Critics argue ‘shared map’ of Swedish culture is ‘very exclusionary’ and a ‘nationalist education project’
The Gustav Vasa 1541 bible, Pippi Longstocking, Ikea, the right to roam, paternity leave, Sámi joiks, the Nobel prize and works by Ingmar Bergman and August Strindberg all made it into Sweden’s long-awaited, much-criticised proposal for a “cultural canon”.
However, notable omissions from the list of 100 works and references that have formed Sweden’s culture and history – intended, its creators said in Uppsala on Tuesday, to establish a “shared map and compass” for Swedish citizens and new arrivals to Sweden – included Abba and anything from after 1975, a period that has seen Sweden transform into an international, multicultural society.
Critics have accused the canon of being a “nationalist education project”. In response, its committee chair, the historian Lars Trägårdh, said that Sweden needs to embrace “democratic nationalism”, telling Swedish television last week that since the second world war Swedish culture had been characterised by modernism, internationalism and multiculturalism. “They have turned their gaze away from Swedish culture and the Swedish nation,” he told SVT’s 30 Minutes.
