obligations and authority were as- ready more than a decade earlier stated signed to the mining controllers.44 16 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

Open air dance in Arsuk 1898. When foreign men took part in local dances, there was a strict curfew, and both they and the Greenlandic women were to be carefully monitored by their work or household superiors to prevent them from strolling into the hills together. Photo: Regnar Wilhelm Gerard Bentzen, dated 1898. Arktiske Billeder.

Knowing that foreign men despite of In 1884, the Directorate in Copenhagen these efforts tended to appear in the wrong wrote to the Inspectors in Greenland that places at the wrong time, it is interesting since a highly contagious disease ap- that the problems of controlling the sexual peared to be transmitting itself through conduct of female Greenlanders seems to corporeal intercourse between man and have been among the largest challenges in woman, “all masters of household should the eyes of colonial authorities – Danish, carefully observe that the women of their as well as Greenlandic – to judge from the houses not engage in promiscuity with centrality of the subject in the source ma- foreign sailors or workers”. Should he terial. For this apparently troublesome tolerate such immoralities, the Board of purpose, they drew on a traditional hierar- Guardians was to sentence him to a severe chical structure of the Greenlandic socie- punishment, and exclude him from his ty: The supremacy of the (male) head of part of the repartition.45 The Boards, when household, and his right and obligation to facing problems with ‘promiscuous’ control the subordinate members of his women, often resorted to this provision. In house, in this case ‘his’ women. Godthåb, they decided in 1886 to firmly Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 17

instruct the masters of households that equally important: the medical surveil- they would be held responsible for the ex- lance of the bodies entering the colony, cesses of female household members. and of the local populations potentially in- Two decades later, the Board again fected. Already a circular from 1806 took stressed that the masters of household explicit precautions to prevent that vene- were to “guard their young ones and keep real disease was carried into the colony by them from accompanying the sailors to the new arrivals: If a ‘skipper’ observed any harbour” and from following them across such disease among his crew, he was to re- the hills. In Jakobshavn in 1910, house port it immediately at arrival in a colonial masters were directed in the same way, harbour. Later in the century, the skipper’s also related to the dances and the hillside estimation was replaced by a professional excursions that seem to unavoidably suc- medical examination of anyone employed ceed them.46 to work in the colony before leaving Den- In addition to the supervision by super- mark.49 Hundreds of individual health cer- iors or heads of household, also colonial tificates from the late 19th Century in the officials and administrators were to en- Danish National Archives illustrate that gage in the task of preventing unwanted the ambition to shield the colony to vene- contact. The managers of the colonies and real disease by screening newcomers was of the smaller trade stations; the Boards of to be taken seriously.50 Guardians; and the two regional Inspec- Of course, the system was not impene- tors were all, at different levels, involved trable: Some Trade ships – and almost all in mediating the rules, observing that they from foreign nations – could not present were obeyed, and reporting to the metro- all the required documents. In addition, as pole.47 The fact that at least part of the medical doctors explained, sailors might male population of the colony contributed acquire venereal infections during their to controlling their women’s whereabouts last, animated days before departing Co- did not pass unnoticed by Danish authori- penhagen; and physical symptoms might ties. The Inspector of Northern Greenland appear only during the long voyage. Mel- recognised in 1903 that “the male popula- dorf and others suggested obligatory tion of Godhavn had always carefully pre- medical examinations of all individuals vented indecent communication between arriving at Greenland. But as far as I can foreign ship crews and indigenous wo- see, this was never instigated during the men”. A few years later, the Administra- period covered by this investigation. A re- tion in a letter to the Ministry of the Inte- newed regulation of 1908 stated that ship- rior expressed their appreciation of the masters at arrival should declare whether “indigenous Guardians” in Julianehåb they suspected any crew member or pas- who had decided to impress the masters of senger to carry contagious infections, for household with their duties in this mat- instance venereal; a non-expert judgement ter.48 that did not satisfy the medical expertise As the problematisations of sexual con- establishing itself in the colony.51 tacts came to focus on venereal disease, The counterpart to the medical surveil- another kind of surveillance became lance of foreign individuals arriving in 18 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

Greenland to prevent the ‘import’ of con- colleague in Jakobshavn reported during tagion was the medical examination of lo- an outburst of gonorrhoea that despite the cal populations when infection was sus- “obstinacy with which the Greenlanders pected. If a physician, to prevent conta- in this colony have concealed this disease gious diseases from causing “Death and in nearly half a year” he had now ex- other misery”, felt compelled to examine amined most of the male population – ex- the health of an indigenous population, it cept from the head catechist, since he was was obliged to succumb to his examina- the subject of Danish law. A few men had tion – and the local authorities should sup- refused examination, and so had almost all port him in performing his work. 52 When widows. Among the married women, he the physician Alfred Bertelsen in the late had only examined those whose husbands 1930s compiled his and his predecessors’ were infected, since he “found it unjust to experiences and data gathering in Green- demand” from this group something that land, he could refer to countless such ex- the widows could refuse.55 aminations of entire settlement popula- These medical experts were more or tions. In case of venereal diseases, the ex- less aware that the general examinations aminations preferably included all sexual- of Greenlanders (as opposed to Danes) ly mature individuals, that is, anyone from could feel humiliating. But the report of the age of 12.53 the Jakobshavn doctor suggests yet an- The medical examinations of popula- other reason for concealing a contagious tions were a means to monitor the dis- disease, as he concluded: “According to semination – and, fortunately, at times the Instruction for Physicians, §9, we will also the elimination – of infectious dis- attempt to maintain the Isolation…” The eases as for instance syphilis and gonor- detection of a venereal epidemic could rhoea. They informed colonial authorities’ have far-reaching and prolonged conse- decisions to isolate infected settlements in quences also for the mobility and the ex- order to prevent the contagion from ternal communication of an entire settle- spreading to other localities; and to take ment population. off the quarantine when no signs of active disease remained. And they provided data Placing problematic bodies – Isolation on which to generate a more general and dislocation knowledge on the bodies, and the patterns Arsuk is emblematic for the technologies of health and illness, particular to the col- of isolation put to work once venereal dis- ony, as Bertelsen’s work demonstrates.54 ease had reached the colony, even if isola- However, they also generated opposi- tion was used in other localities, and in tion from (some of) the Greenlanders sub- case of other epidemics than venereal ject not only to the ‘medical gaze’ of the ones. In 1856 the first Danish labour ar- Danish doctors, but the ‘physicals’ it im- rived at the quarry in Ivigtut. And in 1872, plied. The district medical officer of Ju- Arsuk was the place to challenge the aspi- lianehåb felt that conducting a ‘general rations that venereal disease could be in- examination’ on a population would turn tercepted at the gateways of the colony. them against the (medical) authorities. His After the first instances of syphilis had Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 19

Young Arsuk women photographed in 1899: the year when locals requested that the isolation be lifted after a decade with no incidents of syphilis – only to learn that the settlement was now infected with gonorrhea and isolation provisions accordingly still necessary. Photo: Möller, dated 5 April 1899. The Royal Library, Denmark. Billedsamlingen, Den Topografiske Samling, Grønland 4to. been detected in Arsuk, the settlement was thus dangerous to the rest of their people. soon subject to regulations in order to As syphilis proved difficult to battle with close it off to the outside: Since visiting less radical means, a circular from 1882 the quarry in Ivigtut, as explained in a let- declared that Arsuk, as well as Ivigtut, ter from the Inspectorate, had proven was to be cut off from any communication harmful to the local population, any such with the remaining colony. Moving to and visit was immediately forbidden, and local from the settlement was prohibited as a authorities should pay particular attention general rule, and individual permission to to female Greenlanders trying to reach leave depended entirely on the ability to Ivigtut by umiak.56 In this new situation, present a medical certificate stating that however, it was no longer merely a matter one was not infected with syphilis.57 of protecting the native population against The Board of Guardians of the district – foreign contacts: Some Greenlanders Frederikshåb – was deeply involved in the were already marked by this contact; they attempts to contain and battle infection. In had themselves become contagious and 1883 the members unanimously decided 20 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

on a local circular specifying the provi- lifted, since they were unable to provide sions necessary to carry out the isolation their necessary means of existence by of Arsuk. They also agreed on urging the sealing alone, and the isolation therefore neighbouring district, Julianehåb, to pass was a heavy burden on their lives. But the similar regulations in order to prevent that outbreak of a new venereal epidemic, this Greenlanders from their district attempted time of gonorrhoea, had forestalled them. to enter the isolated community.58 Under these circumstances, neither the Isolation related to epidemics is by chairman of the board, nor the Inspector of definition a temporary measure: provi- the region could support their wish.61 sions will be lifted when the contagious As far as I have traced the story, Arsuk illness has been fought down. By the end remained infected and affected by ven- of the century, the radical measures to iso- ereal disease. Whenever disease was late the infected population of Arsuk and thought to be eliminated, the native mem- contain the disease finally seemed to have bers of the Board of Guardians took up the proved successful. No new incidents of suggestion to lift the isolation, since the syphilis had been found in general exami- rules felt oppressive to the population.62 nations of the Arsuk population by doctor But each time, new instances of gonor- Helms in 1890 and 1893. To his knowl- rhoea had been, or were soon, disclosed. edge, this had been the case for about a In 1910, after new cases of gonorrhoea decade; hence, isolation was no longer had once again been reported, the Board necessary.59 Meldorf in principle agreed a itself asked that isolation be continued, as few years later – but, he continued, it was long as the disease ravaged in Arsuk. imperative to first eliminate the risk of re- Instead of pulling down the regulatory newed transmission of disease from the fences around the settlement, they now re- Ivigtut workers and crews, even if isola- quested that a medical expert should be tion could have negative consequences. brought into the isolated site. In 1912, a His concern was not the social restrictions new regulation repeated the provisions on the population, but rather the biological that had – in principle – isolated the settle- consequences, the inbreeding caused by ment since the early 1880s: No ‘external’ enclosing a small population over a longer Greenlander could enter Arsuk, Ivigtut or period of time. But this consideration was the cobber mine at Ivnatsiak. Greenlandic secondary in relation to preventing re- men could be granted one-day access to newed venereal infection. The most radi- the mines; but “Greenlandic women in Ar- cal solution would be to abolish the settle- suk cannot visit other settlements. A zone ment and relocate its population further must be established between Arsuk and away from Ivigtut; but Meldorf was not Ivigtut that they are not allowed to en- confident that this would be efficient.60 ter.”63 At the time of Meldorf’s report, also As Helms described it, the Arsuk popu- Greenlandic voices were beginning to lation already in the early 1890s found it question the continued isolation of Arsuk. “offensive and embarrassing” to be “liv- In 1899 Arsuk sealers presented the local ing as lepers”, and to be disdained even by Board with a request that the isolation be their own people as “moral and sanitary Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 21

outcast”.64 One of the burdens experi- proval of Godthåb’s decision was repeat- enced by the isolated Arsuk’ers was the ed several times in the years around 1900 fact that the settlement was not only (at- indicates, along with other archival mate- tempted to be) entirely fenced in. It was rial, that dislocation of troublesome, im- also transformed in to a site for internment moral, promiscuous women was not en- of infected Greenlandic individuals from tirely unheard of. In 1888, six Arsuk other parts of the colony, both during the women stood before the Frederikshåb syphilis- and later the gonorrhoea epi- Board of Guardians, accused of fornicat- demic.65 Arsuk was contained – and a con- ing with Ivigtut workers. One of them was tainer for the venereal waste of other lo- sentenced to be removed to a remote rela- calities. tive. In 1900, a large group of women had While some Greenlanders were collec- boarded a trade ship in the harbour of tively deprived of their mobility and kept Godthåb, and several local men had assist- in a particular site by isolation, other ed the Board in bringing the women home single individuals were subject to reloca- to their houses. At the trial, it came out tion from one place to another. This could that two of the women had already earlier be the case if they were infected by, and been expelled from Godthåb and relocated infectious with venereal disease. But it outside the colony due to immoral behav- could also relate to other problematisa- iour. In Frederikshåb again, in 1901, all tions of the undesired sexual encounters. members of the Board agreed to dislocate Let me finally return to the case with a woman who had on several occasions which I opened this article: The sugges- transmitted venereal infections from the tion from Frederikshåb Board of Guard- sailors at Ivigtut to Julianehåb.67 ians in 1908 to move promiscuous women For what reasons should these women to a desert island during the ship season be (temporarily) expelled from their com- and the similar suggestion put forward by munity? In relation to Frederikshåb, the the Godthåb Board already in 1885. The fact that Arsuk had been marked almost Danish colonial authorities did not sanc- continuously since the early 1870s by ven- tion either of the decisions. As the Inspec- ereal epidemics and/or isolation provi- tor commented in 1901, the Boards were sions could seem a sufficient explanation not authorised to decide on such a meas- to the creativity invested in the sugges- ure; and anyway, he found it rather un- tion. But if we turn to Godthåb, their prob- realistic that one would be able to remove lematisation in no way related to physical all young girls and ‘loose women’ each or medical consequences of sexual en- time a ship arrived at a Greenlandic har- counters. The problem, as stated unani- bour.66 These objections concerned the mously by the Board, was about female distribution of colonial authority, and the Greenlanders “swarming the street” when feasibility and efficiency of the suggestion American ships called on the Godthåb – not the principal propriety of dislocating harbour. To their minds, “it was a great Greenlandic women whose sexual behav- shame and disgrace for the local popula- iour was found problematic. tion that its women could demonstrate The fact that the administration’s disap- such a shameless and impudent behav- 22 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

iour”. Hence, “it must be pivotal to all de- inside to the developing status and iden- cent men and women of the community to tity as modern, civilised, and matured put a halt to this evil”, all members agreed. Greenlanders. The conceaved uncon- The intended exclusion of such promiscu- trolled, irresponsible sexual behaviour of ous females, and their isolation on an is- certain women seriously compromised land, was explicitly defined as a “punish- this identity, as it confirmed an almost in- ment for fornicating with foreign ships vincible imagery of what was often re- crews, workers, or other Europeans”. Be- ferred to as “the well- known Greenland- fore being transported to the island, they ic promiscuity”; an image of Greenland- would first have her hair top cut off; a ers’ lack of civilisation that many of them means of punishment often used towards now found it crucial to dismantle. Pro- women who had committed serious of- miscuous women in this perspective rep- fences.68 The remaining question is what resented a ‘staining of civilisation’ that did these women offend? differed from, but went hand in hand I have argued that problematisations of with, the contemporary colonial ration- sexual relations between Greenlandic alities and problematisations. women and foreigners depended on a co- lonial rationality concerned with the cul- Conclusion tural pollution inflicted by too much con- Parthe Chatterjee’s definition of colonial- tact. It relied on an idea of the Greenlandic ism as a rule of difference has profoundly culture as ‘natural’, ‘immature’, ‘uncivi- influenced the optics of modern (post)co- lised’ – and as such in need of protection lonial studies. And the Greenlandic case by the representatives of the ‘adult’ and taken up in this article is clearly about ‘civilised Europeans. In the last decades making the colonial system work by of the 19th century a male, Greenlandic means of establishing and maintaining elite was gradually beginning to emerge difference. That said, Nicholas Thomas around particular professions. An elite has argued “that only localized theories that was, according to themselves and to and historically specific accounts can pro- parts of the Danish administration and po- vide much insight into the varied articula- litical sphere, now slowly reaching a state tions of colonizing and counter-colonial of maturity and civilisation enabling them representations and practices”.69 Such lo- to take responsibility for their own mat- calised colonial studies do as yet remain ters. As we have seen, some of them en- relatively scarce related to the Danish- gaged heavily in policing the promiscuous Greenlandic colonial history. women of their people. In line with Thomas, also Sara Mills has Perhaps, what we find here are traces cautioned against the assumption that any of an emerging Greenlandic parallel to general definition or conceptualisation of the colonial image of a cultural pollution colonialism relates to a meaningful totali- threatening the colony and its population ty – what she calls the monolithic concep- from the outside: A concern not about the tion of colonialism – and suggested a turn external sources of pollution, but about exactly towards analysing particular prac- the damages that could be inflicted from tices of colonial spatialisations as one Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 23

possible means of avoiding this presump- pacities were potentially endangered; the tion.70 I have taken up this challenge in my very health and reproduction of the popu- article, knowing that this of course implies lation was threatened if native women did leaving out a host of other, equally rele- not manage their sexuality in a responsible vant ways of approaching and interpreting and moral way. In addition, emergent elite the undesired contacts in colonial Green- of male Greenlanders seems to have prob- land. lematised female promiscuous behaviour Colonial systems are, as so many schol- due to the stains it may leave on their new ars have convincingly argued, profoundly identity as civilised members of a matur- gendered, and the history that I have ex- ing Greenland on the threshold of modern- plored in this article is very explicitly so.71 ity. What I have wished to contribute with this There were reasons enough to try to localised analysis is an understanding of avoid those undesired contacts; and prac- how the historical problematisations of tices enough aiming at doing so. I have sexual relations between Greenlandic thematised these practices as different women and foreign men were imbued spatial technologies, that is, different with a spatialising rationality that ren- ways of managing the bodily encounters dered female bodies and sexual behaviour by means of the space particular to the col- particularly problematic: One that drew ony. Firstly, one of zoning the space into the lines of difference based on ideas of separate spheres for Greenlanders and for- intimate links between space/nature and eigners and densely regulating the trans- culture; and that envisioned the colonised gression of the boundaries between them. as a people of nature, hence strong in their Secondly, one of surveilling the zones and natural life, but extremely vulnerable to the bodies that inhabited them. And third- cultural impressions. Sexual contacts in ly, one of managing problematic bodies this context became particularly danger- by placing them in particular localities, ei- ous, since the offspring expected from ther by preventing their mobility, or by them were suspected to lose their capaci- enforcing them to move from and to cer- ties for living in pact with nature by seal- tain localities. We can think of the three as ing. The importance of the sexual conduct working respectively on, in, and by the of Greenlandic women was first due to space of colonial Greenland. their roles as reproducers, in the most It is important to emphasise that the ac- physical sense, of the embodied cultural tual, physical/geographical space of the capacities of true Greenlanders. When arctic colony was not merely a passive site venereal disease entered the colony in the for or backcloth to the rationalities and 1870s, this only furthered the anxieties as technologies explored in this article. It to what the already troublesome bodily was an active and constituent element in encounters would bring the colony and its the colonial rationalisation of difference people: The cultural fragility was accom- and hence of the necessity to manage co- panied by a biological vulnerability to the lonial contacts in the most cautious ways. diseases of modernity transmitted in colo- And space was centre stage in the technol- nial contacts. Now, not only cultural ca- ogies applied in order to do so. The vast 24 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

distance between colony and metropole, ical, socio-cultural and even geographical the fundamental differences in climate circumstances. and nature conditions between the two, Finally, the story told above will re- the visible differences in physiological ap- mind us that governmental technologies pearance between their inhabitants all fa- do not always produce the intended ef- cilitated and supported particular ways of fects: Although the sexual boundaries rationalising the fundamental differentia- were pivotal both to Danish colonisers and tion on which the colonial system relied. a male Greenlandic elite, and despite of At the same time, the technologies that I the steady flow of regulation, surveil- have discussed operated in, on, and by the lance, knowledge production, contain- particular circumstances provided by the ment and punishment, bodies continued to space characteristic of the colony. For in- transgress these boundaries, and – for stance, the slow and difficult access to whatever reasons there might have been – Greenland facilitated the ambitions and to offer resistance to the ways they were attempts to fence in the colony and block attempted to be governed. potential sources of pollution and infec- Sniff Andersen Nexø tion at its gates. Likewise, the dispersed Adjunkt settlement in the colony was a necessary Dept. of History, The SAXO Institute premise for working with certain technol- University of Copenhagen ogies of isolation and dislocation that Njalsgade 80 DK-2300 Copenhagen S would have been practically unthinkable e-mail: [email protected] in densely populated Denmark. This ‘agency’ of space does not, how- Notes ever, imply that the practices involved in 1 Largely similar rules were included in the re- managing it were merely a necessary, vised Instruction of 1873. functional by-product. They were exactly 2 In a 1984 interview conducted by François Ewald for the French Magazine Littéraire, such works of thought in the widest sense Foucault claimed problematisation to be the – depending on the knowledge, ideas, core notion to all his work since the History of theories, techniques, social relations and Madness – although, he admitted, he had never isolated it sufficiently. Foucault, 1988, economical processes of the time and p. 257. place – as Foucault invited us to study.72 3 Foucault, 2000, p. 118. None of the spatial techniques that I have 4 Foucault, 2001, p. 171; 1988, p. 257; 2000, p. explored would have been thinkable with- 117; quotation 1996, p. 408. 5 Foucault, 2001, p. 171. out the notion of a fundamental, hierarchi- 6 I introduce these four analytical aspects of cal difference between a superior colonis- problematisationin my dissertation on Danish ing power and a subordinate colonised abortion policy in the 1930s and 1970s. Nexø, 2005, pp. 28–35. population. But, as we have seen, closing 7 Overviews of some of the works concerned in on the locality invites us to acknowl- with these aspects of colonialism and im- edge that, as both Thomas and Mills ar- perialism can be found in the mentioned gue, such a general colonial discourse of works of Ballantyne and Burton, 2005; 2009; and Mills, 2005. difference assumes its concrete shape in 8 Ballantyne and Burton, 2005; 2009. The no- complex interaction with particular histor- tion elaborates on Pratt’s conceptualization of Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 25

colonial contact zones, and is explored in a unpolished at the present state, Greenlanders variety of particular settings in the two edited were in no way alien to the beliefs and morals volumes. Geographer Sara Mills, too, has carried to them by European missionaries. stressed the importance of gender and space Mission did not represent a source of pollu- in colonial history studies; Mills, 2005. tion. 9 Ballantyne and Burton, 2005, p. 4. 26 Meldorf, 1898, p. 238. 10 Ballantyne and Burton, 2005, pp. 6–8 (quote 27 Meldorf, 1898, p. 239. p. 6); 406–7. Pratt’s often cited definition of 28 Afskrift af Julianehåbs Forstanderskabspro- contact-zones is coined in Imperial Eyes, tokol, 28. september 1874 (RA-K); Meddelel- 1992, p.4. ser, nr. 3, 1888.Skrivelse af 15. marts 1912 fra 11 Ballantyne and Burton, 2005, p. 407. Administrationen af den Kongelige Grønland- 12 Mills, 2005. ske Handel til Indenrigsministeriet, B&K, nr. 13 Fægteborg, 2009; Kjær-Sørensen, 1983; Gad, 2, 1912. 1984, p. 178ff.;DIIS, 2007, p. 10; Betænk- 29 Rud, 2010. ning, 1921, s. 5; Heinrich, Nexø and Nielsen, 30 Instrux 1782, First post, §3. Instruks 1873, 2011; Bricka 1890; http://da.wikipedia.org/ §15. wiki/Hans_Egede . 31 Stephen Legg, in his works on prostitution in 14 Particularly from the mid 19th Century and on- colonial India, also emphasises such strategies wards, a vast amount of scientific reports and of spacing in order to regulate contacts be- expedition accounts bear witness to the in- tween native prostitutes and foreign men – creasing demand for exact knowledge about and women; Legg, 2009. every thinkable aspect of this terra incognita 32 See for instance Instruks af 28. april 1885 (for on which to base efficient mercantile as well the Controller of the cryolitequarry at Ivigtut- as governmental strategies. An illustrative ex- near the settlement Arsuk), Meddelelser, no. ample is the large series of scientific mono- 3, 1885; and Skrivelse af 17. marts 1886 fra graphs published in “Meddelelser om Grøn- Direktoratet for den Kongelige Grønlandske land” since 1878. By 2009, the series consist- Handel til Inspektørerne i Grønland, Medde- ed of 345 volumes containing more than 1200 lelser, no. 2, 1886. titles/studies. 33 Skrivelse af 17. marts 1886, Meddelelser, no. 15 See for instance Diis, 2007, s. 13. 2, 1886. 16 The image of Greenlandic culture as imma- 34 Afskrift af Jakobshavns Forstanderskabs pro- ture, uncivilised and in need of protection is tokol, 13. april 1910 (RA-F). often mentioned in the literature, lately in 35 Instruks af 28. april 1885, Meddelelser, no. 3, Søren Rud’s dissertation, Rud 2010. See also 1885. Skrivelse af 15. marts 1912, B&K, nr. Rud, 2009; Diis, 2007, pp. 11–13; Manniche 2, 1912. 2002. 36 See for instance Skrivelse af 17. marts 1886, 17 Instrux 1782, Fourth post, §1. Meddelelser, no. 2, 1886.; and Instruks af 8. 18 In this context, the colonies refer to the trade marts 1911, B&K, no. 1, 1911. stations established by the KGH and the 37 Skrivelse af 15. marts 1912, B&K, no. 2, settlements developing around them. 1912. 19 Instrux 1782, First post, §3; Fourth post, §4. 38 Skrivelse af 25. oktober 1910, B&K, no. 4, 20 Instrux 1782, Fourth post, §3. §5 stresses – 1910. again – that European food will cause laziness 39 Afskrift af Julianehåbs Forstanderskabspro- towards sealing. tokol, 5. og 6. maj 1885 (RA-K); 3. maj 1900 21 Instrux 1782, First post, §3. (RA-F). 22 Instrux 1782, First post, §4. 40 Afskrift af Frederikshåbs Forstanderskabspro- 23 Instrux 1782, Second post, §7. Inge Seiding tokol, 17. maj 1899 (RA-F). (2011) describes the concerns for girls’ edu- 41 Meldorf, 1898, p. 239–40. cation as true Greenlanders. 42 Udkast til brev fra Inspektøren af Sydgrøn- 24 Seiding, 2011; Rud 2009. See also Rud 2010, land til Ministeriet for Kirke og Undervisning, p. 36. 4. maj 1901 (RA-F); Afskrift af Frederikshåbs 25 Interestingly, the mission from the very be- Forstanderskabsprotokol, 18. september 1885 ginning claimed that although primitive and (RA-K). 26 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

43 For the latter, see Heinrich, Nexø and Nielsen, Nordgrønland til Direktoratet for den 2011, Chapter 6. Kongelige Grønlandske Handel ang. indfød- 44 Instruks af 28. april 1885, Meddelelser, no. 3, tes gåen om bord i fremmede nationers skibe 1885; Instruks af 8. marts 1911, B&K, no. 1, (RA-F). 1911; Skibsfører-instrukser 1909–17 (RA-S). 52 Skrivelse af 12.juni 1884, Meddelelser, no. 3, 45 Skrivelse af 12. juni 1884 fra Direktoratet til 1884. Inspektoraterne, Meddelelser, no. 3, 1884. 53 Bertelsen 1940, p. 75–81. Meldorf 1898. The ’repartition’ was the surplus sum generat- 54 Bertelsen 1937, 1940. ed by the local procurement of goods to the 55 Indberetning 4. april 1915 fra distriktslægen i trade, and distributed each year among the Julianehåb, and 31. marts 1916 fra distriktslæ- sealers. gen i Jakobshavn (RA-I). 46 Afskrift af Godthåbs Forstanderskabspro- 56 Afskrift af Julianehåbs Forstanderskabspro- tokol, 30. april og 1. maj 1886 (RA-K); For- tokol, 26. april 1876 (RA-K); Bertelsen, 1940, slag fra Julianehåbs Forstanderskab, 8. maj s. 82. 1900 (RA-F);Skrivelse af 25. oktober 1910, 57 Cirkulære af 7. august 1882 til Forstanderska- B&K, nr. 4, 1910; Afskrift af Jakobshavns bet i Frederikshåb (RA-L); Afskrift af Fre- Forstanderskabsprotokol, 13. april 1910 derikshåb Forstanderskabsprotokol 17. sep- (RA-F). tember 1883 (RA-K); Bertelsen 1940. 47 See for instance Skrivelse af 12. juni 1884 58 Afskrift af Frederikshåbs Forstanderskabspro- that compels the Boards of Guardians to con- tokol, 17. september 1883 (RA-K). tribute to the utmost of their capacity to pre- 59 Helms 1894. venting the dissemination of venereal disease 60 Meldorf 1898, p. 237–38, 242. in the colony, Meddelelser, no. 3, 1884. 61 Referat af Frederikshåb Forstanderskabspro- 48 Kopi af indberetning af 16. maj 1905 fra Di- tokol, 2. september 1899 (RA-F); Brev af 31. rektoratet for Den Kongelige Grønlandske august 1900 fra Inspektøren for Sydgrønland Handel til Indenrigsministeriet (RA-F). Skri- til Direktoratet for den Kongelige Grønland- velse af 14. juni 1911 fra Administrationen til ske Handel (RA-F). Indenrigsministeriet ang. forstanderskabernes 62 Skrivelse af 25. oktober 1910, B&K, no. 4, forhandlinger 1909–10, B&K, nr. 3, 1911. 1910. 49 Cirkulære af 12. april 1806 fra Direktoratet for Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel. 63 Skrivelse af 15. marts fra Administrationen til Quoted in Bertelsen, vol. III, 1940, p. 77. Indenrigsministeriet, B&K, nr 2, 1912; Ber- 50 Sundhedsattester for skibsbesætninger 1884– telsen, 1940; Reglement for Samkvemmet 1886 (RA-A). mellem Beboerne af Udstedet Arsuk i 51 Brev af 4. februar 1880 fra Indenrigsmini- Sydgrønland, de øvrige Grønlændere og Be- steriet til Direktionen f. Kgl. Grønlandske boerne ved Kryolithbrudet ved Ivigtut og ved Handel; Underretning til Søfarende i Davis Kobberminen ved Ivnatsiak. B&K, no. 1, Strædet, bekjendtgjort af Direktoratet under 1912: 8de Maj 1884, Meddelelser, no. 3, 1888; Brev 64 Helms 1894. af 15. august 1904 fra Inspektøren for Nord- 65 Bertelsen, 1940, p. 82; Skrivelse af 11. maj grønland til Direktoratet for den Kongelige 1901 fra Inspektøren for Sydgrønland til Grønlandske Handel (RA-F); Lægeindberet- Frederikshåb Forstanderskab (RA-F). ninger, Kønssygdomme ved Arsuk m.m. 66 Skrivelse af 25. oktober 1910 fra Administra- (RA-L); Meldorf 1898; Meddelelser, no. 4, tionen til Indenrigsministeriet, B&K , no. 4, 1908;Skrivelse af 25. oktober 1910, B&K, no. 1910;Skrivelse af 12. juni 1901 fra Inspekto- 4, 1910; Bertelsen, vol. II., 1937, p. 157; In- ratet til Godthåbs Forstanderskab (RA-F); struks af 8. marts 1911, B&K, no. 1, 1911. Kladde til skrivelse af 24. april 1903 fra Ins- Shipmaster’s declarations at arrival in Green- pektoratet til Indenrigsministeriet (RA-F). land can be found in RA-I. A particular prob- 67 Liste over retssager, Frederikshåb 28. septem- lem were the ships of other nations – Scottish ber 1888 (RA-K); Afskrift af Godthåbs For- whalers, American fishers – from whom one standerskabsprotokol, maj 1900 (RA-F); Af- could not acquire (or trust) health certificates. skrift af Frederikshåb Forstanderskabspro- Brev af 15. august 1904 fra Inspektoratet for tokol, 29. april 1901 (RA-F).I have also found Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts 27

many cases when women were dislocated due Instrux udfærdiget af Direktoratet for den to immoral relations to Greenlandic men. kongelige grønlandske Handel til Iagttagelse 68 Afskrift af Godthåbs Forstanderskabspro- samt Veiledning for de i Handelens Tjeneste tokol, 30. september 1885 (RA-K). staaendeIndvaanere i Grønland. Direktoratet 69 Chatterjee, 1993;Thomas, 1994, p. ix. for den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel 1873. 70 Mills, 2005. København: Louis Kleins Bogtrykkeri. 71 See for instance Ballantyne and Burton 2005, (Meddelelser) Meddelelser fra Direktoratet for 2009; Mills 2005; Seiding 2011; Stoler 2002. den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel, 1882–. 72 Foucault, 1996, p. 408. København:J. H. Schultz. Meldorf, Gustav 1900: Nogle Bemærkninger om References Forholdene ved Arsuk. Medicinalberetning for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1898. Køben- Archival sources havn: Det Kongelige Danske Sundhedskolle- Rigsarkivet, 458: Direktoratet for den Kgl. Grøn- gium v. E. M. Hoff og J. Carlsen. H. Hagerups landske Handel. Bogholder- og Korrespondance- Forlag. kontoret. 1861–1916. (RA-F): Forstanderskabssager, 1899– 1916. Literature 1776–1925. Emnehenlagte sager: (RA-A): Sundhedsattester for skibsbesætninger Ballantyne, Tony and Antoinette Burton (eds.) 1884–86, 1998–1902. 2005: Bodies in Contact.Rethinking colonial (RA-I): Indberetninger fra kolonierne. Læger encounters in world history. Durham: Duke og skibsførere 1909–1912, 1913–16. University Press. (RA-K): Kommissionen for grønlændernes an- Ballantyne, Tony and Antoinette M. Burton (eds.) liggender og forstanderskabernes oprettelse 2009: Moving subjects. Gender, mobility, and 1872 (RA-L): Lægevæsen i Grønland, Køns- intimacy in an age of global empire.Cham- sygdomme ved Arsuk 1874 mm. paign: University of Illinois Press. (RA-S): Skibsførerinstrukser 1909–17. Carl Frederik Bricka (ed.) 1890: Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (Hans Poulsen Egede). København: Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Published sources Søn). (B&K) Beretninger og Kundgørelser vedrørende Chatterjee, Partha 1993. The Nation and its Frag- Kolonierne i Grønland / Beretninger og Kund- ments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. gørelser vedrørende Styrelsen af Grøn- Princeton: Princeton University Press. land.København: J. H. Schultz. Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier (DIIS): Bertelsen, Alfred: Grønlandsk Medicinsk Statistik Afviklingen af Grønlands koloniale status og Nosografi. Undersøgelser og Erfaringer fra 1945–64. En historisk udredning. København: 30 Aars grønlandsk Lægevirksomhed. Vol. II: DIIS. Sundhedsvilkårene i Grønland (1937).Vol. III: Foucault, Michel 1988: The Concern for Truth. In Det sædvanlige grønlandske Sygdomsbillede Michel Foucault: Politics, Philosophy, Culture. (1940). København: C. A. Reitzels Forlag. Interviews and other Writings 1977–1984, ed. Betænkning afgivet af det i december Maaned Lawrence D. Kritzman. New York: Routledge. 1920 nedsatte Udvalg til Drøftelse af de grøn- Foucault, Miche1 1996: Problematics. In Fou- landske Anliggender 1921.København: J. H. cault Live (Interviews, 1961–1984), ed. Sylvère Schultz. Lotringer. New York: Semiotext(e). Helms, O 1894: Syfilis i Grønland.Ugeskrift for Foucault, Michel 2000: Polemics, Politics, Prob- Læger, 6. april 1894. lematisations. In Michel Foucault. Ethics. Es- Instrux, hvorefter Kiøbmændene eller de som en- sential works of Foucault 1954–1984, ed. Paul ten bestyre Handelen eller forestaae Hval- Rabinov. London: Penguin Books. fanger-anlæggene i Grønland, i særdeleshed, Foucault, Michel 2001: Fearless Speech, ed. Jo- saavelsom og alle de der staae i Handelens Tie- seph Pearson. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e) / For- neste i Almindelighed, sig for Fremtiden have at eign Agents. Also available online as Discourse rette og forholde 1782.København: Directionen and Truth: The Problematization of Parrhesia. for den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel. Six lectures given by Michel Foucault at the 28 Sniff Andersen Nexø, Undesired Contacts

University of California at Berkeley, 1983. http: Mills, Sara 2005: Gender and Colonial Space. //foucault.info/documents/parrhesia/fou- Manchester: Manchester University Press. cault.DT6.conclusion.en.html Pratt, Mary Louise 1992: Imperial Eyes, Travel Fægteborg, Mads 2009: Hans Egede. In Grønland Writing and Transculturation. London: Rout- – en refleksiv udfordring, ed. Ole Høiris. Århus: ledge. Århus Universitetsforlag. Rud, Søren 2009: A correct admixture. The Am- Gad, Finn1984: Grønland. Politikens Danmarks- biguous Project of Civilising in Nineteenth- historie. København: Politikens Forlag. Century Greenland. Itinerario, vol. XXXIII, no. Heinrich, Jens, Sniff Andersen Nexø and Linda 2. Nielsen 2011: Historisk udredning om retsstil- Rud, Søren 2010: Subjektiveringsprocesser i lingen for børn født uden for ægteskab i Grøn- metropol og koloni. København og Grønland i land 1914–1974. Afgivet til Statsministeriet 1. 1800-tallet. Unpublished ph.d. dissertation. Co- juni 2011. København: Statsministeriet. penhagen: University of Copenhagen. Kjær-Sørensen, Axel 1983: Danmark-Grønland i Seiding, Inge 2011: Colonial Categories of Rule – det 20. århundrede – en historisk oversigt. København: Nyt Nordisk Forlag. Mixed Marriages and Families in Greenland Legg, Stephen 2009: Governing prostitution in around 1800. Kontur, nr. 22. colonial Delhi: from cantonment regulations to Stoler, Ann Laura 2002: Carnal Knowledge and international hygiene (1864–1939). Social His- Imperial Power. Race and the Intimate in Col- tory, vol. 34, no. 4. onial Rule.Berkeley: University of California Manniche, Jens Chr. 2002: Sprogbeherskelse og Press. Herskersprog – om sprog og kolonialisme i Thomas, Nicholas 1994: Colonialism’s Culture. Grønland i 1800-tallet. Arbejdspapirer, Histo- Anthropology, Travel, and Government. Cam- risk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, nr. 12. bridge: Polity Press. Mills, Sara 1996: Gender and Colonial Space. Gender, Place & Culture, vol. 3, no. 2. Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing 29 The Bog and the Beast Museums, the Nation, and the Globe By Peggy Levitt1

During the 2008 United States’ presi- Migration, Globalization, and dential campaign, Barack Obama told an Museums adoring crowd of more than 250,000 We live in a world on the move. There gathered in Berlin’s Tiergarten that he was are an estimated 214 million internation- speaking to them as a citizen of the United al migrants worldwide, up from 150 mil- States and as a citizen of the world. The lion in 2000. In 2010, one in nine people President’s globalism contrasts sharply lived in a country where migrants made with the fierce nationalism and anti-immi- up 10 or more percent of the population grant fever plaguing parts of Europe and (Terrazas 2011). One out of every 33 per- the United States. How do we reconcile sons in the world today is a migrant (IOM these two seemingly clashing views? And 2011). how might we move beyond them? Much migration scholarship has fo- Museums are one place to look for an- cused on immigrant incorporation – on swers. Ever since the leaders of the new how migrants become part of the countries French Republic opened the doors of the where they settle. Recent work, on both Louvre to the general public, cultural in- sides of the Atlantic, reveals how migrants stitutions have played starring roles in the continue to invest, vote, and pray in the drama of nation building. But in today’s countries they come from at the same time global world, what kinds of citizens are that they remain active in the economic museums creating? What combinations of and political life of the countries where identities, from the very global to the lo- they move (Faist 2012, Caglar 2007, Glick cal, do they reflect and who is embracing Schiller 2005, Bocaggni 2011, Levitt and them? What can we learn from the choices Lamba-Nieves 2011). Both sending and curators make about how nations respond receiving states are waking up to these dy- to immigration and their changing posi- namics and creating new ways to encour- tions in the globe? age long-term membership without resi- This article, based on research on mu- dence and forms of participation and rep- seum professionals in the U.S., Europe, resentation that do not require full citizen- Asia, and the Middle East, focuses on the ship. Among the EU-15, for example, cases of Sweden and Denmark to explore only six countries require that people re- these questions. All of the museums I nounce their former citizenship when they studied showcase their nation’s increasing naturalize. Countries outside of Europe, diversity and encourage visitors to engage like Turkey, India, Tunisia, Mexico, El with global issues to varying degrees. The Salvador, Colombia and the Dominican relative weight given to the national, re- Republic have also eased restrictions on gional or the global in each country re- people that naturalize, allowing immi- flects an implicit division of labor within grants to retain citizenship, make it easier and between institutions and differences to regain it, or easing the consequences of in how museum staff perceive the rela- losing it. In general, though, while more tionship between nationalism and glo- and more migrants live some aspects of balism and the role museums play in shap- their lives across borders, they continue to ing it. be served by legal, educational, and health

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 30 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

care systems that remain stubbornly inside The answers to these questions vary in the boundaries of the nation-state. different countries according to their phil- At the same time, and as a result, we are osophies of integration and narratives witnessing the rise of “superdiverse” ur- about who already belongs to the nation ban spaces (Vertovec 2007). Because mi- and who is allowed to join (Favell 2001, grants from a wider range of countries are Bramadat and Koenig 2009). They vary settling in more places, with very different based on how the nation sees itself in the legal statuses and access to rights and ser- world. Each country’s diversity manage- vices, new patterns of inequality and dis- ment regime reflect deeply ingrained as- crimination are emerging. This new com- sumptions about how much “they” can be- plexity is layered onto existing patterns of come part of “us.” National incentive socioeconomic diversity, residential seg- structures also reward certain kinds of regation and social exclusion. What would identities and strengthen certain groups enable these migrants and the native-born (Bloomraed 2006). In the United States, to embrace what Glick Schiller and her for example, accepting an ethnic or reli- colleagues (2011) call cosmopolitan so- gious label or creating a formal organiza- ciabilities or the competencies and com- tion based on race or ethnicity enhances access to state protection and support munication skills that allow people to (Johnson 2007, Kurien 2007). create social relations of openness and in- Cultural institutions both respond to clusiveness in the world? What conditions and create the backdrop against which create what Gilroy (2005) calls “multicul- these intergroup dynamics take shape. tural conviviality,” that arises when cul- Nations perform themselves differently tures, histories, and structures of meaning (Errington 1998, McClellan 2008, that had been kept apart by large distances Coombes 2004, Dias 2008) and museums now come together in the school, bus, ca- are central stages where these imaginings fé, cell, waiting room, or traffic jam? are articulated and disseminated (Prezioni Achieving conviviality does not negate and Farago 2004). Breckenridge (1989), difference or deny that power inequalities for example, argued that museums and in- persist. The end goal is not a universalistic ternational exhibits created a “Victorian self-definition or a single global political Ecumene,” a transnational imagined com- project. But if, as Beck (2008) argues, cos- munity including Great Britain, the U.S. mopolitanism is a necessity rather than a and India in a discursive space that was luxury, how do we move beyond it as an both global and nation-specific. Dias attitude or an ethos to create participatory (2008) argued that the institutional ances- institutions that reflect and respond to tors of today’s Quai Branley wanted to si- contemporary global integration (Calhoun multaneously affirm the distinctness of 2008)? Where might the cultural elements French culture and stress its roots in uni- come from with which to reimagine, let versal values. As McClellan writes (2008: alone put into place, a social contract that 30), “the value of many works as national is not fulfilled solely inside the na- patrimony stemmed directly from their tion-state? perceived worth as the cultural heritage of Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 31

mankind.” Moreover, the museum world Still a third view dismisses these cri- itself is becoming increasingly global. tiques. Writing in response to critics who More and more museums belong to global see museum installations and, therefore, organizational networks and/or fran- museums themselves, as “never not ideo- chises, although museum governance still logically motivated and strategically de- remains primarily national. termined,” James Cuno (2011:44) asks his The challenge writes Bennett (2006:59) readers to confront the obvious: “Is this is to “reinvent the museum as an institu- your experience of museums? Do you tion that can orchestrate new relations and walk through the galleries of your local perceptions of difference that both break museum and feel controlled in any sig- free from the hierarchically organized nificant way? Do you feel manipulated by forms of stigmatic othering that character- a higher power?” (2011:45). He believes ized the exhibitionary complex and pro- that museums still matter and that “En- vide more socially invigorating and, from lightenment principles still apply” (2011: a civic perspective, more beneficial inter- 7). Collecting, classifying and presenting faces with different cultures.” One way to facts, calling into question unverified do this is to build on the museum as a kind truths and opposing prejudice and super- of “differencing machine” that facilitates stition, and being “confident in the prom- cross-cultural dialogue. According re- ise of rigorous, intellectual inquiry to lead spect and recognition to previously mar- to truths about the world for the benefit of ginalized groups, inviting their members human progress” are still at the core of the to tell their own stories, combining ex- museum’s mission. hibits with educational programming, and This study contributes to these debates repatriating objects with questionable by examining empirically how museum genealogies are now standard parts of mu- staff think about these questions and why seum practice. Various museums, espe- they do so the way they do in particular cially those in former settler societies with national contexts. The findings presented official policies of bi- and multicultural- here are based on a larger study of mu- ism, have done this with varying degrees seums and citizenship creation around the of success (Bennett 2006). world. They draw on my first-hand con- Another view sees museums as simply versations with museum directors, cura- too flawed to redress their historical tors, and policymakers; accounts of past, wrongs. Ghassan Hage (1998), writing of current and future exhibits; observations “zoological multiculturalism,” argues that of gallery talks and educational program- all too often museums become collections ming; and on the stories I’ve collected of of otherness that proudly display diversity famous paintings, eccentric benefactors, as a national possession. Because the and iconic objects that define their institu- White majority still controls the discur- tions. In the United States, I compare mu- sive and visual tools with which this is seums in seemingly provincial Boston done, difference is too often displayed in with their counterparts in the alleged an exaggeratedly self-referential, self- center of the cultural universe – New congratulatory manner. York. In Europe, I focus on Denmark and 32 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

Sweden, two former bastions of tolerance what kinds and in what combinations, and that are now both dotted by pockets of what their rights and responsibilities anti-immigrant sentiment. I then ask if might be. Their answers reflect how these museums in Singapore and Qatar create professionals make sense of the relation- Asian or Muslim global citizens. How ship between globalism and localism (and does the tension between globalism and all other identities in between) and what nationalism play out outside the West? they think the role of museums should be Finally, my encounters with curators at in working it out. the Guggenheim and Hermitage Museums I found that an implicit distribution of in Bilbao and Amsterdam explore if and labor drives how and where difference how a new generation of museums creates gets represented in Sweden and Denmark. global citizens without a nationalist agen- In both countries, museums showcase the da. global and internal diversity but to varying Since the spring of 2009, I interviewed degrees and with different goals in mind. over 70 policymakers, academics, mu- As we will see, some curators do not feel seum directors, educators, and curators in that museums are places to create citizens. Sweden (Stockholm and Gothenburg) and In general, however, Danish museums Denmark (Copenhagen). My conversa- engage with the global to reassert the na- tions are about what these individuals tional while, in Sweden, museums try to think they are doing not about how well create global citizens as a valid goal in and they are doing it. My respondents work at of itself. While institutional characteris- all types of museums, both art and ethno- tics, and the unique individuals, collec- graphic and not just official “national” in- tions, personalities, and policies that stitutions, because all of these are sites shape them, explain some of these differ- where the global and national might be ex- ences, they also reflect differences in how plored. In other words, I am interested not staff perceive national approaches to di- only in the authorized, emblematic ver- versity management and each country’s sion of the nation but in all the places global role. where it gets represented and how they fit together. For that reason, I treat museums The Bog and the Beast – the Danish as embedded in urban organizational Case fields where they may or may not make Few people remember that the Dutch oc- decisions in relation to each other. Al- cupied Northeastern Brazil between 1624 though I could not study all the museums and 1654. One of their goals, besides get- in each city, I did explore the extent to ting rich quickly by carving sugar planta- which each institution saw itself as part of tions out of the rainforests, was to flex a larger museum community and who its their colonial muscle and expand a com- conversations partners were. My findings mercial empire that already stretched from are not generalizable to the larger museum present-day Indonesia to Suriname and universe. Rather, they shed light on how New York City. The indigenous inhabi- staff in particular places, at a particular tants of Brazil were seen as godless sav- time, see themselves as creating citizens, ages who needed conquering and convert- Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 33

ing. To accomplish their goals, the Dutch of the World” and that is the first thing you set about documenting and classifying see. The “Portrait of the Woman Cannibal daily life. The Governor-General’s en- Carrying Human Meat in her Basket” is tourage, including Albert Eckhout and perhaps the most famous and most strik- Frans Post who worked as court painters; ing. Seen from far away, its layout re- German natural historian Georg Marc- sembles many famous portraits of the day, graf; and Dutch physician Willam Piso, with its tall, imposing figure staring out collected written and visual ethnographic directly from the canvas. information. Art and science were also Despite the major historical signifi- tools of conquest. cance of these works, many museum visi- While they never amassed significant tors just keep walking. There are no wall riches, the Dutch did produce some of the labels explaining who painted them, how first European scientific accounts of the they got to the museum, or how they dra- region. According to Art Historian Rebec- matically influenced the ways in which ca Parker Brienen (2006), Nassau-Sie- Europeans imagined “the other” for gen- gen’s team generated spectacular, detailed erations. According to Karen Nyberg, descriptions and illustrations of the plants, who was head of the department between animals, and everyday life of the people 2010–2011, “the paintings are virtually living in the colonies – one of the richest unexplained, they are just left as a kind of treasure troves of information about the monument to their artistic value. They are, colonization of the new world and the first of course, set in an ethnographic context glance that many Europeans had of with objects used by the same people that non-Europeans. they refer to, but it is a shame that there is Eckhout painted still lifes and figures, not a little more about how they came into including the African, Indian, and the collection or about the kinds of social mixed-race people living in the colony. processes these kinds of paintings were Their rich, distinct tones and the range of produced by.” The average visitor cannot plants and animals they depicted fueled possibly grasp how much these works fantasies about the exotic cannibals and shaped European sensibilities about the beasts to be found in the new world. Excit- world beyond their borders or about how ed viewers responded enthusiastically backward, inferior, and in need of help when Nassau-Siegen brought these re- from European saviors its inhabitants ports and artifacts back to Europe in 1644. were. In fact, people coveted new world ac- Contrast this to what greets visitors counts and objects so much that some end- when they enter the New Danish Prehisto- ed up in the Curiosity Cabinets of Den- ry exhibit just downstairs, revamped with mark’s King Frederick III and Louis XIV great fanfare, just a few years ago. “Expe- of France. rience over 14,000 years of Danish prehis- This is how the set of nine Eckhout tory, from the reindeer-hunters of the Ice paintings came to be included in the Dan- Age to the voyages of the Vikings,” the ish National Museum’s ethnographic col- Museum website invites visitors. The lection. Walk in the door marked “Peoples riches include Denmark’s most significant 34 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

archeological finds from the Iron, Bronze, Europe. There is a plaster caste of the Em- Stone, and Viking Ages. Professional ar- peror Augustus to remind you that 2000 cheologists, farmers, and amateur diggers years ago, the world was not restricted. – quite numerous in Denmark – dis- People up here knew of him and his ideas covered many of these icons in bogs. So and he knew about Denmark.” the fascination with the Egtved girl, a The contrast between “the pre-historic young, blond, about 16 years old who was bog” and the ethnographic, meat-eating buried during the summer of 1370 BC or “beast” reflects deep divisions within the the magnificent sculpture of a bronze museum over how its sees its place in the horse pulling an intricately decorated world. Most curators agreed that, at least gold-coated disk in a chariot that follows right now, Danish pre-history is the fa- behind him, depicting the sun as it travels vorite child while the ethnographic collec- from East to West. The Chariot of the Sun, tion is the step-child. This was not always which has become a national icon, is the case. In fact, the ethnographic collec- unique. “No religious artifact like it,” the tion at the Danish National Museum used Museum’s website boasts, “has been to be its jewel in the crown. According to found anywhere else in the world.” Inger Sjørslev, a former curator who is (www.natmus.dk/sw20374.asp). now a professor of Anthropology at the These treasures, found in bogs and else- University of Copenhagen, in the 1960s where, are sumptuously lit and luxurious- and 70s, the museum staff saw their role ly ensconced in cases draped in velvet. as pedagogical – to teach the Danish Extensive text, written in simple language people that there were other ways of living and displayed with eye-catching graphics and thinking – that you didn’t have to live on attractive, back-lit panels explains in as Danes do.2 Before airplane travel, The great detail how people lived, worked, and History Channel, and foreign films be- worshipped during each “age.” Although came commonplace in Denmark, the pub- commercial and trade links to the outside lic flocked to the Museum but by the world are highlighted and ancient, 1980s, mass media had brought the world chiseled coins are showcased, connection to Denmark. Danes began traveling wide- to the outside is not the central theme. “If ly. They did not need the museum to learn you put up great signs telling these things about the outside world. in a few sentences you would be a mis- According to Director Madsen, it is not sionary. The visitor has to work his way that the ethnographic collection has been through to get that a lot of what is there is sidelined. It’s simply that I am conducting of foreign origin but it is also a national my research at a particular point in the treasure,” said Museum Director Per Kris- museum’s cycle of renovations. If I had tian Madsen. “The Sun Chariot, which come in the 1990s, when the ethnographic you see everywhere, was probably made material were last reinstalled, I would in Denmark but the belief in the sun as a have seen a state-of-the-art exhibit using God was not widespread here during the the latest technology. The ethnographic Bronze Age… Many things going on in collection was supposed to be like a Denmark were also going on in Southern three-legged stool – the “People’s of the Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 35

World” exhibit; a sort of open storage, (National Gallery of Denmark) are also treasure-trove exhibit that would display, doing their part. In 2011, the Copenhagen side-by-side, a variety of utensils, tools, Museum launched an exhibit entitled, and clothing from the museum’s ware- “Becoming a Copenhagener” which is houses; and a space for in-depth didactic “the first exhibition that places immigra- exhibits. Unfortunately, the department tion at the very core of Copenhagen’s de- lost that third space to make way for more velopment… not just as a curious feature school programming. in the life of the town, but rather as a key Diversity, however, is represented in ingredient in the town’s growth and devel- other parts of the museum and other opment.” Copenhagen would not exist places around the city. In the children’s without this continuous stream of immi- section of the DNM, there is an exhibit grants nor would it be “the metropolis about the Pakistani immigrant community with which we are familiar today without created in collaboration with and from their contribution (www.copenhagen.dk/ materials donated by its members. In the en/2012).” The David Collection, a pri- classroom area, where school groups be- vate museum, houses a prominent collec- gin their tours, there are religious objects, tion of Islamic Art. The Danish Jewish instruments, and clothing from other Museum showcases the role of Jews in countries that children can touch and try Denmark since the 17th Century. At the on. The Danish Modern History collec- Statens Museum for Kunst, educators are tion, which reopened in 2001, tells the sto- one of eight institutions participating in a ries of Denmark from 1660–2000. When nationwide project about citizenship. Ac- curators discussed the exhibit’s redesign, cording to Nana Bernhardt, an Art Educa- and the herculean task of covering more tor, the idea is to use active participation, than 300 years of history, they struggled self-reflection, and polyvocality as educa- with how to tell a single national story that tional methods to teach young museum had grown so diverse. They realized, ac- visitors citizenship skills. cording to Lykke Pedersen, the lead cura- But most of the people I spoke with, tor, that Denmark does not have one story both inside the museum and out, agreed but many and that they needed to celebrate that what Danes have in common is much different perspectives at different points in more central to most of these exhibits than time that would sometimes struggle or any kind of differences. They also felt that compete with one another. “Danishness while the New Danish Prehistory in- was more like a question than an answer,” formed visitors about Denmark’s outward she said. In a section entitled “New connections, it was still primarily a cele- Danes” a 47 year-old taxi driver from the bration of national pride. Per Kristian former Yugoslavia and a 40 year old Madsen claims this is, in part, due to the woman of Jewish origin share their sto- Museum’s mandate. Of the 5.5 million ries. A Qu’ran is showcased in a short sec- people living in Denmark, 4.9 million are tion on Islam. considered ethnic Danes and 567, 932 are Across the city, the Copenhagen Mu- immigrants and their descendants seum and the Statens Museum for Kunst (www.denmark.dk/en/menu/About-Den- 36 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

mark/Denmark-In-Brief/Facts-about- does so to assert and understand Danish- Denmark.html, 2012). The museum’s job, ness. What happened in Denmark always he says, is to put on display the national took place in conversation with the rest experience, to collect and preserve the of the world and influenced the country’s Danish experience broadly and preserve national treasures, but they are still na- its common memory, not to focus too tional. Immigration and diversity are much on particular regions. Documenting showcased primarily in children’s pro- “Danish peasant culture,” is key because gramming and by other cultural institu- that is what Danes share as a nation. Even tions. “It’s okay to talk about diversity though today’s curators document the ur- with kids and young people because that ban, industrial experience, collecting ob- is at the periphery,” said Berit Larsen, the jects and stories from peasants, including Head of Education at the National Gal- registering each and every one of the lery, “but once it gets closer to the core of country’s churches is still an important what the museum does, people hesitate a part of their job. It’s only right, he says, bit.” that a very small amount of the museum’s real estate should be dedicated to immi- Bringing the World Home grants. Copenhagen is the most diverse The first thing that greets visitors when place in the country so the Copenhagen they arrive at the Etnografiska Museet Museum is a better place to take on these (EM) in Stockholm is a permanent exhibit kinds of issues. called, “Bringing the World Home.” It’s But others disagree. According to one about how influential travelers brought curator, “The foreign is only interesting in the world back to Sweden and how their that it pertains to some aspect of Danish travel reports, radio broadcasts, and the history… I think there are pockets of the objects they collected reflected their un- museum (The Danish National Museum) derstandings of the world and Sweden’s where the ethnographic collection is seen place in it at the time. How did these ideas as aberration.” Government support for shape how Swedes imagined the world be- research has been dwindling. In fact, some yond their borders and how did they grad- politicians have questioned why Denmark ually become part of what Director An- needs ethnographic collections at all – ders Björklund refers to as the “Swedish what light can they shed on Denmark cultural knapsack?” “When 20 percent of today? The only recent research to be the Swedish population is born outside funded concerns the former Danish colo- Sweden, it’s evident that the border be- nies, including trading posts around tween us and them has changed over Accra, the Southeastern Indian coast, and time,” he said. “Just as the museum’s col- the Caribbean. lection demonstrates that the outside So, for now, the bog is clearly winning world came back to Sweden in multiple over the beast, even if it is only a tem- ways in multiple voices, that also happens porary victory. While the New Danish today. Visitors need to listen, not just to Prehistory Exhibit stresses Denmark’s one voice, but to listen, read, and travel so longstanding ties to the outside world, it they can decide for themselves.” Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 37

The great men who influenced Swe- he thinks, if the collections were in private den’s understanding of itself (and they hands and served private interests. Society were great men) included the great classi- uses different resources to solve different fier, Carl Linnaeus; Adolf Erik Norden- problems. “Museums are like hospitals skiöld, who crossed the Northeast Passage and schools,” he said, “we just use differ- for the first time; the explorer and geogra- ent tools to do our work.” pher, Sven Hedin, who, when not busy This kind of thinking underlies a tem- leading four expeditions through Central porary exhibit on Human Trafficking. Asia, wrote the book that taught genera- “Across the globe,” the introduction tions of Swedish children their geography; states, “the trafficking of human beings is the Swedish missionaries who saved souls trailing its marks and evidence. The ex- in the Congo; and Sten Bergman, who en- hibit “Trafficking” shows the indelible thralled radio visitors each week during stamp and imprints left on the bodies and the 1950s with his tales of “his father, the souls of people, most often vulnerable cannibal”— a chief in Papua New Guinea women and children, by the trade in hu- he came to know and love. The last part of man beings. Trafficking is about borders the exhibit includes a row of lockers from and the violation of borders, about geo- Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Behind each graphical borders creating boundaries and door are examples of things travelers erecting barriers and about openings bring home today – an ivory sculpture, penetrated and forced.” In essence, An- sacred objects, cheap souvenirs. Museum ders Björklund summarizes, Trafficking is staff want visitors to think about what about modern slavery. All Swedes, he happens when people buy, collect, or steal says, especially young people need to things from other places now, to under- know that human trafficking is a global stand world power dynamics through the problem and that therefore it is a Swedish prism of collecting. Is it right for individ- problem that everyone needs to do some- uals to bring back something that is thing about. “In some sense, this exhibit is sacred, even if it is for sale? Is it right to about the fact that solidarity doesn’t stop collect something that is produced under at the border,” Björklund said. “It’s like conditions that hurt the environment? Is it air-born diseases, national borders are of possible to know the world without con- no importance. Trafficking is the same. It trolling it? crosses the border everywhere you look. Anders Björklund believes firmly that Young people need to understand that this museums should pose these kinds of ques- is not just a Swedish problem but a univer- tions. In Sweden, the collections belong to sal problem but they also need to see it as the public and should be used democrati- a Swedish problem that is structured in a cally, for democratic purposes. Of course, global way.” exhibits must be based on state-of-the-art The Ethnography Museum is one of science that is tested. But they can also be four museums that make up the State Mu- used to pursue social goals, to help create seums of World Culture, a new museum a certain kind of Swede in a certain kind of authority created in the early 2000s. In the Sweden. It would be more of a problem, late 1990s, following a period of rapid im- 38 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

migration, the Minister of Culture looked of Globalization, the staff used the mate- to museums to help Sweden cope with its rials to make the point that “World culture new face. She focused her efforts on col- is not ethnification or Americanization but lections dealing with non-Swedish mat- polycentric with connections every- ters or what came to be known as World where.” Bollywood is the largest film in- Culture, including the Museum of Medi- dustry in the world, even bigger than Hol- terranean and Near Eastern Antiquities lywood and it produces world culture that (Medelhavsmuseet), the Museum of Far is consumed by a global market. “By con- Eastern Antiquities (Östasiatiska Museet), suming artifacts from other parts of the the Museum of Ethnography in Stock- world,” Mr. Grinnell says, “we are drawn holm (Etnografiska Museet), and the for- in and we learn things about daily life in mer Museum of Ethnography in Gothen- these places even if we’ve never been burg (which was renamed the Museum of there. You learn things about the United World Culture—MWC). At least initially, States by watching Hollywood movies. recalls Göran Blomberg, a former Direc- You learn things about Japan through tor General of the Swedish Arts Council, Manga.” “the idea was, in part, to use these collec- Destination X, which opened in March tions to make exhibits that were relevant 2010, takes up similar themes. Here for immigrants – for them to see culture curators sought to explore how and why from their homelands. I would say it was a people travel and to get visitors to think new way of handling old objects.” about how people change as they move. But what also emerged was a series of “We wanted to explore,” says Grinell, exhibits on global dynamics including “who has the freedom to move and who HIV/AIDs, ecofashion, and about rain- doesn’t. We are more mobile today than forest dwellers in southern Venezuela. ever before but we are also more stuck. The MWC wants, according to its website, We need visas and passports to be able to to be “an arena for discussion and reflec- travel. Today if you don’t have the right tion in which many and different voices color passport, money, or skin you can’t will be heard, where the controversial and move freely. Refugees and tourists move conflict-filled topics can be addressed, as differently. The global businessman is well as a place where people can feel at very different from people who are locked home across borders” (www.varldskultur- out or forced to return. The difference be- museerna.se/varldskulturmuseet/om-mu- tween illegal and legal is very little – it’s seet/in-english/2011). The museum uses all about having the right piece of paper in objects to tell different kinds of stories in your hand. Societies are not stable be- non-traditional ways. A recent exhibit on cause mobility is a fact of modern life. Bollywood, for example, featured a collec- The nation-state might just be a ‘parenthe- tion of Bollywood posters that had been sis.’ It’s just one way of understanding paired with objects and labels about Hindu and organizing human life.” Destination X practice when they were displayed in an- doesn’t propose another option or solu- other venue. When the posters came to the tion, it just drives home that how “we im- MWC, according to Klas Grinell, Curator agine who belongs somewhere, who Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 39

should stay, and who should travel is ra- is, according to Museum Director and ther contingent.” Head of the Swedish Museum Association This commitment to taking on global is- Lars Amreus, “one of the few post- sues and to telling stories that stress global colonial pre-history exhibits.” interconnectedness does not stop here. But while Swedish museums showcase Even institutions one might expect would the nation’s deep connections to the world be bastions of Swedishness, like the Na- beyond its borders, one has to look harder tional Historical Museum (NHM) in to find the diversity within. As in the Stockholm, adopt a global storyline. In modern Danish history exhibit in Copen- contrast to the New Danish Prehistory Ex- hagen, the immigrant experience is there hibit at the Danish National Museum, the but subtly. “Where are immigrants repre- introductory text to Sweden’s comparable sented in the museum,” one curator at the exhibit reads, “In the year 1000, there was Nordiska Museet3 responded to my ques- no Swedish nation, there were no fixed tion, “Maybe you don’t see them explicit- boundaries or borders. There was no com- ly. Nowhere, really. But, of course, they mon law or currency and there were few are there. When you look at the silver, you common traditions. People did not think realize it reflects the German influence of themselves as “Swedish” but rather as which was big in Sweden in the 17th cen- living in a particular place, belonging to a tury.” Recently, staff began using labels to certain clan or having a certain lord and signal these points of connection in the master. The history of what we call Swe- permanent collection. The visitor is told den is really the thoughts, decisions, and that the quintessentially Swedish potato is actions of innumerable people – a chorus really an import from South America or of voices, only a few of which can be ac- that the coffee culture that Swedes are so commodated in this exhibit.” proud of was first introduced in the 18th Archeology, says curator Fredrik Svan- century when Charles XII, who developed berg, has always been used to build na- a liking for the beverage while imprisoned tions but the staff at the NHM wanted to in Turkey, returned to Sweden after his re- use these materials in different ways. The lease. first part of the exhibit moves chronologi- As in Denmark, there is an implicit in- cally, following a set of characters who stitutional division of labor. Over and lived during different time periods. The over, respondents mentioned The Mång- second part is organized thematically kulturellt Centrum or the Multicultural around a set of questions about who the Centre, located in the municipality of Bot- visitor is, what he or she believes, and how kyrka with its large immigrant population, history is made. The visitor is now the as the place where the immigrant experi- ninth person in the line of the eight char- ence is on display. The Centre, founded in acters he or she encountered earlier. Based 1987 “promotes a society where diversity on the direction they choose (organized is reflected in the national self-image and like the gates in an airport), visitors ex- where migration-related phenomena are a plore these issues in different rooms or- natural part of the Swedish cultural herit- ganized around these questions – in what age” (www.mkc.botkyrka.se). It’s re- 40 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

search and documentation tries to capture teristics of the museums themselves, as- how migration changes society – that be- pects of curatorial practice, and differ- ing a multicultural society is not just about ences in how museum staff understand ap- people from different countries but about proaches to nationalism and diversity all Swedes. At the Stockholm City Mu- management in each country help explain seum, according to the Head of Documen- these differences. tation unit, Anna Ulfstrand, most work on For one thing, some curators believe immigration revolves around children’s that museums are not the right place to programming or contemporary collecting. create citizens. They are made of bricks “We have not worked very hard on it al- and mortar. They are not built to respond though we are trying now with contem- easily to new developments but to produce porary collections,” she said. “I want to permanent exhibits that last a long time. find themes where the immigrant experi- “We are not set up to respond quickly and ence can be part of another theme, not spe- with agility,” said Håkan Wahlquist, Cu- cial projects about how is it to be an immi- rator for Asia at the Ethnography Museum grant… I think it’s really important to say in Stockholm. “Our exhibits are too blunt. that immigration is a part of contemporary It’s a pretty slow medium.” Swedish history, it’s not something at the Sharp divides also plague the curatorial side, it’s really something in the middle. field in both countries (and around the In Sweden, the idea of immigrants has world). In general, older curators, who been talked about as a problem, as some- were often trained in art history, tend to thing that is not a part of the society and I see “the present” as not part of their job think after all these years we have to let description. Rather, they are responsible that go.” for mastering every detail of the collec- tions in their care and to make sure that The Bog versus the Eco-friendly scholars around the world have access to T-shirt? that information. “A Curator for Globali- The museum communities in Sweden and zation is not responsible for collections,” Denmark have responded differently to Staffan Brunius at the EM in Stockholm the demographic sea changes underway in commented, “it is a person who is floating their respective homes. While institutions in the philosophical sphere. We are get- in both countries took on the global, Dan- ting rid of everything that is the backbone ish museums did so primarily to under- of the museum.” Younger curators, many stand and reassert Danishness while who were trained in anthropology or cul- Swedish museums saw creating a global- tural studies, see their older colleagues as ly-minded public as a valid goal, in and of benign dinosaurs at best and obstruction- itself, and one that would ultimately lead ists at worst. How can you possibly con- to a stronger Sweden. Museums in both tinue with business as usual – as if at least countries took on internal diversity reluc- some of the objects in the museum’s col- tantly. The immigrant experience was lections did not come into its hands showcased subtly, as part of larger ex- through coercion or force? How can you hibits with larger messages. The charac- sidestep turning up the volume on stake- Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 41

holders’ voices when they now live next penhagen City Government, which tends door? to be more liberal than the national legis- A second problem all curators face, be lature, owns, funds and runs it (http:// they Danish or Swedish, is neo-liberalism. www.copenhagen.dk/en/about/).4 Museums around the world are facing ma- In Stockholm, the Mångkulturellt Cen- jor cutbacks. Concerns about the perform- trum fulfilled a similar function. In both ance measures and visitor targets mu- countries, much of the programming fo- seums must meet peppered my conversa- cused on immigration is aimed at children tions. Pressures to appeal to tourists some- and school groups. times directly conflict with pressures to Both Swedish and Danish Museum appeal to national audiences. There are so staff are grappling with how to tell immi- many other things competing for the pub- grant stories and with how to connect lic’s attention, several respondents com- them to the national narrative. Their plained. If you want to learn about Native choices reflect national styles of diversity Americans, you can just stay home and management and national attitudes about look it up on the Internet. who can become part of the nation. Writ- In both countries, particular institutions ing about the Nordic countries in general, play particular roles in performing differ- Norwegian anthropologist Marianne Gul- ence – there is an implicit organizational lestad (2002) argues that there are few distribution of labor. The interests and words for expressing that something or commitments of curators and administra- someone can be different but also equal. tors often determine this. In addition to the The Danish word generally used for citizenship project at Denmark’s Statens “equality,” she says, is likhet or “like- Museum for Kunst, for example, curators ness,” “similarity,” “identity,” or “same- are also reinstalling the permanent collec- ness,” meaning that people have to feel tion with an eye toward telling a different more or less the same to be of equal value national story. Although constrained by (Gullestad 2002). This kind of logic their institutional mandate, and by what is makes people interact in ways that empha- in their collection, just as the New Danish size their similarities and downplay their Prehistory exhibit stresses connections differences. It also implies that too much between Denmark and the outside world, difference, whether between individuals the newly-installed “national identity” or opinions, can be problematic. Open gallery will also highlight how foreign conflict goes against the basic grain so artists influenced the Danish National that “different” parties may avoid each Academy. other to keep the peace. Some institutions are also just con- Therefore, actively signaling ethnic or sidered more appropriate venues for racial difference, various respondents on showcasing diversity. The Copenhagen both sides of the border feared, can lead to Museum was seen as the right place to marginalization. While the United States jumpstart these debates not only because allows and even encourages groups to Copenhagen is so diverse compared to the claim “Irish-Americanness” or “Indian- rest of Denmark but also because the Co- Americanness,” as a way to assume their 42 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

rightful place at the American table, in long-time and are part of Sweden’s cultur- Sweden and Denmark, embracing such la- al heritage. The policy aims to protect, bels is often seen as a step toward social promote the participation of, and keep the exclusion. According to Birgitta Svens- languages alive of these groups in accord- son, Professor of European Ethnology at ance with the National Minorities Law in Stockholm University, “The United States Sweden (Government Bill 1998/99:143) does a good job when it comes to this but and two Council of Europe conventions: we have nothing like it. All the Americans the Framework Convention for the Protec- you meet say ‘I come from India, my tion of National Minorities (the Frame- grandmother was from Italy.’ It’s natural, work Convention) and the European they are Americans but they are proud of Charter for Regional or Minority Lan- their heritage.” In Sweden, she goes on to guages (Minority Languages Charter)” explain, outward expressions of ethnicity which Sweden ratified in 2000. By so do- mark you as different and, therefore, ing, the Swedish government institution- somehow deviant. Once you are labeled, it alized difference and linked it to political is hard to escape the box – even if you visibility and resource distribution don’t identify primarily as a Somali or as (www.humanrights.gov.se/extra/pod/ a Muslim, people may label you that way. ?module_instance=2&action=pod_show It is easier, several curators believed, to &id=55). showcase the experience of the foreign- This way of managing minorities also born based on their global connections reflects, some respondents noted, the rather than their immigrant status. The Swedish states’ longstanding strategy of MWC in Gothenburg, for example, dealing with citizens as members of reached out to the Peruvian community groups. Because, in the past, people re- around its Paracas textiles or to the Boliv- ceived services or were mobilized as ian community when it mounted a show “workers” or “women,” creating a new about the Orinoco River but it has not category, “immigrants,” was a natural done exhibits on the immigrant per se. next step. Minority status allowed these “Swedish culture,” curators commented, groups to use their officially recognized “is not always included in world culture.” languages in legal and administrative con- But while Sweden and Denmark have texts, to send their children to pre-schools similar ideological responses to diversity, where the language of instruction was their policy responses have been some- their ancestral tongue, for senior citizens what different, which is also reflected in to be cared for in elder care facilities museum practice (although the political where they could use their native lan- backdrop against which this takes shape is guages, and to expect “particular atten- changing, even as I write). Swedish policy tion” to be paid to their cultural activities recognizes five official national minori- which the government would support ties including the Sami, the Swedish (http://www.minorityrights.org/1501/ Finns, the Tornedalers, the Roma, and the sweden/sweden-overview.html). Jews. These groups, states a government So-called “new” minorities could also website, “have existed in Sweden for a claim rights and recognition. Minority Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 43

Rights Group International points out how to deal with cultural diversity (He- that “the Swedish Constitution also detoft 2006) which also helps explain why makes provision for the promotion of op- these themes have been less common in portunities ‘for ethnic, linguistic and reli- the Danish museum landscape. According gious minorities to preserve and develop to Berit Larsen at the National Gallery, a cultural and social life of their own’; many middle-aged Danes grew up in a and it states that ‘a foreigner within the very white, western environment at the Realm shall be equated with a Swedish height of the Danish welfare system. citizen in respect of protection against There were supposedly no class differ- discrimination on grounds of race, skin ences or poor people in Denmark. But in color, ethnic origin, or sex’.” Here again, the last five years or so, you can openly the Swedish government relates to its discuss inequality or the different cultures citizens as members of groups which that live next door with whom you don’t guarantees them a certain level of recog- mingle but “we don’t really have the lan- nition and services. guage to talk about it.” Economic downturns and the rise of Far The last government coalition intro- Right parties dampened Sweden’s com- duced a legislative “package” which re- mitment to multiculturalism, which many stricted the numbers of immigrants and came to see as a threat to Swedishness refugees allowed to enter the country, leading to tolerance without integration. toughened the requirements for perma- What had been called Immigration Policy nent residence or citizenship, and tried to is now called Integration Policy. Policies make sure that newcomers embraced should meet the needs of immigrants and “Danish values” and became socially inte- citizens alike. But rather than abandoning grated. Since 2002, to become a natural- their focus on diversity, some respondents ized Danish citizen, immigrants have to felt, politicians simply expanded it to in- live in Denmark for nine consecutive clude a wider range of differences includ- years, be economically self-sufficient, ing age, gender, sexual orientation, and have proper housing, no criminal record, disability status. and be fluent in Danish. A second law, in- In contrast, since World War II, Den- troduced in 2003, included a “24-year mark has developed a universalistic wel- rule” for family reunification. It states that fare state that provides health care, educa- no Danish citizen can marry a non-EU or tion, unemployment benefits and old-age Nordic foreign national and settle in Den- pensions to all citizens and legal residents. mark with his/her spouse unless both par- Successfully integrated immigrants had to ties are 24 years or older. The law was de- accept “Danish values,” because the Dan- signed, in part, to prevent family members ish political system does not officially rec- from pressuring young women into mar- ognize minorities and only rarely ac- riage. One unintended consequence, knowledges minority rights and cultural though, is that young, native Danes with claims based on minority status. There is foreign spouses have to settle in other EU also little support for multicultural poli- countries, primarily Sweden (Hedetoft cies or for policies that tell institutions 2006). 44 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

The Danish government also decreed ish society, she says, went unrecognized an official national cultural canon in by many Danes even though Jews had 2006–2007, designed to specify what is lived in Denmark 400 years and owned special about Danish culture and preserve some of its most important industries. it. Minister of Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, When she first began her studies, the mu- hoped that the 108 works that were ulti- seum classification system she learned mately included would create a “collec- had no categories for non-Christian ob- tion and presentation of the greatest most jects. important works of Denmark’s cultural Moreover, many Danes associate the heritage.” The canon would “give us ref- birth of democratic Denmark with an eth- erence points and awareness of what is nically Danish, egalitarian nation-state special about Danes and Denmark in an that looked inward, to pursue its own in- ever more globalised world and to ternal social and economic growth (i.e. strengthen the sense of community by outward losses must be compensated by showing key parts of our common histori- inward gains) after the traumatic loss of cal possessions” (http://www.kum.dk/kul- much of its territory and people in 1864 turkanon/english). (Olwig 2003). This perception of the na- The canon evoked a strong response tion also informs museum practice. The from almost everyone I spoke with. Oppo- emergence of the successful modern wel- nents saw this as a way to nationalize cul- fare state is seen to rest on a long shared ture and to keep non-ethnic-Danish ele- culture and history (Olwig and Paerre- ments out. Supporters, including Ole Win- gaard 2011). So, said National Museum ther, the Head of the Museum Department Director Madsen, “Danes are a small tribe, at the Heritage Agency of Denmark, saw it communicating with our backs to the as a catalyst for positive public debate. world.” Ole Winther agreed. “So few “Denmark is changing and people have to things have changed since we became a be able to see what they are changing democratic nation. A lot of our institutions from. When you specify the ten most im- are several hundred years old. We’ve portant works of Danish art, it forces never actively said we don’t want this people to react and discuss what they are anymore. There’s so much continuity. So in favor of. In Sweden, they don’t even Danishness is something within me. My talk about it.” kids are in school now and they are learn- Denmark is such a small country, sums ing many Danish songs and psalms. I hear up Janne Laursen, the Director of the Dan- two notes and I know which song it is be- ish Jewish Museum, that people can go cause it is so deeply rooted. It is almost a their whole lives without ever meeting pre-cultural, beyond words, tacit knowl- someone from another island, let alone an- edge that we all understand.” other country. This sense of valuing the Although Denmark has never been as local as a way to embrace and strengthen homogenous as many people would like to the national encourages that inward, sin- believe, discourse often trumps demogra- gular focus. The history of the Jewish phy. The idea of Denmark as a culturally community and its contributions to Dan- homogeneous society persists and new- Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 45

comers are often seen as not being able to stead. The MWC project was an attempt to or wanting to fit in. Although the welfare work this out which became even more state has extended considerable social and challenging as so many new immigrants economic assistance to immigrants and came in.” The way the museum was built refugees, thus helping them settle in Den- and its exhibition style reflects how mark, “Danish perceptions of these people modern day Swedes think about their as culturally different – and therefore as place in the world. “I think it reflects an foreign elements in the country – have openness, interest, and curiosity in the presented serious obstacles to their social world around us, respect for other cul- acceptance” (Olwig and Paerregaard tures, a sense of wanting to do good in the 2011:3). Many people simply ignore how world outside,” said Lars Amreus, “but socioeconomic conditions in Denmark also an annoying self image of being might influence immigrant incorporation somewhat the conscience of the world, the or why people might want to maintain do-gooder of the world, perhaps.” their religious practices and traditions. “Sweden,” says MWC Curator of Glo- Swedish museums’ greater willingness balization Klas Grinell, “came late to in- to showcase diversity and globalization dustrialization. We don’t have our own also reflects Swedish attitudes toward na- enlightenment thinkers. Secularization tionalism and the country’s perceived role was created elsewhere. Swedes pride in the world. If Denmark turned its back themselves in always being a bit careful at on the world, Sweden has always looked the beginning, in not being the inventors face front. It sees itself as an out- but in being the best adopters… when we ward-looking internationalist state whose realize that multiculturalism is what is commitments to justice and equality do happening and that we are leaving behind not stop at the national border (Bergman the old kind of nation-states, then we go 2006b). Swedes feel a sense of cosmopol- one step further than everyone else. We’re itan duty, not just to Swedes alone (Berg- not the first nation to not put national pride man 2004). Olof Palme (1968:22) cham- first but we might be the first to be truly pioned the idea that ‘solidarity has no global.” boundaries,’ inextricably linking domes- So just as the Nordiska Museum and tic and international appeals to justice and Skansen were created during a period of proclaiming them two sides of the same major social change in the late 1880s to coin. During the height of the Swedish preserve and protect Swedishness, now welfare state, Sweden considered itself a the MWC is also “a bridge over troubled model for the rest of the world – the world waters” suggested Historian Patrick Hen- needed Sweden as an example of toler- ry, a response to the collective identity cri- ance, equity, and responsibility. In the sis caused by Sweden’s entry into the Eu- 1980s and 90s, as the welfare state lost ropean Union, the economic downturn of steam, according to former MWC Direc- the 1990s, and soaring immigration. And tor, Thommy Svensson, “Sweden had just as, in the 1940s, cultural institutions great difficulties finding its new identity helped transform rural farmers into urban, because now Sweden needed the world in- middle-class workers so, today, museums 46 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

can also be used to make immigrants into bols for their own ends. “It’s so much Swedes. “The Government expects,” said more convenient,” said Lars Amreus, “to Thommy Svensson, “that museums and not address these issues about the nation other cultural institutions should be a kind and nationality and to focus on other exhi- of mouthpiece for our cultural policy, that bitions, but the worst we can do is just ig- they should talk about democracy, diversi- nore this…there was a big discussion ty, equality, and integration of recent ar- about ten years ago when Neo-Nazi sup- rivals. It’s sometimes a difficult position.” porters kidnapped the symbol of Thor’s Though he won’t go so far as to put a hammer from Viking age mythology and Swedish label on it, Anders Björklund be- made it theirs, so people could not wear lieves that this willingness to see mu- that as a necklace any more. We wanted to seums as tools that can take on big ques- take back those kinds of symbols and not tions is unique. “Museums are not sanctu- let them be kidnapped by certain groups. aries… You should work scientifically but Institutions such as ours must do that with the outcome should be available for all things like the Swedish flag, to continue a people in a very broad sense… Maybe that dialogue with our visitors about what is Swedish, making it more democratic.” Sweden is and what its history has been.” Sweden’s global embrace also reflects its discomfort with nationalism. To be Conclusion able to express guilt-free national pride, Half way around the world, in November Swedes would have to face up to parts of 2010, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts their history (and of their present as recent (MFA) opened its new Art of the Ameri- elections reveal) that they would rather cas Wing. Visitors are greeted on the not talk about. The country’s cooperation ground floor by a magnificent set of with the Germans during World War II, its Pre-Columbian funeral urns. The message treatment of the Samis, and its experi- is that American art is strongly influenced ments in genetic engineering and racial by its neighbors to the north and south. purity are just some of the things most “The wing is very different than every people would like to forget. According to other wing of American art in the coun- Political Scientist Krister Lundberg, “We try,” Elliot Bostwick Davis, the John try all the time to keep it back. Not talk Moors Cabot Chair of the Art of the about it at all. That is the Swedish solution Americas Department told me, “because it for many things. Social democracy edu- includes the ancient cultures as far as we cates people but you are supposed to think can go back. We are going north, central, only the right things.” Many people see and south to work with that as a con- nationalistic displays as intolerant, anti- tinuum. We will walk people through so immigrant, and dredging up dark episodes they get a sense of this layering and rich- in Swedish history. In fact, several mu- ness, and I hope for each individual there seum staff saw their job, especially fol- is an opening of the mind of what is lowing the Sweden Democrates’ success American.” This is a radical move for an in the last election, as preventing ultra-na- institution that has always defined colon- tionalists from hijacking traditional sym- ial America as a New England phenome- Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 47

non. But change goes only so far. The ten interfere. If global connection is the United States is still at the heart of the wave of the future, then understanding agenda. The exhibit questions the sources how a global ethos is created, who gets to of Americanness but not the country’s embrace it, and what it looks like from dif- place in the world. It recognizes that ferent national standpoints is of pressing “American art” is shaped by forces at concern. work both inside and outside national bor- ders but it does not take the next step to re- Peggy Levitt Professor think how that shifts America’s global sta- Department of Sociology tus. “I do not think that museums create Wellesley College citizens,” Ms. Davis told me, “I hope that Wellesley, Mass. 02481 universities do that.” e-mail: [email protected] Kevin Stayton, Chief Curator at the Brooklyn Museum, where a comparable Notes exhibit, American Identities, was rein- 1 Thank you to Tine Damsholt, Birgitta Svens- son, Eva Silvén and two anonymous review- stalled in 2001, disagrees. “It is not a ques- ers for their helpful comments on earlier tion,” he says, “of whether museums are drafts. the right place to do this (creating citi- 2 This was, in part, adds Sjørslev, because cura- zens). Museums have to do it because we tors showcased the collections in special ex- hibits (’Bredeudstillingerne’) with themes won’t survive for the next 100 years doing like “The White God” (about myths in colo- what we have always done which is col- nial and contemporary Latin America), “Chi- lecting things together and sorting them na” (with included a naturalistic representa- tion of a Chinese commune) or “Brasil 86” into library-like categories for a handful of that the objects became such an eye opener to scholars to look at. We still have to play the world. Even given this, there was a sense that role but we also have to present the among several respondents that the museum’s arts in a way that our mission is possible, ethnographic materials were always primari- ly regarded as comparative material for un- to find that connection with art that makes derstanding how “Danes” lived in prehistoric some of us devote our lives to it, the fact times – from a strong evolutionary perspec- that these human expressions are moving, tive. 3 The Nordiska Museum, a cultural history mu- that we want to share that pleasure with seum, housed in an imposing castle, and people who might otherwise not find it.” Skansen, the world’s first open-air museum, President Obama used aspirational lan- were created by Artur Immanuel Hazelius in guage when he addressed that 2008 crowd the late 1880s to showcase Scandinavian ma- terial culture. Its website invites visitors to in Berlin’s Tiergarten. He wasn’t predict- “Discover Sweden's cultural history. Exhibi- ing that someday we’d all carry global tions on the home, clothes and fashion, cus- passports. He was saying that we live on toms and traditions uncovering daily life in Sweden through the ages (www.nordiskamu- the same planet and face similar problems seet.se/category.asp?cat=187&catname=Eng- that we need to do something about. But lish&topmenu=142, 2012). we still define problems and their solu- 4 Between 2001–2011, the City Council stood tions nationally. When we create interna- in opposition to the National government but in October 2011, a new government was tional institutions, like the United Nations elected and the City Council is no longer at or the World Court, national interests of- odds with its national counterpart. 48 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

References Primitive Art and Other Tales of Progress. Bennett, Tony 2006: “Exhibition, Difference and Berkeley and London: University of California the Logic of Culture” In Ivan Karp, Corinne Press. Kratz, Lynn Szwaja and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto Faist, Thomas 2012: From Transnationalism to (eds.): Museums Frictions. Durham and Lon- Transnationality. Revue Européenne des Mig- don: Duke University Press. 46–70. rations Internationales, forthcoming. Bloomraed, Irene 2006: Becoming a Citizen. Favell, Adrian 2001: Philosophies of integration : Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali- immigration and the idea of citizenship in fornia Press. France and Britain. New York: Palgrave in as- Bocagni, Paolo 2011: “Rethinking Transnational sociation with Centre for Research in Ethnic Studies and Transnationalism of Everyday Life. Relations, University of Warwick. European Journal of Social Theory. Accessed Gilroy, Paul 2005: Postcolonial Melancolia. New online York: Columbia University Press. http://est.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/ Glick Schiller, Nina 2005: ‘Transnational social 15/1368431011423600, December 22, 2011. fields and imperialism: bringing a theory of Bramadat, Paul and Koenig, Mattias (eds.) 2009: power to transnational studies.’ Anthropologi- International Migration and the Governance of cal Theory. 5 (4):439–461. Religious Diversity. Montreal, Canada: McGill- Glick Schiller, Nina, Tsypylma Darieva and San- Queens University Press. dra Gruner-Domic 2011: “Defining Cosmopol- Breckenridge, Carol 1989: “The Aesthetics and itan Sociabilities in a Transnational Age. An In- Politics of Colonial Collecting: India at World troduction.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 34(3): Fairs.” Comparative Studies in Society and His- 399–418. tory 31 (2): 195–215. Gullestad, Marianne 2002: “ Egalitarianism, Na- .Caglar, Ayse 2007: ‘Rescaling cities, cultural di- tionalism, and Racism” Journal of the Royal versity and transnationalism: migrants of Mar- Anthropological Institute 8(1) 45–63. din and Essen’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Hage, Ghassan 1998: White Nation: Fantasies of 30(6): 1070–1095. White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society. Coombes, Annie 2004: Museums and the Forma- Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press. tion of National and Cultural Identities. Donald Hedetoft, Ulf 2006: “Denmark: Integrating Immi- Prezioni and Claire Farago (eds.). Grasping the grants into a Homgenous Welfare State. Migra- World: The Idea of the Museum. Aldershot, tion Information Source: Country Profile.” England: Ashgate Press. 278–298. Washington, D. C.: Migration Policy Institute. Copenhagen Museum. (http: http://www.copen- International Organization on Migration hagen.dk/en). Accessed January 21, 2012. www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/about-migration/ Cuno, James 2011: Museums Matter: In Praise of facts-and-figures/lang/en. Downloaded Decem- the Encyclopedic Museum. Chicago and Lon- ber 22, 2011. don: University of Chicago Press. Johnson, Paul 2007: Diaspora conversions. Danish Government Cultural Canon (http:// Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali- www.kum.dk/kulturkanon/english. Accessed fornia Press. November 18, 2011. Kurien, Prema 2007: A Place at the Multicultural Danish Government Population Statistics (http:// Table: The Development of American Hindu- www.denmark.dk/en/menu/About-Denmark/ ism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Denmark-In-Brief/Facts-about-Denmark.html, McClellan, Andrew 2007: “Art Museums and 2012). Accessed March 27, 2012. Commonality: A History of High Ideals.” Da- Danish National Museum (www.natmus.dk/ niel Sherman (ed.). Museums and Difference. sw20374.asp), accessed December 23, 2011. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Dias, Nelia 2008: “Cultural Difference and Cul- Press. 25–60. tural Diversity: The Case of the Musee du Quai Mångkulturellt Centrum (www.mkc.botkyrka.se) Branley.” Daniel Sherman (ed.). Museums and accessed December 23, 2011. Difference. Bloomington, Indiana: University Museum of World Culture (www.varldskultur- of Indiana Press. 124–155. museerna.se/varldskulturmuseet/om-museet/in- Errington, Shelly 1998: The Death of Authentic english/2011). Accessed December 23, 2011. Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 49

Nordiska Museet (www.nordiskamuseet.se/cate- Swedish Government (www.humanrights.gov.se/ gory.asp?cat=187&catname=English&top- extra/pod/?module_instance=2&action= menu=142) Accessed March 27.2012. pod_show&id=55). Accessed November 18, Olwig, Karen, and Karsten Paerregaard 2011. ”Strangers in the Nation.” Karen Olwig and Swedish Government http://www.minority- Karsten Paerregaard (eds.). The Question of In- rights.org/1501/sweden/sweden-overview.html. tegration: Immigration, Exclusion, and the Accessed December 2, 2011. Danish Welfare State.” Newcastle on Tyne: Terrazas, Aaron 2011: “Migration and Develop- Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 1–30. ment: Policy Perspectives from the United Parker-Brienen, Rebecca 2007: Visions of Savage States.” Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy Paradise. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Institute. Press. Vertovec, Steven 2007: ‘Super-diversity and its Prezioni, Donald and Claire Farago 2004: “Intro- implications’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6): duction”. Donald Prezioni and Claire Farago 1024–1054. (eds.). Grasping the World: The Idea of the Mu- seum. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Press. 13– 22. Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 50 An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table The Materiality and Sociability of Tea and Coffee By Kari Telste

Norsk Folkemuseum – the Norwegian covery of hidden links to subjects that are Museum of Cultural History – has a large not quite stated and places that are not and unique collection of interiors, furni- really shown. The connections these de- ture, china, silver and various types of do- tails betray may only be implied, but may mestic utensils acquired and used by the extend outwards to the whole globe middle and upper ranks of Norway in the (Brook 2008:7–10). period 1550 to 1900. One of the pieces of The tea table, along with similar tables furniture is a tea table in rococo style. It is in the museum’s collections, large collec- gilded with curved legs, and its blue and tions of tea and coffee ware, either in Chi- white faience top is formed as a tray de- nese porcelain or locally produced picting a hunting scene. The table was faience, tell that their owners had acquired probably made in Holland, or maybe in a range of objects for the specific purpose England. Museum curators of earlier of serving tea, coffee and chocolate, and times were not quite sure about its origin that their drawing rooms by the mid-eight- or who had owned it. They dated the table eenth century were filled with exotic to about 1740–50, however, and they smells and tastes, creating new sensations. thought the top was possibly made at the The rococo details of this particular table faience factory in Copenhagen.1 indicate that its owner adopted the Euro- pean styles fashionable at this time, while its faience top hints at a fascination with Chinese things, so prominent in the eight- eenth century, a fascination that inspired the European production of faience. Thus, the table links the inhabitants of Norway to the Far Eastern trade and suggests that they were engaged in cultural exchanges on a global scale. Tracing the various hints and links of the table, I will discuss how these exchanges generated new cultural meanings, and changed the material cul- ture and social practices of the inhabitants Tea table in rococo style. Photo: Norsk Folkemu- seum. Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. of Norway – or more precisely of Chris- tiania, as Oslo, the capital of Norway, was The tea table will be seen as a passageway then called. to study historical and cultural interaction on a European and global scale. Inspired New Consumer Goods and Cultural by the sinologist Timothy Brook in his Exchanges book Vermeer’s Hat (2008), I have chosen By the end of the seventeenth century, the to start with this table, not just for what we consumption of new and exotic beverages actually know about it, but for the hints of like tea, coffee and chocolate, imported broader historical forces that lurk in its de- from the Far East, was becoming fashion- tails. These details may lead to the dis- able all over Europe. The Far Eastern

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 51

trade also brought with it a great variety of the seventeenth century, not in large quan- exciting new objects in Chinese porcelain tities, but large enough to indicate that a associated with tea drinking. These ob- regular import had been established. The jects were to change the material culture import was to increase considerably from of Europe (Berg 2003:229). Norway was 1732 with the activities of the Asian Com- located on the very outskirts of Europe, pany (ibid.). and was only indirectly involved in the Global exchanges have often been seen Far Eastern trade as a part of the kingdom as a one-way process where western be- of Denmark-Norway. liefs and values have been introduced to The merchants of Christiania engaged the rest of the world. As the Far Eastern in the international timber trade, some of trade illustrates, the eastern world had ex- them making large fortunes, but unlike otic consumer goods that were craved by merchants elsewhere in Denmark-Norway the western world (Brook 2008:61ff). This they participated only to a limited extent led to encounters and exchanges on a in the international transit trade from the transnational level; these were processes Far East. The goods that reached Chris- of interaction transgressing the borders of tiania in the eighteenth century were the state that may have had cultural effects mainly imported through the major Euro- on the various parties involved (Burke pean ports of Copenhagen, Amsterdam 1997:203). and London (Johannessen 1983–84). A The tea table raises a number of ques- Danish company had started trading with tions concerning the cultural effect of the the East Indies in 1616, and the first Far Eastern trade on Norway. How were known shipload of porcelain arrived in new and exotic consumer goods intro- Copenhagen in 1633 (ibid.:129). It was duced, appropriated and incorporated into not until the Danish Asian Company was everyday life? How did appropriating established in 1732, however, that there these novelties generate new meanings was a significant growth in the import of and affect everyday social interactions? Chinese porcelain, and the level remained How were new modes of sociability re- high throughout the century. One reason flected in the consumption of material ob- for the growth was the active trade en- jects? New consumer goods created new gagement of the company with China; an- experiences that had to be assimilated or other was the growing popularity of tea adapted to one’s own culture and affected and coffee (ibid.:136). the relationship between individuals and Tea and coffee were introduced later on things. These assimilation processes were the Norwegian market than elsewhere in no passive imitations, but involved cul- Europe (Johannessen 1993). When tea tural translations where the creativity of was cleared through customs in Chris- reception and renegotiations of meanings tiania for the first time in 1691, it was re- have to be taken into account (Burke ferred to as “tea, a so-called herb”, which 1997:196, 211). suggests that the inhabitants were still un- The act of acquiring a new object gen- familiar with it. Tea, coffee and chocolate erated new meanings. When taken into were imported to Norway from the end of practical use, the object would have an ef- 52 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

fect on the social interactions of everyday be seen as typical of a tendency of differ- life and the conduct of people. There may entiation of dwellings during this century. be empirical problems in tracing the inten- In new mansions different rooms would tions of individuals and how they inter- be given different functions, adapted to preted what they were doing (Burke 1997: various social and private contexts (Lyng- 209). Objects preserved in the museum by 2006:121). In their splendid new din- collections or registered in official sources ing rooms, ball rooms, and drawing rooms such as customs records may give an idea the elites demonstrated and confirmed of what was consumed and craved by their social status in a more or less formal people, but there are only few sources left setting, while retreating to intimate family to tell about the particular meaning that life in their private rooms. was given to new objects. A diary, mem- The new house of Morten Leuch seems oirs, written impressions may give some to have conformed to the new functional clues, but the interpretations that gave ob- ideals. At the time when it was finished in jects a particular significance to their pos- 1759, it was considered one of the most sessors may be hidden in the dark. elegant buildings in Christiania, beautiful- ly fitted out with several sociable rooms, The Social Setting of the Tea Table their lofty ceilings and walls richly dec- The museum curators at Norsk Folkemu- orated in rococo (Collett 1915:127). In its seum included the tea table in an exhibi- original setting, the drawing room that has tion of period rooms, showing the history been preserved was located on the ground of style from the Renaissance to 1900. floor, just to the right in the entrance gate.2 This particular period room was meant to This made the room well suited to receive illustrate the rococo style, ca. 1740–1780, informal visits. and the room was reconstructed by using Morten Leuch has in retrospect been re- the original doors and windows, the ferred to as the founder of a “brilliant” so- panels, wall paintings, and ceiling pre- cial life in Christiania (Bull & Sønstevold served from a drawing room in a town 1936:16). Fragments describing this high house built in 1758–59 by the wealthy society have been left in a diary that he merchant Morten Leuch of Christiania. kept for the years 1757–1762.3 Although None of his original furniture had been the diary exclusively renders the pleasures preserved, and the room was furnished of leisurely life at his country manor on with suitable rococo pieces from the col- the outskirts of Christiania, he and his lection. Thus, it is not unlikely that he wife probably entertained as much in their would have had a similar tea table at a new town house. Now and again he would time when rococo was the fashionable note that a visiting party in the country style. would be invited to join them for supper in In eighteenth-century Norway, a draw- town, when the chores of business called ing room would be called visittstue – liter- him back to Christiania. ally a room for visiting – suggesting the Morten Leuch (1732–1768) and Mathia setting in which a tea table would be used. Collett (1737–1801) were married in Drawing rooms for receiving visits may 1758, and the young newlywed couple Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 53

One of the drawing-rooms from Morten Leuch’s house exhibited at Norsk Folkemuseum and furnished to represent the rococo style around 1760. Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum. Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. played an influential role in Christiania dinner they would retreat to the drawing- society (Collett 1915; Arnesen 2006). room where tea and coffee were served, Both were born into families whose for- male guests would smoke a pipe of tobac- tunes had been made in the Norwegian co before the card table was brought out, timber trade. Morten Leuch was the focal or the evening passed with conversation or point in Christiania, a position he held by playing a game of chess (Arnesen 2006: virtue of his inherited wealth, his talents as e.g. 56, 58, 65). a merchant, and by being a leading force Like most young men of his generation in the social life that developed in the and social rank, Morten Leuch had spent 1760s (Rian 2009). His diary gives the im- his formative years on a “Grand Tour” in pression that he and his wife received end- Europe. All over Europe, the new ceremo- less streams of guests, either for dinner nial rooms of the elites had at the time be- and supper, or just for tea or coffee: a great come social spaces where the art of con- number of friends and relatives, both male versation was cultivated, and modes of re- and female, prominent people in Chris- fined male and female conduct were tiania, trade connections and business worked out. A polite society, distin- partners, foreign contacts, even from guished by social codes, polite manners far-off places like St Martin in the West and taste was in the making (Carter 2001). Indies, and skippers of trade vessels. After On his journey, Morten Leuch would have 54 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

been acquainted with the social codes and that had a transforming impact on domes- manners of polite society. Although these tic behaviour (Vickery 2009:14–16). The could hardly be fully lived out in such a Danish-Norwegian lawyer and comedy small and peripheral town as Christiania, writer, Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), re- his diary suggests that some of its ele- marks on the advantageous effects of ments may have been recreated and adapt- these beverages on visiting: “At present ed to suit the smaller circle of social life our Wives and Daughters can make 10 there (Telste 2009). visits in an Afternoon and return home The rococo style that was fashionable quite sober.” He recalled a time when the by the mid-1700s was well suited to the hostess had had nothing to offer her guests informal modes of socializing. The style but wines and liqueurs (Holberg 1748). that had originated in France was con- When tea and coffee replaced alcohol, the sidered intimate and comfortable. The in- social etiquette of visiting was fundamen- troduction of new and lighter furniture tally affected. made it possible to move chairs and tables In contrast to wine and other alcoholic to suit the social occasion, thus making it drinks, tea and coffee projected an image easier to arrange for new ways of socializ- of sobriety, self-control and trustworthi- ing, not least because the chairs were spe- ness. Self-control was seen at the time as a cially designed for women in order to ac- mark of social and cultural distinction, commodate their dresses (Auslander constituting respectability (Poukens & 1996:66–67). Provoost 2011:171, 176). Therefore, non- The activities described in the diary of alcoholic beverages made it possible for Morten Leuch indicate that polite and re- respectable women to take part in social fined manners were lived out on various gatherings without endangering their repu- social occasions. There were dinner par- tation (Hutchison 2010:239), that is to say, ties, coffee and tea drinking, card games, domestic social gatherings. conversation, musical events on the lake An editorial comment by the weekly accompanied by coffee, and although not paper Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler sug- mentioned, there would be balls arranged gests that it was not regarded as fully ac- in the houses of the Christiania elite. In the ceptable for women to drink alcohol. In following, however, I will focus on one the summer of 1763 the paper printed a se- aspect of drinking tea and coffee; that is, ries of letters written by Madame Ö, a the central role of women as hostesses. German lady who had stayed in Chris- The tea table authorized female congrega- tiania for several months in 1755.4 On the tion and was a pivot point where women whole, her letters gave a favourable im- worked out new social codes and polite pression of social life in Christiania, of the manners. hospitability of people and their love of entertaining, but in one letter she men- Visiting – a New Mode of Sociability tioned that it was customary to drink The institution of visiting predated tea and liquor both before the meal and after cof- coffee, but the arrival of the new bever- fee. Not only men, but also women ob- ages introduced new modes of sociability served this custom, which she had found Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 55

difficult to withstand. The editor was ra- 1915:59). In her parental home there had ther provoked by her statement. This may been several tea tables, one of which was have been the custom in a couple of the an English tea table with a pewter top houses she had frequented, he remarked, placed in the grand drawing room (stor- but to describe it as a fashion in the whole stuen). As a girl, Mathia and her sisters town was taking it too far. also had a tea table in their bedroom (ibid.: In England, tea became the most fash- 59–61). This table may have acted as a ionable drink from the late seventeenth vehicle for the girls to embody the tea rit- century, and a more ritualized and de- ual from an early age. manding form of urban visiting gathered In December 1762, Morten states in his strength (Vickery 2009:16). In Norway, diary that both coffee and tea demanded coffee seems to have gained as much “Order and Custom”: popularity. Perhaps this was due to the At the Tea Table this Order is assumed, since Miss lack of public coffee houses in Chris- Cold (their foster daughter) is of small Stature and tiania. Still, tea may have been the pre- of young Age, the Ladies take their Turn helping ferred beverage when ladies were visiting, her pour Coffee and Tea, clean the Tea Set and put as it would allow the hostess to show that it away in good Order under such arbitrary she knew how to prepare, serve and drink Punishment as Host and Hostess might decide ac- cording to Circumstances” (Arnesen 2006:74). tea according to carefully determined rules. She had to demonstrate that she had In a seemingly playful way the 13-year- embodied the knowledge of the intricate old Miss Anna Cold was taught the duties tea ritual as well as the proper manners of a hostess. Mastering the “tea ritual” and codes of polite society. Failure to would come in useful for her advancement master the rules revealed an embarrassing in the social world. As it turned out, Anna lack of refinement, on the part of the host- Cold would become a prominent hostess ess and her guests alike. Visiting became by marriage. a fashionable institution of inclusion and Formally, tea was to be prepared and exclusion that was governed by matrons served by the hostess. The significance of (Vickery 2009:14–16). this is shown in a passage in the memoirs In his diary Morten Leuch gives the im- of Conradine Dunker (1780–1866). She pression that tea and coffee structured dai- tells about the Chamberlain Bernt Anker, ly life and were served at fixed times. At the wealthiest man in Christiania at the teatime coffee seems as likely to have time, who when he became a widower in been served as tea, leaving the guests with 1801, let his mistress have several rooms a choice. His wife Mathia would be well in his mansion, and dressed her in silk and acquainted with the English “tea ritual”. lace like a lady.5 The young girl – the As a prominent Christiania hostess, she beautiful daughter of a cotter – may have would frequently entertain friends, rela- fancied that she would become the new tives and trade contacts. Besides, her mistress of the house, and took the oppor- grandfather was English, and she was tunity to preside at the tea table. Anker’s born and bred in a family where English sister-in-law, who administered his house, taste and customs dominated (Collett had a serious word with him, with the re- 56 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

Eighteenth Century silhouette picturing women drinking tea. Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum. Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. sult that he ordered the girl “never again to Visiting is closely associated with offer to pour Tea when Ladies are visit- women, but was actually a mixed-sex ac- ing” (Dunker 1909:267–268). Apparently, tivity under female jurisdiction (Vickery her behaviour was a breach of the proper 2009:14). Apparently, a little amused, manners of taking tea, and as such threat- Morten writes that Mathia was not par- ened to disgrace the house. ticularly happy if male guests failed to turn The episode may also be seen in an- up at tea time. At times they dawdled so other way. The girl may have appropriated long that the fresh cream set forth on her the role of a hostess to the extent that she table had soured when they finally turned appeared a lady in dress as well as polite up (Arnesen 2006:25). In June 1759 she manners, thus blurring social boundaries. was rather displeased with her brother, who After all, this was a time when the impor- was more interested in supervising work on tance of birth in determining social posi- the construction of a new barn than enter- tion had declined and social standing had taining Mathia and her guests: increasingly become dependent on dis- The Ones that growl about his too great Diligence playing polite manners and taste. Master- are the poor Females who have to sit and wait for ing the tea ritual may have been a way for him for 3 hours at the Coffee Table. Today they have sworn never to pour him another Cup if he the girl to fulfil her social aspirations of does not appear at the stipulated Times, when de- rising in the world. cent People drink their Coffee (Arnesen 2006:23). Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 57

Perhaps it was easier to keep the times for master the delicate task of roasting coffee tea and coffee in the daily routine of life in beans and making coffee (Winsnes 1845). town than in the more relaxed setting of The institution of visiting provided the the country manor? In any case, Mathia hostess with an opportunity to display her equipped herself with a gong or Chinese magnificent porcelain along with various bell, and from now on every guest was types of silver and metal ware. These pos- obliged to meet at the table “not later than sessions were routinely exposed to scruti- ten Minutes after the Gong has sounded or ny by critical, admiring and maybe en- he will miss his Coffee” (Arnesen 2006: vious eyes, who also judged the quality of 74). Thus the “order and custom” of tea the tea and coffee served, and the manners and coffee was enforced, albeit in a cheer- of the hostess. In this way, visiting revolu- ful manner. tionized the uses of interior space, and routinely exposed the domestic interior The Material Culture of Tea and Coffee (Vickery 2009:16). The tea table provided Taking tea or coffee required a whole an opportunity for the hostess to display range of new consumer goods. On the tea style, taste, knowledge and polite man- table magnificent tea and coffee sets in ners, and the civility and refinement of Chinese porcelain or European faience drinking tea and coffee directed consump- would be displayed, including pots, sugar tion towards the acquisition of new ob- bowls, creamers and cake dishes, not to jects. To set her sumptuous tea table, the forget silver tea spoons and sugar tongs to Christiania hostess had to take part in cul- go with it. There would be different pots tural exchanges on a global scale. for coffee and tea and for chocolate if that was served. Imposing status symbols Consuming the Exotics of Everyday would be placed on the table; samovars Life and tea-water kettles or “tea machines” as they were called, in silver, brass or copper, The engagement of the Asian Company in and lockable ornamental tea chests for Copenhagen in the Far Eastern trade from keeping the most exclusive and expensive 1732 onwards secured a continuous supply sorts of tea. A sumptuous tea and coffee of oriental goods to Danish-Norwegian table reflected the material prosperity and consumers. Customs accounts from the polite manners of the owner. mid-eighteenth century show that increas- To store and prepare the new drinks, a ing quantities of tea and coffee were im- whole range of new domestic utensils ported to Christiania via the major Euro- were needed: water and coffee kettles, pean ports of Copenhagen, Amsterdam and chocolate pots, tea- and coffeeboxes, not London.6 Teas with exotic names like to mention the coffee grinder and coffee “Bohe”, “Ziong Ziong”, “Heysan”, “Con- roaster that were indispensable in any go”, “Songlo”, “Emperor’s Tea” and green kitchen (Johannessen 1993). The success tea became regularly available to con- of the visit therefore depended on the sumers, along with coffee beans from far- maid having the skills and knowledge to away places such as the East Indies, and the use the new utensils and prepare a tray in Danish West Indies: the Caribbean islands the proper way. Not least, she had to St Croix, St John and St Thomas. Occa- 58 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

sionally, a basket of chocolate or chocolate from the cheap “Congo” and “Bohe” to cakes would arrive from St Ubes – Setubal the more expensive “Ziong Ziong” and – in Portugal, and now and again small “Songlo”. Even if prices for some would quantities of chocolate that had been pre- dictate choice, the possibility to choose pared in Copenhagen. The small amounts among different varieties of commodities suggest that the consumption of chocolate would be a way of showing a distin- remained low throughout the eighteenth guished individuality (Hutchison 2010: century and probably was seen as a special 240). The possibility to acquire goods at a treat (Hutchison 2010:225). reasonable price would enable women Along with tea and coffee, shiploads ar- who had served in affluent households to rived in Christiania with cases and crates get their own tea ware when setting up a filled with tea sets in Chinese porcelain, household at marriage, thus giving them pots for tea and coffee, bowls, cups in the opportunity to display their skills and various sizes, often specified to be blue- knowledge of preparing and serving tea and-white, or brown-and-blue (Johannes- and coffee in a proper manner. sen 1983–84:139). In addition large quanti- There is evidence that tea and coffee ties of “coarse brown” stone ware were im- were mainly consumed in urban areas and ported, mainly from the English ports of by government officials and well-to-do London, Liverpool and Newcastle, but also farmers in the countryside (Hutchison from Amsterdam. On rare occasions, tea 2010:226, 228). This is logical bearing in ware made of tin was cleared through cus- mind that the practice of ladies visiting toms.7 This overview illustrates the point was mostly an urban phenomenon, and made by several historians, that there was a that the social practice of drinking tea and shift in demand towards breakable goods coffee as a vehicle of hospitality in the ur- (Hutchison 2010:196ff; Poukens & Pro- ban middle class may have spread to their voost 2011:181). Tea and coffee sets made relatives in the countryside. Another fac- in durable materials like tin were replaced tor is that the prices of tea and coffee re- by sets made in the less durable, but more mained relatively high throughout the fashion-sensitive porcelain and faience. eighteenth century, keeping them out of The growing import gave consumers reach of most rural household (Hutchison the possibility to select from a wide range 2010:226, 228). of goods of varying prices and qualities. From her childhood around 1790, Conra- Oriental goods could be used as distin- dine Dunker tells that her mother kept cof- guishing markers, in order to demonstrate fee, sugar and “suchlike” in a small cup- knowledge of price and quality, and of board behind the bed in her bedroom. The what was suitable for different occasions. maids had coffee every Sunday and From 1763, when the first newspaper for Wednesday, and water for tea the other days Christiania was established, shopkeepers (Dunker 1909:39). Apparently, “coffee and regularly announced that various kinds of suchlike” were still considered as treats to tea or coffee of “best quality” and tea cups be rationed in a middle-rank household that in “white-and-blue” were available at had to economize. There is evidence, how- good prices.8 The choice of teas ranged ever, that tea and coffee moved from occa- Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 59

sional to habitual beverages among the drew Chrystie ran a brewery and four dis- more well-to-do urban population, and that tilleries. In 1759, she married Morten Juell porcelain ware was no longer seen as so ex- of Arendal, a small port along the coast clusive and expensive as before. These south of Christiania.10 The set – of which goods nevertheless retained a sense of luxu- two coffee pots, a small and a larger one, ry and distinction (Berg 2003:228; Johan- has been preserved, along with two tea nessen 1983–84:136). boxes, a creamer, a bowl and sugar bowl, To satisfy the growing demand for tea three cake dishes, and 14 cups of varying sets, Chinese craftsmen had quickly sizes – was probably commissioned from adapted to European tastes, designs and China. The set may have been a wedding shapes that were sent to China (Berg present, commissioned by her family, and 2003:238–239). This adaptation required the design could be adapted to Sara’s indi- a complex reaction to market demands on vidual choice and taste. The gilded mono- the part of the Chinese. For European con- gram is encircled with a pattern in red, dif- sumers, the greater availability of oriental ferentiating it from the usual blue-and- goods meant that the language of con- white. sumption became more complex, forcing them to distinguish with ever greater pre- cision what they wanted (Breen 1994: 252). Consumption and choice entered into processes of self-fashioning, requir- ing knowledge about what would be the right goods for the right occasion. The process of self-fashioning also in- cluded commissioning individually de- signed tea sets from China. During the eighteenth century English families com- missioned 4,000 services with coats of arms from China. Each setting cost ten times the price of ordinary sets (Berg 2003:239). Services with coats of arms were rarely commissioned by Norwegian families, although there are exceptions (Johannessen 1983–84:135), and there are instances of tea sets with monograms. A Mrs Sara Juell of Arendal, born in 1736, owned a tea and coffee set that was manufactured in China, with the mono- gram MJ SC.9 Sara, whose maiden name was Chrystie, was born at Moorebattle on One of the tea boxes from the tea and coffee set in the Scottish border, but grew up in Moss Chinese porcelain belonging to Mrs Sara Juell, south of Christiania where her father An- with the monogram MJ SC. Photo: Norsk Folke- museum. Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. 60 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

Tea and coffee sets were not only avail- den). Several of the prominent merchants able from China. The great popularity of of Christiania were co-owners, among Chinese porcelain had for a long time in- them Morten Leuch. Although the prod- spired European potters and ceramics ucts were popular, the enterprise was not makers to come up with substitutes to economically successful and had to close satisfy the taste for Chinese things (Berg in 1770 (Opstad 1959:26ff, 53ff). 2003:240; Brook 2008:78–79). While the Chinese imitated European designs and shapes to satisfy the European market, European producers tried to imitate Chi- nese motifs. Their efforts were not mere imitations of Chinese porcelain, however, but innovations in the sense that they ap- pealed to European tastes. Their products exuded an enticing whiff of Chineseness, and replicated what people might have thought of the Chinese (Brook 2008:78). Among the most successful were the pot- ters and tile makers in Delft. Early in the seventeenth century, the blue-and-white delftware had already become an afford- able substitute for Chinese porcelain, owned first by the elites and then by the middle-rank households of Holland. The white glaze was easily chipped, however, and oriental porcelain was therefore still Table centrepiece in faience made at the Herre- preferred (Berg 2003:237). bøe factory in Fredrikshald. Photo: Norsk Folke- Nevertheless, there was a “ceramic ob- museum. Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. session” all over Europe, and this also hit the Nordic countries at the beginning of Herrebø announced its products regularly the eighteenth century (Opstad 1959:13). in Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler from Feb- A faience factory was established in Co- ruary 1764 onwards. These announce- penhagen in 1722, and one of its speciali- ments make up a catalogue of its products ties was table tops, like the one made for (Opstad 1959:256). A wide choice was of- the table in Norsk Folkemuseum’s posses- fered to consumers in Christiania: all sion. In 1760 two – probably similar – tea kinds of ornaments, such as decorative tables with tops in porcelain manufactured flower pots, candle holders, table centre- in Copenhagen were imported to Chris- pieces, all kinds of table ware, tops for tea tiania.11 After the mid-century Norwegian tables, and of course coffee and tea ware, factories were established; the best known all of which were made in the popular is Herrebøe, established in 1759, near the blue-and-white patterns (ibid.). Thus a south-eastern town of Fredrikshald (Hal- whole range of china and faience at differ- Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 61

ent prices and qualities and serving differ- there is evidence that small quantities of ent purposes became available for the con- European-made porcelain were being im- sumer. ported (Johannessen 1983–84:140). In On the one hand, Danish and Norwe- 1770 a casket of Saxon porcelain – most gian factories widened consumer choice, probably Meissen – was for example im- and made tea and coffee ware available at ported to Christiania via Copenhagen.12 A a cheaper price. On the other hand, these few eighteenth-century Meissen art ob- enterprises limited the choice. When the jects, tea and coffee sets and other table factory in Copenhagen was established in ware have been preserved in Norwegian 1722, it was given exclusive privileges museum collections.13 for the manufacture of “Delft porcelain and Dutch stoneware in Denmark-Nor- *** way” (Opstad 1959:16). At the same time a ban was imposed on the import of “for- During the eighteenth century, Chinese eign” blue and white faience, to be ex- porcelain, faience and delftware, and later tended in 1727 to “glazed earthenware, the exclusive European porcelain such as painted or unpainted, from whatever Meissen were displayed on tea tables in place it might come, manufactured by Christiania and surrounding areas. In Dutch methods” (Johannessen 1983–84: Arendal, Sara Juell would preside at her 132). The ban was strictly enforced, and tea table showing off her individually de- the customs accounts have several re- signed Chinese tea and coffee set to cords that tell of the confiscation of the friends and visiting ladies. Mathia Collett, “prohibited Dutch earthenware” (ibid.). as the most prominent hostess in Chris- The confiscations suggest that delftware tiania, could set her tea table with the most was craved by consumers, and that ef- exclusive and fashionable Chinese and forts were made to make it available European porcelain. Other and more through smuggling. Legally, however, anonymous hostesses might have to make the choice offered to consumers in Chris- do with the more affordable faience, or tiania was limited to Chinese porcelain even durable tea sets in tin. and “home-made” faience. It was not enough to set a sumptuous tea The great popularity of imported Chi- table, however, if your manners were not nese goods also stimulated a European- appropriately polished. Politeness was at wide search for the secret of porcelain. the time judged by whether you owned the The first to succeed was Meissen in 1709 right things, whether they were sufficient- (Berg 2005:126–127). Meissen and other ly genteel in their design, and whether you eighteenth-century European porcelain were capable of using them in the right works were producers of high luxury way (Berg 2005:6). The delicate and goods, but their exclusive products were breakable porcelain cups or the easily too expensive to meet market demands. chipped faience had to be handled with Therefore they did not displace the market care. In this sense, these objects may be for oriental porcelain (Berg 2003:240). In seen as vehicles that formed social prac- Norway, by the mid-eighteenth century tices of refinement and polite conduct. 62 Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table

The materiality of drinking tea and coffee factory at Store Kongensgade, Copenhagen, illustrates that polite manners inspired ca. 1740–50, provenance unknown. 2 NF.01884-001. Plan of the house (Stifts- from England and the Continent were con- gården, Rådhusgaten 13), drawn up before it stituted in complex interactions between was demolished in 1913. people and things. These manners were 3 For a transcription of his diary, see Arnesen adapted to a Norwegian way of life, as 2006. were the material objects that went with 4 Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler, 15 June 1763, see www.nb.no/avis/intelligenssedler. This these beverages. was the first Norwegian newspaper, estab- The tea table displaying oriental tea lished in Christiania in 1763. Madam Ö’s and coffee ware became a demonstration letters to her friends and a brother in Leipzig, by the middle-rank and wealthy families written during her stay in Christiania in 1755, had been published in the book: Neue Erwei- in Christiania that they belonged to a terungen der Erkänntnis und des Vergnügens, broader international polite society. The and was reprinted in this paper from 15 June objects set on the tea table acted as signs to 19 July 1763. and symbols that provided instant im- 5 Bernt Anker was the second husband of Mathia Collett, and this episode occurred after pressions of the character and social her death. background of the possessor (Nenadic 6 The information is based on transcriptions of 1994:153–154). Displays of wealth customs accounts for Christiania in the ar- through material possessions took vari- chives of Norsk Folkemuseum. I have select- ed the years 1755, 1759, 1760, 1765 and ous and often subtle forms, but were a 1770. The accounts are far from complete, but critical feature of status-building (ibid.). still give an impression of the variety of goods We do not know, but Mathia Collett may imported. For an overview, see Johannessen have set her table in a way that subtly re- 1983–84. 7 Customs accounts: Christiania, Inngående vealed her knowledge of English taste tollregnskap 1765. Four cases of tin tea ware and custom. In this way, a sumptuous tea were imported from London. This is the only table would articulate information about instance of tin tea ware I have come across. its owner, about the wealth and social 8 Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler, e.g. 1 and 22 standing of the household, the objects re- June, 6, 13 and 19 July, and 3 August 1763. 9 NFT.1913-0144. Information registered in the flecting the knowledge, taste and polite Norsk Folkemuseum’s database Primus, see manners of the hostess. also Digitalt museum: http://digitaltmu- seum.no/. Kari Telste 10 Andrew Chrystie (1797–1760), Henrik Research Coordinator/Head of Norwegian Ethno- Wergeland’s forefather: www.arkivverket.no/ logical Research, Dr. Art. webfelles/sab/wergeland/achrystie.html, Norsk Folkemuseum – Norwegian Museum of Moss, Ministerialbok 12 (1753–1779), Egte- Cultural History viede 13de Mars 1759. Digitalarkivet: Postboks 720 Skøyen www.arkivverket.no/ (accessed 31 January N-0214 Oslo 2012). e-mail: [email protected] 11 Customs record: Christiania, Inngående toll- hovedbok 1760. 12 Customs accounts: Christiania, Inngående Notes tollregnskap 1770. 1 NF.1943-0007. The English text of the exhi- 13 A search for Meissen at Digitalt museum: bition label says: Table: spruce, gilded, Hol- http://digitaltmuseum.no/ (accessed 31 Janu- land or England, faience top, possibly from ary 2012) comes up with 136 hits. Kari Telste, An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table 63

References Hutchison, Ragnhild 2010: In the Doorway to De- Arnesen, Finn (ed.) 2006: Morten Leuch dy’s dag- velopment. An Inquiry into Market Oriented bog 1757–1762. Da Bogstad var lystgård. Oslo: Structural Changes in Norway ca. 1750–1830. Bogstad Stiftelse. Bogstad Gårds Vennefor- Ph.D. Thesis. Florence: European University ening. Institute. Auslander, Leora 1996: Taste and Power. Fur- Johannessen, Randi M. 1983–84: Kinesisk porse- nishing Modern France. Berkeley: University len og tollregnskaper. By og bygd. Norsk Folke- of California Press. museums årbok. Oslo. Berg, Maxine 2003: Asian Luxuries and the Mak- Johannessen, Randi M. 1993: Ti tevisitter på en ing of the European Consumer Revolution. In ettermiddag. Kaffemøllerne snurre i alle hytter. Luxury in the Eighteenth Century. Debates, De- In På nordmanns vis. Norsk Folkemuseum sires and Delectable Goods, ed. M. Berg & E. gjennom 100 år. Oslo: Aschehoug. Eger. London: Palgrave. Lyngby, Thomas 2006: Måder at bo på. Indret- Berg, Maxine 2005: Luxury and Pleasure in ning, liv, stemninger og bevidsthedsformer i Eighteenth-Century Britain. Oxford: Oxford danske overklasseboliger i byen 1570–1870. University Press. Ph.d.-afhandling. Århus: Aarhus Universitet. Breen, T. H. 1994: The Meaning of Things. Inter- Nenadic, Stana 1994: Household Possessions and preting the Consumer Economy in the Eight- the Modernising City. Scotland c. 1720 to 1840. eenth Century. In Consumption and the World In Material Culture. Consumption, Life-style, of Goods, ed. J. Brewer & R. Porter. London: Standard of Living, 1500–1900, ed. Anton J. Routledge. Schuurman & Lorena S. Walsh. Milano: Uni- Brook, Timothy 2008: Vermeer’s Hat. The Seven- versità Bocconi. teenth Century and the Dawn of the Global Opstad, Lauritz 1959: Herrebøe Fajance Fa- World. New York: Bloomsbury. brique. Et norsk industrieventyr fra rokokko- Bull, Edv. & Valborg Sønstevold 1936: Kristia- tiden. Sarpsborg: Aktieselskapet Borregaard nias historie. Utgit til 300-aars jubileet 1924 av Poukens, Johan & Nele Provoost 2011: Respecta- Kristiania kommune. Bind 3 1740–1814. Oslo: bility, Middle-Class Material Culture, and Cappelen. Economic Crisis. The Case of Lier in Brabant, Burke, Peter 1997: Varieties of Cultural History. 1690–1770. Journal of Interdisciplinary Histo- Cambridge: Polity Press. ry, XLII:2 (Autumn 2011). Carter, Philip 2001: Men and the Emergence of Polite Society. Britain, 1660–1800. Harlow: Rian, Øystein 2009: Store norske leksikon (the Longman/Pearson. Norwegian Encyclopedia), snl.no, Øystein Collett, Alf 1915: Familien Collett og Christia- Rian, 18 May 2009 www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/ nialiv i gamle dage. Kristiania: Cappelen. Morten.d.y._Leuch/utdypning. Dunker, Conradine 1909: Gamle dage; Erind- Telste, Kari 2009: Visittstuen som speilbilde av ringer og tidsbilleder, Ny fuldstændig Udg. global handel? Handelspatrisiat, selskapsliv og med Illustrationer, Portrætter og oplysende Be- forbruk i Christiania omkring 1760. Heimen, merkninger. Kristiania: Gyldendal, see also bind 46, 4-2009. www.dokpro.uio.no/litteratur/dunker/. Vickery, Amanda 2009: Behind Closed Doors. At Holberg, Ludvig 1748: Epistola XCI. For og imod Home in Georgian England. New Haven & Thee, Caffé og Tobak. www.adl.dk/adl_pub/ London: Yale University Press. pg/cv/ Winsnes, Hanna 1845: Lærebog i de forskjellige AsciiPgVaerk2.xsql?nnoc=adl_pub&p_udg_id Grene af Husholdningen. www.dokpro.uio.no/ =40&p_vaerk_id=12494 (accessed 4 August litteratur/winsnes/frames.htm. 2009). 64 Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing Affective Ordering On the Organization of Retrologies in Music Networks By Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser

In the epilogue to his book on the Swedish the autumn of 1999. However, pop culture (politically) progressive rock movement recycling and looking back are tricky en- of the 1970s, the Swedish music critic Hå- deavours, often slated for copying or un- kan Lahger sketches a scenario where originality. For example, in his recent some bands of the period during the late book Retromania, Simon Reynolds claims 1990s became targets of a new wave of in- that “[d]uring these directionless phases terest (Lahger 1999:240–242). Young [the 1970s and 2000s], it’s easy to con- men from near and far, he claims, were vince yourself that originality is overrated, then finding this music anew, by digging that artists have always recycled, that through the record boxes in second-hand there’s ‘nothing new under the sun’” vinyl stores. For Lahger, this reads as a (Reynolds 2011:428), and then returns to tribute to the spirit and music of the era, a a nostalgic contemplation on past genu- crowning of political and musical efforts inely “new” music, beginning by stating in the past and a confirmation of quality or “I remember the future rush” (ibid.). But interest. For quite a few of the young men history does not repeat itself, and neither – and women – in the record store, this does popular music, not even in its most was likely rather the beginning of an aes- nostalgic moments. The ordering of pasts thetic and social journey. For us, two eth- in popular music is a constant collabora- nologists, it serves as a telling example of tive work involving people, artefacts, im- some of the complexities involved in the agery and narratives, arranged and re- formation and negotiation of popular his- arranged, reinterpreted and negotiated. In toriographies: on one hand, the chronic- this article we will investigate how these lers engaged in telling stories of how it multitudes of fragments of the past – and was by combining and separating facts the people ordering them – are held to- and details; on the other hand, listeners gether through affect. and musicians from younger generations The aim of this article is twofold: (1) to who rearrange and constitute new combi- present a model for understanding the for- nations of old and new, “creative an- mation of history in networks and (2) to achronists” (cf. Gustafsson 2002) who apply the model on the question of how generate “retro” interpretations of prog or Swedish progressive music rooted in the playful alternative pasts. seventies has been recognized and reinter- Lahger’s book can be seen as one of preted in different settings in the present many indications that aesthetic move- day. The model distinguishes three ana- ments in the Sweden of the 1970s gained lytical angles – fragments, retrologies, and a new interest in the years around 2000. affective alliances. Even if the model is To name a few examples: Lukas Moody- here applied in order to understand how son’s tremendously popular film Tillsam- history is constituted in popular music, it is mans (“Together”, which premiered in our belief that the model also can be used in 1999), the concerts at Moderna Museet in the analysis of other forms of non-conse- Stockholm (2000/2001) or the Nordiska crated history that Raphael Samuel refers Museet’s (Sweden’s largest museum of to as “unofficial knowledge” (Samuel cultural history) exhibition on ABBA in 1994:3ff). We will conclude by sketching

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some of these wider aspects of our study best music from the 60s, 70s and 80s”. and suggesting other fields where the One kind of arena that caught our interest model might be fruitfully applied. was boat cruises on the Baltic Sea that as- At the outset, the aim of the project was sembled different versions of the Swedish to identify networks and nodes in net- 1970s (cf. Hyltén-Cavallius 2010:1). An- works where popular music “seventies” other was examples of popular music were produced and managed. The method criticism where the critics identified when working through these networks “seventyish sounds” or “neo-progg” (re- was similar to Barbara Czarniawska’s no- ferring to an original Swedish progg scene tion of following the object (2007) – in the of the 1970s to which we will return short- sense of following the theme of the 1970s ly). And a third was record distributors to various locations and settings. Here the and retailers specializing in seventies networks have worked as directions lead- popular music. Starting from these arenas ing to situations where this theme could be and interviews with what we identified as identified. In this way, the project has con- central actors, we were able to follow net- stituted a multi-sited fieldwork in the works of musicians, entrepreneurs and sense elaborated by George Marcus fans to other parts of the world. (1995). The concept of network has served two different purposes in the pro- The Swedish Seventies Progressive ject and accordingly varied in meaning: a Music Scene more methodological one that has helped As mentioned above, the seventies has at- in the identification of social interconnect- tracted some attention during the last dec- edness within the field, and a more ana- ade. That is true also for the 70s Swedish lytical one that has enabled the develop- progressive music scene.1 Well aware of ment of the analytical model (see below). the fact that we’re suggesting a specific Three kinds of nodes were initially in fo- order of fragments and narratives in the cus: temporal nodes (such as concerts, fes- historiography of the seventies, we will tivals, cruises), spatial nodes (record present some initial information on the stores, companies) and virtual nodes (on- history of the music discussed.2 This brief line communities and web pages). outline of a historical process highlights The special status of the decade in his- some of the more powerful fragments that torical periodizations and in discourse on function as key symbols in the organiza- generational experience already interested tion of different retrologies – the festival Karl Mannheim in his seminal discussion and the distinctions in the meaning of on the problem of generations, and has “progressive”. gained the attention of several ethnolo- The progressive music scene was main- gists (Mannheim 1952; Blehr ed. 1993). ly part of a movement with varying names As regards popular music history in the like the progressive movement (progg- late noughties, this could for example be rörelsen), the alternative movement (al- seen in television series named “60s” and ternativrörelsen) or the musical move- “70s”, or the local Stockholm radio station ment (musikrörelsen). Often it was just “Radio Vinyl” that claimed it played “the called progg or proggen. “Progressive” is 66 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

here primarily understood in a political and Kebnekajse.6 There were other ways sense, even if for some of the musicians it to describe the divisions within the move- could be applied to their musical engage- ment, with other boundaries, such as pro- ment as well.3 According to its members, gressive vs. alternative (Lilliestam 1998: this movement began as a string of out- 108) or Stockholm vs. Gothenburg (Lah- door festivals held at Gärdet, a field on the ger 1999:181). These ideological divi- outskirts of central Stockholm (Lilliestam sions were one of the distinguishing fea- 1998:103).4 The first festival was illegal tures of the musical movement, and some- and held in late June in 1970. The motto thing that contributed to its disintegration. was do-it-yourself, and both amateurs and The focus in these networks is mainly professional musicians took part. It is not on the musically progressive part of the possible to narrow the music played at movement. They were sometimes labelled Gärdet to a certain sound; it consisted of a flumproggen, the prefix flum suggesting a mix of rock, jazz, cabaret music, folk mu- drug-influenced, dreamy approach.7 This sic from Sweden as well as from other music had grown out of an underground parts of the world. Most of the artists com- scene in Stockholm that had been estab- posed their own music and sang in Swe- lished around 1967 (Lahger 1999:69–82; dish. Soon the movement would organize Lilliestam 1998:97–102). The influences itself, launching record distribution chan- came from blues rock pioneers like Jimi nels, magazines and a network of concert Hendrix and Cream, and famous psyche- clubs. The festival has become a key sym- delic bands like the Doors and the Grate- bol (Ortner 1973) in representations of the ful Dead. Baby Grandmothers and the duo progressive movement. The emblematic Hansson & Karlsson were early and im- festival is a token of a new era, of new portant on the Stockholm scene. Another ways of producing and consuming music important band was Pärson Sound with and of a combined political and musical their influences from experimental and awareness. improvisational music like the minimalist The movement eventually came to en- art music of Terry Reilly. The new music compass several conflicts. One was ideo- was in congruence with an awakening po- logical concerning the purposes and ambi- litical left-wing concern and protests tions of progressive music: on the one against the bombing of Vietnam. It is not hand progressive in a political sense, possible to find a definite end point of the where the music was secondary to politi- movement, it slowly faded and other mu- cal goals (Henningsson & Pettersson sical expressions would take over. The 2007:11),5 on the other hand progressive music of the progressive years was to be in a musical sense, where the ambition out of fashion during most of the eighties was to stretch the musical boundaries of and long into the nineties. rock and jazz, incorporating elements of To return to the men and women in the folk music and elements of improvisation. used vinyl stores mentioned at the begin- Here you could find bands like Träd, Gräs ning, the surge of interest in seventies mu- och Stenar (Trees, Grass and Stones), sic and sounds is hard to trace. One of the Fläsket Brinner (The Flesh is Burning) prime dealers in used vinyl in Stockholm Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 67

specializing in seventies rock began his fragments: new fragments are constantly enterprise in the late 1980s, and several of added. One example is the release of pre- the people we have talked to began their viously unreleased music by Pärson interest in this kind of music around that Sound in 2001. During the seventies the time. The awakening curiosity about band was not accessible as a sound, but as Swedish progressive music was not a a memory or a footnote in the biography uniquely Swedish concern. The early of Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Today, the nineties second-hand record stores also sound of Pärson Sound can also represent saw visits from Japanese and Korean re- the past. Approaching the seventies as a cord collectors, and in popular historio- set of fragments emphasizes not the “ac- graphies this pursuit of Swedish progres- tual” period of the seventies but when, sive music has sometimes been credited as where and how these fragments are pioneering the interest in Swedish progg.8 melded together. It also emphasizes the It can also be said that the youngest musi- lack of completeness that seems to distin- cians first developed an interest after hear- guish any effort to represent or use the era. ing an intermediary generation making It puts the analytical focus not just on the their own “seventyish” sound. One could parts that are thought of as seventyish, but therefore say that the progressive scene also on the question of how these frag- slowly returned at the end of the 1980s, to ments are linked together. Fragments can become more widely known a decade thus be musical sounds or entire pieces of later.9 But then again, there were likely music, but they can also be ideological young enthusiasts who “rediscovered” the and cultural values. The same fragment scene before it even disappeared. can occur in numerous retrologies – from the greater story of progressive music, to The Affected Past: A Model stories of the seventies or of social So, how is it possible to understand the changes in the late twentieth century. emerging phenomenon of “neo prog”? To Our understanding of progressive mu- make it possible to deconstruct the ele- sic proceeds from Franco Fabbri’s notion ments in narratives and other representa- of musical genre as “a set of musical tions of the past we view “the seventies” events (real or possible) whose course is as a set of fragments (possible to combine governed by a definite set of socially ac- in multiple, yet specific, ways) (cf. Kaijser cepted rules”, or in our understanding, 2010). A fragment could be the basic facts conventions (Fabbri 1982). A musical and figures of data and events, but also event is here framed as any type of activity stories, images, artefacts, songs, sounds or performed around any type of event in- lyrics. A fragment can appear as a picture, volving sound (cf. Small 1998). To be music, memorabilia, and stories in news- able to further analyse musical events, papers or a personal recollection. Basical- Fabbri has proposed a set of culturally or- ly, fragments are all those bits, pieces and dered generic rules that help to categorize traces that are left from activities relating what defines a musical genre.10 According to the seventies. However, there is no to this, a musical genre consists of sound, closed, sealed and stable collection of performance techniques, instrumental 68 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

characteristics, and the musicians’ ability. 2010). If logos suggests logic and struc- Generically defined expectations of sound ture, retro indicates direction – backward are connected to the communicative and – as opposed to the frequent re meaning sensual aspect of music. This covers the “again” (as in revival) in notions of social choice of band name, dress style, postures memory. The term is intended as an alter- when playing, dancing or in any other way native to other recurring concepts in dis- performing music. Other aspects are, for cussions on uses of history, such as “nar- example, conversation styles and concert rative” or “re-enactment” (Aronsson behaviour of both performers and audi- 2004), since it seems we are dealing with ences. Consequently, genre is also defined ways of constructing a past that do not through what he terms social and ideo- necessarily have a clear-cut order with a logical rules. That is the (probably too of- beginning and an end (as “narrative” sug- ten prejudiced) way we understand and gests). Nor can these bits and pieces easily identify a genre, for example progressive be thought of as dramatic material, al- music as elitist or pop music as just com- ready there, just waiting for enactment. mercial. Identifying genre in this manner Narrative is, after all, only one of many helps us to grasp the complexities in- ways to organize things. And sometimes volved in defining a musical community. things from the past come to us in a stable This way of thinking has consequences for condition, but just as often we have to how we have looked for and identified build something up, or even tear it down fragments and related them to each other. before putting it together again. To look Sound was only one important factor. for narrative order here would be to pre- Also important were ways of dressing and suppose a specific way of ordering out of moving, record labels and aesthetic simi- many possible ones. As Elisabeth Guffey larities in pictures and covers. points out in her book Retro: The Culture One of the most important kinds of of Revival, retro styles are characterized fragments within the field of popular mu- by an eclectic and anachronistic bricolage sic is the names of bands, artists, labels, where irony and playfulness can be more records and songs. The fragments are rec- important than memory or context ognized and acknowledged as important (Guffey 2006). In the light of Bruno La- when used, and it is through these frag- tour’s sociomaterialistic theory, a retrol- ments that people can outline musical gen- ogy is simply an effect of network of ac- res and their historical trajectories. In tors, both human and non-human (Latour other words, what from the outside could 2005). be viewed as name-dropping is one of the Influenced by Lawrence Grossberg, the actual ways that retrologies are format- concept of affective alliance is used to un- ted.11 derstand how retrologies are constituted The concept of retrology is used to (1997). The affective alliance is built upon show how certain bits and pieces in cer- a shared direction towards similar cultural tain situations are bound together. Re- expressions, in this case expressions that trologies literally means “ways of think- can be labelled seventyish. For us, affect ing backwards” (cf. Hyltén-Cavallius has to do with identification and recogni- Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 69

tion, or in other words, identity as process will focus on how these fragments are (Hall 1996). It is through affect that we combined with other fragments and as- see ourselves in others; with Sara Ahmed sembled in different retrologies. These ar- (2010), affect has to do with directedness rangements in turn point to central values or “intentionality” in a phenomenological and affective registers that keep the net- sense. Or to put it simply: affect is a regis- works together. ter that unites certain people in their way of relating to others and, important in this Alternative Instrumental Music argument, in their way of relating and re- In 1980 the record company Caprice re- lating to fragments. leased Alternative Instrumental Music. The three-concept model of fragment, The record was part 7 in the Music in Swe- retrologies and affective alliances assists den series; a collaboration between Riks- in identifying how views of the past are konserter (the National Concert Institute) ordered. Following Aull Davies’s critical and Svenska institutet (The Swedish Insti- realist approach (2008:18), we see the tute). The purpose of the series was to pro- ideas and notions of the past as existing in- mote Swedish culture and knowledge of dependently of our concepts, but it is Swedish life outside Sweden. Other LPs through the use of the model that they be- in the series contained, for instance, come understandable. The model’s focus Swedish jazz and folk music. The cover of on the past as an affectively ordered as- Alternative Instrumental Music is in blue sembly is not a way of saying “anything and fronted with a picture of a house in the goes”. Instead it is a way of making ex- Old Town of Stockholm. On the back of plicit the often taken-for-granted assump- the cover there are Swedish, English, tions underlying views of the past. It French and German versions of a presen- brings to the centre of attention not only tation. The text describes how the 1970s how fragments are put together but also saw the development of a special music in how this process encompasses distinc- Sweden through politically radical, non- tions and struggles for both how “it really commercial rock groups. The music is was” and how it “should be”. Thus retrol- characterized as improvisational, mixing ogies also hold emotional claims of au- modern jazz with folk music from Sweden thority. as well as other parts of the world, but also described as “vital and exciting” and part Fragments of a “progressive” or “alternative” move- In order to explain our model we will start ment. Due to problems in translating by presenting a set of fragments that in Swedish lyrics, the record has focused on different ways form parts of retrologies. instrumental music. The artists represent- Even if they are diverse, they all constitute ed are on the A-side Kebnekaise; Arbete important points of entrance for an under- & Fritid; Bo Hansson; Fläsket Brinner and standing of the relation between frag- Tillsammans; and on side B Samla Mam- ments, affective alliances and retrologies. mas Manna, Spjärnsvallet, Iskra, Archi- The fragments are two records, one You- medes Badkar; Anita Livstrand and Ram- Tube clip and two images. Our discussion lösa Kvällar. The music could be de- 70 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

The cover of Alternative Instrumental Music, with an accompanying leaflet. scribed as a combination of rock and jazz vester was released on the Finnish record influenced by folk music from Sweden as label Love Records in the spring of 1969. well as from other areas. Accompanying The LP was later re-released on the Swe- the record is a leaflet presenting the par- dish label Silence in 1984, and again on ticipating artists and describing the story CD by Silence in 2001. The music was re- of the Swedish music movement. This corded in the autumn of 1968. On the leaflet is also in four languages, contain- white front cover are drawings in a naïve ing a number of blue-tinted pictures of style showing, at the bottom, five small artists and record covers illustrating the grass-grown hills, each with one tree texts. On the front is a picture from the drawn in black, green and red. On one of festival at Gärdet in Stockholm in 1970. the hills is a sign saying “Good luck” (in The presentations of the artists were writ- English). Gigantic flames are rising from ten by the music historian Jan Bruér, and the sign, encircling a stylized drawing of the story of the music movement by the Sweden and at the top the name of the journalist Håkan Lahger. There is also a band and the record. Between the flames reflection on the music and its background and the hills are clouds and birds sur- by the musician Tuomo Haapala, member rounding a note. The back of the cover of Iskra. shows an extended shot of the group con- taining the band members along with girl- Sleep Tight, Rose-Marie friends, children and others. The black and The LP Sov gott Rose-Marie (“Sleep white and somewhat blurred picture was Tight, Rose-Marie”) by International Har- taken in front of Vårby Grillen in the sum- Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 71

The flipside of the cover of Sov gott Rose-Marie, by International Harvester. mer of 1968. The booklet in the CD issue ‘International’ to become Harvester and of Sov gott Rose-Marie contains a similar later came to call themselves Träd, Gräs picture of the band and their friends och Stenar. The story emphasizes the gathered and standing in the water of Al- band’s participation in the experimental bysjön, both places located in the southern music scene, such as playing at the open- Greater Stockholm area. The booklet also ing of a big Andy Warhol exhibition at contains a biography of the band; how Moderna Museet (the Modern Museum in they were inspired by the Rolling Stones, Stockholm). The booklet also claims that the American composer Terry Riley and the vinyl records made by the groups in Swedish folk music, how they started as the sixties later became “unashamedly ex- Pärson Sound in 1967, changed their pensive”, but also more in tune with an au- name to International Harvester, dropped dience used to dub and other repetitive 72 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

Dungen. techniques. When reissued the texts in the ties, standing side by side, one of them booklet were translated and adapted for an leaning on the other, and the fourth mem- English-speaking market. The record con- ber with his parka hood over his head, tains 13 tracks (included as a bonus track slightly behind the others. Perhaps it’s a on the CD is a fourteenth track originally bit chilly, the sky is grey, the wind is intended as the B-side on the LP). The blowing in their hair and they are standing songs are both instrumental and with on an elevated point, but the background lyrics. Most of the songs were composed is somewhat blurred so it’s hard to tell by the band, but some are traditional and where it is. Since a song contemporary one is cover of a song by the Rolling with the image is called Högdalstoppen (a Stones. The music harmonizes well with hill in southern Stockholm), that could the record cover: a “raw” production of very well be the place. The picture is taken electric guitars and what would later be from the front, all four looking straight called “lo-fi”, and song that moves in and into the camera with serious and self-con- out of pitch, is interspersed with pastoral fident faces. Their proximity, their way of birdsong. leaning on and touching each other sug- gests friendship and unity. Two Images The other displays the eight members of Two images, colour photographs, of con- a band, probably sitting, but they could be temporary Swedish rock bands. One dis- standing, in tall grass. They might be plays three men in their twenties or thir- slightly younger than Dungen, but it’s Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 73

Samling. hard to tell. One seems to be looking lugnt [showing the CD case] – please wel- straight into the camera, with a light smile come Dungen!”12 The camera quickly on his face, the others are looking at each zooms out from television host Conan other, some smiling, some laughing. Six O’Brien to the sound of applause, and of the members have facial hair – from parallel to zooming in on the snare drum, moustache to thick beard, and of the mem- we see and hear the explosive opening bers without facial hair, one is a woman. outbursts on snare and bass drum. Maybe Two are wearing caps, and a third member one could expect 1940s be-bop after this. a hat. The image is somewhat blurry, part- The song is introduced by a short drum so- ly due to the sunlight coming from slightly lo, swinging in an 8/8 measure ending above the camera, creating reflections that with something like a fanfare on the snare. look like white drops. For someone from After the fanfare, there are similar out- Stockholm the place is recognizable, bursts on a distorted guitar along the though; it is Gärdet, the venue for the cel- drums, and expectations change – is it ebrated and commemorated festivals of some kind of jazzy heavy metal? Now the the early 1970s. cymbals are introduced and the sound in- creases. After first having circled around All the Way from Sweden the drummer and around the stage to the “My next guest tonight come to us all the guitarist, the camera zooms out from the way from Sweden, they’re here tonight stage, showing four male musicians prob- with a song from their new album Ta det ably in their twenties, playing electric bass 74 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

Klemt Echolette, photo from concert with Dungen in Boston 2010. and guitar, drums and one long-haired guy cians singing in Swedish on American who shakes his body to the music. Their prime-time television is a highly unusual clothes are casual – jeans, shirts and phenomenon. If you add the noisy retro sweaters – maybe with a slight 1960s or sound of the band, it could seem even 1070s feel, with bell-bottom cuts and a more unlikely. However, once you look at shirt that resembles the tight, fitted shirts comments on the YouTube version of the typical of the period. Suddenly, the music show, it becomes apparent that this might changes character – from a more swinging not be all that unlikely: for example, com- 8/8 to straight 4/4 measure, from heavily ments compare the singer’s visual appear- distorted chords to a swishy-sounding ance with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin – picking on the guitar. The singer goes up an internationally acclaimed rock band of to the mike and starts to sing a falling the 1970s.13 The band obviously can be lo- melody with a folky character: “Vägen cated within common popular frames of bort är lång, längre bort än hem” (“The interpretation. In comments on other You- road away is long, further away than Tube clips with the band, they are also as- home”). sociated with bands that commentators Even without statistical support it is not find in some way similar (such as Tame an unreasonable guess that Swedish musi- Impala and Yukon Blonde), also with Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 75

some kind of “psychedelic” sound.14 Even the booklet in English with the story of the if the language is Swedish, the sound is progressive movement. In the late eight- transnational. In this perspective, the ies, he found out about Swedish progres- Swedish language in its unintelligibility sive music through a friend and got inter- might even add to the musical (and psy- ested. At that time it was very difficult to chedelic) experience, apart from giving it find anything in English on the Swedish a “narrower”, more exclusive quality.15 music scene. This was not the first time The appearance on Conan O’Brien we saw this record. It had previously and probably had an influence on Dungen’s for the same reasons been shown to us career in the US, but it is also striking how during an interview in Seattle in the often the appearance is mentioned in Swe- north-western US. The record was a frag- den. In other words, no matter how many ment, formed part of and generated retrol- people in the US actually saw the show ogies: it introduced and summarized the that night, it has become a token of their progressive movement not just by recap- popularity in the US (which, we might turing and listing details of events that had add, does not correspond to some Swedish happened, but also constituted an emo- expectations). This is a pattern that likely tional statement of a recently passed era. follows every band from a small country Håkan Lahger’s text in the booklet tells in the non-Anglophonic world that is ap- the story of how Anglo-American music preciated on any scale in the Anglophonic dominated the first half of the sixties and world (other Swedish bands and artists how there seemed to be no popular music that could be mentioned alongside Dun- of Swedish origin. Then influenced and gen are e.g. The Cardigans, The Sound- released by a zeitgeist of love, peace, track of our Lives, Lykke Li and First Aid drugs and mysticism and underground Kit, to name but a few). flower power music like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, a Swedish From Fragments to Retrologies underground music scene was establish- The fragments described can, as men- ing itself. It tells the story of how the mu- tioned earlier, be seen as active compo- sical movement emerged through political nents in a number of retrological constel- ambition, solidarity with the conditions of lations. In the following we will outline the working class and a growing concern some of them. We visited Japan in May of over the state of the nation. The festival at 2010.16 When finishing an interview in the Gärdet is described as an enthusiastic and countryside outside Hiroshima we were pivotal moment. Lahger’s text is written shown some records that had been impor- in a “we-form” taking a stand for radical- tant for the man we had interviewed. He ism, anti-commercialism and instrumental showed us the LP Alternative Instrumen- progressive music against what he calls tal Music and told us that it was a very im- lyrically based “cliché rock”. It is the for- portant record when he first wanted to mer that is presented on Alternative In- learn of Swedish progressive music. It strumental Music, claimed to represent was not primarily the artist or the songs on “progressiveness, creativity and the chal- the record that made him show it to us, but lenging of musical conventions”. Håkan 76 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

Lahger’s position is further developed in He emphasizes the division between Tuomo Haapala’s texts where the artists Stockholm and Gothenburg, and how the on the record are situated against estab- musicians playing instrumental music of- lished classical musicians reminding of ten were ridiculed by artists more willing brow-beaten marionettes and jazz musi- to express their radicalism through lyrics. cians playing music comparable to watery This was also one reason why it was im- porridge. Instead he sees the artist on the portant to make the record in 1980. He record as representing something new, says that the present interest in instrumen- forming an antithesis to conformism, a tal progressive music is a payback for the music influenced by political awareness, more psychedelic part of the movement. blended with folk music from India, Afri- The affective alliances that link fragments ca and the Balkan states, John Coltrane together into more or less consistent and Charles Mingus, and from Terry Ri- retrologies also produce difference, and ley. Haapala claims that the development others. This is apparent when Lahger of the seventies has made it impossible to reminisces about the era. Place becomes categorize music into genres, since the important, and Stockholm and Gothen- “important thing is not what form the mu- burg constitute two important antagonists sic takes, but its intentions, its creativity in his narrative. Stockholm represents a and its function”. mellow mood, more in correspondence Later – in the autumn of 2011 – we’re with the feelings attached to the festival at sitting in a coffee shop in Stockholm. We Gärdet. Gothenburg is identified here are showing Alternative Instrumental Mu- through the magazine Musikens makt sic to Håkan Lahger, one of the writers. (“The Power of Music”), viewed as ig- When holding the record in his hand it norant and politically narrow-minded. first evokes personal memories related to Lahger’s experience of the progressive the time he wrote the piece. Then he goes music could be compared to its reception over to talking about the music scene of in another cultural setting. Sometime dur- the time. He remembers the festival at ing the late 1990s and at the beginning of Gärdet as a turning point and the occasion this century progressive music received when the movement discovered itself and some attention on the American alterna- how many they were. He talks about the tive scene. In April 2010 we visited Dave greatness of the musical movement, and Nuss, a New York musician. He and his the ugliness of the conflicts that followed, band No Neck Blues Band toured with referring to persons, places, artists and re- Träd, Gräs och Stenar when they did their cords. In his book on the movement he first tour in the US, in 2003. During our concludes (1999:243): conversation he tells us how he got into Swedish progressive music. He was ex- The movement was just like one big parenthesis ploring progressive rock with ethnic influ- where people from the most disparate locations ences, like German krautrock. He got into gathered for one moment, were tricked into be- lieving that they had a lot in common and that they Swedish progressive through a friend who were struggling in the same direction. That was had a Korean-made vinyl bootleg of Har- not the case.17 vester’s Hemåt (“Homeward”). The Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 77

Swedish music was a mystery to him. The ing in a field, and to gatherings of fans and music could be linked to the German bands from the seventies music on a cruise seventies krautrock scene, sounding simi- in the Baltic Sea. The sound of the music lar to bands like Can or Faust. But the and the spontaneity of its recording was an Swedish music preceded the German important topic and depicted as “drums, scene, and was more original. He was flutes, nje, nje, a Jew’s harp and then there puzzled by the sound of the Swedish is a record”. Materialized into words the groups. How was it possible to develop sound is described as improvised, melodi- music like International Harvester? Music cally based, having a “communal feel”, like the Doors and Grateful Dead that ac- “formless”, “naked”, “honest”, “beauti- cording to Håkan Lahger opened up the ful” and “original”. Swedish progressive scene is regarded by Nuss’s affection for the nakedness and Nuss as “major American shit”. He was authenticity of the music, the communal intrigued by the sound and aesthetics of feeling and enigmatic aesthetics is what Swedish progressive. He was fascinated keeps his interest together. He finds that by the photo from International Harvest- progressive music embraces the things ers’ Sov gott Rose-Marie, showing the that American music lacks: history, au- band in front of Vårby Grillen. ”Who are thenticity and a sense of tradition. these people and why are there children in Through the conversation with Nuss we this photo? Who are the people in this can identify a retrology of the Swedish photo? It is like a family gathering.” But seventies, consistent with other entrepre- beyond this he wanted to know more neurs and musicians we met in the US. about the cultural environment that en- Sweden is here a beautiful, honest and abled music like Träd, Gräs och Stenar. somehow naive place located somewhere The sound was original, it had political off the cultural main road, a timeless uto- connotations and it all staged a communal pia, with original music that is at the same feeling. For Nuss, the Swedish progres- time both remote and ahead of the pro- sive scene was part of a more general in- gressive music that would follow. terest in communal movements from the The two images of contemporary rock sixties and the seventies. bands described earlier, as well as Nuss’s Just as in our interview with Lahger, images, point to two central themes in vis- fragments of the seventies were continu- ual retrologies in our field: nearness to the ously feeding our conversation. Here are elements, and a tendency to suggest bands like Pärson Sound, Harvester, Keb- growth (the instances that refer to trees nekajse och Arbete & Fritid, and the re- and roots are numerous). The first band cords they made: Hemåt, Ljus från Afrika described here is called Dungen (The (“Lights from Africa”) and Sov Gott Grove), and among their contemporaries Rose-Marie. People like Bo-Anders and within the field can be found the band Torbjörn from Träd, Gräs och Stenar and Mylla (Soil). In our interview, their guitar- record companies like Silence are men- ist pointed out British seventies folk rock tioned. References are made to pictures band Trees as a key reference, and in the from outdoor festivals and people party- last few years he has been part of the offi- 78 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

cial line-up of seventies prog rock band that they tend to suggest what Nuss de- Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Hair and beard scribed as a “communal” feeling (see constitute key symbols, sometimes more above). That is, instead of posing to look as a point of reference (as in an external like artists, they seem to emulate their au- term, skäggrock, literally “beard rock”) or dience – with kids, laughing together and even as a source of irony. Proximity and sometimes focusing on each other rather closeness is central in both imagery and than on the camera lens. Perhaps this rhetoric. The second band described here everyday, casual and communal spirit is called Samling (Gathering), somewhat works so well in a transnational context reminiscent of the name of an acclaimed because it corresponds to widespread ste- constellation in the seventies prog field, reotypes of Swedish or Nordic societies as Tillsammans (Together). The visual frag- less hierarchic and democratic. ments can be combined with other frag- Visual fragments can be analysed along ments. Band names, in this case, point to a number of lines. In our primary descrip- central themes: not only nature, but also tion, we began by looking at the overall growth and an organic ideology that impression (band located in an outdoor seems to organize ways of thinking about setting), the location of central objects social relationships as well as music aes- (proximity and distance), background and thetics (the idea of music as a collective setting (a hill and Gärdet, both probably in searching, less limited by commercial or Stockholm). To go into more detail we format considerations). noted aspects such as bodily posture Another element is the way fans, in- (members leaning on each other, the di- dustry and music criticism come to phrase rection of gazes) and facial expressions the sounds of these bands in terms of sty- (seriousness and laughter). We also noted listic periods and create associative links. what was in and out of focus, light (such “Seventyish sound” (Hansson 2007) and as the white drops produced by incoming “neo-prog” (Yeaman 2008) are but two sunlight) and colours (grey and a warm examples of how music critics attribute yellow). An intertextual reading allows popular music periodizations to music in for comparisons with the band’s other vis- general. Swedish morning papers’ re- ual expressions, but also with other ways views of the Dungen album contemporary of presenting rock bands (that is, with the with the picture (Skit i allt), could contain genre of rock band photography). comments that Gustav Ejstes of Dungen Dungen’s record sleeves have included had taught American musicians to pro- two women in long dresses dancing on a nounce difficult words such as Träd, Gräs lawn outside a red-painted farm building och Stenar and Vild i Skogen (a compila- (Dungen) or what looks like folk art tion by the Swedish prog record label Si- flower patterns (Ta det lugnt), but also lence) (Unnes 2010), or refer to the band’s patterns reminiscent of 1960s op-art (Tio “shimmering forest psychedelia” (Yea- bitar). The folk art flower pattern is also man 2010). Together these different ele- somewhat reminiscent of a pattern found ments are connected in retrologies. A on the drum head on the Träd, Gräs och strand through many of these images is Stenar drummer’s bass drum.18 Samling’s Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 79

record När mullret dövar våra öron blir vi man Gustav Ejstes, in his communication rädda (“When the rumbling deafens our with both media and concert audiences ears we get frightened”) (2011) is covered tends to mention influences such as folk with a blur of what looks like water- music, hip hop and the Aphex Twin, a colours or batik patterns. Without stretch- central reference in 1990s electronica and ing it too far, it’s possible to see the cover drum ’n’ bass (cf. e.g. Backman 2002). If art as related to the psychedelic and folk music critics (and audiences along with ambitions in the music. Within the genre them, as can be read from YouTube com- of rock band photography, the two images ments) try to put a seventies label on him, belong to a pastoral strand that links the he is in turn trying to point out other refer- bands to the 1960s and 70s folk rock gen- ences. Other members of the current band res, for example, but separates them from, line-up contribute their historical refer- say, the established punk/new wave urban ences – for example, drummer Johan Hol- iconography (e.g. brick lanes and subway megard is a schooled jazz musician, and stations) or the occult or mythic iconogra- guitarist Reine Fiske was once an employ- phy of heavy metal. The intertextual rela- ee at the Swedish Sound Archive with the tionship is not conclusive for establishing mission to document Swedish psychedelic genre, but along with other fragments it music of the late 1960s and early 1970s. points in certain directions. To sum up, the He has been responsible both for reissuing band images constitute fragments that to- Swedish progressive music, and for issu- gether with technological, sonic and ver- ing non-released material as Träd, Gräs bal representations build retrologies. och Stenar: Gärdet 12.6.1970 (1996). Dungen had their commercial break- These recordings were released on Fiske’s through with the album Ta det lugnt own label Till Indien, in cooperation with (“Take it easy”), released in 2004. Re- the label Subliminal Sounds, the same la- views of the earlier albums had been re- bel that during the course of our project strained, sometimes even complaining has issued records by Träd, Gräs och Ste- about the retro sound. In order to under- nar and Kebnekajse. stand this, you have to bear in mind a cen- Among Fiske’s electronic equipment, tral value scale in popular music criticism, alongside old tube amplifiers and vintage the idea of mimicry as opposed to artistry fuzz pedals, can be found the 1960s tape (a value scale common to large parts of the echo Klemt Echolette. In the Conan arts since romanticism, cf. Taylor 1991). O’Brien appearance, for example, it can After the appearance on Conan O’Brien, be seen right behind him, standing on top there followed tours in the US, and for a of the amplifier. During our interview, couple of years the band had a substantial Fiske claimed that the main reason that he indie following, especially in Europe and found out about the echo is that his prime the US. Swedish reviews of Ta det lugnt sixties and seventies guitar hero, Kenny and subsequent albums have generally Håkansson (member of Kebnekajse and been more positive. Much of the media Baby Grandmothers), used that echo to coverage of Dungen tends to focus on produce his typical guitar sound. Technol- their seventyish or prog sound, while front ogy as a key fragment in the constitution 80 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

of retrologies cannot be overestimated. First Aid Kit or The Amazing) had a refer- Paul Théberge notes that the attitude that ential base in the present music scene, and electronic technology could ruin the au- not just in bands from the seventies. Seen thenticity of popular music emerged by in this light, Dungen’s music is perhaps the late 1970s, before which the use of more of a temporary halt in an ever- electronic equipment in order to distort or changing recombination of fragments. alter sound would usually be seen as excit- That halt acts as a retrology, but in its spe- ing (Théberge 1997). A way to understand cific combination of sounds, lyrics, im- Fiske’s and his followers’ fascination with agery and artist personas, it also carries vintage equipment might then be as an ex- the building blocks of future retrologies. pression of a nostalgia for a past future – a time when sound technologies encapsulat- Conclusion: “Flum”, Togetherness ed the future (cf. Hyltén-Cavallius 2002). and the Psychedelic Alliance In other words, the echo and the sound it As we mentioned initially, the central produces itself constitutes a fragment that, theme in Raphael Samuel’s Theatres of together with the other equipment, musi- Memory (1994) is how people form ideas cal instruments, performance and artist and conceptions of the past in various personas of the other members, constitutes ways, from the most mundane, everyday a retrology in the form of Dungen’s mu- practices to music, entertainment and sic-making. During Dungen concerts we fashion. Samuel refers to these non-conse- attended in Boston and Stockholm, mem- crated forms of history as “unofficial bers of the audience would come up to the knowledge” (ibid.: 3). But to what extent stage front before and after concerts and are different fragments of the past parts of carefully inspect the equipment, discuss- larger wholes in the present, and how are ing it and sometimes even take photo- they tied together? In our study we have graphs of it. And on guitarist forums on shown how such larger wholes might the Internet, people will exchange infor- fruitfully be understood in terms of retrol- mation on exactly what equipment is used ogies – sometimes in the form of narrative in connection with what (“Reine Fiske, order, sometimes in the form of imagery anyone?”, electronic resource). To com- or soundscapes. They are tied together plicate things even further, Fiske has for through affect, or in other words, ways of the last few years been a member of afore- “being moved” in relation to the social mentioned Träd, Gräs och Stenar, now and material world (Ahmed 2010:33). contributing his retro sound in a band that What does it mean to think with this once inspired his search for historical theoretical model, what do the concepts sound sources. And Dungen themselves show us that we would not have seen have now clearly come to constitute a new otherwise? At the level of fragments, we historical layer for younger bands, and a have paid attention to constituent parts source in new retrological combinations. and what signifies them; at the level of af- This was highlighted in our interview with fect, how do people relate and relate to Lahger, who found it refreshing that the fragments; and at the level of retrology, musical sound of Samling (or the likes of what are the effects of these relations in Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 81

terms of larger wholes? Throughout the of the dawning Swedish 1970s. A key in- article it becomes apparent that the net- gredient in this affective alliance is the works that we have been following work longing for the communal, the embracing on a more global scale. As such it is as an of social cohesion and togetherness (but example of how the notion of globaliza- importantly, without the socialist ideology tion can be elaborated. The model has with which it came to be associated during helped to show how different retrologies the 1970s). This is partly accomplished have been distinguished through approxi- through a uniting scepticism about the mately the same fragments. In a way the music industry and an understanding of retrologies knit the aficionados of pro- independent music as more authentic. gressive music to each other, at the same This could also be said of the festival at time as they work as distinctions marking Gärdet, easily viewed as a summarizing out positions in localized cultural settings. symbol of an awakening new era of to- Different retrologies constitute separate getherness in both a political and a musi- sceneries of nostalgic pasts and utopias. cal sense. The do-it-yourself ethos that has This could for example be said of the no- been ascribed to the festival would from tion of Sweden. Here Sweden can repre- this viewpoint better be described as sent an exotically northern other and an al- “do-it-together”. ternative modernity encapsulating a lost As we also have shown, nature and the sensuality. But it can also point toward the natural form a common strand in this field, late sixties Swedish political situation and from band names to visual representa- a generational attempt to find another po- tions. But aesthetic ideals about the form litical order and a nostalgia for one’s own and function of music also harmonize with youthful ideas of another future (cf. Hyl- this strand: music must be allowed to tén-Cavallius 2002). grow organically, and for that it needs We have claimed that affect is the glue time in a way that the formats established that makes these retrologies hold together. by the music industry and its technologies To conclude, we would like to point out a of distribution seldom give room for (Hå- few central aspects of this affect. As was kan Lahger, interview 6 December 2011). noted previously, the use of vintage tech- The admiration of the natural is also relat- nologies might indicate not only a way of ed to the more hedonistic appreciation of looking back, but a specific nostalgia for a the festival at Gärdet. In an American in- past when the use of new technologies in terview, pictures of Gärdet were related to popular music could still stir excitement Woodstock, the big outdoor music festival and expectations about the future. If the held in the rural upstate New York in Klemt Echolette today can embody a lost 1969, a festival remembered for people era, it was in those days above all a sign of dancing naked, for its peacefulness and a promising future. We claim that the for the heavy rain showers. Again, one as- same kind of nostalgia for a past future pect of this organic idea is the recurrent can be discerned in band names such as notion of the psychedelic as something Samling, or in the American interviewees’ earthy, primitive, but also deep and mind- fascination with an exotic communal feel expanding (its literal sense). Here, the ex- 82 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

perience of music and the feeling of social be possible to apply the model in emotion- cohesion that comes with it is sometimes al settings such as politics. Here the histor- compared to the experience of drugs. Ac- ical pasts of different political parties cording to this train of thought, good psy- could be analysed through the affected chedelic music can generate the same kind way they organize the past in their present of experience as some drugs. Even if agendas. And as we see it, the most impor- drugs and their use have been difficult tant reason for making use of this model is subjects to ask direct interview questions that it visualizes the complex dynamics in- about, it is significant in this context that volved in transnational collaborative for- the most frequent drugs used seem to be mations of pasts, in the plural. “natural” drugs (i.e. marijuana and hash- ish), as opposed to synthetic ones (e.g. Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius PhD, Assisent professor LSD). Department of Cultural Sciences The model enables an understanding of University of Gothenburg how the different elements we refer to as PO Box 200 fragments are combined and function SE-405 30 Göteborg e-mail: [email protected] within larger constellations, or retrol- ogies. As we have shown, a great deal of Lars Kaijser the work of combining lies among audi- Associate professor ences, musicians, producers and distribu- Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies. tors. It is a collaborative effort, carried out Stockholms University in spoken discourse, in virtual environ- SE-106 91 Stockholm ments, in music making and not least in e-mail: [email protected] visual communication. We have also dem- onstrated how a few distinct fragments Acknowledgements that have appeared repeatedly in the pro- The fieldwork for this study was carried cess constitute key components in retrol- out between 2009 and 2011, and is part of ogies. We have discussed the affective the project Echo affects, financed by the glue that holds these networks together in Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation terms of a both exoticizing and utopian (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond). A pilot longing for another way of life, character- study was partly financed with grants ized by social cohesion and a more re- from the Helge Ax:son Jonsson Founda- laxed attitude. tion. Judging by our results, the model we have explored could become a tool in the Notes understanding of other forms of social 1 Eriksson et al. 2006; Petterson, & Hennings- son 2007; Arvidsson 2008; Thyrén 2009. memory that make use of popular culture. 2 The presentation is based on the musicologist Other areas that could be interesting to in- Lars Lilliestam’s history of Swedish rock mu- vestigate through the use of the model are, sic (1998). for example, the field of vintage and sec- 3 In Anglo-American popular music discourse, the term “progressive rock” is roughly equiv- ond-hand clothing, or the phenomenon of alent to art rock or symphonic rock and lacks “nostalgia” motor vehicles. It would also the political overtones of the Swedish word Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering 83

(cf. e.g. Martin 1998). As we show, the duali- 13 For a more extensive discussion of YouTube ty of the Swedish concept goes hand in hand comments as a field of popular historical dis- with a central tension between political and course, see Hyltén-Cavallius 2009. It might musical progressivity within the movement also be added that such comments have been a (cf. Thyrén 2009). highly valuable source in the project. 4 There were other festivals taking place around 14 This often seems to have to do with sound ef- the same time, but they did not attain the same fects – phasing, distortion, etc., and beat, and symbolic power. One was held at Götaplatsen to a much lesser extent melody. Comments in Gothenburg in June (Arvidsson 2008:211) from another one in Lund in May (Henningsson & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= Pettersson 2007:9), both in 1970. OAyU_B_x9RE&ob=av2e, last accessed 2 5 The political discursive field within the music December 2011. movement is further elaborated in Arvidsson 15 In this case, comparisons might be made with 2008. For a thorough discussion of the histori- internationally known Icelandic band Sigur cal background cf. Östberg 2002. Rós, whose singer Jónssi occasionally sings in 6 We have chosen to translate some of the band a made-up language, Hopelandic (vonlens- names into English. We are well aware of the ka), http://sigur-ros.co.uk/band/faq.php#07, ambiguity in translating band names, as a lit- last accessed 16 February 2012. eral translation easy misses out plays on 16 We are profoundly grateful to the ethnologist words as well as attached connotations. De- Makiko Kanematsu, Ph.D., who accompanied spite this, the band names often express us on our trip, and without whose translations values and notions prominent in the social and and guidance the fieldwork would not have musical context where they act (cf. Kaijser been possible. 2007). 17 “Musikrörelsen var som en enda stor parentes 7 Flum has both negative and positive over- där människor från de mest skilda håll samla- tones, and translates to dizziness, improvisa- des under ett ögonblick och lurades att tro att tion, being unfocused or high on drugs (cf. de hade en massa gemensamt och att de strä- current Swedish debates on flumskolan – “the vade åt samma håll. Så var det inte” (Lahger woolly school” as a counter-image to an au- 1999:243). thoritative school organized through disci- 18 The source of the flower on the drum was a pline). mitten from Värmland. It can be found on 8 http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progg their website, together with a brief explana- 9 Twenty years is often held to be the standard tion: period for recycling in popular culture (cf. e.g. http://www.tgs.nu/TGSsajtcopy/english.htm. Reynolds 2011); examples would be the fif- ties wave of the 1970s, the sixties in the 1980s References and perhaps the seventies in the 1990s. Discography 10 Fabbri counts five types of rules: (1) formal and technical rules; (2) semiotic rules; (3) be- ABBA, Waterloo (Polar Music POLS252), 1974. haviour rules; (4) social and ideological rules; Alternative Instrumental Music, Music in Sweden (5) economic and juridical rules (Fabbri 7 (Caprice CA1163), 1980. 1982). The Amazing, Gentle Stream (Subliminal Sounds 11 In this article, we have tried to keep name- SUB-085-CD), 2011. dropping to a minimum. In the References we Arbete & Fritid, Deep Woods 1969–1979 (MNW have listed artists and records mentioned in RESCD 501), 1991. the article. The list also works as a soundtrack Baby Grandmothers (Subliminal Sounds SUB- to the article. TILCD 23), 2007. 12 The following fragment is an uploaded ver- Dungen, 4 (Subliminal Sounds SUBCD 26), sion of a part of the Conan O’Brien show on 2008. YouTube, Dungen, Ta det lugnt (Subliminal Sounds SUB- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= CD 24) 2004. hey5JOvnEiY, last accessed 2 December Dungen, Tio Bitar (Subliminal Sounds SUBCD 2011. 24) 2007. 84 Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius and Lars Kaijser, Affective Ordering

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Lahger, Håkan 1999: Proggen. Musikrörelsens ture’s Addiction to Its Own Past. London: uppgång och fall. Stockholm: Atlas. Faber. Latour, Bruno 2005: Reassembling the Social. An Small, Christopher 1999: Musicking. The Mean- Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: ings of Performing and Listening. Hanover, Oxford University Press. NH: Univ. Press of New England. Lilliestam, Lars 1998: Svensk rock. Musik, lyrik, Taylor, Charles 1991: The Ethics of Authenticity. historik. Göteborg: Ejeby. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Marcus, George 1995: Ethnography in/of the Théberge, Paul 1997: Any Sound You Can Im- World System. The Emergence of Multi-sited agine. Making Music/Consuming Technology. Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology Hanover & London: Wesleyan University 1995:24:95–117. Press. Mannheim, Karl 1952: The Problem of Genera- Thyrén, David 2009: Musikhus i centrum. Två lo- tions. In Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, kala praktiker inom den svenska progressiva ed. Paul Kesckemeti. London: Routledge & musikrörelsen: Uppsala Musikforum och Kegan Paul. Sprängkullen i Göteborg. Stockholm: Univ. Martin, Bill 1998: Listening to the Future. The (Diss.) Time of Progressive Rock 1968–1978. Chicago: Unnes, Elin 2010: Dungen. Skit i allt (review). Open Court. Svenska Dagbladet 8 September 2010. Ortner, Sherry 1973: On Key Symbols. American http://www.svd.se/kultur/musik/ Anthropologist 75:1338–46. dungen_5275725.svd, last accessed 22 Febru- Östberg, Kjell 2002: 1968 – När allt var i rörelse. ary 2012. Sextiotalsradikaliseringen och de sociala rörel- Yeaman, Nanoushka 2008: Ane Brun: “Changing serna. Stockholm: Prisma. of the Seasons” (review). Dagens Nyheter 12 Petterson, Tobias & Ulf Henningsson eds. 2007. March 2008, p. B:9 The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Mu- Yeaman, Nanushka 2010: Dagens Nyheter 7 Sep- sic 1967–1979. From Psychedelic Experiments tember 2010. to Political Propaganda. Stockholm: Premium http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/skivrecensioner/ Publishing. dungen-skit-i-allt, last accessed 22 February Reynolds, Simon 2011: Retromania. Pop Cul- 2012. 86 Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing Family Land Generational Succession and Property Transfer in Two Swedish Agricultural Areas from 1870 to 2009 By Iréne A. Flygare

Introduction creased economical rationalism (Wohlin In Sweden there are 325 000 officially re- 1910; Kungl. Maj:ts prop. 1965:41; Ivars- corded agricultural estates, the majority in son 1977). The last decades of the 19th private hands, (but only some 80,000 of century have often been thought of as the them are regular production units). They period of the final breakthrough of rational- range from smallholdings with little or no ism and commercialism. Questions of in- farming activities – some with the main heritance and property transfer in Swedish incomes from forestry – up to big farm agrarian society have interested historians, business enterprises. A substantial portion who have often focused on how market of these property units contribute land to forces and monetary economy affected the extensive present-day leasing system. land ownership and land transfer (Winberg 10,000 to 15,000 of these 325 000 units 1981; Rosén 1994; Ågren 1992; Gaunt change hands every year, and two thirds of 1983 ). Some have tried to link individual all acquisitions of landed property in 21st land to certain families in order to under- century Sweden occur within families stand how inheritance systems were made (SOU 2001:38:44).1 up (Taussi- Sjöberg 1996; Zernell-Durhàn The free market seems to play a limited 1990). Human geographers have also taken part in land transactions. Consequently, an interest in how much different inherit- the ongoing modernisation of agriculture ance systems have affected the landscape through farm enlargement is very much a layout, and have therefore made in-depth family affair. studies of genealogy (Sporrong & Wenner- sten 1995; Wennersten 2001;2002a, b). In- Aims and Points of Departure terest in gender issues in inheritance con- “Every mode of production based on pri- texts has increased in recent years, focusing vate property, in whatever form, requires a on conditions in the 19th century (Holm- regular and legitimated means of inter- lund 2007; 2008; Dribe & Lund 2005; generational property transfer… ”(Sec- Ågren 2009). combe 1995:39). This article takes as it Relatively few Swedish researchers starting point processes concerning the have looked at inter-generational relation- transfer of actual ownership of agricultur- ships of the 20th century, due perhaps to al property, not the transfer of farming as land transactions having been looked on such. Land ownership is hedged about by as a purely commercial relation. In other legislation – with laws of inheritance play- Nordic countries awareness has been ing an important part – but also by social larger (Thorsen 1993; Melberg 2008; and cultural conceptions which are some- Daugstad, 1999); Grubbström 2003). times visible but mostly operate on a Therefore, from a Swedish research point deeper level. of view we lack understanding of the In a Swedish context, where the modern- background to high degree of today’s isation discourse has dominated both sci- inter-family transference but also – given ence and policy, the forms of property the drastic changes in agriculture – how transfer within agriculture were seen as present-day property relationships are the relics of the past, destined to succumb to in- results of historical circumstances (Morell

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 87

forthcoming). Even if agriculture modern- ern Uppland, as well as Åse and Viste isation depends on a wide range of cir- hundreds in Grästorp in Västra Götaland. cumstances, the question needs to be The farms lie in markedly agricultural raised in what way kinship and family re- areas in eastern and western central Swe- lations have been at play.2 den, but some parishes contain substantial Kinship, as I see it, is something which forestation. Agricultural settlement in is constructed in every cultural context, western Uppland is concentrated to small not an absolute category. One point of villages, while farms in Grästorp are scat- departure from all constructions, how- tered all over the area. Some of these ever, is that a relative is something quali- farms the author has studied since the ear- tatively different from a non-relative. In ly 1970s, but the selection expanded dur- kinship systems like Sweden’s, where kin- ing a period between 1995 and 2009 (Fly- ship is counted from ego and on both the gare 1999). To this is added a survey of mother’s and the father’s side, relatives census records for the hundreds of Simtu- quickly become numerous. The kinship na,and Torstuna.3 positions, in an outer circle beyond par- The central source material consists of ents and siblings, to be included in a more 115 taped interviews with different gen- active kinship network probably vary with erations. Roughly, interviewees fall into social and cultural condition, but also three age categories, the oldest including from one individual and family to another. informants born in the first two decades This study starts with the present situa- of the 20th century. These started their tion and then moves back and forth careers as active farmers in the years through the period between 1850 until to- around the Second World War. In the day. The point of departure is 35 farms in 1990s this group had retired and left the central Sweden and by starting with a farms to one of their children. These chil- number of farms and interviews, then dren constitute the middle generation, tracing them back through history using born mainly during the 1940s and 1950s, family genealogies, I want to try to ex- and making up the active farmers in the plore the relations between today’s situa- 1990s investigation. Their children were tion on the farms in question and what then in their 20s or just under, and born in happened to family and land several dec- the 1970s. ades ago. History is here viewed not as a In the most recent investigation the concluded epoch, but rather as an active middle generation had reached, or were contributing factor in shaping the condi- approaching retirement age, while the tions for people on the farms in question. youngest generation were now in their 30s and had small children. Of the oldest gen- The Farms in Western Västergötland eration, several people born in the 1920s and Western Uppland – Sources and were still alive. Some still live on the Methodology farm, while others reside in retirement The investigation comprises 35 farms in homes. Returning to the farms from the Simtuna hundred and Torstuna hundred in earlier study made it possible to follow up the Fjärdhundra and Heby areas of west- on the interviews of 10–15 years ago, 88 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

comparing the earlier thoughts on the im- usually male but often female – was pending generational succession, with the chosen. Those who married in were with actual outcome. few exceptions from agricultural back- The genealogical research covers a grounds. large number of villages both in the Heby On the investigated farms the transfer and Fjärdhundra areas, linking families occurred while the parents were still liv- across both these districts and encompass- ing. On the other hand, full ownership ing the era from the late-17th century and rights were not transferred until the par- onwards, with an emphasis of the period ents’ death, which meant that most farms from the mid-18th century to today. underwent an extended transitional phase. A study based on different sources Usually, the farms were initially let to one needs some methodological considera- of the children, who as a rule had recently tions. The interviews have been con- started a family. During a period, brothers sidered from in two aspects. In order to could share the lease, but later dissolve the understand the cultural meanings in the collective running, with one of them buy- transfer process, I have identified main ing the home farm and the other acquiring themes and key words. When people talk a different farm or staying on as a bache- about their experiences of property trans- lor, engaged in everything from bee keep- missions, they do so in certain ways – you ing to working as a self-taught country might use the concept discourse. But in- lawyer. The arrangement also gave the terviews also give you the opportunity to parents a possibility of using the lease get relevant information on such issues as money as a foundation for the inheritance who is related to whom and what hap- of the other children. Generational shift pened in a particular year. Finally, con- involved a monetary transfer. It seems to cerning the genealogies, these are based have been rare, however, for the buyer to on different official records and, as far as actually pay the entire sum. The debt was the last century goes, could easily be regulated by way of promissory notes (re- checked against the interviews and vice verser). In some cases these remained as versa. long as the parents lived, even if part of the debt was paid off. The Transfer of Landed Property in ‘The Storegården family’ stem from an the 1940s and 1950s older farm in Västergötland, bought by We will now begin with a run-through of Granddad John’s parents in the 1890s. instances of generational shift in the 1940s John had a number of unmarried siblings, and 50s together with some examples but he married and took over the parental from the farms in question. Farms were al- farm with the siblings in residence. His most without exception inherited for a spouse came from a farm close by. John couple of generations. Still, the parents of and his wife had many children. The farm this generation of successors had con- had a mixed production of grain, milk, tinued to acquire more land. If several sows and horses. Horse breeding has been farms were owned, more siblings could undertaking with record results for gener- take over land. Otherwise a successor – ations and is a source of status, both local- Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 89

The granary divided into two parts during an inheritance transition in the early 20th century. The bound- ary between tall and short grass marks the two new properties bequeathed to the two siblings. Nibble, Uppland. Photo: Bengt Backlund, Upplandsmuseet. ly and regionally. The farm was extended Baby Boomers on the Farms. 1970s several times through the purchase of ad- and 1980s jacent farms – some of them purchased The middle generation (born in the 1940s from relatives. and 50s) started families in the 1970s and Linnea married in to Norrgården, a 80s, at a considerably younger age than farm in ‘Nibble’, in Uppland, and her hus- their parents, having to a greater extent a band Elis was employed on his parents’ family to provide for at an early age. Few farm – which has been in the family for a of the women who had married into the long time. The young couple lived to- farms had farming backgrounds. Because gether with the old couple and their un- of the need for income, the younger gener- married children. All members of the ation in varying ways became involved in family had their meals together and Lin- the running of the farm, or farmed land ad- nea’s mother in law was in charge of the jacent to the parental farm. Transition for household. Linnea and her husband raised this generation was more complicated three children in this extended household, than before. Parents and children could but finally when Elis’ youngest sibling left continue running the farms together for a home, Linnea and Elis got the opportunity number of years, or else the children were to take over the farm just before 1940. given sole responsibility for some part of Both couples still lived together but a production. Siblings, almost all of them separate kitchen was put in for Elis’ par- brothers, were in different ways directly ents. involved in about half of the farms. These 90 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

constellations of brothers were still work- sources, but a whole range of social, cul- ing the farms during the 1990s investiga- tural and moral as well as emotional tion. (By 2008, with one exception, they (blood sweat and tears) implications (cf. had been dissolved.) Abrahams 1991; de Haan 1994; Salazar Siblingship turns out to be an important 1996; Salomon 1992; Taylor & Norris factor in the transference process mainly 2000). The economic transaction was a because of its capacity to create lateral re- deal within the family, and siblings agreed lations. An example of how lateral kinship to be bought out at a lower rate than the in one generation can consolidate units in market value. Part of their compensation another generation is ‘Djurgården’. The could consist of a right to everything from farm was purchased by Bror, born in the summer homes to a new year-round house early 20th century. Soon afterwards he on the farm (cf. Barlett 1992:192; Göte- married Tyra, the girl next door. Tyra’s bo-Johanneson 1996:117). Much of the fi- parents’ farm, in the same family for a nances can be reduced to outwardly for- long time, was taken over by her brother, mal arrangements regulated in various who never married. Bror’s and Tyra’s son deeds of purchase, but in the eyes of the Börje took over ‘Djurgården’ farm from interviewees, these were of little or no im- his parents in the 1970s. When Tyra’s portance. Most could not clearly remem- brother died he left his farm to Börje in his ber what the documents actually said. will. The farms are now consolidated and These were seen as important only in that are about to be taken over by Börje’s and they represent the point in time when the Gun’s children. Land being inherited side- farm was handed over (de Haan 1994: ways is an important part of the inherit- 259). The written documents aside, there ance system. were unwritten rules about the siblings’ Let us return to the ‘Storegården Fami- rights to stay on the farm, the sharing of ly’. By 1985 two of John’s sons had taken gardens and storage spaces, and that over the property, (one of them was changes in the running of the farm as well Karl-Erik, who started pig rearing when changes of buildings were not too radical. he was only eight years old) while a num- ber of the other (unmarried) sons were Transfer in Progress 2008 employed on the farm. John and his wife The situation within the ‘Storegården moved to town after generational shift, but family’ is that by 2008 Karl Erik’s and the wife died after a while. By 1995 Mia’s second son has bought out one of Karl-Erik’s wife Mia (stemming from his unmarried uncles and now owns a town) was at home with the three children. farm of his own adjacent to the original The farm still had a mixed production of property, while their oldest is employed grain, milk, sows and horses – a labour-in- on his girlfriend’s farm. Karl Erik still tensive business sustained by many sib- heads the business but shares the practical lings. work with his son. For generations, un- When capital in the shape of land is married and married siblings have shared transferred between related generations it in farming, and also have had adjoining is not a question of abstract economic re- farms which have been utilised to create Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 91

New women, new networks and the re-emergence of an old production. Eskesta farm dairy, Uppland. Photo: Lennart Engström, Upplandsmuseet. smooth generational shifts through econ- farm, expressed their satisfaction with the omically cautious, but systematic expan- new generational relations. In the 15 years sion. Despite the youth of the youngest that have passed since the earlier study, generation, which has not started families, practically all the farms investigated have there is a great determination to move on extended their land. In Grästorp, other es- with the transfer. The social network of tates have been added. In Fjärdhundra family and kinship relations is very active there has been a mix of purchase and here, with much rallying to the support of leases – a major part of this extension was their members, enabling a large produc- realised by buying and leasing from sib- tion of traditional diversity, based on milk, lings and cousins, aunts and uncles and grain, horses and pigs. even more distant relatives. On the By 2008 some from the older genera- ‘Kvarngården’ farm, Eskil – 56 years old tion were still living on the farm, but many – is still waiting for his unmarried uncle had either died or moved into care. The (80 years old) to stop farming. Eskil’s baby boomers had now moved up a rung mother was born and raised on that farm and the generational problems addressed and this piece of land is Eskil’s only op- mainly by the women in the 1990s study portunity to acquire more farmland sur- were toned down. Several, now parents- rounded as he is by a golf court and some in-law and with grandchildren on the reserves. 92 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

More than half the farms are in a transi- generations. With a couple of exceptions, tional phase or have formally been taken the informants refer to families present as over by the children. Those individuals landowners in the surroundings during the suggested in the mid-1990 have turned out second half of the 19th century. to be those who today take active part or Access to family genealogies from the have taken over. The smallest as well as Uppland hundreds does however show the largest farm, have advanced well into that most interviewees (with the exception the transitional phase, and size does not of recent female in-laws) have much seem bear any immediate importance for deeper roots in the present area, some- the takeover. Even a smaller farm can times as far as it is possible to trace, i.e. the have advantages which make the next late 16th century. This does not mean that generation choose to take it on. Size does farms have been handed down in a straight however make a difference in how in- line, but rather that generations have tensely it is run. Smaller farms have mul- moved between different, family-related, tiple sources of income, such as forestry estates. Therefore, most farms do not dis- combined with part-time employment or play an unbroken transfer between parents several different ventures emerging from and children. However, these long chains the farm, mainly contracting, followed by tend to meander their way through both renting and tourism. Others chose full- matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance. time employment while simultaneously When the histories of individual farms are running the farm. Among all investigated combined with family genealogies a web farms there were those who were small of bilateral kinship relations emerges, units a few decades ago, but had now spread out across these hundreds. The grown to be among the largest in terms of sources show that women were not only acreage, some through purchase and in- remunerated from their home farms but heritance, and some through extensive also themselves brought property towards leases. the marriage, and that this property some- times determined where the matrimonial Does History Play Any Part in Proper- unit would settle. Even if sons, both in law ty Transfer? and by custom, were privileged to accede The farms and families that make up my to the estate, in reality there were many study are in many respects those who sur- occurrences in the course of a family’s life vived the major changes that agriculture that highlighted the daughters’ position in has undergone in the post-war era, but the generational switchover. what is the story behind this relationship? During the 19th century there appeared When the interviewees were asked about to be a movement towards consolidating the history of the current farm it transpired several units during one generation, and that 15 farms had been in the same family then dividing them again during the next. for four generations or longer, some with There was always a certain amount of land a considerably longer line of inheritance. for sale since some families declined or 17 farms have an uninterrupted history of disappeared completely, but ancestral three generations, and three farms two land, matrilineal or patrilineal, was the Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 93

hub around which marriage alliances were but the large unit Nibble was divided into created, making it possible for generations its original units, Norrgården going to a to move between different farms. Some of daughter and Sörgården to a son. One the villages saw generations move back daughter was given Rung through mar- and forth, depending on practicality, riage; the others could take realised assets throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The with them to the farms they married into. system was flexible and dynamic, if there The widow Sara (with at least two retire- was too much land in relation to the work ment contracts) moved in with the daugh- capacity, part of the estate could be let and ter who inherited Norrgården at ‘Nibble’. then passed on as inheritance. The retiring Her daughter – Sara’s granddaughter – generation provided themselves with the married later and had six children who right to a future dwelling and upkeep ambitiously worked their way up the through special retirement contracts (un- family network through strategic mar- dantagskontrakt), which can be seen as a riages (one of them was Elis’ father). The form of mortgage on the farm. Usually all son who inherited Sörgården had two heirs receiving land had this obligation to daughters, one of whom survived child- the parents written into their terms of hood and came to inherit the farm from transfer. When the elders had the right to her father. She and her one infant child upkeep from several estates they could died shortly after its birth. The young choose with which of their children they widower – from the neighbouring village whished to live. of Tibble, where the brother had taken Returning a while to ‘Nibble’, we will over the home farm – stayed in Nibble and see that Linnea’s husband Elis inherited remarried. Both families are still in pos- his farm from his parents. We will also be session of the ‘Nibble’ farms. able, through the marriage of Jan Petter Ray Abrahams, who has studied genera- Jansson (b. 1813) and Sara Larsdotter (b. tional shift in Eastern Finland maintains 1814), to find Elis’ ancestors and recog- that the dominating principle has been to nise how property relations worked in the let the collected estate be granted to one of 19th century. Both Jan Petter and Sara the heirs, but that the Finnish rural society could trace their ancestry to families in the has always proved flexible and in different parish dating back to the early 17th centu- ways still circumvent legal principles ry. Through inheritance and her dowry (Abrahams 1991:115,136c). Carl-Johan they owned the entire village of Nibble, Gadd has suggested that in 18th century encompassing two mantal (mansus), as Sweden, there was a mix of estate splitting well as farms in Rung, Djurby and Spånga in one generation and an extension of the in Torstuna parish. Rung and Djurby can areas in the next (Gadd 2000:206). In the be linked to Sara’s great grandfather’s sis- Grästorp area, this notion is supported by ters. In 1871, when the inheritance of Jan place names were several neighbouring P. Jansson was to be divided there were farms bear the same name. A unit called five surviving children (the eldest son had ‘Storegården’ was at one time divided into died before his father) as well as the several smaller ‘Storegårdar’. Regions widow Sara. A couple of farms were sold, with predominantly partible inheritance 94 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

have in Sweden given rise to a cultural tive, it transpired that kinship and mar- landscape with – by Swedish standards – riage alliances were very nearly the single dense settlement and a relatively small- most important historical reason behind scale agricultural landscape (Wennersten the interviewees owning that particular 2002b). In Grästorp this is visible when farm, regardless of how the selection of you leave the distinct plains around the interviewees had been made. The strate- town, in western Uppland it is noticeable gies of the grandparents – and, sometimes, along the valleys. those of more distant generations and Taking the kinship ties into considera- relatives – still prove to be of importance. tion, I suggest that the basic idea of the in- David Warren Sabean has shown, in his heritance principle for landed property in magnum opus on Neckarhausen that the these hundreds is centred on a form of importance of kinship increased during modified partible inheritance. But the sys- the mechanisation of agriculture (Sabean tem depended on the properties being con- 1990, 1998). There are many reasons for solidated during one generation and then this, but kinship can mean cheap labour at being split during the next. Those who times of increased production, or be a were successful in their property strate- shortcut to capital procurement. Another gies could hereby tackle the commerciali- distinctive feature is the way in which fa- sation of agriculture while at the same vours and counter-favours can be cashed time reproducing their families by alter- in on over a log period of time. Most often nating between increasing farm sizes in one is born into a kinship network. This one generation and then distributing them gives the people concerned plenty of time between heirs. This is not to say that it was to get to know each other, which in turn is a closed social system. Over-large fami- probably conducive to lower transactional lies, illness or drink problems were con- costs. stantly resulting in individuals being ex- The need to enlarge farms in the name cluded from the landowning circle. of modernisation increased sharply after Today the farms are numerous and the Second World War and in the investi- settlement dense in the area. A system of gated areas at least, a great deal of that impartible inheritance would have result- process occurred between kin and relied ed in considerably more family estates on the family history generations ago. with long ancestry. Had the large number Purchase, buying out, or gifts from unmar- of farms been the result of widespread ried uncles, childless or widowed aunts, or land purchase by newcomers the kinship divorced cousins have made possible the network had been considerably thinner. strengthening of land ownership on the in- vestigated farms. In-family purchases The Importance of Kinship have been cheaper than buying on the By applying a historical perspective and open market. This required nephews and ask the interviewees to untangle some of nieces to accept being passed over when the family and relationship ties back the farms were bestowed on a cousin, or through time, and by using existing family contenting themselves with a smaller in- genealogies to expand the time perspec- heritance when the farm was sold to a Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 95

relative for a lower amount. Certainly land was of farming stock. These were all has been bought from non-relatives, but it women with background in families that is the land inherited from parents and land made its living as labourers, craftsmen or acquired through more distant kinship that entrepreneurs. They were primarily raised forms the basis of the land transactions. in neighbouring communities but in some The system is heavily dependent on the cases also in towns. From an agrarian per- “demographic disturbances” affecting the spective they were landless, which meant outcome of the family cycle. Aside from that the whole foundation of property rela- crippling disease and death, childlessness, tions prevalent in earlier intermarriages the lack of family establishing, and in re- disappeared. Thus, those currently in- cent years divorce as well, are reasons for volved in property transitions have no activating lateral and bilateral lines of land from their mothers’ side. property transfer. In the discussion of the masculinisation process in agriculture, priority has perhaps Landless Brides been given to the issue of how production Family genealogies show that female in- chains controlled by women have been re- heritance lines were important. Women’s moved from agriculture and how the tech- inherited real estate or the cash they re- nical transformation has hampered female ceived in lieu of it through inheritance involvement.4 The fact that almost a were major components in the building of whole generation of farm daughters, po- every current landholding. It is appropri- tential farm wives, “disappeared” in the ate here to compare the historical sources 1970s–80s, to be replaced by women from with the interviews. For all the apparent other backgrounds, has not been acknowl- indications of continuity, the interviews edged. Whereas the men on the farms reveal that an important shift took place have family ties both at home and on the between the 1970s and 1980s – a change adjacent farms, most of the contemporary in marriage patterns. farming women lack these connections. Among the interviewees of the older This is true of areas as geographically dis- generation there were on the farms more tant as Västergötland and Uppland, which men that had married into the families points toward a general tendency (cf. than in the subsequent generation. The Jansson 1987). farms were thus brought into the mar- We know from historical records that riages by these men’s wives. Even though male heirs have often been favoured in in- the material is small there is a clear ten- heritance of the land. We also know that dency that male succession increased as by being born into farming families, the next generation (born in the 1940s– women have been able to advance their 50s) took over the farms in the 1970s–80s. positions as successors. Even when they Whereas both women and men of the gen- married into other farms, the inheritance eration marrying shortly after World War division of the home farm meant that II were born on farms (this is true for all capital could be brought into the hus- but one, in all areas), only a few of those band’s farm (Ågren 2009). They also had who married in from the next generation a moral claim to the farm they originated 96 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

from in the event of something happening parents to disregard daughters as heirs to to its successor. The new combination of the farm and it also led daughters, through sons being favoured even more strongly in upbringing, to stop regarding themselves ownership transition and them marrying as alternative heirs. The young men were outside the agricultural community leads at the same time led to believe that the to a diminishing of female land posses- farms could manage well without the ex- sion. Those who enter into a marriage perience and background of the farming landless will in all probability leave it daughters, which prompted them to look landless in the event of divorce, due to the for wives after their own wishes. common practice of pre-nuptial agree- This greatly affected the individual ments. That the patriarchal land posses- farms. A large proportion of the inter- sion has been strengthened as a conse- views with the women from the mid 1990s quence of individual freedom in the selec- concerned the culture clash of both daugh- tion of marriage partners is something of ters in law and mothers in law meeting in an irony of fate, but it will almost certainly the agricultural everyday life. The fami- mean that more decisions about land use lies were often large, partly because the and production policies will be made older generation still living on the farm without reference to women. and sometimes supplemented by unmar- The reasons for this shift in marriage ried brothers. Where earlier generations of patterns might perhaps be found in the women had sisters and female cousins in massive discourse from the 1930s and on- close proximity, the new generation wards which maintained that farm women lacked this sort of relatives. were neglecting their homes and children In addition to presumably having little in order to look after cows and pigs. It be- influences over land ownership the came politically desirable to remove the women’s different background probably physical work on the farm from the resulted in a diminishment of rural female women and to cast them in a new, more networks, both formal, such as a number scientifically organised role as house- of women’s associations and societies, wives. I argue that this discourse material- and informal everyday networks such as ised as late as in the late 1960s, primarily work exchange and child care. The influx because of the disappearance of milk pro- of these new women coincides well with a duction from many farms, which freed the decline in rural association activities (Fly- women from work. The Zeitgeist had by gare & Isacson 2011). On some farms, an then changed in favour of women working active mother-in-law could function as a away from home. At the same time, there mentor, introducing her daughter-in-law were forces attempting to represent farm- in various networks, relieving the sense of ing as a predominately male professional exposure, and for a time keeping groups as enterprise (Flygare & Isacson 2011; Fly- the church sewing circle going. gare 2008a, b). At the same time there were obvious The patriarchal rhetoric in combination benefits for the farms, as many of the new- with the possibility of women working comers stemmed from families with small away from home seem to have influenced businesses in the towns. A plumber or an Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 97

electrician as an in-law provided swift so- maintaining and even reinforcing patri- lutions for acute problems, while the need lineal inheritance, taking as active part as to seek part-time manpower to keep the men in identifying the interested son. farm going could be met by joining an They proved as passive as the men in let- in-law’s business. A large part of ting the daughters take on more demand- small-scale enterprise that has emerged ing farm work, which may have been due within agriculture, geared towards horse to their lack of models for teaching active breeding, rental services and local food farm work in the barns and on the fields. production, can probably be attributed to Men, on the other hand, claimed that train- the women who married into the farm. ing girls was too time consuming. They have therefore paved the way for Combined with the historical sources, some of the new dynamics within agricul- the interviews provide an opportunity to ture, but the question is: what part do they see how a radical change – modernisation play in the processes of property transfer you could say – of marriage patterns affect and generational shift? property relationships. It is a test of the as- The 1990s investigation was aimed at sumption that modernisation does not oc- understanding the internal logic of gener- cur in a vacuum, but rather that change oc- ational shift and one of the results was that curs in an existing social and cultural real- the offspring’s inheritance seemed to be ity, capable of development and reinter- decided while they were still children, us- pretation on its own terms. That which ing daily work as a sorting and legitimat- from a large societal viewpoint may be ing process. Putting it simply, the child construed as trivial – that women marry- perceived as the one who had taken part in ing into farms came from different social the farm work from an early age was seen groups – I suggest is rather the way in as the one who would take over the farm. which change can be seen on a smaller Time-wise, the oldest son often got a head scale. The resulting clash between two start on his brothers. He was encouraged different ways of looking at family was to learn various practices, while the transformed by the actions of two genera- daughters were not. By this early involve- tions of women. This brought on a decline ment this heir, according to parents as well in women’s influence over land owner- as siblings and grandparents, had shown ship, compensated by a stronger emphasis genuine interest and, by continuous work, on patrilineal inheritance. Kinship was had already put capital into the farm. On still important, but in terms of landed several farms, these children are currently property it was now a question of male an- in the process of taking over. cestry, while female ancestry could be ac- What is interesting is that this discourse tivated to develop additional ventures. is still maintained by the women who have The system of ownership transfer retained married into the family, despite their some of its continuity, but at the same background. This indicates that they were time changed. Much of what had previ- quickly fostered to regard the farm as ously been the chores of a farmer’s wife more than economic capital. As mothers, was replaced by new strategies for provi- they came to play an essential part in sion, still based on farming. The farming 98 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

families and the transfer of property fer processes have adapted but not become changed, but was not homogenised to re- homogenous; they have been reinterpreted semble other occurrences in society. To to integrate with the surrounding society. own land and to be surrounded by family Even though the farms may have grown members and more distant relatives, by in size and the land owners diminished in neighbours – all of them having their eyes numbers, it is still the parents who transfer on you – together with the local settings, a complex economical and cultural capital the different social and cultural horizons, on to their children. In that transfer many still produce variations (Hannerz 1992: of them had have good advantages by 261; Hylland Eriksen 1995:293c). their connections throughout a wider kin- ship network. That the system has been Conclusion maintained indicates that the involved Starting with existing farms and linking parties still perceive it as meaningful. interviews, information on generational Some of this meaningfulness can be de- shift, and family genealogies, has filled in fined as power and status, while some re- some of the knowledge gaps surrounding fer to morals; responsibilities to both dead late 19th century conditions, at least for the and living relatives and the identification areas investigated. Family genealogies to a group. If these cultural significances have made it possible to explore historical stop functioning, the transfer of land will circumstances further back in time for also cease to be anything more than trans- Heby and Fjärdhundra. During the entire fer of economical value. period, family and kin have transferred But somewhere is a point where cultur- land between generations and the regional al, economic, social and psychological ex- conditions correspond to the development planations cannot carry us any longer. on a national level where the land transac- Sometimes during the conversations with tions on the open market are still marginal. the people of Grästorp, Heby and Fjärd- That the system of property transfer could hundra there are undertones of the human be incorporated into the agricultural desire for what we do in our lives to be modernisation can thus largely be under- beneficial and have a meaning in the fu- stood by the dynamics of kinship with ture. reservoirs of available land. When it comes to property transfer, Iréne A. Flygare questions of continuity versus change of- Docent Upplandsmuseet, Uppsala and the Department of ten arise. The stability of the property pro- Economics. Swedish University of Agricultural cess is often seen by researchers and ex- Sciences, Uppsala. perts as an anomaly, given the drastic e-mail: [email protected] changes that agriculture has undergone. Almost without exception, this view pre- Acknowledgements supposes that property transfer can only The study has been funded by the Swedish be understood in economical terms. The Research Council, Vetenskapsrådet (VR) mistake is not to recognise that property and Upplandsmuseet, County museum for relations have indeed changed. The trans- Uppsala län. My greatest thanks to Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land 99

H. Wahlberg, Vittinge; G. Jansson, Tors- Dribe, Martin & Lund, Christer 2005: Retirement tuna; S. Ander, Västerlövsta, G. Larsson, as a strategy for land transmission: a micro- study of pre-industrial rural Sweden, Continuity Frösthult, for the generous use of your and Change, 20: 165-191. genealogical research. I would also like Flygare, Iréne A. 1999: Generation och konti- to thank Anne-Lise Head-König, Ray nuitet. Familjejordbruket i två svenska slätt- Abrahams, Henk de Haan, for comments bygder under 1900-talet. Diss. Uppsala: Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet. on an earlier draft of this paper. Flygare, Iréne A. 2008a: Parliamentary dis- courses: gender and agriculture in the Swedish Notes debate in the 1940s and 1960s. In Gender re- gimes, citizen participation and rural restruc- 1 This essay is based on research forming part turing, eds. I. Asztalos Morell & B. Bock. of the project Generational change and prop- Amsterdam. Elsevier. erty transfer in farming 1870–2000. Funded Flygare, Iréne A. 2008b: Det bekönade fältet: by the Swedish Research Council, Veten- kvinnors jordbruksarbete i politisk retorik och skapsrådet. In collaboration with I. Asztalos vardaglig praktik. In: Arbete pågår – i tankens Morell, A. Grubbström, M. Morell. mönster och kroppens miljöer, eds. A. Houltz, 2 See J. Goody, The European family, (Oxford, B. Lundström et al. Acta Universitatis Upsali- 2000) for a discussion about modernisation ensis. Uppsala Studies in Economic history, 86. theory and family history, 146–155. Flygare, Iréne A. & Isacson, Maths 2011: The 3 All interviews made by the author. Family Tension between modernity and reality. In: J. genealogies are made up by H. Wahlberg; G. Myrdal and M. Morell The Agrarian history of Larsson; G. Jansson; S. Ander, the parishes of Sweden, Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Altuna, Biskopskulla, Björksta, Frösthult, Huddunge, Härkeberga, Nysätra, Simtuna, Gadd Carl-Johan 2000: Den agrara revolutio- Sparrsätra, Tillinge, Torstuna, Vittinge, nen – 1700–1870. Det svenska jordbrukets his- Västerlövsta, Österunda; Fjärdhundra för- toria band 3. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. samlings arkiv: Församlingsböcker. Lands- Gaunt, David 1983: The property and kin relation- arkivet i Uppsala: Husförshörslängder och ships of retired farmers in northern and central mantalslängder: Simtuna och Torstuna hära- Europe. In: Family forms in historic Europe, ed. der. Richard Wall, Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- 4 See B. Brandt, ‘Gender identity in European sity Press. family farming: a literature review’, Sociolo- Goody, Jack 2000: The European family, Oxford: gia ruralis 42, 2002, 181–200, for an over- Blackwell. view of the masculinisation discourse Grubbström, Anne 2003: Sillar och Mullvadar – Jordägande och etnicitet i Estlands svensk- bygder 1816–1939 (Herrings and Moles – References Land Ownership and Ethnicity in the Estonian Abrahams, Ray 1991: A place of their own: family Swedish Settlement Areas 1816–1939). Diss. farming in eastern Finland. Cambridge: Cam- Uppsala: Univ. bridge University Press. Götebo Johannesson, Pia 1996: Mjölk bär och Barlett, Peggy F. 1993: American dreams, rural eterneller: om genus och tillvarons mångty- realities, family farm in crisis. Chapel Hill: The dighet. Stockholm: Carlssons. University of North Carolina Press. Haan de, Henk, 1994: In the Shadow of the tree: Brandt, Berit 2002: Gender identity in European kinship, property, and inheritance among farm family farming: a literature review, Sociologia families. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis. ruralis 42: 181-200. Hannerz, Ulf, 1992: Cultural complexity: studies Daugstad, Gunnlag Til odel og eige? Slektskap, in the social organization of meaning. New jord og arv på gardsbruk i ei vestnorsk bygd. York: Columbia University Press. Institutt for sosialantropologi, Universitetet i Holmlund, Sofia 2007: Jorden vi ärvde. Arvsöver- Bergen (1999) available on http://www.anthro- låtelser och familjestrategier på den uppländs- base.com/Txt/D/Daugstad_G_01.htm/. ka landsbygden 1810–1930. Diss. Stockholm: 2012-02-22. Univ. 100 Iréne A. Flygare, Family Land

Holmlund, Sofia 2008: “From formal to female Taussi-Sjöberg, Marja 1996: Rätten och kvinnor- property rights, gender and inheritance of land- na: från släktmakt till statsmakt i Sverige på ed property in Estuna, Sweden, 1810–1845”. 1500- och 1600-talen. Stockholm: Atlantis. In: Gender Regimes, Citizen Participation and Taylor J. E. & Norris, J.E. 2000: ‘Sibling relation- Rural Restructuring, eds. I. Asztalos Morell ship, Fairness, and Conflict over transfer of the and B. Bock. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Farm’, Family Relations, Vol. 49, 3: 277-283, / Hylland Eriksen, Tomas 1995: Small places, large http://www.jstor.org/stable/585891. issues: an introduction to social and cultural 2009-11-13. anthropology. London: Pluto Press. Thorsen, Emma 1993: Det fleksible kjønn: men- Ivarsson, Rune 1977: Jordförvärvslagen, social- talitetsendringer i tre generasjoner bondekvin- demokratin och bönderna: en studie över jord- ner 1920–1985. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. förvärvslagstiftningen i svensk politik 1945– Wennersten, Elisabet 2001: Gården och Familjen. 1965, Diss. Lund: Univ. Om jordägandet och dess konsekvenser för Jansson, Sören 1987: Den moderne bonden. människor, landskap och bebyggelse i Säljesta Stockholm: Gidlunds. by, Järvsö socken 1734–1826, Meddelanden nr Kungl. Maj:ts proposition till riksdagen1965:41, 108. Kulturgeografiska institutionen Stock- Förslag till jordförvärvslag mm. given Stock- holms universitet 2001. holms slott den 26 februari 1965. Wennersten, Elisabet 2002: Gårdar och folk i Melberg, Kjersti 2008: Succession Patterns in skogsbygd. Om jordägandet och dess kon- Norwegian Farm Generations: Gendered Re- sekvenser för människor, landskap och be- sponses to Modernity. In Gender Regimes, byggelse i Ängersjö by, Ytterhogdals socken Citizen Participation and Rural Restructuring, 1734–1815. Meddelanden nr 109. Kulturgeo- Eds. I. Asztalos Morell and B. Bock. Amster- grafiska institutionen Stockholms universitet. dam: Elsevier. Wennersten, Elisabet 2002: Släktens territorier. Morell, Mats (forthcoming): ”Transfers of land- En jämförande studie av sociala regelverk i det holdings in 1870–1930. A regional example förindustriella bondesamhället i Dalarna och from East Central Sweden.” Hälsingland. Meddelanden nr 112. Kulturgeo- Rosén, Ulla 1994: Himlajord och handelsvara. grafiska institutionen Stockholms universitet. Ägobyten av egendom i Kumla socken 1780– 1880. Diss. Lund: Univ. Winberg, Christer 1981: Familj och jord i tre väst- Sabean, David Warren 1990: Property, Produc- götasocknar. Generationsskiften bland själv- tion, and the Family in Neckarhausen, 1700– ägande bönder ca 1810–1870, Historisk tid- 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. skrift no. 3: 278-310. Sabean, David Warren 1998: Kinship in Neckar- Wohlin, Nils 1910: Bondeklassens undergrävan- hausen, 1700–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge de: i sammanhang med de gamla arfve- University Press. jordåskådningarnas upplösning, emigrationen Salamon, Sonja 1992: Prairie patrimony: family, och bondejordens mobilisering. Emigrations- farming & community in the Midwest. Chapel utredningen. bilaga X. Stockholm. Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. Zernell-Durhàn, Eva 1990: Arvet och hemmanet. Salazar, Carles 1996: A sentimental economy: Generationsstrategier i det norrländska bonde- commodity and community in rural Ireland. samhället 1750–1895’. (unpublished lic. phil. Oxford: Berghahn Books. thesis. University of Umeå, Department of His- Seccombe, William 1995: A millennium of family tory. change: feudalism in Northwestern Europe. Ågren, Maria 1992: Jord och gäld: Social skikt- London: Verso. ning och rättslig konflikt i södra Dalarna 1650– SOU 2001:38: Ägande och struktur inom jord och 1850. Diss. Uppsala Univ. skog: betänkande av Jordförvärvsutredningen. Ågren, Maria 2009:‘Domestic secrets, women Stockholm. and property in Sweden 1600–1857’. Studies in Sporrong, Ulf & Wennersten, Elisabet 1995: Legal history, Chapel Hill: University of North ’Marken, gården, släkten och arvet’. Leksands Carolina Press. sockenbeskrivning del X. Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing 101 Beyond the Village and Across Borders Experiences of Mobility in Rural Northern Finland Eeva Uusitalo

Villages have always been a valuable ob- community life, mobility has been seen as ject and basic unit of research for ethnolo- a morally dubious external influence that gists. As regionally defined local commu- tears the community apart. In this article, I nities, they have been compact and handy consider mobility as a part of village life, fieldwork sites.1 An ethnological dream regardless of its effects or outcomes. I de- come true is a village where social interac- scribe the patterns and processes that mo- tion and daily life is easily observed and bility fashions in the fabric of everyday participated in. In a slightly romantic way, life of a northern periphery. My aim is to researchers may not have always been discuss how different kinds of mobilities willing to see the object of their study, vil- affect and mould the village as a social en- lage or community, as a field of controver- tity, but also the role that staying in one sies, conflicts or discontinuities. One ba- place plays in relation to mobility. sic principle of studying culture, namely I focus my study on a remote rural vil- holism, and a “passion for the whole” lage, Ahvenselkä, located in the munici- (Köstlin 1997) has directed the gaze of the pality of Salla in Northern Finland.2 The researcher to things that appeared as uni- article is based on my fieldwork in the vil- fied, clearly drawn and functional wholes. lage in 2008, when I stayed there with a A village has become an ideal type and a colleague for two weeks.3 During our representation of a collective and harmo- fieldwork we visited almost every house- nious community (Lönnqvist 2002:120– hold of the village, and interviewed 31 in- 121). It is a site for and a home to the tra- dividuals. Participant observation, an im- ditional and stationary, villagers for their portant part of ethnographic fieldwork, part represent people who stay in one was a challenge in Ahvenselkä. Social life place generation after generation. in the form of common activities was In recent years, globalization, migra- quiet. There were no public places where tion and transnationalism have helped to one could ‘hang out’ and observe the daily see the changing and flexible side of local- life of the village or that provided oppor- ity, its relativity and context-bound char- tunities for coincidental encounters. Dur- acter. Localities are no longer simply geo- ing our stay the only activities I partici- graphical places or a reflection of the pated in was women’s gymnastics and small in scale (see Appadurai 1996). To- volleyball. In a village like Ahvenselkä, day we are thinking beyond the village participating in village life means partici- and closely-knit community. People are pating in the everyday life of the residents: seen as being less tied to certain places going ice fishing or snowmobiling with than before. People move and migrate for them, or accompanying them in their daily various purposes and periods of time. errands. As we did not have a car, we had Mobility and community are often un- to walk everywhere, which was our way derstood as separate concepts, one repre- of becoming briefly part of the village (see senting change, modernity and urban life Ingold & Vergunst 2008 for the ethnogra- whereas the other stands for continuity phy of walking). and the traditional. Rather than being seen My research material consists of my in- as a permanent or longstanding feature of terviews with the residents of the village,

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 102 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

and my own field diaries, in which I have enabler of movement. The significance of documented my day-to- day thoughts and the relational contingencies of mobility informal discussions with the locals. The and immobility is also recognized. Things interview excerpts are mainly from one in- on the move presuppose a large, complex, terview with our key informant, but other- but rather stationary infrastructure. Addi- wise my analyses and interpretations are tionally, the mobility of some comes at the based on the field material as a whole. expense of others (Bissel & Fuller 2011: 3–6). Capital and investments are liquid, About Mobility companies can freely choose their loca- In its most basic form, mobility is about tions, but locality stays where it is, and lo- the human body and its movement. It cal employees are left to lick their wounds covers social entities from households to when a company moves to another place large corporations, which presupposes in order to make more profit (Bauman different forms of movement. Although 1998:8). the amount of social research on mobility Mobility is often, at least implicitly, in- is voluminous, little effort has been made cluded in the controversial concept of glo- to develop and systematize theories and balization, which refers to movement methods for mobility. John Urry has taken across the world, to transnational connec- on the task of developing an analysis of tions (Hannerz 1996:6). The concept of the role that the movement of people, global is in opposition to the concept of lo- ideas, objects and information plays in so- cal, and this polarity is an expression of cial life. He attempts to establish a new the dichotomy between mobile/immobile. cross- or post-disciplinary mobility para- The concept glocal deconstructs in part digm, “a ‘movement-driven’ social this dichotomy, as it implies a connection science in which movement, potential between the global and the local. Con- movement and blocked movement are all trasting the local and the global contains a conceptualized as constitutive of econ- truism that grants that the local is to global omic, social and political relations” (Urry as continuity is to change (Hannerz 1996: 2007:17–18). 19). In this duality village falls in to the Another advance in the study of mobil- category of local where mobility plays a ity is the realization that mobility includes marginal role. Localities are described its opposite, immobility. Earlier these two somewhat traditional, stable and fixed concepts were kept apart, and research fo- communities with little interaction with cused on issues like the causes and conse- the surrounding world. They are repre- quences of mobility and migration. Today sented as reservoirs of tradition, continui- the dichotomy is questioned, and leaving ty and history, falling apart under the pres- and staying are understood and studied as sure of modern life (Frykman et al. 2009: a mutually constructive phenomenon (Bo- 8–9). gren 2008:30). Staying in one place is in- Mobility is by no means terra incognita creasingly being recognized as something in ethnological research. Cultural encoun- valuable in its own right, not just a reflec- ters, the acculturation process, cultural tion of mobility, or an effect, function or diffusion, innovation, ethnicity and cul- Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 103

tural change are, for example, core con- 6). Mobility is often understood as a cepts for ethnologists, and they often im- ‘hard-core’ long-distance movement, and ply movement of one sort or another. With thus small scale mobility is overlooked. In ever increasing numbers of people on the my study mobility is not only about trans- move, research on displacement has in- national long-distance travel or connect- creased in recent decades. As I mentioned edness, but also something that takes earlier, village studies seem to be void of place closer to home. The emphasis is on any reference to themes of mobility, trans- the viewpoints of those who do not leave national migration, IT-communication, for good, who return, or stay put, but are consumption or technology. In compari- under the influence of global ideas. Al- son with ‘sexy’ new and emerging re- though people stay mostly in one place, search topics, they seem out-of-date different aspects of mobility penetrate (Welz 2009:49). On the macro level, mo- their everyday life. Even in a remote vil- bility has been recognized, but the closer lage mobility covers a wide range of research comes to the ‘grass-root level’, things, in addition to people and matter, the more local life becomes. Rural people ideas, ideologies, politics, policies, cul- are described as being firmly fixed in their tures, beliefs, and memories are also on villages and settlements, in a state of tran- the move. I concentrate in my article on quility which is shaken only by temporary the mobility of people and ideas. The lat- moments of disorder and change. The ter refers in particular to global, market natural way of the world is that of stability oriented and market driven economic pro- and social order, and the aspect of mobili- cesses and rationalities that affect the ty has been connected with nomadic northern peripheries. Thus the mobility of peoples. Even in the current paradigm of ideologies includes, for example, how dif- movement, according to Vered Amit, ferent industrial sectors operate in this studies that focus on structuring commu- particular area, and also how the ethos of nities through mobility put over much entrepreneurship is introduced to rural vil- stress on continuity and integration, refus- lages. ing to see them as breaks, albeit tem- porary, with previous relationships and contexts. Researchers acknowledge that Salla – in the Middle of Nowhere the people they are studying are on the When I went to Salla for the first time, the move, but, according to Amit, the move- concept and phenomenon of mobility was ment is framed within bounded and con- of no importance to me in any significant tinuous ideas of peoplehood (Amit 2002: sense. I was aware that it had been around 34–36). for a couple of decades, especially in an- Understanding movement as part of so- thropology, but I did not anticipate that it cial life in general is complicated by the would be an interesting theme when fact that mobility has often been examined studying Finland’s northern peripheries, as constituting a world of its own, under although globalization had affected headings such as migration, refugee stu- Northern Finland: companies had out- dies or tourism (Hastrup & Olwig 1997: sourced their operations to Asia, and one 104 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

major player in Eastern Lapland, Stora families whose villages and homes were Enso, was running down its pulp mill in left on the ‘wrong’ side of the Russian Kemijärvi, a town close to Salla, at the border. time of my first field trip in March 2008. In what follows, I will briefly describe Even in the remotest corner of the village the municipality of Salla, and the special where we had our accommodation, trucks characteristics of its history, in the light of were taking out loads of timber from the mobility. I will then turn to the everyday forests day and night. I had trouble per- life of the village, and examine how mo- ceiving that I was staying in a remote rural bility has been, and is, a part of the every- village, and the traffic made me recon- day life and experiences of the residents of sider the concept of a periphery and the the village. isolation of remote villages. Our interview questions also included the theme of movement. We wanted to find out in which directions people move in terms of getting services and also where family members live and their movements during their life cycle. We were interested in the migration of the 1960s and 1970s, and also the extent to which gaining a live- lihood makes people mobile. When I went through the research material in a more detailed manner, I started to become alert to the fact that movement has always been part of the life of people living in these northern peripheries. In Lapland people are used to walking around in large areas: hunting, gathering, reindeer herding, fish- ing, trading, working, and snowmobiling. When talking about their everyday move- ments in the village or in the forests people often use the word move about (kulkea), a word that indicates well their mobile lifestyle (see also Ingold 1988: 125). The effects of the globalized economy Ahvenselkä, a periphery of a periphery. on a peripheral northern village also at- tracted my attention. I was inspired to ap- Salla, located in East-Lapland, and on the proach the theme of mobility by focusing border with Russia, promotes itself, espe- on this supposedly out-of-the way and iso- cially for potential tourists, with the slo- lated, peripheral postwar settlement that gan In the middle of nowhere. It makes was built after the war (1939–1944) for clever use of the popular image of Salla as Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 105

being located somewhere in the north, far that have affected mobility in and out of from any significant centre. This was, I Salla: the big forest-working sites that must admit, also my image of Salla before drew a work force to the north from the my first field trip.4 “A place these days late nineteenth century on, the years dur- which people tend to come from rather ing and after the war (1939–1944), and the than go to” as Ray Abrahams (1988:48) migration of the 1960s and 1970s. In the has described one village in Eastern Fin- next section, I describe in more detail land. Anthropologist Tim Ingold conduct- these significant turning-points in Salla’s ed fieldwork in Salla in the late 1970s and history. These historical processes are early 1980s, and he explains that one big connected to large-scale economic and challenge for him was that there was no political trends that have had a significant clearly defined village to be observed. The and long-lasting effect on the lives of the houses were kilometers apart, and the tra- local people. ditional norms of visiting, reciprocity and co-operation had almost vanished (Ingold Economic and Political Turmoil in the 1988:125). Periphery I remember sitting in the car of our host, People living in Lapland have always driving towards the target village of our been mobile, but mobility became more first visit. The land was flat bog land, and large-scale in the late 19th century when the road a straight line through the land- the vast forests of Salla, and indeed of scape and on the map. It was winter, and Lapland as a whole, started to attract the all I could see was a vast whiteness. There forest industry. Demand for raw material were no settlements, no sign of life, and I for the saw mills was endless. A large la- had a feeling of being miles from any- bor force was needed, and the logging where. I was looking forward to two sites were crowded with men from all over weeks of peace and quiet in a dying vil- the country. Hanna Snellman’s study of lage with the houses located far from each lumberjacks in Finnish Lapland (1996) other, and with people mostly from an old- provides extensive insight into their work er generation living in their cottages, the and life. The lumberjacks were highly mo- cuckoo clock ticking away on the wall. bile, as the men moved around Lapland The image of the location of the houses looking for work, forest work in the au- turned out to be true, but otherwise my tumn and winter, and floating the logs prejudices were not accurate. During my downriver in the spring and summer. A stay I met people living their everyday life notable part of the work force came from in their village, who were attached to their other parts of Finland, and as the work environment and birth place. Also the age was seasonal, men often stayed in the re- structure was younger than I had anticipat- gion and sought alternative jobs in be- ed – there were even two babies on the tween the seasons. As Hanna Snellman way. mentions, they were nomads who moved Salla has been affected by mobility in about seeking work. In between the work various ways and at various times. Salla’s they stayed in the villages and settlements, past can be condensed into three periods and worked in local houses in exchange 106 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

for food. Many lumberjacks settled in Sal- area that was ceded to Soviet Union in the la and started a family. Local men too Moscow Peace Treaty in 1940 were allot- worked long periods away from home, ted land in previously unoccupied areas of and combined forest work with small- the municipality, where they had to start scale farming or reindeer herding. The their life from the scratch (Ingold 1988: mechanization of forestry work dimin- 122; Heinänen 1993:349.) ished the need for a large labor force, as The third wave of mobility dates to the did the end of the practice of floating logs late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1970 Salla downriver in 1991. The men who moved ranked at the top of the depopulation sta- around to look for work, the ‘rover jacks’, tistics. Six percent of the population mi- vanished from Lapland’s forests, roads grated to other Nordic countries that year. and villages. Forestry continued to offer The extent of depopulation in Salla was job opportunities for the local men, but not considerable. The population peaked at on such a scale as before (Snellman 1996). over 11 000 in 1960, but had fallen to The next and even larger wave of mo- 8000 within a decade (Ingold 1988:122– bility in Salla is connected to the war of 123). This outmigration was to a great ex- 1939–1944 (with a short period of peace tent the result of the post-war settlement during 1940–1941) when in 1939 at only a policy. The newly built farms could not few hours notice people had to leave their provide a livelihood for what were often homes as Soviet troops advanced across large families, and there were little other the border. The villages in the eastern part options to find employment, or even get of the municipality were evacuated over- an education. The outmigration was fur- night, and people were eventually settled thered by changing government agricul- in other parts of Lapland. Nine villages tural policies and by the mechanizing of and almost half of the area of the original forestry that could no longer offer as many district of Salla were left on the wrong jobs. With the coming of age of the post- side of the new frontier, established in war baby-boomers, large numbers of rural 1940, with more than 3700 inhabitants residents moved mostly to cities in the losing their homes (Heinänen 1993:336). southern and western parts of the country, All the residents of Salla had to leave and also to Sweden. Although finding bet- their homes again in 1944, when the Ger- ter job opportunities was an important mo- man troops that had defended Lapland tivation for leaving, the majority of young during the war started to withdraw north- migrants, living in relative poverty, was ward5, setting the villages and houses on also motivated by the thought of higher fire as they forwarded. The residents of standards of living, an easier and more Lapland were all evacuated to Ostroboth- prosperous life, and sometimes even by a nia and Sweden, including the people of love of adventure. For them, leaving the Salla. The total number of evacuees from home village was not a hardship, or such a Salla was 8 800. After things had settled negative experience, as has been implied down, when people returned to their (Haapala 2004:234, 249–250; Snellman homes, they found them burnt. Those 2003:103–106). Of course there was whose homes and farms were left in the home-sickness, and a sense of longing for Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 107

A chimney of a pulled-down house is left standing. It represents the possibility of return and the “pres- ence of the absent” (Ehn & Löfgren 2007: 208). It is at the same time a symbol of mobility and immo- bility, a memorial to the people who have left but also an indication of the resilience of a village that re- fuses to fade away. When I asked why the chimney was left standing, I was told it was because when people return the first thing they would want to do would be to heat ‘flat bread’ on the stove. Photo: Eeva Uusitalo. one’s relatives, the nature and the land- conclude that the new villages remained scape, but the post-war experience was for staging posts for villagers who were en many that of constant movement, and they route to become city dwellers (Ingold never really had time to put down roots 1988:139). (Snellman 2003:45, 223–230). Settling People set off for various reasons: to down in a new village was not furthered look for work or a better life elsewhere, to by the settlement pattern, in which houses see far away countries or just to take a were strung out along roads in a linear break from everyday life. Mobility can settlement pattern, leaving considerable also be forced, triggered by war or other distances between the farms, whereas in unstable conditions, or dissidence. In the the old villages houses were concentrated village under study the ‘push’ forces have on the banks of lakes or rivers, enabling been unemployment, harsh living condi- people to move considerable distances tions, whilst the ‘pull’ factors have been along the waterways. It is reasonable to work, adventure, and a better standard of 108 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

living. Migration from Salla has continued sense of the word, with their own services (its population was 4 252 in 2009), al- like grocery store, a school, a post office. though not to such large extent as in the Today, as the number of inhabitants has 1960s and 1970s. The population dimin- diminished and the services, both private ishes slowly when young people move and public, have almost disappeared, the away to get an education or to find work. borders of the villages have merged, and Some return, but most build their lives the residents from a larger area seek to elsewhere. co-operate.8 The post-war resettlement policy was to The Northern Village in the Whirlpool place residents from one old village to- of Globalization gether in one new village. The new houses In the following I move to the village were built along loop roads and blind where I conducted fieldwork, and describe roads, and bog land was cleared to form and analyze the different forms of mobili- new fields. The inhabitants of Ahvenselkä ty in the village today, how villagers have were moved from the village Tuutijärvi experienced it in the last few decades, and (or Tuutikylä, as they themselves call it). how mobility is reflected in the cultural Even though these residents all came from and social fabrics of the village. same village and used to be neighbors, it As I have mentioned, the village of Ah- was difficult to achieve a sense of belong- venselkä is one of the postwar settlements ing in a village that was built ‘overnight’ in the municipality,6 located 40 kilometers and founded by administrative decision. north-west of the church village,7 in most- In this context, cultural heritage is some- ly bare bog land, a quite typical landscape thing that goes beyond traditional defini- in Eastern Lapland. A few small rivers run tions of the concept, and a sense of home through the village. They are important as is difficult to develop (see Snellman 2003: places for fishing, and connect the settle- 45). But people who live in the village to- ment to wider world, more symbolically day, who were born there and who have than in real life. Earlier there were also their roots there, feel they belong there. three small lakes in the area, but they were The village has a special meaning for drained in order to provide fields for the them, no matter how it was originally newcomers. There were already four founded. farms, dating from the first decades of the In 2008 when we did our fieldwork, 20th century. In those days the houses were there were approximately 60 people living part of Kursu village, the village itself was in the village. The age of the villagers founded as a result of the Salla-Kuusamo ranged from a new-born baby to 80-year- land acquisition law of 1945. New villag- olds. There were two infants, seven or es were created in the areas where there eight school-aged children, about 13 pen- was state owned land, and the residents sioners and almost half of the residents had to settle for what was given to them. were around sixty years old. The children There are other postwar settlements in were taken to school by a school bus, ei- the same corner of the municipality as ther to the church village or the neighbor- well. They were villages in the proper ing village of Kursu. The bus drives the Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 109

The former village shop. Photo: Eeva Uusitalo. loop roads in the morning, collecting the week. In the heydays of the village there children on the way. Those in work mostly were two shops, but now they are both have to commute to the church village or closed. The library bus circulates in the even further afield. Women in particular village twice a month. Ploughing the seemed to find employment in the service roads in winter is an important public ser- sector, either public or private (within vice, and a prerequisite for being able to tourism). Today agriculture only offers a live in a remote village. When asked livelihood to one family, which raises beef about the need for the municipality’s ser- cattle. Considerable income comes into vices and equal access to them, a com- the village in the shape of types of social mon answer was “as long as they plough security payments. the roads”. Between the lines you could Public services have almost vanished read that if you choose to live in a remote from the village. The village school was village, you have to be satisfied with less. closed down in 2000; today it is used as There is also the local network, family one of the municipality’s adult education and neighbors, who provide a safety net, centers. During our stay, there was vol- substituting for absent services. For the leyball and gymnastics for women once a elderly, an often undervalued but impor- 110 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

tant asset is their own children, often un- from the rest of the interview and the married sons living with their parents. stories he told it would appear that one They do the grocery shopping, chop the factor was the memories of the family firewood, heat the houses, do mainte- and life as it used to be, the work done, nance work, drive them to wherever they the stones dug from the harsh land. As for need to go, and keep what perhaps is their those who never left the village, there most important property, the forest, in was a simple answer to the question why good condition. they had stayed put: “this is where we Waves of migration have affected Ah- were born”. venselkä, not dramatically, but in the form of a slow decline. The families used to be Transforming Rural Livelihoods large, so practically everyone had some The main livelihoods in northern rural relative or neighbor who had left during Finland were small scale farming and for- the great migration. People reminisce estry work. Forests will also be an impor- about the old days when there were events tant resource in the future, be it as raw ma- in the village and the school was full of terial for pulp or as bio-energy or for some children. The old village activities started other industrial or recreational use. The to fade out in the 1970s, but still in the significance of the forests for the villagers 1980s there were enough children to have lies in the fact that they are important team sports like ice-hockey games in the places for berry picking and hunting, and winter. they, in turn, are activities that keep In summer, when people came on holi- people in the village, and form the basis day from Sweden and other parts of Fin- for their sense of belonging. Earlier sell- land, the village came to life. After the ing berries also provided an additional in- first generations of migrants, the visits be- come. Today self-sufficiency in the form came fewer, and today even less people of hunting, fishing, gardening and berry visit their relatives. A younger generation, picking is an important part of household born in Sweden, hardly speaks Finnish life. Not that Ahvenselkä is completely and is unable to communicate with their outside a monetary economy, but a com- grandparents or cousins, and the relation- ment we heard, “what would one do with ships loosen. The only connection to Ah- money here”, tells a lot about the role of venselkä may be a small plot of land, or a self-sufficiency but also about the role of cottage. reciprocity in the village. For example, the For some, the call of the north and the use of a snow blower is exchanged for village where they were born is strong. It some other service, or repairing a chain- is not always easy to put into words. One saw is exchanged for some fish. informant, whose childhood home is now Giving up farming has meant commut- his second-home, was trying to explain, ing to the church village or even further for the interviewer and for himself, that it for work. Despite the long journey to is not the place as such that draws him work, villagers have chosen to live in their back, “it is all this, this thing”. He was home village. Work tends to be temporary not quite able to put his finger on it, but or seasonal. Women work mainly in the Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 111

public sector or tourism, at the ski centre warm is important for them, especially in Sallatunturi 60 kilometers away, where winter. the work mirrors the tourist seasons. Men Finland has been a member of the Euro- work mostly in construction or do forestry pean Union since 1995 and membership related work. Earlier, before mechaniza- has brought far-reaching changes to the tion, forestry work offered more job op- Finnish countryside in the form of agricul- portunities for men. The logging sites tural, rural, regional and fringe area subsi- were often far away from the village, and dies, controls and programs. The Euro- work required longer stays away from pean Union agricultural policy does not home. favor small-scale agriculture, which has But after abandoning farming, … after that it was been the main mode of operation in Salla. mostly forest work after that, then. … I spent there As a result, many have given up farming. [in the logging site] also like a week. I might stay In addition to the requirements for bigger overnight at the lodge. We did not walk home farm sizes, the paperwork was too much every evening. It depended on how far away the for those who regarded the work more as sites were, and we traveled accordingly. a lifestyle than a business. The Finnish Forest and Park Service – a It was the paperwork, controlling, are things as state run institution – has been an impor- they should be, am I doing the right thing? At that tant employer in rural areas, but like so point some young farmers gave up. For them, the many governmental institutions it has also strict rules were too much. Continuously, what- been downsized. During our fieldtrip it ever contracts you made, it was always for five employed only two men from the village, years. … And if you don’t succeed, there will be sanctions. who travel over a relatively large area for their work. Some men have their work The European Union also directs the place even further away, and they may choices people have made concerning spend weeks in other localities and return their livelihoods. In agriculture, the num- home only for the weekends. One young ber of sheep farms in Salla has increased, man, who used to work in Sweden for two because of better EU subsidies. Reindeer years, spent six weeks there and three herding is practiced full-time by one weeks at home. He said he could not ad- herder and as more or less a subsidiary oc- just to the nine-to-five rhythm of working cupation by another. life. He needed to have the freedom to be This surveillance and sense of being un- able to go to the forest, often with dogs, der control is tolerated even less in north- hunting and fishing. Even though these ern rural peripheries than in other parts of multi-skilled men could get have plenty of the country. The decisions of the ‘Gentle- work in cities in southern Finland, they men of Helsinki’ are regarded with suspi- have chosen to stay. They explain their de- cion, and there are reservations toward cision in terms of an economic rationale; southern people (eteläläiset). In a some- people have houses in the village, and what sarcastic manner people often say renting an apartment in some other place that Lapland will soon be transformed into would mean paying housing costs in two holiday resort for Europeans, or a place to places. Furthermore, keeping the house supply labor force for the south. For lo- 112 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

cals, the periphery offers a blind spot village school or political activism. Apart where you can live in the grey zone, not from people’s homes there is nowhere for follow every rule and recommendation of people to meet. When asked about visiting the state and government. “They always patterns, people replied somewhat sarcas- say that you have to”, commented one tically that they met their neighbors most- man talking about the rules that the Minis- ly in grocery stores in the church village. try of Argriculture and Forestry imposes on some of the livelihoods that are impor- Practicing Entrepreneurship in the tant in the north. The authorities are felt to Middle of Nowhere be dictating and interfering with the north- One aspect of globalization is that the ern way of life, which they don’t under- spirit of entrepreneurship is being spread stand. ‘The crown’ and the state have to all levels and corners of society and the meddled with these peripheries for centu- world. The discussion about the replace- ries. Today the emphasis is on an ideology ment of old relationships based on trust of centralization and metropolizing, based and reciprocity by anonymous relations on the central discourses around globali- based on business has been around for zation, emphasizing the transnational quite a while (see eg. Anttila 1974). What global economy and competition, and ex- is today called entrepreneurship is in a cluding the peripheries and rural areas certain form familiar to the residents of ru- from the development of the state space ral areas. Picking and selling berries for (see Moisio 2009:22–23). markets has for long been an important Although people may feel excluded and part of families’ incomes. claim that the state just takes everything A more formal and profit oriented en- from peripheral areas, a considerable part trepreneurship has not been a success sto- of their income comes in the form of so- ry in the village. Some say that this is be- cial benefits. There is a paradoxical atti- cause anyone who had potential and tude to the state: on the one hand it is sup- showed an aptitude for entrepreneurship posed to support and provide employ- left the village in the 1960s and 1970s and ment, on the other hand, its habit of limit- went south, or to Sweden. If readiness and ing freedom and setting down guidelines aptitude for entrepreneurship is about is detested, even more so now that the hope and expectations (Frykman et al. state is cutting back its functions in remote 2009:23), what does unwillingness to start rural areas, and concentrating its services a business indicate? Submitting to one’s in regional centers. destiny and that of the village destiny, and The diminished significance of agricul- throwing oneself in the arms of the state? ture and forestry as sources of livelihood There have been enterprises in the village, and increased commuting has changed the but they have not been successful, and social life of the village. People don’t in- don’t serve as good or encouraging ex- teract as much as they used to. Earlier, amples, rather to the contrary. One woman co-operation in the performance of agri- who used to have a fur business remi- cultural work was common and united nisced about the fur boom in the 1980s people, as did common interests like the when there were two fur farms in the vil- Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 113

lage and four in the neighboring villages. [a business together], that we would, but then I re- In her opinion, people don’t have innova- tired, and my health was failing, so I said that I tive ideas; instead they follow each other, was no longer fit for the business world. We had ideas, all ready. do the same thing as others. The tourism sector is offered as a reme- Today when farming is more business- dy for rural development in national and based than before, relations between the EU rural policies. Rural residents are en- few farmers left in the area have changed, couraged to start their own tourism related with a greater emphasis on efficiency. The businesses. It is difficult to believe that it farmers live further and further away from could be such an extensive solution and each other, and it no longer pays to ac- source of livelihood for rural areas all over quire co-owned agricultural machinery, Europe. In Ahvenselkä, tourists are a rare everyone needs to buy their own. In the sight, and attracting them seems an im- old days farmers would borrow and lend possible task. Biggest obstacle has been the machines, and spend hours running er- the lack of entrepreneurship. Training has rands, whilst at the same time taking care been offered, but there were few takers. of social relations. Today, in a more effi- There are some very active people who cient and business-like world, every hour continue to believe in the future of the vil- counts, and chatting with neighbors is lage. They have plans and hopes for tour- time wasted when there are more impor- ism, albeit on a small-scale. There are also tant things to do. plans to investigate what kind of travel-re- Well, then you meet the neighbor, and start chat- lated activities like accommodation or ting and it takes hours. The lady asks why you program services it would be possible to don’t have coffee, so they go for a coffee. With supply in the area by joining forces with your own machine, you’d have done the work neighboring villages. In a peripheral vil- several times over during the chatting and coffee- lage like this the question of starting tour- drinking. And when the neighbor comes to collect the machine, it is the same game all over again. ism related business is considered out of place and met mostly with amazement. This retired farmer was convinced that the But there are individuals who reveal that farmers were more mutually connected actually they have thought about it, and earlier, and had common nominators like that if they were younger they would go the cattle and the fields, which also con- ahead. nected people more to the village. Today, Yes. This is one factor [enterprising people have when most villagers work in the church moved out]. The old population stayed behind, village, their ties to the village and village and I have said that if I was younger I would have community are weaker. Only the hunting bought the village school. I had ideas: organize ca- club brings people together to a larger ex- noe trips along the rivers to the north; then drive tent. to meet the canoeists, and the canoes by van; and The general way of thinking in peri- advertise with the slogan: come and see Vuotos pheral rural municipalities and among lo- river before the reservoir. … Then there is the si- lence that you can sell. I have said that we also cal politicians is that in order to stay have the silence. We have the silence there, up- afloat, large-scale solutions and state ac- stairs. … Once I discussed with AH about starting tivities are needed. Small scale enterprises 114 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

are considered only twiddling with things sions but has continued to push its cause. and have only marginal relevance. What During our fieldwork in 2008 the reservoir are needed are big companies that employ project had once again been regenerated plenty of people. After the diminished sig- by the then Minister of Economic Affairs. nificance of forestry in providing employ- People living in the area were waiting for ment, locals hope that the mining industry the final decision, but for them it seems would turn out to be a solution in terms of Vuotos has become a never ending contro- job opportunities, and increase the number versy. There were opinions in Ahvenselkä of people in the village. The global econ- that rowing back and forth with Vuotos omy in the form of international mining reservoir is one factor that has prevented companies has once again appeared Lap- building infrastructure for tourism in the land to make use of its resources. The ar- village area. rival of a mine in the municipality would In the area of Ahvenselkä village the be like winning the lottery, but environ- damage would have been biggest for the mental hazards are the flip side of this. For local reindeer herder, who would have lost villagers who are critical of such develop- part of his pasture. There were, however, ments their home region is being trans- some hopes put on the possible job oppor- formed into a source of energy and raw tunities that the enterprise would bring to materials for industry, and a holiday resort the villagers. In the 1990s a local shop- for Europeans. keeper invested in a new village shop in the hopes of the livelier trade that the con- The Invisible Hand of the Market struction site would bring to the village. In the early 1970s, a project was initiated As construction never started the shop had to build a water reservoir to support ener- to close down after only few years of gy production along the river Kemijoki. operation. The shopkeeper declined to be The plan was to build the reservoir, Vuo- interviewed, but in a short conversation tos, in Eastern Lapland, with 86% of it with her it became apparent how extreme- covering an area in the municipality of ly disappointed she was about the whole Pelkosenniemi, and 14% an area in Salla process, and how betrayed she felt. and Savukoski. At first the project had lo- As time has gone by, it seems that most cal support, but as time went by, more and of the villagers have become indifferent as more critical voices started to be heard, far as the project is concerned. There is no and a civic activism against Vuotos began. belief that it would bring work for the lo- The planning- and decision-making pro- cals; rather it is commonly believed that cess was prolonged, but a decision against the site would require mostly machines the scheme was finally made in 1982 and that even they would be brought either (Suopajärvi 1994: 258–260). That was not from southern Finland, Russia or Estonia. the final say, however, and the case has For the villagers, the case has been closed been chopped and changed ever since. for years, even though it keeps hanging in The energy industry still has considerable the air tenaciously. interest in building the reservoir, and it has As long as I have lived here, it has been going on. not been satisfied with the political deci- Once they made a decision that it wouldn’t be Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 115

built. Good, that’s the end of that, I thought. After cized because they leave too many berries less than a year, the discussion re-started. They behind. They are polite and always greet have been building and not building it for ages. the locals. They have also crossed invis- The Vuotos case is a good indicator, or ible borders in the forest, or unspoken symbol of the relationship between the agreements on individual picking territo- residents of this northern periphery and ries. the politicians at the centre of power and There they were, when I was picking blueberries the interests of large-scale industry. In a with T., they were in front of us, behind us and be- sense people are left hanging, when the side us. decisions that are made are supposed to be The attitude in Salla was surprisingly per- final, but are instead opened and re- missive, because elsewhere there has been opened. This way of operating does not in- more negative opinions and even contro- crease the local people’s trust in the south- versies. Of course it is possible that people erners. In general, people in the north did not want to express their true feelings don’t bank on the promises of the southern of frustration to two university research- political and economic elite. For them, fu- ers, but amongst people in Ahvenselkä ture possibilities rest with the young there seemed to be a consensus that there people who have remained in the village, were enough berries for everyone, and and have found themselves a way to cope enough room for everyone to pick. Al- and earn their livelihood. They are at- though the Thai have been a regular sight tached to the village, and provide the vil- in the village for several years, contact lage with a sense of continuity. They may with them has been minimal. There is leave, but some also return after being en- clearly a willingness to forge closer con- riched by a good education and experi- tacts, but the lack of a common language ences outside their own village. prevents it. They do, when I meet them, raise their hands. That Strange Folk in the Forests is a positive thing. Although we don’t know them Ideologies that are on the move are less and have never talked to them, they raise their detectable than a more obvious indication hand. Or if they have stopped their car on the road of mobility: seasonal labor from foreign and you drive past, they have their hand up. countries. During our fieldwork and inter- The pickers don’t live in the village, but views, we soon came across one recent have rented an old school building else- and growing phenomenon in Lapland’s where, and use it as a base from where forests: the Thai berry pickers.9 They have they go on their daily picking rounds in a way become part of the local land- with a van. They have adopted the local scape, and practically all of our interview- habit of moving around in the forests, and ees had met them in the forests or on the they are accepted as part of the local village roads. There is almost a traditional landscape. Their good work ethic, the story about the Thai. They are busy, hard fact that they are up early and work long working, but afraid of the forest and don’t days, is appreciated by the villagers. The dare to go far into the forest but stay close only negative aspects were the Thai driv- to the road. Their picking skills are criti- ing culture, leaving litter in the forest, 116 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

and coming too close to people’s houses people to acquire a one-year visa is the to pick berries. possibility of crossing the border to ac- Another example of international mo- quire cheaper fuel. As it happens, this is bility is the Russians who use the border- easy as there is a petrol station just on the crossing place located in Salla. The border other side of the border. with Russia was fairly vague in the north Memories of the old village and the until the 18th century, which made traffic farms left behind still live on in the stories to and from Russia in the north easy. It of the villagers, which were handed down was only in the 19th century that the bor- to them by their parents or grand-parents. ders of Lapland were defined both on pa- Usually the land and homes are spoken of per and also on the ground (Heinänen as some kind of golden land, where every- 1993:107; Lähteenmäki 2006:41). Until thing was better. People did visit the old the closing of the frontier in 1918, after villages, but today this is less frequent, as the Russian Revolution, traffic across the the generation who were born there is border was busy, and the border villages passing away. Apart from the landscape were oriented eastwards to do trade. After there is not much to see; only a few foun- the border closed, there was illegal migra- dations are left of the houses. On the other tion east, which died down by 1934 hand, the landscape is as meaningful to (Heinänen 1993:222–223). In 2002 a bor- villagers as material remains like build- der guard station was opened for interna- ings, and experiencing it satisfies the tional traffic in Kelloselkä, 20 kilometers longing for home that people feel. There from the Salla church village. Traffic was another area in Finland that was lost across the border from and to Russia has to the Soviet Union after the war, Karelia. increased each year. Tourists, goods, There is an organized vociferous demand petrol and wives are now seen on the Sal- for the return of Karelia, but there has la’s village roads. The local government been no such demand for the return of the and municipal authorities consider the land Salla lost. Whereas Karelia has the cross-border co-operation an opportunity status of being the cradle of Finnish cul- to increase the economic well-being of a ture and Kalevala mythology, northern pe- underdeveloped region of Eastern Lap- ripheries such as Salla don’t evoke strong land. The villagers, however, have a con- national passion. It represents nature, not a troversial attitude to the newly opened culture to be cherished. border. Most of the locals don’t seem to be The Russians are keen travelers to Fin- keen to visit Russia, and they indifferent land. The number of visitors to the Salla- to the possibility of traveling to Russia. tunturi resort keeps increasing. A large One reason is that there are no attractions number also continue further to more at- on the other side. The nearest settlement tractive places like Ruka and Rovaniemi. (80 kilometers away), Alakurtti, is not re- Villagers don’t think that Salla is attrac- garded as being very interesting, and Kan- tive enough for Russian tourists who, in talahti (200 kilometers away), a town with their opinion, drive past Salla to places about 38 000 inhabitants, doesn’t have with more nightlife and shopping opportu- much to offer either. One thing that tempts nities to offer. Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 117

In Sallatunturi especially village lifestyle. Instead of being a local commu- women come into contact with Russian nity, the village is more like a residential tourists, when cleaning the resorts’ cot- village, where commuting has replaced tages. There are cautious and slightly hid- production. In today’s remote villages, in- den views about Russians, which may re- stead of a village community, there are in- flect old grudges stemming from the creasingly separate spaces with separate war.10 The ladies criticized the Russians meanings for different individuals (Ran- for being untidy, although on the slopes nikko 2008:54). Only the access to nature they wear the latest ski-fashion. and the meaning that it holds for villagers It is not just in the untidiness of the Rus- appears to differentiate rural everyday life sians, but also the local skeptical attitude from an urban lifestyle. Even the hunting towards Russian wives and girlfriends that association is not alone in gathering reflects the suspicion that is still present in people together, as there are at least three the area. However, some people are more separate hunting groups that have estab- open to the idea of learning about Russia lished themselves around like-minded in- and Russian people, and cross such mental dividuals. The habit of visiting has re- and physical borders. Our host family had mained, as well as the sense of mutual re- had a Russian man as a trainee in their sponsibility between the inhabitants. farm. The farmer said that his motivation People don’t hesitate to ask for or offer was that: help if needed; reciprocity has not been If I have something to give and somebody needs abandoned for a more market oriented that knowledge. I will give whenever I can. I don’t way of operating. keep it to myself. The decline of agriculture has changed Although there was no common language, the villagers’ relationship with their vil- they developed a friendship, and the lage. Moving around still produces a sense farmer had visited employee’s home in of ownership over the area, but the rela- Russia. tionship is different when one does not ac- tively interact with the landscape, as farm- Conclusion ers used to do. The village is a place to In this article, I have examined the forms sleep and rest after work, and the forest that mobility takes in a northern peri- and the countryside are places of recrea- phery, and the effects it has on the social tion. Nature and the landscape are the life of a village. As the population has main assets of the village. It is potentially fallen, social life has faded. Compared a resource for various industries and com- with the days when there were numerous merce, but it also attracts second-home associations functioning in the village, in- owners, hikers, berry pickers, hunters and teraction is more small scale and between other people who use the forest for recre- individuals. People have drawn into their ational purposes. private lives, and this image is strength- In an era of mobility, villagers have ened by the sparsely populated structure their own ways of rejecting unwelcomed of the village. Life in peripheral rural intrusions into the village. Stop-go gov- areas has started to resemble an ‘urban’ ernment policies and ideologies that don’t 118 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

fit are turned down. The village is inte- may meet in the village are today part of grated with the world, but at the same time the everyday life of peripheral rural areas. lives its own local way of life. In the face of centralizing regional development, Eeva Uusitalo one’s choice of residence and lifestyle Coordinator turns out to be a politics of silent resist- Ruralia Institute University of Helsinki ance (Keskitalo-Foley 2008:88). Staying Lönnrotinkatu 7 put and immobility become not just breaks FIN-50100 Mikkeli in the flow of mobility, but expressions of e-mail: [email protected] activity in their own right. Contrary to common misconception, Notes life in peripheral rural areas has been mo- 1 I draw here a cautious equation between com- bile for a long time, and peripheries have munity studies and village studies (kylätutki- mus) which is a more commonly used concept been targets of national and international in the Finnish ethnographic tradition. This im- politics and economies. Rural areas are in plies a connection between a community and no way immune to transformations. Con- place, and although village and community offer handy empirical references to ‘place’ tinuity overlaps with change, mobility is and ‘folk’, on the other hand, today the village intertwined with immobility. Even though is more than a location, possessing abstract the villages are no longer such tight and experiential dimensions (Knuuttila 2008: unanimous communities as they were, or 440–441). Also, communities can be, as is generally known, imagined. so it is claimed, villages don’t actually die 2 Until 1936 the name of the municipality was out, but face new possibilities and func- Kuolajärvi. tions. The northern periphery of which 3 The study is part of a research project Rural Salla is a part borders another northern pe- Futures: Ethnographies of transformation from Finland, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine, riphery, the northwestern corner of Rus- funded by the Academy of Finland, 2007–10. sia. A recent discussion about the possi- Project was led by Professor Laura Assmuth. bilities of a marine transport route to Asia In Finland, fieldwork was conducted in the being opened via the Arctic Ocean due to municipalities of Lieksa and Salla (see eg. Assmuth & Uusitalo forthcoming). In Salla I climate change is turning the issue of did fieldwork also in another village. I worked centre and periphery upside down. North- together with Dr. Tuula Tuisku, who spent her ern regions would become hubs of trans- childhood and youth in a similar village to national traffic and trade, and might find that of our object of study. She provided me with valuable insights into the northern way themselves at the core of globalization and of life and northern mentality. mobility. 4 I am originally from a fairly big city, but cur- Today, people living in remote areas rently live in quite a typical rural town with a are part of a world in motion, affected by population of 49 000, but centrally located in the southern part of Finland. From a northern global flows and witnessing the way in perspective, I am a so-called southerner. which ‘the global’ works in a local con- 5 At most, there were 220 000 German soldiers text. An employer moving its production in Lapland (Lähteenmäki 2006:82). to Asia, a neighbor’s new Russian 6 The new villages are called compensation vil- lages, as the settlers whose farms and forests girl-friend, a group of Thai that you ran were left on the Russian side of the new bor- into in the forest, or a Yemeni family you der were compensated for their loss. Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders 119

7 In Finland, the administrative centers of mu- Ehn, Billy & Löfgren, Orvar 2007: När ingenting nicipalities where the main services are to be särskilt händer. Nya kulturanalyser. Stock- found, are called church villages. holm/Stehag: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Sym- 8 Defining a village is not a straightforward posion. task. At the regional and municipality level, Frykman, Jonas, Hammarlin, Mia-Maria, Hansen, villages are defined differently in different Kjell, Rothstein, Bo, Stensöta, Helena Olofs- contexts, and village residents themselves dotter & Schierenbeck, Isabell 2009: Sense of have their own perceptions of their village. Community. Trust, Hope and Worries in the 9 The Thai pickers work mostly in Lapland, but Welfare State. Ethnologia Europaea 39:1. pp. also in other parts of Finland, especially when 7–46. the berry crop in Lapland is poor. Lapland at- Haapala, Pertti 2004: Väki vähenee – maata- tracts seasonal berry pickers because of the lousyhteiskunnan hidas häviö 1950–2000. In cloudberry, for which they receive better pay Pirkko Markkola (ed.) Suomen maatalouden for that, for example, lingonberry or blueber- historia III. Suurten muutosten aika. Jälleenra- ry. kennuskaudesta EU-Suomeen. Helsinki: Suo- 10 There were also partisan attacks on the border malaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. pp. 233–254. villages during the war, and civilians, includ- Hannerz, Ulf 1996: Transnational connections. ing women and children, were killed. Culture, people, places. London: Routledge. Hastrup, Kirsten & Fog Olwig, Karen Fog 1997: References Introduction. In Karen Fog Olwig and Kirsten Hastrup (eds.) Siting Culture. The shifting an- Abrahams, Ray 1988: Life goes on ’behind God’s thropological object. London: Routledge. pp. back’. In Tim Ingold (ed.) The social implica- tions of agrarian change in Northern and East- 1–14. ern Finland. Helsinki: Suomen Antropologinen Heinänen, Hannu 1993: Sallan historia. Salla: Seura. pp. 48–62. Sallan kunta ja seurakunta. Amit, Vered 2002: Embracing disjunction. In Ingold, Tim 1988: Land, labour and livelihood in Vered Amit & Nigel Rapport The Trouble with Salla, northeastern Finland. In Tim Ingold (ed.) community. Anthropological Reflections on The social implications of agrarian change in Movement, Identity and Collectivity. London: Northern and Eastern Finland. Helsinki: Pluto Press. pp. 26–41. Suomen Antropologinen Seura. pp. 121–139. Anttila, Veikko 1974: Talonpojasta tuottajaksi. Ingold, Tim & Vergunst, Jo Lee 2007: Ways of Suomen maatalouden uudenaikaistuminen walking. Ethnography and Practice on Foot. 1800-luvun lopulla ja 1900-luvun alkupuolella. Tim Ingold and Jo Lee Vergunst (eds.). Alder- Helsinki: Kirjayhtymä. shot: Ashgate. Appadurai, Arjun 1996: Modernity at Large. Cul- Keskitalo-Foley, Sari 2008: Aktivismia ja arjen tural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapo- feminismiä – näkökulmia lapilaisen maaseudun lis: University of Minnesota Press. naisten toimijuuteen. In Hanna-Mari Ikonen Assmuth, Laura & Uusitalo, Eeva forthcoming: (ed) Syrjäsilmällä – sukupuolen jäsennyksiä Making a living in a national landscape: family maaseudulla. Maaseutupolitiikan yhteistyöryh- entrepreneurs, villagers and tourists in Koli, män julkaisuja 4/2008. pp. 77–91. Eastern Finland. To be published in Japanese. Knuuttila, Seppo 2008: Perinteentutkimuksen Bauman, Zygmunt 1998: Globalization. The hu- paikka. In Seppo Knuuttila, Entinen aika, ny- man consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press. kyinen mieli. Ulla Piela & Sinikka Vakimo Bissell, David & Fuller, Gillian 2011: Stillness (eds.). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden unbound. In David Bissell & Gillian Fuller Seura. pp.434–443. (eds.) Stillness in a Mobile World. London: Köstlin, Konrad 1995: The passion for the whole: Routledge. pp. 1–17. interpreted modernity or modernity as interpre- Bogren, Helene 2008: Flytta eller stanna? tation. Journal of American Folklore 110(437): Betydelsen av plats och platsförankring för den pp. 261–276. kvalificerade arbetskraftens internationella Lähteenmäki, Maria 2006: Terra ultima. Matka migration. Meddelanden från Lunds univer- Lapin historiaan. Helsinki: Otava. sitets geografiska institution. Avhandlingar Lönnqvist, Bo 2002: Mytti harmonisesta pai- CLXXVII. Lund: Lunds universitet. kallisuudesta. In Pekka Junkala & Jari Määttä 120 Eeva Uusitalo, Beyond the Village and Across Borders

(eds.) Paikallisuuden juuret ja versot. Jatku- Snellman, Hanna 1996: Tukkilaisen tulo ja lähtö. vuuksia Judinsalon maalaismaisemassa. Jy- Kansatieteellinen tutkimus Kemijoen metsä- ja väskylä: Atena Kustannus. pp. 119–124. uittotyöstä. Oulu: Pohjoinen. Moisio, Sami 2009: Metropolikonsensus ja terri- Snellman, Hanna 2003: Sallan suurin kylä – Göte- toriaalinen ekonomismi Suomessa. Tiede- borg. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden politiikka 4/2009. pp. 7–24. Seura. Rannikko, Pertti 2008: Sivakan metsät avoimina Suopajärvi, Leena 1994: Vuotoksen tekoallas ja ja suljettuinatiloina. In Seppo Knuuttila, Pertti hankkeen vastustajat. In Ari Lehtinen & Pertti Rannikko, Jukka Oksa, Tapio Hämynen, Han- Rannikko (eds.) Pallakselta Vuotokselle. Ympä- nu Itkonen, Heidi Kilpeläinen, Mikko Simula, ristökamppailujen uusi aalto. Helsinki: Gaude- Sinikka Vakimo, Marjaana Väisänen, Kylän amus. pp. 257–270. paikka. Uusia tulkintoja Sivakasta ja Urry, John 2007: Mobilities. Cambridge: Polity Rasimäestä. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjalli- Press. suuden Seura. pp. 25–55. Welz, Gisela 2009: The Strength of Ethnography. Ethnologia Europaea 39:1. pp.49–53. Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing 121 “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …” About Men who Suffer Intimate Partner Violence at the Hands of Female Partners By Tove Ingebjørg Fjell

I can’t remember the first time. It’s a bit weird. It’s 1999:15; Nordin 2007; Oftung 2009:25; as if you live somewhere where the streets are Langeland 2008). This concept of mas- really dangerous and every day someone comes culinity is based on the gender researcher up and mugs you, but you survive and it becomes R. W. Connell, whose understanding of part of your daily life. I don’t know if you under- stand. You go to the shop and buy vegetables, but gender focuses on contravention and vari- you don’t remember what vegetables you cooked ation (Connell 2005:67–71). The four and bought two and a half years ago. It’s the same most important forms of masculinity are way with the violence. You just take what you get hegemonic, subordinated, complicit, and and hope it will stop. marginalized masculinities, all of which The man behind these words, one of the are structured in the form of a hierarchy.3 men I interviewed about partner violence,1 In this context I will be discussing ways of used to live with domestic abuse for a adapting to and negotiating hegemonic number of years. It is not easy for him to masculinity. remember the first time it happened. How- Hegemonic masculinity includes that ever, his accounts of more recent violent which best safeguards a man’s superiori- incidents are many and detailed. ty over women, as well as other symbolic The attention given to intimate partner and financial powers. Today’s hegemon- violence against men is on the rise in Nor- ic masculinity ideal is seen as a “white, way. In 2010 the new Act on Shelters western, heterosexual man associated from Domestic Abuse2 was introduced, with qualities such as aggression and the giving men exposed to violence in a do- ability to exert violence” (Langeland mestic setting the right to protection from 2008:293, my translation). There is, public agencies, and the media are seeing however, “a successful claim to authori- an emerging debate on the issue. My re- ty, more than direct violence, that is the search objective is to shed light on an as- mark of hegemony (though violence of- pect of partner violence which till now has ten underpins or supports authority)” received little attention or recognition, and (Connell 2005:77).4 to help add depth to the often one-sided The article poses the following ques- picture of the male abuser and the female tions: What is the significant content in victim. the narratives told by the interviewed The study seeks to contribute to the men? What happens when men, contrary field of masculinity research. I understand to cultural expectations, and contrary to masculinity to be many-faceted; rather society’s perception of gender, suffer part- than a single masculinity appropriate for ner violence? Is hegemonic masculinity all men, I consider there to be a range of being modified by partner violence different masculinities which vary with against men? aspects such as social class, ethnicity, sexuality, age and time. Furthermore, Is Partner Violence against Men Wide- generation-, situation- and time-depend- spread? ent concepts of masculinity may be There are different points of view on the formed (cf. Lorentzen 2006:126 ff.; Jo- extent of partner violence against men: It hansson 1994; Ericsson 2000:9; Nilsson depends on how partner violence is ad-

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 122 Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …”

dressed in research. There are two main always has as large consequences as positions in this field: Firstly, there is a men’s partner violence or that men never position where violence is seen as a struc- batter women. The answer probably lies tural problem that is reinforced by the un- in-between: women may be aggressive even power balance between men and and some of them may also perform vio- women and men’s way of maintaining a lent acts against partners (Conradi & position of power (Selin 2009:11; Holm- Geffner 2009). berg & Enander 2004:17 ff.; Hydén 1995). In other words, studies conclude differ- A critique of this position points out that it ently with respect to the extent of partner gives a too static and predetermined pat- violence against men. Most studies of tern, where men perform partner violence, partner violence explore only women’s have power and are evil, whereas women experiences (e.g. Lundgren 2002; Pizzey are victims, have little power and are good 1980; Alsaker 2008). However, some of (Holmberg & Enander 2004:20; Hydén the studies which include men’s experi- 1995:45 ff.). The other position interprets ences conclude that partner violence partner violence from an individual per- against men is not an insignificant prob- spective, where it is emphasized that indi- lem. The National Public Health Institute viduals from the working class and/or in Denmark includes partner violence with intoxication problems are more often against men in a statistical survey of all involved in partner violence (Selin 2009: types of violence against men. It is re- 11). The criminologist Klara Hradiliva Se- ferred to a rise in violence exerted by pre- lin points out, like Margareta Hydén, that sent or former partners from 5% in 2000 to the boundaries between structural and in- 10% in 2005; however, the researchers of- dividual explanations of partner violence fer no explanation for this increase (Hel- should not be interpreted as watertight, weg-Larsen & Frederiksen 2008). It is and that these two positions rather should also emphasized that the violence to be connected instead of separated: partner which women are exposed is more severe violence has a structural dimension and potentially more physically destruc- through the fact that it takes place in cer- tive than the violence to which men are tain cultural conditions, and it has an indi- exposed (Selin 2009:15). In Hilde Pape’s vidual dimension, where individuals’ study of young adults in Norway, there interpretations of the violence become rel- was a slight predominance of men over evant (cf. Hydén 1995:50–51). I find a women who reported they had been connection of the two positions more ap- physically assaulted by their partner over propriate, both because watertight bulk- the last six months (6% of the men and 4% heads are rare in lived lives, and because it of the women). There was also a slight makes no sense to interpret partner vio- predominance of women over men who lence against men as a manifestation of reported that they had behaved aggres- men maintaining power. According to the sively towards their partner (Pape 2003). researchers Lisa Conradi and Robert Pape’s respondents were, as mentioned Geffner, one must avoid a point of depar- earlier, all young adults, and the extent to ture saying that women’s partner violence which it is possible to generalize to older Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …” 123

sections of the population is therefore Conflict-based and gender-symmetrical limited. A follow-up study of the same mean that the violence is a consequence of data set concludes that young women who a fight and that both genders are exposed exert partner violence are generally more to violence and performers of it. Con- aggressive than other women, and further- trol-based and gender-asymmetrical mean more that the women in many cases are that the violence is a consequence of one the only party to be physically aggressive party’s need to control the other party, and in their relationships: Consequently, that one gender is exposed to or performs Pape’s study does not support the “hy- more violence than the other (Sogn & pothesis of self-defence”, which claims Hjemdal 2010:24). Common couple vio- that women’s violence against men is ex- lence and mutual violent control are con- erted in self-defence (Pape 2011). sidered as gender-symmetrical violence, whereas intimate partner violence, violent Violence Terminology resistance and separation-instigated vio- Research on partner violence normally lence are considered as gender-asymmet- differentiates between different forms of rical forms of violence. violence. The first form is common couple Such categories may be useful for violence, also known as situational couple scholars, but empirical studies and lived violence, which is less serious and may lives demonstrate that cross-over catego- involve either partner in the role of the ries are important contributors to a more abuser or the victim. The second form is nuanced picture of domestic violence. Not mutual violent control, a rare form of vio- all violence can be easily grouped in the lence which involves both partners being conventional categories. The cross-over violent and controlling. The third form is categories demonstrate – as is the case patriarchal terrorism, also known as inti- with my interviews – that men are ex- mate partner violence, i.e. “classic” posed to a type of partner violence whose abuse, a far more serious form of violence victims traditionally have been female. which is most often performed by men against women. The fourth form is violent Interviews with Men resistance, which is primarily exercised The main corpus of material is a set of in- by women who fight back in response to terviews with men. The group of inform- intimate partner violence performed by a ants was limited to men over the age of 20 violent and controlling individual. The who live or have lived in a heterosexual fifth form is separation-instigated vio- relationship. I posted an advert on the web lence, which occurs in connection with the pages of Reform – a resource centre for break-up of a marriage or cohabiting part- men5 – to which ten men responded. All of nership; the abuser is most commonly the the men had experienced repeated epi- person being abandoned. sodes of partner violence over a period of The main distinction between these time. One of the informants was in his 20s, forms of violence is whether it is con- one was in his 30s, seven were in their 40s flict-based and gender-symmetrical or and one was in his 50s. Six had been mar- control-based and gender-asymmetrical. ried, three had been cohabiting partners, 124 Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …”

and one was still a cohabiting partner at own actions, criticize an agency officer, the time of the interview. The marriage or criticize the partner, convince the inter- cohabiting partnership of six of the men viewer, or simply describe a situation. In had lasted for less than five years, one for other words, the men’s accounts are not less than ten years, one for less than 15 empirically correct descriptions of spe- years, and two for less than 20 years. Five cific incidents, but subjective narratives of the men had started or completed a recounting the narrator’s own experi- course of higher education. Intoxication ences. The men tell in retrospect; some generally and alcohol specifically is often things may have been forgotten and thus associated with couple violence. In three create a whole in the narrative, or the nar- of the ten interviews intoxication played a rative may be selective. There will prob- part either while violence was being ex- ably be other interpretations of the same erted or in general within the marriage. events.6 Two of the men talked about couple vio- lence at the hands of several different part- Everyday Violence ners, while eight of them associated vio- Most of the narratives in the interviews re- lence with a single partner. fer to psychological violence. Researchers In the course of the interviews the in- Hanne Sogn and Ole Kristian Hjemdal formants described specific episodes of consider psychological violence to cover violence. This type of subject will always everything from “verbal attacks (ridicul- raise the question of whether the event ing and bullying, isolation (socially and fi- really happened, or whether the interview- nancially), jealousy/possessiveness (in- ee’s account forms part of his revenge cluding vis-à-vis family, friends and pets), against an ex-wife, or perhaps represents verbal threats of injury, abuse or torture, his repression of what really happened. I threats of divorce, threats about leaving or cannot verify whether the men’s accounts about starting up an extramarital affair, give a truthful picture of what really hap- about damaging or ruining personal pos- pened. I was not present at the time of the sessions, to threats in connection with di- event and I have not interviewed their vorce, about going to court to secure cus- wives and cohabiting partners in order to tody of the children, sabotaging visiting get their versions of the same events, nor rights and discrediting the other parent the police officers who in some instances vis-à-vis the child(ren), or deliberately were summoned, nor family members misleading the other parent” (Sogn & who sometimes ended up witnessing the Hjemdal 2010:30). This violence is violence, nor staff at the domestic vio- many-faceted and appears to take the lence agencies. same form and expression as the psycho- The men’s accounts are not unambigu- logical violence reported in research on ous; they may well be interpreted in a couple violence against women (see e.g. number of different ways. Narration is a Lundgren 2002; Alsaker 2008; Pizzey strategic activity (Skog 2002:16), and 1980). The men experience that posses- through their narratives the men are in a sions such as glasses, clothes and comput- position to defend themselves, justify their ers are ruined and that passports and cer- Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …” 125

tificates are destroyed. Some find it diffi- gave me an ultimatum: “Is there gonna be a wall cult to keep doing their job, because of in- or is there not gonna be a wall?” “No, there’s not cessant phone calls or upsetting text gonna be a wall.” “Ok, you’ve asked for it,” she said. Then she ran into the lounge, yelling: “Dad’s messages from their wives. Others are on the rampage, Dad’s on the rampage, run up to threatened with divorce, abortion, suicide the attic, run up to the attic!” All of the kids were or the killing of their common children. sitting there, bright as buttons, for they hadn’t Others experience a level of spending heard a thing. They didn’t understand what she which ruins, partly or completely, the was going on about. So I walked into the lounge family finances. Jealousy is also a recur- and watched the whole sorry scene, with tears in my eyes, for that’s when I realized she’d gone rent topic for many. completely bloody bonkers. Control of everyday situations is in other words a key word in this context. The informant thinks that his wife in this One of the men gave this account of how way managed to upset the children, who he was refused access to a certain type of started screaming and running up to the food: attic. He is of the opinion that he was punished because he did not budge and She had a favourite sandwich filling that she re- continued to maintain they could not af- fused to let me use. The first time I had helped my- ford to build a wall in the garden. The self to “her” filling, she grabbed the sandwiches I had made myself and threw them in the bin. In- sandwich filling and the wall in the garden cluding the half-eaten one I was still munching on. narratives are examples of events that will For she was damned if she was going to buy sand- never reach police records or appear in wich fillings for me; I’d have to see to that myself. criminal statistics: These kinds of daily The next day he bought five tins of that episodes of harassment stay more or less invisible, but they nevertheless contribute particular filling and assumed this would to challenging lives. mean he could help himself to it. But his wife claimed he had bought the same sort of filling out of spite and she refused to let Not Afraid to Die him eat what he had bought: This was The domestic abuse of men is not always “her” filling, and if he was going to buy about psychological violence, however. sandwich fillings, he had better think of Physical violence is also involved. Robert something other than what she liked. had never experienced violence in any previous relationship, but in his current Another narrative concerns a wife’s one the problems started before the couple ability to impose her own will. The wife married. The acts of violence would often would like to have a wall built in the gar- happen without warning. He gives a little den, but her husband felt they could not resigned laugh as he talks about the late afford it. He was seated with his wife in night at their holiday home: the kitchen, discussing the wall, while the children were sitting in the lounge watch- It was when I had gone to bed and she picked up a ing television: bottle of gin. I woke up because I was all wet. And then I thought … what’s happening? She had And I said there’s not going to be a wall, ’cause we emptied a bottle of spirits in the bed and was have no money. And then she said that there was fidgeting with a lighter, preparing to set me on going to be a wall, or I would fecking regret it. She fire. Luckily she wasn’t able to. And I just had to 126 Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …”

get out of there. I would have thought the neigh- don’t know how to put it … that you’re pushed to bours would realize what was happening. Because the brink so that you … you’re not entirely sure if it wasn’t exactly quiet. But of course they never you’ll do something fatal or not. It’s really not like dared to say or do anything. me at all. She had done away with all my self-re- spect. Eradicated my life’s worth … my worth as The incident involved a major potential a human being. For days. for harm. The neighbours said nothing, not then and not later. Robert believes The fear this man is talking about is not they would have acted differently had it the fear of being killed, but it is neverthe- been a woman who was almost set alight. less a similar type of fear. Others tend to He reckons they would have beaten him say that they are “emotionally frightened”, up or at the very least given him a good i.e. not afraid of dying, but of what will talking to. But in this case they pretended happen when they return home from work they had never seen or heard anything. Af- or from a family visit. Some tell about ter a few days Robert also pretended that physical reactions, such as stiff limbs or a nothing had happened, for when his wife loss of appetite, and a general concern phoned asking for him, he went back to about their own health. their holiday home. Robert says the chil- There are far fewer narratives about the dren are the reason for staying in a violent very severe types of physical violence relationship: for what would happen to the which require medical treatment. How- children were he to move out and the chil- ever, it is clear that at least one of the men dren were left in the care of a woman who could have seen a doctor after having had clearly has no control of her own anger? an ovenproof dish chucked at his head, an- Robert and many of the others empha- other could have been injured had he not size that they have never been afraid for been able to escape the knife and a third their lives; nevertheless, they have experi- could have suffered serious burns, or in- enced a different type of fear. This is one deed been killed, had his wife succeeded of the men’s account of a day which had in setting his bedding alight. However, seen the violence going on throughout the men shy away from expressing that they day and the wife having said she was are afraid for their lives, unlike women in thinking of taking their child and disap- similar situations (cf. research on abuse of pearing: women), even if some of the incidents The first time it happened, I took it really in- they talk about potentially could have credibly bad … a shockingly bad feeling. She had been fatal. The reason for this might be the been going on all day. Hitting out and yelling and men not wanting to express fear for their … raging … It was completely surreal in many ways. And existential. We used to live in a lives, when a woman, the wife, the loved high-rise, on one of the upper floors … I didn’t one, is performing the violence. It might know what to do. I walked over to the window and also have to do with the image of hege- said I would jump if she disappeared for good with monic masculinity: The men believe that my kid. Obviously, she got very hysterical. I don’t they are stronger than their spouses, and really know if I would have jumped or not. It was all very dramatic. An extreme situation. After- that, had the situation so required, they wards I’ve been incredibly sorry that it happened would have been able to overpower the fe- that way. That was the one time in my life … I male abuser. Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …” 127

Not Fighting Back which cracked. He knew by himself that if “What is the problem? Fight back, if that punch had hit his wife, it would have someone beats you up!” That is a com- destroyed her. This kind of reasoning is ment frequently heard when the issue of also found in literature on partner vio- partner violence against men is being dis- lence: the researcher Suzanne K. Stein- cussed. And, as already mentioned, all of metz points out that when a woman hits, the informants claimed that they would the damage is reduced because of her have been able to overpower the female relative lack of strength, as well as the abuser had the situation so required. Many man’s possibility of stopping her, whereas explain, however, that they did not retali- when a man hits, it may result in great ate and kept passive because they were damage, because of his strength and the worried about causing serious injury to woman’s low possibility of stopping him. their wife. This knowledge resulted in Steinmetz’s A typical incident in Thor’s life would informants fear of killing their wives if involve him being asked to carry out spe- they ever lost control (Steinmetz 1978: cific household chores at a certain point of 505, 507). time, to which he responded that he would The passivity is revealing: It seems as get round to it once he had finished what if the men have been socialized into a line he was doing. They were quite banal, of thinking which renders violence commonplace situations which ended up against women impossible, which indi- going totally wrong, and the situation felt cates that norms regulating men’s vio- worse to him because the children were lence are quite restrictive (cf. Pape 2003: made to witness the incident: 2019). The men’s passivity when at- The worst episode was when I was sitting in the tacked by their female partners must be lounge on a wooden chair, reading the newspaper. seen in connection with two sets of cir- The kids were there. Then she told me I had to do cumstances: Firstly there is a certain the washing up straight away. I said I would just level of cultural acceptance of female ag- finish reading the paper first. And then she comes into the lounge and grabs my hair, pulling me gression. Women’s aggression is not backwards so I fall on the floor, and she sits her- necessarily interpreted as something neg- self on top of me and hits me in the face. And the ative but as a sign of strength, justified kids are watching and start to cry. That was the retaliation or self-defence (Ingebrigtsen worst incident. Before that she had punched me 2003:17–18). Secondly one must con- with her fist a few times. sider the fact that men’s couple violence He did not counter her punches, which to against women signals an unworthy and him meant that he was in control of the shameful form of control. This is a form situation. One of the informants considers of violence which generates marginaliza- control to be quite important in a partner tion of the hegemonic masculinity. Intro- violence situation. This particular man ducing the twin concepts of centripetal had been worried about ending up hitting and peripetal violence may elaborate: his wife: If he were to hit her, he might Centripetal violence refers to violent acts lose total control and kill her. Once they which are considered warranted in a spe- argued, he got very angry and hit the wall, cific context, which indicate control and 128 Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …”

potency, and which affirm a hegemonic pectations and traditional perceptions of masculinity. Men who attack their girl- gender. friends’ attackers may serve an example. On the one hand, the men avoid a mar- Acts of peripetal violence, on the other ginalizing (peripetal) form of violence by hand, indicate disgrace, shame and lack taking the attitude that “retaliation is not of control. This is a form of violence acceptable” or “hitting a woman is not ac- which generates marginalization (cf. ceptable”. On the other hand, by finding Kolnar 2006:211, 222). Men who hit themselves in the situation of a man ex- their wives are considered to express posed to common couple violence they their own loss of control in doing so, and signal that they have got the gender card this will in turn serve to marginalize wrong. Whoever gets the gender card them: Hitting or fighting back will gener- wrong fails to conform to hegemonic mas- ate a non-accepted form of masculinity. culinity.7 Women who commit partner violence are understood as gender cross- Hegemonic Masculinity Persists overs, and men who are exposed to partner Something happens to the perception of violence are also perceived as gender gender in a society which gives rise to cross-overs (cf. Svensson 2004:159). Her gender cross-over criminality. This is the actions break with cultural expectations of case both when women perform and men femininity (cf. Natland 2009) – and his ac- are exposed to partner violence, which tions break with cultural expectations of normally is regarded as a male-encoded masculinity. In cross-over violence gen- der patterns are destabilized (cf. Svensson form of criminality. The idea of a woman 2004:160), and new forms of masculini- being violent against her partner is nearly ties are made possible. Men’s avoidance non-existent, a fact the researcher Patricia of overpowering and fighting back when it Pearson addresses: comes to a woman’s punches or harass- Even if we concede that women batter their chil- ment are examples of inverted hegemonic dren, we cannot take it a step further and picture masculinity, which in itself serves to sus- them battering men. We might learn that a man’s nose was broken, that he lost his job, that he was tain the concept of hegemonic masculini- emotionally devastated, but we still think to our- ty. selves: He’s a man. He could have hit back. He could have hit harder (Pearson 1999:117). Tove Ingebjørg Fjell PhD, Professor Besides, according to researchers Tim University of Bergen Newburn and Elizabeth A. Stanko, adult Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion men are considered to belong to a group of Box 7805 oppressors unless they can be positioned NO-5020 Bergen in a specific oppressed group, such as “el- derly men”, “victims of racism”, “victims Notes of homophobia” or “victims of sexual 1 The term partner violence is used synony- abuse in childhood” (Newburn & Stanko mously with the terms couple violence, do- mestic violence and domestic abuse. There is 1996:158). Men who suffer from couple a section on violence terminology later in the violence are incongruous with cultural ex- article. Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …” 129

2 Under the Act on Shelters from Domestic og karakter – 2008. Statens Institut for Folke- Abuse municipalities are obliged, since 1 sundhed, Syddansk Universitet. January 2010, to offer help to men suffering Holmberg, Carin & Viveka Enander 2004: Varför from common couple violence, and to ensure går hon? Om misshandlade kvinnors uppbrotts- that the accommodation provided for men and processer. Ystad: Kabusa Böcker. women is physically separate (http:// Hydén, Margareta 1995: Kvinnomisshandel inom www.lovdata.no/all/nl-20090619-044.html). äktenskapet. Mellan det omöjliga och det möjli- 3 Homosexual men may serve as an example of ga. Stockholm: Liber. subordinate men; in certain eras black men Ingebrigtsen, Wibeche 2003: Konflikter og kon- would be considered marginalized, while men flikthåndtering blant studenter i parforhold. of complicit masculinity define themselves in MA thesis. Trondheim, NTNU. terms of an accepted form of masculinity but Johansson, Ella 1994: Skogarnas fria söner. Mas- have no opportunity to assert a hegemonic po- kulinitet och modernitet i norrländskt skogsar- sition (Lorentzen 2006:126–127; Connell bete. Stockholm: Nordiska Museets Förlag. 2005:77–81). Kolnar, Knut 2006: Volden. In Män i Norden. 4 There is also an internal hierarchy which dif- Manlighet och modernitet 1840–1940, ed. Jør- ferentiates between men, heterosexuals being gen Lorentzen and Claes Ekenstam, pp. 208– dominant over homosexuals and married men 228. Möklinta: Gidlunds. over unmarried (Connell 2005; Ericsson Langeland, Fredrik 2008: Raewyn Connell. In 2000; Nilsson 1999). Ethnologist Bo Nilsson Kjønnsteori, ed. Ellen Mortensen, Cathrine points out that the concept of hegemonic mas- Egeland, Randi Gressgård, Cathrine Holst, Kari culinity does not refer to external force or cul- Jegerstedt, Sissel Rosland and Kristin Samp- tural dominance: “Rather, hegemonic mascu- son, pp. 292–296. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk. linity may represent a fantasy figure which it Lorentzen, Jørgen 2006: Forskning på menn og is considered beneficial to copy and which maskuliniteter. In Kjønnsforskning. En grunn- they [men] sustain through their behaviour” bok, ed. Jørgen Lorentzen and Wencke Mühl- (Nilsson 1999:15, my translation). eisen, pp. 121–135. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. 5 Reform’s website: Lundgren, Eva 2002: Captured Queen. Men’s http://www.reform.no/index.php?option= Violence in “Equal” Sweden – A Prevalence com_content&view=article&id= Study. Umeå, Brottsoffermyndigheten Fritzes 59&Itemid=10. offentliga publikationer. 6 Reform’s website: Natland, Sidsel 2009: Volden, horen og vennska- http://www.reform.no/index.php?option= pet. Fortellinger om unge jenters voldsbruk – com_content&view=article&id=5 en kulturanalyse. Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk 9&Itemid=10. Forlag. Newburn, Tim & Elizabeth A. Stanko 1996: References When Men are Victims. The Failure of Vic- Alsaker, Kjersti 2008: Quality of Life among timology. In Just Boys Doing Business? Men, Women who Have Experienced Intimate Part- Masculinities and Crime, ed. Tim Newburn & ner Violence. A One Year Follow-up Study Elizabeth A. Stanko, pp. 153–165. London: among Women at Norwegian Women’s Shel- Routledge. ters. PhD thesis. University of Bergen. Nilsson, Bo 1999: Maskulinitet. Representation, Connell, R. W. 1995: Masculinities. Cambridge: ideologi och retorik. PhD thesis. Umeå: Boréa. Polity Press. Nordin, Lissa 2007: Man ska ju vara två. Män och Conradi, Lisa & Robert Geffner 2009: Introduc- kärlekslängtan i norrländsk glesbygd. Stock- tion to Part I of the Special Issue on Female Of- holm: Natur och Kultur. fenders of Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Oftung, Knut 2009: Skilte fedre. Omsorg, Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 18:6, mestring og livskvalitet. PhD thesis. University pp. 547–551. of Oslo. Ericsson, Kjersti 2000: Maskulinitet, kriminalitet Pape, Hilde 2003: Vold og krenkelser i unge men- og kontroll. Materialisten 4:7–43. neskers parforhold. Tidsskrift for Den norske Helweg-Larsen, Karin & Marie Louise Frederik- legeforening 123:2016–2020. sen 2008: Vold mod mænd i Danmark. Omfang Pape, Hilde 2011: Unge kvinners vold mot part- 130 Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, “Women are Free to Rampage as Much as They Like …”

ner. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening 131: Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og trauma- 1994–1997. tisk stress. Pearson, Patricia 1999: When She Was Bad. How Steinmetz, Suzanne K. 1978: The Battered Hus- Women Get Away with Murder. London: Vira- band Syndrome. Victimology, 2:499–509. go Press. Svensson, Birgitta 2004: Könets destabilisering. Pizzey, Erin 1980: Scream Quietly or the Neigh- Kvinnor som våldsverkare och gärningsmän. In bours Will Hear. London: Pelican Books. Våldets mening. Makt, minne, myt, ed. Eva Ös- Selin, Klara Hradilova 2009: Våld mot kvinnor terberg and Marie Lindstedt Cronberg, pp. 145– och män i nära relationer. Våldets karaktär och 165. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. offrens erfarenheter av kontakter med rättsvä- sendet. Rapport 12, Brå – centrum för kunskap om brott och åtgärder mot brott. Stockholm, Internet References BRÅ. Skog, Susanne Nylund 2002: Ambivalenta upple- Reform. http://www.reform.no/index.php?option= velser och mångtydiga berättelser. En etnolo- com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=10 gisk studie av barnafödande. Stockholm: Josk (14 March 2012). Media. Act on Shelters from Domestic Abuse. http:// Sogn, Hanne & Ole Kristian Hjemdal 2010: Vold www.lovdata.no/all/nl-20090619-044.html mot menn i nære relasjoner. Kunnskapsgjen- (14 March 2012). nomgang og rapport fra et pilotprosjekt. Oslo: Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing 131 Images of Housewifery Women narrating their Choice to be a Housewife in the 1950s in the Swedish-speaking Parts of Finland By Lena Marander-Eklund

As I interviewed Elsa, an elderly woman, (Blaakilde 2006:160ff). The material for about her life as a housewife, she took a this study consists of interviews with photograph album from the shelf and women that have been housewives all showed me a picture from the 1950s. The their lives in the Swedish-speaking2 part picture was taken in springtime when First of Finland, interviews I have conducted of May was celebrated, showing smiling in 2010. I call the women Elsa, Ebba, young men and women with children in Molly, Linnea and Nellie. They were all prams. One of them was Elsa together born in the 1920s and 1930s and are from with her husband and their eldest child. urban middle-class surroundings. The Elsa shows me the picture while saying: reason why this study, in my opinion, is “It hit me. We were such a good company of current interest is not so much the con- and we got children all the time, all the ditions of the 1950s but more to show time, we were in that age. But you know, how people relate to different kinds of all of us women were educated, but we all imagery in their narration when they re- stayed at home with our children”. In the collect their experience. As the women I interview situation this fact strikes her, have interviewed recollect the 50s they and further on she returns to the question also relate to later discussions and later of how and why she, as well as many of imagery of housewives. her female friends, became housewives in the early 1950s. The Happy Housewife This article1 explores how recollec- When studying how the women I have in- tions of being a housewife are expressed terviewed narrate about their choice of in the interview situation with a focus on staying at home, it becomes clear that they the images of housewifery that emerge in are pleased to have had the opportunity to women’s narration. These images can be stay at home as housewives. Becoming a understood as constructed ways of organ- housewife is connected to getting married izing experience and ways of meaning or becoming a mother. Sometimes the making (Koivunen 1995:28f). I will ex- transition to becoming a housewife is amine the ways in which women who presented as something “natural” while were housewives in the 1950s recollect others present it as a choice. This becomes and narrate their choice of staying at evident in my material through recurrent home. The aim of the article is to study expressions such as “I stayed at home”, “I the images of housewifery that emerge quit my job”, and “I stayed at home of my from the narration of the women that I own will”. These explanations are often have interviewed, and to relate these im- overlapping. Helena Znaniecki Lopata ages to narrative strategies of resistance points out that the concept of becoming a or adaptation. On a methodological level housewife involves learning both to con- I will analyze the interviews by looking form to correct behavior patterns and to at more or less fixed expressions, that oc- interpret experiences through a new cur frequently in my material, expres- framework, as a married woman (Lopata sions or figures of speech that are mean- 1971:32f). Before I go on to explore the ingful in the interpretation of narration recurrent expressions, I will introduce the

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 132 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

emergence of the housewife in a historical have been much criticized, but serve as an context and the image of the happy house- explanation to why married women’s wife. place was thought to be at home during this time. The woman’s task was to bring up the next generation, stand by her hus- The Emergence of the Happy Housewife band and children, and create a good home The emergence of the housewife lies in with a pleasant atmosphere for the family the rise of industrialization when work members (Sköld 1998:75). Motherhood, 3 and family life was separated. The impli- which was strongly idealized, was seen as cation of this was that the world of men the woman’s main task and her work was became wider, outside the home, whereas valued by the outcome, her children. As a the private sphere, the home, became the wife at home she was living proof of her women’s world. In the early period of in- husband’s financial status. The image of dustrialization women’s work outside the the happy housewife is presented by the home was condemned on moral grounds, feminist Betty Friedan on the basis of a it was thought to damage her mental study of women’s magazines in the late health and lead her to neglect her family 1940s and 1950s. In these magazines (Oakley 1976:32ff). This ideal was re- women were presented as feminine, vived after World War II and was quite young and frivolous in a world of men, ba- widely disseminated. In this process, the bies and the home. Friedan calls this the American notion of the happy housewife, feminine mystique meaning that the high- who functioned as part of the ideal family, est value and the only commitment for served as a model. The notion of the ideal women was the fulfillment of their femi- family was presented in the 1950s by Tal- ninity. This meant a forced happiness cott Parsons who argued that the structure which could only be gained by devoting of the nuclear family was based on a dif- oneself to being a housewife/mother ferentiation of sex roles in the family (Friedan 1968:10ff). along instrumental-expressive lines. The The image of the happy housewife, reason for men to take an instrumental originating in America, had a temporal role and the women an expressive one was peak in Western Europe during the first explained in biological terms, the part of the 20th century with the postwar mother’s relation to a small child, which period as its culmination – the time of gave the male a possibility to specialize in back-to-the-family politics. This image alternative instrumental direction. An- was imported to almost all the western other gender order was thought to harm world and had a huge impact, also on the the children and in extension the whole Nordic countries including Finland. In the family. The man alone was meant to be 1950s, during the so called era of house- the breadwinner and the mother to stay at wives, the housewife was regarded as con- home with the children. During the 1950s stituting the ideal womanhood (Wikander these complementary roles were seen as a 1999:157). The praxis of this image was way to guarantee the unity of the family promoted by joint taxation (in Finland (Parsons 1955:22ff). Parsons’ thoughts 1943–1975) which made it favorable in Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 133

economic terms for a family to live on confirmed and can be explained in relation only one salary (Bergholm 2011:34). Dur- to circumstances during and after the war. ing the 19th century it was not appropriate During World War II women’s work in in Finland for middle-class women to the fields and in factories was needed to work outside the home, because employ- compensate for the men who had gone to ment was seen as a male activity (Ollila war. After the war years men were sup- 1990:264ff). The ideology of a woman’s posed to get their work back which led to place being in the home became part of a unemployment among women (Lähteen- national project. Yet the amount of mäki 1999:50ff). Women were asked to mothers working outside the home grew relinquish their place on the labor market for economic reasons; families could not to men as a kind of sacrifice. The men afford to keep the mothers at home were thought to have made their sacrifice (Lähteenmäki 1999:47f). Until the 1960s while serving in the war (Holmila 2008:9). Finns had mostly made their living from However, statistics show that married agriculture, meaning that women’s work women in Finland did not return to being was done within the household. Between housewives as the men returned from war the world wars, employment outside the to the same extent as in other western home became more and more common countries. For example Portugal, Spain, among married women (Hytönen & Kos- Italy and Norway had a large amount of kinen-Koivisto 2011:8f). Yet the image of women outside working life whereas the housewife was prevalent also in Fin- non-western countries like Romania, the land during this time, at least in middle- USSR and Bulgaria had a high rate of class surroundings (Ollila 1990:337). The women in working life. Finland’s place in following social aspects, besides the cul- these statistics is directly after the eastern tural explanations, made it possible for countries (Naisten asemaa 1970:38). One women to stay at home: the existence of a reason for this was the insignificant male breadwinner, and an economic middle class in Finland (Haavio-Mannila standard which made it possible for a 1984: 49). In fact the amount of urban family to manage only on one salary, in women working outside the home grew combination with joint taxation. slightly during the 1950s (Jallinoja 1985: 251). The share of married women work- ing outside the home4 was 45 per cent in “I stayed at home” 1950 (Degerman 1965:6ff). This indicates The women in my material narrate about that the image of the happy housewife their living conditions in many ways. The competes with the image of the working transition to becoming a housewife is ex- mother in Finland’s case. Although house- pressed through frequently occurring ex- wives were not that usual in Finland the pressions such as “I stayed at home”. So thought of a mother at home was funda- does Ebba for example: “I was one of the mental here as well. In the post-war few of my friends that stayed at home”. period, motherhood was glorified due to She depicts her decision to stay at home as the population policy. The country needed not that usual. This can also be statistically to focus on nativity in order to replace the 134 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

loss of men during the war (Satka 1993: working life behind, to be independent 58ff). from wage work, and to become a work Staying at home can be related to the manager of her own (Gunnemark 1998: notion of work. Molly points out that she 83ff). It was for urban, middle-class “worked at home”. She presents her home women a normal way of living if the econ- as her working place. The expression to omic conditions so permitted; this includ- “stay at home” can be linked to the notion ed the presence of a male breadwinner and that work at home is connected to a “be- an economic possibility to raise a family ing” while work outside the home is only on one salary. During this time something you “do”. According to Marga- housewifery was presented as an adaptive reta Gisselberg this can be interpreted as femininity. It was also something to be depreciation of the home as a working happy about, to have a home of one’s own place but it can also be seen as emphasiz- to potter about (Danielsen 2002:48ff). ing the meaning of the home as a funda- This implies an adaptation to the image of ment for people (Gisselberg 1985:130ff). the happy housewife. Housewives were thought to view their duties in the manner of an occupational “I quit my job” role as a way of increasing the value of the homework, as pointed out in Helena Another way of narrating about becoming Znaniecki Lopata’s study Occupation a housewife is by using the expression “I housewife (Lopata 1971:139). quit my job”. In some companies it was a The women in my material left working relatively wide-spread opinion that female life when marrying, when they became workers should resign when getting mar- mothers or when the second or third child ried or at the very latest when they got was born. In my material this is depicted pregnant. This is also mentioned in the in- as something self-evident. Elsa narrates terviews I conducted. For example, Nellie about how she stopped working when her explains that her professional life was at first child was born: ”So that’s why I the phase when she was a Miss, not a Mrs. stayed at home”. Housewifery was seen as For her it was a matter of course that her an opportunity to leave employment, and working career ended when marrying. A as a way to create a home of one’s own. In professional career for women was looked Kerstin Gunnemark’s study of house- upon as a transitory stage between educa- wives in a Swedish context, the possibility tion and homemaking (Lopata 1971:31). to leave employment was experienced by In the interview with Linnea she points the housewives she interviewed as an op- out how she voluntarily resigned from portunity and a relief. Life as a housewife work when her first child was on its way: is presented as a dream come true for ”And that’s why I stopped working”. In many women. Moving to newly built the interview with Elsa, on the other hand, houses meant a life of better material she points out that making women redun- standards. Being a housewife was experi- dant because of marriage was not a cus- enced as something to be proud of, a pos- tom anymore in the 1950s. We discuss the sibility to leave a hard and monotonous question as follows: Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 135

Elsa: No, no longer then [should you stop working companies to have young and brisk labor when getting married]. It was more a question that in order to save money, because the you should stop working when you got children. It younger women had lower income, and was quite definitely that you had to stop working then. there was no need to pay pensions Lena: Were you supposed to resign or how did it (Hedenborg & Wikander 2003:103f). In work? Finland, it was not until 1964 that women Elsa: Well …Actually I worked until it was one got the legal right to a maternity leave of month left [before the baby was to be born] and, 54 workdays, and until 1986 when women then I don’t know it I resigned or if it just was ob- no longer could be discriminated in work vious that I should quit. life.5 Lena: It was unexpressed? Elsa: Yes. It was quite obvious because we were It is a huge difference between resign- to move to [another place]. And during that time ing from a workplace or to be made redun- no company kept a job because you got a baby, oh dant from it. But the underlying thought of my god no. No, it disappeared and you had to it is the same, the thought of middle-class apply over again if you wanted to return to work. women staying at home and taking care of The phenomenon of having the legal pro- the children and the household, while the tection to keep one’s work when on paren- male partner was the breadwinner. The tal leave is here pondered on as something norm rests on a gender system with a more unimaginable, which Elsa’s expression or less expressed agreement between the “oh my god no” shows. To lay off women spouses (Carlstedt & Forssén 1999:64). when they got married or pregnant was This gender system was so widely distrib- not illegal in Finland during this time, and uted in the 1950s that it was perceived as was assumed to be a wide-spread custom the normal and “natural” way of living, in many companies. The married, middle- with the best of the family in mind. This is class woman was thought not to be in need why resignation or being laid off from of work outside the home because of the work was perceived as natural (Dahlström existence of a male breadwinner. This was 1962:193). In a study of housewives in regarded as the basis for a functional Norway, Hilde Danielsen describes family. In the 1940s, there was discussion women’s longing for taking care of a about the need of such a law, but the poli- home of their own as that strong that it ticians thought this proposal too radical. prevailed over the negative aspect of re- Later on, in the 1960s, married women at signing from work (Danielsen 2002:37). work got public acceptance and there was This is because the housewife was looked no need to pass a new law; this discussion upon as a positive model throughout the had been outdated. The habit or custom of Western world, if and when the possibility making married women redundant had to manage on only one salary was present disappeared (Suonoja 1992:385ff). Swe- (Ollila 1990:338). den had legislation against resignation of In the interviews, the birth of a child is married women already in 1939. Prior to often stated as a reason for becoming a this, the same moral pressure for married housewife. women to resign from work was common Molly: And there [at the office] I worked until I in Sweden as well. This was also a way for married and got children. 136 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

Lena: Did you stop working when you married or as a traditional patriarchal system, as a when your child was born? way of being sentenced to living everyday Molly: I didn’t work after I had children [with a life (Hirdman 2007). But it can also be gentle voice]. No. You see, my husband had a job comprehended as liberation from hard which implied that he was much away from home. work, or as a wish to assert the importance Here the absence of the father due to work of domesticity and child rearing (Johnson duties is the reason why Molly stayed at & Lloyd 2004). home. Also Nellie tells about her husband To leave professional life was of course being away on business travels as a rea- not always easy. Ebba tells about the birth son: “he [her husband] thought someone of her two first children and the decision should be at home”. It is a question of a to stay at home: gender system with separate and unques- After the birth of our second child I had maternity tioned tasks for the husband and wife re- leave but after that I didn’t return to my work. My spectively, with the mother staying at boss said to me in fact: “remember that if you are home and the man functioning as bread- away from this occupation two years you are out”, winner. For the man, to be a breadwinner because it has such a development. So it meant was a matter of honor. A real man should that I was stuck here with four small children, four be able to support the family and to children within five years. It meant I was fully oc- cupied with them. guarantee that the family had a home to live in (Åström 1990:141). For middle- Ebba is highly educated and had a quali- class men a housewife at home was a sign fied occupation. When the second child of his prosperity. This also meant that was born she left her employment. This middle-class women were not required to meant that after years of being a house- work outside the home because their mar- wife she had small or even no chances of riage gave them an occupation as house- getting back because of the rapid progress wives. in the field. She uses the expression Working-class women in post-wartime “stuck” for her decision to stay at home. Finland were forced to work for economic Although the expression stuck can be un- reasons (Hytönen & Koskinen-Koivisto derstood as implying captivity she thought 2011:10); to be able to stay at home is thus the decision to stay at home was not diffi- connected to class, in my case it is a cult to make. This was due to the children, middle-class phenomenon. According to a but even more due to the character of her survey done in 1946, approximately one employment. She says: “If I had been all of three women left work voluntarily that delighted with my job I wouldn’t have when marrying (Komiteamietintö 1948: left it. But I wasn’t that fond of it […] I 24). The decision to stay at home or go to didn’t fight for it”. For Ebba, who was not work was discussed in terms of advantag- forced to work outside the home for econ- es and disadvantages in economic and omic reasons, it was an issue of the bal- practical terms. But it was also an issue of ance between the advantages and disad- customs and values. To resign from work vantages of staying at home. The summers when getting married is presented as a together with the children she mentions as custom of the time. This can be interpreted something she would not have liked to Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 137

sacrifice. In her case, the advantages out- domestic work led, according to her, to a weigh the disadvantages, although she felt value system with a basis in rationality. “stuck” in the situation. In this case, the People were expected to be rational and image of the happy housewife competes rank different alternatives in terms of both with the image of the captive housewife, time and money in order to maximize the and also that of the career woman, mean- economic benefit in the household. This ing adaptation as well as resistance to the meant that the spouse with a higher in- image of the happy housewife. come took employment and the other stayed in the domestic sphere (Gisselberg 1985:12ff). According to her, the choice “I stayed at home of my own free will” of staying at home might seem to be free, The women talk about their decision to but is based on notions of domestic and stay at home as a choice of their own. Lin- economic efficiency. This is one way of nea tells: “I worked at the company until looking at the choice the women made and 1952. Then I got children and chose to that they talk of as a choice of their own. stay at home. And it was a choice of my Another aspect of this issue is joint tax- own”. She points out that the decision was ation, which made it advantageous for her own. So does Molly, as an answer to women to stay at home. In addition, you my question why she became a housewife: have to take the importance of family “It was of my own free will. Nobody values, especially of motherhood as the forced me into anything. I have always main task for women, into consideration. been independent. I chose a path of my Another way of construing this voluntary own”. staying at home is by reference to the no- The thought of a choice made of one’s tion of working for the common good, own free will is recurring in the material. which was significant in women’s up- How is this free will to be understood? bringing in earlier times (Gisselberg 1985: The concept of the free will is crucial in 25). On the other hand, nobody forced the philosophy and is connected to questions women to stay at home, if you do not think of ethics and morals. The free will can of the force of values as an imperative. very simply be conceived of as an opposi- Another component of the free will in re- tion to fatalism, as a possibility of having lation to compulsion was the case during the choice to act in a different way (cf. Lo- the 1950’s when women who wished to rentzon 2002). I am not interested in how stay at home were forced to take employ- the free will is to be understood; more in- ment for economic reasons (Ogden 1986: teresting is the notion of experiencing the xviii, Lähteenmäki 1995:25f). The notion will as free. This subjective experience of of a free will can be interpreted as an ad- the free will makes us imagine that we aptation to fundamental norms of the time, have alternative ways of acting (Karlsson but it can also be understood as resistance 2005:148f). The choice of staying at home to the image of the career woman, mean- as a result of the free will is discussed in ing a view that women should work out- economic terms by Margareta Gisselberg. side the home. The separation of public production and The question of choice and compulsion 138 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

when it comes to employment or staying of both spouses working as an unworkable at home can be looked upon as a question option. Telling me about their choices can of how free we actually are as individuals be regarded as a way of justifying and to make decisions of our own, or if our making meaning in their lives. At the choices are due to societal authority which same time, their narration can be interpret- we cannot control (Giddens 1994:52; cf. ed as comments on and a critique of the Guneriussen 1997:291ff). A more fruitful double-working mothers of today, as well approach to me is to recognize that the as constituting comments on their experi- women’s stories are permeated by the ex- ences in the 1950s. perience of the free will in order to make Many of the women in my material pre- meaning in their lives. In the interviews sent the advantages of being a housewife. we talk about the alternatives to house- Marriage gave them an occupational role, wifery. Linnea talks about it like this: economic security, status as married Well, I could have continued at the office and you women, a home of their own and children could have had child care. My children also at- to nurse and bring up. By marrying and tended kindergarten but I thought it was great to staying at home the middle-class women be able to be at home when they came home did what was expected of them at the time; [laughter]. I had the possibility to choose that way. a normal and normative way of living My husband had a job which meant he was absent (Danielsen 2002:47). Marriage was for a great deal, so it would have been really tough, well if both of us would have worked. most of the women a goal in their life; by marrying they got a status of married Linnea had an option, but it was not rele- women as well as a home of their own. vant because she could choose, meaning These advantages can be looked upon as there was an economic possibility to stay part of the image of the happy housewife. at home. She also ranked motherhood The women I have interviewed make only higher than having a professional life. In slight resistance to these images. Never- Ebba’s narration she expresses no regret theless traces of the images of the captive that she decided to stay at home: housewife and of the career woman are to As long as the kids were at school I do not regret be found in their narration. a day [I stayed home], because you got so much more out of life. You are at home at one o’clock The Work-loaded Housewife when the first child comes home, at two o’clock when the next is there. You get the story of today; The Swedish politicians Alva Myrdal and you get so much more out of life compared to Viola Klein picture two contradictory im- coming home burdened with shopping bags at five ages of the housewife in their study Kvin- o’clock, and soon everybody goes in all direc- nans två roller [Two roles of women] tions. So that part I took in fact as a gift. (1957). Firstly, it is the work-loaded She talks about the time with the children housewife, with red knuckles from wash- as a gift, a way of having an inner rich life. ing. This image was mostly linked to fac- The choice she made she puts in relation tory working women with long working to the image of the double-working hours and also a household to run. The mother of today, which she makes resist- other image they present was the so-called ance to. Linnea too presents the thought society woman, the leisured lady. In focus Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 139

here were the married middle-class women with, according to the authors, the following task: “to be a grace in her hus- band’s home, a living witness to his pros- perity” (Myrdal & Klein 1957:18). The society lady was thought to live an easy life with lots of spare time. These two im- ages are in one way or another present in my material. Apart from life as a housewife being something natural and obvious, it was also construed as a necessity due to practical circumstances. It could be a matter of the non-existence of public childcare or time- consuming domestic work. Elsa talked in the interview about how lovely it was to have a home of her own, and continues with descriptions of how elementary the Mother and children in the late 1950s. SLS material situation was: “we had no run- 2042_35. Photo: The Society of Swedish Litera- ning hot water, only a fire stove”. She also ture in Finland, The Archives of Folk Culture. mentions how time-consuming it was to take care of a baby in these conditions. In mothers did not have an opportunity to addition she reflects on the fact that there choose between staying at home and was no access to disposable diapers in working outside the home. They were tru- those days. She is horrified when she ly needed at home; she had to stay at thinks of the demanding work with dia- home. This lack of a choice must never- pers made of cloth. theless be understood in terms of the exist- Elsa: But, but you had to cook the cloth after every ence of economic security; their husbands use. Then you had to let the cloth soak and then were able to support them. The burden- you had to have a big pot and let it cook there on some duties and the simple conditions in the fire stove. Oh my god. which the housewives worked can be in- Lena: So you had no difficulties in passing the day? Elsa: [sighs deeply]. When I start to think, how on terpreted as a way of speaking about them, earth … No wonder the wives weren’t at work out- but also of justifying their right to their side the home. There were no child-care centers or livelihood. anything else, there weren’t. So you had to stay at In these stories a heroic femininity is home, home taking care of the children. configured by depicting women who en- Elsa depicts her life in the early 1950s as dure heavy work, the work-loaded house- heavy. According to her, everyday life as wife, a heroic femininity implying that the a young wife and mother was so demand- women were able to work hard in scant ing that the mothers were needed at home conditions. This image can be understood due to the lack of municipal child-care. as part of the image of the strong Finnish She points out that in those days young woman. Pirjo Markkola has studied the 140 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

construction of the strong Finnish woman The tangible cause why the women as part of the national story of Finland. stayed at home was the lack of organized Slogans such as “women have always childcare. This was also a reason why worked”, as well as women’s participation women resigned from work and stayed at in politics and education, serve to consti- home. Public child day care was to be tute this construction (Markkola 2002: available by law in 1973 (Bergholm 2011: 75ff). The hardworking and oppressed 33). Before that time there was child care woman did not match the image of a de- in the form of kindergarten, which was veloped country; instead the image of looked upon as a complement to activities hardworking and satisfied women was at home. Since the 1860s child care for launched (Östman 2008:21f). In the quo- less affluent families was available for tation in the beginning of this article, Elsa women who had to take employment out- points out that she and her female friends side the home for economic reasons (Hatje were in the same position; they were all 1999:31ff). It was this form of full-time educated and still at home taking care of day child care that was missing, according the children. When thinking of the times to Elsa, and which in theoretical terms in the 1950s, it was a part of the living would have enabled employment outside conditions in middle-class surroundings. home. But I consider the lack of child care When thinking back on it, she neverthe- only a partial explanation. The other part less finds it surprising that the women did of the explanation emphasizes mother- not make use of their education, an aston- hood as the main task for women. During ishment that was evoked by the interview the wars motherhood was viewed as a situation. This shows the impact of the praiseworthy aspect of female citizenship: norm of being a housewife in the 1950s in the woman’s task was to raise the next urban middle-class families. generation. The tribute to mothers had symbolic significance since they came to represent the future and the values to fight for during the war (Sulkunen 1987:158ff; Satka 1994:91). In postwar Finland breed- ing children was exceptionally important because the nation needed an increased population enabling it to develop into a welfare state (Nätkin 2002:176ff). The discourse of maternity was also prevalent for employed women in the forms of working motherhood. This was regarded not only as something positive, but also as a sign of poverty. It was thought that if Finland could adopt the western ideal of wives staying at home, Finnish society Mother and children in the early 1950s. SLS 1991_10. Photo: The Society of Swedish Litera- would become more prosperous (Julku- ture in Finland, The Archives of Folk Culture. nen & Nätti 1999:79). Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 141

Ebba narrates about her life and evalu- the household duties” (Oakley 1978:29). ates her work in the household by saying: A housewife is a woman who is depend- “But I had at least as much work as any- ent on her husband, the male breadwin- body. It wasn’t a question of it. I didn’t ner, in an economic sense. Her work has lie there reading novels”. As a mother to the status of non-work and is the core many children she explains she had plen- task for the woman and it is considered ty to do with housekeeping. She also re- non-work because she gets no salary, no gards it as a work and not as chores. Mol- financial benefits, and no health insur- ly also talks about the concept of house- ance. As a wage earner she does not exist. wife as linked to a thought of leisure as The work of a housewife has been per- something disgraceful. Ebba’s way of ex- ceived as monotonous and because of the pressing herself, that she did not spend lack of pecuniary reward has low status. her time reading, reflects the image of the This leads to dissatisfaction and a view of society lady or the leisured lady with lots a housewife as “just” a housewife (Oak- of spare time. In her story, she distances ley 1976:1ff). This “just” in housewifery herself from this image at the same time is in glaring contrast to the heroic femi- as her utterance can be interpreted as ninity appearing in the image of the linked to the image of the work-loaded work-loaded housewife. According to housewife. the view of Ann Oakley, the housewife can be interpreted as a captive and un- “Just a Housewife” worthy woman. Not wanting to be called Some of the women did not want to talk a housewife can be understood as a way about themselves as housewives. Ebba is of making resistance to the image of “just one of them. She explains: “I have never a housewife”, wanting to get apprecia- accepted the expression housewife. I tion for her choice of life and her com- stayed at home, and I happened to be a mitment to the family. wife […]. I felt honestly bad if someone This “just” is a starting point in Glenna called me that”. Her negative feelings Matthew’s study ”Just a housewife” about the expression housewife can be (1987). Matthews indicates that the home understood by reference to the reevalua- as a working place has been depreciated tion of the housewife that took place in and the housewife has been neglected in the 1960’s and 1970’s due to the second historical studies. She states that the core feminist wave that wanted women out of task for the housewife, taking care of the the home and into work, and which ex- home as a valuable place, was lost when pressed the women’s task at home as consumption became her main task. This “just” being a housewife (Oakley 1976: made her dissatisfied and “just” a house- 5). Ebba not wanting herself to be called wife (Matthews 1987:182ff). The image a housewife can be explained by looking of the consuming housewife is occurring at a definition of the concept given by for example in comic strips – when Blon- Ann Oakley. A housewife can be defined die consumes more than her husband Dag- as “[t]he person, other than a domestic wood can afford (Peterson 1976: 52). The servant, who is responsible for most of image of the consuming housewife is not 142 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

to be found in my material because it is some pressure was put on me, me being at more or less an image reflecting other home. You had to be a person of principles people’s views, rather than given in pres- to manage”. This can be looked upon as a entations of the self. Matthews points out strong resistance to the image of the liber- negative images of the housewife with a ated woman. As a result of this discussion, basis in fiction, as nagging, being spoilt housewives were looked upon as “just” and emotionally underdeveloped. She also housewives and began to talk about them- points out that housewives were looked selves in these terms. The image is also as- upon as predators, as someone who sociated with boredom and discomfort cadged on society without contributing (Oakley 1976:94), or to housewives being productively to society (Matthews 1987: trapped in a feminine mystique of dissatis- 182ff). In my interviews the housewife as faction (Friedan 1968). a predator is mentioned. Molly tells me The image “Just” a housewife can be about an incident in the 1970s: understood as an oppressed femininity if you perceive housewifery as subordina- Molly: Let me tell you […] when we first came to x-town and lived on x-street there was a neighbor tion. But it can also be a way of making I remember. So she said to me “YOU ARE A women’s work at home invisible. The PREDATOR IN SOCIETY” [with loud voice]. recollections of becoming a housewife in She said so to me [laughter] “when you only stay the 1950s are multilayered, and comment at home”. […] She called me a predator. not only on the living conditions of the To be called a predator is surely not a nice 1950s, but also serve to reject the views experience, but she convinces me that she of the second-wave feminists back in the did not get hurt. Instead, it served as an 1970s, as well as commenting on con- awakening for her, and she tried to find her temporary conditions. The women I in- way out of the home, finding charity and terviewed strongly dissociated them- part-time work because her children were selves from the image “Just” a housewife already grown up. In that way, she made no by talking of housewifery as a part of the conscious resistance to the image of the normal state of affairs in the 1950s, want- predatory housewife, but instead more or ing me to show them respect for their less adapted to the demand of getting out of choice of life. In the interviews, the the home. The second wave feminists women were eager to make sure I under- stood them in the right way. Many of wanted women out of home as an instance them stress the fact that the times were of women’s liberation in the late 1960s and different in the 1950s; so does Molly by 1970s (Oakley 1974, Hirdman 2007). The commenting on the condition in the desire was to replace the image of the 1950s using the expression: “it was like housewife with the image of the liberated that during those days”. woman (Danielsen 2010:36). Ebba points out that during the time of women’s libera- Lena: Yes, so you were needed at home. tion in the 1970s, she felt a demand to leave Molly: Yes, yes. And it was so common [women being housewives] it was like that during those the home and get out to work, which meant days, I like to add. Now it’s all different. You had a pressure on housewives who wanted to to be at home running the household and every- stay at home. Ebba narrates: “that meant thing related to it. Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 143

The women are most eager to express that Conclusion times were different in those days. So does As we can see, the narration about the de- Molly when she talks with emphasis of cision or choice to become a housewife is “those days”, at the same time relating to presented as multifaceted. Due to prevail- women’s working situation today. Linnea ing norms and ideals the “becoming” of a also points out the difference by saying: housewife can be unnoticed and presented “Well nowadays it’s so common [with as something normal, as a consequence of working mothers] but it was different in marriage and/or childbirth. The women those days, you know [giggle]. You stayed at home after weighing the pros thought of it in another way”. The reason and cons in terms of economic profitabili- why these women are so concerned to ty and practical considerations, more or point out the difference in time, wanting less unconsciously according to the norms me to give them their due, is in my opinion prevailing in the 1950s. When narrating related to the reevaluation of the condi- about their choice of staying at home the tions of the housewife in the late 1960s, at women that I have interviewed use recur- a time were women staying at home were ring expressions such as “I stayed at called “just” housewives. They do not home”, “I quit my job”, “I stopped work- want me to think of them as wasting their ing”, “I stayed at home of my own will” , lives staying at home. Therefore they “You had to stay at home” and “It was like that during those days”. Because these ex- stress the normality of being a housewife, pressions recur in the narration I consider according to the common values at the them symbolically significant. These ex- time. pressions can also be linked to the images The era of housewives was interpreted of housewives that I used as a basis for in- as a form of oppression, a waste of fe- terpreting my material and that is also to male labor, by many second wave femi- be found in prior research or debate about nists (cf. Oakley 1976:79; Hirdman housewives. These images are the happy 2007:17). But the living conditions of the housewife, used by Betty Friedan, the housewife can also be interpreted as an work loaded housewife used by Alva individual opportunity, a choice to con- Myrdal and “just” a housewife used by centrate on oneself, the children and do- Ann Oakley and Glenna Matthews. In mesticity in combination with equal foot- their narration, the women have to some ing as many third wave feminists do extent adapted to the femininity percept- (Johnson & Lloyd 2004:iix). But second ible in the image of the happy housewife wave feminism has left an imprint by cre- as a normative way of living in the 50s. ating a bad conscience for women that They use the image of the work-loaded have remained outside the sphere of pro- housewife as a justification of their stay- fessional life. To point out the differ- ing at home. The relation to the image of ences in the views current at the time is a “just” a housewife is negative, because way of meaning-making and to justify they experience their achievement in life one’s life, both to me as a listener and to is not valued. These images are inter- themselves. twined. For example the image of the hap- 144 Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery

py housewife is intertwined with the im- the memory of the 1950s, the memory of age of the work-loaded housewife, which the feminist movement during the 1970s is expressed by sayings such as “You had wanting women out of the home into work to be at home”. Besides these three im- life, and finally the time layer of today ages, traces of other images can be found. when the interview was made, and when These are the captive housewife, the ca- they had to convince me to respect their reer woman, the working mother, the choice of path of life. double-working mother, the consuming housewife, the unworthy woman, the Lena Marander-Eklund Senior lecturer in folkloristics predator, the leisured lady, images they Åbo Akademi University mostly make resistance to and dissociate Fabriksgatan 2 themselves from. FIN – 20500 Åbo (Turku) When elderly women narrate their e-mail: [email protected] choice to be a housewife in the 1950s, all these three images are present in their sto- Notes ries in one way or another. The women re- 1 The article is part of the Academy of Finland project “Happy days? Everyday life and nos- late their experience to these images fa- talgia of the extended 1950s” (FA 137923). In miliar from debates in the media. In this my part of the project, I use different kinds of way, the stories are multifaceted, includ- material such as weekly magazines, archival ing many temporal layers and different recordings, written life-stories and interviews. In this article I only analyze the interviews. I types of zeitgeist. This gives me a differ- would like to thank FD Camilla Asplund ent perception of what it meant to be a Ingemark for comments to the article draft. housewife in the 1950s compared to what 2 I am focusing on material from the Swedish- would have been the case if I only had ac- speaking parts of Finland, although the house- wife was a middle-class phenomenon in urban cess to material produced in the 1950s. In Finland in its entirety as late as the 1970s addition to housewifery being something (Kortteinen 1982:210). “natural” and normal, the material also in- 3 Housewifery has a long history beginning in England in the fourteenth-century, in the cludes echoes of the discussions of the pre-industrial society (Hall 1980:44ff). women’s liberation movement in the 4 Half a million women were working at home 1960s–1970s, as well as gives comments in 1950 but this percentage includes the agrar- on women’s working situation today. By ian women, who cannot be included in the group of housewives. The number of house- narrating this way, the women give mean- wives in an urban setting is estimated to ap- ing to their choice of staying at home, and proximately 130 000 in 1950 (Statistisk års- ensure that the listener does them justice bok för Finland 1955:43). for their choice. They tell me about their 5 Finlex 364/1963, Finlex 609/1986. lives as housewives with pride, wanting me not to judge them for their choice of Referenses life according to current norms. At the Archival material same time, they excuse themselves in rela- Turku, Åbo Akademi University, Cultura, Ar- tion to me, feeling the demand to be pro- chives of folklore (IF) IF mgt 2010/3 (Elsa), IF mgt 2010/4 (Linnea), ductive. This means that there are at least IF mgt 2010/6 (Ebba), IF mgt 2010/7 (Molly), three temporal layers in their narration, IF mgt 2011/97 (Nellie). Lena Marander-Eklund, Images of Housewifery 145

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The Perception of Place from the Out- point the fieldwork I carried out in side Suzhou, China, in December 2009 and I have rarely had such a strange feeling as November 2010. The city of Suzhou is I did when I travelled for the first time to situated about 80 kilometres north-east of the city of Suzhou. That feeling was Shanghai. It is one of the oldest cities in caused by the fact that I was not able to China, dating back over 2,500 years. To- create an image of any kind in my mind day there are approximately 10 million about the city I was heading for. So right people living in the greater Suzhou area from the start after arriving in Suzhou I and about 5−6 million of them in the urban realized that I was somehow more alert area. My first impression was the re- about where I was going and what was semblance of Suzhou to any European around me than when I usually travelled to city. This was because I arrived from a di- a new place for the first time. As an eth- rection that led to a part of the city called nologist interested in urban and spatial Suzhou Industrial Park, which had sprung studies, this experience led me to think up quite recently and was still under con- about how people going to new places struction. In this area, there were high-rise start to become acquainted and familiar apartment buildings along wide city with their surroundings. Can a place carry streets, shopping malls, glass-covered of- meanings only for those who possess in- fice buildings, high-quality hotels and a sider knowledge, or is it possible to ana- large waterfront area beside Lake Jin Ji lyse urban spaces and places on the basis dedicated to leisure and entertainment ac- of other kinds of cultural competence and tivities. Surprisingly, this part of the city understanding? What kind of knowledge did not seem very crowded as might have can be obtained without having access to been expected in a city of millions. the meanings of places available to in- The main target for my fieldtrip was to siders? Places and spaces are usually observe urban public spaces and spatial analysed from the local inhabitants’ point practices in Suzhou and to approach the of view, but how do outsiders or newcom- city’s spatialities, that is juxtapositions of ers approach unfamiliar sites? What kind social and material environments, through of meanings do places carry for someone personal embodied experiences and visual coming from another place and culture? interpretations. The problem in this site These questions call for consideration and was that, although the material environ- further analysis in a globalized world ment gave me recognizable hints and where people, by moving around, are clues to be followed, when taking posses- creating and shaping culturally varying sion of the place, I found the local culture spatial practices and multicultural urban and language unfamiliar. At first sight, the landscapes. At the same time, more gen- city of Suzhou looked in many ways like eral remarks and ways of theorizing space any other modern city, but quite soon that can be obtained from ideas about foreign impression faded, and there appeared to and local, space and place and the aspect be something that made it totally different. of temporality in relation to places. When heading for the centre of the older This article1 has as its empirical starting Suzhou area, I realized that I had entered

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 148 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

another kind of urban environment. The proaching new places and moulding spa- streets were totally congested with cars, tial practices with culturally and socially motorbikes and bicycles as well as pedes- varying understandings of urban spaces trians walking on the pavements – if that and their uses. Sensing and looking at a was even possible since a lot of activities, place as a stranger opens up different per- such as selling food in street kitchens, spectives on the relations of the social and tending a shoe-repair stand or just gather- material environments in more familiar ing with friends to play cards, took place surroundings as well. on the pavements, thus forcing people to I understand “urban space” as a concept walk on the carriageway. The traffic originating from the field of urban plan- looked and felt quite chaotic, with the in- ning and referring in the first place to the cessant honking of the horns making me division of a larger urban area into smaller jumpy until I came to realize why they sections named according to their func- were used. In comparison with my first tional purpose. Edward Relph (1976:23) impression of Suzhou, this part of the city argues that a space in planning does not was quite different in scale and very much involve direct or imaginative experience alive, with a wide range of activities and but an order on maps and efficiency of various spatial practices going on every- land use. For Tim Ingold (2000:216) where in the public spaces. “space” is the most abstract term to de- The city felt both familiar and very scribe the world in which we live and the strange at the same time, giving a sense furthest removed from actual human ex- that the current uses and practices of the perience. Nevertheless, even in everyday city’s urban spaces were formed and pro- language we tend to speak of urban spaces duced by influences that are at once con- and not of urban places, even though ur- temporary and very ancient, both local ban spaces or some parts of them become and global. My fieldwork in Suzhou led meaningful for people and are understood me to consider the researcher’s role as as specific places. It seems that the con- “another”, someone who did not belong to cept of urban space is often used in quite a a place but still tried to make some sense generalized way in referring to the urban of it on the basis of his or her personal environment as a whole without any emo- experiences2 and a cultural knowledge re- tional qualities attached to it. When talk- lated to a different context and back- ing about places, people usually have ground. I wanted to find a way to grasp some kind of knowledge of, or connection this feeling of outsideness and ended up with, them because in order to talk about a by focusing on the experiences I “em- certain place it has to be somehow ack- bodied” and by taking photographs. By nowledged as a place. Places are intimate- examining the embodied experiences and ly related to space, and this relationship interpreting the visual images of the urban has been defined in various ways, for ex- spaces I visited, I strove to assume a ample in multidisciplinary spatial studies. stranger’s perspective on the juxtaposition According to Robert David Sack (2004: of the material and social environments. 244), a place is carved out of space, it is in In today’s world, people move around, ap- space and has location, and it is also in- Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 149

volved in generating flows through space ways having connections with other and creating surfaces and appearances of places. In this article, I will discuss these varying scales and extent. ideas in relation to the ethnography of spa- Urban places today are in many cases tiality and urban ethnology. planned and built quite similarly from one city to the next, which may lead us to think Embodied Experiences and Visual In- that the urban experiences of the people terpretations who encounter and use those spaces “On a Saturday afternoon in the city would also be the same all over. The wa- centre of Suzhou, I find myself in the terfront area in Suzhou’s Industrial Park, middle of a fast-moving crowd. I’d like for example, resembles similar sites in to slow down but the crowd around me many European and American cities, won’t let me. I walk on for a little while where former industrial areas, especially and turn into a narrow side street where ones located on waterfronts, have been the sounds from the crowded street fade turned into sophisticated business and en- away. I’m not hurrying anymore. I real- tertainment areas. There is even such a ize that I have adapted my rhythm to fit waterfront area in my hometown of Jy- these people’s leisurely pace. Just a few väskylä (in central Finland). The concept blocks away from the busy commercial of the development of these areas is close- main streets and I have come into another ly related to the idea of creating a new im- world, filled with a feeling of calmness age for the city in order to be able to com- and a kind of timelessness. I’m looking pete with other urban locations for the at- for a hint about where I might be. The tention of enterprises, investors, tourists street I’m walking on seems somehow fa- and new industries (Short 1996:428; Lap- miliar from earlier days, but that feeling pi 2007:123). In this process of image- is gone in a moment, and I feel totally lost building, the social, cultural and historical again.” characteristics of the area do not play any When one arrives in an unknown city, relevant role. Moreover, we often talk one first experiences it through every part about and refer to urban culture as some- of one’s body – through one’s senses of thing universal and not particularly con- smell and taste, and through one’s legs nected to certain actual places, specific and feet. One’s hearing picks up the noises sites or locations. The application of phe- and the quality of the voices; one’s eyes nomenological and visual approaches to are assailed by new impressions. Henri cities and urban spaces opens up new and Lefebvre (1991:160–162) argues for the complementary perspectives for research essential nature of bodily experience in in the field of urban ethnology, where nar- the production of space since, in his view, rative methods and a focus on single sites semantic approaches concentrating on employing a holistic approach have long readability and visibility can only be ap- appeared to be the prevailing practices. plied to spaces already produced. Kjell Multi-sited ethnography emphasizes Hansen (2003:149–167) has carried out a places as characteristically unbounded, di- methodological experiment in ethnologi- verse, polyphonic, transparent, and al- cal fieldwork, testing what might come 150 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

from a situation in which the fieldworker walking distances in Suzhou also grew relies on other sensory impulses than because almost all residential areas were those resulting from talking to people. fenced, in with just a few streets leading Hansen writes about how the existence of out of them. More than once I thought of a strange language forced him to navigate going through such an area only to real- the atmosphere with a greater sensitivity. ize that it was impossible, and I had to re- It was his body rather than his mind that turn the way I had come. linked him to the world he was experienc- Having no access to street signs and be- ing, but even so his intention was to un- ing not able to ask for help if I got lost in derstand something about the social and the streets of Suzhou sharpened my senses cultural meanings of the event he was tak- in a way that surprised me. Being unable ing part in, albeit as an outsider. to rely on spoken or written language, The description of my stroll on a Sat- other senses involved in engaging with ur- urday afternoon in Suzhou, despite its ban spatiality became more alert, creating brevity, embodies many essential fea- a more profound sensitivity towards the tures and experiences of being there. material surroundings, landscape, settings First of all I did quite a lot of walking, and places. This experience led me to just going from one street to another with think about people’s reactions to unfamil- almost no preplanned schedules or ideas iar places. How do we start getting ac- of where I should definitely go or what quainted with new places? Even though sites or places I should visit. I am a huge we may not pay much attention to walk- fan of maps, and usually when I arrive in ing, it is a very common way of getting to a new place I try to find a map right away know new material and social environ- in order to somehow figure out the urban ments. When I have interviewed migrants layout and locate myself in it. I had who have settled in my hometown of Jy- planned to do the same thing on my first väskylä in Finland, they often mention visit to Suzhou, but it proved to be quite that in the beginning they just walked difficult. I found some maps but actually around; first in the surroundings of their could not find the information I was dwelling places and then extending their looking for. For example, no scale was walks further in order to get a grip on their indicated on the maps, and many of the new hometown. Walking is not just about streets were not marked. So I certainly getting to know one’s physical environ- did a lot of walking since I got lost all the ment and the routes to different places; it time and could not figure out distances, is also a means of starting to learn about a which caused me many time- consuming new social environment. Ethnographers setbacks. There were a few tall buildings carry out lot of their work on foot, but it is in the central area that I could see and rare to find any ethnography that reflects recognize from far away, so I tried to the walking itself. Tim Ingold and Jo Lee orientate myself by them. When I was Vergunst (2008:1–3) argue that walking is thinking about the maps, I realized that I a profoundly social activity. In their tim- had taken it as somehow self-evident that ings, rhythms and inflections, the feet re- maps were the same everywhere. My spond as much as the voice to the presence Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 151

and activity of others. Social relations are mined encounters, the hurried carry- not acted in situ but are paced out along ings-on or nonchalant meanderings of the ground. people going home to withdraw from the In the walk described above, another outside, or leaving their homes to make experience had to do with the rhythms of contact with the outside, business people the city and changes in them and in my and unoccupied people – so many ele- own, in a way unconscious, adaptation to ments which make up polyrhythm. The those differing rhythms. This demon- analyst of rhythm knows how to listen to a strates the point of Ingold and Vergunst place, a market, an avenue (Lefebvre about walking as a social activity. I real- 1996:230). Another aspect of temporal ized that I was adjusting my own pace to difference for someone like me who that of the people around me, and in that comes from Finland – where, as in most way I also became aware of the multitem- places in Europe, weeks are generally di- porality and multispatiality of the city. vided into five working days with Satur- Different rhythms imply varying urban day and Sunday free of work – was mani- lifestyles and are related to connections of fested in my wonder at the fact that in time and place in various ways. According Suzhou all the days of the week resembled to Henri Lefebvre, concrete times have each other. There were no clearly notice- rhythms, or rather, are rhythms – and able differences between weekdays and every rhythm implies the relation of a time weekends with regard to the uses of urban to a space, a localized time or, if you will, spaces or obtaining services and doing a temporalized place. Rhythm is always shopping, for instance. Maybe the main linked to a certain place, to its particular shopping area with pedestrian streets was place, whether it be the beating of the more crowded at weekends, but otherwise heart, the fluttering of the eyelids, the this division between weekdays and movement on a street, or the tempo of a weekends was not as sharp as it often is in waltz. Time is an aspect of a movement European cities. and a becoming (Lefebvre 1996:230). The experience of the local tends to Motion, as a concept related to Lefebvre’s have a special kind of sensual character. rhythm, is something that creates spaces People are in a local setting bodily, with in the first place. Orvar Löfgren (1997: all their senses, ready not only to look and 64–65) talks about how we often think of listen but to touch, smell and taste, with- space and landscape as something that we out having their fields of attention restrict- step into, walk through and then leave be- ed or prestructured for them. There is a hind. But instead it is the motion that or- feeling of immediacy, even of immersion, ganizes space and at the same time our un- of being surrounded. What is experienced derstanding of spaces. is also extensively contextualized. This is If one attentively observes a crowd dur- surely at least part of what the “real” is ing peak times, and especially if one lis- about. If there is now a growing celebra- tens to its noise, one discerns flows in the tion in social and cultural theory of the apparent disorder and an order that is sig- body as a symbolic site of the self and con- nalled by rhythms: chance or predeter- tinuity and of the senses, a greater concern 152 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

with the body and the senses in their con- cept but as literally referring to the sensing texts might help us understand something of a place? of what place is about. Taking these fac- While I was walking in the newer parts tors together – the everyday, the face-to- of Suzhou, my attention often seemed to face, the early and the formative, the sen- be focused on a larger view of the urban sual and bodily experience – it would ap- landscape. Since the streets were wide and pear that a fairly strong case exists for the there were not that many people around, continued importance of the local. And somehow I could only catch a rather insig- this could be true with regard to experi- nificant sense of that environment. I tried enced reality even when much of what is to capture my surroundings visually, but I in a place is shaped from the outside. We failed to get any real feeling of it. There are only now relinquishing the idea that was no sense of place that caught my at- the local is autonomous, that it has integ- tention in any way. In the more crowded rity of its own. Rather we see it as having sites of the older parts of the city, the at- its significance as an arena in which a va- mosphere was totally different. There the riety of influences come together, acted urban spaces were not large and open in out perhaps in a unique combination, un- all directions, and this gave a more inti- der the special conditions pertaining to it mate feeling to places in the old centre. In (Hannerz 1996:27). addition to doing their shopping and run- The term “sense of place” refers to the ning errands, people in many places lived subjective and emotional attachment their daily lives in close connection to people have for places (e.g. Cresswell what was happening on the streets. In a 2004:7). Usually a sense of place is de- way, their everyday lives were flowing fined as something that calls for a longer into the public spaces, thus making the temporal involvement with a certain place borderline between public and private in order for that relationship to evolve into spaces quite blurred. The feeling of a kind an emotional attachment. It leaves little of intimacy and the idea that these places room for the fact that a certain place can were tightly connected to people’s every- change, and at least implicitly it is linked day lives and their personal histories were to an understanding of places as rather almost palpable. In a way, I felt as if I was stable and closed entities. Sometimes the surrounded by these sites so that I could feeling of belonging to a place can de- feel them with all my senses in a way I had velop instantly and hit one like love at first not experienced before. So, in using an- sight, but a sense of place continues to im- other interpretation of the sense of place, ply a deeper emotional attachment (Tuan I’m suggesting that meaningful and im- 2006:19). In a lot of ethnological research, portant relations to places or spaces do not the relationship between a place and necessarily have to be of long duration people has been understood as something and maybe not even experienced in rela- unchanging; in other words, the idea has tion to concrete places. In revealing and been that “certain people” belong to “a analysing these kinds of spatial relations certain place”. But can a sense of place be (as well as long-lasting and fundamental understood differently, not as a fixed con- bondings with places), this phenomenon Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 153

must also be approached as something ed segments of the surroundings. Visual sensed and embodied. It must, of course, research methodologies are often used in be understood that not all embodied prac- an exploratory manner; to discover things tices or sensory experiences can be ex- the researcher has not initially considered pressed narratively or verbally. (Banks 2007:17). So it has not been my aim to produce comprehensive photo- Frozen Images of Urban Places graphic data; instead I have taken photo- Going back to what I said in the beginning graphs and looked at them in order to re- about how places are carved out of space flect on what kind of information I can de- makes me wonder whether it is possible tect in them. Photographs can be analysed for the outsider to recognize or identify in many ways, but here I am concentrating particular places in the urban landscape on just a few issues of urban spatiality that through bodily experiences. Do places I have found myself thinking about when evoke different kinds of embodied experi- going through the photographs. ences from those created by just any urban First of all, the different scales of urban space, for example? Can the sense of place spaces constitute one interesting issue that be somehow sensed by the outsider? What I did not think about that much when I was kind of assemblages, gatherings of people in Suzhou. The scale of these spaces is and things, juxtapositions, etc. make a hugely different in different parts of the place and distinguish it from space or city, and this also has an effect on how landscape? While I was walking in people move around and how they engage Suzhou, I took photographs as I went in different activities in them. The feeling along. My purpose was not to make an or- of the city – how it feels even to the out- ganized or comprehensive documentation sider – is different too. In some of the pho- of the city or parts of it. Instead I wanted tos there are huge structures, buildings, to relate these pictures somehow to my bridges, squares, etc. that have been built embodied experiences and to use them mostly during the last ten to fifteen years. more as reminders of what I had seen and Then, on the other hand, there are almost experienced. I call them frozen images a kind of micro-spaces in the older parts of which halt the movement, rhythms and the city where people live their everyday flows of the city for a second in order for lives. The range of these different scales is me to be able to remove these moments to indeed great. This led me to think about another place and look at them more care- how to define a place in an urban environ- fully from a geographical and temporal ment. Can a square be called a place? How distance. about a street corner? These might be The use of photographs as research ma- places, but as an outsider I have no way of terial is, of course, problematic in many knowing it, so for me they are not places ways. Only a very limited view of the ur- but spaces in which things are ordered in a ban landscape is shown in each picture. I certain way and in which people carry on have taken the pictures myself, and in that their everyday lives in a certain way. sense they are very subjective as well as in After going through the photographs many ways randomly selected and bound- several times, I have noticed that in a way 154 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

I have “created places” out of urban tremely pleasant residential areas, clusters space by zooming in on certain features of office buildings, entertainment areas that in my view have been somehow rel- and shopping centres. In these areas, the evant with regard to urban spatiality and private and public spaces have become especially to the consideration of just very strictly separated. The feeling of what constitutes a place. In one photo these places is very different because of there are four small chairs on a narrow the scale and also because people are not pavement in the oldest part of the city. directly connected to the urban spaces There are no people in the picture but the through their everyday activities as in the arrangement of the material objects older parts. With regard to my personal makes up a scene indicating a social embodied experiences, it is hard even to gathering or interaction in urban space. recall any kind of sensual experience ex- In a way, these chairs materially manifest cept a sort of an emptiness and isolation. It a relationship between people and that must be remembered that there are still particular place and even claim owner- only a small number of people in Suzhou ship of that certain spot. In another photo, who can afford to shop and spend time in my attention was caught by the inter- these areas. Another difference is that the mingling of private and public space (at pavements are only for walking and going least in the sense that we understand this) from one place to another; not for spend- in the old city centre, where the streets ing time on or loitering in social gather- are too narrow for cars. Laundry (includ- ings. Buildings “happen in the sky” and do ing underwear) is dried outside on the not connect to the people walking on fronts of the houses. Cleaning utensils street level. are also stored outside. Even the smallest In the older parts of the city people spaces are filled with “pottery gardens”, create and maintain their places through which can be found everywhere in the social and spatial practices, but in the most imaginative places. In the older newer parts it feels as if there is meta- parts of the city everyday life flows onto phorically an invisible hand leading the pavements in many places, occupying people to behave according to certain the space so that the pedestrians are strict rules and guidelines. This resembles forced to walk on the side of the traffic Henri Lefebvre’s (1991:164–168) concept lane. Cars, motorbikes and bicycles fill of “dominated space”, which is invariably the streets side by side honking their the realization of a master design. In order horns and ringing their bells constantly to to dominate space, technology introduces warn others. a new form into a pre-existing space – In the older part of the city the streets generally a rectilinear or rectangular form are full of life, with dense traffic, people such as a grid or a chequerboard pattern. going about their chores and running their As a result of technology, the domination small businesses. The commercial areas of space is becoming completely para- resemble European cities, but they also mount. As an example, Lefebvre takes a are very lively and colourful. The newest motorway which brutalizes the country- parts of the city have been built into ex- side and the land, slicing through space Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 155

A narrow street in the oldest part of the city is under construction but is still the site of many everyday activities and social gatherings. Photo: Tiina-Riitta Lappi 2010.

View of a pleasant recently built commercial area beside a lake − but where is everyone? Photo: Tii- na-Riitta Lappi 2010. 156 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

like a great knife. Dominated space is usu- standing them simply as locations where ally closed, sterilized, and void. In my people do things. She points out that view, dominated space can also be under- places are socially constructed and have stood as dominating space since it starts to multiple spatially constructed meanings. dominate people by determining for them Based on this multiplicity, she continues, a strictly governed role as consumers ra- single sites or landscapes can also be un- ther than allowing them to contribute to derstood as multilocal in the sense that urban life as active agents in producing they shape and carry polysemous mean- the city and its spatiality. ings for different users. Multilocality con- In order to be fully understood, the con- veys the idea that a single place may be cept of dominated space must be contrast- experienced quite differently (Rodman ed with the opposite and inseparable con- 2003:204–223). A narrow old street under cept of appropriation. Lefebvre (1991: construction in the centre of Suzhou may 164–168) argues that the concept of ap- feel like home to one person, while an- propriation can be elucidated only by the other might see it as just a place that be- means of a critical study of space. Accord- longs to a different time than the present. ing to him, it may be used of a natural Places are usually thought of as something space that has been appropriated by a cer- real and concrete, but people also create tain group and modified in order to serve them through the use of imagination, ex- the needs and possibilities of that group. tending their reach beyond the here and An appropriated space resembles a work now to pull from memory other people, of art, which does not mean that it is in any places and things not located in the pre- sense an imitation work of art. In Le- sent place (Gustavson & Cytrynbaum febvre’s view, such a space is often a 2003). The multiplicity of places as expe- structure – a monument or building – but rienced and lived spatialities raises ques- not always. Also a site, a square or a street tions which call for a variety of methodo- may be described as an appropriated logical approaches and ways of combin- space. I would call many sites in the older ing them. parts of Suzhou appropriated spaces and People, meanings, and meaningful regard the city-dwellers as active agents in forms that travel fit badly with the conven- producing and altering urban spatialities. tional units of social and cultural thought. Lefebvre further adds that time plays a Social theorists are now repeatedly criticiz- part in the process of appropriation, which ing the established tendency to treat “soci- cannot be understood apart from the eties” as autonomous universes, often im- rhythms of time and of life. plicitly identified with the modern form of states. In the latter view, “cultures” (in the Multilocality, Multiplicity and plural) have of course been almost the mir- Polysemy ror image of “societies”, and although this In her article on multilocality and multi- conception perhaps places slightly more vocality, Margaret Rodman argues that emphasis on the coexistence and diversity anthropologists often assume that places of the entities, at the same time it even more are unproblematic as a result of under- explicitly propounds the idea of bounded- Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 157

ness and distinctiveness (Hannerz 1996: techniques employing the juxtaposition of 20). The work of Seamon, Pred, Thrift, de data (Falzon 2009). Certeau and others show us how place is On the other hand, Tim Ingold and Jo constituted through reiterative social prac- Lee Vergunst (2008:3) point out that even tice – place is made and remade on a daily multi-sited fieldwork often focuses on the basis. Place provides a template for prac- sites themselves, forgetting that life is also tice – an unstable stage for performance. lived between and outside fixed locales. Thinking of place as performed and prac- Another question has to do with how or by tised can help us think of it in radically whom these locales or sites to be studied open and non-essentialized ways in which are defined as meaningful and relevant en- it is constantly struggled over and re-imag- tities. Doreen Massey propounds another ined in practical ways. Place is the raw ma- approach to spatiality. She proposes first terial for the creative production of identity that we recognize space as a product of in- rather than an a priori label of social prac- terrelations; as constituted through inter- tice. Place in this sense becomes an event actions, from the immensity of the global rather than a fixed ontological entity rooted to the intimately tiny. Her second conten- in notions of the authentic. Place as an tion is that we understand space as the event is marked by openness and change sphere in which the existence of multi- rather than boundedness and permanence plicity in the sense of contemporaneous (Cresswell 2004:39). plurality is possible; as the sphere in Multi-sited ethnography defines as its which distinct trajectories coexist; as the objective the study of social phenomena sphere therefore of coexisting heterogen- that cannot be accounted for by focusing eity. Without space, no multiplicity; with- on a single site. Urban spaces are formed out multiplicity, no space. If space is in- in interactions of the global and the local, deed the product of interrelations, then it as a juxtaposition of the past and the pre- must be predicated upon the existence of sent, expressing the specificity of spatio- plurality. Multiplicity and space are co- temporal relations. Urban spaces are si- constitutive. Massey’s third proposition is multaneously both similar to and different that we recognize space as always under from other spaces. Urban everyday life in construction. Precisely because space on the form of social practices and cultural this reading is a product of relations-be- interpretations can be examined from a tween, relations which are necessarily em- broader perspective by focusing on mul- bedded material practices which have to tiple sites and cities. The essential feature be carried out, it is always in the process of multi-sited research is to follow people, of being made. It is never finished; never connections, associations and relation- closed. Perhaps we could imagine space ships across space (Marcus 1995; Falzon as simultaneity of stories-so-far (Massey 2009). In terms of method, multi-sited eth- 2005:9). Different kinds of urban spaces nography involves a spatially dispersed mark social, economic and even cultural field through which the ethnographer differences, which we might perhaps call moves – actually via sojourns in two or urban multiplicities. In my view, urban more places, or conceptually by means of ethnology is always multi-sited or multi- 158 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

contextual in its approach owing to the When talking about spatiality in the multiplicity of urban environments and context of ethnological research, I am re- the spatial practices people engage in and ferring to relations between people, their meanings they assign to places. surroundings and the temporality of liv- ing. Only in this way can places and spa- From Urban Ethnology to the Ethno- tial orderings be described if we want to graphy of Spatiality and Back see them as human constructions devel- I do not think I have come very far in mak- oped in the juxtaposition of social, cultur- ing any further sense about whether to use al and historical influences. place or space as a central concept in talk- Suzhou, with its 2,500-year-old history ing about urban environments, but that and its current rapid development, has a may not be so relevant in this context. unique atmosphere of temporal, spatial and What I want to stress, instead, is the prob- cultural multiplicity. In older parts, there lematic question of how we as ethnolo- are sites with a lifestyle that an outsider gists can add to understandings about hu- would call traditional Chinese. The most mans’ relations to their surroundings de- popular pedestrian precinct area, where es- spite the different concepts and varying pecially young people spend their time ways of defining them. Over the years, shopping for labels that can be found al- while working on urban ethnology and is- most everywhere in the world, is located on sues on place and space, I have been in- the grid plan in the heart of ancient Suzhou. spired by research conducted by scholars The newest parts of the city, which feature, of human and cultural geography. We ask for example, a large shopping mall called similar questions about people and locali- Times Square and a luxurious waterfront ties, but our approach as ethnologists dif- area for leisure and entertainment, re- fers from that of geographers. Ethnolo- semble American commercial landscapes. gists, in the first place, study people and In between these two extremes there is a not places as such. By this I mean that we middle ground looking and feeling, at least take a different stance in talking about for the outsider, rather like many European places from that of human geographers, cities. All these areas differ in their physi- for example. cal appearance, but they are also accompa- Geography is the study of places, while nied by different kinds of urban lifestyles. ethnology focuses on the people who oc- Even the soundscapes are different. To give cupy places and have relations to places one example, traditional Chinese music is and spatial orderings. Our perception played in small shops and restaurants, takes a different direction from that of while very loud rock music (usually Chi- geographers, and for us spatiality can be nese popular music) blares out from the understood in the first place as the human fashion shops along the pedestrian streets experience of being in the world. More- to capture the attention of passers-by. Such over, meanings are attached to people and differences can, of course, be found in al- constructed by people since they make most every city, but what makes Suzhou places meaningful through their thoughts unique in this respect is that there are so and actions. many different feelings related to the dif- Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 159

ferent places. Multiplicity is visible, but came from another place and another cul- what makes it even more explicit and inter- ture made me aware of differences and esting is that it can be felt in the atmosphere similarities that could be sensed and de- and experienced as a sense of place, even tected in the urban environment even by an outsider. when I had no access to language − or In reflecting on his methodological ex- probably for that very reason. Not know- periment, Kjell Hansen (2003) states that ing the place may help one see something fieldwork carried out in a situation where that the locals do not see or recognize, the researcher places (or is forced to place) possibly because it is too self-evident or him- or herself outside language, makes it insignificant for them. A researcher’s difficult or impossible to understand and knowledge of other urban landscapes can grasp phenomena such as intentionality, add to the possible interpretations and agency, social relations, local knowledge open up other insights than those stem- and lifeworlds. As Hansen (2003:158) re- ming from the local situation. Similar sites calls with reference to his experiment, ma- to those newly built areas in Suzhou can terial culture and the physical activities of be found almost anywhere in the Western people help us to understand the atmos- world. In urban planning there is usually a phere of events, but not necessarily their built-in idea about what kind of social ac- meaning and intention. For that we need tivities and practices should take place in language. On the other hand, Hansen con- these planned spaces. Unfortunately, so- tinues, the fieldwork he pursued provided cial and cultural practices cannot be en- him with a number of insights and a more forced or even defined by means of phys- profound sensitivity towards material cul- ical planning. It is the people who turn ur- ture, landscape, settings and place. To that, ban spaces into particular places through based on my fieldwork experience, I would the activities and meanings that they as- add that the “fieldwork of perceptions”, as sign to different places. On the other hand, Hansen calls his experiment, can offer in- if cities are planned according to very sights to spatial practices and interaction similar concepts everywhere, there may between the social and material environ- not be enough opportunities for socially ments, in other words, urban spatiality and culturally diverse urbanities to flour- based on a broader perspective. By urban ish and develop. spatiality I mean a relationship of the social We can certainly detect different kinds and material environments, examining ur- of spatial practices taking place in urban ban landscapes simultaneously as built and spaces in every city. But the differences in material as well as social and lived spaces the practices between the newer areas of (Lappi 2007). This, of course, calls for Suzhou and the older parts were so re- other methodological approaches as well as markable that it made me think about how access to people’s social and cultural urban planning can have a tremendous in- worlds. fluence on town dwellers’ everyday lives During my fieldwork in Suzhou, I came and on public urban culture. The field- to think about multi-sitedness as an inter- work I did in Suzhou is part of a larger pretational position. Being someone who project I am working on, in which I focus 160 Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou

on the ethnography of spatiality. With a Notes multi-sited approach, I aim to carry out an 1 The writing of this article has been funded by ethnographical study of how people inter- the Finnish Academy (SA project no. 128401). act with their material surroundings in dif- 2 Maja Povrzanović Frykman (2003:59) uses ferent settings and what kind of culturally the concept of “ethnographic experience” to varying understandings and practices go refer to the researcher’s personal bodily expe- together with these interactions. This is riences. also related to the question of what kind of effects planning practices and alterations References in material environments have on people’s Banks, Marcus 2007: Using Visual Data in Qual- everyday lives and on the social and cul- itative Research. Los Angeles: Sage. Cresswell, Tim 2004: Place. A Short Introduction. tural encounters that take place in urban Malden & Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. settings. Falzon, Mark-Anthony 2009: Introduction. Multi- In ethnological and also anthropologi- Sited Ethnography. In Multi-Sited Ethnogra- cal research, the focus has quite often been phy. Theory, Praxis and Locality in Contempor- ary Research, ed. Mark-Anthony Falzon, 1−23. on the meanings individuals and groups Surrey & Burlington: Ashgate assign to places, their attachment to places Gustavson, Leif C. & Cytrynbaum, Joseph D. and their identification with places. It is a 2003: Illuminating Spaces. Relational Spaces, perspective that sees place or space in Complicity, and Multisited Ethnography. Field terms of what it is instead of what it does Methods 15, 3:252−270. (http://fmx.sage- pub.com/) and how it evolves in relation to the Hannerz, Ulf 1996: Transnational Connections. everyday lives of the people who dwell in Culture, People, Places. London & New York: it. Stressing urban spatialities in a more di- Routledge. versified way in order to supplement the Hansen, Kjell 2003: The Sensory Experience of devices of narrative and ethnographic ap- Doing Fieldwork in an ‘Other’ Place. In Being There. New Perspectives on Phenomenology proaches could lead to new means of de- and the Analysis of Culture, ed. Jonas Frykman tecting other meanings through and in re- & Nils Gilje, 149−167. Lund: Nordic Academic lation to spatial practices. By focusing on Press. the interactions between the social and Ingold, Tim 2000: Concluding Commentary. In Negotiating Nature. Culture, Power, and Envi- material environments and employing a ronmental Argument, ed. Alf Hornborg & Gísli combination of different methodological Pálsson, 213−224. Lund: Lund University approaches, urban ethnology can add to an Press. understanding of how varying urban cul- Ingold, Tim & Vergunst, Jo Lee 2008: Introduc- tures and spatial practices evolve in a tion. In Ways of Walking. Ethnography and Practice on Foot, ed. Tim Ingold & Jo Lee Ver- jumble of locally specific and globally gunst, 1−19. Aldershot: Ashgate. more general influences coming together Lappi, Tiina-Riitta 2007: Neuvottelu tilan tulkin- in specific places. noista. Etnologinen tutkimus sosiaalisen ja ma- teriaalisen kulttuurin vuorovaikutuksesta jyväs- Tiina-Riitta Lappi kyläläisissä kaupunkipuhunnoissa. Jyväskylä PhD, Research Fellow Studies in Humanities 80. Jyväskylä: Jyväsky- Department of History and Ethnology län yliopisto. P.O. Box 35 (H) Lefebvre, Henri 1991: The Production of Space. FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä Oxford: Blackwell. e-mail: [email protected] Lefebvre, Henri 1996: Writings on Cities (trans- Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Walking the Streets of Suzhou 161

lated and edited by Eleonore Kofman and Eli- Relph, Edward 1976: Place and Placelessness. zabeth Lebas). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. London: Pion. Löfgren, Orvar 1997: Mellanrum. Vita fläckar och Rodman, Margaret 2003: Empowering Place. svarta hål i storstadens utkant. In Moderna Multilocality and Multivocality. In The Anthro- landskap. Identifikationen och tradition i var- pology of Space and Place, ed. Setha M. Low & dagen, ed. Katarina Salzman & Birgitta Svens- Denise Lawrence-Zúňiga, 204−223. Oxford: son, 45−69. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. Blackwell. Marcus, George E. 1995: Ethnography in/of the Sack, Robert David 2004: Place-Making And World System. The Emergence of Multi-Sited Time. In Reanimating Places. A Geography of Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology Rhythms, ed. Tom Mels, 243−253. Aldershot: 24:95−117. Ashgate. Massey, Doreen 2005: For Space. London: Sage. Short, John Rennie 1996: The Urban Order. An Massey, Doreen 2008: Samanaikainen tila. Tam- Introduction to Cities, Culture, and Power. Ox- pere: Vastapaino. ford & Cambridge: Blackwell. Povrzanović Frykman, Maja 2003: Bodily Experi- Tuan, Yi-Fu 2006: Paikan taju. Aika, paikka ja ences. In Being There. New Perspectives on minuus. In Paikka. Eletty, kuviteltu, kerrottu, Phenomenology and the Analysis of Culture, ed. Seppo Knuuttila, Pekka Laaksonen & Ulla ed. Jonas Frykman & Nils Gilje, 53−77. Lund: Piela, Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 85, 15−30. Nordic Academic Press. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. 162 Åsa Alftberg, The Practice of Ageing Biographical Note

Lars-Eric Jönsson, Professor in Lund

mental illness in Sweden in the long perspective of 1850–1970. His study penetrates the mental hospi- tals and the logics and practices of this care with a Foucaultian starting point, focusing on spaces and bodies and the patients and their carers. He succeeds in finding interesting parallels with the development of modernity at large, both its rationalities and its re- jection of city life and its admiration of nature as a healthy environment. The coercive, “scientific” and dehumanizing practices – in short, the totalitarian aspects – are well analysed. Jönsson’s own scholarly interests before and after the dissertation have led him to search for the mean- ings and uses of space, for the strategies applied in cultural heritage processes (Kanon och kulturarv, ed. 2008) and for the positions of marginalized groups: children, women and elderly. In the cultural heritage debate Jönsson has taken the stand of point- ing out the selectivity, the relation between remem- bering and forgetting, the connectedness of the past and present, as well as the political aspects in elevat- ing, for example, different industrial heritage sites. His latest book on mental illness, Berättelser från insidan (2010), is an attempt to find the intimate and personal voice of the patients themselves by analys- Lars-Eric Jönsson was appointed professor of eth- ing novels on this topic. Lars-Eric Jönsson is thus a nology in Lund 2011. He has been a member of the researcher of the “new cultural history”, very often Lund Ethnology teaching team since the beginning using historical and other written sources and look- of the 2000s and has functioned as the deputy head ing for the mentalities, individual and collective of the Ethnological Department since 2009. Before traits and memories. that he had a career as a researcher of the built en- As a leading teacher he has already had the re- vironment, worked as an antiquarian in the 1980s sponsibility for the postdoctoral teaching in Lund, and, after finishing his doctoral thesis, as an investi- including administrative tasks as well as seminars gator for the national Ministry of Culture 1998– and courses. His fundraising ability has enabled pro- 2001. Thus he has an exceptionally broad outlook as jects and research on housing and building, the so- regards administrative issues in the cultural field cial practices of the welfare state, and cultural herit- and considerable experience of different tasks. His age issues. In Lars-Eric Jönsson, Ethnology in Lund dissertation Det terapeutiska rummet (1998) is a has found an excellent colleague and a thoughtful thorough investigation of the cultural history of in- researcher. stitutions for the care of patients suffering from Anna-Maria Åström, Åbo

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 Reviews

New Dissertations have a more general focus on family history in a long chronological perspective, covering the last 300–400 years. Chapters 6 and 7 look particularly at Older Women’s Lives (female) gender in relation to the development of Anne Leonora Blaakilde, Bedstemorsnak. Et kultur- the welfare state. analytisk studie af ældre kvinders liv i dansk fami- In Chapters 2 and 3 the author demonstrates her liekultur i det 20. århundrede. Det Humanistiske fa- independence in relation to major, often over-quoted kultet, Københavns universitet. Saxo-instituttet, afd. scholars, and she makes qualified use of thinkers for etnologi. 322 pp. English summary. Diss. such as Ricœur, Bakhtin, and Gadamer. While she elaborates on several elements in the analysis, she  Studies of the family and the household have deep does tend to run through the theorists in a somewhat roots in European ethnology. Anne Leonora Blaakil- catalogue-like way, with a long list of concepts, de’s dissertation, the title of which means “Grand- theories, and theorists, without always explaining mother’s talk: A cultural analysis of older women’s why she thinks they are necessary in relation to the lives in Danish family culture in the twentieth centu- concepts used throughout the dissertation. ry”, continues that tradition, but with the emphasis The methodology, which combines social con- on two fields in particular which normally do not structivism, dialogue theory, hermeneutics, and phe- occupy a central position in these studies: ageing in nomenology, is relevant and solid throughout. The relation to the family, and narrativity. The main rea- author is impressive for her critical reading of the son for the inclusion of the latter is presumably that established theorists in these fields, and for her ele- the author has her background in folklore, a disci- gant and lucid presentation of the analytical tools pline based on oral narrative tradition. she derives from them. The aim of the dissertation is to find out how the As for the concepts that the author brings into her older women’s life stories bear the stamp of the “de- analysis, the definitions occasionally seem to lack velopment of family history and the welfare-state stringency. The term fortælling (narrative) is de- ideals of family, gender, and age” through the twen- fined as “all narrative sequences containing a tem- tieth century, with special focus on ageing and porality figure”, “other and longer narrative se- “inter-generational relations”. The theoretical quences with emplotment”, and “the major ordering premise is narrative constructions, more specifically projects that are arranged in narrative structures”. dialogic constructivism, a concept referring to an The definition is composed of elements taken from understanding of both gender and age as verbalized Labov/Waletzky, Ricœur, and Kemp, with the aim categorizations formed in interaction between “the of illuminating three aspects of the phenomenon of speaking subject and the surrounding speech com- narrative: it is a cultural form that orders certain se- munities”. lected elements chronologically; it is created by a The primary empirical sources for the study are person who has an intention for the narrative; and interviews with 21 women, born between 1903 and the idea of existing collective narratives can have 1952, and all of them either grandmothers or normative functions in a society. great-grandmothers. One of the main points of the The concept of cultural tropes is examined in dissertation is that there has been increasing age just under three pages (pp. 55–58). There is no rea- segregation during the period, which has changed son to object to what she says about the term trope both the relation of the elderly to the younger gener- and its background in the study of literature and ations and the way people talk about these. Finally, rhetoric, and one cannot deny that linguistic pres- based on an analysis of how one of the women plays entations are culturally conditioned, and that they her part as mother and grandmother, the author pre- therefore can mark both belonging and its opposite. sents a model of how generation differences can be Yet folkloristics already has a catalogue of con- overcome in the future. cepts that appear to cover what cultural tropes The dissertation has eight chapters, the first being seeks to embrace. an introduction and the last a summary of the find- Cultural tropes, like the term narrative, is a con- ings. Chapters 2 and 3 present the theoretical and cept that pops up all through the dissertation without analytical basis for the dissertation. Chapters 4 and 5 having any direct bearing on the analyses.

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 164 Reviews

In chapter 4 the author “sketches” the develop- derstanding, a special self-image or female image, ment of family history from a Danish perspective in and so on. order to provide a framework for the women’s sto- Chapter 7 looks particularly at concrete inter- ries. The chapter is more than a sketch, however, as generational relations, with special focus on the it gives an excellent picture of the research situation changes that made themselves felt during the twen- and the discussions that have been going on; this ap- tieth century as regards the norms for family mat- plies in particular to the section about the welfare ters and not least child rearing; this supports the state (4C and 4D). overall conclusion about increased age segrega- The author, besides drawing on other people’s re- tion. What is missing, however, is a more thorough search, also uses her own empirical material to sub- discussion of how the cultural context is essential stantiate her critique of previous family research. knowledge for performing a cultural analysis of This applies above all to the discussion of the “older women”. In the dissertation this is mainly three-generation household as a phenomenon and an discussed in relation to a distinction between town ideal, reality or myth – the latter, according to the and country – just as it occasionally happens that a so-called revisionists (the English historian Peter women who is being discussed is said to come Laslett and his circle). The revisionist macrohistori- from “the working class” or “the middle class”, but cal studies are confronted here with microhistory in there is never any elaboration of what links there the form of qualitative interviews, and the author’s may be between age perception and different cul- material confirms the findings of other researchers tural contexts. Here the diachronic analytical who have responded to the revisionists, with the framework, where the cultural history of the wel- opinion that although the three-generation family fare state – especially as regards gender and age – was not widespread in a synchronic perspective, it is outlined, is used as the primary horizon of un- was – and this is important in cultural terms – a form derstanding, and here the influences are viewed as of family in which many people lived through one something that women as a whole are affected by. or more periods of their life. To explain the differences – and the temporal shift Using the interview material, Chapter 5 shows between the authorities’ efforts and the practice as how the women’s family life and ideas about it it is experienced – the author brings in the concept changed during the twentieth century. It is the older of gesunkenes Kulturgut. She has some good re- women’s life history that is analysed, since these flections on the different forms of “resistance” that women have experienced the process of societal the intentions of representatives of the welfare change from the patriarchal household to the wel- state encounter in the interviewed women’s prac- fare state – from an ideal of the three-generation tice (if they know about them at all), but here one household to an ideal of the nuclear family. The au- could have wished for a deeper discussion of the thor shows how women gradually changed their per- sense in which the women represented broad cul- ception of what a family is, and with the aid of her tural categories, and hence how ageing can be narrative analysis of their narratives she is able to tackled in contemporary times as well. follow this process and arrive at new knowledge. All Blaakilde shows how women negotiate and rene- in all, the analysis is well done, providing new in- gotiate meanings, how they shift and question norms sight into older women’s lives and conditions, along of ideal femininity – motherhood, family, work, and with knowledge of what a narrative analysis of life age. They arrive at an identity by negotiation; they stories can yield. This chapter, together with the fol- think and act in relation to society’s power struc- lowing ones, displays the author’s analytical ability tures. It is therefore surprising that the author does and great breadth. not connect this to a gender-theory discussion of ac- In Chapters 6 and 7 Blaakilde again gets close to torhood, resistance and so on, but instead refers to her own material and demonstrates her fine ability structural gender-power theory. By proceeding from to make use of the narratives in the older women’s structural gender theory, the author, chiefly in her statements. Here she also shows how gestures and conclusions, interprets the women too much as “vic- other forms of non-verbal communication, besides tims” of repressive patriarchal structures. The inter- small, seemingly random words, repetitions, and the viewed women’s actorhood, which is admirably like, can be a key to a special meaning, a special un- demonstrated in the analytical chapters, is thus ren- Reviews 165

dered invisible and untheorized. The men (hus- member state. Before this Norway, Iceland, and bands, brothers, children, etc.) who occur in the Denmark had ratified the convention. At the time of women’s narratives are also invisible in the disserta- writing Finland had not done so. tion and in the analysis. They are represented solely Besides the preface and postscript, index and ref- by patriarchal structures and not by their individual erence list, the book is divided into four main chap- practices. During her defence of the dissertation ters, the last of which is mainly a summary of the Anne Leonora Blaakilde explained that the norma- findings. With traditional Finland-Swedish folk mu- tive analysis is a consequence of her feminist per- sic as an example, Björkholm tries to interpret the spective. mechanisms by which certain cultural expressions To sum up, the dissertation is well written, well acquire the status of stipulated cultural heritage, or sequenced, and meticulous in its scholarship. The at least are mentioned in the discourse surrounding empirical material is related throughout to the theo- this. She achieves this convincingly by examining retical premises. The strength of the dissertation is how the concept of “cultural heritage” is used by the complex narrative analyses, where the author Finnish authorities, international organizations, in creatively and independently develops her methodo- the archive and museum sector, in scholarly litera- logical tools. The theoretical survey is longer than it ture, and in the Finland-Swedish press. The dis- need have been, but this does not change the fact course touches on ethnological studies, but can that the dissertation has a solid theoretical founda- hardly be said to use any traditional ethnographic tion. It would have been relevant to end with a syn- methods. The author states in the introductory chap- thesis and an evaluation of what the primary con- ter that the method is qualitative, and she calls her cepts and analytical tools (dialogic constructivism approach a “close reading”. She declares that her in- and linguistic analysis) can add to ethnology that tention is not to compile a large amount of collected cannot be seen through ordinary “close reading” material, but to look for “cultural patterns” in the and/or discourse analysis of interviews. The disser- sources she has consulted. The study should be in- tation makes a substantial contribution to narrative terpreted principally as a hermeneutic work that also analysis and to research about age in a cultural con- uses archival material. It would have benefited, text. It also provides invaluable knowledge about however, from the addition of up-to-date field women’s family life in relation to gender, age, and studies, such as interviews with people active in the the form of society, revealing the interaction be- culture and music sector. tween society, culture, and the individual. As her special theoretical framework Björkholm Inger Lövkrona, Mölle, Niels Jul Nielsen, Copenha- uses Stefan Bohman’s (1997) model of “the cultural gen, Ulf Palmenfelt, Visby heritage process”, which seeks to demonstrate how a cultural component becomes an accepted part of the cultural heritage. His model, which is lucidly pre- Folk Music as Intangible Heritage sented in the introduction, is mainly designed to Johanna Björkholm, Immateriellt kulturarv som be- state the reasons why objects are musealized; in grepp och process. Folkloristiska perspektiv på kul- other words, it applies more to material culture. As turarv i Finlands svenskbygder med folkmusik som used by Björkholm, as a model for shedding light on exempel. Åbo Akademis förlag, Åbo 2011. 355 pp. non-material culture, it can certainly be compared Ill. English summary. Diss. ISBN 978-951-765- with the reasoning that tries to explain the processes 588-0. undergone by a cultural component to be authorized at an influential level, or “canonized” (see e.g. Nik-  In this dissertation the folklorist Johanna Björk- las Nyqvist 2007). In the first chapter the author also holm studies the processes that can be linked to the tries to define the concept of “cultural heritage”. ways in which immaterial cultural heritage arises This naturally leads her to attempt to clarify the of- and is evaluated, a highly relevant topic today on ac- ten confusing difference between what is material count of UNESCO’s convention from 2003, which and non-material or intangible cultural heritage. came into force in 2006, entitled Convention for the Here she appropriately cites Laurajane Smith Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. (2006), who seems to think that all cultural heritage Sweden joined in January 2011 to become the 134th is initially intangible, that is, as long as the collec- 166 Reviews

tive still has no real ideas about the values actually of the intangible cultural heritage and later its guard- encapsulated in heritage. ian. As a clear contrast here she points out potential Chapter two is mainly a survey of the concept of examples of industrial cultural heritage, that is, cultural heritage, its history, development and frame memories of employment and development in urban of reference. She also comments on the research that contexts. Today these are assessed as being of lower has been done about what cultural heritage “means”. value than other cultural heritage, and not so long And if we have not already anticipated it, we learn, ago it was considered almost unthinkable to elevate for example, that research seems to perceive the its status, as this ran against the consensus at the concept of cultural heritage as symbolic; it is distin- time. There is also discussion of how the press guished by the people as a mostly positive concept, views cultural heritage. Björkholm places this ques- whether it concerns physical objects (including na- tion in an emic discourse and wants to know about ture) or more transcendental expressions. Yet the the everyday use of the term, that is, how the con- opposite occurs as well, as for instance when the cept is perceived among ordinary people as bro- Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp becomes a kered by the press. It is particularly fascinating, of World Heritage site. Björkholm otherwise supports course, but scarcely surprising, that economic fac- the view that cultural heritage can be divided into tors alone often play a significant role for the way three categories: material cultural heritage, in- cultural heritage is assessed by ordinary people. If tangible cultural heritage, and natural heritage, the something changes owner for a certain sum, for ex- latter being the one that concerns her least. In this ample, a fine old house, this can suffice to legitimize chapter she also examines how different cultural in- the object as cultural heritage. The general public stitutions look on cultural heritage. The common de- also seems to think that the object must be acces- nominator seems to be that at least the Finnish [and sible to everyone, even if it is privately owned; Swedish] institutions have a view of heritage that everyone should thus have the right to visit it or ex- the author calls “operative discourse”. This means perience it without complications in some other that certain things are selected to be retained, while way. At the end of the chapter the meaning of music other things are rejected. There is nothing strange as cultural heritage comes into the picture. The au- about this, according to the author, since even Gus- thor then highlights articles claiming that traditional tav Vasa is said to have argued for this. Of particular folk music is valuable from an educational point of interest in this chapter is the study of the attitude of view, especially when children learn it, and as a way leading archives and museums to the evaluation of for minorities like the Swedes of Finland to cultural heritage. Scholarship, on the other hand, strengthen their identity. The chapter ends with tends to perceive this phenomenon as a construction, Björkholm’s presentation of the conclusions drawn where the attitude of the archives and museums hitherto. She stresses that the concept of cultural steers political decisions, and vice versa. Definitions heritage is rarely defined in unambiguous terms. She of the intangible cultural heritage thus continue to also believes that processes determining the evalua- be rather unbound, unlike those of the material cul- tion of cultural heritage, is governed by UNESCO, tural heritage. This also means that decisions by au- reflect a kind of “Eurocentrism” concentrating on thorities on matters concerning intangible culture the material cultural heritage in the Mediterranean risk becoming abstract. At a global level, today’s region, although she claims to have noticed a certain view of the concept of cultural heritage is clearly in- change. In south-east Asia, for example, the concept fluenced by UNESCO, and the second chapter has a of cultural heritage seems to have a wider meaning, detailed survey of the content of the convention on with cultural processes being given at least the same the intangible cultural heritage. Björkholm also con- value as monuments. This outlook is said to have in- siders how scholars of culture view cultural herit- fluenced the way Westerners today regard the in- age, that is, how the concept is defined in scientific tangible cultural heritage compared to former times. terms. With some annoying repetitions, the author In chapter two Björkholm often cites the geographer also looks at the link between the perception of cer- and historian David Lowenthal (1998 & 2005) and tain elements of cultural heritage and the historical the ethnologist Owe Ronström (2001 & 2005), background to their legitimacy. In addition, she whose opinions are thus elucidated in several places identifies the interest in peasant culture as the parent and in different contexts. Reviews 167

The third chapter contains the study that is the To sum up, Björkolm’s dissertation can be de- core of the dissertation, and at the end of this part scribed as a thorough investigation of the concept of the significant conclusions are presented. Björkholm intangible culture, where the content is necessarily a begins by bringing together the model she has de- compilation and examination of already existing veloped about the cultural heritage process, adopted material, scrutinized with a critical eye. As such the and modified from Stefan Bohman, but she also ex- dissertation is a convincing document that can prob- amines the concept of folk music. It is entertaining ably be used in the ongoing discussion in Finland to see how different scholars view this elastic con- about whether to adopt UNESCO’s convention on cept, and here I would follow what Björkholm cites the intangible cultural heritage. Björkholm writes from Karin Eriksson (2004), who dismisses as un- fluently and the book follows a logical arrangement. necessary the frequently aired obsessive idea that The text, however, has some repetitions, and at least folk music as a concept deserves at least a total au- parts of it could have been summed up in fewer topsy or should quite simply be abolished; we pages. should accept that the concept, which ought to be Patrik Sandgren, Lund transparent in several ways, simply means different things to different people and in different situations. The chapter also describes, and includes in the dis- Der Osten ist wie der Westen course, how musical performance and oral transmis- Sofi Gerber, Öst är Väst men Väst är bäst. Östtysk sion work in folk music. At the same time we can identitetsformering i det förenade Tyskland. Stock- read about how selected parts of Finland-Swedish holm studies in Ethnology 5; Södertörn Doctoral folk music, canonized partly through the authority Dissertations 54. Stockholms universitet 2011. 243 of Otto Andersson of Åbo, but also exposed to a S. Ill. English summary. Diss. ISBN 978-91-86069- healthier formation of variants, has affected Fin- 25-4. land-Swedish culture and identity. Also, among the Swedish-speaking population of Finland there has  1971 war ich im Alter von sechs Jahren das erste long been a certain awareness of folk music as a Mal bei Verwandten in Westberlin. Ich bin aufge- kind of cultural heritage, even when the concept did wachsen in dem Land, das damals Westdeutschland not exist as it does today. Björkholm also emphasiz- hieβ oder BRD, wie es in der damaligen DDR be- es that ideological currents and cultural policy were zeichnet wurde. Bei diesem Besuch nahmen unsere of great significance for the continued survival of Verwandten uns mit in die Stadt, und wir kletterten Finland-Swedish folk music through what she calls auf einen Turm, von wo aus man über die Mauer its “assumers” (övertagare, a term which may be sehen konnte. „Was ist das?“ fragte ich. „Das ist die compared with “tradition bearers”). Unfortunately, Grenze, und dahinter ist die DDR“, erklärten die she uses far too many pages in this part of the book Verwandten. Ich sah die Mauer, Stacheldraht, to discuss the history and politics of Finland-Swe- Wachtürme und einen breiten Streifen mit Sand und dish and Finnish folk music, a topic already studied noch mehr Stacheldraht. „Ja“, dachte ich mit dem by Nyqvist as recently as 2007. What is new in the Verständnis einer Sechsjährigen, „da ist also die discourse is of course that Björkholm, unlike Welt zu Ende. Weiter kommt man nicht.“ In West- Nyqvist, places less emphasis on the role of aes- deutschland aufgewachsen, lernte ich in der Schule thetic and scholarly values in the selection process später, dass es doch noch etwas gab auf der anderen to which folk music has been subjected in crucial Seite der Mauer, nämlich Osteuropa und den Kom- periods, and puts more stress on aspects of cultural munismus. Der war eine groβe Gefahr und musste policy and ideology. One of the more interesting deshalb ständig unter Kontrolle gehalten werden. points in the conclusion is the author’s demonstra- Wir lernten, dass auf der anderen Seite der Mauer tion that folk music in Finland has not yet received alles schlechter war als bei uns. Leute, die in der official recognition as cultural heritage, but has al- DDR gewesen waren und zurück kamen, erzählten, ready attained that status informally. And dass dort alles zurück geblieben sei, es sehe aus wie UNESCO’s involvement in the matter of cultural bei „uns“ in den 50er Jahren, und es sei grau und heritage does not appear to have been of any great schmutzig und die Leute unfreundlich. Das ist das significance for this continuous process. Bild der DDR, was meine Kindheit und Jugend ge- 168 Reviews

prägt hat. Im Laufe der Jahre hat sich mein Bild von vorübergehend stabilisiert werden. Mit Dislokation der DDR jedoch um einiges verändert und wurde meint Gerber solche Veränderungen, bei denen „tief auch immer mehr mit Neugierde versetzt, wie man verankerte Normen und Werte verschoben werden denn dort „eigentlich“ gelebt hat, auf der anderen oder ganz aufhören, eine Gesellschaft zu strukturie- Seite der Mauer. ren“ (S. 18). Für die DDR als ein politisches Sy- Sofi Gerbers Dissertation mit dem Titel Öst är stem, das plötzlich aufhörte zu existieren, ist dieser Väst men Väst är bäst. Östtysk identitetsformering i Begriff ein wertvolles Analyseinstrument. Die im det förenade Tyskland ist von daher auch für mich ersten Kapitel dargelegte Theorie ist durchaus ge- als „ Westdeutsche“ (”Wessi”) ein ausgesprochen eignet, die in der Studie gestellten Fragen zu beant- interessantes und lehrreiches Buch und das nicht worten und sie wird von der Autorin konsequent an- nur, weil es viele konkrete Beispiele gibt, wie eine gewendet. Generation junger Menschen in der DDR, die nur Die Untersuchung baut hauptsächlich auf 25 In- ungefähr 10 Jahre jünger waren als ich, ihre Kind- terviews mit jungen Männern und Frauen, die in den heit auf der anderen Seite der Mauer aus heutiger 1970er Jahren in der DDR geboren und aufgewach- Sicht schildern. sen sind. Die meisten befanden sich demnach beim Gerber will mit ihrer Studie zeigen, wie Men- Fall der Mauer im Übergang zwischen Schule und schen, die in der DDR aufgewachsen sind, den Berufsleben oder Studium. Diese Gruppe wird heute „Osten“ und „Westen“ im vereinigten Deutschland oft als die „letzte DDR-Generation“ bezeichnet, definieren, und welche Rolle diese Begriffe für ihr weil sie selber noch die DDR bewusst erlebt haben, Selbstverständnis spielen, auch für die Auffassung aber auch schon relativ jung in ein anderes, kapitali- ihrer Vergangenheit und ihrer Umwelt. Sie stellt stisches System hineinwuchsen (S. 26). Das ist eine diese Fragen, weil sich durch den Fall der Mauer sehr interessante und relevante Gruppe, die sich in und die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands die Bezie- den letzten Jahren auch in Deutschland immer mehr hung zwischen West- und Osteuropa radikal ver- zu Wort gemeldet hat, u.a. was die Bearbeitung ihrer ändert hat und damit auch der Inhalt der Begriffe eigenen Vergangenheit und die ihrer Eltern betrifft „Osten“ und „Westen“. Ihr geht es vor allem darum (siehe unten). Gerber hat eine gründliche Feldfor- zu zeigen, wie eine Generation, die selber noch ihre schung durchgeführt und verfügt über gute Kennt- Kindheit in der DDR verbracht hat, dann aber nach nisse der deutschen Sprache und des Landes, was ih- dem Fall der Mauer in ein ganz anderes politisches rer Studie Substanz verleiht. Diese Kenntnisse er- System manövriert wurde, aus heutiger Sicht sich möglichen es Gerber auβerdem, ihren Informanten mit der DDR-Vergangenheit identifiziert oder auch nahe zu kommen und nicht nur schwedisch- und davon Abstand nimmt. englischsprachige, sondern auch deutschsprachige Ihre theoretischen Bausteine holt Gerber von den Forschung zum Thema zu verarbeiten. Gerbers Po- französischen PolitikwissenschaftlerInnen Ernesto sition als Schwedin macht ihre Interviews besonders Laclau und Chantal Mouffe und deren postmarxisti- interessant. Ich werde später darauf eingehender zu- scher Diskurstheorie. Kurz zusammengefasst geht rückkommen. diese Theorie davon aus, dass Diskurse als ein „Sy- Die chronologische Struktur der Dissertation er- stem von vorübergehender Bedeutungsfixierung“ leichtert dem Leser/der Leserin, Gerbers Berichten (S. 17) aufgefasst werden. Diskurse entstehen nicht und Analysen zu folgen. So beginnt der Analyse- nur in Sprachakten, sondern auch in nicht-sprachli- teil mit den Erzählungen der Informanten über ihre chen Handlungen, Organisationen, Institutionen und Kindheit in der DDR, einem zugleich modernen auch rein materielle Milieus werden hier als diskur- und unmodernen Land: Auf der einen Seite wird siv konstruierte Kategorien definiert. Es gibt mit an- die DDR als ein Wohlfahrtsstaat beschrieben, der deren Worten nichts, was nicht diskursiv geschaffen sich um seine Mitbürger kümmerte, auf der ande- ist. Die Konsequenz dieser theoretischen Ausgangs- ren Seite waren viele staatliche Handlungen auβer- punkte ist, dass in Gerbers Dissertation auch zentra- ordentlich mangelhaft. Beispiele dafür sind u.a. le Begriffe wie z.B. Identifikation, Hegemonie, das staatliche Wohnbauprogramm, wo allen eine Klasse, Nation und Dislokation als diskursive Pro- Wohnung garantiert werden sollte, diese aber in dukte aufgefasst werden. Alle diese Kategorien ent- ausgesprochen anonymer und konformer Weise stehen durch bestimmte diskursive Formationen, die gestaltet wurden. Als ein anderes Beispiel wird der Reviews 169

Mangel an Waren in den Geschäften genannt, was sind und wie die Erzähler/Erzählerinnen sich be- zur Folge hatte, dass die Beschaffung von be- mühen, ihre Distanz zum diktatorischen System zu stimmten Waren viel Zeit in Anspruch nehmen betonen. So darf im Nachhinein im Kontext eines konnte. Die Informanten berichten aus heutiger heutigen demokratischen Systems die eigene Kind- Sicht, und es wird deutlich, wie sie ihre Kindheit in heit nicht zu positiv dargestellt werden, um diese der DDR aus ihrer Situation im vereinten, kapitali- Distanz zu wahren. Ein typisches Beispiel sind hier stisch geprägten Deutschland interpretieren. Ein auch Gerbers Analysen der Berichte ihrer Informan- Beispiel dafür sind die Erzählungen von der DDR ten über deren Teilnahme in DDR-Jugendorganisa- als eine mehr gleichgestellte Gesellschaft, die auch tionen. So wird hier häufig die Gemeinschaft als ein als „klassenlos“ beschrieben wird, und wo Kon- positives Erlebnis beschrieben, woraufhin aber so- sumtion noch kein Lebenstil war. Es wurde eher fort die Organisation als eine politische – und damit Gemeinschaft und Solidarität groβ geschrieben, wo nicht ernstzunehmende – abgewertet wird. Hier es selbstverständlich war, einander zu helfen. Hier markiert Gerber einen wichtigen Punkt: nämlich, gilt die Kritik der Informanten implizit der heuti- dass alle Erzählungen ihrer Informanten über deren gen, individualistischen Gesellschaft, wo jeder auf Kindheit immer auch politische sind – unabhängig sich selbst gestellt ist. davon, wie die Informanten diese selber darstellen Gerber analysiert auch die Berichte ihrer Infor- möchten – da die Erzählungen grundsätzlich in Re- manten über Anpassung und Widerstand zum DDR- lation zum heutigen politischen System entstehen. System. Auch wenn die Informanten noch Kinder Gerber kommt zu dem Schlussatz, dass sich ihre waren und von daher als nicht verantwortlich an- Informanten auf der einen Seite als „Sieger“ fühlen, gesehen werden können, versuchen sie, ihre Er- u.a. wenn sie sich mit ihren Eltern vergleichen, die zählungen an heutige hegemonische Diskurse über überwiegend als Verlierer dargestellt werden. Die die DDR als eine Diktatur anzupassen. Wie Gerber Informanten haben den Vorteil gehabt, in der DDR treffend sagt, werden hier die Interviewten beson- Kinder zu sein, was ihnen ermöglicht hat, dieses Sy- ders deutlich zum „politischen Subjekt“, d.h. sie po- stem zu erleben, ohne für dessen Verbrechen verant- sitionieren sich in einem politisch stark aufgelade- wortlich gemacht zu werden. Sie erleben diese Er- nen Kontext. Häufig werden die „Anderen“ als die fahrungen sowie auch die Dislokation, als das Sy- Angepassten beschrieben, wie z.B. Parteimitglieder, stem plötzlich verschwand, als eine Bereicherung, die durch ihre Mitgliedschaft Vorteile erhielten, verglichen mit westdeutschen Gleichaltrigen, die während die eigene Familie versuchte, Freiräume zu immer im gleichen System gelebt haben. Anderer- schaffen und auf diese Weise dem System „schwei- seits haben die Informanten oft das Gefühl nicht genden Widerstand“ bot (S. 99). Hier werden die In- richtig dazu zu gehören, was ihrer Meinung nach ty- formanten und ihre Familien und Freunde als strate- pisch für viele Deutsche ist, die in der DDR geboren gisch handelnde Akteure dargestellt, während sie in und aufgewachsen sind. Sie fühlen sich als die „Un- anderen Berichten als Opfer positioniert werden, terklasse“ oder die minderwertigen Deutschen, ver- z.B. in Erzählungen über die Verfolgung der eige- glichen mit Westdeutschen. Gerber beschreibt ihre nen Familie durch die Stasi oder über die Flucht in Informanten als „In-between“, etwas, was auch vie- den „Westen“. Andere Studien über das Leben in le Migranten empfinden, die lange in einem Land kommunistischen Diktaturen zeigen ähnliche Er- gelebt haben, aber sich dennoch nicht als voll akzep- zählmuster auf, wie z.B. Katarzyna Wolanik Bo- tierte Mitbürger fühlen. Auf der einen Seite wollen ströms Untersuchung über Erinnerungen polnischer sie sein wie „Westdeutsche“ und akzeptiert werden, Menschen an die kommunistische Zeit. Auch hier auf der anderen Seite wollen sie es dennoch nicht, werden die „Anderen“ hervorgehoben, die das Sy- weil sie vielem im kapitalistischen System kritisch stem aktiv unterstützten oder durch Anpassung Vor- gegenüberstehen und gern einige positive Erfah- teile erhielten, während man selbst entweder Opfer rungen aus der DDR-Zeit bewahren wollen. war oder passiven Widerstand bot (Katarzyna Wola- Wie Gerber selber schreibt, verschaffte es ihr nik Boström: Berättade liv, berättat Polen. En etno- vermutlich einige Vorteile, als Schwedin in den In- logisk studie av hur högutbildade polacker gestaltar terviews von ihren Informanten sowohl als „Out- identitet och samhälle (2005)). Hier wird deutlich, sider“ als auch als „Insider“ betrachtet zu werden. wie stark politisch aufgeladen solche Erzählungen Outsider als Vertreterin eines Landes, das von vie- 170 Reviews

len anderen Ländern auch als ein in gewissem Maβe eine eigene Stimme erhalten, und wenn, dann über- „sozialistisch“ beeinflusster Staat betrachtet wird; wiegend in einem negativen Sinne, geschieht hier als Insider, weil sie als „Nicht-Wessi“ und deutsch- etwas, das in der Diskursanalyse auch als „Back- sprechende Schwedin den in der DDR aufgewachse- grounding“ bezeichnet wird: Westdeutschland wird nen Informanten näher stand als „Westdeutschen“. zum passiven „Anderen“ im Hintergrund; in diesem Hier wäre es interessant gewesen, diese Perspektive Fall zu einem Symbol einer gierigen und überlege- in den Analysekapiteln des öfteren wieder aufzu- nen Macht, die in erster Linie danach trachtet, die greifen, weil gerade diese Positionen das Resultat ehemalige DDR zum eigenen Gewinn auszunutzen. ihrer Studie mit beeinflusst haben. So hätte ich sel- Es soll hier dennoch nicht dafür argumentiert wer- ber vermutlich als „Wessi“ einige andere Antworten den, dass Gerber genauso viele „Wessis“ hätte inter- erhalten als Gerber. Wie sie auch richtig erwähnt, viewen sollen wie „Ossis“. Sicherlich hätte das der wären die Informanten vermutlich bei einem „Wes- Arbeit ein breiteres Spektrum an Positionierungen si“ eher in eine Verteidigungsstellung gegangen, gegeben, aber es hätte auch genügt, mehr den gesell- was die Offenheit während der Gespräche erschwert schaftlichen Kontext mit einzubeziehen und z.B. hätte (S. 30). Hier hätte eine kurze Diskussion über auch kritische Stimmen aus „Westdeutschland“ z.B. die Auffassung Schwedens im heutigen Deutsch- zur Wiedervereinigung und zum kapitalistischen land sowie in der DDR in Gerbers Untersuchung System zu Wort kommen zu lassen. So gab es z.B. noch vertiefend wirken können. Denn, wie die heu- auch in „Westdeutschland“ eine starke Kritik gegen tige Forschung in Schweden zeigt, wurde Schweden den Kapitalismus und Diskussionen über alternative vom DDR-Regime als ein „Schwerpunktland“ ange- Systeme sowie kritische Stimmen, die dagegen wa- sehen, als eine Art „sozialistischer Verbundspart- ren, die DDR einfach in das westdeutsche System ner“, der wichtig war für Legitimerungsversuche „einzuverleiben“. Leider scheinen die heutigen Me- des DDR-Regimes und zur Verbreitung von DDR- dien diese interessanten Debatten von 1989/90 weit- Propaganda (siehe u.a. Birgitta Almgren: Inte bara gehend vergessen zu haben. Aber Gerber fokussiert Stasi… Relationer Sverige–DDR 1949–1990 manchmal zu stark die Ost-West-Problematik, was (2009)). Auch heute wird Schweden von vielen verhindert, Kritiken wie. z.B. gegen Konsumtion und Deutschen noch als ein vorbildlicher Wohlfahrts- Kapitalismus als mehr allgemein deutsche, europäi- staat betrachtet, von dem man vieles lernen kann. sche und auch globale Phänomene zu verstehen. Nun befand sich die Forschung über die Beziehun- Auf der anderen Seite ist es ein Gewinn für Ger- gen zwischen Schweden und der DDR noch in den bers Untersuchung, dass sie ihre Informanten immer Anfängen, als Gerber ihrer Arbeit schrieb, aber es wieder zu Wort kommen lässt, bevor sie die Aussa- wäre dennoch sinnvoll gewesen, ihre Stellung als gen ihren Analysen unterzieht. Auf diese Weise ge- Schwedin in diesem Kontext mehr zu problematisie- lingt es ihr zu zeigen, wie diese Gruppe von Men- ren, da auch der „deutsche Blick“ auf Schweden die schen sich zu hegemonischen Diskursen in der heu- Aussagen in ihren Interviews beeinflusst hat. Hier tigen deutschen Gesellschaft verhält, z.B. den Dis- hätte sie interessante Beispiele für das geben kön- kurs über die Ostdeutschen als Verlierer und nen, was sie als den „dritten Anwesenden“ bezeich- „Jammerossis“, die nur nehmen, aber nicht geben net, nämlich, dass sie als Interviewerin stets be- wollen. Gerbers Informanten nehmen deutlich Ab- stimmte gesellschaftliche Kontexte in den Augen ih- stand von diesem Diskurs und beschreiben sich im- rer Informanten repräsentiert – was sich natürlich mer wieder als starke Akteure, die ihr eigenes Leben auch in deren Antworten widerspiegelt. Generell in die Hand nehmen und nicht hilflos dastehen. Hier wäre es gut gewesen, wenn Gerber ihre Begegnung wird häufig die Elterngeneration als die „Anderen“ mit ihren Informanten mehr analysiert und ihre eige- beschrieben, die stark negativ von der „Wende“ be- nen Fragen und Kommentare stärker in ihre Analy- troffen waren, weil viele nicht nur ihre Arbeit, son- sen mit einbezogen hätte. Ein Problem der Darstel- dern auch ihre Visionen und ihren Lebensinhalt ver- lung ist hier, dass der Leser/die Leserin den Ein- loren. Schon früh mussten deshalb die Kinder eine druck gewinnen kann, dass Gerber die Position ihrer Erwachsenen-Rolle einnehmen, in dem Sinne, dass Informanten einnimmt und diese auch vertritt. So sie ihre Eltern in ein neues System zu dirigieren ver- werden diese oft als Opfer des Kolonisators „West- suchten. Hier vergleicht Gerber das richtig mit der deutschland“ dargestellt. Da die „Wessis“ selten Situation vieler Migrantenfamilien, wo häufig die Reviews 171

Kinder die Aufgabe übernehmen, den Eltern einen The Upgrading of Wooden House Areas in Zugang in das neue Land zu ermöglichen. Finnish Towns Die Elterngeneration kommt in Gerbers Studie Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Från kåk till kulturarv. nur sehr selten zu Wort, was diese auch mehr in En etnologisk studie av omvärderingen av historiska Form von „Backgrounding“ erscheinen lässt und als trästadsområden i Karleby och Ekenäs. Åbo Akade- eine Gruppe, gegen die sich die Informanten über- mis förlag, Åbo 2010. 287 pp. Ill. English summary. wiegend in Opposition stellen, die sie aber auch im- Diss. ISBN 978-951-765-550-7. mer wieder als Opfer der „Wende“ darstellen. Ge- nau wie bei den „Wessis“, wäre es hier gut gewesen,  Heritage rhetoric has been given a prominent role auch die Stimmen der Eltern mehr zu Wort kommen in community planning and policy. For the antiquar- zu lassen, entweder durch Interviews oder durch ian authorities that design manifestos and policy Kontextualisierungen der gesellschaftlichen Debat- documents, the emphasis is on the national heritage. ten in dieser Generation. Hier werden die Eltern lei- The collective patrimony of the world, memories der relativ einseitig als Verlierer dargestellt, auch and future, is subject to review. A clear trend these wenn Ausnahmen davon kurz angesprochen wer- days is the impact of the so-called small stories and den. Man kann sich fragen, ob das auch ein „Geist individual memories. It has to do with people’s der Zeit“ sein kann, die Elterngeneration „noch search for the contexts of their everyday lives, in- nicht“ zu befragen? Vielleicht handelt es sich hier cluding the personal use and administration of indis- um ein Phänomen ähnlich wie bei der Aufarbeitung pensable values. If anyone wants to discover the der NS-Zeit in Deutschland, dass die Generation, multitude of cultural heritage rhetoric, it is advisable die als „mitverantwortlich“ oder „hauptverantwort- to read Sanna Lillbroända-Annala’s dissertation. lich“ für die Existenz der Diktatur und ihrer Opfer The ethnologist Sanna Lillbroända-Annala de- angesehen wird, vorerst ausgelassen wird, da dieses fended her doctoral thesis on 4 December 2010 at Thema als noch zu schwierig aufgefasst wird und Åbo Academy. It is about old wooden house areas die Eltern noch vollauf damit beschäftigt sind, sich in Finland, which have been protected as cultural in dem neuen System zurecht zu finden. Auβerdem heritage. befindet sich Deutschland noch mitten in der Phase Among the lower-class settlements in Finnish der Aufarbeitung der DDR-Zeit und noch immer wooden towns, not much used to be considered to finden Prozesse gegen frühere Stasi-Mitarbeiter have any value. The facades were ugly and the statt. Aber es gibt Hoffnung, dass die Aufarbeitung apartments outdated, serving as a reminder of pover- dieser Vergangenheit diesmal schneller in Gang ty in the old days. The run-down neighbourhoods kommt als nach der NS-Zeit, wo es fast 30 Jahre gave a picture of society as it should not be. The dauerte, bis die Forschung auch über die mitverant- easiest way to get rid of this was to demolish the wortlichen Generationen in Gang kam. Ein Hinweis buildings. Cities seeking a place in the future had to darauf ist ein Artikel in der Wochenzeitung Die Zeit liberate themselves from the slums. But the interest vom 11.8.2011 mit dem Titel „Wir, die stumme Ge- in preserving wooden buildings increased steadily neration Ost“, in der Johannes Staemmler, geb. 1982 during the sixties and seventies. In the eighties be- in Dresden, dafür argumentiert, mehr als bisher das gan a period when it was comme il faut to talk about Gespräch mit den Eltern zu suchen, die Vergangen- the heritage value of run-down settlements. It is heit der eigenen Eltern zu hinterfragen, Stasiakten against this background that Sanna Lillbroända-An- zu lesen, um „die Mauern in unseren Familien zu nala presents her argument with the support of the beseitigen“. Jetzt scheint sich hier einiges zu tun, theories and phenomena of gentrification and cultur- wenn die Jungen das Gespräch mit den Älteren über al process, describing and analysing the transforma- die Vergangenheit suchen, und das nicht mit Ziel tion of attitudes to historical wooden house environ- anzuklagen oder zu verurteilen, sondern zu ver- ments after World War II and what the transforma- stehen. Dass dies auch für die junge Generation tion meant in concrete terms. wichtig ist, die die DDR nur als Kind erlebt hat, Other researchers would probably shift to a lower macht Sofi Gerbers interessante und aktuelle Unter- gear. The aim is large, perhaps even a bit too large. suchung sehr deutlich. But the protection of the older wooden towns was Petra Garberding, Uppsala not an isolated phenomenon. Thoughts about socie- 172 Reviews

ty’s inalienable heritage opened up the political de- views, conversations and observations. It is not un- bate, both nationally and internationally. The impact common for researchers to examine their issues in of social processes and changes in the labour market close contact with people through intensive studies. became evident. To analyse the factors that led to The comparative method is one of the traditional the conservation plans for the wooden town, it is elements of ethnological research, as are the diverse necessary to have a broad searchlight. The author perspectives and viewpoints. This might be con- works systematically and with a good knowledge of sidered as the great value of position changes; some- building culture in Finnish cities. times Sanna Lillbroända-Annala observes the wood- Material consumption and the search for life val- en town from a height, sometimes she moves in ues affected cities during the latter decades of last close to her informants. Micro and macro analysis century. The global world patterns of migration and characterizes this thesis. the transnational cultural flows were part of the pic- There are many varying attitudes to the preserva- ture. Some of the heritage rhetoric was top-down tion of the wooden buildings among the inhabitants and rested heavily on the world organization of Karleby and Ekenäs. The seemingly unambigu- UNESCO’s definition of “cultural heritage”, says ous heritage, expressed in the singular, is versatile the author in the introduction. The establishment of light goods, ranging from hollyhocks and cosiness the Foundation for Cultural Heritage in Finland in to the essential identity that makes memories of ear- 1986 and a promotion organization for cultural lier times. events speak for themselves. Fifteen preservation The author impresses with her critical analysis of centres in Finland offered advice and courses on tra- texts in the historical documents, in particular the ditional, sustainable and ecological construction and newspapers. The varying emphases of urban plan- repair methods. ning in the post-war period are the subject of de- To carry out her intense investigations the author tailed studies. The heaviest elements in the survey selected Neristan, an area in Karleby, and the old include interviews, a total of 21 with 23 residents. town of Ekenäs. Neristan with its low wooden The author’s own photos are of high quality. They houses for artisans, labourers and sailors in the old interact very well with her text. days can be followed in urban plans from the seven- The introductory part II, Conservation and gen- teenth century onwards. The Old Town of Ekenäs trification of the wooden buildings, portrays the can be followed back in the archives to the sixteenth post-war demolitions and the nascent interest in pre- century. Population growth in the eighteenth century serving neighbourhoods for posterity. Usually it was and fires and urban plans in the nineteenth century easy for local authorities to enforce demolition after are richly documented in the archives. The traces of World War II; the older buildings would be demol- the eighteenth-century buildings are still there, but ished and replaced with new ones. People were much of the construction took place in the nine- moving and urbanization accelerated, and the author teenth century. The social and cultural differences discusses the principles behind the planning of the between Ekenäs and Karleby (Kokkola) are striking. modern urban environments and driving forces in Ekenäs has 14,000 inhabitants, of whom 80 per cent the national and local context. Rearrangement of the are Swedish-speaking. Karleby has a corresponding urbanity of cities was discussed in the press and laid proportion of Finnish speakers, about 84 percent, the foundation for growing criticism in the seven- and is a city with 45,000 inhabitants. Ekenäs is lo- ties. Citing numerous newspaper articles and op-ed cated in the capital’s Swedish-speaking proximity. pieces explaining how the change was implemented, To get to Karleby you have to travel to the Finn- the author describes how the cultural values collided ish-speaking Ostrobothnia. in community planning. Conservation arguments Culturally and linguistically, there are important can be placed in two genres, with the vision of “ob- differences between Karleby and Ekenäs, but they jective values” dominating in the fifties and sixties. share old wooden building blocks that have been The overall notions of timeless values seemed criti- protected as cultural heritage. The author sees the cal of society’s self-understanding. Later this was possibility of exploring the social and economic followed by “relative values”, in line with Jonas structure of these cities and comparing conservation Anshelm’s scheme that was becoming more impor- discussions, and the fieldwork consists of inter- tant in the seventies. This emphasized the experi- Reviews 173

ence of continuity. With such thoughts the individu- categories: “socially orientated traditionalists”, “ret- al and his personal relationship to the houses be- rospective enthusiasts”, “experts” and “creative aes- came a compelling reason to protect the older wood- thetics”. Their experience of the older buildings en town. Local ideas outweighed the arguments varies, from personal memories to the emotional from the outside, the scientific assessment criteria sides of prestigious housing. The author listens and and the modern social planning design. The human analyses their views. Archive studies give evidence values and the “humanist” ideals also became some- of a social shift. While the category of senior offi- thing to reckon with. This was a kind of amicable cials increases, the category of servants, service per- discourse that focused on community planning and sonnel and entrepreneurs decreases equally dramati- an outdated “objectivity of values” conservation cally. This applies to both Ekenäs and Karleby. policy. Cultural heritage is a valuable marker for some- The author traces the late 1900s’ “cultural boom” thing that is important for many people, says the au- in other conceptual forms than modernism. In doing thor in section IV, The cultural heritage process in so, her division into special phases of city planning wooden building environments. In Ekenäs and Kar- plays a major role in the study. With the support of leby there is a clear influence from other urban de- geographical research she works with some impor- velopment. Centres of consumption were located tant concepts for the analysis, such as the transla- outside the old housing areas, and the old cities were tional and replacement phase, the careful restoration profiled with small and more upscale shops than be- phase, the careful preservation phase, the replace- fore. Press debates in the nineties were generally ment, renewal and revaluation phase. A growing ar- positive and supported the preservation of tradition- gument concerns human well-being, social life and al wooden blocks. In keeping with a true “heritage the humanistic ideals, representing a new era. spirit” it was important to take care of the old build- With the business of life change during the 1980s ings. The author finds that the nineties introduced a boom and the refinement of Karleby’s and Ekenäs’s new way of thinking about the intangible values of commercial centres there began a period Sanna Lill- buildings, based on ideas about the “relativity of broända-Annala describes as a postmodern urban values”. Her discussion of a “symbolic economy” ideology. Press archives reveal the strength of pres- and a new form of visibility, an “attention econ- ervation claims when several of the city’s finest omy”, is likely to inspire researchers in many ethno- stone and wooden houses were threatened with logical areas. demolition. As regards the local security plans dur- The 1990s represented a shift to a new economy. ing the eighties, the author devotes considerable at- Section V, The administration of the historical city tention to the important conservation arguments areas, describes the emergence of a new middle concerning the uniform structure of the architecture class in the wooden towns that took on the role of a and the long historical roots. kind of pioneer and builder of bridges between the One can sometimes question the engineering zeal past and the present. For the author it is an important with which researchers create time structures, iden- occasion to talk about “gentrification”. This con- tifying periods and phases. Phases have the peculiar- cept, which goes back to British sociology, links ity that they flow into each other, but I reluctantly Karleby and Ekenäs to similar processes in large accept her methodology of phases because there are cities. These common and seemingly non-problem- few opportunities to work any differently given the atic concepts like gentrification can at worst be un- complexity of the material. clear, but the author’s reasoning leads her along in- In section III, Gentrification takes form, the au- teresting tracks, and herein lies the strength of her thor concentrates on the prevailing attitudes among thesis. her informants as an expression of a subjective, on- The cultural understanding of heritage and use is tological and aesthetic view, with concepts bor- thoroughly discussed. The very idea that old stuff is rowed from Thomas Ziehe. Informants in Ekenäs no longer perceived as public monuments, but is a and Karleby talk about the value of the old wooden prerequisite for life and creative use, leads to further buildings in various ways, and when the author tries questioning. It is challenging to engage in these dis- to investigate the differences and how they were cussions; I can only think of cultural scholars who raised, she finds it useful to divide them into four have concentrated on areas like Haga in Gothenburg 174 Reviews

and Söder in Stockholm. The difference here lies in background in British sociology and its full accept- the theoretical overview and a desire to clarify eth- ance among social scholars, fragmentation might nological analysis. Older built environments speak serve as another code word to conceive of a growing to people in a different way than just a few decades variety of identities, cultural habitats and bounda- ago. The main idea is that the houses have to live, ries. Based on the lifestyle concept in ethnological instead of being frozen objects, and antiquarian ac- research, Sanna Lillbroända-Annala nevertheless curacy is not an absolute requirement in every de- puts forward some inspiring thoughts about a style tail. Some settlers in the old blocks read their own of “town-centre living” which highlights the tradi- dreams of identity in the environment. Such shifts in tionalists’ joy of living near services and shops in the rating scale were unknown when the first the old city centre, a “wooden town lifestyle” based thoughts about the preservation of wooden towns on a quest for authenticity. Among enthusiasts, it is were expressed. Nowadays, the houses communi- possible to discern a clear “renovating lifestyle”. It cate in multiple languages to both traditionalists and may be that the innovative aestheticians’ dreams aesthetes, including the social history and the re- and social distinction need to follow the demands of mains of the nineteenth-century city. The memories an “innovator lifestyle” with their willingness to ac- of childhood streets are mixed up with a back- tively influence their living environment. ward-looking aesthetics of authenticity, origin, and In a lengthy discussion the author points to the a sense of social security. salient features in the nineties when the older sur- With compelling arguments and analytical clari- roundings sometimes became tourist attractions and ty, Sanna Lillbroända-Annala points out the shift of a part of the symbolic economy. The old wooden segregation patterns in the local community. The houses in Karleby and Ekenäs began to attract visi- new economy created the conditions for a clear tors who wanted to experience them in situ. They change of the previously poor neighbourhoods. were packaged in brochures and marketing, and they Wealthy owners moved into the houses. This did not became indispensable, not only for cultural but also happen at random, but with clear ambitions to estab- for economic reasons. Especially in Neristan, the lish new bases. One of the driving forces was the ad- old environment of Karleby, “traditionalists” wit- dress, so that its residents could acquire an image of nessed this change with mixed feelings. The atmos- a strong identity. But this was just a loan, a value phere was more favourable in the old town of that sometimes came with the house. Ekenäs, which reflected the social composition of Sanna Lillbroända-Annala is an analytical eth- the residents. The “enthusiasts”, however, under- nologist. The associations and the lines radiating stood tourism and the related commercialization of from her study give a good picture of the state of the older built environment as something essentially research in the cultural and social sciences. Her positive, somehow a natural trend in their eyes. references alone are interesting. Like a gardener in The final section that follows, Gentrification the greenhouse of theories, she wants them to through cultural heritage, summarizes the thesis. grow, but nevertheless a gardener may worry that The old slums, originally conceived as a cultural and there are too many plants. In my opposition at the architectural burden, were upgraded to a cultural oral defence of the dissertation, I mentioned that it capital under the influence of larger processes. An was a concept- intensive study. I sometimes longed interest in heritage emerged in the seventies; the for a breathing space for reflection. If there is any- second wave came in the eighties with strong sup- thing that I would wish, it is that the author would port in public opinion. A third phase characterized set aside at least some of the concepts, taking a the nineties, with the increased interest in tourism pause for a while. This does not, however, detract and heritage marketing. Sanna Lillbroända-Annala from the impression of a very thorough ethnologi- explains how cultural heritage rhetoric, based on se- cal treatise. lection, valuation, identification and separation, An opportunity to slow down might have been to contributed to new forms of socialities and cultural reason about the cultural fragmentation of cities in segregation. Finland and Europe. In comparison with gentrifica- Sanna Lillbroända-Annala’s thesis is impeccably tion, which is not a very precise concept to cover the written. I would emphasize how thoroughly she re- processes of the nineties in my view, despite its fers to the sources, and facilitates the reading with Reviews 175

appendices at the end of her thesis. The thesis gives clarification, analysis, ideas and scientific explana- a good picture of her capacity as an ethnological re- tions. In this long tradition there is an important po- searcher, and it is both exciting and unusual in its sition also for Sanna Lillbroända-Annala’s thesis. theoretical insights. Sanna Lillbroända-Annala high- The time is certainly different, but the mission has lights the importance of ethnological process studies not changed. for explaining today’s world. Her study rests on a My conclusion is that this is a strong thesis in eth- solid ethnological basis, methodologically and nology, one of those beacons that will shine for a theoretically, and links up with a tradition of re- long time to come. search, where interviews, observations and archival Gösta Arvastson, Uppsala studies are in the foreground. Post-war urban transformation emerges in a new light, with the demolition waves of the fifties and Changing Communities of Pilots and sixties and the explosive interest in protecting tradi- tional environments during the following decades. Lighthouse Keepers Perhaps it is a postmodern situation that we face at Harri Nyman, Uloimmalla rannalla. Luotsi- ja ma- the end, but as an intellectual problem, what exactly jakkamiesperheet asemayhdyskunnissaan. [On the is the meaning of postmodernity, what does it look furthest shore. Maritime pilot and lighthouse keeper like in the street? What exactly is the ethnographic families in their station communities.] Kansatieteel- consequence? The author gives some answers. I can linen arkisto 54. Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys, see the benefits of her discussion of a “value trans- Helsinki 2011. 513 pp. English summary. Diss. formation” linked to a rationalist and a humanist ur- ISBN 978-951-9057-83-5. ban planning ideology. Questions about material culture are rooted in the  Harri Nyman examines life in the outer archipela- communication between material objects and users. go in station communities of pilots and lighthouse My interpretation is that emotions cannot be ex- keepers at the end of the nineteenth century and the pressed without reference to the material world; se- beginning of the twentieth. His research period ends curity can neither be created nor recreated without a as these island communities die, with changes in the sense of safe places and objects. Sanna Lillbroända- education system and with changes in the technique Annala switches her perspective, flying at a high al- and organization of work in seafaring. titude between the clouds and low above the ground. Harri Nyman’s dissertation thus takes up a posi- She moves between the general social, political and tion among ethnological studies concerning periods economic structures and the surrounding objects in of cultural transformation and work communities. In everyday life, those small details. Even a window, addition, ethnological village research gives a back- or a garden gate, reveals something essential about ground to Nyman’s work, where the physical milieu the presence of human attitudes. In these respects of the pilot and lighthouse villages is one starting her contribution to material studies is both impres- point for the study of life on islands. sive and exemplary. For a long time to come, eth- Nyman has however chosen an original point of nologists and researchers in the field of cultural view in his research. He focuses on the communi- heritage will find inspiration in her dissertation. ties on islands and the narratives about what life is Urban transformation is a large area. The socio- like there. These communities are very small, and logical ambitions were evident in the USA during they have been living in arduous natural condi- the twenties and thirties and spread to the Nordic tions, partly isolated, especially during the time of countries. European ethnologists and folklorists frost heave. Thus, the life on pilot and lighthouse asked the same questions about the emergence of islands has been very demanding both physically modern city life. Many think that it is the very and socially. movement that is interesting, and it has been said The central questions of the study concern socio- that cities die and are born simultaneously. I men- cultural processes among families and communities tioned the long perspective during my opposition, on islands from the point of view of individuals and and said that ethnologists had gathered around the in the framework of archipelago geography and a same theme before. Urban expansion called for professionally orientated way of life. However, the 176 Reviews

research question is not presented in concentrated people and their life in their material and non-mate- form in the work; rather it is dispersed in several rial surroundings and as producers of it. operational questions which are presented in differ- In the narrative analysis, oral history (muistitieto) ent parts of the text. An elementary question for the is the term that Nyman uses, and the study should whole work – what are the coping strategies of com- indeed be placed in the field of oral history. How- munities in demanding social conditions on small ever, the consideration of the theory of oral history, and isolated islands – is first presented in the middle and of the concepts related to it, remains thin in the of the analysis on page 263. It would have been dissertation. In spite of an explicit hermeneutic ap- clearly better if the core of research questions had proach, the author does not examine in depth the been assembled in the introduction to the work. different modes of narration that emerge in the inter- Other more operational questions should have been views. He does not analyse the context of the speech structured around the central research question. The in the interviews. Nor has he examined sufficiently object of the work is broad both thematically and what kind of understanding is behind the meaning temporally, and thus very ambitious. With its 513 expressed to him in interviews, which leaves the pages, the book is also long. If the research question analysis open to his own horizon of expectation and had been concentrated, the unnecessary length could pre-understanding. He does not go into any theoreti- have been avoided. cal or methodological depth as regards the relation- The source material consists of the inventory re- ship between individual and collective narration, or ports of maritime architectural heritage, archival the relationship between narrated, perceived and ex- documents concerning the work of the pilots and perienced events. This is especially essential be- lighthouse keepers, and primarily the interviews cause oral history, both internationally and in Fin- conducted by Harri Nyman with the assistance of a land, is a very advanced research field with relevant student group. The physical milieu of the pilot com- literature which Nyman does not fully utilize in his munities and lighthouse communities forms a start- dissertation. ing point for the work. The actual target of the Nyman has resolved another theoretical discus- analysis is placed in it: oral history from the life of sion in an original way by placing it mostly in the the maritime civil servants who lived and worked in references of the study. At different stages of the the communities with their families. analysis he makes numerous remarks in which he In spite of the disconnectedness of the framing of links his own interpretations to the theoretical re- the research question and of the unnecessary size of search literature. Here especially the social psy- the work, Nyman succeeds in creating a solid inter- chological theoretical discussion that Nyman uses pretation of his multifaceted subject in which the to solve the central question of the work is empha- different parts are interrelated. In this way the study sized. This theoretical framework and the justifica- is a multilayered description, although the opera- tion of its use in the study are not discussed in Ny- tional questions have the effect of taking the study man’s work. Many central theoretical themes are in a certain direction. The bibliography is long, in- disconnected and the social psychological concepts dicating that Nyman has orientated himself in that have been used in the work are not connected studies concerning the archipelago and in theoretical to the hermeneutic and culture-theoretical back- sources to some extent. The sources are relevant but ground. I do not consider this solution justified. In not totally sufficient. The deficiencies lie especially this form the study seems to be directed to the gen- in the theoretical and methodological part of the eral public and a part of the theoretical discussion work. has therefore been consigned to the references. The Nyman emphasizes a hermeneutic theoretical many readers who have been excited by the light- framework. He sets as his target to understand the house communities surely are interested in the sub- narratives he heard in the interviews. His argumen- ject matter. It is also a positive element in a tation is partly derived from Hans-Georg Gadamer. scholarly ethnological text if it is accessible to the In this way the everyday work and social interaction readers whose life the study deals with. The work of the communities guides the study. As Nyman is fluently written and thus it has excellent chances states, this is highly suitable for the character of eth- of reaching a wide reading public. However, I do nological research. In it the essential focus is on not consider the placing of the theoretical discus- Reviews 177

sion in the references as a good solution in a doc- rial is clearly anonymous. This is especially needed toral dissertation. It leaves the theoretical choices because the work has been written both for the gen- unjustified, not connected to the whole of the work eral public and for those with a particular interest in and not discussed as a whole. lighthouse islands. Nyman divides the life of the pilot and lighthouse A map of pilot and lighthouse communities in the communities roughly into two periods: the time be- whole of Finland, marking the selected and named fore and after technological changes in seafaring. examples, would have been valuable. The language Nyman’s main attention is directed to the time be- of the study is extremely fluent. The author is able fore automation and the rationalization that has led to bring to the reader’s eyes both the life as it is to the demise of pilot and lighthouse communities. lived and the physical environments, even though He divides the five communities chosen into case the work is not illustrated. studies in his work according to different spaces of Katriina Siivonen, Turku togetherness. The conceptual framework he utilizes and develops in his work is friction theory based on social psychological sources. He distributes the Care and Control communities among the friction-neutral super-col- Claes G. Olsson, Omsorg & Kontroll. En handi- lectives (kitkaneutraali superkollektiivi balanssi- kapphistorisk studie 1750–1930. Föreställningar och hakuinen yhteisäkulttuuri repulsiivinen yhteisäkult- levnadsförhållanden. Institutionen för kultur- och tuuri) in which the social friction does not cause medievetenskaper, Umeå universitet, Umeå 2010. problems, and communities which manage social 314 pp. Ill. English summary. Diss. ISBN 978-91- friction well (community cultures seeking social 7264-980-4. balance; balanssihakuinenyhteisökulttuuri) and those which do not achieve this (repulsive commu-  The ethnologist Claes G. Olsson’s dissertation is nity culture; repulsiivinenyhteisökulttuuri). a contribution to Swedish disability history. Theo- In his analysis, he is directed here by the empiri- retically the study is based on Michel Foucault’s cal material in which he searches for information well-known concepts of discourse, power and about life on islands. He does not analyse in any knowledge. In the first two of four empirical chap- depth the various individual and collective modes ters, chapters 2 and 3 in the dissertation, Olsson con- of narration or contexts of narration present in in- trasts two opposite ways of approaching disability terviews. Furthermore, he connects these types of and otherness in history, popular versus scientific differing community cultures to the physical types approaches. In chapter 2 Olsson discusses popular of housing on the islands. It is possible that the un- perceptions of children who in pre-modern society spoken background assumptions of the work and did not develop in a normal way and therefore need- the theoretical and methodological thinness have ed special care. A certain type of folklore or directed him towards this interpretation, so that he “changeling tales” tells us about the norms of previ- has not achieved an examination that is critical ous societies. In particular Olsson is interested in the enough as a whole, for reasons that have been pre- role of the mother and how the tales were a way for sented above. her to come to terms with the fact that the child had However, Nyman use also critical tones in his developed in a deviant manner. In the chapter Ols- analysis. The argumentation credibly brings out the son illustrates how there was no absolute difference fact that there are differences between different is- between popular and scientific understandings in lands in how they serve as small social communi- pre-modern times. Both kinds of understanding ties. This has also been found in earlier studies to could be lodged within the same person acting in the which Nyman refers. The focus on this question in same situation. particular is valuable for producing positive and In chapter 3 the focus is on the first of those three new information. Nyman’s empathy in the analysis so-called historical breakpoints with which the of partly very difficult social crises is skilful. study is concerned. In the chapter, a new form of The ethical issues in the work, which Nyman has scientific understanding of disability appears in his- handled well in several sections, are connected to tory. The scientific experts that have a key role in this. In critical parts of the work the empirical mate- the chapter represent a new category of conception 178 Reviews

of disability that eventually will become more and In the chapter we read about how the businessman more authoritative in society. Methodologically the Pär Aron Borg started the school and how he was chapter is focused on a number of articles on dis- influenced by the humanistic discourse of the time. abled individuals that were published in the Royal By following him in classrooms and during travel, Academy of Science’s series Transactions. The the chapter gives a picture of Borg’s view of the scientific gaze on disability, in the shape of four disabled and his pedagogical ideals and methods. scientific texts by doctors and medical experts, is Borg, who favoured practical education, was even- analysed. The doctor Erik Acharius wrote an article tually challenged by other teachers at the school about the “cripple” Mathias Larsson Skönberg who, and lost his control of the pupils after being sus- in spite of having deformed arms and legs, was very pended by the board of the school. Ultimately he skilful in many kinds of work: sewing, carpentry, came back and ran the school until his death in lace-making. The doctor Johan P. Westring de- 1839, when his son Ossian Edmund Borg succeed- scribed the living conditions of the scribe of a dis- ed him. trict court, Johan Scherlund, who, like Skönberg, Chapter 5 focuses on the accounts of a certain had deformed arms and legs. In the two biographies kind of inspectors, usually middle-class men but both Scherlund and Skönberg appear as two strong also women, who on the behalf of the state visited individuals who in spite of their handicap were quite the homes of blind persons and reported on the abil- well integrated in their local societies. The analysed ity of these individuals to support themselves. These articles are characterized by a utilitarian perspective, inspection tours took place from 1903 to 1930 and in which the subjects are described as resourceful were a way of making sure that the practical schools citizens. Professor Roland Martin, who was a fa- for the disabled were effective in their teaching. The mous doctor in the eighteenth century and member inspectors took control of the situation of the blind of the Royal Academy, is the author of the third by looking into the question whether the subjects article that is studied in this chapter, about the blind mastered those special skills that they had learned in farmer Pehr Johansson of Knåpet. Professor Martin school and that they needed in order to support was fascinated by Johansson’s talent as a card-play- themselves, skills associated with, for example, er. This fascination was based on Martin’s interest needlework for women and basket weaving and in how one perception could be replaced by another brush making for men. one. The blind Johansson had developed an extraor- The analytical conditions of the study are pre- dinary tactile perception that made him versatile in sented thoroughly in the first chapter of the book. an activity – card playing – that usually made de- Aims and principal questions are formulated. First mands on the visionary perception. The fourth and of all, Olsson explains that his intention is to investi- final article of the chapter is by the author and facto- gate different dominating perceptions of disabilities ry manager Abraham Argillander. The article, regarding abilities to see, to hear and to move. A which was published as an appendix to a medical parallel aim is to shed light on how individuals have book on children’s diseases, described how Argil- lived their lives as disabled in different historical pe- lander gave a deaf boy, Wolfgang Heinrich Helsin- riods. The theoretical linking to the discourse per- gius who was twelve years old at the time, lessons in spective that focuses on the power of the word is how to use the speech organ. scrupulously presented. The introduction also con- The arrangement of the dissertation is chrono- tains a section on material and method, in which the logical. In chapters 4 and 5 we learn about the con- historical records and articles of the study are dis- ditions of the disabled in the nineteenth and early cussed, as well as an exposition of previous re- twentieth century. Chapter 4 is focused on the first search. special school in Sweden that was established in In the final chapter of the dissertation, chapter 6, Stockholm in 1809: Manilla or the National Insti- Olsson delivers a more general discussion on his tute for the Blind and Deaf-Mute. The school is in- topic: disability history on the basis of changing dis- teresting as a historical forerunner to other insti- cursive expressions about disabled individuals. In tutes that were opened in the nineteenth century, the chapter Olsson starts his discussion by associat- and as an early example of how experts now were ing the historical break-points of the study with the taking control of the issue of disability in society. following events: (1) the scientific “discovery” of Reviews 179

some individual persons’ disabilities and living con- collections, called museums by the owners. Ex- ditions in the eighteenth century; (2) the establish- amples of public but individualized collections ment of special schools for disabled individuals in branded by the collector’s personality are essential the nineteenth century; and (3) the growing control in the study, as well. Other professional museums of the disabled regarding their vocational training have a minor role in the study, that is, they have and moral status in the twentieth century. The chap- the role of counter-example, an exponent of a pub- ter continues as a sort of analytical summary of the lic institution. These museums are treated as a bet- results in the different chapters. Regarding the idea ter known and better studied phenomenon. Salmi- of special training, for example, Olsson concludes nen doesn’t view them through a similar ethno- that a “figure of thought” that disabled individuals graphic lens, as she does the private collections are educable emerged in the historical processes. and collectors. Another issue concerns how the control of the dis- The starting point of the study was the research- abled is linked to an increasing separation of indi- er’s interest in traditional rural collections in coun- viduals in the technologies of power in society. At tryside, often called museums by the owners. Sal- the very end of the chapter (and the book) Olsson minen began charting them in 1996; she had the aid then reflects on the importance of discursive voices. of the central culture history museums in the prov- These voices are linked to different individuals to a inces and also used an advertisement in local news- great extent in the study. However, they are also in papers. She wished to get knowledge on museums/ the form of what Olsson calls “collectives of collections at peoples’ homes for her doctoral thesis thought”. As such, these important voices are funda- in ethnology. For her, all private museums and col- mental for how the disabled are perceived and con- lections, regardless of their size or shape, would do. structed in society and what kinds of life these indi- She included 80 collections from central Finland in viduals can lead. the study; these included approximately three art It is indeed a captivating cultural history that Ols- collections and no collection of natural specimens. son presents in his dissertation. The theoretical Either there is a shortage of such collections or the foundation of the study is perhaps not so innovative. owners do not refer to them as museums. The latter However, I enjoyed reading the empirical chapters choice seems to be plausible. It is possible as well of this dissertation on disability history 1750–1930. that people have taken for granted that an ethnolo- The text is quite descriptive and easy to read. Early gist is not really interested in art or natural specimen modern Swedish society is problematized from the collections. That could, for me, explain the modest kind of different perspective that disability history variation in the study material. may offer when it is well presented. In addition to the above-mentioned 80 collec- Markus Idvall, Lund tions, Salminen has picked some interesting ex- amples from all over Finland. She treats all of these as cases that shed light on the main research ques- The Wooden Past tions. Salminen wants to examine how the past is Elina Salminen, Monta kuvaa menneisyydestä. presented and produced in private collections and [Cultural Heritage and Images of the Past.] Etno- how private museums/collections differ from or re- loginen tutkimus museokokoelman yksityisyydestä semble communal or professional museums. I find it ja julkisuudesta. Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities a bit strange that she presents the view of an ”origi- 149. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä 2010. 225 pp. nal” phase when the concept of a museum would Ill. English summary. Diss. ISBN 978-951-39- have been unitary, even if the use of the word may 4170-3. have been socially restricted. Later on, specializa- http://julkaisut.jyu.fi/index.php?page=product&id= tion and professionalization would have differentiat- 978-951-39-4170-3. ed professional museums from those based on en- thusiastic activities. Salminen wants to eliminate  Do private museum collections exist? Doesn’t this divide and, at the same time, define the concept publicity or the idea of community characterize the of a non-professional museum. Actually, the defini- whole phenomenon called museum? Elina Salmi- tion of non-professional is due to the institutional nen’s doctoral thesis focuses on Finnish private definition of professional. The latter definition 180 Reviews

would naturally be studied critically within the con- with a wide scale of cultural phenomena and spe- text of the changing museum profession. cialized museums concentrating clearly on some re- Recent in Finland, the consolidation of munici- stricted phenomenon or aspect of material culture. palities endangers the existence of many small local The private museums or collections can easily be di- heritage museums owned by former municipalities. vided in the same way. Characteristically, a private At the same time, the public sector needs the third special museum structures the items related to a sector and private individuals even more than be- phenomenon along a time line and presents them in fore, even in the field of cultural heritage care and a trajectory. The owner has a vested interest in the preservation. Questions about the future of many museum collection either based on personal work kinds of museums are quite interesting just now. experience or as hobby. The collection in a private The thesis very much takes into account the eth- special museum is more clearly the result of active ics of ethnological research. Relevant new questions collecting than is a collection in a private general on ethics flooded into ethnological discussions in museum. Finland as Salminen already had started collecting The study cannot explain why some collections her material in the 1990s. Salminen could then, ac- are called museums and others are not. A model of a cordingly, not help but take into full consideration private museum takes form anyway: a collection in the need for agreement with the informants about ar- a rural environment, deposited in a separate out- chiving the documents for a wider future use. It fol- building. The objects have mostly been gathered lows that she now feels obliged to demolish the ma- from the owner’s own farm. They refer to a past terials gathered from the private informants after the way of life, a time before industrialization, and to research process is finished. She has other reasons the past of that particular place. The objects have not to save the document material created during the been preserved for coming generations. Knowledge research as well: according to her, the material of the items and of the past is in the mind of the would be reasonably valuable only within that par- owners; it is less common that they describe the ob- ticular research context. The material has now ful- jects in written form. How the artefacts are grouped filled its purpose and the long process of preserva- reveals their classification in the mind of the owner. tion would not be justified. This attitude has wider This classification is based on the purpose of the ob- consequences for the filing of research materials, ject: the artefacts have been put on display accord- and, I think, for museum collections as well. It sug- ing to the former way and context in which they gests that keeping objects just in case they are need- were used. ed in the future is no longer appropriate. According- Salminen concludes that these museums and their ly, the reasons for keeping museum or archival col- “past” are about doing: the past provides the time, lections need to be articulated better, even if the rea- the place and the social connection with doing. The sons for preserving may change. classification or placing of the things in the museum Salminen deals with objects (in collections) as is nostalgic. Museum owners generally conceived of references, as the subjects of activities and as ma- past life as hard but mostly positive. Everything had terialized cultural meanings. According to her, a its place and meaning and the human body got collection is about possessing and controlling, and enough activity and stimulation through everyday musealisation is aimed at preserving the collection. hard work and being close to nature. The collections Through the physical presence of objects, the past even illustrate scarcity. On the other hand, people can be present, even if it cannot be reached. The were skilful and able to prepare and make many collected objects are passive. They only exist, like kinds of things themselves. These collections were all objects. This sounds a bit odd when taking the very much made of wood: an abundance of wooden recent discussion on material culture in account. artefacts in wooden buildings. As human beings are not very much human with- In private museums, the artefacts refer to a past out artefacts, objects can be seen as a central part time and a past way of life, sometimes even to cer- of most human activities and active themselves, as tain persons. The memory of the collector and the well. keeper of the museum is mediated by she/he telling Salminen divides, in compliance with Juhani stories. This memory can vanish with that particular Kostet, museums into general museums dealing person and be replaced by the memory of another Reviews 181

person, for example what the collector himself/her- Finally, Salminen compares the openness and ac- self remembers. The memory can also be mediated cessibility of small private museums and public mu- as a tradition connected to the objects. seums. She remarks that the principles are different. The author states that many of those keeping a The first ones can be as open and accessible as the private museum collection have also donated ob- second ones. But in the private museums, the owner jects to a communal local heritage museum. They may decide who is allowed to visit. He/she also has are often voluntary workers within the associations much more power over the collection just now than responsible for the local museum as well. Both do the actors in the public museum. kinds of museums tell about the same kind of past, The dissertation is an interesting plunge into the first on the level of particular places and farms and phenomenon of private historical collections. Sal- people, and later, because of the lack written docu- minen foretells a continuation for these kinds of pri- ments, about the local district and past times in gen- vate museums. We will see. Read the book and be- eral. come familiar with a poorly studied but common The examples presented by Salminen of profes- phenomenon and Salminen’s insightful and lively sional or communal museums connected with strong interpretation of it. collector persons include the Helinä Rautavaara Sirkku Pihlman, Turku Museum in Espoo, the Arctic Museum Nanoq in Pietarsaari, grounded in Pentti Kronqvist’s activi- ties, Rosa Liksom’s so-called Soviet Design Collec- Twin Towns Görlitz/Zgorzelec tion in the Lenin Museum in Tampere, and the Marie Sandberg, Grænsens nærvær og fravær. Eu- camera collection of Leo Torppa in the K.H. Ren- ropæiseringsprocesser i en tvillingeby på den lund Museum in Kokkola. Becoming a part of a pro- polsk-tyske grænse. Det humanistiske Fakultet, Kø- fessional museum does influence and change the na- benhavns Universitet, Copenhagen 2009. 259 pp. ture of a collector’s collection. There is a tension be- Ill. English summary. Diss. tween the museum and the private collector in the presented cases.  “Europastadt Görlitz/Zgorzelec” – these are the Professional museum workers have sometimes first words one sees on opening the www.gorlitz.de experienced private museum keepers and other non- website. The phrase that is a motto of a common professional museums as rivals consuming common tourist website for the two towns suggests that they resources. Local heritage museums have even been are a unity, the “Eurocity Görlitz/Zgorzelec” that criticized for keeping idle things, as if they were was proclaimed by both towns in 1998. But how ad- generally harmful. However, the personal relation- vanced are really the integration processes in the ship of people to the past is a current topic within town(s) with a double national identity divided “on- the field of cultural heritage. Salminen compares the ly” by the border, which since 2007 does not for- private museums with other phenomena of the histo- mally exist? Are the towns really only separated by ry culture: popular history writing, autobiographies a “slash” sign? In her Ph.D. dissertation Marie and village books. Sandberg tries to answer these questions by examin- In the study, the discussion of private museums ing the German-Polish border: how it is organized, even reaches the museum-like collections of enter- how it is administered and how it is experienced by prisers at tourism resorts and the relationship of the a network of actors (as per Bruno Latour’s Actor- antique dealers to the objects they sell. Network Theory to which the work relates) consist- Salminen makes use of a broad scale of sources ing of people and organizations as well as notions and ethnological methods for tracking private and concepts (p. 26). The dissertation examines the owners’ relationship to their collections. However, in European integration in practice. dealing with museum professionals, her scale is As stated in the title, Sandberg presents an analy- narrower. Here she concentrates more on what is said sis of Europeanization, taking as an example the or published in textbooks or programs than on what German and Polish twin and border towns Görlitz really happens and has happened between people and and Zgorzelec. Sandberg examines the border as be- things in professional museums, and what, for ex- ing present and absent at the same time and attempts ample, the exhibitions, archives and storages tell us. to describe the coexistence of these two notions 182 Reviews

answering the dissertation’s two key questions: how dresses some of the extensive criticism that the theo- the Polish-German border “is performed as a mul- ry has received (although mostly by quoting Law’s tiple object in a heterogeneous network” and “in answers to it, p. 53). what relation to each other are the different versions The dissertation’s strength lies definitely in the of the border” (p. 27). second part with its broad approach to analysis – an After giving some main definitions (twin towns, impressive amount of ethnographic fieldwork that Europeanization, border) and background informa- the author carried out. The theoretical expectations tion on border research, Sandberg takes a good start- are put to the test here when Sandberg conducts a ing point in examining some events from the history range of interviews following many actors, using of the region concerning the border. The chapter fo- observations, visits to schools, maps (drawn by cuses on the events after 1945, as the author correct- high-school students from both towns) and “walking ly states that this is when the activities concerning conversations”. The latter, more experimental tool the border made it controversial (p. 47). Interesting- has been developed by Sandberg (with some inspi- ly, further in the dissertation Sandberg shows that ration from and critique of Tim Ingold’s and Jo on both the Polish and the German side of the border Lee’s “walk and talk” method) and seems to be ap- the actors who deal with the history try to shift the preciated and used by some ethnologists since then focus from the controversial periods and stress the (or even developed into other methods like “surfing less controversial and more peaceful historical no- conversations”, e.g. Breddam and Jespersen 2010). tions: the time of “Silesian tolerance” (pp. 101–103) The interviews include the representatives of the and the even older historical concept of the Lusatia Zgorzelec and Görlitz local authorities and local region (Polish: Łużyce, p. 115). I found it interest- cultural and historical institutions, journalists, teach- ing also because, although these were the notions ers, researchers and students, so both young and that somehow indicated peaceful coexistence, older generations are represented as well as both through her interviews Sandberg shows how the formal and informal structures. Polish and German actors today still cannot agree on In the second chapter of Part II the interviews are one common concept. Highlighting that aspect is an used to examine the notion/actor mentioned earlier, important input from an outsider’s perspective (nei- Silesian tolerance. This is presented as both en- ther German nor Polish) as in my opinion not dorsed and rejected as a common German-Polish enough attention has been paid to that angle, for ex- concept with the Polish side presenting a rival idea, ample, in Poland and the prevailing opinion would called Lusatia. Further, Polish-German cooperation usually stress the Second World War and the com- and European integration attempts are analysed munist period as the most significant for the inhabit- through interviews filtered by Law’s modes of or- ants of this region. (Being Polish I appreciate Sand- dering, showing both “top-down” and “bottom-up” berg’s good description of the Polish-German bor- approaches to this issue. Sandberg applies three der history in a concise version, but one mistake has modes of ordering: administration, enterprise and to be pointed out here as it is repeated several times border allocation (p. 129), giving a detailed analysis (e.g. pp. 37, 98). The Polish writer’s name is of how the cross-border cooperation in border towns “Tokarczuk” and not “Tukarczuk”.) is conducted. She points out here an important as- In the second and third chapters of Part I of the pect of the integration, stating that it “could have a dissertation the author describes its theoretical back- bottom-up character, for example, among young bone, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), based mainly people themselves, it is allocated to be relevant on publications by Annemari Mol and John Law. “somewhere else” (p. 155). Generally Sandberg’s However, the vast theory is quite rightly not given a interviews give a picture of uninvolved youth who comprehensive and detailed presentation here, but it are more likely to leave the towns after they have is limited to the angle and resources relevant for graduated from high school than to get involved in Sandberg’s research. She brings in the performative the integration work. perspective and describes the necessary tools used Chapters 6 and 7 of Part 2 concentrate on the in the analytical chapters: Law’s modes of ordering young people living in both towns. The first of these as well as Mol’s multiple objects and multiple typol- is an analysis of the daily activity maps that they ogies (pp. 57–59). The ANT presentation also ad- drew for the researcher and the second describes Reviews 183

young people’s meeting points in Görlitz. Through 1889–1945.] Kansatieteellinen arkisto 53. Suomen the analysis of the drawings Sandberg identifies four Muinaismuistoyhdistys, Helsinki 2011. 458 pp. Ill. different ways of experiencing the border by young English Summary. Diss. ISBN 978-951-9057-81-1. people, while the description of the problematic and controversial use of the Görlitz town squares by  Arja Turunen’s doctoral thesis discusses fashion young people who are considered to be trouble- and dress. It focuses on women’s trouser-wearing makers shows how it reflects the towns’ social prob- that is seen as a part of the modernization process lems (e.g. unemployment). The analysis in which of everyday life in Finland during the first half of again the notions of present and absent border are the 20thcentury. The research focuses on cultural used gives good support to one of the dissertation’s meanings and is located in the field of ethnology as theses stating that the border is a complex and mul- it studies changes in the ordinary dress of Finnish tiple concept and cannot be described in simple cat- women. Turunen’s contextualization of various egories (p. 180, 203). discussions of women’s trouser-wearing have led Just as all good research work should, Sand- her to a multidiscipline approach. She explores berg’s dissertation both answers and raises ques- several related areas like sports and leisure as well tions, in this case concerning how the way the pre- as war, work and political history. She also has sent/absent border is enacted impacts European in- widened the scope of the research to the field of tegration. The cooperation agreements and Euro- media studies. pean treaties and programmes, financial means, Even though the book is full of interesting details institution and technology may be in place, but the as well as explanatory quotes from women’s maga- everyday life and relations on the local and region- zines, the book is perhaps even too extensive in its al level often seem to show a different picture and examples. What is won in detailed descriptions is point to a different practice, which Sandberg man- lost in consistency. However, the book is a pleasure ages to exemplify well in her research. She shows to read as the quotes are illustrative, the language is the actors and the heterogeneous network that they rich, and the story in general is fascinating. It is hard are involved in, but often it is obvious that it is still to determine whether one should laugh or cry when divided into German and Polish parts and their re- reading about the petty rules for women’s dressing: lation to each other still needs to be worked on. It how to be feminine and simultaneously practical – is only a shame that, due to the language and a dif- but not mannish. ficult theoretical perspective for a non-researcher, The methodological approach of the research is the dissertation is not easy reading and will prob- critical discourse analysis as presented by Norman ably not be available for the actors involved in Fairclough. Turunen has analyzed hundreds of vol- Görlitz and Zgorzelec. Searching the Internet I umes of over more than 20 different women’s maga- have found Sandberg’s presentation of her disser- zines and distilled three discourses that reflect, con- tation at a ICME-ICOM Annual Meeting in 2010 tribute, and legitimate the discussions about trouser- that also included a tour of Zgorzelec, but I have of wearing. Turunen explains that these discourses course no knowledge of whether any of the local “identify the argumentative strategies in women’s authorities or NGOs were able to attend. magazines used in discussions of women’s wearing Maja Chacińska, Gdańsk of trousers, where representations of women in trou- sers are being constructed.” Trouser-wearing was a symbol of the new, independent, active woman, but Women in Trousers she was still expected to “understand” – obey – the Arja Turunen, “Hame, housut, hamehousut! Vai limits. Those limits were discussed in women’s mikä on tulevaisuutemme?” Naisten päällyshousu- magazines as they negotiated the ideals and norms jen käyttöä koskevat pukeutumisohjeet ja niissä ra- of femininity. Turunen summarizes the limits re- kentuvat naiseuden ihanteet suomalaisissa naisten- lated to gender-specific behavior and habitus. How- lehdissä 1889–1945. [“Skirt, trousers, divided skirt! ever, in her multidisciplinary, theoretical orientation Or what is our future?” How the ideals of woman- package, the feminist literary references are surpris- hood were negotiated in the discussion of female ingly thin. Is this a sign that gender studies have be- trouser–wearing in Finnish women’s magazines, come so mainstream that it need not be mentioned 184 Reviews

separately? In my opinion the results of this study tional. Turunen gives the corset as an example: it are important for gender studies even if the re- was condemned because of its negative effects on searcher doesn’t make such a commitment. women’s health. The social aim of the anti-fashion The work by Turunen is important as it back- discourse was to construct a feminist identity of grounds present discussions about the way women woman worker, by placing her in opposition to the dress and it will certainly be used also by feminist “fashionable woman” who was a victim of fashion. researchers. The focus is on central issues of femi- The fashion discourse was found in commercial nine identity construction: male and male dressing is women’s magazines where fashion was not criti- the norm; woman is an exception and also an object cized. The rational-improvement discourse dominat- of control. How will society react when women ap- ed the early commercial women’s magazines and propriate fields reserved to men at work, home, or magazines attached to women’s organizations that leisure activities? This issue has been hotly debated were not part of the women’s movement. In general, and shows no signs of diminishing. Lately the issue women’s magazines took on the role of educator in has emerged around the slut walks: When is her at- their advice columns. Readers were taught how to tire too feminine? dress: columnists provided detailed instructions on In the late 19th century and early 20th century, how to choose the right outfit and accessories for when the characteristics that had previously only different occasions. The practical and functional been associated with masculinity were associated qualities of women’s dress were emphasized as the with femininity, women’s magazines warned read- standards of modern dress. ers that those who wore trousers were likely to adopt One of the issues in critical discourse analysis is masculine body techniques such as a masculine the question of the context of the discourses – in this walk or stance. Turunen points out that the adoption case, magazines as they were the context of pub- of women’s trousers did not undermine the gender lished texts. Turunen has taken this issue seriously division of public (male) and private (female) and avoids a fairly common problem of ”research- spheres. She argues that this division was strength- er’s reading” – she carefully explains the discourses ened by the advice given by women’s magazines. she found and what data they are based on. Here Tu- During World War II, women were allowed to wear runen has taken two paths. She contextualizes the trousers as an everyday garment. But because trou- discourses well with multiple research fields dealing sers were associated with masculinity, women in with the contemporary changes in people’s lives and trousers could be mistaken for men. This impression habits at work, leisure, war, and the farms. She also was strengthened when a woman in trousers did exercises a diligent critical eye towards her data – something that was considered specifically male. women’s magazines. A third set of data analysis Turunen writes that the adoption of women’s would have been possible, but she chose not to tack- trousers became possible as the idea of a woman as le it. As the data consists of magazines, volumes and a fragile and passive being was replaced by the ideal issues, Turunen could have included statistical data of the active and independent woman who exercised about the frequency of different kinds of discourses and had her own career. Therefore neither work, nor and story types. At least it would not have done war made the breakthrough; it happened in sports, harm to her narrative and analytical text. When specially skiing. reading historical academic texts I have often won- Turunen found three categories of discourse prac- dered why figures and summary tables are not used tices in women’s magazines: a) anti-fashion dis- as they could illustrate the main points for the reader course, b) rational-improvement discourse, and c) in an easily readable format. fashion discourse. These discourses occurred in dif- Media researchers in Finland apply critical dis- ferent magazines. The anti-fashion discourse was course analysis quite often, but they are mostly in- used in the magazines associated with the women’s terested in public affairs, not on the media that pub- movement – like Palvelijatar (Service Maid) and lish the texts. They also try to contextualize the pub- Työläisnainen (Female Worker) – and in the oldest lic debates with history, sociology and other related women’s magazines of the labor movement. In this fields of research. Rare is an approach that also discourse, women’s fashion and women who fol- tackles the medium, as Turunen does. lowed fashion were criticized as shallow and irra- One of Turunen’s most important points is that Reviews 185

each of three discourses she found was strong in dif- Turunen understands the inner contradictions in ferent kind of magazines. This, of course, is related women’s magazines: different and even contradicto- to the fact that magazines differ considerably on the ry discourses are presented in different parts sec- basis of the values behind each publication. Maga- tions of the publications. In advice columns, the zines are not neutral data banks that provide objec- suggestions can be quite different from those pre- tive information about, for example, women’s lives. sented in profiles and interviews. Turunen addresses On the contrary, magazines are framed by the values this central issue in an analytical way not often seen and goals of their publishers and the content is in- in media studies. tentionally created to fit them. Thus all media con- Magazines are an important source of informa- tent analysis, especially analysis of magazine con- tion for historical research, especially on issues of tent, should take into account the values, goals, and everyday life and practices. In this research, one of ways of creating readership relations as well as the the most valuable contributions is the incorporation work processes and resources. of media concepts with data analysis. Turunen has Turunen has not seen magazines as neutral data made detailed inspections into why and how maga- banks but has elaborated on the category of zines have produced their differently framed con- ”women’s magazine” more closely. She has listed tents and topics. This makes the dissertation excel- (p. 116) basic information about 22 women’s maga- lent as media research and will become an important zine and has categorized them into four groups. The source for future researchers of magazines in gener- first group, named “Organs of the Women’s Move- al, as well as specific women’s magazines. ment”, consists of four magazines like Naisten Ääni Turunen also points out that magazines published (Women’s Voice) 1905–1945. The second group by women’s organizations have too often been over- “Magazines of Other Women’s Organizations” con- looked in historical analysis of magazines. She has sists of ten magazines like Kenttälotta (Field Lotta) 1941–42 and Palvelijatar (Service Maid) 1905– started to elaborate on a missing part of Finnish me- 1906. Turunen makes a distinction in the group of dia history – the history of women’s magazines. I commercial women’s magazines, dividing them to hope this work continues in future years. those resembling magazines of women’s organiza- One final comment about the visuality of maga- tions (third group, four magazines) and those which zines. It is not a central focus in this research, but were distinct (fourth group, four magazines). In Fin- one can hope that in the future someone takes visu- land, women got political rights before they became ality and texts and their relationship under analysis. consumers; therefore political magazines were pub- This is not a problem in analyzing the early maga- lished before commercial ones and had a heavy in- zines as they had very few illustrations or pictures, fluence also on popular content. Turunen describes but in the 21st century more than half of magazines’ the differences between magazines in terms of content consists of visual material, not written membership figures of the organization, attitudes to- words. wards home and work, as well as differences in Maija Töyry, Helsinki work processes. 186

Book Reviews various special symbols. In addition, there are eth- nologically inspired studies of people’s encounters with memorials on ceremonial and everyday occa- Sites of Memory in Denmark sions (e.g. Lars Berggren & Lennart Sjöstedt, Inge Adriansen, Erindringssteder i Danmark. Monu- L’Ombra dei Grande: Monumenti e politica monu- menter, mindesmærker og mødesteder. Fotografier mentale a Roma (1870–1895), 1996; Jonas Frykman af Per Bak Jensen. Museum Tusculanums Forlag, & Billy Ehn (eds.), Minnesmärken: Att tolka det för- Copenhagen 2010. 516 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-87- flutna och besvärja framtiden, 2007; Kirk Savage, 6353173-3. Monument Wars: Washington D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial  For a long time there was a striking difference be- Landscape, 2009). tween the great attention generated by monument One of the most recent contributions to the genre projects in the latter half of the nineteenth century comes from the Danish cultural historian and mu- and in the early twentieth century on the one hand, seum curator Inge Adriansen, in this huge survey of and on the other hand the comparative lack of inter- more than 300 monuments, memorials, and meeting est in studying the monuments themselves and the places, Erindringssteder i Danmark: Monumenter, symbolism, the ideological and cultural fashions ex- mindesmærker og mødesteder. Adriansen is well pressed in the monuments. For most art historians equipped to tackle this – in a dual sense – monu- this kind of public art was the diametrical opposite mental task since she has written a great many of what was created by the geniuses of modernist art articles about monuments, memorials, and mu- working alone, often as a deliberate reaction to the seums, especially about the politically and culturally figurative, nationalistic ideals that dominated controversial area of southern Jutland, and about na- around 1900. For many art scholars, the monuments tional symbols in the kingdom of Denmark from the were troublesome for another reason, since their his- early nineteenth century to the present day. tory was associated with politics in the public sphere The large number of study objects may give the rather than the traditional aspects considered by art impression that this is a complete survey, but this is history. For historians it was the other way around: not the case. In collaboration with the Heritage they did not touch historical artefacts at all, since the Agency of Denmark and all the municipalities in past, according to prevailing scholarly ideals, was Denmark, the survey has comprised 3,500 monu- mainly to be found in the archives. The fact that ments and memorials. Few of these are recent. Al- their predecessors had sometimes taken the initia- though the Second World War and the German oc- tive to erect monuments, contributed to subscrip- cupation resulted in statues, other aspects of modern tions, and delivered solemn speeches at the plinths history, such as membership of NATO and the EU of statues did not make the matter any better. The and the growth of the welfare state have not been monuments were a reminder of a time when many manifested in this way. historians uncritically gave their services to nation- It is perfectly clear from this richly and skilfully alism, as Lars Berggren has shown. illustrated book that monuments to women are seri- This development was reversed a few decades ously under-represented. In the whole of Denmark ago, in Sweden and elsewhere. More and more there are just 28, and of these only nine are non- scholars in different disciplines have taken an inter- royal. Workers in bronze are likewise few and far est in the significance of monuments for the politics between. On the other hand, the liberal party, of memory. In the now rich array of research on Venstre, has a considerable number of politicians monuments there are general discussions of the per- with memorials, mostly because the role played by sons and events that were considered worthy of at- the party in the introduction of the parliamentary tention, and the ones that were ignored. Moreover, system coincided in time with the zenith of monu- researchers have explored the significance of the ment building around 1900. place and the crucial meaning of the monuments in Earlier research shows that, although many the landscape of memory, and the negotiations in monument projects were initiated in capital cities, countries with serious conflicts of interest that have the people in power had to consider local and re- resulted in compromises involving the inclusion of gional elites. Adriansen adds to this discussion by

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 42, 2012 Reviews 187

highlighting the presence of a large number of in oral tradition in the Swedish-speaking country- monuments in western Jutland. Her explanation is side in Finland. that the distance to Copenhagen is so great that At the start of the nineteenth century there were there was space for a locally based culture of inde- major upheavals all over Europe. In 1808 and 1809 pendence. Sweden and Russia were at war. The outcome was Another interesting aspect underlined by Ad- that Finland became an autonomous grand duchy riansen is the monuments that were erected without under the Russian tsar in 1809. After more than six being an expression of traditional patriotism. In centuries as one kingdom, Finland was thus separat- Broagerland in south Jutland, a number of monu- ed from Sweden. The war is still perceived today as ments were raised after 1918 to men who had fallen a crucial turning point in the modern history of both in the First World War. What is remarkable is the countries. Sweden lost one third of its territory and a lack of references to patriotic virtues. The explana- quarter of its population. Finland became a part of tion is that the men fought and died on the German the Russian Empire, and its inhabitants were trans- side. Instead of paying homage to the nation’s vic- formed from Swedish to Russian subjects. The bi- tims, these monuments express sorrow for the centennial of this occasion was commemorated in fallen. 2009 in both Sweden and Finland. The folklore In the introduction to the book there is a figure in committee of the Society of Swedish Literature in which material and non-material memorial sites are Finland raised the idea of publishing historical leg- placed at the intersection between individual and so- ends about the war of 1808–09. According to the ciety and at the centre of concepts such as cultural committee, it is important to illuminate the folklore heritage, identity, imagined community, memory that is preserved about the events. This is a way to politics, historical awareness, and the use of history. highlight the war that left its mark in the narrative The “memory products” of this kind that Adriansen tradition. treats are important, but it is theoretically problem- The book was written by the folklorist Camilla atic to make them into the measure of all things in Asplund Ingemark and the historian Johanna Wass- this way. Monuments, memorials, and sites of mem- holm. It has two parts. One of these, “The Finnish ory are undoubtedly related to all these concepts, but War 1808–1809 and Historical Conceptions of Rus- in different ways at different points in time. This ob- sia and Russians” is by Wassholm. The aim in this jection should not detract from the impression that part is to survey how people in Sweden and in Fin- Adriansen has written a standard work in this field. land have regarded Russia and the Russian people. It is useful both for those who are interested in indi- The author discusses Russophobia and its origin. vidual Danish monuments and for those who are This knowledge is necessary, she writes, if we are to looking for patterns that apply to Denmark as a understand the references to all things Russian in the whole and which are also relevant for other coun- legends. The Swedish and Finnish perceptions are tries’ memory politics and monument traditions. then placed in a larger and wider context, that of Eu- Ulf Zander, Lund rope. Without the European context the legends can- not be correctly interpreted, she claims. There is also a discussion of identity formation. National Legends of War identities are always shaped in relation to something Camilla Asplund Ingemark & Johanna Wassholm, else. When it comes to national identity in Finland, Historiska sägner om 1808–09 års krig. Svenska lit- it has been constructed in relation to both Russia and teratursällskapet i Finland. Helsingfors 2009. 236 Sweden, as the author underlines. pp. Ill. ISBN 978-951-583-187-3. Wassholm also reflects on how historians in dif- ferent periods have related to historical legends. It  It is a beautiful book that I hold in my hand. The used to be that little interest was devoted to legends cover is discreet in its colouring. When I have read because they were deemed to be of low value for it for a while I am struck by how well-written the scholarship. Attitudes are different now. One reason text is; the language is pithy. That feeling follows for this change is the growing interest in “ordinary” me all through the reading. The book aims to answer people and everyday life. This is also expressed in the question of how the Finnish War was perceived research on war and warfare. After this discussion 188 Reviews

come the actual legends of the war, which occupy the reader may be tempted to skip the legends. the major part of the book. Reading up to fifty different legends, with no text to The second part, “Historical Legends as Oral link them, may provoke resistance. At the same Tradition”, is by Asplund Ingemark. The aim here is time, I understand the decision to retell many leg- to find out what people in the countryside a century ends which provide such good illustration of the ter- ago found most memorable about the war of 1808– ror and cruelty of war. Yet I still wonder whether a 09, and why they thought the memories were worth different arrangement might have been better. preserving. The authors also seeks answers to ques- It is interesting to see what the legends say about tions about which events were particularly signifi- the war of 1808–09, about people and their everyday cant and which aspects of their own history the life in the midst of the horrors of war, about their people wished to highlight. The questions are opinions as to why the war ended in Swedish defeat, answered with the aid of the oral narratives that and about their views of Russians and Swedes. As were collected in the Swedish-speaking part of Fin- we learn from the book, the legends also served as land and recorded in writing. everyday knowledge about how people can act in The legends that are analysed were collected extraordinary situations. They highlight the individ- roughly a hundred years after the war of 1808–09. uals as actors, although their freedom of action was Since 1887 the Society of Swedish Literature in Fin- restricted. The legends also convey the norms and land, which was founded with the aim of collecting values prevailing in the peasant community. Col- evidence about the origin and development of lected a hundred years after the war of 1808–09, the Swedish culture in Finland, has built up an archive legends also reflect the values and the narrative tra- of folk traditions. The collecting was mainly done in ditions of that time. The book will be found readable the countryside because it was thought that old folk- on both sides of the Bothnian Sea. lore was best preserved there. Moreover, older Mirjaliisa Lukkarinen Kvist, Surahammar people were regarded as genuine bearers of folk cul- ture, and it was mainly to them the collectors turned. It was feared that this cultural heritage was vanish- Collecting Field Material in the Nineteenth ing because of general education and the radical transformation of society. The collecting was first Century done by people who were given grants to do it; they Palle Ove Christiansen, De forsvundne. Hedens were often primary school teachers or students. siste fortællere. Gads forlag, København 2011. 237 From 1908 onwards it was “competent specialists” pp. Ill. ISBN 978-87-12-04620-2. who collected legends. Apart from leading to in- creased specialization, this caused a wider gap be-  The schoolteacher Evald Tang Kristensen (1843– tween the storytellers and the recorders, who were 1929) was a great collector of folklore in Denmark city academics. at the end of the nineteenth century. In this book Asplund Ingemark distinguishes nine different Palle Ove Christiansen of the Danish Folklore Ar- themes in the legends about the war of 1808–09: chives in Copenhagen describes the journeys on foot “The only way out: escape to the countryside”; “The undertaken by this collector in 1873. He visited poor evil Russian: cruelty and outrages”; “The triumph of people, both women and men, in some of the sparse- resistance: popular opposition and guerrilla war- ly populated districts on the Jutland heath, where the fare”; “Hunger: a shared concern”; “A life in captiv- vegetation was dominated by heather. The inform- ity: the situation of peasants obliged to provide ants had small patches of land to cultivate. Some of transport”; “The theatre of war as a site of memory”; them earned a living as craftsmen, for example, as “Battles and engagements in the local environ- weavers or tailors. Those who were worst off were ment”; “Deceitful lords and heroic men”; “The given a small payment for assisting with the collect- hardships of war: life in the field”; and “What is ing of the material. memorable about the war of 1808–09”. The text on Tang Kristensen sought out people of whom he each theme is built up in the same way. An introduc- had heard that they could tell old stories and legends tion with general commentary is followed by the se- or that they could sing folksongs and ballads. He lected legends. This arrangement entails a risk that was careful to note down different variants of the Reviews 189

tales and songs. In 1876 some of the collected leg- tional information compared to the photographic ends were published in Jyske Folkesagn, which ac- portraits from 1895. cording to the author Tang Kristensen were “collect- The merit of this book is that the reader is able to ed from the mouth of the people”. The aim was to follow the work of a great folklore collector in an make the material available to the general public. early phase of collecting at the end of the nineteenth Some of the collected tales and songs are quoted in century. Tang Kristensen left detailed notes about their entirety in the book reviewed here. his contacts with the informants in different field Some of the informants were not just good story- situations and thus did not just present the material tellers and singers but also practised folk medicine. he collected. Posterity has not hitherto known so They did this with the aid of hand-written magic much about the field methodology and collecting books that they owned. These old folk traditions contexts of the time. were combated, however, by the Home Mission, a Anders Gustavsson, Oslo pietist revival movement that began to grow vigor- ously after 1870. Tang Kristensen had personal ex- perience of this opposition several times during his Deportation Home to Ingria collecting travels. Once an old mother was prevent- Toivo Flink, Kotiin karkotettavaksi. Inkeriläisen ed from telling old stories and singing folksongs by siirtoväen palautukset Suomesta Neuvostoliittoon her son who belonged to the Home Mission. The old vuosina 1944–1955. Historiallisia tutkimuksia 251. traditions were regarded as pagan, the work of the Arkistolaitoksen toimituksia 10. Suomalaisen Kir- devil. Ballad singers who joined the Home Mission jallisuuden Seura & Kansallisarkisto, Helsinki turned to more religious material, influenced by 2010. 320 pp. ISBN 978-222-183-4. their faith in God and a longing for the life to come, but Tang Kristensen was not much interested in  Finland belonged to Sweden during the years these new songs. He wanted to search out the old 1155–1809 and formed a kind of buffer zone be- traditions while they still survived among the com- tween Scandinavia and Russia (Novgorod). This mon people. He thought he was on a rescue expedi- meant that Finland joined the Western European tion. cultural area, but, at the same time, was engaged in Tang Kristensen was acting on behalf of the lan- continuous conflicts on the eastern border of the guage scholar Sven Grundtvig (1824–1883) at Co- country – and affected by several peace treaties with penhagen University, with whom he was in constant Russia. When the first of these peace treaties was contact. Grundtvig gave continuous commentary on concluded at Pähkinäsaari (Swed. Nöteborg, Russ. the newly collected material and wrote letters of en- Orekhovets) in 1323, there was no land connection couragement to the collector out in the field. between Sweden and Finland, but this did not ham- In 1895 Tang Kristensen returned to the same per travel or trade, because they were connected by area that he had visited in 1873. With the help of the the sea. In the Peace Treaty of Täyssinä (Swed. photographer Peter Olsen, the previously recorded Teusina, Russ. Tyavzino) in 1595, and especially in informants were photographed in their everyday that of Stolbova (in Ingria) in 1617, the territory of surroundings. These photographs are reproduced in Sweden grew in the east to include wide areas of the the book, and Tang Kristensen had some of them bottom half of the Gulf of Finland, Ingria and the published in 1898 in the magazine Illustreret province of Käkisalmi (Swed. Kexholm, Russ. Prio- Tidende. Moreover, the artist Hans Smidth painted zersk). In this way, Sweden became a great power. It the barren natural scenery and some of the simple lost this status, however, during the Great Northern houses that Tang Kristensen visited. Many of these War: de facto in the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and de works are published in colour in the book; they date jure in the Peace Treaty of Uusikaupunki (Swed. from the 1860s and a few decades onwards. In 2010 Nystad) in 1721. After this, the eastern border of Palle Ove Christiansen commissioned the art pho- Sweden (in Finland) continued to move westwards, tographer Henrik Saxgren to take pictures of the first in the Peace Treaty of Turku (Swed. Åbo) in places where collecting had been done in 1873. In 1743 and then in the Peace Treaty of Hamina some cases the informants’ simple dwellings still (Swed. Fredrikshamn) in 1809 when Sweden ceded survive today. This new collection provides addi- the whole of Finland to Russia. 190 Reviews

Unlike how we here in the West are used to re- During the summer of 1941, German troops oc- membering this part of our history, this expansion of cupied most of Ingria as they rapidly made their way the eastern border was begun by us “Swedes”. As towards the surroundings of Leningrad (St. Peters- the border moved east, the people of the conquered burg). Sometimes the conquerors treated the local areas also moved or were moved by force. The con- inhabitants well, but at other times they did not. querors were, in the beginning, Catholics and, after Most of the men were serving in the Soviet Army, the Reformation, Lutherans, whereas the people in so that the local population consisted mainly of the conquered areas were Orthodox. A great part of women, children and old men. Some of the women the Karelian population of the area moved east and sided with the occupying Germans and could then the present Karelian population in the areas of make a living for their families. In any case, a great Novgorod and Tver is an example of this migration. part of the area was a major theatre of operations Finns from the areas of Savo and Karelia near the during the war and the Germans moved groups of area of Lake Ladoga (Finn. Laatokka) moved into Ingrians away from the front to Estonia and Latvia. the villages, which had been left empty, already in A group of women were even moved to Germany to the 16th century, but especially after the Peace Trea- work in agriculture. But, nonetheless, there was not ty of Stolbova in the 17th century. In addition to the work for everyone and a part of the population suf- empty houses, they also chose to move there to fered from famine. This gave Finns the idea of mov- avoid more severe taxation and being recruited into ing Ingrians to Finland, where men were at the front the Swedish army in Finland. Those that moved and where there was a labour shortage in agricul- there were Lutherans, ancestors of the present-day ture. This idea was promoted mostly by the same Ingrian Finns. people and organizations which before the war had The author Toivo Flink is Ingrian himself, and he promoted the case of Ingria, among others the Aca- has written a dissertation in cultural history at the demic Karelia Society (AKS) and the Lotta Svärd University of Turku in 2000 about Ingrians. The Organization (Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramili- present book by him is based on a broad range of ar- tary organization for women). Also, quite familiar chive materials, including private archives, and lit- leaders of these organizations were active here, like erature. According to him, Ingrians did not have a the chairman of AKS Vilho Helanen or the head of problem with their territory being ceded to Russia Lotta Svärd Fanni Luukkonen. There were also after the Great Northern War. On the contrary, the well-known representatives from Finnish science suppression of serfdom in Russia in 1861 strength- and diplomacy who supported this idea, people like ened the identity of Ingrians and gave them hope for L.A. Puntila, a better future. Instead, the Russian Revolution in T.M. Kivimäki and Martti Haavio, as well as 1917, the Civil War and the Peace Treaty of Tartu in leading soldiers like Rudolf Walden and Paavo 1920 caused problems. The Ingrians were not party Talvela. In this connection they, however, did not to the peace negotiations and had to leave their aims represent their own organizations or ideologies; in- in the hands of Finnish negotiators. Their aims for stead, they served the state of Finland. Professor autonomy could not be taken into consideration be- Pentti Kaitera was nominated as the head of the cause the Finns had more important interests in the entire operation. The evacuation of Ingrians to Fin- north. But the negotiators did agree upon cultural land started at the beginning of the year 1943. Be- autonomy for the Ingrians according to Russian tween the year 1943 and the spring of 1944 63 000 legislation. Unfortunately, even this did not come to Ingrians were evacuated, including also some of the pass, as the Russians began to impose collectiviza- original Orthodox Finnish inhabitants of the area. tion upon the farmers deported the more wealthy Only 20% of them were male and, of these, only 7% famers, the “kulaks”, to the east, closed Lutheran were of working age. However, women were also parishes and Churches and began to arrest Lutheran used in farm work. priests if they did not succeed in escaping to Fin- Generally speaking, and considering the circum- land. This was why the first Ingrian refugees came stances, the Ingrians felt satisfied in Finland; in to Finland already at the beginning of 1920s and some cases they even were happy. There arose many they established here organizations to promote the Finnish-Ingrian friendships, relationships and even case of Ingria. marriages. The problem was that the Ingrians were Reviews 191

not Finnish citizens and that the salaries in farm la- because they really sent orders and instructions con- bour were low. But many Ingrians had bitter experi- cerning this to those places. Local authorities, how- ences as well, like Finns taking advantage of their ever, did not want to follow the orders and instruc- distressed situation or even sexual abuse. This can- tions and so the deported people experienced diffi- not be seen as surprising. But their stay in Finland culties in their new places of settlement. But even was cut short because Finland signed a truce with those people were fortunate compared to those who the Soviet Union on 22 September 1944 and the were destined for prison or who were executed. The control commission of the Allies (Soviet Union) latter included especially those who had served in arrived in Finland to supervise it already two days the Soviet Army and who had been taken as war later. The Finns needed to strictly abide by the terms prisoners by the Finns and had served after that in of the truce so that the final treaty could be accept- the Kin Battalion in the Finnish Army as volunteers. ed. There were no clear orders regarding the depor- In 1990, when the Soviet Union still existed, the tation of the Ingrians, but foreign minister Carl president of the Finnish republic Mauno Koivisto Enckell felt that Finland should here follow the Rus- said on TV that, Ingrians should be accepted into sian interpretation. The Finnish interpretation Finland as re-migrants. This had already been ne- should have been that only prisoners or those for- gotiated with the Soviet authorities in the previous eigners taken to Finland by force should have been year and the Soviet Union had nothing against this deported, and the Ingrians did not belong to either of kind of interpretation. The background for this was those categories. The Russians, however, demanded the labour shortage in Finland at the time. As result that all Ingrians to be deported from Finland. The of this agreement, 20 000 Ingrians moved to Fin- Russians promised to move them to their original land, and the re-migration is still going on, in spite home districts. of the fact that the conditions for entry into Finland The Ingrians had been in Finland, at most, a little have been made more strict at some stage. For next less than a year. Now they hesitated on whether to summer, Finland intends to put a stop to this status stay or leave. Many of them should have stayed in of re-migrant, so that the movement of Ingrians Finland, but on the other hand they were homesick would then cease. Koivisto had given the reasons for Ingria. Some also thought that those who would for his decision, not by citing the labour shortage, return voluntarily would get better treatment than but by arguing that we have a debt of honour to be others who later might be taken to Russia by force. paid to the Ingrians. By debt of honour, most Finns The result was that two-thirds of the Ingrian evacu- had assumed he was referring to the period after ees in Finland returned either voluntarily, under the war when the Finns had deported the Ingrians pressure or even by force from the Finnish authori- to the Soviet Union. Television editor Martti Back- ties. One-third succeeded in hiding in Finland or man has recently (9.2.2011) corrected this impres- moving to Sweden with the help of Finns. Also, sion in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. He had some of the passengers on the train for Russia suc- in 1998 wished to have Koivisto participate in a ceeded in escaping, when the staff of the train MOT programme on TV 1 about Ingrians, but slowed the speed at suitable places along the rail- Koivisto had refused. Later he had, however, way. For those who returned, the promises made by phoned Backman and told him that, in his opinion, the Russians did not come true; they realized this this debt of honour had originated already during when the trains drove past Leningrad (St. Peters- the Peace Negotiations in Tartu in 1920. According burg) without stopping. They were not allowed to to Koivisto, Finland had then encouraged Ingrians return to Ingria before the mid 1950s; instead, they to develop their national identity and had demand- were placed to the areas of Kalinin (Tver), ed cultural autonomy for them within Russia (So- Novgorod, Pskov (Pihkova), Velikje Luk and Jaro- viet Union). This nationalism became expensive slavl. Later, many of them moved to Soviet-Estonia, for them and brought its own punishment during the Karelian Republic (Petrosavotsk [Petroskoi] or Stalin’s persecutions, as has been mentioned Sortavala), Leningrad and some even, in the begin- above. Toivo Flink’s research, however, shows ning, secretly to Ingria. The book gives the impres- that the Ingrians themselves had been active during sion that the Soviet leaders really tried to take care the Tartu Peace Negotiations and had trusted the of the returned Ingrians in the areas chosen for them, Finns in their aims. At the end of his research re- 192 Reviews

port, Flink states that the Finns are also not in debt One thing is clear, though: the cottage plays a cen- to the Ingrians because of the peace negotiations of tral role in Norwegian culture in a way that Swe- Tartu (1920) or because of the fact that they were dish crofts or summer houses cannot match. That is deported after the Continuation War (1941–44). the starting point of this anthology in which twelve According to him, Finland has always done its best different researchers try to pin down the problems for the Ingrians and has also helped them a great and opportunities that cottage culture offers so- deal. This is not just the opinion of a researcher, ciety. but is based on empirical source material. The book is the result of discussions held by re- The Peace Treaty between Finland and Soviet searchers at the national cottage exhibition in Union was concluded in Paris in 1947, but the de- Trondheim 2009. There are several annual cottage portations of Ingrians continued to some degree exhibitions in Norway, and what could be a more even until the year 1955. Toivo Flink finishes his re- appropriate, or let us say functional, meeting place search by stating that the year 1956 opened a new for researchers who deal with cottage life than one era in relations between Finland and the Soviet of these commercial exhibitions? The pragmatism Union, where the Ingrians played their own role. It expressed by the choice of meeting place also seems will, however, be a research project of a different to permeate the book project. These writers are not sort. There will be continuation of the topic accord- afraid to suggest measures of great political impor- ing to the next chapter in Ingrian history and Ingrian- tance and do not fear solutions that may not be as Finnish relations. radical as the results of their research seem to de- Pekka Leimu, Turku mand. As the title indicates, the main theme of the book is Norwegian cottage culture related to sustainabili- Changing Cottage Culture in Norway ty issues. The theme has been given a wide interpre- Norske hytter i endring. Om bærekraft og behag. tation. Since there are no scholarly Norwegian Helen Jøsok Gansmo, Thomas Berker & Finn Arne studies concerning cottages, the editors have chosen Jørgensen (eds.). Tapir akademisk forlag, Trond- to include many perspectives and aspects. For in- heim 2011.200 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-82-519-2790-1. stance, we learn about the cottage as it appears in lit- erary classics (Rees). The coming into being of the  A while ago, I had the opportunity to interview Norwegian cottage culture is also well presented one of Sweden’s most productive illustrators of chil- (Jørgensen) and cottage mobility as a cultural phe- dren’s books. He talked of his childhood house nomenon is yet another example of all the aspects memories: “I recall returning to our summer cottage treated in the texts (Hidle & Ellingsen). The breadth after a long winter, the sensation of cold, stale air, is of course thoroughly reflected. The publication is moist sheets and the ticking sound of those part of an interdisciplinary series of scholarly wood-boring beetles that were eating away at our studies connected to the Department of Interdiscipli- good old cottage.” As I too have those memories, I nary Studies of Culture at the Norwegian University knew what he was talking about. of Technology and Science. However, several of the As a Swede it is both easy and difficult to under- twelve researchers have dedicated their work to the stand the Norwegian cottage phenomenon, now ex- environmental consequences of the social and cul- amined in the anthology Norske hytter i endring: tural patterns of society. The texts are indeed co- Om bærekraft og behag. Easy since I am familiar herent and refer to one another in a most reader- with the habit of having a second home that is ma- friendly way. terially more modest than the primary one. I share The anthology is part of a well-established inter- the sensory experience of cottage life, not only national field of research often referred to as sec- with the Norwegians but with most Scandinavians. ond-home, or multiple-dwelling research. The com- Nevertheless, the similarities also make it difficult. mon concern is the second home, but the field con- The small differences seem remarkably full of tains a wide range of areas such as tourism, urban meaning, most likely because I hardly perceive planning, sustainability, place, power and identity. them nor could I express them in words. It is like a Renowned studies are Second Homes: Curse or retouched picture – similar but not quite the same. Blessing? (Coppock, 1977) relating to contemporary Reviews 193

urban planning issues, and Tourism, Mobility and cottage should be easy in the sense that the dis- Second Homes: Between Elite Landscape and Com- tance should be short. mon Ground (ed. C. M. Hall & D. K. Müller, 2004), Instead of condemning the attitude of their in- which present second-home studies from several formants, which may sometimes be tempting, Støa western countries. Most recently, an interesting dis- and Aune choose a pragmatic approach when sug- sertation, Torpets transformationer: Materialitet, gesting future measures. They want to focus on the representation och praktik från år 1850–2010 was environmentally most promising aspects of present- presented in Stockholm by the human geographer day cottage culture. Use people’s dreams and every- Maja Lagerqvist (2011). It deals with important as- day experiences when dealing with issues of archi- pects not thoroughly treated in the anthology, name- tecture and urban planning, they argue. This is a ly the previous or original function and meaning of practical and probably quite necessary attitude, even the second home cottage and its transformation over though one may argue that politicians should be time. pragmatic, while researchers should plead for radi- Most of us agree that, from an environmental cal actions when trying to change the very habits of point of view, it is not reasonable to maintain and energy consumption. sometimes heat two different homes at the same Asceticism is no longer an unambiguous ideal of time, one of them staying empty and unused. Yet Norwegian cottage owners. Maybe it never was? In this is what goes on in many western countries. The Finn Arne Jørgensen’s “The first cottage crisis: overwhelming statistics presented in some of the Planning, images of nature and the tragedy of com- texts constitute an important contribution to contem- mon lands”, the post-war expansion of Norwegian porary debate. As several writers show, the energy cottage building is described as the coming into be- consumption includes not only heating but also ing of a “social democratic infrastructure for nature transport and other expenditure on maintenance and experiences” (p. 39). The right and potential to ex- management. In “Cottage use and environment: An perience nature was indeed the goal, and in order to arena for economy or overconsumption?” Carlo achieve it cottages had to be kept plain. The private Aall gives a thorough account of the energy con- cottage, Jørgensen writes, represents the further de- sumption connected to cottage culture and relates velopment of the Norwegian collective outdoor life the figures to those of other leisure activities. It ideal into post-war consumer society, where maxi- turns out that consumption has doubled since 1973. mized nature experience is a private matter. As a re- Both the number of cottages and their size have in- sult of the changes, the wilderness that cottage own- creased dramatically, and when it comes to recently ers once came to experience has grown into a land- built cottages the material standard is much higher. scape arranged by humans and imbued with technol- The character of the cottages may vary, but as Aall ogy and cultural meaning. points out, the trend is clear: the Norwegian cottage Norske hytter i endring constitutes an important culture increasingly resembles the continental sum- assemblage of texts which concern the whole west- mer-house tradition with its roots in upper-class ern world. The fact that the cottage culture, hyttekul- norms and prerequisites. turen, is strongly attached to the Norwegian identity In Eli Støa’s and Margrethe Aune’s contribution certainly is challenging to those responsible for de- “The dream of an easier life – foundation of a more velopment and physical planning in Norway, but the sustainable cottage culture?” the researchers ex- main question concerns us all: Is it possible to solve amine the consequences of these changes and sug- the environmental problems due to our everyday gest that architecture contributes to an environ- practices and visions of life, with the aid of plan- mentally more sustainable development. Dreams ning, legal measures and architecture? Yes, claim of easy living do not necessarily mean dreams of these researchers. There are solutions that do not in- primitive living. Many of the cited interviews volve coercion, and keys that can open new doors. clearly show that ease or simplicity may just as Considering the gloomy facts and figures presented well imply high standards (easier to deal with in the book, this appears like a courageous attitude everyday tasks), or small habitable space (easier to and at the same time the only reasonable one. In my heat and to stay close to family members). The no- opinion, it is the main quality of the volume that the tion of easy also alludes to time: travelling to the writers not only investigate and explain the situation 194 Reviews

but also strive to come forward and present alterna- Two articles are about the various ways in which tives. Within the field of cultural sciences, this is scholars of culture can use photographs or pictures rare enough. as sources and photography as a method. Carina Jo- Eva Löfgren, Gothenburg/Mariestad hansson writes about the use of pictures to decon- struct mindscapes, while Anna Ulfstrand examines how photographs can function as an entrance to in- Methodology and Reflexivity terviews. Grete Swensen and Oddun Sæter talk about doing fieldwork in shopping malls, which Etnografiska hållplatser. Om metodprocesser och sounds like a fascinating way to create source mate- reflexivitet. Kerstin Gunnemark (ed.). Studentlittera- rial. Kerstin Gunnemark writes about how autobio- tur, Lund 2011. 270 pp. ISBN 978-91-44-07315-6. graphical material from writing circles can be used as sources for research, which leads me to ponder on  It was with great interest that I noticed that Stu- the writing courses I have taught, and whether I dentlitteratur had published a new book on method. ought to have done things differently there. All these When I finally held it in my hand I realized that it is articles give me new ideas – right now I want to do based on one of the sessions at the “Building fieldwork in lots of different projects with lots of Stones” Congress of Ethnology and Folklore in Hel- different methods and just see what happens. sinki in 2009, where I even attended parts of the ses- sion and acquired many new impressions. The preface tells us that the authors of the book The title means “Ethnographic Stops” and the are at very different stages of their research careers. book contains eleven articles where the authors dis- This is also clear to the reader, but actually the ef- cuss the choice of method during the research pro- fect is, more than anything, an illumination of the cess. The volume is not intended to serve as a text- importance of not unthinkingly falling into old book of ethnological method; instead the articles de- tracks and fixed patterns – no matter whether you scribe the researchers’ choice of direction in prac- are working on your first research project or your tice. One of the strong sides of the book is that it twentieth. deals with several relatively new and therefore not As I read I wonder about what context this book so often discussed methods, such as the use of gate- could be used in. I do not think it would work on keepers in fieldwork, auto-ethnography, photo- “Ethnographic Field Methods”, our course for sec- eliciting, and texts by writing circles as research ond- and third-year students. That would require a material. more basic book about fieldwork, for example, Et- I find it very interesting to read about ethno- nografiska observationer (ed. Arvastson & Ehn graphic fieldwork where the researcher and the in- 2009) or Etnologiskt fältarbete (ed. Kaijser & Öh- terviewees lack a common language. It is highly in- lander 1999). structive to read about Lisa Wiklund’s experiences On the other hand, it strikes me that a few years in Japan and New York. I feel greatly moved by ago, when I was grappling with the sprawling and reading about auto-ethnography using blogs about intractable source material for my doctoral disserta- anorexia as source material, and I start to wonder tion, I might have benefited greatly from this book. whether I could have thought more like Ann-Char- So perhaps at the end of master’s studies, when long lotte Palmgren when working on my own disserta- essays are written, and right at the start of doctoral tion. studies, would be the time when a book like this is Signe Bremer writes about bodies and about eth- needed. nologists’ competence when it comes to informants In my experience there is great curiosity about with mental illness. The theme feels familiar from methodological development in ethnology and folk- research seminars in my own subject – we are not loristics. Here too I think that Etnografiska hållplat- psychologists – and very important, since interviews ser can fill an important function. If you are one of about difficult experiences often have a profound ef- those who feel that you need some new impulses in fect on both the interviewee and the researcher. order not to stagnate, then I can recommend you to Bremer’s questions immediately make me wonder spend a few afternoons with the articles in this vol- about the tools I provide my own students with ume! It deals with methodology from a variety of when it comes to field methods. perspectives. Depending on previous experience and Reviews 195

current research interests, there are plenty of titbits riods and analytical strategies, different aspects of to enjoy. foreignness are exposed. Discussions about reflexivity, alongside method- A common point of departure is to consider for- ology, are a theme running through the book. The eignness as an “essentially imagined quality, some- authors consistently declare that reflexivity is not thing which is considered to be related with that the same as automatically writing a few lines about which is abroad.” But it can also be strategically the author’s background and leisure interests. In- claimed as a component of identities. They want to stead reflexivity is regarded as a means to deeper re- see foreignness as a subcategory of the more fre- search, but how this should be done is a matter quently used concept of otherness. about which opinions differ. Foreignness and familiarity along with centre and In the very last chapter of the book an important periphery, constructions and displays are ingredients point is made, one that nowadays, unfortunately, is in the articles, and they all contribute to a smorgas- often ignored. There the editor Kerstin Gunnemark bord of examples of different aspects of cultural in- divides the chapters into different types of ethno- teraction, seen from the semi-peripheral position of logical stopping points, such as the choice of field of the Nordic countries. study, approaching the field, relations to key per- Examples of topics presented here are Danes in sons, and so on. I view this little text as reading in- twentieth-century Iceland, how Finnishness was cre- structions for the whole book. It could well have ated and presented at the first general exhibition of been given a more visible position. If it had, I think Finland in Helsinki. Exhibitions of foreignness are that many more undecided researchers would have also evident in other articles in the volume, for in- found inspiration and comparative material in Etno- stance ethnographical exhibitions in Copenhagen grafiska hållplatser. This is a very interesting and around 1900. Coastal tourism culture in southern inspiring collection of articles. Norway in the early twentieth century is the subject Johanna Björkholm, Åbo of another article where an interesting mix of for- eign and home-grown elements is made visible. A running theme of the volume is the unfixed Foreignness character of foreignness together with mobile and negotiable aspects of the concept. It is about the Nordic Perspectives on Encountering Foreignness. Foreign versus the Familiar, where it is made visible Anne Folke Henningsen, Leila Koivunen & Taina that foreignness is not a stable category but rather a Syrjämaa (eds.). Histories 1, General History. Uni- process of cultural negotiation. versity of Turku 2009. 116 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-951- By focusing on the Nordic countries and their ex- 29-4161-2. periences of foreignness, the volume contributes to an understanding of the complex phenomenon of  The multidisciplinary network Enfore (Encoun- cultural interaction during the age of imperialism tering Foreignness: Nordic Perspectives since the and nationalism from a Nordic perspective. Until re- Eighteenth Century) was formed in 2006 when the cently the Nordic voice has been missing from this founding members prepared the session Encounter- debate. ing Foreign Worlds – Experiences at Home and Göran Hedlund, Lund Abroad for the 26th Nordic Congress of Historians in Reykjavik. The core of the network consists of historians, anthropologists and ethnologists from the Nordic Heritage and Cohesion countries at various stages of their academic careers. Heritage, Regional Development and Social Cohe- Their aim is “to contribute to deconstructing the sion. Peter Kearns et al. (eds.). Fornvårdaren 31. dichotomy of foreign versus indigenous by showing JamtliFörlag, Östersund 2011. 222 pp. Ill. ISBN the subjectivity of foreignness and its liability to 978-91-7948-235-0. shifting meanings”. One result of the efforts of the network is an edited volume where some of its core  Heritage, Regional Development and Social Co- members are represented. In seven articles, covering hesion is a volume publishing the articles from the a broad range of topics, geographical location, pe- PASCAL Östersund Conference, June 2010, which 196 Reviews

dealt with cultural heritage and learning. The The volume might serve best as a collection of ar- articles, however, are not straight reprints of the lec- ticles providing food for thought, provoking discus- tures but specially written and edited, and for this sion in the institutions and their political, economic, Fornvårdaren deserves thanks, since it means that and academic hinterland; in other words, reviving the journal lives up to its declared purpose, which is the topics and discussions of the conference, con- to be “the County Museum of Jämtland’s periodical tinued or started at home in the institutions and their for research-based texts”. surroundings. Both the conference and this book were intended, Mikkel Venborg Pedersen, Copenhagen as we read in the introduction by Peter Kearns, to “consider the role of culture and heritage learning in the socio-economic development of communities, The Swedes of Finland their sense of identity and cohesion, and the quality Sven-Erik Klinkmann, I fänrikarnas, martallarnas of life of people”, and in particular to do so by ex- och dixietigrarnas land. En resa genom det svenska i amining the newer roles of museums and libraries Finland. (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursäll- and, especially but not exclusively, with South Afri- skapet i Finland 754.) Helsingfors: Svenska littera- ca as a starting point, the role of these institutions in tursällskapet i Finland 2011. 382 pp. Ill. ISBN nation-building, although this should really be de- 978-951-583-225-2. scribed as a traditional role if we think of Europe’s national museums. Finally, there is a third aspect  The folklorist Sven-Erik Klinkmann agreed to un- that receives particular consideration: heritage- dertake a difficult assignment from the Society of learning in regional development. The latter takes Swedish Literature in Finland, to write a survey of place, not least of all, under the influence of the Swedish culture in Finland. The request came in growing recognition of the role of culture and the connection with the preparations for the society’s contribution of cultural institutions to economic de- 125th anniversary in 2010, thus giving the assign- velopment in the emerging “creative economies”, ment a rather official character that did not exactly and their significance for identity creation is not for- make it any easier. But the result was not an official gotten either. book – besides which the end result did not appear Like all such composite volumes, Heritage, Re- during the anniversary year. Klinkmann’s massive gional Development and Social Cohesion has both survey can therefore be read without any reference excellent and more average contributions, but gener- to the original reason for its existence. ally speaking the editors have succeeded in produc- The study of the Swedes in Finland is a genre of ing a relatively uniform volume, with a very broad considerable scope. Linguists, ethnologists, histor- palette of empirical examples from the whole world ians, sociologists, and others have written a great which all, in one way or another, manage to stick to deal over the years about the position of this group the topic, thus combining to make a good reading and their relation both to the Finns in Finland and to experience. This is not the place to search for ex- the Swedes in present-day Sweden. There is nothing haustive investigations of the matters covered, but surprising in this; on the contrary, it is self-evident the notes enable readers to pursue further reading in that the minority position is described, tested, and any part of the field they might be interested in, and discussed in the Finland-Swedish research commu- into which the individual papers give good insight, nity, especially since the topic scarcely occurs in precisely because most of them feel obliged to fol- Finnish research or Swedish research in Sweden. low current practice in museums (and other heritage But the amount of work that has been done makes it institutions), whether it concerns proper teaching, difficult to contribute anything new, as Sven-Erik the use of volunteers in historical re-enactment, po- Klinkmann must occasionally have thought as he litical positioning between rival narratives about was writing this book. Moreover, because the topic what the nation is, was, or ought to be, its place in a comes under several disciplines, it can easily lead to rapidly growing event economy, or as a creator of digressions into other academic subjects. identity in the reshaping of a city from a run-down Another relevant factor is that the Swedes of Fin- industrial backyard to a buzzing cultural capital of land are a “people of the book” (p. 11), meaning that Europe. And much more besides. Swedishness in Finland is most clearly – and prefer- Reviews 197

ably – made visible and articulated in print. In pub- guage to sing in – should Finland-Swedish artistes lished Swedish the heterogeneous group actually be- choose Swedish or English, or even Finnish? – is a comes more homogeneous, which must surely be crucial strategic issue relevant to identity and with significant both inwardly and in relation to neigh- commercial implications. Should it be the English of bouring language groups. It therefore makes sense rock music, which is most authentic, besides con- that the identity of the Finland-Swedish collective cealing the Finland-Swedish origin and thus reach- constitutes a scholarly genre. ing a wider audience? Or should it be Swedish, Sven-Erik Klinkmann has tackled his task by which risks sounding home-made, but on the other considering a number of fields where, according to hand is authentic in a different sense? And what the author’s introduction, it is relevant to investigate about the bilingual artistes who are free to choose the presence of Swedishness. He begins with brief and who moreover have a bigger job market? analyses of four fields in the autonomous Finland in The last field chapter in the book is about two the first half of the nineteenth century: the nobility metaphors, “the duck pond” and “Moominvalley”, and its educational ambitions, the Gothic novel, the as designations of the Finland-Swedish group, prob- circus, and tourism, in other words, four rather dif- ably used most frequently within the group. Of the ferent fields. He then considers the author Johan chosen fields, this is the one with the most internal Ludvig Runeberg who shaped an image of Finland – references, although Klinkmann enlists the aid of in Swedish – that is still alive, an image of its two theoretical tools to raise the level above being some- peoples and its landscapes that is mostly expressed thing purely for the initiated. In addition, it is the today in Finnish. part of the text that is most situated in its time, since The third section deals with the transition from the analysis uses newspaper columns, blogs, and the old society of the four estates to a democracy, other ephemeral material. But presumably the au- reflected in “the three discursive formations of lan- thor is obliged to tackle these metaphors in a survey guage politics, nationalism, and modernity” (p. 21). of Swedishness in Finland. More specifically, he examines the literature and Klinkmann’s most important concept is double posters of tourism. It was during this era of national- bind, launched by the anthropologist Gregory Bate- ism and nation-building that the term “Finland- son. In this case the double bind exists between Swedish” was coined and quickly became estab- Swedish and Finnish in Finland, but also between lished. Klinkmann’s conclusion is that the Swedes Swedish in Finland and Swedish in Sweden. These of Finland after the First World War, that is, in the binds lead to dichotomous thinking – from both new and independent Finland, found themselves in a sides. And the double bind homogenizes, not to say complicated position, since they were “both a mi- simplifies, the groups – both internally and vis-à-vis nority and a part of a nationality” (p. 181). They had the other group. The double bind is sibling-like in to combine loyalty to their own language group with character, meaning that the groups are tied to each sentiment for the nation where the majority spoke a other, no matter what they might think about each completely different language. other. The subsequent parts of the book deal with popu- The concept of the double bind is the starting lar music, first a section about Finland-Swedish jazz point for the discussion that rounds off the book, and early rock, including the 1970s phenomenon and this is open in character rather than aiming at a that is important in this context, hurrarrock, per- conclusion. formed in Swedish in an emancipatory spirit and Sven-Erik Klinkmann has read a tremendous originating in schools in Österbotten. (Hurrit is a amount of literature to achieve a full view of the Finnish nickname for the Finland-Swedes.) More subject. Perhaps this is why the book is slightly too modern pop and rock, both Finland-Swedish and large. One thing I particularly appreciate is that he Finnish, is the subject of the next chapter, where includes works in Finnish. At times, however, the Klinkmann happens to be on home ground after text is just a summary of the literature, especially in having written several works on the topic. Here he the historical parts not based on the author’s own delves into contemporary names and details, treating primary research. When it comes to popular music, them in a sure and fond manner, and making several as we have seen, the situation is different – and ref- thought-provoking observations. The choice of lan- erences to other scholars are less frequent. The his- 198 Reviews

torical sections give depth to the survey, besides In the 1960s Bengt af Klintberg started a project which they present many important circumstances, to create a type catalogue of the folk legends in the but they nevertheless function as a prelude to the archive of the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Swe- parts about popular music, where Klinkmann can den. Due to several circumstances he was unable to move with greater freedom. follow his plans and finish the work within a feas- Even if the reader does not need to know any- ible time span. Perhaps this was all for the better, for thing about how the book came about, the commis- now, in 2010, the catalogue is published and it com- sion nevertheless has a background in language prises not only the texts in the Nordic Museum ar- politics which puts the book in a certain light. The chive but legends from all of Sweden. He picked his Swedish language in Finland is currently strug- material from four great tradition archives in Swe- gling against tough opposition. This situation helps den, those in Gothenburg, Lund, Stockholm, and to explain the commission to write this book, but it Uppsala, as well as from printed sources. Some 150 also colours the author’s account. In places Klink- books and articles are mentioned in the source list. mann, who is used to writing in the press, even en- All in all he reports 1,800 types. ters into a topical debate (pp. 251ff). His text, in The book starts with an introduction in which af short, is characterized by both commitment and Klintberg describes his personal relationship to his analysis. task. However, he also refers to the history of schol- Anyone who wants a picture of Swedishness in arship when telling the story of how legend research Finland, up to date as regards both research and so- arose and how it was formalized thanks to several ciety, will benefit from reading Sven-Erik Klink- conferences and meetings all over Europe. This kind mann’s survey. He provides many facts and sug- of report on the history of folklore studies is valu- gests interpretations. And he adds yet another brick able, the discipline being quite young with an often to the edifice of scholarly knowledge about the Fin- orally transferred history – as long as those who land-Swedish existence. were there still are able to tell it. Gunnar Ternhag, Falun The introduction also discusses central concepts such as “type” and “legend”, taking into considera- tion how they are comprehended in other languages Swedish Legend Types and in research about other genres than the legend. Bengt af Klintberg, The Types of the Swedish Folk For example, af Klintberg refers to the discussion Legend. Folklore Fellows’ Communications 300. about the difference in understanding the concept of Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki, 2010. 501 “type” in legend and folktale scholarship. Such a pp. ISBN 978-951-41-1053-5. discussion takes us directly to the time when the need for classification, taxonomy and systems was  Classical folklore studies engaged in comparison felt to be crucial in relation to other scholarly disci- in order to find the original form, the time and place plines, a circumstance that later on, to some extent, of origin, and the channels of diffusion. In order to was forgotten or overlooked. fulfil this task a couple of catalogues and indices This type index has some restrictions. It omits all were needed. At the beginning of the twentieth cen- kinds of texts that would have been accepted in an- tury quite a number of these were published in order other context. Memorates, belief accounts, anec- to render comparison possible. dotes and chronicates do not occur in the catalogue, Later on folklore studies changed into a more but the legends from which these genres have drawn socially minded discipline combining theoretical their content are listed. tools from anthropology, ethnography and linguis- The concept of Swedish is also analysed. The au- tics, but neglecting problems such as the prerequi- thor states that Swedish to him in this book is a lin- sites for generalization, or the relationship to an- guistic concept rather than a geographical one. thropology and linguistics proper. In many cases Therefore, we do not find Sami legends, nor do we the immense archival collections of folklore were see anything about the Finnish tradition in Värm- more or less ignored as valid material. Fieldwork land or northern Sweden. But this does mean that became central, whereas historical perspectives be- we find very many references to the Swedish legend came scarce. tradition in Finland, which is extremely laudable, Reviews 199

for the Finland-Swedish folklore has not often been cal circumstances in the society in which the leg- treated in any international language. ends were told. But the historian would also be “Folk” means the pre-industrial population and better for knowing something about the folk culture the time span is c. 1500–1950. that was the base for the people being investigated. Bengt af Klintberg also gives a survey of other With a thorough, historically grounded and theoreti- type catalogues dealing with Nordic legends, includ- cally acceptable method of interpretation, the study ing the Finnish and international ones. He pays at- of legends can broaden our understanding of history, tention to the Swedish folklorist, his mentor Carl- of values and ideals in a past society. Herman Tillhagen as one of those who encouraged A folklorist who, for instance, wants to know of the index. something about the difficult problem of respect for The Swedish legend is divided into 24 sections in property in Swedish morality and ethics no longer this catalogue, starting with texts about supernatural needs to read 150 collections of legends, but can circumstances and ending with “historical” material. easily get an overview thanks to catalogues such as Each section begins with a general description of the Bengt af Klintberg’s. Let us hope that this book will type and its place in Swedish (Nordic) culture and function as an eye-opener to many young students folklore. This introduction gives an overview of the of folklore in times gone by. type according to cited scholarly investigations from Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo the time when legends were studied with typology as one of the main issues. Thereafter follow subcate- gories of the type, with their central traits, and sub- New Openings in European Ethnology types described in short sentences. For each subtype Ethnology in the 21st Century. Transnational Re- the published and unpublished sources are listed. flections of Past, Present and Future. Jussi Leh- The book ends with a list of references to relevant tonen & Salla Tenkanen (eds.) Turun yliopisto, scholarly publications and a table demonstrating the Turku 2010. 392 pp. Ill. Maps. ISBN 978-951- ATU types in the book. There is a highly valuable 29-4382-1. subject index at the end of this catalogue. Comparison in order to find the original text is no  What is European ethnology and what could it longer à la mode in folklore studies. One might ask be? A diverse and comprehensive publication, Eth- why such a catalogue is important today. Today, nology in the 21st century. Transnational Reflec- history is a highly favoured discipline. However, tions of Past, Present and Future, edited by Jussi folklore is often neglected as a source of historical Lehtonen and Salla Tenkanen opens new perspec- knowledge. Indeed, folklore has its weaknesses, be- tives into what ethnologists should now focus on. ing anonymous, having no date, often lacking al- The articles are connected with the international most any kind of acceptable and reliable informa- seminar Localities, Pluralities and Postnationalities tion concerning “when”, “where”, “why”, or “who”. in a Transnational Context: The Role and Vision of In the school of mentalities history, however, folk- Ethnology in the 21st Century, which was organized lore did find a place and a value. When one wants to in May 2008 at the University of Turku for the 50th understand how people in general regarded the anniversary of the discipline of European ethnology. world, what world view they preferred, why they re- The book is based on the keynote lectures and work- acted to something in a certain way, folklore is im- shop presentations held during the seminar. The portant and highly valuable. Certainly, the material publication is dedicated to Professor Pekka Leimu, needs a special skill to understand and interpret it. who retired on the 31st of July 2010. For instance, a folklorist dealing with legends must The editors have grouped the keynote lectures never forget that the legends mirror values in a so- and a variety of workshop presentations in three ciety in which the motifs were so appreciated that parts: past – present – future, because they con- people remembered them and told them for hun- sidered it almost impossible to organize the articles dreds of years, and in doing so preserved the value thematically. Such a structure is basically logical, system with the aid of which they ruled their lives – but the reading experience remains fragmented. I and created historically acceptable documents. The wonder if the articles containing information about folklorist needs to know quite a lot about the histori- how adaptive and multidisciplinary ethnology actu- 200 Reviews

ally is, might have been grouped in the first part of Council in December 2006 in order to make space the book. Other articles could then have followed, for modern housing units although the workers of categorised according to the workshops. “Hanasaari A” often raised the alternative of mu- Being quite complex, the book can be read from seum use and other leisure activities. Mäki states several angles. It aroused my interest in how Euro- that these changes reflect deeper social changes in pean ethnology as a discipline could serve the late- Finland. modern society. The book introduces plenty of new Ethnology is relevant on an individual level, and directions into which ethnologists can and into that is the strength of our discipline. The ability to which they should go. examine how one experiences time, place and social Its main article, Konrad Köstlin’s keynote lecture group, creates knowledge, which can also be made “European ethnology − What does it mean?” is use of in other disciplines. Annamaria Marttila’s ar- placed in the Present viewpoints category, but it ticle “The personal and retold past in the experience could well open the book, as it introduces a number of a traumatic brain-injured person” leads the reader of new, exiting approaches. To Köstlin European to understand how one person's experience can be ethnology has always been a result of and an answer used more widely. This and other texts reflecting the to the modernisation process and changes within individual’s everyday life help us understand that European societies. He states that it is a discipline ethnology can help us solve huge global problems, that is able not only to communicate with neigh- because it truly is an area that gets close to the indi- bouring disciplines but also to provide incentive for vidual and everyday life. Many researchers argue others. The strength of ethnology lies in its ap- that ethnology can provide the kind of essential in- proach. formation that other disciplines cannot. The book serves as an introduction to exploring Ethnology is a useful discipline when it comes to various approaches within the discipline. The re- immigration and multicultural issues. Anna-Maria searches guide the reader into considering big and Åström’s article “Cultural encounters and questions essential issues. Most of the articles are quite spe- within pluralistic societies” suggests an interesting cific but are linked to other interesting articles in idea. Cultural pluralism, rather than assimilation of the book. It is not surprising that one of the key immigrants, could, according to Åström, be the cor- themes is cultural heritage − how it can build iden- nerstone of a state. Johanna Rolshoven writes in tity, social awareness and knowledge of history. “Mobile cultural studies − Reflecting moving cul- Museums are more than places for cultural heritage ture and cultural movements” that a growing num- on display. For example, environmental education ber of people have – for various reasons − two or by museums can move us from ideas to action as more homes and they practice multi-local living. Kirsi Hänninen states in her article “Environmental She points out that cultural studies, for example, can ethnology opens an ecologic of thought and ac- draw on the insight of migration research, which tion”. Sirkku Pihlman argues in her article “The leads us to understand the ambivalence of multi- changing museum and changing concepts of the locality as a kind of normality. museum” that spontaneous consequences of mu- Ethnological research may also help solve geo- seum can prove to be as important as predicted political problems. One example of this is the field- ones, perhaps more so. work carried out among the Setu people living along Maija Mäki in her article on industrial heritage the Estonian-Russian border. Art Leete explains the and urban planning “From a modern power plant to research conducted on Setu identity. Ethnology can a factory of culture – Hanasaari A power plant as an also be a useful tool in social policy. Jonas Fryk- object of industrial heritage in Helsinki 1957−2007” man’s article “Looking for the Future − The Labour examines the many phases of the “Hanasaari A” Market and the analysis of culture” or Sanna Heik- plant, beginning with its construction state in the kilä’s “The protected and threatened good childhood early 1960s, continuing through its decades of inten- – Models of Finnish childcare cultures in the trans- sive use, and concluding with its final phase as a formation” show examples in this area. standby power plant and its use in conjunction with Climate change should certainly be extensively cultural production. The final decision to demolish examined in ethnology as well. One tool for that is “Hanasaari A” was made by the Helsinki City environmental ethnology, which should have a Reviews 201

larger role within our discipline. Helena Ruotsala seems to be no overall focus or approach except for points out that cultural environmental research can the common reference to the political cold war situ- contribute in a great way by studying climate ation. Some of the articles are directly related to change. military issues, while in others military and high The Global issue of what people will eat in the politics are only part of the general framework. The near future is literally vital. What could the role of authors are similarly diverse, made up of ethnolo- rural areas be in this? In his article Pekka Leimu gists and historians in architecture, economics, mili- states that – while the Finnish countryside has been tary studies and art. chancing rapidly – producers have become entrepre- The introductory contribution by the Danish his- neurs. Maria Wieruszewska raises an important per- torian Thomas Wegener Friis takes us through the spective on rural studies. She states that the main military doctrines and strategies regarding the Baltic axis of division between researchers studying the in the relevant Warsaw Pact countries in question. problems of the rural community and agriculture The article reminds us of the high priority – and runs between economics on one side and ecology on huge financial resources – devoted to the territorial the other. The demarcation line separates those who trial of strength, although it took place behind the see farmers as the trustees of natural and cultural scenes and was unknown to the general public. The values and those who, concentrating their attention article stresses the point that the eastern side went on matters of competition, think that the future be- through a shift from having plans for attack – based longs mainly to large, modern farms producing on military superiority (which is not really support- goods for the market and who, simultaneously, re- ed by the table presented on p. 13) – to recognition pudiate arguments of the “small is beautiful” type. of inferiority after the mid-eighties. Wieruszewska suggests that a farmer is beginning to The majority of the articles investigate the impact be perceived as a husbandman – a guardian of natu- of the cold war on Swedish society from a more ral resources that have global value, and also as a everyday perspective. These articles are rather di- trustee of a nation’s cultural traditions. She writes verse in character. Thomas Roth looks into the great that this symptomatic turn can not only be linked to importance the preparation for a potential war had the crisis of the rural community but also to the on the way Sweden was organized. The concept of recognition of ecological threats. “total defence” seemingly made up the fundamental Pirjo Nenola, Jyväskylä pillars on which the whole society rested. This was a system that many Swedes were more or less in con- tact with, many of course directly through the com- People in the Cold War pulsory military service, others more indirectly Kriget som aldrig kom – 12 forskare om kalla kri- through different kinds of voluntary work. Almost get. Andreas Linderoth (ed.). Marinmuseum, Karls- three million people were estimated to be part of the krona 2010. 224 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91-633-8547-6. total defence in some way or another at the begin- ning of the 1980s. Roth points out that the Swedes  For almost half a century the cold war played a themselves were not necessarily aware of the significant role in societies in much of the world, on thorough and detailed regulation of their well- the level of high politics as well as in the daily life organized society – or to its relation to a total de- of ordinary people. In this edited volume, Kriget fence – but he shows convincingly how this organi- som aldrig kom (“The war that never came”), we get zation can benefit from being viewed alongside the some insights into this history from the perspective building of the Swedish “People’s Home”. of Swedish society. Twelve contributions present Other contributions – such as Sverker Oredsson’s different aspects of Sweden, Swedes and the cold about fear, Andreas Linderoth’s about local news- war situation in a neat fusion of written text and vis- paper images of the war and Peter Rosengren’s ual illustrations. The book has been launched to- about enemy images – have narrower focuses and gether with the exhibition “Surface Tension – the are based on more limited material (such as news- Cold War in the Baltic 1979–89” at the Swedish papers and other media). In all cases the grounding Naval Museum. of a Soviet submarine in the skerries outside Karls- The contributions cover a lot of ground. There krona in 1981 plays a significant role in the repre- 202 Reviews

sentations and the discourse more generally. This in- Built Heritage as the Viewpoint of National cident literally brought an otherwise rather intang- History ible issue up to the surface. Linnoista lähiöihin. Rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt Fia Sundevall has another take on creations of the Suomessa. Pinja Metsäranta (ed.). Suomalaisen kir- cold war period, namely the gender question. She jallisuuden seuran toimituksia 1274. Museoviraston describes how women in the voluntary defence ser- rakennushistorian osaston julkaisuja 33. Suomalai- vice – known as Lottor – were caught in between sen Kirjallisuuden Seura & Museovirasto, Helsinki being an important part of the total defence and at 2010. 240 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-952-222-191-9 / 978- the same time being regarded as inferior by a sig- 951-616-206-8. nificant share of the male staff within the military ranks. In addition, they were exposed to contempt  The National Board of Antiquities maintains a list from representatives of the anti-militaristic currents of nationally significant cultural landscapes. The in- from the 1960s onwards. ventory serves as a tool for professionals and as a An important aspect of cold war Sweden was the recommendation for planning. It also offers infor- geographical location of the country, divided from mation for anyone interested in built heritage in Fin- the enemy only by the Baltic Sea. Beate Feldmann land. The latest version of the inventory was pub- presents the everyday life of civilians and military lished on the Internet in 2009. The book Linnoista personnel in three small island communities of stra- lähiöihin. Rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt Suomessa tegic significance: the Swedish island of Gotland in provides a selected sample of cultural landscapes the middle of the Baltic, Rügen in the German from the inventory in printed format. Democratic Republic, and Ösel in the Soviet Union. The book is a thematic introduction to Finnish Anna McWilliams gives a thought-provoking pic- cultural landscapes, including both built heritage ture of the many aspects related to the border chal- and archaeological remains. It is divided into twelve lenge in an investigation of the Polish endeavours to chapters that are categorized according to the pur- keep a potential enemy out, and – not least – keep pose of the architecture, the character of the area or the local population inside. Pawel Jaworski’s contri- the cultural history related to the environment. At bution about Swedish-Polish relations in the wake the end of the book, there is a complete list of na- of the Solidarnosc wave of the 1980s lays bare the tionally significant cultural landscapes defined by dilemma of the Polish government confronted with the National Board of Antiquities. In contrast to the thematic nature of the book, the list at the end of the the Swedish authorities that on one hand, were very book is arranged in regional order as is the virtual critical of the USA – and hence a kind of friend – inventory published on the Internet (http:// and on the other hand criticized the suppression of www.rky.fi/). Solidarnosc. The first six chapters in the book are organised by The three concluding articles by Samuel Palm- natural landscapes and partly geographically due to blad, Per Strömberg and Marie Cronqvist deal with the variability of the Finnish terrain. The other half the legacy of the cold war and its potential afterlife of the book is assembled more according to the in memory and in cultural heritage in terms of the function of the buildings. Despite the twofold struc- many huge installations, such as air-raid shelters, ture of the book, it still takes on an unbroken and bunkers and the like – an issue that society needs to complete form. Thematically assembled chapters make up its mind about now that the cold war is be- lead the reader to the end of the book, so that after ginning to be regarded a distant past. finishing the book the reader must remind himself of Kriget som aldrig kom is not a book with discus- the fact that after all, the description wasn’t chrono- sions with other scholars – and references are gener- logical, cartographic or typological. It actually was ally absent – or with an overall perspective under in- more like a considered confection of different kinds vestigation across the contributions, but it can be of built-up areas introduced in thematic and access- read for its refreshing curiosity about the strange po- ible order. litical conditions that the cold war generated and the For example, the first chapter, which deals with way it influenced different aspects of our daily life. cultural landscapes situated in the archipelago, navi- Niels Jul Nielsen, Copenhagen gates between a lighthouse community and a fishing Reviews 203

village in Northern Ostrobothnia, as well as a village Board of Antiquities together spread the message community in Kymenlaakso and a summer villa about cherishing our enduring mutual heritage. To community in Southeast Finland. The chapter go back to the preface of the book, editor Pinja covers cultural landscapes from all over the Finnish Metsäranta writes: “The targets selected for the insular area. The featured historic areas are also book delineate the built heritage in Finland in as used for different kinds of purposes. The most versatile a way as possible in terms of the timing as mind-catching contribution in the first chapter are well as geographically and with regarded to the sub- the petroglyphs of Hauensuoli – the unique island ject matter. The book opens viewpoints to familiar cluster in Uusimaa, filled with petroglyphs from the places and increases an understanding of built herit- 17th century to the early 20th century. The second age and its values”. chapter continues with the theme a notch closer to Therefore, the book has something to offer for all the mainland: the chapter is titled “Seaboard” and it kinds of readers. It can be approached as entertain- consists of landscapes from all over the Finnish cos- ment, as a professional reference book or as a source tal area. for increasing awareness about our home region. The argument for organizing the places has, The book should be of interest for anybody interest- therefore, not been either the purpose of the build- ed in built heritage as the framework for Finnish ings or the locality, but the common theme of the culture and national history. area. As outlined above, the chapters are organised Aura Kivilaakso, Pori in a very creative way. For an ethnologist who reads about built heritage categorized by style or function ad nauseam, the particular thematic approach has Material Culture and the Materiality of Cul- much to offer. The rest of the chapters deal with cultural land- ture scapes along the coastline, in old rural environ- Materiell kultur og kulturens materialitet. Saphinas- ments, along the river banks, in the lake and forest Amal Naguib & Bjarne Rogan (eds.). Novus forlag, areas and in the mountains. Defense construction, Oslo 2011. 385 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-82-7099- 630-8. industry and transportation, education, science and technique, and travelling, recreation and culture  In 2011 the Department of Culture Studies and form their own entities as well. The last chapter is Oriental Languages (IKOS) at Oslo University pub- about urban planning in the 20th century, post-war lished a large volume with wide-ranging essays on reconstruction and modernism. the research theme of material culture. According to Which cultural landscapes have then been se- the foreword, the volume came about just after lected for the compilation? The selection could not several departments had been amalgamated to give have been easy – after all, there are 1258 cultural IKOS, where there are several different disciplines. landscapes listed in the official inventory and only The usual strategy for the increasingly frequent 125 of them found their way into the book. There- amalgamations of this kind in the university world is fore, the editorial board has decided to include en- to find common denominators and synergies for fu- vironments as comprehensively as possible from ture research and teaching. The new department at all over Finland, environments having various pur- Oslo University united around the theme of “Mate- poses and different types of landscapes from many rial culture in a globalized world”. One result of this decades. focus is the present volume, where ethnologists, an- As for my point of view, the selection has suc- thropologists, museologists, philologists, linguists, ceeded, although some of my own interests have re- and scholars of religion assemble around the topic mained outside the book. The book introduces us to of material culture and its meaning. The reader will built heritage that is studied less comprehensively find a rich and varied content, with some fascinating than what is tend to. Hence, the book increases en- texts. vironmental awareness – it fulfils the task for which Research with a focus on material culture has it presumably has been intended. grown and become nuanced in the last decade. In the As a product of collaboration, the book published last chapter of the volume Bjarne Rogan provides a by the Finnish Literature Society and the National well-informed and instructive survey of all the ten- 204 Reviews

dencies and debates generated by this research; this fers to the ability of things to be charged with vary- chapter alone would justify the purchase of the ing cognitive and social content: “Things are not book. The editors begin with the customary summa- containers for a given meaning, but they can be per- ry of the content, and declare that the sixteen chap- ceived as media for the continuous production and ters all have a theoretical starting point, focusing on reproduction of cognitive social content, in the en- two central concepts: “materiality” and “objectifica- counter between thing and person” (p. 10). Perhaps tion”. a good example of the objectification of things In this context “materiality” means that the re- would be the Volkswagen “Beetle”, initially a sym- searchers wish to point out the social meanings of bol of collectivism in Nazi Germany, representing objects, as an added value and a complement to subordination to a totalitarian ideology, but later re- analyses proceeding from the physical properties of coded in a diametrically opposite sense when the things. The editors refer to the archaeologist Chris- vehicle became associated with things like Ameri- topher Tilley, who says that the concept of material- can individualism, the freethinking hippie culture. ity refers to the possibilities, as well as the limita- The artefact can thus be the same, but its social and tions, that objects give us in our social world. This is cultural meaning can vary greatly over time and linked to the term “agency”, which has been much place. debated in material studies in recent years: things As we notice, however, there are no clear-cut possess agency, an “effective force” that influences lines between the references to materiality and those our social and cultural life, whether we like it or not. to objectification. With materiality the focus may be The agency of objects seems to refer to the interpre- more on the thing itself and its potential effect; with tative potential of virtually any object that we objectification the researchers seem to be alluding handle in our lives, but two general examples of ob- more to the social and cultural contexts of things. To jects filled with an increasingly effective agency to- this it could be added that there is also a third trend day are the computer and the mobile phone. The ef- in research: actor-network theory (ANT), which ap- fects of these innovations (which of course com- pears to be a variant of traditional discourse analy- prises not just the artefacts as such but also complex sis. Here the significance of things is seen in relation systems of technology and information exchange) to heterogeneous constellations of networks which have fundamentally changed our patterns of com- can consist of both human and non-material techni- munication and our professional lives. With inspira- cal “actors” (or “actants”) which together exert an tion from now classical studies such as Appadurai’s effect. Here the computer and the mobile phone The Social Life of Things (1986), some thinkers in would of course be perfectly suited for an ANT this field have drifted so far in their interpretations analysis. ANT has appealed to theorists who focus of the active and subject-filled properties of things on the understanding of technical systems and prac- that other scholars, such as Tilley, have criticized tices, such as Michel Callon or Bruno Latour, them for over-interpretation tending towards ani- whereas the approach is not so well represented mism. There is a risk that the researcher will let the among the researchers in this volume; only one of analysis slip from talking about the effect of things the sixteen refers explicitly to ANT as a basis for to claim that they are capable of action, thus becom- analysis. ing active agents, and if the analysis is combined Turning to the content of the articles, it can be with a social constructivist approach, the result has observed that the editors have divided the volume almost animistic allusions; things are perceived as into four themes, besides Rogan’s concluding sur- active subjects. With a more moderate interpretation vey of research, which stands on its own. The first of agency research, things give us possibilities and theme is “Science and Classification”, comprising power (e.g. weapons) but also limitations (we usual- three articles. The museologist Britta Brenna uses ly drive cars on roads that are specially constructed ANT as an explanatory foundation when she pro- and demarcated for the purpose). Yet the dilemma ceeds from the subject of her study, the Trondheim of adopting too mild an application of agency as a bishop Johan Ernst Gunnerus, seeking to interpret basis for interpretation is that the conclusions tend why this churchman in the second half of the eight- to become trivial, almost self-evident. eenth century devoted so much toil and energy to The other concept in focus, “objectification”, re- collecting, describing, and studying natural speci- Reviews 205

mens. Gunnerus turns out to have been part of an in- ry and Memory”, begins with a study by Bernt ternational network of collectors and scholars who Brendemoen, a scholar of language and literature, of embodied the vision of the Republic of the Learned, the complex way in which the author Orhan Pamuk where Linnaeus would later become the central fig- and the characters in his novels relate to things. An ure. Brenna’s article points out that the things Gun- author like Pamuk can use things to create moods nerus collected acquired their meanings in the con- and correspondences with the emotions and inten- text of his social and professional network. The tions of the characters; the roles they play can be as bishop died in the early 1770s, at the same time as important as those of active human subjects. The research on natural history lost its state support in cultural historian Kyrre Kverndokk writes in the the Western world, so that his collection, in a way, next article about the fortress of Akershus and the died along with him (Linnaeus’s collection was like- memorial grove there. The analysis of this memorial wise split up and sold after his death). Brenna’s site of war focuses on the collective and the use of article gives fascinating insight into a scientific and ceremonies and monuments for handing down social context that has not seen much research. As a memories and for symbolic identity politics. The reader, however, one is left without an answer to the theme is linked to the now classical research by opening question of why the bishop collected, and George L. Mosse and Pierre Nora about official how the things themselves affected the collectors. memory culture. Kverndokk, however, identifies a In the following article Lise Camilla Ruud and tension between nationally oriented heroic icon- Terje Planke give an interpretation of how the Roll- ography in the memorial grove and the more recent stad loft-store from Gudbrandsdalen has been as- Monument to the Deportation of Norwegian Jews, cribed varying meanings and political connotations where the existing and symbolic status of memory over 230 years. Here the authors try to view the his- feels more indeterminate, uncomfortable, and am- tory of the building in terms of the history of sci- biguous. The tension in collective memory, accord- ence: restoration and management practices, inter- ing to Kverndokk, ranges from a traditional and na- pretation of techniques, and culture theory. In short, tional reference to the ethically globalized univer- this is an applied artefact biography, showing how salism of the Holocaust monuments. To round off the meaning attached to an object can vary accord- this part of the book, the cultural historian Saphinaz- ing to the changing scientific and political climate of Amal Naguib writes about the modern Egyptian use society. The approach is effective, succeeding in its of history, where ancient culture is given new sym- aim of reflecting the shift of meaning that continual- bolic interpretations that result in a new public aes- ly takes place as objects are given new social and thetic and use of monuments. In the combination of political charges (compare, for example, the Ornäs cultural encounters and politicization, a “neo- loft in Sweden). It may be added that similar studies Pharaonism” arises, where references to the past are have been conducted elsewhere, such as Camilla physically reproduced with new contemporary Mordhorst’s interesting Danish study of the Mu- meanings in the construction of buildings and seum Wormianum (2009) and how selected items in monuments borrowing from classical art and archi- it have wandered through learned institutions and tecture. scientific discourses. We shall probably see more ar- The third part of the volume concerns “Body and tefact biographies, since this is an excellent method Person” and starts with the Korea expert Vladimir for applied late-modern material research. The cul- Tikhonow who, somewhat unusually in this context, tural historian Bjarne Rogan likewise succeeds in focuses on the reified person through a study of the next study, about folk dress, provinces, and slavery in Korea under the Chosón dynasty (1392– bourgeois tourists in rural nineteenth-century Nor- 1910). Tikhonow notes, to begin with, that different way. Rogan shows how folk costumes are given times and cultures have kept slaves, with their social agency as regional and cultural markers, and are status varying from that of potential citizens (in the also assigned a national symbolic value, finally act- Roman Empire) to being regarded as no more than ing as “evidence” in the major theory of cultural “living objects” that could be sold and treated exact- evolution that dominated during the nineteenth cen- ly as the owner pleased (in certain periods in Korea). tury. Slavery in Korea seems to have been legitimated by The second theme in the volume, entitled “Histo- a fundamentalist tradition of state hegemony – 206 Reviews

slavery was accepted because it was a trade that sential for learning the powerful religious meaning favoured state interests. Korea’s slaves were not of the Buddha. Teeuwen elucidates why the material “aliens” but they were at the very bottom of the col- religious practice cannot be separated from the reli- lective state hierarchy and could therefore be de- gious content of Buddhism. The subsequent article humanized. It thus differed from historical slavery by the historian of religion Hanna Havnevik pre- in the Western world, which was traditionally legiti- sents a study of the popular religious use of mated through a social distinction: the alien and thus Buddhist texts in Tibet and Mongolia. She argues “barbarous” status of the slave. Tikhonow’s study convincingly that these material scriptures are per- points out the hypocrisy behind the use of an econ- ceived as being dissociated from the religious con- omy where at times about 40% of the provincial tent of the texts. On the contrary, the texts them- population were slaves, while the official Confucian selves are given subject-like properties, associated ideology of the society dictated that everyone with intention and the ability to convey religious should be considered equal, under the supremacy of revelations. Working in the same discipline as Hav- the king. Next comes the ethnologist Kari Telste nevik, Nora Stene then studies how Coptic children with her study of the jail in the town hall in Kris- relate to given religious objects, with a comparison tiania and the materialized outlook on punishment. between Cairo and London. The objects are Coptic She tackles the topic by highlighting the religious religious icons and their significance for passing on freethinker Hans Nielsen Hauge, who was im- religiously coloured practices and basic values. The prisoned here for a few years in the early nineteenth anthropologist and historian of religion Berit century. In 1924 the jail became a part of the Nor- Thornsbjørnsrud then writes about the establishment wegian Folk Museum, because Hauge had been a of the Orthodox church in Norway, having studied prisoner there. The memory acts here as material- the intimate connection of that religion to material ized evidence of bygone state intolerance and cen- objects. Icons, censers, and candles have a trans- sorship. Telste’s article thus focuses on the material- formative power; they belong to rituals that turn the ity of imprisonment and the existential tension be- room and the objects used into holy substances. To tween freedom and compulsion that is manifested in conclude part four, the cultural historian and scholar the boundaries drawn within the rooms in the of religion Arne Bugge Amundsen has studied the prison. Part three ends with a study by Ragnhild materiality of the church interior at the transition Jonsrud Zorgati, orientalist and scholar of religion, from Catholicism to Protestantism, specifically in about the Turkish or Moorish bath (hammam) and Østfold 1537–1700. His study indicates both con- its practice. The hammam cannot be interpreted tinuity and discontinuity in the religious use of the without the necessary analysis of materiality and material content of the church interior. The Lutheran sensuality. Zorgati dwells on the cultural analysis of doctrine that true faith required a separation be- the senses, referring to David Howes’ “sensual cul- tween the material and the spiritual did not mean in ture studies” when she points out that sight is prima- practice that the religious cult was freed from the ry in western culture, but more senses are an essen- use of objects. The priests preached from pulpits, tial part of forms of culture outside the West. Touch they christened babies in (originally Catholic) fonts, is the sensual experience, according to Zorgati, that and they administered communion with ritually has been ranked lowest in European modernity, charged objects. Moreover, economically and so- while the complex sensory experience is a precondi- cially strong individuals had ample scope, through tion for the reproduction of the hammam and its cul- donations, to shape the churches into memorial tural content. arenas, with tombs, plaques, and adornment. This The fourth part of the volume deals with the brings us to the end of this survey of the contents. theme of “Religion and Belief”, more specifically To round off, it should be said that the compact how religiosity is expressed through various forms print in the book and the excessively shiny paper of material culture. Here the orientalist and Japan make it difficult to read (yet another example of the expert Mark Teeuwen begins with a study of reli- significance of things!). At times one can also feel gious actors in Buddhist Japan. It is an open ques- that late-modern research seems to have forgotten tion whether Buddhism presupposes liberation from Occam’s famous razor: one should not cite more materiality, or if materially oriented rituals are es- perspectives than necessary to explain a phenome- Reviews 207

non. It gives no added value to launch new concepts history. Thus there are two basic introductory chap- and terms for phenomena that can be described just ters where different perspectives on the research as efficiently with the established nomenclature. To field are presented, along with key concepts such as be fair, I must say that the authors mostly express historical culture, the uses of history and historical themselves comprehensibly. As I see it, what is new consciousness. In a separate chapter the author also about late-modern research on material culture is discusses research on the uses of history in other primarily that the interpretations of things are now countries as well as related research fields. It is evi- seriously linked to social and cultural practice. Re- dent that Niels Kayser Nielsen is highly inspired by searchers no longer stop at the interpretation of arte- research on the uses of history conducted in Swe- facts as being reason enough for a study. To sum up, den, not least by the historian Peter Aronsson and this edited volume is well worth reading for anyone his book Historiebruk (“The Uses of History”, interested in the research field. The multidiscipli- 2004). Several ethnologists/folklorists who have nary approach gives the reader new angles of ap- done research in related fields are also frequently proach and encourages shifts in thought. Few read- referenced in the book. ers are likely to be interested in all the articles and Niels Kayser Nielsen discusses different aspects topics in the book, but the introduction and the con- of both the conscious political use of history and cluding chapter alone are valuable enough for those more non-reflexive uses in everyday life. Personal- who wish to learn more on the theme of material ized and materialized uses of history are discussed culture. in separate chapters, along with uses of history in Richard Pettersson, Umeå cultural history and everyday life. Finally Niels Kayser Nielsen reasons about experience history, uses of history between cultural heritage and experi- Uses of History ence economy as well as memory and forgetfulness. Niels Kayser Nielsen, Historiens forvandlinger. Hi- A characteristic of the book is that more theoretical storiebrug fra monumenter til oplevelsesøkonomi. discussions are interspersed with numerous ex- Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Århus 2010. 326 pp. amples and case studies, drawn from different ISBN 978-87-7934-561-4. periods but above all different countries. The author not only uses examples from Denmark and its  While working on the review of the book Histo- neighbouring countries but also from other parts of riens forvandlinger (“The Changes of History”) I Europe, especially Eastern Europe. Thus when Niels was reached by the sad news that Niels Kayser Kayser Nielsen, in the chapter about materialized Nielsen had passed away on Good Friday this year. uses of history, discusses naming he not only gives As a historian Niels Kayser Nielsen was extremely examples of street and road names in Denmark, but productive. The uses of history was one of his re- also discusses the names Bratislava, Kaliningrad/ search fields, but he was also interested in, for ex- Königsberg and so on. In the chapter about the uses ample, food history and sports history. Among his of history in cultural history the author similarly recent publications one can find books such as Krop uses the Danish Højskolesangbogen (“Folk High og kulturanalyser (“The Body and Cultural Analy- School Songbook”) and the discussions about the sis”, 1997), Madkultur – opbrud og tradition (“Food Russian opera Khovanshchina as examples. With Culture: Break-up and Tradition”, 2003), Steder i few exceptions, the book is well written and the ex- Europa (“Places in Europe”, 2005) and Bonde, stat amples well chosen to illustrate the different aspects og hjem (“Peasant, State and Home”, 2009). of uses of history that Niels Kayser Nielsen dis- With Historiens forvandlinger, published in cusses. The examples also help to identify the field 2010, Niels Kayser Nielsen wanted to remedy the research and to introduce some of the work that has lack of a basic book in Danish on the uses of history. been done in the last few decades about the uses of In addition to introducing the research field, the aim history. In addition, parts of Europe’s history that of the book is also to demonstrate some of the may be relatively unknown to many people are now themes and issues in contemporary research on the made more visible by the author. uses of history. The book not only addresses univer- Historiens forvandlinger testifies to Niels Kayser sity students but also a broader public interested in Nielsen’s broad knowledge, not only in the uses of 208 Reviews

history but in history in general. As a basic book for phasise the importance of contextualising the source university students, Historiens forvandlinger would material – and not without reason. The fact that the work well. It gives an introductory view of the re- researcher’s expectations may not correspond with search field and will also inspire further studies. The the reality within the source material, and the need many references at the end of each chapter also help to move forwards and backwards in the conceptual- those who want to immerse themselves in different ising process are also cross-disciplinary phenomena. aspects of the uses of history. The book can also be The description of the process will no doubt be of recommended to a broader public. help to anyone who experiences a lack of confi- Fredrik Skott, Göteborg dence when thinking about the various directions in which the source materials may lead, reassuring them that it is an inevitable part of the process and, Analysing an Interview as such, a necessary phase. The concrete descrip- tions of the different phases, such as grouping and Haastattelun analyysi. Johanna Ruusuvuori, Pirjo organising, identifying and listing (Anna Rastas), Nikander & Matti Hyvärinen (eds.). Vastapaino, and the different levels of analysis (Tarja Aaltonen Tampere 200. 469 pp. ISBN 978-951-768-309-8. and Anna Leimumäki) dissipate the needless scien- tific glamour from what is a truly down-to-earth  Anyone who has tried to teach students how to phase of research. conduct research knows how problematic it can be to put into words the multidimensional analysis pro- Most of the book is dedicated to giving examples cess and to give concrete guidelines. Similarly, any- of different ways of conducting analyses. It is here one who has experienced sitting down for the first that the disciplinary differences become visible. time to analyse interview material knows how scary Some of the methods and viewpoints may seem it can be. The fact that this process is not independ- (too) mechanical and sometimes (too) quantitative ent but is interwoven throughout the different parts for an ethnologist, but they do give an insight into of the research does not make the task any easier. A the various approaches to interview material – guidebook entitled Haastattelun analyysi (Interview which in itself is largely obtained by similar means Analysis) will therefore – I suspect – raise expecta- within diverse disciplines. tions among both university students and teachers. The main starting point, however, is the same: The book complements a recently published anthol- choosing one’s methods of analysis in relation to the ogy dealing with the interview process (2005), and field and the research questions (the determination the two together thus cover a wide area of interest to of which is, of course, a process in itself), as Laura ethnologists. Huttunen writes. One major difference becomes vis- The contributors to the book come from both the ible when ethnographic fieldwork with interviews is humanities and the social sciences, Jyrki Pöysä rep- compared with conducting separate interviews with resenting cultural studies. Ethnography as a research looser connections to the field in terms of how the method is discussed in many articles, with Laura researcher contextualises the process. This raises in- Huttunen and Anna Rastas placing special emphasis teresting issues, especially from the perspective of on it. The anthology comprises 19 articles all to- Finnish ethnology and the current change to a more gether, starting with a clear introduction written by comprehensive repossession of the field. the editors guiding the reader through the different On the positive side we have been adept at prob- analytical phases. At the end of each article is a list lematizing the nature of remembering and sharing for further reading, which will no doubt help those experiences and memories for some time now. who are inspired by the methods described in the Where we have less competence is in analysing the book. way the new ethnographic interest affects how we On the meta-level of analysis the process seems interpret these experiences. We may very well ask if to be very much the same regardless of the disci- and how the way we understand ‘fieldwork’ also af- pline. The fact that knowledge is produced in inter- fects to the way we see the dialogue between the action between the researcher, the informants and field and the researcher. The role negotiation be- the social circumstances is the starting point in both tween the researcher and the researched that goes on social sciences and humanities. Many articles em- during the dialogue affects the substance – in terms Reviews 209

of both the means and the forms of the narration – My advice to the reader is to be open-minded and the process of analysing the interview, as Jyrki with regard to all the articles, but always to bear in Pöysä points out. mind the basic principle: choose the method of The book ends with several articles dealing with analysis that suits your field. As Matti Hyvärinen concrete aspects such as transcription, working writes, doing narrative research is not a solitary pro- with translated interviews and conducting inter- cess or method, but neither is it mere impressionist views in a language other than one’s own: all of evaluation. This comment applies to all interview these are important, practical and very topical is- analysis. The process demands hard work, and also sues. For me the most relevant question addressed improvisation and creativity – and this combination in the last section is in an article dealing with the is its real essence. computerised analysis of qualitative data. In fact, Pia Olsson, Helsinki the authors Outi Jolanki and Sanna Karhunen raise a question that bothered me somewhat when I was reading through some of the preceding articles Some History of Finnish Furnishings concerning how computer programs can cope with Leena Sammallahti & Marja-Liisa Lehto, Kalusteita qualitative research. Is it not too mechanical a tool kamareihin. Suomalaisten keinutuolien ja piironkien for that purpose? The authors draw an analogy be- historiaa. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimi- tween the production of qualitative analysis and of tuksia 1258. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Hel- handicrafts, in which process the actor and her sinki 2010. 220 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-952-222-165-0. creativity are in the focal position. They empha- sise, however, that the programs are geared more  This book tempts a reader interested in the sub- to mastering and archiving source materials than to ject: the book looks stylish and feels good to touch. being used as analytical tools. Reading through It seems to open a door, at least slightly, into the his- some of the articles on computer- aided analysis, tory of Finnish furniture. Anyone interested in folk however, I found the process – in a word – too me- art and furnishings feels a temptation to sit down chanical. This is not to say that the resulting in- with this book, and she or he will be intrigued by the sights are thin or unimportant. It is just that they story. represent a very different kind of world than I, as In fact, this book tells two different stories. The an ethnologist, am used to. first one is about the position of the rocking chair in I am not advocating that all that is unfamiliar Finnish homes. The story continues by describing should be swept aside. On the contrary, some of the how the traditional chest was replaced by bureaus methods that are seldom used in ethnology such as and closets as the main pieces of furniture for stor- group interviews, and the relevant analytical pro- age. The writers ambitiously describe how Finnish cesses, could also bring a new perspective to our re- people began to use these new types of furniture in search themes. their homes. The book incorporates a multitude of viewpoints, The origins of this study date back to the early so much so that you may feel a little lost at first. 1960s as part of a project financed by the Ministry Some of the articles also dive so deeply into specific of Education and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. analytical processes and the theoretical perspectives From the material collected then and later, several underlying them that it may be difficult to under- articles and two doctoral theses have been pub- stand them properly within the short presentation lished. The material is also being presented as part the format allows. As Jukka Törrönen points out, the of a four-part working series on popular furniture. same empirical material can lead to different con- The first part of the series was published in 2006, clusions according to the theoretical perspective, Suomalainen sänky (The Finnish Bed), which dis- and the reader can test the empirical questions of the cusses the history of popular bed pieces. This book researcher with the help of the concrete interview comprises the second part of the series. extracts and their interpretations in the different ar- At base, this is an ethnologic study, one which ticles. At least I found myself making my own inter- has been written with the strong personal voice of pretations, which did not always concur with those narrator. The sections describe regional and chrono- given in the book. logical modifications to the furniture and how it was 210 Reviews

used. The study seems to be accurate and precise. chest of drawers, which hid the precious handiworks, The language is fluent and nice, though the verbal representative linen and other rare treasures, was rep- descriptions contain much specific terminology resentation furniture. In the 1800s it also was an im- which can in some places even be off-putting to the portant part of the bride's dowry. uninitiated reader. The authors themselves report As important as the 1800s were to home furnish- that they found it difficult going through all of the ing, numerous old photographs are also important in existing listings and any old materials to put to- describing the process that took place during this pe- gether this historical study. This is what might have riod. In this book there are abundant and versatile il- influenced the scholarly language somehow. lustrations. The illustrations show interior decora- Curiously enough, they mark sections concerning tions from both the halls of the manor houses and the most traditional scientific research as being more modest chambers and give a comprehensive products of their own research – the different sec- picture of the separate object types. The authors tions are separated using different colours. The have skilfully chosen early photographs and old white pages seem mostly to contain this ethnologic sketches. The illustration based on this original ma- study. The grey-coloured pages give a slightly dif- terial is probative and descriptive. Just the publica- ferent cultural-historical perspective wherein there tion of these pictures as such alerts the reader to the seems to be some of the most interesting back- fact that there has been a huge amount of collecting ground information gathered in the form of local and analysis of the information, which has gone on stories and personal memories. This division makes over the course of several decades. the book more reader friendly and might even make Traditionally, one can think that these historical it easier to follow the story. pictures have been meant only to supplement an ac- Even though the heading of the book promises in- tual text. When using this book, however, the pic- formation mostly about rocking chairs and chests of tures can be studied in the opposite way as well. The drawers, the text touches upon other furniture as list of illustrations, with all of the photographs and well. The familiar old furniture types have affected drawings, works like a directory or another table of the birth of the new furniture. The influences have contents. Every picture is in a particular place – and also come from the circle of ecclesiastical equip- there still could have been even more of them. The ment. Even the interior decoration of churches has artistic cooperation of text and pictures is both been inspiring for the improvement of homes. beautiful and practical. The powerful gentry of the 1700s gave an ex- The previously mentioned specific jargon makes ample to the common people of how to decorate via this book an excellent instrument for conventional their European-style country houses. Later on there museum works, specifically those focusing on list- were other contacts with foreign countries, such as ing and describing objects. It gives a helping hand in by migrants who went to America. Surprisingly of- identifying and naming furniture and their compo- ten there have been various influences in furnishing nents. Though there is no proper glossary at the end that have been received from abroad. The origins of of the book, all of the professional vocabulary is furniture are fascinating. very well presented within the text itself. This book The process of adapting new innovations that works well as a lexicon within the museum field. make life more comfortable has taken a long while. It seems that the book can even double as a sur- The early beginnings are in the 17th century. In the vey of Finnish museum work and object study. In a 18th century, various new types of furniture were way, the whole publication works as a documenta- more widely taken into use. But the real break- tion of museum work during its early days and all of through in home furnishings occurred closer to the the documentation subsequently done in museums. turn of the 20th century. This is due to the massive review of old collections. The furniture made by local craftsmen became sta- This portrayal gives on outlook to past decades and tus symbols in the 1800s when the ordinary people the vast efforts of the collectors. could afford to buy more than just the bare necessities It has been most courageous to concentrate on a for their homes. The rocking chair was a special seat, time-honoured and even a kind of old fashioned ma- which was offered to the guest of honour or in which terial research. This book pursues a social context in an earned rest was spent after the working day. The a deeply knowing manner. The authors present all of Reviews 211

the period pieces in a considerate and understanding Swedish judicial heritage, demonstrating how the manner. Swedish law code from 1734 was taken over and ac- As a whole, the book requires much careful read- cepted by the Russian emperor, how it influenced the ing and enthusiasm on the part of the reader. The au- administration of justice in Finland and slowly thors seem to have written it by putting their hearts changed. According to Jansson, Sweden and Finland and souls into the endeavour to provide information. did not lose one another in any profound sense, for This book will function very well if the reader is as the legal system was common to both countries. Jans- interested in and passionate about the subject as the son also considers how the relationship between Fin- expert writers are. land and Sweden was viewed on the European conti- Sanna Eldén-Pehrsson, Turku nent. He introduces a list of similarities and differ- ences that can be seen today, and mentions some ex- amples of Finns who were appreciated in Sweden and Swedish-Finnish Relations Swedish inventions that were accepted in Finland. Svenskfinska relationer. Språk, identitet och natio- Anders Björnsson deals with political matters and nalitet efter 1809. Maria Sjöberg & Birgitta Svens- concentrates his article on similarities and differ- son (eds.). Stockholm, Nordiska museets förlag ences within the agrarian parties in both countries. 2011. 182 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-91-7108-545-0. An agrarian topic is also central in Ann-Catrin Öst- man’s contribution about how Finnish and Swedish  In 2009 two hundred years had passed since the agriculture changed in different ways and at differ- war of 1808–1809 in which the eastern part of Swe- ent rates. She refers to earlier scholars and their ef- den was lost to the Russian Empire. We call this forts to answer the question why Finland and Swe- part, roughly one third of Sweden, Finland today den did not reach the same level at the same time, and since 1917 it has been an independent country, and presents several explanations for this. As a con- and is now a member of the EU. trast, Klas Nyberg demonstrates how people acted in In 2009 the Swedish Literary Society in Finland procedures in connection with the inheritance of took the initiative to start a research project about the great fortunes when the Kingdom of Sweden was di- connections between Sweden and Finland, and to try vided and the physical property suddenly was not to find out how much there is, still, that is similar in located in the owner’s country. As an example he the two countries. The very comprehensive project gives the Björkman family who owned a couple of was called “Svenskt i Finland – Finskt i Sverige” ironworks. (Swedish in Finland – Finnish in Sweden), involving The collections of articles claim to deal with a great many actors, both institutions and individuals, identity matters. Language is certainly one factor and it has hitherto resulted in several publications. that should be considered in detail. The Swedish The collection of articles reviewed here is one of language in Finland and its role over time is them. Nordiska Museet (the Nordic Museum) in glimpsed here and there in the book, but Matti Stockholm, Sweden, has published them as an out- Similä actually concentrates his study on this topic. come of a seminar on the topic. The authors of the ar- His starting point is that Swedish was the language ticles seek to answer the question of how scholars of power and authority in Finland. Therefore, he have tried to explain the differences and similarities gives examples from the church and its efforts to in Sweden and Finland over time; some of the authors make the inhabitants of Finland good Lutherans, also have themes of their own to tackle. from the state who denied the existence of dialects Most of the articles were written by Swedish and presented a form of standard Swedish for all scholars. Mikael Alm’s aim is to describe what hap- more or less official occasions, which certainly was pened in Sweden when King Gustavus III was over- made easier by the work in schools and facilitated thrown and the revolution took place, leading to general communication in press, radio and televi- enormous changes in constitutional and geographi- sion. The core of his article is a study of how Swe- cal respects. The outcome of the article is that there dish and Finnish schoolbooks present the historical were different kinds of nationalisms that affected course of events in both countries, thus also present- the consequences of this coup d’état. ing their self-image. Torkel Jansson concentrates his article on the Two of the articles do not fit into the strictly his- 212 Reviews

torical perspective demonstrated above. Charles editors think that it might be a good introduction for Westin gives an overview of migration matters and Swedes in general to read about Finland, a neigh- ponders on what the relationship between Finland bouring country of which most of them know nearly and Sweden will look like in twenty-five years. If nothing. I do not really know, however, whether it nothing unforeseen happens, the population in both fills a gap from a scholarly perspective. If one writes Sweden and Finland will be more multicultural than about the relationship between Sweden and Finland today. Matters influencing migration will change the I think that the Finland-Swedes, i.e., the population populations by both immigration and emigration, of Finns speaking Swedish as their daily and often old minorities will be supplanted by new ones, such even only language, should have had a greater role as Somalian Finns. Eva Silvén discusses the Nordis- to play than just popping up here and there. I think ka Museet’s exhibitions in relationship to minorities that the differences between Finnish Swedish and in Sweden. She concentrates on Finns in Sweden. Swedish Swedish deserve a mention. To what extent Both so-called Sweden-Finns (Finnish-speaking can teenagers in both countries understand each Finns who have immigrated to Sweden) and other today, and are there regional differences? Tornedalen Finns (a population speaking a variety Swedish has not been unproblematic as an everyday of Finnish called Meänkieli) are examples of how language since 1809. The title of the book comprises Swedish authorities have exoticized or suppressed “identity”, this vast and multifaceted concept, but it people who were not regarded as “real” Swedes. is not central in the articles. Last but not least, I The Nordiska Museet was, of course, the voice of would have liked to see a theoretical chapter about leading ideas and presented its collections according comparison. I wonder about the scholarly defensi- to those ideas. Now, Silvén states, it is time to find bility of picking a phenomenon, looking at it from new ways of exhibiting museum objects in order to Swedish and Finnish perspectives and stating some- demonstrate that all groups of inhabitants in Sweden thing about difference or similarity. My critical are capable people. points, however, concern only the scholarly use of This collection of articles, as I stated above, was the book. All in all, my opinion of the articles is written from a Swedish perspective. Moreover, we favourable, for they give a good overview of the have to take into consideration that they were writ- history of the two countries and present readers with ten in connection with a bicentennial. Therefore a great many interesting details and problems that they sound very polite and even politically correct. can be further dealt with. In contrast, Max Engman’s contribution is more Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo critical. He points to many of those factors that blur the relationship between Sweden and Finland. His article is full of ideas about how to pursue research The Materiality of Museum Objects on the topic. Among other things he discusses the Fra kaupang og bygd 2011. Festskrift til Ragnar two countries’ relationship to the EU. Is Finland’s Pedersen. Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen et al. (eds.). way of accepting and adjusting to the EU a conse- Hedmarksmuseet, Hamar 2011. 285 pp. Ill. ISBN quence of having been part of the greatest terrestrial 978-82-91326-30-6. empire for a hundred of years, whereas Sweden’s approach could be the result of the mentality of a  It is uncommon for a Festschrift to be reviewed, country that had no war for two hundred years, that but there is good reason to draw attention to Fra had no internal or external conflicts for such a long Kaupang og Bygd 2011, which is both the annual of time? The relationship between Finland and Sweden the Hedmark Museum and a tribute to the professor is not at all as harmonious as the other articles and museum director Ragnar Pedersen on the occa- would make it seem; there are ideas about feelings sion of his 70th birthday. of inferiority, of stupidity, weakness, harmlessness, Based on Pedersen’s scholarly achievements in toothlessness, rudeness, envy, whatever, which the study of artefacts, the volume reflects an inter- make the relationship between the two countries esting development in the way artefacts have been much more complicated than the articles demon- viewed. Agrarian history has always been Peder- strate. sen’s main topic, and four of his previously pub- This book makes good reading. I suppose that the lished articles have been selected for republication Reviews 213

here. They range from a functional analysis of  Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen, professor of Finnish his- scythes to a discussion of how butter moulds can be tory at Åbo University, presents here the world of regarded as materializing interpersonal relations. the late eighteenth century, with the focus on The butter moulds reveal the significance of butter, south-east Finland. The title of the book means “So- as a gift, as a social marker, and as ritual. Butter and phie Creutz and Her Time: The Life of the Nobility butter moulds represent some important interests in in Eighteenth-century Finland”, and in it we follow Pedersen’s research: aesthetics, agrarian history, some noble families and their destinies over several and food. In his historical studies of diet, food cul- decades, with Countess Sophie Creutz as the central ture, and meals as an institution, he has also com- figure. Her marriage to Lars Glansenstierna and her bined his analytical ability with practical cooking close friendship with her brother-in-law Göran and delight in food. Magnus Sprengtporten are the themes running The book contains many interesting contributions through the account. We also follow Sophie from former colleagues and pupils. One example is Creutz’s daughter Vendela Glansenstierna and her Knut Fageraas, whose article about “Objects as husband Anders Munsterhjelm some way into the Curiosities: The Form of the Storhamarlåven Exhi- nineteenth century. Life for the main characters in bition as an Example of Alternative Museal Visuali- the book was heavily influenced by contemporary ty” applies a Foucaultian perspective to museums political developments, especially the relations be- and exhibition principles and the significance of ma- tween Sweden and Russia, the Swedish-Russian teriality. Here he points out a paradigmatic differ- War of 1788–1790, the conspiracies against Gustav ence between later scientific methods and the Re- III, high treason and its consequences. Through So- naissance practice of natural history, from thinking phie Creutz’s eyes and networks, the reader also in terms of analogies and resemblances to a practice learns about the everyday life and festive occasions with differences as a classifying principle. Foucault of the eighteenth-century nobility. describes this as objects being viewed as signs or Opposition to the king emerged in the circle signatures which have to be interpreted to reveal un- around Sophie Creutz, where ideas of a republic and derlying similarities and the whole analogical sys- liberation from Swedish autocracy flourished. Sev- tem. In this respect, physical objects did not differ eral of the noblemen were discontented with Swe- from the written word. In his article about the exhi- dish rule, and some preferred to join Russia as along bition at the Storhamarlåven museum Fageraas has as they were allowed to retain their privileges. As a an interesting discussion of the site and the narrativ- consequence of Gustav III’s Russian war and the ity of the objects, the exhibition as aesthetics, the Anjala conspiracy, this noble family suffered nine museum’s alternative visuality, and the museum as death sentences among its relatives, two of which an arena for the inquisitive gaze, which goes back to were executed and the rest commuted to banish- the Renaissance idea of vision as the most important ment. Life as a prisoner of war in Russia was a real- sense for the acquisition of knowledge and the per- ity for several of the men in Sophie Creutz’s family ception of reality. and kindred, and we gain insight into the years in Besides being a tribute to Ragnar Pedersen on his exile, partly through Anders Munsterhjelm’s dairy. birthday, this Festschrift is also a valuable survey of Sophie Creutz’s husband, Lars Glansenstierna, first the way objects have been viewed and analysed spent a number of years in St Petersburg, where her from the cabinet of curiosities of the Renaissance to son Magnus also moved, but later ended up in Hol- modern-day museum practice. The illustrations in stein. the book also deserve congratulations! It is striking how the noble families were inter- Göran Hedlund, Lund linked in an international network, sometimes through family connections woven by marriage. A cosmopolitan lifestyle is depicted, with French as Aristocratic Life in Finland the chief language of conversation, along with Ger- Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen, Sophie Creutz och hennes man, and it was also an advantage to know Russian. tid. Adelsliv i 1700-talets Finland. Svenska Littera- The men and the women had their given roles, but tursällskapet i Finland, Helsingfors/Atlantis, Stock- married noble women could often act with great in- holm 2011. 271 pp., Ill. ISBN 978-91-7353-448-2. dependence and to some extent dispose over their 214 Reviews

own assets, even if they were in reality subject to the Finnish. Through his ideas he can be regarded as a authority of their husbands. When the men were far predecessor of the nationalist current that would from the homeland, the women had to manage the later encourage an interest in the distinctive Finnish estates and deal with business matters. Generally character and a Finnish national literature. speaking, however, the women did not have much This book gives fascinating insight into the no- formal education, as is evident from the poor spell- bility in Finland on the border with Russia in the late ing in their letters. eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Political Prisoners of war were also a part of the cosmo- developments dictated the obvious framework for politan culture. The Swedish prisoners lived in the lives of the main characters, whose personal let- rented rooms among ordinary inhabitants of Nizhny ters paint a picture of how they thought and felt. Novgorod on the Volga, where they could spend One is touched by Anders Munsterhjelm’s loving their days reading, playing cards, playing the violin, letters to his wife Vendela, where his affection for and doing household tasks. They could mix freely her and the children is evident. “My dearly beloved with other people, attend suppers and balls, and par- wife – delight of my heart,” he writes from the for- ticipate in social life. Despite that, most of them tress of Svartholm in the bitter cold February of longed to get home to Finland. 1808. “Our sweet little youngsters,” he writes an- We follow the main characters up to the 1820s, other time in a letter from the front where he asks when Finland had become part of the Russian Em- his wife to remind the children that he loves them, in pire. It is obvious that the Swedish central govern- case he should die. But Munsterhjelm survived the ment had not understood the depth of the dissatis- war, and sincerely hoped that neither of his sons faction with Swedish rule among many of the nobles would choose a military career. Despite their fa- in Finland, especially in the south-east corner of the ther’s wishes, however, both of them became sol- country, which had suffered more than others from diers, and the new nation to which they belonged the border wars. When peace was concluded in sent them far away from Finland, to the most distant 1809, Finland was allowed to retain its Lutheran parts of Russia. In most respects, however, life for worship, to go on using Swedish as its official lan- the Finnish nobility remained much the same after guage, and to follow the Swedish tradition of justice Finland became a part of the Russian Empire. Many and administration. At the same time, Göran of them preferred the metropolis of St Petersburg as Sprengtporten was an ardent supporter of an inde- a capital city to the more countrified Stockholm. pendent Finland. He spoke Finnish when he could, Eva Helen Ulvros, Lund and he required his subordinate officers to know