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This dissertation focuses on the polyphonic body politics of modern society, as activated in three Swedish Government Official Reports from the 1960s and 1970s. The analysis takes as its point of departure the assumptions about embodiment and identity uncovered in these reports. I argue that the reports – which concern the establishment of juridical sex, the right to abortion, and sterilization – all deal with the question of the individual’s right to decide on issues relating to his or her own body. The commissioners themselves claim that their proposals are formulated in the name of individual rights; and that they are progressive and modern. Although the importance to uphold the individual’s right to autonomy is thus emphasized, there are other values that need to be accounted for. The individual’s sovereignty in these matters is per definition a question open for discussion, and it actualizes a conflict of interest between the individual on one hand and the state or the public interest on the other, or between the individual and professional experts. Who is to decide in matters of the body? What assumptions are made in relation to sex, gender and desire? In addition to the historical approach – the attempt to reconstruct the discourses on sex, gender, and desire, individual autonomy and public interest, generated in the mentioned reports – I initiate a theoretical line of inquiry that draws from the conviction that we need to seek new ways to approach the body; ways that challenge dichotomies that are taken for granted, such as the distinction between body and mind, inner and outer, biological and social, nature and nurture etc. Focusing on Judith Butler’s reformulation of Aristotle’s concepts form and matter into the dynamic concept of materialization, I argue that the concept form has analytic qualities that make it especially useful when analyzing discourses of the body.

This study deals with the consumer co-operative in Sweden, specifically The Co-operative Union and Wholesale Society and the ideas that were developed within and disseminated by this organization between the years 1899 and 1939. The main theories used in the dissertation are Max Weber’s ideal-type and Norbert Elias’ civilization process.

Initially, the dissertation describes the roots of the co-operative movement in Sweden and subsequently, the informal program and the organization of The Co-operative Union, formed in 1899.

From the very beginning the co-operative union fiercly attacked consumer credit. The consumer (it was often a women that was implied) would learn how to control impulses and passions and never allow her instincts to influence a decision when making a purchase. Here, the co-operative connected with economic theories that put consumption above production. Through the co-operative, every authentic need could be met through the supply of real goods. Certain products, false and/or bad, were to be avoided. The consumer should continuously debate good taste, i.e. simple, practical and beautiful goods, which answered genuine needs in society. Through debate and discussion in the public arena, insight would be gained into utility and correct aesthetics. The discussion about “natural needs” included campaigns for nutritious food and functional shops and houses. Beside this campaign in study circle activities and co-operative newspapers, the mind of the reader.

Study circles and newspaper articles directed a challenge to the woman to not only be “the woman with the basket” but also to be more efficient, i.e. planning her time in a spirit of Taylorism. This demanded both discipline and rationality in order to avoid credit, but also calmness, peace of mind and responsibility for more than just oneself. In the late 1930s she was supposed to be economist, nutrition expert, cook, cleaner, psychologist and child-raiser, all at the same time. All these were seen as factors that were a part of being a rational consumer.

I Sverige har vi betonat vikten av att hushålla och spara. Varje samhälle har regler, som föreskriver hur vi skall bete oss som samhällsmedborgare. Men de reglerna stannar inte vid det privata hemmets dörr. Också hemmets behov har definierats enligt normer om "rätt" och "fel". Det blir alldeles tydligt om vi som här studerar svensk konsumentupplysning, skolverksamhet i hemekonomi och organisationer som KF och Svenska Slöjdföreningen. Konsumera rätt, och ha rätt behov.

The present dissertation deals with runology from the perspective of the history of science and ideas. Its point of departure is the controversial question among runologists of whether or not runes were used for magical purposes and places this question in atradition of magic writing, with its roots in early antiquity (when written language emerges in Mesopotamia), and in thoughts about symbolism, whose origins are lost to usin the mists of our prehistoric past.

Sweden's — and Scandinavia's — first true runologist, Johannes Bureus, considered runes not as an ancient form of writing but rather as a guide to metaphysical truths, a cabbal uppsalica. However, rune magic and the symbolic interpretation of runes also hasan historic currency of the less-savoury sort: as an element in an enthusiasm for allthings Germanic, displaying powerful racist tendencies, which burgeoned around theturn ofthe last century and which reached its zenith during the Nazi era in Germany.

Concurrently, an interest in the magical properties of runes blossomed among runologists in Scandinavia. Some of them went so far as to claim that the Germanic peoples, under the influence of their contact with the literacy systems of Mediterranean cultures, had also adapted the magical-writing practice which we know from the numerous inscriptions and lead tablets found buried throughout the Roman empire. The foundations of this so-called "gematria" consists of the fact that the letters are used as numbers and therefore have a numerical value. In this manner, each word resulted in a sum, and it appears that practitioners considered that names or terms with the same numerical value also corresponded to one another in a mystical manner. In the case of runes, the numbers 16 and 24 were considered significant, since they corresponded to the two rune alphabets, the elder and the newer futhark. One of these runologists was Sigurd Agrell, professor of Slavic languages in Lund, according to whom rune gematria had its origins in Mithraism, which was proven by the similarities between the Mithraic calender and the secret sequence of rune lines (the uthark), as well as in the very names of the runes themselves.

After the Second World War these rune-magic theories were subjected to harsh criticism, at least in part as a result of the symbolic excesses of lay runologists in Nazi Germany. The demand for linguistically-grounded research with neo-Positivistic overtones was now confronted with a runology based on an increasingly hermeneutic perspective, wherein philological knowledge concerning the religious, magical and social functions of the inscriptions would now comprise the basis for their interpretation. In contrast with its mother discipline, archeology, runology has almost entirely lacked a theoretical and methodical discussion. Lately however, an increasing interest in theory can be discerned, the result of large-scale research projects, computerization and a transition to more comprehensive studies.

According to the principle of sufficient reason we should always try to give sufficient reasons for the truth (or high probability) of our opinions. All such attempts lead to a trilemma of justification: they force us to choose between infinite regress, logical circle, or dogmatism. According to the principle of critical testing we should always try to test our opinions critically. It is reasonable to claim that opinions that has survived critical tests are true. Such truthclaims are conjectural and do not confront us with any trilemma of justification. Scientific theories can be tested through observations and experiments. Statements about observations and experiments can be tested by experience. Although Critical Rationalism is a philosophical position, it can also be critically discussed. If we follow the principle of critical testing, no trilemma of justification arises when we claim that it is reasonable to accept Critical Rationalism. This opens the way for a critical philosophy stressing the fallibility of human knowledge.

This essay examines Aaron Stalnakers,” Overcoming Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Exercises in Xunzi and Augustine”; with respect to how he manages to avoid misinterpretations and anachronism in the face of handling two separate traditions of thought, as is required in comparative studies.

This thesis describes the impact of the notion of a calling on the development of the nursing profession during the period 1850–1933. The focus of the study is on how perceptions andnotions of a calling were altered over time, and in which way this historically shaped conceptinfluenced the professionalisation of the female health care work. Some contexts of relevancefor the notion of a calling and which are emphasised in the thesis are the women’s rights movement, the expansion of the civil servants’ movement, the professionalisation and modernisationof the health care system as well as the general secularisation of society.

The study consists of three parts. The first part constitutes a conceptual background tothe notion of a calling and here the Christian heritage of ideas is examined. The second partof the thesis describes three leading institutions of nursing education: the Ersta Institution ofdeaconesses (1851), the Red Cross education (1867), and the Sophia Home (1884). The study shows how Lutheran features influenced these educational institutions, mainly the educationof the deaconesses. The meaning of the calling differed between the deaconesses and thenurses of the Sophia Home. The deaconnesses’ notion of a calling emphasised the value ofhumbly serving fellow beings, whereas the Sophia Home attached more importance to theelevated and noble aspect of the calling.

The third part of the thesis is the most comprehensive one. It is here analysed how the circlearound the Swedish Nursing Association (SNA), used and related to the notion of a calling during the period 1910–1933. The description is structured under four themes. The first describes how the notion of a calling expresses a particular professional ideal and an ethical attitude characterised by a Lutheran work ethics with strong altruistic features. Under the second theme, the gendered perception of the vocation is discussed. It is claimed that the nursingprofession was not unambiguously permeated by feminine gendered perceptions. Instead the nurses’ professional ideal espoused a mixture of masculine and feminine gendered metaphors.Under the third theme, it becomes clear that the nurses’ proclamation of a calling strengthened and increased the status of the profession. Under the fourth theme, the nurses’notion of a calling is related to two male professional groups, doctors and clergymen, and thepessimistic and sombre spirit of time at the turn of the century, 1900. The general secularisation of society, and the gradual modernisation of the health care sector seemed to have contributedto a need for a professional corps, marked by strong tradition, apparently considereda guarantee for a health care system that would still comprise Christian love.

I artikeln diskuteras de pedagogiska utmaningar som följer av att undervisa i tvärvetenskapliga sammanhang. Följande frågor ställs: på vilka sätt kan olika ämnesbakgrunder vara till hinder eller till hjälp i lärandesituationer?; vilka pedagogiska utmaningar ställs man inför som lärare?; vad sker med förståelsen av det egna ämnet efter möten med nya och annorlunda ämnestraditioner?; vilken roll spelar förmågan att kunna läsa texter från olika ämnen och traditioner än det egna, för att kunna uppnå en gynnsam lärandeprocess?

This thesis set out to analyse early baptistic peace-activities in Sweden in the 1900s, through a micro-historical analysis of Albert Wickman (1884-1942) who was a Swedish Baptist pastor and peace-agitator. In nonconformist-churches we find the earliest pacifists and Wickman started out as a theological trained Baptist, but he founded an independent organisation with ideas based on teachings by Leo Tolstoy. His Anti-war organisation was organised much like the Salvation Army and had as key-concept to gather members who claimed they would not kill another human being. Another idea was to create an army of volunteers who would be willing to put themselves between fighting nations. The organisation had many thousands member but existed only between 1912-1918 and it never practiced it go-in-between ideas. In the 1920s Wickman was involved with the oldest Swedish peace-society, “Svenska Freds och Skiljedomsföreningen”, and raised their membership from 4 000 in 1922 to 49 000 in 1930, but he also led this organisation to almost bankruptcy. This thesis gives an account of who Albert Wickman was and through him offers contexts and world-views on his pacifistic thinking in the first decades of the 1900s and how peace was promoted at the time in Sweden.

Since 1902 conscientious objectors in Sweden could apply for civil military services without arms, based on religious convictions. A new law in 1966 gave legal ground to apply for non-military service also based on ethical convictions. The number applicants increased much more than authorities expected. In the 1960s the political left also began involve themselves in pacifistic issues which has been quite studied before. But with the change of the new law, the number of applications with a religious (Christian) conviction also multiplied.With this background, this thesis set out to study two historical problems. First, it asks how the conscientious objectors from the nonconformist-churches were looked upon by the authorities. Secondly it enquires about the discrepancy between the pacifistic convictions found in the men doing non-army service from Pentecostal churches, versus the non-existing public support on a national level in the Pentecostal movement for their pacifism.3 (31)The study spans 1960-1976 and uses a comparison between four different narratives - the national military narrative, the individual-ethical narrative, the pacifistic-political narrative and the nonconformist-churches pacifistic narrative - as a method to explore different views. The thesis shows that the largest number of conscientious objectors came from the non-conformist churches and the Pentecostal movement. However, while the majority Pente-costals on grassroots level stayed true to an historical pacifism, the prominent leader, Lewi Pethrus, had a more nationalistic view accepting a militaristic narrative. This discrepancy was never publicly debated and while the Pentecostals exercised a strong pacifistic practice they never developed any formal doctrine for it. The thesis shows how grassroots pacifism was hindered to become a wider peace-vision in the Swedish Pentecostal movement.

This thesis examines Karl Jaspers' theory of the origin of man in a historical period 2500 years ago.Jaspers believes that it was then that man's current mental and spiritual consciousness was formed and developed. Jaspers was convinced that man should use the abilities of his origin as a counterforce in the struggle in modern reality, a development which in many respects was based on myths, dogmas and irrationality, and which characterized man's living conditions. After suffering the trauma of World War II until 1945, Jaspers decided to identify the good qualities that he believed all people should have in common, thereby creating new existential conditions. Jaspers started from the archaic and classical times in history and then found a period where man had obviously been endowed with specific soul gifts and cognitive qualities. He called the period "the axial age" in the book published in 1949, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, which was then translated into English in 1953 with the title The Origin and Goal of History. The English edition is the primary source in this study. In his book, Jaspers uses a philosophical-historical perspective on the origins and events that he associates with human development during the axial age, in order to draw attention to the normative image we have of our selves and others as human beings in the world. Jaspers pedagogically describes the life man lives in modernity in the same way as when Plato explains the world of ideas. As it is demonstrated in the thesis, Jasper's idea is based on a speculative reflection on the origin and properties of man and regards it as a "tabula rasa" with new existential conditions intended for man in the modern world, facing a charge and a prelude to the future. Furthermore, the thesis explores comments on and critique of this theory expressed by other scholars.

This article outlines a direction for a research endeavour bringing togetherdesign research and design historical research from a perspective of contem-porary design methods. There is a need to probe and question the historiesand geographies of design’s methods, to explore how they could contribute toexpanding conceptual foundations and develop new ways of designing.We are proposing a programmatic framework that brings design methods tothe attention of design history, and to historicity of design in design prac-tices, by sketching a map, a geography in time, to move toward a deeperunderstanding of the evolution of methods linked to the specific cultures andcontexts from which they emerge. It is a starting point for a wider researchproject, an example bringing design historical and design methodologicalresearch agendas closer to each other. Starting from interviews with Italiandesigners we highlight the need for a deeper and continued investigation intodesign histories of design methods.

This article examines Swedish health research regarding the Indigenous Sami people and the lack of epidemiological data. A historical overview underlines that Swedish research is hampered by Sami people having been the subject of studies by the National Institute of Racial Biology between 1920 and 1950. Public health research has mainly taken place during the last 20 years. There are no current epidemiological studies and this is linked to the fact that Swedish official statistics do not report on ethnic groups in the country. Ethnic statistics is a sensative issue and new ethical principles need to be worked out where the Sami, as constitutionally recognized indigenous people, are allowed to decide whether they want to be part of official statistics, and if so, what statistics would be relevant and how it should be collected.

This essay is about the origin, planning and establishment of the European Space Research Organisation's (ESRO) sounding rocket base Esrange outside Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Three main questions are examined. First I show there were not just scientific and technical but also political, economical as well as military reasons to build a European rocket base. Second, I scrutinize the reasons to choose Northern Sweden as the location for the rocket base. As it turns out, the main reasons were the favourable location of Northern Sweden within the aurora oval zone, the proximity of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory, and the possibility to use a large, although not quite uninhabited, area where the launched rockets could crash. Finally, I examine the difficulty of talking about boundaries of various kinds, such as temporal, spatial and functional. The essay also provides a discussion on possible ways to continue research on this topic.

Science and technology have a tendency to clump together in places where they spawn other forms of societal activities. Sometimes these places become famous through processes known as place-making, or the social construction of place. Because the scientific and technological activities affect the places, and the places conversely affect the science and technology, it is relevant to study how and why these connections emerge.

This dissertation examines the particular case of the northern Swedish town of Kiruna, which has become known for being a `space town' because of its scientific, technological, and other activities that relate to the near space around the earth. The overall objective is to analyse the processes underlying the making of Kiruna as a space town in the period 1943--2000.

Five parts make up the study. First is an examination of how the development of space physics research in Kiruna led to the setting up of a scientific observatory. The second part studies how the Swedish participation in the European Space Research Organisationmade Kiruna the place for a rocket base. Next follows an analysis of how local business efforts contributed to forming a new satellite technology business and the Space House office building. The fourth part concerns how the visions to establish a space `university' eventually led to the emergence of the Space Campus. Last is an epilogue that briefly analyses the space tourism efforts in Kiruna.

A central finding is that the space town has emerged as the result of entwined processes where, on the one hand, ideas about the near space around the earth have led to new activities and physical structures, and, on the other hand, these new activities and built structures conversely have inspired to new ideas. Of importance is also the geographical place where these developments have occurred. Here, a reoccurring argument to placing the activities and structures in Kiruna was the town's geographically favourable location for specific scientific and technological activities.

Another finding is that the development has gradually led to the emergence of a kind of identity or notion of Kiruna as a particular place for space activities. Although this form of place-making has occurred largely through spontaneous processes, it was also the result of intentional efforts.

Together, these different place-making processes have formed the `space town' of Kiruna.

This article compares the use, policy, and debate concerning introduced tree species in the five Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland). These countries have a long common history and are culturally similar. They are often framed under the benchmark of the Nordic Model or even the Nordic Forestry Model. Therefore, we hypothesize that the Nordic countries' treatment of introduced tree species share common aspects, and that global environmental agreements and international currents in science and policy have reinforced these similarities. The comparison shows that globalization is strong and it seems, at least at a first glimpse, that the Nordic countries follow a kind of Nordic Model in their approach to introduced tree species. However, the history and importance of forestry, ecological conditions, afforestation campaigns, traditions of using introduced trees, understandings, and stakeholder positions have shaped different national and even regional path dependencies and circumstances. This, in turn, has transmuted international policy-making, regulations, and discussions into different specific ways to interpret, control, and implement the use of introduced trees in practice. This article concludes that global environmental agreements and international currents in science and policy adapt to diverse national contexts.

In 2002, Sweden finally stopped producing air raid shelters for its population after over sixty years of continuous production since 1938. Judging from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB, the Swedish Air raid shelter registry contain about 65,000 air raid shelters registered as being in use. This figure reflect a huge security infrastructure which, today, is said to provide shelter for around 70% of the Swedish population. By studying the interwar period and the origins of civil defence in Swedish history, this dissertation sets out to explain the origins of the Swedish air raid shelter and provide an explanation of how Sweden eventually became a “Sheltered Society”.

In order to achieve this, this dissertation will study the interwar period up until the first year of the Second World War, 1918 to 1940, which can be said to be the formative years for aerial protection politics and air raid shelters. As a theoretical inspiration, the dissertation uses LTS theory, intertwined with a Multi-Level Perspective on technological transitions. Through the close reading of reports and articles, newspapers and archival materials, written by fortification officers, engineers, architects, politicians and journalists during these years, the study shows how the originally military bunkers and air raid shelters were conceptually transferred to civilian use during the interwar years by authors concerned about the technological and strategic developments in aerial warfare.

This process was enabled by a careful navigation between militaristic notions of aerial protection and the politically neutral civilian use of air raid shelters. Key factors for the successful implementation was framing the shelters as a simple technical matter through the concept of “Construction-Technical Aerial Protection”, as well as removing all military involvement in building and organizing them, making them seem “civilian” rather than military. This eventually led to the ratification of the Air raid shelter statute of 1940, which could be said to be the origin of the Swedish air raid shelter system. While politicians, engineers and fortification officers launched this image of the air raid shelter, the contemporary press discourse also provided a means of interpreting the10newly introduced shelters as being culturally compatible with Swedish urban modernity, thus making the radical urban change appear less frightening and a natural part of the development of the burgeoning Swedish welfare state.

Established ideas about state responsibility and state violence are placed in a new light in times characterized as states of emergency. The following conversation addresses the role of the state in the safeguarding of public health, taking its departure in media debates and political debates about state responsibility in two countries that have been criticized for not taking strong enough measures to protect the very futuriority of the nation in times of a pandemic Sweden and Nicaragua. Both countries have been castigated for avoiding total lockdown and for having taken a passive approach to what Wendy Brown has called “the political management of the virus” (Brown 2020). At the same time, the rhetoric used to describe their respective strategies has differed vastly in dialogue we explore notions about governance, biopolitics and necropolitics as they are articulated and negotiated in national contexts that claim the label social democracies. One of the points of departure is that while the response to Covid-19 is often described in war metaphors, and hence as a state of emergency, the unjust and unequal distribution of life and death is by no means exceptional.

I Sverige avrättades cirka 400 personer för trolldom under perioden 1492-1704. I konsten framträder allt med en fasansfull tydlighet, nakna kroppar i orgiastiska ceremonier, håriga djävlar vilt kopulerande med kvinnor och förvridna smärtfyllda ansikten i flammande bål. I rättsdokument från tiden berättas detaljerat om tortyr och förnedring i pinokamrarna, ofta med tydligt sexuella inslag. Nakenhet, orgier, sadism – sexualiteten var av stor betydelse.

Åsa Bergenheim har gått igenom rannsakningsprotokoll från 1600-talet och skildrar hur kvinnan – svag, oren och liderlig – blev ett enkelt mål för djävulen, som sades överföra den ondskefulla kraften till henne genom sexuellt umgänge. Som hans tjänarinna sågs hon sprida ondskan vidare över världen. Bergenheim ger oss en gedigen men lättöverskådlig bild av kvinnans utsatthet i stormaktstidens Sverige, av tidens rättsväsende och inställning till kön, makt och sexualitet.

Detta är en välskriven, fängslande skildring av häxprocesserna i Sverige. Boken riktar sig inte i första hand till forskare, utan till alla och envar som är intresserade av det fascinerande ämnet.

After forensic psychiatry was firmly established in Sweden in the 1930s, many rapists and individuals charged with assaulting children underwent a forensic psychiatric examination. The physicians found that most of them had not been “in control” of their senses or not “in complete control” of their senses at the time of the crime. If the court ordered a forensic psychiatric examination, the defendant had a very good chance of either being discharged or having his sentence reduced considerably. By the 1950s psychological perspectives began to dominate in forensic psychiatry. In the forensic records of the 1950s we can notice a shift from a biomedical to a socio-psychological perspective, and crime was increasingly related to conditions that were not seen as mental derangement from a legal point of view. As a result, it became less and less common, from the 1950s onwards, for sentences to be commuted or defendants discharged.