Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Farewell to Sweden

It is hard  to believe, but my four month adventure in Sweden is now drawing to a close. It has really been an amazing time. While there is so much I still want to share about Sweden, I'm going to conclude this blog with a few reflections on Sweden, the United States, and public history (and also a "Top Five" lists):

A thought-provoking sign at Sweden's National History Museum, Stockholm

Observation #1: On Doing Public History Well: 


Over the last four months, I have visited an incredible number of museums, castles, house museums, historic churches, and historic sites here in Gothenburg, as well as throughout Sweden and Scandinavia.  The worst museums were merely collection of objects and facts, the best showed history as a process of discovery and change.  Great museums posed interesting questions, and showed the ways that historians might help the public to consider possible answers.  Whether it was learning about the challenge of raising and preserving the warship Vasa from Stockholm harbor, the process of creating public art at Lund's Skissernas museum, the unanswered questions raised by prehistoric artifacts found in the lands that would become Gothenburg, or archaeologists' competing interpretation of Ales Stenar--history was portrayed as a messy, interesting, ongoing project. Size did not really matter--I visited huge, tedious museums, and small fascinating ones that held few artifacts. What mattered most was that the museums engaged visitors in a meaningful conversation about the past, and connected visitors to the process of historical research and inquiry. And in an age of touch-screens and cell-phone tours, I still found myself most enthralled with tours given by living human beings. There is something powerful about walking through a site that sparks your imagination accompanied by a skilled, live guide who can answer questions and engage you in thoughtful discussions about the past.


File:Sdsticker.jpg
Swedish Democrat sticker: "Keep Sweden Swedish" featuring a Swedish Viking (from Wikipedia)

Observation #2. Nationalism, Fascism, Intolerance, and Public History:  


A few days ago, a group of residents of the Stockholm suburb of Kärrtorp organized a public demonstration opposing the rise of Nazi activity, growing anti-immigrant sentiments, and painted swastikas in their neighborhood. The vigil was disrupted by a group of about fifty members of the neo-Nazi Swedish Resistance Movement (many of whom were young men under the age of 20) who threw firecrackers, sticks, and bottles at the families in attendance and the police who tried to protect them (for more on the events in Kärrtorp, click here). This event is clearly troubling, but you may be wondering it has to do with public history.  Well, quite a bit.

In Sweden and other parts of Europe, there is some anxiety right now regarding questions of national identity. Factors such as the rise of the European Union, the growth of the Eurozone, unemployment and economic austerity, and rising immigration from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East that are causing concerns for some people over the future of national identity and culture in a globalizing world. Across Europe, governments are promoting their nations' histories and cultures as an important way to safeguard their unique national identity.  For nationalist, anti-immigrant, and neo-Nazi groups, traditional history and culture become a weapon to undermine the place of "outsiders" who threaten national unity.  In Sweden, the far-right nationalist political party, the Sweden Democrats (who embraced the slogan: "Keep Sweden Swedish" accompanied by a Swedish Viking), have made increased funding for traditional Swedish culture and heritage an element of their political platform (along with defunding multicultural programs). In 2010, the Sweden Democrats won 5.7% of the national vote and 20 seats in parliament.

For academic and public historians, cultural heritage is clearly a battlefield in the struggle against hatred and intolerance. This becomes a real challenge for historians who strive to preserve and share a nation's past according to professional standards, but who find themselves in the midst of a fierce battle over the political meaning of history. We certainly face similar issues about the use and abuse of history in American politics, but my time in Europe has heightened my awareness to these issues. History at a very basic level tells us who we are. As the Swedish case illustrates, historians need to be sensitive and critical in understanding how the history they produce may be used (or misused), and be ready to challenge those who may manipulate the past to bolster their agenda of hatred, violence, or intolerance.    

Sweden's Engelsberg Ironworks UNESCO World Heritage Site

Observation #3: Public History as Global Resources:  


During my four months in Sweden, I've heard a great deal about Sweden's fifteen (15) United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) designated World Heritage Sites. These range from the Royal Palace of Drottningholm, to decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland, to the bronze-age rock carvings at Tanum, to the Engelsberg Ironworks. Although the United States has twenty-one (21) UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites, these are seldom discussed by Americans (For my American friends: How many American UNESCO sites can you name off the top of your head?  For a list of UNESCO sites, click here). While these are certainly a source of Swedish pride, they also reflect a larger tendency by Swedes to see themselves as part of world history. At many American historic sites, we are less likely to think that way. Few Civil War battlefields ask about the significance of the war in a global context, and even fewer local historical societies ask how they fit into global trends and events (other than at moments such as during the world wars). Yet if you think about it, every history site is a world history site; every event part of global history.  As Americans rethink our place in a global society, it is important for us to expand the boundaries of our history, and consider more fully how our nation's history and historic sites fit into the large human story.

A NOBEL MOMENT: About to enter the Stockholm Concert Hall for the Nobel Prize Ceremony 2013 (with Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy, Dr. Chuck Coronella). Note the paparazzi are not trying to photograph us.

And Now...A Few Words of Gratitude

Somewhere along the way, I was told that a sense of gratitude is a Swedish sensibility. Now that my time in Sweden is ending, I have an enormous feeling of gratitude for all the people and organizations that made my visit to Sweden possible. I would not have been able to live in Sweden for four months without the generous support of a Fulbright Scholar's grant.  I am deeply grateful to the Swedish Fulbright Commission and the taxpayers of the United States and the Kingdom of Sweden who so generously fund this program for the international exchange of scholars.

I am also grateful to Shippensburg University for allowing me the opportunity for a sabbatical leave. Over the last four months, I have been fully immersed in building new relationships, studying new practices, and learning new skills that will have a profound impact on my future research and classroom teaching. I also hope that my time in Sweden may be the beginning of an ongoing relationship between Shippensburg University and Gothenburg University. Perhaps someday soon, Shippensburg students will have the opportunity to live and study in Gothenburg, and Swedish students will be a part of the Shippensburg University community.

I was very fortunate to be able to have Gothenburg University's Department of Historical Studies as my home away from home.  The generous and inspiring faculty, students and staff welcomed me warmly and assisted me in countless ways. I am grateful for the ways they expanded my thinking about, as well as the many new friendships I developed.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the people of Sweden who shared their wonderful country with me and my family this fall.  To all who made this experience possible--let me just say most sincerely: "Tusen Tack!" (a thousand thanks).

 

POSTSCRIPT: Five Things I will miss most about Sweden:


1. Talking history with Swedish history professionals and Gothenburg University's kind and thoughtful students and faculty.
2. Old Gothenburg's charming architecture, canals, public art and cobblestone streets
3. "Fika"--periodic coffee breaks of strong Swedish coffee and interesting conversation with colleagues.
4. Discovering the remarkable museum, historic sites, and archives of Sweden and Scandinavia.
5. Living and traveling in a different country where every day is filled with new questions, new ideas, and new discoveries.


HEY DÅ, SVERIGE! HEJ, HEJ U.S.A!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Exploring Lund and the Ales Stenar

After a busy week of teaching and research (there is no Thanksgiving Break in Sweden), this weekend I got behind the wheel for the very first time in Sweden.  In a very-unSwedish Volkswagen Gulf I headed with my family to the city of Lund in Skane, the southern region of Sweden heavily influenced by its long history as part of Denmark.  The Danish connection is so strong that some parts of Skane fly their own flag--a yellow Swedish cross on a red Danish background.  Skane is Sweden's bread-basket, a region covered with picturesque farms (that look an awful lot like the farms of the American Midwest). It is also a favorite destination of artists looking for picturesque landscapes and the region's wide-open skies.

Our first destination was the city of Lund--Sweden's second oldest city founded in 1020 by Canute the Great who at the time was ruler of the United Kingdom of England and Denmark. Lund is perhaps best known for Lund University, founded in 1666, and the city is sometimes called Sweden's Cambridge. It certainly feels like an ancient college town.

It is also the site of Lund Cathedral consecrated in 1145. It is an absolutely amazing historic building constructed in the Romanesque style, and filled with intricate wood carvings and artwork.


To add to its charm, it has a huge medieval calendar clock that plays music and puts on a parade of the magi twice a day:


In addition to the parade of the magi, the clock has clashing knights whose swords strike once for each hour, a orb that shows the phases of the moon, and aged Chronos pointing with his cane to the current day and month.  It certainly illustrated how the medieval Church used magnificent architecture, art, and technological razzle-dazzle to awe and inspire.

Chronos pointing to the date on the perpetual calendar: November 30.
It also has a fascinating underground crypt containing Lund's oldest Christian alter, as well as the graves of early Lund's nobility and Catholic bishops:


After watching the clock strike noon, we walked from the cathedral to Kulturen, Lund's cultural history museum. Outside the gate stood an impressive collection of rune stones--stones bearing the Viking's runic writings singing the praises of their deceased heroes and chiefs.


Inside its gates, the museum has a collection of historic buildings assembled from all over Skane interpreted by living historians. The day we visited was the Julmarket (a Christmas market), so we enjoyed tasting food and seeing crafts from across Southern Sweden.


My favorite historic building was a 15th century wooden church (complete with a historic tombstones) moved to Lund from a small village. It was a really interesting contrast with the Cathedral, highlighting even further how truly magnificent the experience must have been for rural Swedes visiting the Cathedral at Lund.


After Kulturen, we walked over to the Skissernas Museum--a museum and archive founded in 1941 that collects the sketches and models used to produce public art. The museum had an amazing collection that allows visitors to see how artists developed their ideas and shaped their works before they went on display in public. It is one of the best museums I have ever visited for seeing the artistic process in action.


After exploring Lund, we set off on Sunday morning for the southern coast of Sweden to see Ales Stenar, or Ale's Stones. Ales Stenar is a 1,200 year old stone ship megalith--a little cousin of Stonehenge--constructed of 59 stones weighing as much as 1.8 metric tons each. The bow and stern of the ship are constructed of massive quartzite boulders each of which been hauled over 30 kilometers from their original quarry. Together, the stones form the shape of a huge ship, but they also serve as a natural calendar. The bow and stern are aligned with the summer and winter solstice, and the ship also aligns with the summer and fall equinoxes. Archaeological explorations also revealed a 5,500 year old dolmen, or burial crypt, located underground near the ship's center.  The whole structure is perched on a flat, open field high above the Baltic Coast.


Apparently Sunday mornings in December are a great time to visit Ales Stenar if you want to beat the crowds. Of course, just so long as you don't mind frigid temperatures and biting winds off the Baltic Sea. It was cold, but no so cold as to discourage surfers from riding the waves off the coast while we mounted the hill to the Ales Stenar site.  As we wandered among the ancient stones, and contemplated the history around us, we appreciated the fact that our family was alone with one of the great wonders of the ancient world. At last, the cold and wind finally got to be too much to bear, so we made our way down the steep shoreline and back to our car--a bit giddy with a mixture of joy and hypothermia.



It was a remarkable couple of days discovering centuries of history and art in beautiful southern Sweden.  I'll leave you with a wonderful piece of public art we saw at the Skissernas Museum--which seemed so appropriate on this incredible journey:

 
Farewell until next time!