Once a year, "The Flying Doctors" seminar (Doktorn kan komma) is organized by Child Studies, where two researchers who have recently defended their thesis at other departments and universities are invited to present their dissertations. On November 17, 2026, we will be visited by Agnes Hamberger, Dalarna University, and Natalie Davet, University of Gothenburg. A warm welcome to hear about their research! The seminar will be held in Swedish.
Flickornas folkskola: Genus och utbildning ca. 1840–1920
Författare: Hamberger, Agnes
Abstract
The 19th century saw the emergence of national systems of mass education across Europe. In Sweden, the School Act of 1842 placed the main financial responsibility, as well as a significant influence over the educational content and organization of schools, on the local school boards. This included determining differences in the educational content for girls and boys. Despite the fact that previous research has noted several cases of gender inequality, few have looked into the role of gender structures within the Swedish elementary school (folkskola).
This study aims to describe and explain how the conditions, organization, and content of education was affected by gender structures during the emergence of the Swedish folkskola. This is accomplished through an empirical study of the education of girls between 1840–1920. The primary object of study is schoolgirls: however, since gender is regarded as relational, the analysis is conducted in relation to the education of schoolboys. The study employs an intersectional and gender-theoretical framework, where social factors or categories are seen as intersecting and interacting. In addition to gender, class constitutes the main analytical category.
The main finding of the dissertation is that folkskolan reproduced a system that positioned girls a subordinate group in relation to boys. This subordination took place in several ways: partly through the distribution of students into special groups, classes, or schools, and partly through differences in access to education and the content of education. Girls were largely regarded as future mothers, with reproductive work in the home as their primary purpose. The study also shows how the folkskola was characterized from the outset by gender stereotypes, which influenced perceptions of the education offered to girls and boys respectively. These stereotypes were manifested in both the elementary school's governing documents and in school practice. Although girls’ access to education generally increased during the period, there was an institutionalized gender difference whereby girls’ educational needs were considered different from those of boys.
Författare: Davet, Natalie
Abstract
This thesis examines the production of intergenerational encounters and its function in social life. The aim of this study is to produce knowledge about how municipally arranged intergenerational interventions condition, enable and limit intergenerational relations and education through the co-production of age, time and space. The study was conducted in Gothenburg, Sweden, and combines two research projects: Kulturmöten utan gränser (Cultural Encounters without Borders) and Kulturhus Backaplan—“generationsdialog” i stadsutveckling (Cultural Centre Backa-plan—‘an Intergenerational Dialogue’ in City Planning). Fieldwork was conducted in formal educational and care institutions, as well as non-formal public urban spaces. Both projects involved participants from different generations, aged between three and eighty-four. The theoretical framework of this thesis is influenced by critical theory and social constructionism. It combines theoretical concepts that enable an analysis of linguistic, material and embodied aspects of the ‘un/doings’ of age in relation to time and space. The study’s methodological approach is designed based on multi-sited ethnography and involves participant observation, conversational interviews, analysis of policy documents and other textual material. The analysis is based on Foucauldian discourse analysis and involves an abductive interaction between the theoretical framework and the produced material. The results highlight the following central problem representations that have become prominent in the studied material: 1) the ‘un/doings’ of intergenerational encounters in different institutional environments, 2) the ways in which intergenerational encounters cut through different time regimes, and 3) the normalisation and idealisation of ‘hyper-effective’ intergenerational encounters to save time and money. The main conclusion is that municipally arranged intergenerational encounters are characterised by ambivalent messages in relation to social age, education, time and space. On the one hand, there is a visionary political effort towards increased age integration as a matter of societal survival. On the other hand, intergenerational encounters appear as superfluous or ‘non-existent’ as they lack political recognition, by being absent in the policy organisation of education and care, and in ways in which their practical knowledge tends to be neglected rather than cared for and used as a contribution to society.