Bildning as a Central Concept in the Cultural Policy of the Swedish Government : From Arthur Engberg to Alice Bah Kuhnke

2015

This article explores bildning as a central concept in the development of the explicit cultural policy of the Swedish government. It takes its point of departure in how the concept of bildning was interpreted by Arthur Engberg, the minister responsible for cultural policy in the Social Democrat governments 1932–1939. In his interpretation bildning was liked both to upholding the high arts and the national culture and to the idea of re-invigorating these through cultural policy and education. The article continues by looking at the role and the interpretations of this concept in the later government reports and government bills aiming to cover the entirety of Swedish cultural policy, i.e. th…

National museums and nation-building

2016

National Museums and Nation-Building in Europe 1750–2010: Mobilization and Legitimacy, Continuity and Change is a volume edited by Peter Aronsson and Gabriella Elgenius. Together with Stefan Berger...

Secular and sacred? The Scandinavian case of religion in human rights, law and public sphere

2014

Secular and Sacred? The Scandinavian Case of Religion in Human Rights, Law and Public Sphere (van den Breemer et al. 2014) is an anthology concerned with the shape and development of secularism in ...

Review of “Performing Nordic Heritage : Everyday Practices and Institutional Culture,” edited by Peter Aronsson and Lizette Gradén

2015

The dawn of the secular state? Heritage and identity in Swedish church and state debates 1920–1939

2015

This article provides a study of political positions concerning the role of religion in modern society in Sweden between 1920 and 1939. It aims to increase understanding of the Swedish secularization path, with special emphasis on issues related to heritage and national identity, by comparing the dominant perspectives on these issues in the Church of Sweden and in the Social Democratic Party during that period. It addresses how these positions have influenced policies during the period, as well as some of their implications for later path dependence. It explores relations between religious issues and the concept of national heritage, as well as how the fact that both were at that time commo…