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Scholars discover local history: the case of northeast Lapland in the 18th century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2011

Maria Lähteenmäki
Maria Lähteenmäki*
Affiliation:
Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, Box 111, University of Eastern Finland, 80101 Joensuu, Finland (maria.lahteenmaki@uef.fi)
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Abstract

The academic study of local and regional history in Sweden took on a quite new form and significance in the 18th century. Humiliating defeats in wars had brought the kingdom's period of greatness to an end and forced the crown to re-evaluate the country's position and image and reconsider the internal questions of economic efficiency and settlement. One aspect in this was more effective economic and political control over the peripheral parts of the realm, which meant that also the distant region of Kemi Lapland, bordering on Russia, became an object of systematic government interest. The practical local documentation of this area took the form of dissertations prepared by students native to the area under the supervision of well known professors, reports sent back by local ministers and newspaper articles. The people responsible for communicating this information may be said to have functioned as ‘mimic men’ in the terminology of H.K. Bhabha. This supervised gathering and publication of local information created the foundation for the nationalist ideology and interest in ordinary people and local cultures that emerged at the end of the century and flourished during the 19th century.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 48 , Issue 3: THEMED SECTION: CONTESTED BORDERS AND IDENTITIES , July 2012 , pp. 291 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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