Från hederlig till ockrare. En studie av allosemitism i svensk press, 1810-1840

Abstract

This thesis examines, via a method of discourse analysis, the allosemitic discourse and the conceptual ‘Jew’ in the Swedish press during hree separate five-year periods: 1813–1817, 1824–1828, and 1836–1840. The study focuses on the press from three Swedish cities where Jews could settle according to Judereglementet (the ‘Jew regulation’) from 1782: Göteborg, Norrköping and Stockholm. The theoretical framework is derived from the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and his theories about the ‘stranger’ in the construction of the ‘nation’, and the conceptual ‘Jew’ that has often played the role as ‘stranger’ in this context. The term allosemitism denotes this construction of the ‘Jew’ as the ‘other’. The concepts of antisemitism and philosemitism are also considered, and understood, as parts of a wider spectrum of views. The study finds that the upheaval of Judereglementet in 1838 caused an outbreak of antisemitic and allosemitic rhetoric about Jews as ‘strangers’ in the press. Some papers, such as Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, however, were found to have stood up for the rights of the Jewish inhabitants in Sweden. Some long-standing and wide-spread myths about Jews, such as alleged instances of Jewish ritual child-murder, were still reproduced. Reports about outright violence against Jews in Sweden were uncommon but did occur a few times in Stockholm in 1838 and 1839. These incidents were reported in all of the three examined cities. Overall, a negative image of the ‘Jew’ dominated the discourse during all examined periods. Despite being questioned and challenged at several times this image prevailed.