Swedish Exceptionalism in Transition

The shifting dynamics of exceptionalism in Sweden are at the centre of this public lecture by Prof. Mia Liinason, Lund University, Sweden. She examines how race and gender are mobilised to reshape the national identity of Sweden. By a close reading of the party programs and related materials of the right-wing parties currently in government, the presentation highlights how a caring form of racism is enacted to reinforce national core values, and how gender equality, race, and ethnicity are appropriated for nationalist and racist purposes. She argues that these enactments imply a significant shift in relation to previous stances on exceptionalism in Sweden and on the image of Sweden as a global forerunner, by a purposeful diminishing of Sweden’s international attractiveness, and by the construction of migrants and feminists as threatening the national values. While recognising the difficult dynamics characterising previous exceptionalist positionings in Sweden, the talk will shed light on the new complexities that appear following these attempts to reshape the nation, its essence, and its borders.Her lecture draws on her new chapter in a forthcoming edited volume from De Gruyter Brill, entitled Transformative Feminisms: Nordic Art in the Transcultural Present.

Co-organised with the UCL Gender and Feminist Research Network

Meet the speaker

Professor Mia Liinason is Professor of Gender Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. She is also the Head of Division of Gender Studies within the Faculty, and is responsible for the research in the Division.Her research is located at the intersection of transnational feminism and queer, populism studies, religiosities/secularities, digital cultures and scholarship of hope. Prof. Liinason has been successful in obtaining research grants, and currently, she is involved in several individual and collaborative research projects, including Gender struggles in the new conjuncture. Gender, sexuality and the future of human rights in the 21st century (2025-2030) funded through her appointment as Wallenberg Scholar by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Chair: Dr Maki Kimura