In English

Pickling and preserving in the time of the blog.

This project is focusing on a growing interest amongst youth in Sweden concerning historical artefacts, cultural heritage and a way of life mostly associated to times long gone. This interest can be seen online and in real life where clothing, objects, ways of preserving food and handicrafts is shared online and in real life. This interest for history, cultural heritage and everyday life can be recognized from the Swedish “hembygds”-movement, however, not a lot of young people find their way in to this organization. The name of the project, both in Swedish and the English name you can see here, tries to incorporate the symbolic act of preserving culture and history to new generations as well as the literal act of preserving and pickling food.

The Swedish “hembygds”-movement (hembygdsrörelsen) started at the turn of the 19^th century. At the time the work of preserving cultural heritage had become a movement all over the western world. In Scandinavia and Germany in particular an interest for “folk life”, the old agrarian society and the life of people working and living in the countryside (called “allmogen”) as opposite to the growing urbanization, became a big interest for academia and the public alike. “Hembygd”, deriving from the German word “heimat”, has no good English translation, but is usually translated to “homeland”. The word incorporates a personal connection to a certain place, traditionally on the countryside, and the culture and history emerging from that place. During the 20^th century local “hembygd” organizations were formed all over Sweden and in 1916 a nationwide federation was formed, incorporating all of these local “hembygds” organizations in Sweden, called Sveriges Hembygdsförbund (The Swedish Local Heritage Movement). Today there are 26 regional heritage federations with approximately 1900 local hembygd organizations under this national federation. Even though the connection to the local and historical is still one of the cornerstones in most of the organizations, the focus has widened both in terms of historical and regional focus.

The aim of this project is to investigate the possibilities for the “hembygd” movement to attract a younger generation. How can the interests and the knowledge they possess be spread amongst youth in a way that works for new and old members alike? Since all work done in these organizations is non-profit and voluntarily, how do people regard their work and motives behind it? The goal is to work out a good way to make these different views meet in benefit for the “hembygd” movement.

This project is done as part of my education at the MACA-program (Master of Applied Cultural Analysis), at Lund University, during my internship at Skånes Hembygdsförbund. Skånes Hembygdsförbund is one of the regional heritage federations, with their office in Lund, Skåne. The project will go on between June and November 2012.

If you want to learn more, have questions or ideas, feel free to contact me!