Stockholm university

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage

On this page we collect articles about History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage.

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Picture of Jonas Tallberg presenting SCGG
Stockholm Center on Global Governance

SCGG at the Swedish Research Council’s first network meeting for Centers of Excellence

Professor and SCGG co-director Jonas Tallberg gave a presentation to introduce the SCGG at the Swedish Research Council’s first network meeting for Centers of Excellence. The event was held on March 7, at Piperska Muren, Stockholm.

Society, Democracy and Welfare - Theme page International Relations and Migration - Theme page Psychology and Human Behaviour - Theme page Worldviews, Ethics and Philosophy - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Law, Crime and Justice - Theme page
Stockholm Center on Global Governance

A pioneering research hub: introducing the Stockholm Center on Global Governance (SCGG)

We are excited to announce the establishment of the Stockholm Center on Global Governance (SCGG), a pioneering hub for research and dialogue on global governance issues. Established to address pressing global challenges, SCGG aims to foster interdisciplinary research and cultivate solutions to today's most complex global governance challenges.

Economy and Society - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page International Relations and Migration - Theme page Law, Crime and Justice - Theme page Society, Democracy and Welfare - Theme page
Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Nordic-Baltic Korean Studies Days 2024

The Nordic Korean Studies Days (NKSD) were founded by the universities of Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm and Turku. Due to its huge success this international teaching collaboration was expanded to include teachers and students from universities in the Baltics.

Language and Language Learning - Theme page Society, Democracy and Welfare - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur

Farliga kulturarv? Ekologiska och sociala konsekvenser av tidigmodern metallutvinning i fjällvärlden

I år delar Riksantikvarieämbetet ut drygt 18 miljoner kronor i form av FoU-anslag till flera forsknings- och utvecklingsprojekt. Pengarna går bland annat till projektet "Farliga kulturarv? Ekologiska och sociala konsekvenser av tidigmodern metallutvinning i fjällvärlden, igår, idag och i framtiden" som leds av Jonas Monié Nordin.

Historia, arkeologi och kulturarv - Theme page
Oljemålning föreställande skepp som lastar och lossar

Grain at any price: New project investigates food supply variations in early modern Europe

In a new research project, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, together with researchers from three different disciplines, will investigate and explain the relationship between grain prices and food stress in various parts of Europe from the 16th century to the 18th century.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Mathematics and Statistics - Theme page Economy and Society - Theme page Geology, Geography and Landscapes - Theme page
Hans Blix Centre

International Workshop about Nordic Jurists and the Rise and Evolution of International Law

Hans Blix centrum, together with its partners Centre for Modern European Studies at the University of Copenhagen and PluriCourts at the University of Oslo, will host the international workshop "Nordic jurists and International Law, 1880s-1970s" between 26 and 28 January. 28 researchers from various disciplines, based at 15 universities in nine countries, will gather in Stockholm to discuss the contribution of Nordic jurists to the rise and evolution of International Law.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page International Relations and Migration - Theme page Law, Crime and Justice - Theme page
Arkeologiska utgrävningar av Sandby borg på Öland.

DNA from archaeological remains show exceptional migration to Scandinavia during the Viking era

A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia – encompassing the Roman Age, the Viking Age and later periods. A surprising increase of variation during the Viking period indicates that gene flow into Scandinavia was especially intense during this period.

DNA Research - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page SciLifeLab - Theme page
Äpplet

Vasa's sister ship Äpplet found – a unique historical discovery

Marine archaeologists from Vrak - Museum of Wreck have found the wreck of the naval vessel Äpplet, Vasa's sister ship. The ship was first launched in 1629 and was built by the same master shipbuilder who completed the Vasa. The discovery was made within the research programme "The Forgotten Fleet", which is led by Stockholm University.

Oceans and Lakes - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientists: Don’t look at the 1980's as a reference for the Baltic Sea

The photos of happy fishermen in the 1980's holding huge cods, almost larger than themselves, are iconic and often contrasted by a small meagre fishes caught today. But this period of time was an anomaly in the Baltic Sea history, and should not be regarded as a reference state, says scientists after having compiled and analysed large quantities of information from the last century.

Climate and Environment - Theme page Oceans and Lakes - Theme page Plants, Animals and Nature - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

Epicureanism and Stoicism in Women’s Literary Production in 16th and 17th Century Europe

Carin Franzén, literature professor at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics has organized the panel "Epicureanism and Stoicism in Women’s Literary Production in 16th and 17th Century Europe" within the Sixteenth Century Society & Conference (SCSC) 2021. The panel was organized within the research project "Another Humanism: Gendering Early Modern Libertinism and the Boundaries of Subjectivity".

Gender and Equality - Theme page History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

Two new books about Mozart's Don Giovanni

The Original Portrayal of Mozart's Don Giovanni, written by theatre and performance studies scholar Magnus Tessing Schneider is now available in open access. Also published his year is the work of essays Don Giovanni’s Reasons: Thoughts on a masterpiece, written by Felicity Baker, Reader Emeritus in French, University College London and edited by Tessing Schneider.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

Professor Meike Wagner encourages more scholars to apply for ERC Advanced Grant

Theatre and Performance Studies professor Meike Wagner at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics received the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for her research project “Performing Citizenship. Social and Political Agency in Non-Professional Theatre Practice in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland (1780-1850)”. Now she wants more researchers from the humanities to apply for ERC Advanced Grants, awarded by the European Research Council.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

New biography on the archaeologist Olov Janse, and the world politics of the 20th century

The biography "The Archaeologist In-Between: Olov Janse 1892-1985" (2021) is authored by Anna Källén from the Department of Culture and Aesthetics and Johan Hegardt from Södertörn University, both researchers in critical heritage studies. They describe how Olov Janse's works and networks connected museums and political institutions over the world, without him becoming known to history.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

Seeking proof for Viking identity in DNA

In a new study Anna Källén, Associate Professor and researcher in Heritage Studies at the Department of Culture and Aestetics and Daniel Strand, Uppsala University, have conducted interviews with fourteen persons who have taken DNA tests, and asked them about the desire to “be a Viking”. Did they see themselves as related to Vikings, to have a Viking heritage, or to be Vikings themselves? And which characteristics did they connect with their Viking identity?

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
Department of Culture and Aesthetics

"Entangled memories of violence", new article by Victoria Fareld

In a new article in the journal Memory Studies (16/2 2021), Victoria Fareld, associate professor in History of Ideas, Stockholm University, analyzes how the Austrian writer Jean Améry formulates his memories of the Holocaust in the contemporaneous situation of decolonisation.

History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - Theme page Worldviews, Ethics and Philosophy - Theme page Culture and Media - Theme page
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Research projects

A Conservative Social Movement?

Did the popular movements of the 20th century also cause counter movements and protests? That is the focus of this research project.

Kung Gustav V håller sitt tal till bönderna på Kungliga Slottets Borggård under Bondetåget 1914.
A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law 2.0

LMNL is a unique lexicographic resource of the medieval legal language of the Nordic region and an important tool for internationalising research of the medieval laws and legal history of the Nordic countries.

Ruin of gallows hill in Visby, Gotland. Photo: Ulrika Djärv
A real estate price index for Gothenburg 1637–1875

After an almost unbroken, two-decade-long rise, Swedish housing prices fell sharply in 2022. But even if real estate price contractions are regarded as an important factor behind financial crises and economic recession, is our knowledge about them limited by the lack of historical data.

Birgitta of Sweden: the texts in Old Swedish

The aim of the project is a critical edition of the entire Old Swedish text corpus of Birgitta’s (1303–1373) texts, both her revelations and other shorter texts. An additional goal is to provide transcriptions of all manuscripts including fragmentary material.

Heliga Birgitta, skulptur Vadstena klosterkyrka
Bourgeois feminism or class solidarity?

"Tolfterna" was an association founded by, among others, Ellen Key in 1892. Its goal was partly to give working class women the opportunity of popular education, partly to even out the differences between the bourgeois and the socialist women's movement through discussion groups. How did it work out in practice? What class-related tensions occurred?

Tolfterna äldre bild- kvinnor i hattar och sekelskifteskläder.
Encountering Diplomacy in Early Modern Southeast Asia: Actors, Practices, Translation

Encountering diplomacy in early modern Southeast Asia is a study in global history. It explores how diplomatic practices and foreign relations were shaped in maritime Southeast Asia's pluralistic, multi-centric, open geography during the 17th and 18th centuries. In this period, exchange between local polities and aspiring European colonial powers flourished.

Research
In pursuit of global knowledge: Scandinavian ocean travelers 1650-1810

Which foreign languages were spoken among 18th century Scandinavian sailors? How would a captain manage politics whilst at sea? What happens if we consider global circulation of knowledge "from below"? These are a few questions that the "Prize Papers", documents from over 3500 Scandinavian ships seized by Great Britain between 1650 and 1810, can help answer.

Three ships, two with swedish flags oand one with british flag. Gunfire from the British ship.
LAMP: Languages and Myths of Prehistory

Due to recent advances in ancient genetics, a new picture of prehistory is emerging. In the LAMP project we cast light on the aspects of prehistoric peoples that make them human: their languages and beliefs.

LAMP logo
Performing Citizenship

Performing Citizenship: Social and Political Agency in Non-Professional Theatre Practice in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland (1780-1850).

Research
Performing Premodernity

Performing Premodernity is a five-year research project based at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics at the University of Stockholm.

Pleasurescapes. Port cities’ transnational forces of integration

The project explores the ways in which public places of pleasure in European port cities have unfolded social of forces of integration in the past and thereby fostered traits of urbanity. Public places of entertainment are studied as "pleasurescapes" - fluid in size and character over tiume and space.

Vy från Jubileumsutställningens områden kring Stora gården, i kvällsbelysning omgivna av minareterna
Swedish Runestones for everyone

The projects aim is to make Swedish runestones accessible to the public by creating an application that shows which runestones are near the user. The user will receive reliable and up-to-date information on each stone's location, condition, reading, interpretation and dating.

Research
Swedish pedagogy: A contested discipline in historical perspective

Academic pedagogy has often been severely questioned in public debates in Sweden, but also considered as central to school and society. Although this contested role has been observed many times throughout its disciplinary history, pedagogy has been much less historically investigated than most other social science disciplines.

Anslagstavla i klassrum.
The Author’s Hand: A Literary History of Handwriting

We are living in an age when accelerating technological development seems to render handwriting and penmanship superfluous or obsolete. Handwriting, however, has had a deep historical impact that the advent of digital media allows us to analyze anew.

The Stat Sovereignty and Its Limits – a Legal Genetic Study

Dissertation project aimed at examining the relationship between the two legal principles (qui iure and sic utere) which are usually considered to define 1. territorial state sovereignty and 2. the limits to this sovereignty imposed by the international law of borders.

Research
The behaviour of early Homo

Archaeological and taphonomic studies of the Phillip Tobias Korongo (PTK) site, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. A three years project, financed by Swedish Research Council.

The history of Swedish children's and youth sports

Young people played an important role in the growing sports movement in late 19th century Sweden. During the post-war period, sport became by far the most popular association activity for young children. This project examines attitudes towards children within sports in Sweden, and how these attitudes have developed and changed.

Research
Traveling Voices

The diachronic development of the voice system in Baltic, Slavic, and Germanic branches from a migrational perspective.

Yoko Yamazaki
Ukrainian Voices in Sweden

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee their homes and seek safety in neighboring countries, not least in the Nordic Region. This postdoctoral project investigates the lived experiences of language among those Ukrainians who have fled to Sweden since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.

Sunflower field and a bright blue sky. Photo: Sandra Matic, MostPhotos
Universal Suffrage? Voting Restrictions and Disenfranchisement in Sweden after 1921

This project brings more nuance to the history of suffrage in Sweden. As history is usually written, 1921 marks the end of the struggle for suffrage. But rather than regarding the reform of 1921 as a definitive democratic breakthrough, the research project examines the events of the following century as a continuing but non-linear process of democratisation.

Urban Water Culture

Urban water has emerged as a major concern in recent years. Water is the source of all life, but it is also at the base of many social and ecological problems in cities worldwide.

Research
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Research groups

Cultural memory studies

What is the cultural significance of memory? How and why do we remember the past, not only as individuals but across generations, as social and cultural communities? And how do these memory practices relate to politically and emotionally charged questions of national or ethnic identity, historical traumas, and experiences of dislocation, loss and forgetting?

Ruins of houses destroyed by bombardment
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Network Language and Power

Language and power as a field of study has a long tradition, but it has become more relevant in recent years due to the rise of populism and societies becoming increasingly polarised.

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Scandinavian philology and language history

Scandinavian philology and language history is one of the research groups within Swedish and Scandinavian Languages. It brings together researchers interested in the study of language and literature from older times, preferably from the runic, Old Swedish, Old Icelandic and Early modern periods.

Handwritten document from the first half of the 16th Century.
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The Medieval Seminar

The Medieval Seminar is interdisciplinary and the meeting place for scholars from a wide range of university departments and from large research institutions outside the university. The main purpose of the seminar is to present and discuss new research in any topic related to the Middle Ages.

Sammankomst av doktorer vid universitetet i Paris. Miniatyr ur en handskrift av "Chants royaux"
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