"Judarnas Wagner" : Moses Pergament och den kulturella identifikationens dilemma omkring 1920-1950
Author
Summary, in English
With the composer and music critic Moses Pergament (1893-1977) as a biographical prism, the purpose of this study has been to uncover ideas in Swedish society about nationalism, "the Jew", modernism and "race". Pergament was born in Helsinki, Finland, and grew up in a Swedish-speaking, Jewish orthodox home. He came to Sweden in 1916 and became a Swedish citizen in 1919. Along with his composing, Pergament also worked as a music critic for important Swedish daily papers. Through an analysis of Pergament's cultural identifications with what was seen as Jewish, Swedish and German national cultures and modernism, and the reception of these identifications during the period of 1920-1950, I have illustrated his integration in the Swedish People's Home (Folkhemmet) and problematized the image of the same.
As a complement to Zygmunt Bauman's discussion of the ambivalence of Jewish identification during the emancipation era, I've used sociologist Antonina Kloskowska's observation which concludes that there is a possibility for the individual to manifest several cultural identifications without inner self-conflict. Kloskowska uses the term bivalence to point out a manifested identification with two national cultures, and polyvalence for identification with more than two national cultures.
In contemporary research the discursive character of anti-Semitism has been focused upon. In what way an individual Jew experienced and approached discourses like notions of "race", "the Jew" and nationalism has been of little or no interest. My biographical approach can in accordance with this be seen as an effort to fill in lacunas in the field of anti-Semitic research. The aim of my study has not solely been to point out individual experiences, but also to analyse relevant discourses in the surrounding society. By using the biographical method I have been able to show that the picture of "the Jew" is more complex than what has been concluded in earlier research. It cannot solely be seen as an expression of anti-Semitic hegemonic discourse. Accordingly, the term allo-Semitism is used to point out expressions about the Jews as different in relation to notions about "race" and "nation", but without the negative implications that the term anti-Semitism is associated with.
With the example of Moses Pergament it is also clearly illustrated that supposed dichotomies connected to notions about The People's Home as forward looking / backward looking, national romanticism/modernism, and universalism/nationalism, do not function satisfactorily to describe the climate of the cultural life and the evolving of the People's Home during the interwar period.
As a complement to Zygmunt Bauman's discussion of the ambivalence of Jewish identification during the emancipation era, I've used sociologist Antonina Kloskowska's observation which concludes that there is a possibility for the individual to manifest several cultural identifications without inner self-conflict. Kloskowska uses the term bivalence to point out a manifested identification with two national cultures, and polyvalence for identification with more than two national cultures.
In contemporary research the discursive character of anti-Semitism has been focused upon. In what way an individual Jew experienced and approached discourses like notions of "race", "the Jew" and nationalism has been of little or no interest. My biographical approach can in accordance with this be seen as an effort to fill in lacunas in the field of anti-Semitic research. The aim of my study has not solely been to point out individual experiences, but also to analyse relevant discourses in the surrounding society. By using the biographical method I have been able to show that the picture of "the Jew" is more complex than what has been concluded in earlier research. It cannot solely be seen as an expression of anti-Semitic hegemonic discourse. Accordingly, the term allo-Semitism is used to point out expressions about the Jews as different in relation to notions about "race" and "nation", but without the negative implications that the term anti-Semitism is associated with.
With the example of Moses Pergament it is also clearly illustrated that supposed dichotomies connected to notions about The People's Home as forward looking / backward looking, national romanticism/modernism, and universalism/nationalism, do not function satisfactorily to describe the climate of the cultural life and the evolving of the People's Home during the interwar period.
Department/s
Publishing year
2007
Language
Swedish
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Sekel Bokförlag
Topic
- History
Keywords
- Sweden
- Jews
- biographical method
- biography
- Folkhemmet
- national culture
- racism
- modernism
- allo-Semitism
- anti-Semitism
- identification
- Moses Pergament
- nationalism
- 1920-1950
- History
- Historia
- Contemporary history (since 1914)
- Nutidshistoria (från 1914)
Status
Published
Supervisor
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-85767-01-4
Defence date
22 September 2007
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
Historiska institutionen Magle stora kyrkogata 12 A, Lund
Opponent
- Rune Johansson (Professor)