"Judarnas Wagner" : Moses Pergament och den kulturella identifikationens dilemma omkring 1920-1950
(2007)- Abstract
- 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... (More)
- 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. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Med tonsättaren och musikkritikern Moses Pergament (1893-1977) som biografiskt lod har syftet med denna studie varit att blottlägga och analysera föreställningar om "juden", modernism, nationalism och "ras" i det svenska samhället. Pergament föddes i Helsingfors och växte upp i ett svenskspråkigt judiskt-ortodoxt hem. Han kom till Sverige 1916 och blev svensk medborgare 1919. Jämsides med sin tonsättarkarriär arbetade Pergament som musikkritiker i svensk dagspress, bl a på Svenska Dagbladet och Aftontidningen. Genom en analys av Pergaments kulturella identifikationer med vad som uppfattades som judisk, svensk respektive tysk nationell kultur samt modernismen och receptionen av dessa identifikationer... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Med tonsättaren och musikkritikern Moses Pergament (1893-1977) som biografiskt lod har syftet med denna studie varit att blottlägga och analysera föreställningar om "juden", modernism, nationalism och "ras" i det svenska samhället. Pergament föddes i Helsingfors och växte upp i ett svenskspråkigt judiskt-ortodoxt hem. Han kom till Sverige 1916 och blev svensk medborgare 1919. Jämsides med sin tonsättarkarriär arbetade Pergament som musikkritiker i svensk dagspress, bl a på Svenska Dagbladet och Aftontidningen. Genom en analys av Pergaments kulturella identifikationer med vad som uppfattades som judisk, svensk respektive tysk nationell kultur samt modernismen och receptionen av dessa identifikationer perioden 1920-1950, har jag illustrerat hans integrering i det svenska samhället och problematiserat bilden av detsamma. Som ett komplement till Zygmunt Baumans diskussion om den judiska identifikationens ambivalens under emancipationen har jag använt mig av Antonina Kloskowskas observation som utgår från möjligheten att individen kan manifestera flera olika nationella kulturer utan inre konflikt. Hon använder termen bivalens för att etikettera en identifikation med två nationella kulturer och polyvalens för en identifikation med fler än två nationella kulturer.
I den samtida svenska forskningen är det främst den antisemitiska diskursen som varit föremål för intresse. Enskilda judars erfarenheter och förhållande till föreställningar om "juden", "raser" och nationalism har behandlats styvmoderligt. Min biografiska ansats kan ses som ett sätt att fylla denna lakun inom svensk antisemitismforskning. Mitt syfte har inte enbart varit att peka på individens erfarenheter, utan även att analysera relevanta diskurser i det omgivande samhället.Genom den biografiska metoden har jag kunnat visa att bilden av "juden" är mer komplex än vad tidigare forskning gjort gällande. Den kan inte enbart förstås som ett uttryck för en antisemitisk diskurs. Termen allosemitism har introducerats i syfte att visa hur judar också kunde beskrivas utan hierkiska eller nedvärderande undertoner, men med koppling till nationalism och rastänkande. Genom exemplet Moses Pergament visas också tydligt att föregivna dikotomier som framåtblickande/bakåtblickande, nationalromantik/modernism och universalism/nationalism inte fungerar tillfredsställande för att beskriva det svenska kulturlivet och framväxten av folkhemmet under perioden 1920-1950. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/549003
- author
- Rosengren, Henrik LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Johansson, Rune, University of Linköping, Tema etnicitet
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- 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)
- pages
- 381 pages
- publisher
- Sekel Bokförlag
- defense location
- Historiska institutionen Magle stora kyrkogata 12 A, Lund
- defense date
- 2007-09-22 10:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-85767-01-4
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1f3e8527-77dc-4739-a10d-45aee099ad9b (old id 549003)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:38:30
- date last changed
- 2019-04-24 14:50:20
@phdthesis{1f3e8527-77dc-4739-a10d-45aee099ad9b,
abstract = {{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.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
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.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
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.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
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.}},
author = {{Rosengren, Henrik}},
isbn = {{978-91-85767-01-4}},
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)}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Sekel Bokförlag}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{"Judarnas Wagner" : Moses Pergament och den kulturella identifikationens dilemma omkring 1920-1950}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/63302487/Judarnas_Wagner_Nr_1.pdf}},
year = {{2007}},
}