Investigation of selected authors, topics, or problems. Variable subject matter; see departmental announcement for description.

Since the economic downturn of the 1990s, identity in contemporary Swedish culture is negotiated in a tension between austerity in welfare and concepts of cultural essentialism. Migration flows, increasing social divides, a soaring crime rate and political polarization have laid bare fractures and divisions in a society that previously was perceived as stable and homogenous. How has this development played out in literature, arts and cinema? Based upon Hübinette’s and Lindström’s (2015, 2020) division of Swedish history into ‘three phases of hegemonic whiteness’, this graduate course explores expressions of loss, nostalgia, melancholia and cultural memory in the formation of national identity. Starting with the Wonderful adventures of Nils Holgersson (1906) processes of inclusion in and exclusion from national identity manifested in Swedish culture. Paradoxically, democratization and universal suffrage (introduced in 1921) unfolded parallel to the scientific establishment of racial biology, based upon ideas of Nordic supremacy. Post-1945, Sweden instead rebranded its self-image as superior, a conscience in the areas of human rights and international peace. After 1990, this self-design however was challenged dramatically by economic crises, EU-membership and a growing influx of migrants from the MENA-area. Faced with the consequences of an increasingly multicultural society, far right movements and parties were on the rise and in 2014 entered Swedish parliament. Since then, Hübinette and Lindström claim, Sweden is placed in a double process of emotional politics: melancholy related to the loss of its international self-image and to the loss of essentialist concepts of culture. This course investigates how these sentiments have been portrayed in Swedish literature, arts and cinema in relation to national minorities (such as the indigenous Sámi), the portrayal of the decay of the welfare state and issues of class and gender. The graduate course is based upon reading of Swedish literature (translated to English), art exhibitions, documentaries and movies.

Prerequisite: graduate standing

Repeat Rules