Anders Häggström

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Levda rum och beskrivna platser

IN THIS STUDY a cultural discourse perspective is used to discuss how regional identities are constructed during the 1900s. The investigation examines how local history and culture are used in symbolic forms to articulate the province as an imagined community in varying periods, media, and social contexts. The study deals with two problem areas. The first is how space is charged with symbolic and cultural meanings. The other how collective notions of fellowship and territorial belonging is created and changed. The study has a comparative set-up. Two provinces, Blekinge and Jämtland, form the empirical basis for the investigation. In Jämtland a strong regional mobilisation has taken place and the area's history is used to construct an image of the province as a distinct national sub-culture. No such homogeneous regional identity has been articulated in Blekinge. Here a cultural polarisation within the province is emphasised instead. In the study those images of the provinces that are created by scientific discourses and in popular cultural depictions are examined. The exhibitions of the regional museums are discussed also, as are interviews, various festivals, and public rituals. Emphasis is placed on representation and narrativity. Two representation strategies have been especially in focus, stories of place and stories of territory. These narratives are used partly to accentuate similarity and identity inwards toward ones own group, and partly to outwardly indicate symbolic borders to other groups or areas.