Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900
In the decades around 1900 the northern territories between Sweden-Norway and Finland-Russia were created and enforced as significant borderlands. In the article I situate the making of these borderlands in what was known as “the Defence Question.” Taking my point of departure in this heated politic...
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Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University, Sweden
2009
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-43260 2023-10-09T21:53:01+02:00 Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 Rodell, Magnus 2009 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-43260 eng eng Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University, Sweden Umeå : Umeå University & The Royal Skyttean Society Journal of Northern Studies, 1654-5915, 2009, 1, s. 69-89 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-43260 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess borderlands anthropology of borders material culture fortifications the defence question Norrland Boden Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2009 ftumeauniv 2023-09-22T13:46:27Z In the decades around 1900 the northern territories between Sweden-Norway and Finland-Russia were created and enforced as significant borderlands. In the article I situate the making of these borderlands in what was known as “the Defence Question.” Taking my point of departure in this heated political debate, I discuss the various cultural meanings that were ascribed to the Swedish-Russian borderlands. I argue that at the time the discourse about the Swedish-Russian relationships stretched out and made the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia into a vast frontier between the west and the east, the occident and the orient and civilisation versus barbarism. In making borders culturally significant, material culture plays a vital role. In the article I analyze flags, border stones and the fortifications in Boden, Sweden. Through the discourse about the fortifications, the borderlands between Sweden and the Grand Duchy of Finland took on a new strategic meaning. In the political and public debate they served as a means to bring together trade, industry, communication and defence politics into one overarching narrative. The general argument of my article is that the historical study of borderlands can benefit from analyzing significant political debates, and from exploring the material culture of past borderlands. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Northern Studies Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Boden ENVELOPE(21.683,21.683,65.809,65.809) Norway |
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Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
borderlands anthropology of borders material culture fortifications the defence question Norrland Boden |
spellingShingle |
borderlands anthropology of borders material culture fortifications the defence question Norrland Boden Rodell, Magnus Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
topic_facet |
borderlands anthropology of borders material culture fortifications the defence question Norrland Boden |
description |
In the decades around 1900 the northern territories between Sweden-Norway and Finland-Russia were created and enforced as significant borderlands. In the article I situate the making of these borderlands in what was known as “the Defence Question.” Taking my point of departure in this heated political debate, I discuss the various cultural meanings that were ascribed to the Swedish-Russian borderlands. I argue that at the time the discourse about the Swedish-Russian relationships stretched out and made the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia into a vast frontier between the west and the east, the occident and the orient and civilisation versus barbarism. In making borders culturally significant, material culture plays a vital role. In the article I analyze flags, border stones and the fortifications in Boden, Sweden. Through the discourse about the fortifications, the borderlands between Sweden and the Grand Duchy of Finland took on a new strategic meaning. In the political and public debate they served as a means to bring together trade, industry, communication and defence politics into one overarching narrative. The general argument of my article is that the historical study of borderlands can benefit from analyzing significant political debates, and from exploring the material culture of past borderlands. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rodell, Magnus |
author_facet |
Rodell, Magnus |
author_sort |
Rodell, Magnus |
title |
Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
title_short |
Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
title_full |
Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
title_fullStr |
Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fortifications in the Wilderness : The Making of Swedish-Russian Borderlands around 1900 |
title_sort |
fortifications in the wilderness : the making of swedish-russian borderlands around 1900 |
publisher |
Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University, Sweden |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-43260 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(21.683,21.683,65.809,65.809) |
geographic |
Boden Norway |
geographic_facet |
Boden Norway |
genre |
Journal of Northern Studies |
genre_facet |
Journal of Northern Studies |
op_relation |
Journal of Northern Studies, 1654-5915, 2009, 1, s. 69-89 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-43260 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1779316243926351872 |