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Historisk tidskrift 126:4 • 2006

Innehåll (Contents) 2006:4

Uppsatser (Articles)

Från eländighet till manligt medborgarskap. Bonden i det tidiga 1900-talets finländska historieskrivning

Ann-Catrin Östman

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

From pauper to manly citizen. The peasant in early twentieth-century Finnish history writing

This article studies how early twentieth-century Finnish historians approached peasants and agrarian history. A comparison is made to articles published in the Swedish journal Historisk Tidiskrift. Swedish historians often focused on the individual and on the higher ranks of society. A collectivist perspective, inspired by Karl Lamprecht and others, was more important among Finnish historians, who also expressed a greater interest in the peasantry.

The historians’ perspective on the peasantry is related to early twentieth century changes in conceptions of manliness and citizenship. In early texts, the peasant is described as a victim suffering from miserable conditions. During the 1910’s – a period of rapid democratisation – this view was abandoned. The manly peasant was now portrayed as a responsible and competent political actor. The collectivist approach ascribed agency and individuality to the collective. Radical and progressive historical writing ascribed civic qualities to male peasants. The article also demonstrates how conceptions of language and civilisation shaped the way in which the peasantry was portrayed. There appear to have been a concern to avoid descriptions implying a lack of manliness in the peasant. At a point in time when activity, freedom and self-control was linked to manliness, passivity, dependence and lack of self-control could appear feminine and uncivilised.

Keywords

historiography, gender, masculinity, political agency, citizenship, peasants, Finland