Historisk Tidskrift. Utgiven av Svenska historiska föreningen
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Historisk tidskrift 132:3 • 2012

Innehåll (Contents) 2012:3

Uppsatser (Articles)

Förvandlingen från företagsledare till orrtupp. Djur som symbolik i Kung Orres Jaktklubb

Therese Nordlund Edvinsson

 

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

The transformation from business leader to black grouse male: The animal symbolism of the King Black Grouse Hunting Club.

This article deals with role-playing within the Swedish business elite as a part of developing an alternative identity. More specifically, the article analyzes a hunting club’s attitude to animals. A majority of the members in King Black Grouse Hunting Club were corporate managers. In the club the members assumed the role of black grouse males and imitated the bird’s behaviour. The Swedish business elite embraced masculinity and white heterosexuality. For these men, role-playing was a way to act frivolously and to create a new masculine culture that reminded of homosociality. They described themselves as men who were able to attract and hunt animals, as well as women. The wives of the members were compared to the black grouse hen.

King Black Grouse Hunting Society was founded in 1890 and terminated in 1960. The members frequently met for small game hunting. After the hunt, members attended secret ceremonies as well as parties. The hunt was an exclusive show. Expeditions in the woods were dramatized with fictional elements. The transformation from business leaders to black grouse cocks were not just an identity shift. It also reflected the members’ attitudes towards animals and nature. Their sense of humour, sexual allusions, and aggressiveness were ingredients in their encounter with the wilderness. In the 1950s, the younger generation of the hunting club found it difficult to continue the older members’ traditions. They found the celebration of the black grouse male ridiculous. Overall, this affected the male bonding culture, and rendered the adaption of the members’ alternative identity difficult.

Keywords

Sweden, 20th century, masculinity, hunting, business history, animal symbolism.