cultural heritage, the invention of traditions, authenticity, the production of swedish culture

Cultural Heritage, the invention of traditions, authenticity, the production of Swedish culture.

Last time

• Exploring everyday culture

• Discussion in group about the metaphore The ”cultural lens” • we all carry • etnocentrism

• The lens – what shapes the lens

• Streckgubben – a picture of ourself as human beings and cultural beings.

Family and home

• The process of building culture, carry and create

• The bourgeoisie 19th Century – in contrast and in revolt – new demands

• We saw Forsters novel, the film ”a room with a view” as an example

• and the Film Fanny and Alexander directed by Ingmar Bergman

• The home full off stuff – overloaded

One group mentioned the great impact of family and the environment you grow up within for shaping your lens – making you as a cultural human being.

A raw material – can´t be human without other humans around.

Changes and questioning the older generation

The children of the bourgeoisie became well educated citizens with great impact on society

• 1930:ies – the functionalism

Today

• Prepare for our trip to Lund next Friday.

• Talk about another kind of creation of cultutral heritage – within science.

• Again – the starting point will be anthropology and my own subject Ethnology

Ethnology

• My subject is a sister discipline of Anthropology. In Sweden it first appeared as a subject in 1863 at the University of Uppsala.

• It was a man called Gunnar Hyltén Cavallius who used the word Ethnology in a title of his dissertation about Wärend and Wirdarna. Wärend is a region in southern Sweden and Wirdarna the name of the people living there.

• The thing about this dissertation, which makes it still worth mentioning is that it was one of the first dissertations dealing with the culture and history of ”common” people.

• The people (in a very public sense) was the main object of the study.

• This in turn was a consequensce of a much broader interest in the ”people” in whole northern Europe at this time.

• An intellectual ideology among students, artists, writers e t c about finding

• the genuine,

• The origin and unspoiled

• And as mentioned before – it was found in nature and among the peasants.

• Two reasons – in contrast to urban life and in contrast to industrialization and modernity.

• The old and traditional life was fading away.

Study peasants and common people to understand the ”Volkgeist” The soul of the people.

• This as a part of understanding the nation not just as a state but also with a people with one shared language and one shared culture.

• Erik Gustafs Geijer Götiska förbundet i Uppsala – study of the german philosopher Herder. Geiger wrote novels about genuine origine models – found in history and among peasants –

• ”the Viking”.• The Farmer from Odal.

• In the text in the compendium – Thomas Hylland Eriksen – you find the same story in Norway – farmers from the specific mountain valleys in southern Norway.

• But this was not just romanticism and part of understanding the origins of the nation.

• “Volkgeist”

• It also became a science – Ethnology – with a scientifical purpose. To map, explain, compare, describe and organize.

• Cultural maps – the same cultural sphere

• This is what Gunnar Olof Hyltén Cavallius was part of when he wrote his dissertation.

Hyltén Cavallius

• He travelled around in the area of Wärend – visiting villages and houses, talking to people and collecting artefacts – tools, bride gifts etc.

• He was looking for evidence of old, original tradition apparent within

• the names of villages, • peoples stories and beliefs and • also in material form. • old fashioned tools in the harvest for example.

• By studying the present time (1860) he searched for traces back to a prehistoric age.

• He was not interested in the present but in reconstruction of the past.

• Find the origin.

• Ethnology as a science at this time was established as the study of people (ethno means people)

• Reconstruction of the past

• Comparative method – compare different areas in Sweden, customs, artefacts, etc. Find the most old fashioned and unspoiled.

• Hyltén Cavallius collected a lot of stuff – brought it back home and eventually opened a more or less permanent exhibition with all items displayed.

• Beginning of a museum.

There was another agenda as well.

• Not just science but also an idea of rescue the traditional genuine, origin life that was disappearing as a consequence of new lifeconditions during 19th century.

• A joke – that Ethnologists at the period worked as firemen – answering to the alarm, running around in rural Sweden trying to save as much as possible.

One of those

• Arthur Hazelius (in todays text) 1833 -1901

• He was a schoolar – history, archeology etc

• Spent the summer holliday in Dalarna (as many intellectuals at the time)

• Do you remember I showed you the painter Carl Larsson. National Romanticism – great influence – his home and family…

• Hazelius at Rättvik – the young girls in the boat over the lake – going to church.

• The red ribbons in their hair and traditional festive clothing.

• Hazelius felt a ”mission” . To save this origin and beauty for the present and coming generations.

• Create a collection and a museum.

• The issue of the article of today.

• Hillström describes how Hazelius created the

• Scandinavian Ethnographic collection (first with basically traditional clothes). 1873

• Later the Nordic Museum• And the open air museum Skansen

• Hillström describes Hazelius mission as not only a part of nationalization,

• Rather an effort to collect Scandinavian culture beyond territorial borders – including Finland, Baltic countries and Northern Germany

• Hazelius interest was to rescue and preserve for coming generations

• Other interests in the museum was of course the creation of something genuinly Swedish – as a way of preserving the original Volkgeist. Politically

• Within Science other considerations – make order, explain etc.

• Scandinavia, Baltic countries and northern Germany a common cultural area – very different languages – but artefacts, beliefs myths, and traditions resemblance.

Within ScienceThe main theory connected to method

• 1. The idea of evolution (Darwin 1859)

• Evolutionism – inspired all kind of science – Cavallius in his reconstruction of the past – studied evolution – the traditional old fashioned development…

• Also social sciences – evolution to explain class differences Herbert Spencer

Possible to study evolution

• Typographical method

• Oscar Montelius – (in the text – the one that takes over responsibility for the Nordic Museum after Hazelius death in 1901.)

Typological method

• Classification according to general type.

• Classifying items in order of their objective characteristics

• Order items in series of development

• From simple to more elaborated

• The language – origin. Heritage – relatives. (family metaphore)

• August Strindberg – mocking this science wrote a pamphlett called

• Buttonology

• Organising buttons (knapplådan).

• Evolution and progress – but also the idea of devolution – the golden era of the past disappearing

• The genuine unspoiled people –the decadence of modernity, industrialization, urbanization and consumtion.

Diffusionism

• Diffusionism

• Follow the items and map how the diffuse are spread in and between different areas – goal to find the origin – where did it start.

”Cartography”

• Making maps – to understand geographical prevalence

• Flail – a tool or machine with a swinging action used for threshing – separeting grain from corn – different construction in different times.

• A map put a pin for each – different dots

• This is described also in the article. Montelius finds Hazelius collection as chaotic – without order.

• He suggests that all items in collection is ordered geographical and chronological.

• Instead of displaying all guilded items (clocks) from Germany, Scandinavia and Baltic countries in one room/cabinet…

• Display all ”Swedish” items in one room, in order and chronologically – following type and time.

A new idea

• Connection between territory item and origin

• A thing made in Sweden by a Swedish artisan is Swedish.

• A cupboard made in Netherlands for example – made for export to Sweden can never be Swedish.

• A understanding of heritage almost as relation by blood.

• The article discuss how a kind of open minded Haphazard (mostly gifts) collection is reshaped into a scientific and political project.

• Science – evolution, relation and development connected to geography – suggesting that items are genuinely ”Swedish”, ”Norwegian”, ”Finnish”,

• ”Danish” or ”German” because of connection to territory.

• Closing borders

• A political project

• Hazelius ”scandinavist” – belived in a Scandinavian nation.

• Up until 1809 Finland was part of Sweden

• 1814 Denmark and Norway parted and Norway entered into a union with Sweden (ended 1905).

• Politically interest in stressing ”Swedish” in contrast to ”Norwegian”.

• This is the background of many of the ethnographic museums today – collection in order to show local, regional or national identity.

• Division mentioned in text

Ethnographic museums – primitive culturesCultural Historical museums – Civilized cultures

Think of representationalso mentioned in the text

• The British museum, London• Albert and Victoria museum, London

• Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (the shop of black magic at Diagon alley in Harry Potter)

• The Nordic Museum – the open air museum in Stockholm Skansen

• And Kulturen – a cultural history museum

• Geographical representation – chronological display – the stone axes –

•

• Reflexion – why this collection/ who made the selection – why

• Whos story origin is represented – who are absent, scilenced.

Final thought/theory

• The use of history in creating a cultural heritage

• History, Myths and Identity equal history and myth.

• Often we think of history as something objectiv – its there ready to find describe and collect.

But it is also subjective and somehow mythical since:

• 1. History is a second place reconstruction. Simplifying a complex reality. It is based on selection in turn based on forgetfulness and purpose (creation of nationalism)

2. History and ideology walks hand in hand – EU Museum of history in Copenhagen common,Funnelcup culture

• 3. History says more about the present than about th past – connected to purpose – make Scandinavianism or Swedishness

• 4. There is not one history but many – depending on who is the narrator – always exclusive and inclusive in the same time.

• Every time I start to tell a story this process of exclusion of the other and inclusion of the we starts

• 5. History is mythological since one purpose is to explain origin – it places us as human beings in a greater context – explains and shows in what ways we do belong together.

• Imagined community

To examples

• Janson – one woman Artemisia Gentilezky

• Janson Evolution cultural evolution shaping the western/european understanding of the world

• Iran Iraq – Greece, Rome and the the civilisation of Euorpe (Mesopothania)

• Women art and sociolgy

• Not a part of the great history in Janosn – separated – parallell – marginalized?

Linnés Råshult

• Authenticity?

Bring all these questions with you to the museum

• Who• Why• How• Representation• Goal