Ethnologia Scandinavica A JOURNAL FOR NORDIC ETHNOLOGY ISSN 0348-9698 Volume 42

Editorial office: Folklivsarkivet, Finngatan 8, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden www.kgaa.nu/tidskrifter.php Editor: Birgitta Svensson, Stockholm E-mail: [email protected] Assistant editor: Margareta Tellenbach, Bjarred E-mail: marga [email protected] Editorial board:Tine Damsholt, Copenhagen, [email protected] Lars-Eric Jonsson, Lund, [email protected] Anna-Maria Astriim, Abo, [email protected] Kirsti Mathiesen Hjemdahl, Kristiansand, [email protected]

THE ROYAL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ACADEMY FOR SWEDISH FOLK CULTURE

© 2012 Ethnologia Scandinavica

Cover illustration: Young Greenlandic women dressed up with the sailor hats of their Danish partners. The undated photograph is probably from 1924- hence witnessing that the eager attempts to keep native women and foreign men apart still remained rather unsuccessful. Photographe·r Peter Elfelt (1866-1931), undated. The Royal Library, Denmark. Billedsamlingen, Den Topografiske Samling, Gr¢nland 4to. The bands on the sailor hats ('Gr¢nland') suggest that they could be the crew of the ship Gr¢nland on an expedition to Eastern Greenland in 1924.

Ethnologia Scandinavica is printed with the support of the Nordic Publications Committee for Humanist Periodicals and the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture. The journal publishes peer reviewed papers in English and German based on all branches of material and social culture, and in reviews, biographical notes and reports reflects ethnological contributions and activities in the Scandinavian countries. One volume of Ethnologia Scandinavica comprises 200 pages, published in one issue yearly. Subscription price for volume 2011 is SEK 291 :-. Postage is included. Orders should be sent to Swedish Science Press, Uppsala, www.ssp.nu The Bog and the Beast Museums, the Nation, and the Globe By Peggy Levitt1

1nd Colonial Space. During the 2008 United States' presi­ Migration, Globalization, and Jniversity Press. dential campaign, Barack Obama told an Museums nperial Eyes, Travel adoring crowd of more than 250,000 rfion. London: Rout- We live in a world on the move. There gathered in Berlin's Tiergarten that he was are an estimated 214 million internation­ adinixture. The Am­ speaking to them as a citizen of the United al migrants worldwide, up from 150 mil­ ising in Nincteenth- States and as a citizen of the world. The lion in 2000. In 2010, one in nine people 1rio, vol. XXXIII, no. President's globalism contrasts sharply lived in a countty where migrants made tiveringsprocesser i with the fierce nationalism and anti-immi­ up 10 or more percent of the population 11havn og Gronland i grant fever plaguing parts of Europe and (Terrazas 2011). One out of evety 33 per­ ih.d. dissertation. Co­ the United States. How do we reconcile .sons in the world today is a migrant (IOM :openhagen. these two seemingly clashing views? And 2011). Categories of Rule - .1nilies in Greenland how might we move beyond them? Much migration scholarship has fo­ ~2. Museums are one place to look for an­ cused on immigrant incorporation - on •rnal Knoivledge and swers. Ever since the leaders of the new how migrants become pmt of the countries I the Intimate in Col­ French Republic opened the doors of the where they settle. Recent work, on both versity of California Louvre to the general public, cultural in­ sides of the Atlantic, reveals how migrants J!onialisn1 's Culture. stitutions have played starring roles in the continue to invest, vote, and pray in the i Govenunent. Can1- 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 ve1y global to the lo­ they move (Faist2012, Caglar2007, 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 innnigration and their changing posi­ namics and creating new ways to encour­ tions in the globe? age long-term membership without resi­ This atticle, based on research on nrn­ 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 va1ying 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 countty 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

Ethno!og!a Scandinavica, Yeti. 42, 2012 30 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

care systems that remain stubbornly inside The answers to these questions vaiy 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 nanatives witnessing the rise of "superdiverse" m~ about who already belongs to the nation ban spaces (V e1iovec 2007). Because mi­ and who is allowed to join (Favell 2001, grants from a wider range of countries are Bramadat and Koenig 2009). They va1y settling in more places, with ve1y different based on how the nation sees itself in the legal statuses and access to rights and ser­ world. Each count1y'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 strnch1res also reward certain kinds of regation and social exclusion. What would ideniities and strengthen certain groups enable these migrants and the native-born (Blo01nraed 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 fonnal 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 instihltions 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 strnctures of meaning (Enington 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 fe, cell, waiting room, or traffic jam? . are atiiculated 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 luxmy, how do we move beyond it as an both global and nation-specific. Dias attitude or an ethos to create participato1y (2008) argued that the institutional ances­ institutions that reflect and respond to tors of today's Quai Branley wanted to si­ contempora1y global integration (Calhoun multaneously affirm the distinctness of 2008)? Where might the cultural elements French culh1re 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 culh1ral heritage of 32 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

Sweden, two former bastions of tolerance what kinds aud 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 of2009, 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 Demnark (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 counlty'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 b.etween 1624 though I could not study all the museums and I 654. 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

t combinations, and ing. To accomplish their goals, the Dutch of the World" and that is the first thing you nd · responsibilities set about documenting and classifying see. The "Po1trait of the Woman Cannibal rs reflect how these daily life. The Governor-General's en­ Canying Human Meat in her Basket" is nse of the relation­ tourage, including Albert Eckhout and perhaps the most famous and most strik­ " and localism (and Frans Post who worked as court painters; ing. Seen from far away, its layout re­ between) and what German natural historian Georg Marc­ sembles many famous portraits of the day, nuseums should be graf; and Dutch physician Willam Pisa, with its tall, imposing figure staring out collected written and visual ethnographic directly from the canvas. ·licit distribution of information. Art and science were also Despite the major historical signifi­ l where difference tools of conquest. cance of these works, many museum visi­ eden ·and Denmark. While they never amassed significant tors just keep walking. There are no wall emus showcase the riches, the Dutch did produce some of the labels explaining who painted them, how 'rsity but to varying first European scientific accounts of the they got to the museum, ~r how they dra­ •rent goals in mind. region. According to Alt Historian Rebec­ matically influenced the ways in which curators do not feel ca Parker Brienen (2006), Nassau-Sie­ Europeans imagined "the other" for gen­ 's to create citizens. gen's team generated spectacular, detailed erations. According to Karen Nyberg, Danish museums descriptions and illustrations of the plants, who was head of the department between 1 to reassert the na­ animals, and eve1yday life of the people 2010-2011, "the paintings are virtually ;n, museums tty to living in the colonies - one of the richest unexplained, they are just left as a kind of s a valid goal in and treasure troves of information about the · monument to their artistic value. They are, Lttional characteris­ colonization of the new world and the first of course, set in an ethnographic context individuals, collec­ glance that many Europeans had of with objects used by the same people that and policies that non-Europeans. they refer to, but it is a shame that there is nne of these differ­ Eckhout painted still lifes and figures, not a little more about how they came into : differences in how including the African, Indian, and the collection or about the kinds of social 1 approaches to di­ mixed-race people living in the colony. processes these kinds of paintings were md each country's Their rich, distinct tones and the range of produced by." The average visitor cam1ot plants and animals they depicted fueled possibly grasp how much these works fantasies about the exotic cannibals and shaped European sensibilities about the ist - the Danish 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 · that the Dutch oc­ when Nassau-Siegen brought these re­ from European saviors its inhabitants razil between 1624 ports and artifacts back to Europe in 1644. were. ·goals, besides get- In fact, people coveted new world ac­ Contrast this to what greets visitors . 1rving sugar planta­ counts and objects so much that some end­ when they enter the New Danish Prehisto- · Orests, \Vas to flex ed up in the Curiosity Cabinets of Den­ ty exhibit just downstairs, revamped with and expand a com­ mark's King Frederick III and Louis XIV great fanfare, just a few years ago. "Expe­ eady stretched from of France. rience over 14,000 years of Danish prehis­ to Suriname and This is how the set of nine Eckhout tory, from the reindeer-hunters of the Ice indigenous inhabi- paintings came to be included in the Dan­ Age to the voyages of the Vikings," the 2en as godless sav­ ish National Museum's ethnographic col­ Museum website invites visitors. The uering and convert- 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. ij - 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." l the fascination with the Egtved girl, a The contrast between "the pre-historic J I 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 '.l :1 horse pulling an intricately decorated world. Most curators agreed that, at least . ii gold-coated disk in a chariot that follows right now, Danish pre-hist01y 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 etlmographic 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 Sj0rslev, 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 ofliving 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.' Before aitplane travel, The great detail how people lived, worked, and Hist01y 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 sionaty. 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 seeu a state-of-the-att 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

;ter caste of the Em­ World" exhibit; a sort of open storage, (National Galle1y of Denmark) are also nind you that 2000 treasure-trove exhibit that would display, doing their part. In 201 I, the Copenhagen was not restricted. side-by-side, a variety of utensils, tools, Museum launched an exhibit entitled, if him and his ideas and clothing from the museum's ware­ "Becoming a Copenhagener" which is ·n1nark." houses; and a space for in-depth didactic "the first exhibition that places immigra­ en "the pre-historic exhibits. Unfortunately, the depatiment tion at the very core of Copenhagen's de­ raphic, meat-eating lost that third space to make way for more velopment ... not just as a curious feature jivisions within the school programming. in the life of the town, but rather as a key sees its place in the Diversity, however, is represented in ingredient in the town's growth and devel­ agreed that, at least other parts of the museum and other opment." Copenhagen would not exist e-hist01y is the fa­ places around the city. In the children's without this continuous stream of immi­ 'thnographic collec­ I section of the DNM, there is an exhibit grants nor would it be "the metropolis ['his was not always about the Pakistani immigrant community with which we are familiar today without thnographic collec­ created in collaboration with and from their contribution (www.copenhagen.dk/ ional Museum used materials donated by its members. In the en/2012)." The David Collection, a pri­ rown. According to classroom area, where school groups be­ vate museum, houses a prominent collec­ ner curator who is gin their tours, there are religious objects, tion of Islamic Att. The Danish Jewish .nthropology at the instrnments, and clothing from other Museum showcases the role of Jews in 1agen, in the 1960s countries that children can touch and tty Denmark since the l 7'h Centmy. At the staff saw their role on. The Danish Modern Histoty collec­ Statens Museum for Kunst, educators are teach the Danish tion, which reopened in 2001, tells the sto­ one of eight institutions participating in a other ways ofliving ries of Denmark from 1660-2000. When nationwide project about citizenship. Ac­ .1 didn't have to lifo curators discussed the exhibit's redesign, cording to Nana Bernhardt, an Art Educa­ airplane travel, The and the herculean task of covering more tor, the idea is to use active participation, I foreign films be- than 300 years of histmy, they strnggled self-reflection, and polyvocality as educa­ 1Demnark, the pub­ with how to tell a single national st01y that tional methods to teach young museum luseum but by the had grown so diverse. They realized, ac­ visitors citizenship skills. d brought the world cording to Lykke Pedersen, the lead cura­ But most of the people I spoke with, gan traveling wide­ tor, that Denmark does not have one st01y both inside the museum and out, agreed he museum to learn but many and that they needed to celebrate that what Danes have in common is much d. different perspectives at different points in more central to most of these exhibits than :or Madsen, it is not time that would sometimes strnggle or any kind of differences. They also felt that collection has been compete with one another. "Danishness while the New Danish Prehistory in­ hat I am conducting \Vas inore like a question than an ans\ver," formed visitors about Denmark's outward , ticular point in the she said. In a section entitled "New c01mections, it was still primarily a cele­ :novations. If I had Danes" a 47 year-old taxi driver from the bration of national pride. Per Kristian en the ethnographic former Yugoslavia and a 40 year old Madsen claims this is, in patt, due to the 'installed, I would woman of Jewish origin share their sto­ Museum's mandate. Of the 5.5 million he-art exhibit using ries. A Qu'ran is showcased in a sh01t sec­ people living in Denmark, 4.9 million are The ethnographic tion on Islam. considered ethnic Danes and 567, 932 are ised to be like a Across the city, the Copenhagen Mu­ immigrants and their descendants he "People's of the 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-BrieJJFacts-about­ does so to assert and understand Danish­ Denmark.html, 2012). The museum'sjob, 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 counhy's Danish experience broadly and preserve national treasures, but they are still na­ its common memo1y, 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 eve1y 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 pmt of their job. It's only right, he says, bit." that a ve1y 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 counhy 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 pe1tains to some aspect of Danish h'avel reports, radio broadcasts, and the histmy. . . 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." Govennnent 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 Bjorklund 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 fo1mer 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 tin1e," he said. "Just as the inuseutn'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 Levitl, The Bog and the Beast 37 I I

understand Danish­ The great men who influenced Swe­ he thinks, ifthe collections were in private in Denmark always I den's understanding of itself (and they hands and se1ved private interests. Society mtion with the rest were great men) included the great classi­ uses different resources to solve different enced the counhy's fier, Carl Li1111aeus; Adolf Erik Norden­ problems. "Museums are like hospitals 1t they are still na­ l skiOld, who crossed the Northeast Passage and schools," he said, "we just use differ­ and diversity are for the first time; the explorer and geogra­ ent tools to do our work." in children's pro- pher, Sven Hedin, who, when not busy This kind of thinking underlies a tem­ 1er cultural institu- leading four expeditions tln·ough Central porary exhibit on Human Trafficking. alk about diversity Asia, wrote the book that taught genera­ "Across the globe," the · introduction people because that tions of Swedish children their geography; states, "the trafficking of human beings is lid Berit Larsen, the I the Swedish missionaries who saved souls trailing its marks and evidence. The ex­ t the National Gal­ in the Congo; and Sten Bergman, who en­ hibit "Trafficking" shows the indelible closer to the core of tln·alled radio visitors each week during stamp and imprints left on the bodies and os, people hesitate a the 1950s with his tales of"his father, the souls of people, most often vulnerable I cannibal"- a chief in Papua New Guinea women and children, by the trade in Irn­ he came to Jaio\v and love. The last patt of man beings. Trafficking is about borders Home the exhibit includes a row of lockers from and the violation of borders, about geo­ :reels visitors when Stockholm's Arlanda airport. Behind each graphical bo!'ders creating boundaries and tnografiska Museet door are examples of things travelers erecting barriers and about openings a permanent exhibit bring home today - an iv01y sculpture, penetrated ancl forced." In essence, An­ World Home." It's sacred objects, cheap souvenirs. Museum ders Bjorklund summarizes, Trafficking is .! travelers brought staff want visitors to think about what about modern slave1y. All Swedes, he eden and how their happens when people buy, collect, or steal says, especially young people need to broadcasts, and the things from other places now, to under­ blow that human trafficking is a global l reflected their un- stand world power dynamics tlu-ough the problem and that therefore it is a Swedish 1orld and Sweden's prism of collecting. Is it right for individ­ problem that eve1yone needs to do some­ How did these ideas uals to bring back something that is thing about. "In some sense, this exhibit is agined the world be­ sacred, even if it is for sale? Is it right to about the fact that solidarity doesn't stop ! how did they grad­ collect something that is produced under at the border," Bjorklund said. "It's like . what Director An­ conditions that hurt the environment? Is it air-born diseases, national borders are of to as the "Swedish possible to know the world without con­ no importance. Trafficking is the same. It When 20 percent of trolling it? crosses the border eveiywhere you look. ion is born outside Anders Bjorklund believes finnly that Young people need to understand that this that the border be­ museums should pose these kinds of ques­ is not just a Swedish problem but a univer- . has changed over tions. In Sweden, the collections belong to sal problem but they also need to see it as · s the museum's col- the public and should be used democrati­ a Swedish problem that is strnctiired in a that the outside cally, for democratic purposes. Of course, global way." Sweden in multiple exhibits must be based on state-of-the-art The Etln10graphy Museum is one of os, that also happens science that is tested. But they can also be four museums that make up the State Mu­ to listen, not just to used to pursue social goals, to help create seums of World Culture, a new museum 1, read, and travel so a ce1tain kind of Swede in a ce1tain kind of authority created in the early 2000s. In the c111selves." Sweden. It would be more of a problem, late 1990s, following a period ofrapid im- 38 Peggy Levill, 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 c01mections eve1y­ 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 (Ostasiatiska Museet), suming artifacts from other parts of the the Museum of Ethnography in Stock­ world," Mr. Grinnell says, "we are drawn hohn (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 Goran Blomberg, a former Direc­ You learn things about Japan tln·ough 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 ve1y little - it's seet/in-english/20 I I). 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. Bol!ywood, 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

;taff used the mate­ should stay, and who should travel is ra­ is, according to Museum Director and that "World culture ther contingent." Head of the Swedish Museum Association 'unericanization but This commitment to taking on global is­ Lars Amreus, "one of the few post­ om1ections eve1y­ sues and to telling stories that stress global colonial pre-history exhibits." the largest film in­ interconnectedness does not stop here. But while Swedish museums showcase ·en bigger than Hol­ Even instih1tions one might expect would the nation's deep connections to the world :s world culture that be bastions of Swedislmess, like the Na­ beyond its borders, one has to look harder al market. "By con­ tional Historical Museum (NHM) in to find the diversity within. As in the ' other parts of the Stockholm, adopt a global stotyline. In modern Danish hist01y exhibit in Copen­ ;ays, "\ve are dra\vn contrast to the New Danish Prehisto1y Ex­ hagen, the immigrant experience is there ; about daily life in hibit at the Danish National Museum, the but subtly, "Where are immigrants repre­ \Ve've never been introduct01y text to Sweden's comparable sented in the museum," one curator at the is about the United exhibit reads, "Jn the year 1000, there was Nordiska Museet3 responded to my ques­ follywood movies, no Swedish nation, there were no fixed tion, "Maybe you don't see them explicit­ out Japan through boundaries or borders. There was no com­ ly. Nowhere, really, But, of course, they mon law or cmTency and there were few are there. When you look at the silver, you ;h opened in March common traditions. People did not think realize it reflects the Genuan influence ilar themes. Here of themselves as "Swedish" but rather as which was big in Sweden in the 17"' cen­ Jlore how and why living in a particular place, belonging to a tmy." Recently, staff began using labels to iet visitors to think certain clan or having a certain lord and signal these points of c01mection in the mge as they move. master. The hist01y of what we call Swe­ permanent collection. The visitor is told ore," says Grine!!, den is really the thoughts, decisions, and that the quintessentially Swedish potato is 1 to move and who actions of innumerable people - a chorns really an imp01i from South America or : mobile today than of voices, only a few of which can be ac­ that the coffee culh!l'e that Swedes are so 1·e also more stuck conunodated in this exhibit." proud of was first introduced in the 18"' isports to be able to Archeology, says curator Fredrik Svan­ cenh1ry when Charles XII, who developed lon't have the right berg, has always been used to build na­ a liking for the beverage while imprisoned 1, or skin you can't tions but the staff at the NHM wanted to in Turkey, returned to Sweden after his re­ s and tourists move use these materials in different ways. The lease. >al businessman is first part of the exhibit moves clu'Onologi­ As in Denmark, there is an implicit in­ ople who are locked cally, following a set of characters who stitutional division of labor. Over and , The difference be­ lived during different time periods. The over, respondents mentioned The Mang­ ! is ve1y little - it's second part is organized thematically kulhirellt Centrum or the Multiculh1ral 5ht piece of paper in around a set of questions about who the Centre, located in the municipality ofBot­ are not stable be­ visitor is, what he or she believes, and how kyrka with its large immigrant population, ' act of modern life. histo1y is made, The visitor is now the as the place where the immigrant experi­ t just be a 'parenthe­ ninth person in the line of the eight char­ ence is on display. The Centre, founded in y of understanding acters he or she encountered earlier. Based 1987 "promotes a society where diversity life," Destination X on the direction they choose (organized is reflected in the national self-image and her option or solu- like the gates in an airpoti), visitors ex­ where migration-related phenomena are a 1e that ho\v H\ve itn- plore these issues in different rooms or­ nah1ral part of the Swedish cultural herit­ somewhere, who 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 semn, 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 ve1y 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 pora1y 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 Hakan 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 pa1t of contemporaiy It's a pretty slow medium." Swedish histmy, 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 mt histo1y, 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 institr1tions in the philosophical sphere. We are get­ in both countries took on the global, Dan­ ting rid of eve1ything that is the backbone ish museums did so p1imarily to undet' 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 obstrnction­ 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 pmt 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 l nns themselves, as- I holders' voices when they now live next penhagen City Govennnent, which tends 1ractice, and differ­ door? to be more liberal than the national legis­ staff understand ap­ I A second problem all curators face, be lature, owns, funds and nms it (http:// lism and diversity they Danish or Swedish, is neo-liberalism. www.copenhagen.dk/en/about/).4 ;ountty help explain Museums around the world are facing ma­ In Stockholm, the M!mgkulturellt Cen­ jor cutbacks. Concerns about the perform­ tnnn fulfilled a similar function. In both ne curators believe ance measures and visitor targets mu­ countries, much of the programming fo­ it the right place to seums must meet peppered my conversa­ cused on immigration is aimed at children are made of bricks tions. Pressures to appeal to tourists some­ and school groups. not built to respond times directly conflict with pressures to Both Swedish and Danish Museum ments but to produce appeal to national audiences. There are so staff are grappling with how to tell innni­ iat last a long time. many other things competing for the pub­ grant stories and with how to connect respond quickly and lic's attention, several respondents com­ them to the national narrative. Their 1kan Wahlquist, Cu­ plained. If you want to learn about Native choices reflect national styles of diversity :hnography Museum Americans, you can just stay home and management and national attitudes about Kltibits are too blunt. look it up on the Internet. who can become part of the nation. Writ­ liu1n." In both countries, particular institutions ing about the Nordic countries in general, plague the curatorial play particular roles in performing differ­ Norwegian anthropologist Marianne Gul­ es (and around the ence - there is an implicit organizational lestad (2002) argues that there are few Jlder curators, who distribution of labor. The interests and words for expressing that something or . mt histmy, tend to commitments of curators and administra­ someone can be different but also equal. not part of their job tors often determine this. In addition to the The Danish word generally used for :hey are responsible citizenship project at Denmark's Statens "equality," she says, is likhet or "like­ detail of the collec­ Museum for Kunst, for example, curators ness," "sitnilarity," "identity," or "satne­ d to make sure that are also reinstalling the permanent collec­ ness," meaning that people have to feel vorld have access to tion with an eye toward telling a different more or less the same to be of equal value Curator for Globali­ national stmy. Although constrained by (Gullestad 2002). This kind of logic ible for collections," their institutional mandate, and by what is makes people interact in ways that empha­ e EM in Stockholm in their collection, just as the New Danish size their similarities and downplay their erson who is floating Prehistory exhibit stresses connections differences. It also implies that too much sphere. We are get­ between Denmark and the outside world, difference, whether between individuals that is the backbone the newly-installed "national identity" or opinions, can be problematic. Open mger curators, many gallety will also highlight how foreign conflict goes against the basic grain so mthropology or cul­ artists influenced the Danish National that "different" parties may avoid each. r older colleagues as Academy. other to keep the peace. · iest and obstrnction­ Some institutions are also just con­ Therefore, actively signaling ethnic or m you possibly con­ sidered more appropriate venues for racial difference, various respondents on ; usual - as if at least showcasing diversity. The Copenhagen both sides of the border feared, can lead to n the museum's col­ . Museum was seen as the right place to marginalization. While the United States ime into its hands jumpstart these debates not only because allows and even encourages groups to force? How can you Copenhagen is so diverse compared to the claitn "Irish-An1ericanness" or "Indian­ lie volume on stake- rest of Denmark but also because the Co- A1nericanness," as a \Vay to assutne their 42 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

rightful place at the American table, in long-time and are pati 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.humamights.gov.se/extra/pocV 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 bom 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 Pernvian community groups. Because, in the past, people re­ around its Paracas textiles or to the Boliv­ ceived se1vices or were mobilized as ian community when it mounted a show '\vorkers" or ''\vo1nen," creating a ne\v about the Orinoco River but it has not catego1y, "itn1nigrants," \Vas a nah1ral done exhibits on the immigrant per se. next step. Minority status allowed these "S\vedish culture," curators comn1ented, 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 instmction 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 Sarni, the Swedish (http://www.minorityrights.org/l 50!/ Firms, the Tornedalers, the Roma, and the sweden/sweden-ove1view.html). Jews. These groups, states a goverl1111ent 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

: of Sweden's cultur­ Rights Group International points out how to deal with cultural diversity (He­ ,cy aims to protect, that "the Swedish Constitution also detoft 2006) which also helps explain why tion of, and keep the makes provision for the promotion of op­ these themes have been less common in :se groups in accord- portunities 'for ethnic, linguistic and reli­ the Danish museum landscape. According 1! Minorities Law in gious minorities to preserve and develop to Berit Larsen at the National Gallery, 1t Bill 1998/99:143) a cultural and social life of their own'; many middle-aged Danes grew up in a ~urope conventions: and it states that 'a foreigner within the very white, western environment at the ~ntion for the Protec- Realm shall be equated with a Swedish height of the Danish welfare system. 1orities (the Frame­ citizen in respect of protection against There were supposedly no class differ­ md the European discrimination on grounds of race, skin ences or poor people in Derunark. But in I or Minority Lan­ color, ethnic origin, or sex'." Here again, the last five years or so, you can openly anguages Chatter)" the Swedish government relates to its discuss inequality or the different cultures d in 2000. By so do­ citizens as members of groups which that live next door with whom you don't •ennnent institution­ guarantees them a certain level of recog­ mingle but "we don't really have the lan­ linked it to political nition and services. guage to talk about it." e distribution · Economic downturns and the rise ofPar The last goventll1ent coalition intro­ ov.se/extra/pod/ Right patties dampened Sweden's com­ duced a legislative "package" which re­ ~actiotFpod_show mitment to multiculturalism, which many stricted the numbers of immigrants and came to see as a threat to Swedishness refhgees allowed to enter the counlty, ging minorities also leading to tolerance without integration. toughened the requirements for perma­ ondents noted, the What had been called Immigration Policy nent residence or citizenship, and tried to standing strategy of is now called Integration Policy. Policies make sure that newcomers embraced 1s as members of should meet the needs of immigrants and "Danish values" and became socially inte­ the past, people re­ citizens alike. But rather than abandoning grated. Since 2002, to become a natural­ were mobilized as their focus on diversity, some respondents ized Danish citizen, immigrants have to ;n, '' creating a ne\V felt, politicians simply expanded it to in­ live in Denmark for nine consecutive lts," \Vas a natural clude a wider range of differences includ­ years, be economically self-sufficient, status allowed these ing age, gender, sexual orientation, and have proper housing, no criminal record, 1fficially recognized disability status. and be fluent in Danish. A second law, in­ :\administrative con­ In contrast, since World War II, Den­ troduced in 2003, included a "24-year ildren to pre-schools mark has developed a universalistic wel­ rnle" for family reunification. It states that of instruction was fare state that provides health care, educa­ no Danish citizen can many a non-EU or ~, for senior citizens tion, unemployment benefits and old-age Nordic foreign national and settle in Den­ elder care facilities pensions to all citizens and legal residents. mark with his/her spouse unless both par­ se their native Jan­ Successfully integrated immigrants had to ties are 24 years or older. The law was de­ et "particular atten­ accept "Danish values," because the Dan­ signed, in part, to prevent family members eir cultural activities ish political system does not officially rec­ from pressuring young women into mar­ tent would support ognize minorities and only rarely ac­ riage. One unintended consequence, Tights.org/1501/ knowledges minority rights and cultural though, is that young, native Danes with view.html). claims based on minority status. There is foreign spouses have to settle in other EU ninorities could also also little suppott for multicultural poli­ countries, primarily Sweden (Hedetoft cognition. Minority cies or for policies that tell institutions 2006). 44 Peggy Levitl, 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 impotiant 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 Demnark's cultural Moreover, many Danes associate the heritage." The canon would "give us ref­ birth of democratic Demnark with an eth­ erence points and awareness of what is nically Danish, egalitarian nation-state special about Danes and Demnark 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 territmy 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 eve1yone 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 tt·ibe, at the Heritage Agency ofDemnark, 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 counhy, 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 counlty. 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 hist01y of the Jewish phy. The idea of Denmark as a culturally community and its contributions to Dan- homogeneous society persists '!nd new- Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast 45

went unrecognized comers are often seen as not being able to stead. The MWC project was an attempt to n though Jews had or wanting to fit in. Although the welfare work this out which became even more 10 years and owned state has extended considerable social and challenging as so many new immigrants np01tant industries. economic assistance to immigrants and came in." The way the museum was built her studies, the mu­ refugees, thus helping them settle in Den­ and its exhibition style reflects how iystem she learned mark, "Danish perceptions of these people modem day Swedes think about their r non-Cln·istian ob- 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 )anes associate the presented serious obstacles to their social world around us, respect for other cul­ enmark with an eth­ acceptance" (Olwig and Paerregaard tures, a sense of wanting to do good in the litarian nation-state 2011 :3). Many people simply ignore how world outside," said Lars A1meus, "but } pursue its own in­ socioeconomic conditions in Denmark also an annoying self image of being momic growth (i.e. might influence immigrant inc01poration somewhat the conscience of the world, the be compensated by or why people might want to maintain do-gooder of the world, perhaps." ie traumatic loss of their religious practices and traditions. "Sweden," says MWC Curator of Glo­ and people in 1864 Swedish museums' greater willingness balization Klas Grinell, "came late to in­ erception of the na- to showcase diversity and globalization dustrialization. We don't have our own 1seum practice. The also reflects Swedish attitudes toward na­ enlightenment thinkers. Secularization ;essful modern wel­ tionalism and the country's perceived role was created elsewhere. Swedes pride 'st on a long shared in the world. If Denmark turned its back themselves in always being a bit careful at :olwig and Paerre- on the world, Sweden has always looked the beginning, in not being the inventors 1 National Museum face front. It sees itself as an out­ but in being the best adopters ... when we nes are a small tribe, ward-looking internationalist state whose realize that multiculturalism is what is our backs to the commitments to justice and equality do happening and that we are leaving behind r agreed. "So few not stop at the national border (Bergman the old kind of nation-states, then we go since we became a 2006b). Swedes feel a sense of cosmopol­ one step further than eve1yone else. We're ot of our institutions itan duty, not just to Swedes alone (Berg­ not the first nation to not put national pride years old. We've man 2004). Olof Palme (1968:22) cham­ first but we might be the first to be tniiy .ve don't want this pioned the idea that 'solidarity has no global." nuch continuity. So boundaries,' inextricably linking domes­ So just as the Nordiska Museum and 1ing within me. My tic and international appeals to justice and Skansen were created during a period of 1 and they are learn­ proclaiming them two sides of the same major social change in the late 1880s to :s and psalms. I hear coin. During the height of the Swedish preserve and protect Swedislmess, now which song it is be­ welfare state, Sweden considered itself a the MWC is also "a bridge over troubled . ooted. It is almost a model for the rest of the world-the world waters" suggested Historian Patrick Hen- · words, tacit knowl­ needed Sweden as an example of toler­ 1y, a response to the collective identity cri­ 'stand." ance, equity, and responsibility. In the sis caused by Sweden's entty into the Eu­ : has never been as 1980s and 90s, as the welfare state lost ropean Union, the economic downturn of people would like to steam, according to f01mer MWC Direc­ the 1990s, and soaring immigration. And m trumps demogra­ tor, Thommy Svensson, "Sweden had just as, in the 1940s, cultural institutions mark as a culturally great difficulties finding its new identity helped transform rural farmers into urban, persists and new- 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 Govennnent expects," said inore convenient," said Lars A1nreus, "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 culh1ral 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 hannner from Viking age mythology and Swedish label on it, Anders Bjorklund 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 I is Swedish, making it more democratic." Sweden is and what its histo1y has been." Sweden's global embrace also reflects its discomfo1t 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 hist01y (and of their present as recent (MFA) opened its new A1t of the Ameri­ elections reveal) that they would rather cas Wing. Visitors are greeted on the not talk about. The counlty'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 nmth and south. purity are just some of the things most "The wing is ve1y different than eve1y people would like to forget. According to other wing of American a1t in the coun­ Political Scientist Krister Lundberg, "We t1y," Elliot Bostwick Davis, the John tly 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 histo1y. In fact, several mu­ ness, and I hope for each individual there sernn 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 instih1tion 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

ends. "It's so inuch non. But change goes only so far. The ten interfere. If global connection is the tid Lars An1reus, "to United States is still at the heart of the wave of the future, then understanding ues about the nation agenda. The exhibit questions the sources how a global ethos is created, who gets to > focus on other exhi­ of Atnericmmess but not the country's embrace it, and what it looks like from dif­ we can do is just ig­ place, in the world.. It recognizes that ferent national standpoints is of pressing LS a big discussion "American art" is shaped by forces at concern. when Neo-Nazi sup­ work both inside and outside national bor­ te symbol of Thor's ders but it does not take the next step to re­ Peggy Levitt Professor : age mythology and think how that shifts America's global sta­ Department of Sociology ople could not wear tus. "I do not think that museums create Wellesley College , more. We wanted to citizens," Ms. Davis told me, "I hope that Wellesley, Mass. 02481 ; of symbols and not universities do that." e-n1ail: [email protected] :d by certain groups. Kevin Stayton, Chief Curator at the Llrs must do that with Brooklyn Museum, where a comparable Notes sh flag, to continue a exhibit, American Identities, was rein­ Thank you to Tine Da1nsh0It, Birgitta Svens­ son, Eva SilvCn and two anony1nous revie\V­ visitors about what stalled in 2001, disagrees. "It is not a ques­ ers for their helpful corrunents on earlier ts histo1y has been." tion," he says, "of \vhether 1nuseums are drafts. the right place to do this (creating citi­ 2 This was, in part, adds Sjorslev, because cura­ zens). Museums have to do it because we tors showcased the collections in special ex­ hibits ('Bredeudstillingeme') \Vith then1es world, in November won't survive for the next 100 years doing like "The 'Vhite God" (about inyths in colo­ seum of Fine Atis what we have always done which is col­ nial and conte1nporary Latin A1nerica), "Chi­ w Att of the Ameri­ lecting things together and sorting them na" (with included a naturalistic representa­ tion of a Chinese con1n1une) or "Brasil 86" . are greeted on the into libraty-like categories for a handfttl of that the objects became such an eye opener to magnificent set of scholars to look at. We still have to play the world. Even given this, there was a sense al urns. The message that role but we also have to present the an1ong several respondents that the inuseum's arts in a way that our mission is possible, ethnographic inaterials were always primari­ ; strongly influenced ly regarded as con1parative material for un­ :he north and south. to find that connection with mi that makes derstanding how "Danes" lived in prehistoric :lifferent than eve1y some of us devote our lives to it, the fact times - fro1n a strong evolutionary perspec­ can mi in the coun­ that these human expressions are moving, tive. that we want to share that pleasure with 3 The Nordiska Museu1n, a culh1ral histo1y mu­ k Davis, the John seu1n, housed in an imposing castle, and of the Att of the people who might otherwise not find it." Skansen, the ¥torld's first open-air 1nuseu111, t told me, "because it President Obama used aspirational lan­ \\'ere created by Arhir In1n1anuel Hazelius in cultures as far as we guage when he addressed that 2008 crowd the late 1880s to showcase Scandinavian ina­ terial culture. Its website invites visitors to going north, central, in Berlin's Tiergarten. He wasn't predict­ "Discover S\veden's cultural history. Exhibi- 1 with that as a con­ ing that someday we'd all cany global tions on the ho1ne, clothes and fashion, cus­ k people through so passp01is. He was saying that we live on to1ns and traditions uncovering daily life in S\veden through the ages (www.nordiskann1- is layering and rich­ the same planet and face similar problems seet.se/category.asp ?cat= 18 7&catnan1e= Eng­ ~ach individual there that we need to do something about. But !ish&topmenu~ 142, 2012). ,e mind of what is we still define problems and their solu­ 4 Between 2001-2011, the City Council stood radical move for an tions nationally. When we create interna­ in opposition to the National goven1n1ent but in October 2011, a new govern1nent \vas ways defined colon- tional institutions, like the United Nations elected and the City Council is no longer at 1 England phenome- or the World Court, national interests of- odds \vith its national counterpart. 48 Peggy Levitt, The Bog and the Beast

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1 (\V\V\V.tnkc.botkyrka.se) 3, 2011. lture (\V\V\V.varldskultur­ .turn1useetio111-museetiin­ sed Decentber 23, 2011. I' An Eighteenth-Century Tea Table The Materiality and Sociability of Tea and Coffee By Kari Telste

t ' Norsk Folkemuseum - the Norwegian cove1y of hidden links to subjects that ar/:' Museum of Cultural Histmy - has a large not quite stated and places that are nd and unique collection of interiors, fumi­ really shown. The connections these dej ture, china, silver and various types of do­ tails betray may only be implied, but mall mestic utensils acquired and used by the extend outwards to the whole glo!x. middle and upper ranks of Nonvay in the (Brook 2008:7-10). I period 1550 to 1900. One of the pieces of The tea table, along with similar table.! furniture is a tea table in rococo style. It is in the museum's collections, large collecJ gilded with curved legs, and its blue and lions of tea and coffee ware, either in Chi! white faience top is formed as a tray de­ nese porcelain or locally produce,{ picting a hunting scene. The table was fuience, tell that their owners had acquirj probably made in Holland, or maybe in a range of objects for the specific purpo., England. Museum curators of earlier of serving tea, coffee and chocolate, a times were not quite sure about its origin that their drawing rooms by the mid-eigh or who had owned it. They dated the table eenth centmy were filled with exot' · to about 1740-50, however, and they smells and tastes, creating new sensatio thought the top was possibly made at the The rococo details of this particular ta faience facto1y in Copenhagen.1 indicate that its owner adopted the Eu pean styles fashionable at this time, w its faience top hints at a fascination w· Chinese things, so prominent in the ei eenth century, a fascination that insp' the European production of faience. T the table links the inhabitants of No to the Far Eastern trade and suggests they were engaged in cultural excha. on a global scale. Tracing the variousb.. and links of the table, I will discuss.' these exchanges generated new cul meanings, and changed the material.• ture and social practices of the inhab Tea table in rococo style. Photo: Norsk Folkernu­ seum. Anne-Lise lleinsfelt. of Norway - or more precisely of tiania, as Oslo, the capital ofNorwa 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 Cult by the sinologist Timothy Brook in his Exchanges book Vermeer's Hat (2008), I have chosen By the end of the seventeenth cen . to stait with this table, not just for what we consumption of new and exotic b . actually know about it, but for the hints of like tea, coffee and chocolate, · broader historical forces that lurk in its de­ from the Far East, was becoming· tails. These details may lead to the dis- able all over Europe. The Pai