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Knowing how : Estate Management, Practical Knowledge, and Agency among Aristocratic Women in Early Modern Sweden

Nilsson Hammar, Anna LU and Norrhem, Svante LU (2023) In Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal 17(2). p.328-353
Abstract
In the seventeenth Century, Swedish aristocratic women successfully acted as managers of landed estates, mills and iron works, and exerted agency in politics. Making qualified decisions and overseeing complex enterprises, their actions in many ways contradicted the prevailing patriarchal ideology. While explanations for this agency have stressed several intersecting factors, the role of learning and practical knowledge has been less developed. In this article, we argue that the interaction between female landowners and male estate managers was an arena for informal learning – in many ways resembling apprenticeship – which underpinned agency for female members of the early modern Swedish aristocracy. Taking the conditions of their... (More)
In the seventeenth Century, Swedish aristocratic women successfully acted as managers of landed estates, mills and iron works, and exerted agency in politics. Making qualified decisions and overseeing complex enterprises, their actions in many ways contradicted the prevailing patriarchal ideology. While explanations for this agency have stressed several intersecting factors, the role of learning and practical knowledge has been less developed. In this article, we argue that the interaction between female landowners and male estate managers was an arena for informal learning – in many ways resembling apprenticeship – which underpinned agency for female members of the early modern Swedish aristocracy. Taking the conditions of their aristocratic upbringing and education into consideration, we claim that this interaction furthered female agency and created opportunities as well as expectations. The article highlights that agentic gender norms must be taken into consideration when assessing the competencies of early modern, female land- and estate owners. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal
volume
17
issue
2
pages
26 pages
publisher
University of Maryland
DOI
10.1086/723377
project
Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge
The Household as Academy
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b26c3a34-8546-4671-b477-79048731b074
date added to LUP
2021-03-16 09:01:56
date last changed
2023-06-26 07:52:13
@article{b26c3a34-8546-4671-b477-79048731b074,
  abstract     = {{In the seventeenth Century, Swedish aristocratic women successfully acted as managers of landed estates, mills and iron works, and exerted agency in politics. Making qualified decisions and overseeing complex enterprises, their actions in many ways contradicted the prevailing patriarchal ideology. While explanations for this agency have stressed several intersecting factors, the role of learning and practical knowledge has been less developed. In this article, we argue that the interaction between female landowners and male estate managers was an arena for informal learning – in many ways resembling apprenticeship – which underpinned agency for female members of the early modern Swedish aristocracy. Taking the conditions of their aristocratic upbringing and education into consideration, we claim that this interaction furthered female agency and created opportunities as well as expectations. The article highlights that agentic gender norms must be taken into consideration when assessing the competencies of early modern, female land- and estate owners.}},
  author       = {{Nilsson Hammar, Anna and Norrhem, Svante}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{328--353}},
  publisher    = {{University of Maryland}},
  series       = {{Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal}},
  title        = {{Knowing how : Estate Management, Practical Knowledge, and Agency among Aristocratic Women in Early Modern Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/723377}},
  doi          = {{10.1086/723377}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}