Book Description

In this book, scholars from different disciplines use case studies drawn from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark to analyze the last century's construction of, engagement with, and challenges to both "hard" and "soft" Scandinavian boundaries. The book provide historical examples of how national borders have been contested by Scandinavian states caught between powerful Continental neighbors; these attempts to firm up boundaries can be contrasted to the denationalization of borders caused both by the globalization of communications and markets and by political efforts to submerge national boundaries in a common Baltic identity. A second set of studies focuses on boundaries defining Scandinavian minorities. Here, the book analyzes the spaces, rituals, bodies, gender roles, and collective-identity discourses implicit in majority-minority boundaries - and their transgression. Throughout, Scandinavian bordering processes are studied in terms of the groups that launch them, the methods by which they are propagated, and, finally, the meanings supposedly, and actually, invested in them. (Series: Nordische Geschichte - Vol. 10)