Copenhagen Business School: CBS Open Journals

Åkerman, Sune

A new periodical

in Scandinavia, American Studies

A Nordic Cong~ess on Migration Research 
In the end of August 1967 a con- 
ference on migration research pro- 
blems took place in VBxjB, Sweden, 
arranged by the universities of 
Lund and Uppsala and by the 
Emigration Institute in Vixjo. The 
purpose of the conference was to  
enable university as well as local 
researchers in this field from vari- 
ous places in the Nordic countries 
and also from the USA to meet. 
discuss and establish contacts for 
further co-operation and the ex- 
change of information. 
PROBLEMS I N  CONNECTION 
WITH MIGRATION RES- 
EARCH 
was the title of the lectune with 
which Sten Carlsson, professor of 
History at  the University of Upp- 
sala began the proceedings. H e  
emphasized the great and rapid ex- 
pansion in the field, which has 
taken place in Sweden during the 
sixties. Among the causes of this 
expansion he mentioned the gene- 
rally favourable situation for his- 
torical research in Sweden and the 
increased use of co-operation in 
teams on different subjects, the fact 
that the possibilities of obtaining 
accession to both official and pri- 
vate source maoerial are very good 
at present, especially in Sweden, 
and that the migration problems 
have got more actual and accen- 
tuated lately, i. e. because of the 
growing interest for social history 
and the actual migration move- 
ments in Europe. H e  also mentio- 
ned somle typical subjects for rese- 
arch, such as the possible connection 
between internal and external mig- 
ration, emigration via earlier move- 
ments from the countryside to the 
urban areas. contacts between dif- 
ferent Swedish and American areas, 
th'e process of assimilation in the 
USA, the re-immigration to Swe- 
den etc. 
REPORTS O N  MIGRATION 
RESEARCH IN T H E  NORDIC 
COUNTRIES 
were delivened by scholars from 
the different Nordic countries. 
Norway 
Ingrid Semmingsen, professor of 
American history at the University 
of Oslo and the author of >Veien 
mot vesba, the great hitstory of Nor- 
wegian emigration to America, re- 
ported on Norwegian migration 
research to-day. 
Finland 
Reino Kero, fil mag of the Uni- 
versity of Turku (Abo) presented 
the migration aesearch group there 
and also gave some basic informa- 
tion about the emigration from 
Finland. 
Danmark 
Kristian Hvidt, cand. mag. from 
the University of Copenhagen, 
who himself is occupied with an 
extensive investigation of the 
Danish emigration, presented his 
work, especially the very promi- 
sing trials with data processing 
for this kind of historical research. 
Sweden 
Birgitta Odkn, pnofessor of history 
at the University of Lund, present- 
ed the migration studies in Lund, 
and finally Sune Akerman, assi- 
stant professor and head of the 
section of American history at  the 
University of Uppsala, delivered a 
report on the work and results of 
the project >,Sweden and America 
1860-1930; emigration, re-immi- 
gration, political and social de- 
bate),. 
THE LOCAL EMIGRATION 
RESEARCH 
Sigurd Gustavsson, director of the 
Emigration Register in Karlstad in- 
troduced a discu~ssion on the local 
emigration research by giving a 
report on the work of this kind 
o f  research, its methods, problems 
and purposes. H e  especially stress- 
ed the importance of good con- 
tacts and competent aid in the mu- 
nicipalities and parishes. The local 
folk societies have often proved to 
be the most valuable source for 
the local work. 
After discussions in special 
. . groups, based upon a memoran- 
dum composed by Ulf Ebbeson, 
University of Uppsala, the partici- 
pants in the conference delivered 
reports and points of view in the 
concluding debate. Special stress 
was laid upon the fact, that migra- 
tion studies on the university level 
of~ten are dependent on the works 
of local historians - es~eciallv in 
connection with the collection of 
certain source material and other 
means of obtaining knowledge, 
which presuppose familiarity with 
local circumstances. 
The poor ~o~ordinat ion between 
local researchers and university 
scholars was remarked upon as a 
very regrettable deficiency. The 
wish was expressed that county 
committees should try to co-ordi- 
nate the municipal and parish pro- 
jects, whereby the contribution of 
the universities for practical reasons 
ought to be confinled to the county 
committees. 
EMIGRATION AND OPINION 
R E S E A V H  
This part of the conference was 
started by Kjell Bondestad, Univer- 
sity of Uppsala, who gave a lecture 
on Swedish pness opinion during 
the American Civil War. 
Birgitta Odkn discussed different 
studies of opinion, how to define 
them and how to find and use 
applicable methods. She stressed 
the danger of mixing facts at  i. e. 
,the people's opinion, with athe 
opini,on expressed in the newspa- 
pers,,. Regarding press studies the 
researcher ought to select his ma- 
terial and his methods carefullv 
according to the aims of the study. 
She also gave a review of the 
available material for opinion 
study in the migration field: such 
as newspapers - Swedish and 
Swedish-American -, letters, in- 
terviews and different kinds of of- 
ficial material. 
Magdalena Hellquist, librarian at 
Royal library of Stockholm, gave 
an account of the Swedish-Ameri- 
can press and of the extensive col- 
lection of this kind of newspapers 
belonging to the Royal library of 
Stockholm. 
THE IMMIGRANT I N  THE USA 
The immigrant's situation was 
after that discussed in a lecture 
by John Higham, professor at  the 
University of Michigan, USA. H e  
talked about the effects of mass 
immigration on the American so- 
ciety and culture. The lecture which 
was commented by Dr  HHkan 
Berggren, University of Uppsala, 
will later be reprinted in the Ame- 
rican Studies in Scandinavia and 
further details will therefore not be 
" given here. 
THE ARCHIVES AND THE, 
COLLECTION O F  SOURCE 
MATERIAL 
The Head of the National Archi- 
ves, Dr. like Kromnow, Stock- 
holm, talked of private archives, 
the necessity of saving and inven- 
ting them and how this could most 
easily be done. This problem L of 
course connected with that of the 
collection of material for the bene- 
fit of the migration researchers. 
Personal visits to owners of pri- 
vate archives have proved to  give 
incomparably the beslt results, 
though ilt is unfortunately a rather 
expensive way of collecting mate- 
rial. 
Dr. Folke Hedblom, assistant pro- 
fessor at the University of Uppsala, 
gave an example of material col- 
lecting. of a somewhat different 
u 
kind. H e  gave a report on his jour- 
neys in North America, where he 
has taped Swedish dialects - both 
old >>preserved>, dialects and the 
,,mixed language,,, which gradually 
developed among the immigrants. 
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION 
AND RESOLUTIONS 
The conference was finilshed by a 
panel discussion on migration re- 
search on the university level. The 
participants, among whom were 
also representatives for Sociology 
and Economics, expressed as their 
view that co-operation with other 
sciences ought to be much more 
fruitful than a strict limitation of 
the subject. Especially the social 
sciences, i. e. Sociology, Economics, 
Geography etc, might give valu- 
able contributions to the migra- 
tion research. The actual research 
concerning the structure of the 
labour market was mentioned as an 
example of successful co-operation 
with social scientists. The conve- 
nience of working in teams at  the 
universities was stressed as was like- 
wise the importance of extensive 
international contacts and ex- 
change of information. 
As a conclusion the meeting 
worked out a resolution in five 
points, in which the following 
wishes were expressed: 
I. Increased co-operation between 
migration researchers in the Nor- 
dic countries and in North Ame- 
rica ought to be aimed at. 
2. Increased co-operation ought to 
take place between the university 
and the local migration research, 
for example concerning planning, 
collecting and keeping of source 
material, registration and excerp- 
tion, scientific works and publica- 
tions. 
3. The collecting, registrating and 
copying w,ork going on in the Nor- 
dic countries and in North Ame- 
rica ought to be intensified and 


A Nordic Congress on Migration Research

Berggren, Håkon

An American Studies Program 
Mass media, commerce and perso- 
nal exchange are three factors that 
have contributed to giving the 
USA an influential position in Swe- 
den after the second World War. 
There is hardly any correspon- 
dence in other countries or re- 
gions. In Sweden the consequen- 
ces of this influence can be studied 
by behavioural science and huina- 
nities. Our  chances of learning 
something about the origin of this 
influence. about the American 
milieu, the development of society 
and culture are, however, fairly 
limited both at the universities 
and at the secondary schools. In 
the present curriculun~ the role of 
America has been given little 
emphasis as con~pared to the 
amount of attention to the Roman 
and British Empires. With regard 
to this tradition in Swedish educa- 
tion, one might consider i t  natural 
that stress has been placed on 
European problems. Appropriately 
political and economic develop- 
ment during the sixties has made 
it desirable to reappraise the con- 
tents of teaching in several areas 
of study. 
During the last few vears there 
., 
have been changes according to a 
new plan of education. Within 
Languages, Humanities and Poli- 
tical Science, space has been pro- 
vided for non-European condi- 
tions. Of great importance have 
been Fulbright-lecturers, the Swe- 
den-American Foundation, The 
American Council of Learned So- 
cieties, and especially its grant to 
the University of Uppsala for the 
establishment of a program in 
American Literature and Aineri- 
can Historv. But thcse initiatives 
create the demand for supplemen- 
& - 
tary knowledge - a person who 
has learnt a little in this field soon 
realises he does not know enough 
and wants to learn more. Perham 
it is not so remarkable then that 
in 1963 both students and teach- 
ers greeted with enthusiasm a pro- 
ject that represented both interdis- 
ciplinary eduction and research. 
The thought of starting a new 
subject, American Studies, was rea- 
lised a t  the same time both in 
Gothenburg and Uppsala. At- 
tempts at co-ordinating the non- 
scientific studies certainly had been 
made before. The new aspect of 
the subject was the aim of making 
limitations so that it would apply 
to one single region. What could 
be looked upon as a fairly radical 
initiative in Sweden has had a long 
tradition in the university life of 
the USA. Subjects like American 
Institutions or American Civiliza- 
tion have been in an American uni- 
versity curriculum for a long time. 
The aim was not, however, to pla- 
giarize. Comparable programs in 
the USA would be these of Scan- 
dinavian and North European 
Studies. 
The main motive was to provide 
in Sweden an intense but mainly 
critical study of the function of 
American society and its cultural 
traditions. The subjects was not 
only to be studied as a part of the 
B. A. examination but could also 
be included as a part of studies for 
technicians and economists. 
How could such an enlargement 
take place without resulting in a 
superficial knowledge spread over 
many branches of study? When I 
concentrate on the Uppsala propo- 
sal i t  is not only due to my perso- 
nal exverience of that venture. but 
also tF, the fact that this prohosal 
has been discussed by all educatio- 
nal institutions in Sweden. The 
fairly rigid Swedish betygsystem 
has made it difficult to introduce 
such a subject. A modified credit 
system as used in America would 
facilitate its achivement. But thc 
student must have an opportunity 
to become acauainted with a limi- 
ted number of essential facts and 
methods. 
O n  the 1-betyg level the student 
would take five courses. Three of 
them would be compulsory and 
would be given n ~ o r e  significance 
than the others: Historv. Litera- 
, , 
ture and Sociology which when 
this proposal was first made had 
progressed furtherest toward ful- 
fillment of the proposal's plan. 
These subiects would also eive a 
" 
basic knowledge for the study of 
Americana in studies close to these 
disciplines. 
There should also be a brief 
study of city and regional plan- 
ning. Finally the student should 
take a course in either Geography 
or Musicology. I t  should be einpha- 
sized that the problems the stud~ent 
encountered would be connected 
with those in basic studies. If, for 
instance, he read about Fredrick 
Jackson Turner in History he 
would deal with economic regions 
in Geography. If in Sociology he 
studied racial and cultural minori- 
ties, he would read parts of John 
Hope Franklin's From Slave to 
Freedom and would have some 
knowledge of politics, parties and 
pressure groups or  emigration and 
immigration. When he came across 
Thoreau, Mark Twain, Heming- 
way or  Steinbeck he would know 
something about Robber Barons, 
about sociological interpretations 
of the American society, or art and 
life in America. 
For the 2-betyg students would 
concentrate on three of the five 
subject areas that he studied for 
1-betyg. If he wanted to spccialize 
on milieu research he could study 
Sociology, Architecture and Geo- 
graphy. If he wanted to examine 
econon~ic or  political matters he 
would choose History, Geography 
and Sociology, and if he were more 
interested in aesthetical mattcrs he 
would choose Literature, Musico- 
logy, History or Sociology. Studies 
for the 2-betyg would deepen this 
knowledge by further specializa- 
tion. 
For the 3-betyg he would select 
one of the subiects to examine a 
more extensive complex of ques- 
tions. And within that subject he 
could continue into his licentiate 
studies. I t  should be stressed that 
the choice of subjects in the curri- 
culum was made in consultation 
with representatives of Economic 
History and Political Science. And 
the representatives of Literature 
consulted those of English Litera- 
ture. Still thle question could be rai- 
sed whether Philosophy and Ethno- 
graphy should not be represented 
in the courses. 
When this proposal was circula- 
ted for comment by the University 
Chailcellor the only notable ncga- 
tive reaction was from the Univer- 
sity of Umei, which maintained 
that studies in Americana could be 
provided in existing subjects. In 
Stockholm, Gothenburg and Lund 
the ~ractical side caused some 
worry - was it possible to carry 
through such a subject within the 
present curriculum? In other 
words, should one wait for a modi- 
fied credit system to be established? 
In Lund and Gothenburg the qucs- 
tion was also raised whether it was 
suitable to introduce this subject 
on the licentiate level. 
As a result of the comments 
some changes were made in the 
curriculum outlined. The 1-betyg 
studies were begun with a prepa- 
ratory course in which the teachers 
of the subject had the opportunity 
of informing the students in dis- 
cussion groups. The compulsory 
parts were to be courses in History 
and Sociology and the students 
would then be able to make a choice 
among the rest of the courses. 
The Universitv Chancellor is dis- 
cussing reforms in training of scho- 
lars. He has also decided on a new 
curriculum which will start in the 
fall of 1969, and which will pro- 
ably give better opportunities for 
studies of this kind. 
The Section of American His- 
tory in Uppsala has become the or- 
ganizing center for the subject, 
thanks to a general intensification 
that has taken place there. Nowa- 
days there is a great demand for 
knowledge about the USA and our 
relations with the USA have deve- 
loped in various areas. All these 
considerations should lead to a 
renewed debate on American Stu- 
dies, a debate in which other autho- 
ritities than the Universities should 
be allowed to state their points of 
view. 
Hdkan Bcrggren 
Pulbright Professor in Uppsala 
The Department of History at 
Uppsala University has during the 
spring term had as a visiting Ful- 
bright professor, Dr Norman Ris- 
jord, History professor at Wiscon- 
sin University, USA. Besides teach- 
ing and giving lectures in the more 
customary way, Dr  Risjord has 
also conducted two courses of 
American history on the following 
themes: >>From Isolation to Inter- 
vention, and ,The Response to 
Industrialization>>. The students 
who attended these courses have 
done this as a part of their final 
examination in History - an ex- 
periment which has turned out 
a great success. During his visit to 
Sweden Dr Risjord has also been 
lecturing to students and historical 
societies at the universities of 
Lund, Gothenburg, Stockholm and 
UmeS. 


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A new periodical

A Nordic Congress on Migration Research

An American Studies Program

Halvdan Koht & Lars Åhnebrink

American Studies in Norway 1965-67 and Swedish books

Youth and Revolt in Comtemporary North America

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