Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material
This article deals with narratives from northern Sweden about the Spanish flu pandemic (1918– 1920). There are about 50 narratives collected between ca. 1950 and 1980. All of them were elicited in interviews: some were told in interaction with two or more informants, some are told by one informant i...
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ftlinnaeusuniv:oai:DiVA.org:lnu-89145 2023-05-15T17:44:44+02:00 Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material Westum, Asbjörg 2014 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-89145 swe swe Umeå University, Sweden Umeå : Föreningen Kulturella Perspektiv, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper, Umeå universitet Kulturella perspektiv - Svensk etnologisk tidskrift, 1102-7908, 2014, 23:4, s. 39-45 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-89145 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess illness narratives Spanish flu pandemic language methodology Specific Languages Studier av enskilda språk Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2014 ftlinnaeusuniv 2022-11-03T15:52:28Z This article deals with narratives from northern Sweden about the Spanish flu pandemic (1918– 1920). There are about 50 narratives collected between ca. 1950 and 1980. All of them were elicited in interviews: some were told in interaction with two or more informants, some are told by one informant in interaction with the interviewer, and some are monologues. There are different interviewers. The interviews have not been planned or conducted in a systematic and consistent way, or with a purpose to investigate the informants’ experiences of the Spanish flu. Rather, the main purpose seems to have been to elicit stories about “the old days”. Drawing on linguistic choices from the material as a whole, this article discusses the informants’ notion of the pandemic and their conceptions of etiology. The article concludes that the most conspicuous feature is what is not mentioned by any informant, namely the word influenza. Further, the Spanish flu clearly belongs to a past era that has no resemblance to modern society. It was an era characterized by suffering, poor sanitary conditions and starvation. As well, the article briefly discusses the critique of medical humanities and the study of illness narratives for the lack of systematic analyses and syntheses of how these are constructed in general. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Linnaeus University Kalmar Växjö: Publications (DiVA) |
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Linnaeus University Kalmar Växjö: Publications (DiVA) |
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ftlinnaeusuniv |
language |
Swedish |
topic |
illness narratives Spanish flu pandemic language methodology Specific Languages Studier av enskilda språk |
spellingShingle |
illness narratives Spanish flu pandemic language methodology Specific Languages Studier av enskilda språk Westum, Asbjörg Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
topic_facet |
illness narratives Spanish flu pandemic language methodology Specific Languages Studier av enskilda språk |
description |
This article deals with narratives from northern Sweden about the Spanish flu pandemic (1918– 1920). There are about 50 narratives collected between ca. 1950 and 1980. All of them were elicited in interviews: some were told in interaction with two or more informants, some are told by one informant in interaction with the interviewer, and some are monologues. There are different interviewers. The interviews have not been planned or conducted in a systematic and consistent way, or with a purpose to investigate the informants’ experiences of the Spanish flu. Rather, the main purpose seems to have been to elicit stories about “the old days”. Drawing on linguistic choices from the material as a whole, this article discusses the informants’ notion of the pandemic and their conceptions of etiology. The article concludes that the most conspicuous feature is what is not mentioned by any informant, namely the word influenza. Further, the Spanish flu clearly belongs to a past era that has no resemblance to modern society. It was an era characterized by suffering, poor sanitary conditions and starvation. As well, the article briefly discusses the critique of medical humanities and the study of illness narratives for the lack of systematic analyses and syntheses of how these are constructed in general. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Westum, Asbjörg |
author_facet |
Westum, Asbjörg |
author_sort |
Westum, Asbjörg |
title |
Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
title_short |
Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
title_full |
Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
title_fullStr |
Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
title_full_unstemmed |
Om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
title_sort |
om språkbruk, generaliseringar och ett besvärligt material |
publisher |
Umeå University, Sweden |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-89145 |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_relation |
Kulturella perspektiv - Svensk etnologisk tidskrift, 1102-7908, 2014, 23:4, s. 39-45 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-89145 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1766147014078234624 |