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- Elmgren, Ainur
(författare)
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Den allrakäraste fienden : Svenska stereotyper i finländsk press 1918-1939
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis studies stereotypes of Sweden and Swedishness in the Finnish press 1918–1939. It maps the genealogy of the images and analyzes the use of stereotypes. In newly independent Finland, the press conveyed debates about national values and political goals. The concept of national stereotyping as a political tool is derived from the works of Michael Pickering, Stuart Hall and Thomas Hylland Eriksen. The categories kin, stranger and enemy (frände, främling, fiende) are used in the study to classify images found in the material. In Finland, Swedishness was both familiar and strange, as well as an obstacle to national unity. The past image of Sweden was a militant bulwark of Western civilization. This historical mission was integrated in an ideal Finnish or Finland-Swedish identity, while contemporary Sweden was discredited as cosmopolitan and pacifist. Sweden was seen as historical kin, estranged in the present. Right-wing writers urged Sweden to reclaim its former mission by identification with "white" Finland. Cultural leftists claimed kinship with the "misunderstood" neighbor. In their interpretation of the common historical mission, the concept of a free Nordic people was coupled with Socialism and the labor movement. Travel accounts depicted a harmonious Sweden in contrast to a Finland riddled with political and cultural conflict. The Finns themselves were perceived as strangers within their own nation, refusing to assimilate into a single national ideal. This "autoexotism" dilemma was solved by focusing on the ideological struggle against an external enemy. According to monocultural nationalism, the only cure to minority questions was assimilation. An external enemy could not be assimilated, but it legitimized the fulfillment of a militant historical mission. The antisemitic image of a "Judaized" Sweden prostrating before the Bolsheviks fed right-wing fantasies of a final apocalyptic battle. Ultimately the choice between kin, stranger or enemy was dependent on the writer's own identification struggles.
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- Elmgren, Ainur, et al.
(författare)
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The Nazis’ cloven hoof : Finnish critiques of legal sterilisation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Conceptualising Public Health : Historical and Contemporary Struggles over Key Concepts - Historical and Contemporary Struggles over Key Concepts. - : Routledge. - 9781138036833 - 9781351712897 ; , s. 46-60
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 1935, a law on prescription-based sterilisation of ‘the idiot, the imbecile, and the mentally ill’ was passed by a majority in the Finnish parliament. Complementary of earlier eugenic legislation, it was considered beneficial for public health and economy, following the examples of ‘advanced’ countries such as Sweden and Germany. The cultural journal Tulenkantajat (The Fire Bearers, 1932-1939) was a rare forum for dissenting left-liberal opinion. Even though its distribution was limited, its controversial reputation ensured frequent citations in other media. Editor-in-chief Erkki Vala launched a campaign against the sterilisation law proposal in 1933. He warned that the law would inevitably target the poor in a society permeated by class injustice. Drawing on Marxist theory and liberal humanism, Tulenkantajat promoted health care based on voluntary participation and education. Its stance on voluntary sterilisation was unclear, but it became consequently opposed to coercive sterilisation, especially after the passing of the law. Even though this campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, it is an early example of a liberal rights discourse where the protection of the rights of the individual against the state became a premise for global human rights, contradicting the hegemonic idea of the people as a single organism, the needs of which override the rights of its individual members.
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- Götz, Norbert, et al.
(författare)
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The Political Culture of Nordic Self-Understanding : Power Investigation
- 2015
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- ‘Power investigation’, or the practice of power to legitimize itself through commissioned programmes of scientific enquiry, is a hallmark of Nordic democracy. Five power investigations have been conducted in the Nordic countries since 1972. The close connection to state power has not dissuaded prominent scholars from participating in them, nor have their findings evoked strong criticism. Combining politically guided perspectives with collaborative research, power investigations represent public events that typify the ostensibly open political culture of the Nordic countries, rather than simply existing as texts or as a politico-scientific genre. Although such investigations have been thought of as critical studies of power, the authors in this book show that their findings have varied greatly and that they have served as tools for wielding power. Whatever shortcomings they uncover, the utility of these investigations in suggesting transparency and self-reflection enhances the legitimacy of Scandinavian government. The investigations are persuasive exercises through which the commissioning authorities and those scholars hired to carry them out engage in a mutually beneficial exchange. Underlying this strategy is the perception, deeply embedded in Nordic political culture, that politics is a progressive, rational endeavour, and that identification with the state is an honourable role for academics.Table of Contents1. ‘Power Investigation: The Political Culture of Nordic Self-Understanding’: Introduction Ainur Elmgren and Norbert Götz2. Introspective Performance: The Scandinavian Power Investigation as a Politico-Cultural Practice Norbert Götz3. From the Swedish Model to the Open Society: The Swedish Power Investigation and the Power to Investigate Power, 1985 – 1990 Carl Marklund4. Three Nordic Power Investigations on the Repercussions of the European Union on Sovereignty and Democracy Ann-Cathrine Jungar5. ‘Power Investigation’ Neglected: The Case of the Finnish Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat Lotta Lounasmeri6. Power and Society in Finland: Change and Continuity Ainur Elmgren7. Justice and EU Foreign Policy Alex Prichard8. Informal Governance and the Eurozone Crisis Alexandra Hennessy
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| 6. |
- Johansson, Martin, 1991-
(författare)
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De nordiska lekarna : Grannländer i pressen under olympiska vinterspel
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Throughout the 20th century, Nordic audiences consumed mediations of athletes from their own country who were competing against Nordic neighbours at Olympic winter games. In daily newspapers, coverage of the games continuously related to notions of both Nordic and national identities, as well as of the imagined relationship between them.This thesis provides new perspectives on the history of Nordic identity formation by analysing representations of Nordic Neighbours within this coverage, and by focusing on three main themes. Firstly, newspaper texts are shown to reveal norms and customs with regards to how Nordics were supposed to feel about their neighbours’ fates at the games. Secondly, the analyses provide new understandings on how Norden was imagined within a popular cultural framework, thereby acting as a counterweight to previous elite-centred research. Thirdly, and most importantly, the thesis sheds light on how the winter games highlighted the relationship between Nordic and national identities, and how tensions between the two were supposed to be handled according to norms suggested by the newspapers. This was especially true in Finland, Norway and Sweden, whose capitals’ media systems constitute the main study object for this study. In the case of Finland, however, language barriers have forced this thesis to only focus on Swedish-speaking media.Through both quantitative and qualitative readings of the source material, the thesis concludes that Norden emerges as a place on mental maps that is distinguished by its relationship to a certain kind of play. As pointed out by Johan Huizinga, the word “play” translates differently in different languages, and in Norwegian the word “lek” is used to describe both “play” and the “games” of the Olympiad. This thesis highlights the double meaning, concluding that media coverage reflected and constructed the winter Olympics as a Nordic playground, where ambivalences, humorous exchanges, and intra-Nordic competition emerged as nordicity-constituting games.
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