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4. Kvinnliga historiker / Women writing history


1. Marja Engman:
Historieforskaren Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg (1909–2003)

Helena Charlotte Johanna Lolo Krusius föddes år 1909 i Marburg an der Lahn i Tyskland. Fadern var ögonläkare, modern kom från en gammal juristsläkt. Familjen flyttade till Vasa, där Lolo 1926 som 16-åring blev student från svenskspråkiga Vasa samskola. Familjen hade tre barn. Lolos intresse för historia väcktes av tidens dramatiska händelser. Utöver historia var hon också intresserad av musik och matematik.

Lolo Krusius började studera vid Helsingfors universitet med Finlands och Skandinaviens historia som sitt huvudämne. Hon studerade ett år som utbytesstipendiat i Frankfurt am Main och arbetade därefter åren 1929-31 vid det tyska universitets central för akademiska utbyten. Hon avlade filosofie kandidatexamen år 1932 och disputerade 1934 på sin avhandling Der Durchbruch des Nationalismus und Liberalismus im politischen Leben Finnlands 1856-1863.
Senare betonade hon att åren i Frankfurt hade haft en stor betydelse för hennes forskarkarriär.

Lolo Krusius var en av de få tidiga lärda kvinnor som bildade familj. Hon gifte sig år 1931 med filosofie magister, senare Portugals konsul Jarl Ahrenberg. Familjens son Jörn-Henrik Puck föddes 1935. Jarl Ahrenberg hade liksom sin hustru studerat historia och skulle gärna ha gett sig in på forskarbanan, men familjeföretaget krävde att han istället valde en karriär som affärsman. Också Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg arbetade inom företaget. Åren 1942-45 var hon extraordinarie lärare i tyska vid Svenska Handelshögskolan. Hon var ordinarie lärare i statslära vid Svenska Medborgarskolan (senare Svenska social- och kommunalhögskolan) mellan åren 1945 och 1960, och docent i statslära vid Svenska Handelshögskolan från 1946. Som docent var hon också tf professor i historia och statslära 1946-48. Till denna professorstjänst utnämndes hon 1948 och gick i pension i slutet av år 1973.

Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg utnämndes till docent i Finlands och Skandinaviens historia vid Helsingfors universitet i slutet av år 1945. Hon skötte universitetets svenskspråkiga professur i statslära först på deltid, sedan tillfälligt åren 1949-52. Hon ansökte inte om professuren, utan ville återvända till Handelshögskolan. Hon beviljades avsked från sin docentur på egen begäran år 1954. Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg promoverades till hedersdoktor vid universitetets statsvetenskapliga fakultet år 1981. Hon dog i juli 2003 i Helsingfors vid en ålder av 94 år.

Läroområdet för Lolo Krusius-Ahrenbergs professur vid Handelshögskolan ändrades från statslära till historia och i början av 1970-talet slutligen till ekonomisk politologi. I det följande behandlar jag bara hennes historiska produktion.

Lolo Krusius-Ahrenbergs doktorsavhandling behandlade nationalismens och liberalismens uppkomst i Finland under åren 1856-63. Utvecklingen i Finland, särskilt i förhållande till Ryssland, betraktas mot bakgrund av skeendena på en omfattande allmäneuropeisk arena. Utöver idéernas spridning förklarar boken tidens administrativa förändringar och politiska ställningstaganden. Den grundläggande utgångspunkten vara att förhållandena i Finland hade ändrats så mycket sedan år 1809, att utvecklingen som ledde till år 1863 inte enbart kunde utgöra en direkt fortsättning på tidigare händelser. Boken fick beröm för att det som skedde i Finland sågs som en del av utvecklingen i Ryssland. Det oroliga läget i Polen bidrog till den lugna situationen och utvecklingen i Finland. Fram till år 1863 hade huvuddragen i en fullständig statsstruktur utvecklats i Finland, vilket kanske skulle ha varit omöjligt att uppnå i ett senare skede.

I sina följande publikationer fortsatte Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg att utforska statsförfattningens historia under 1860-talet. Hennes tyskspråkiga doktorsavhandling föll nästan i glömska, tills de mycket yngre forskarna Keijo Korhonen och Osmo Jussila i sina verk igen tog upp avhandlingens teman. Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg själv återgick till relationerna mellan Finland och Ryssland i en artikel som hon publicerade 1959 i Historische Zeitschrift. Hennes material bestod av egen tidigare forskning och andra forskares publikationer. Hon följde finländarnas isoleringssträvanden och den ryska imperialismen ända till början av 1700-talet, och refererade också till de allra senaste politiska händelserna.

I slutet av 1940-talet fick Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg mycket uppmärksamhet både i Finland och framför allt i Sverige med sin bok om tyrannmördaren C.F. Ehrensvärd. Boken handlar om C.F. Ehrensvärd (senare enligt moderns släktnamn Gyllembourg, 1767-1815), som hade varit delaktig i mordet på Gustaf III och först dömdes till döden men senare benådades. Ehrensvärd dömdes dock att förlora sin ära, adelstitel och egendom, och dödsdomen ändrades till "evig landsflykt". Efter sin förvisning levde Ehrensvärd ett kringflackande liv i Europa och vistades bland annat i Hamburg, tills han år 1798 slutligen slog sig ner i Danmark där han i huvudsak verkade som jordbrukare på olika gårdar. Det mest uppseendeväckande var att Ehrensvärd gifte sig med sin goda vän P.A. Heibergs hustru författarinnan Thomasine Kristine Heiberg (f. Buntzen) medan P.A. Heiberg var landsförvisad från Danmark. Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg fick positiv kritik i synnerhet för sin kännedom om upplysningstidens och det tidiga 1800-talets kulturhistoria.

Lolo Krusius-Ahrenbergs mest långvariga arbete var att delta i författandet av Finlands riksdagshistoria. Hon var medlem i historiekommittén från år 1954 och hon skrev delen om åren 1856-69 som utkom 1981. Hennes volym fick ett mycket positivt mottagande. I och med detta arbete hade hon återgått till det ämne som hon hade forskat i redan för sin doktorsavhandling i början av 1930-talet. Som statsvetare bidrog hon med avsevärda insatser också i utformningen av verkets övriga delar.

Lolo Krusius-Ahrenberg var en mycket språkkunnig forskare som gjorde många föredrags- och konferensresor utomlands. Hon var - ofta som enda kvinna - medlem i, ordförande eller förman för vetenskapliga samfund. I likhet med Alma Söderhjelm var hon inte en kvinnosakskvinna. Hon deltog i föreningen Akademiska kvinnors verksamhet, men ansåg massorganisationer för kvinnor vara onödiga. Hon var en inspirerande lärare; en av hennes studerande talade om hennes "laserskarpa intellekt".


2. Inger Elisabeth Haavet
Universitetet i Bergen, Historisk institutt

Kjønnede dannelsesbegrep og akademisk motstand - Pionerkvinner i Akademia og det akademiske kulturfeltet.

Paperet tar sikte på å studere de første kvinnelige akademikernes kulturelle og akademiske omgivelser som grunnlag for å forstå 1:hvorfor de var så få, og 2: grunnlaget for pionerenes valg og karriereskjebner. Norge er utgangspunkt for studien, med sideblikk mot de andre nordiske landene.

Spørsmål og problemstillinger som stilles vil være:

A.Hvilket bilde hadde Universitetet av seg selv som dannelsesinstitusjon, og hva betydde dette for kvinnelige studenter? - Norske kvinner fikk adgang til universitetsstudier i 1881, men det ble ingen storm av kvinnelige studenter i de nærmeste årene etterpå. Hva var det ved Universitetet som manglet appell til kvinner? I hvilken grad og på hvilken måte kan vi si at den akademiske kulturen var kjønnet på en måte som enten stengte kvinnene ute, eller gjorde det uinteressant for dem å søke seg dit?
Hva innebar forestillingene om akademisk dannelse for kvinner og menn? Hva bygget disse forestillingene på?

B. Forholdet mellom særartsideologi og dannelsesideologi - og betydningen dette forholdet hadde for de kvinner som ønsket å gjøre akademisk karriere. Var de kvinner som søkte en akademisk karriere i denne perioden selektert i utgangspunktet, som "isolerade øar" (jfr Hanna Markusson 2003)med en problematisk kjønnsidentitet såvel som en umulig posisjon i forhold til sine fagfeller? Eller var det begrensninger i deres akademiske handlingsrom som satte dem i en slik posisjon?

Vil det være mulig å finne en "systemkritisk" forklaring på det antiklimaks som oppsto etter at kampen for kvinners rett til utdanning tilsynelatende var vunnet, ved at de nyåpnede dører i så liten grad ble brukt?


3. Elise Garritzen
University of Helsinki / departement of history

Liisi Karttunen - a Finnish historian in Italy 1907-1919

Liisi Karttunen (1880-1957) was one of the first female historians in Finland, though she never worked as a historian in Finland, but in Rome. She worked there as a researcher and a secretary of the so called Finnish Historical Expedition in Rome from 1909 untill 1915. The purpose of this expedition was to locate and publish documents in the Vatican Archives about Nordic history. Next to the publishing work, she wrote several studies about papal diplomacy in Sweden-Finland in the 16th century. The research that Karttunen and the other members of the expedition did was pioneering, because they were the first ones to systematically study the papal diplomacy after the year 1500 in the Vatican archives, where the scholars had earlier been mainly interested in medieval documents. Her research was well received by the international audience, but it was a great disappointment to her, that in Finland her work was not valued. Contrary, she became a target of harsh criticism and her abilities

The first part of my paper will discuss why was Liisi Karttunen criticized in such a harsh way in Finland. I will examine the role that gender played in the debate around her dissertation and why was her ability to do independent research such a central issue in the debate. The second part of the paper will concentrate on the history she wrote. The main focus in this part will be on Karttunen's interest in biographcal work and her plans to write a biography on princess Anna Vasa.


4. Mervi Kaarninen
Department of History, University of Tampere

Matilda Roslin-Kalliola Är finsk historia skildrad av en kvinna av folket?

The topic of my research is rather unknown writer Maria-Roslin Kalliola (1837-1923) from Merikarvia (Satakunta). She was an amateur historian. Roslin-Kalliola began during the late 19th century to write stories and memoirs to the newspapers. In the beginning of the 20th century she managed to have six books published. She wrote about her ancestors and she was especially interested about the history of her own family. Very fascinating feature in her texts is that she managed to connect the family stories to the history of fatherland. In her texts we can find her impressions and interpretations about most difficult chapters in Finnish history. The point in my paper is to analyse her interpretations and conceptions about Finnish history. Analysing her texts we can find how the ordinary people understood the common past or on the other way how they should understand it. We can find very strong patriotic tendency in her books and articles.

Matilda Roslin Kalliolas childhood home was poor and her life was needy. She was interested in learning, but because of her poor upbringing she did not have any possibilities for formal education. Through educating herself she managed to attain a better social position. She earned her living first as a dressmaker and later as a shopkeeper. She was married but the marriage was very unhappy and she had not children. For her literary work, she received help from educated middle-class women. For example Hilda Käkikoski corrected her manuscripts. Hilda Käkikoski has said that that Matilda Roslin-Kalliola was an unsophisticated countrywoman, who sincerely and openly wrote about her home village. Pietari Päivärintaa was one of her masculine colleagues. Roslin-Kalliola is also the most perfect example of the project of the Fennomans. The self-educated peasant woman began to write stories about the history of the fatherland for the ordinary people. When the Fennoman project came to an end the writer was totally forgotten.


5. Anne Trine Larsen
Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Historie og områdestudier

Kønnets magt. Danske kvindelige historikere 1875-2000

I mit kommende forskningsprojekt vil jeg undersøge kvinders bidrag til den professionelle historieskrivning i Danmark 1880-2000. Undersøgelsen er et toårigt forskningsprojekt, der med støtte fra Statens Humanistiske Forskningsråd i Danmark løber i tiden 1. februar 2005-31. januar 2007. Formålet med projektet er først at kortlægge kvinders adgang til den professionelle historieskrivning i Danmark. Dernæst at analysere kvinders bidrag til historieskrivningen for herigennem at kunne vurdere, hvad der sker med vores forståelse af historiografi, når historieskriveren kønnes. Endelig skal kvinders bidrag til historieskrivningen i Danmark sammenlignes med kvinders bidrag i de andre Nordiske lande.

I mit paper vil jeg give en redegørelse for det første delresultat af undersøgelsen. Således tager min redegørelse afsæt i en statistisk kortlægning af kvinders uddannelse til historikere og deres ansættelser som professionelle historieskrivere. Indledningsvist vil det blive vist, hvor mange kvinder (og mænd) der er blevet uddannet til historikere ved Danmarks fem universiteter, fra den første kvinde fik sin kandidateksamen i 1887 frem til år 2000. Dernæst vil jeg vise, hvor mange kvinder der blev ansat ved de historievidenskabelige institutioner i Danmark, med mulighed for at bidrage til historieskrivning, det vil sige kvinder fastansat i stillinger med forskningstid. Det omfatter kvinder ansat i faste stillinger ved universiteterne. Dernæst omfatter det kvinder ansat ved de statslige arkiver og endelig gælder det kvinder ansat ved Nationalmuseet. Jeg har valgt ikke at medtage kvinder ansat ved lokal- og specialarkiver såvel som ditto museer. Denne første del af min undersøgelse er statistisk baseret på arkivmateriale fra universiteter, arkiver og Nationalmuseet.

Formålet med paperet er dels at danne grundlag for en diskussion af, hvordan kvinder har etableret sig i historiefaget i Danmark i sammenligning med de andre Nordiske lande, dels at diskutere metodiske overvejelser om historiografiske analyser, når historieskriveren kønnes.


6. Eva Ahl
University of Helsinki, Department of History

Male and Female concerning St. Birgitta of Sweden - Lydia Wahlström and the Male Researchers on St. Birgitta

During the 20th century different trends in interpreting St. Birgitta's revelations in a political scence have varied in popularity. This view was popular in the first decades in the 20th century and thoughts made comeback in the studies in the 1990's. During various jubilees on Birgitta during the 20th century, questions concerning her have been discussed, e.g. in 1923, 1973 and 1991. The academic tradition in studying St. Birgitta's political revelations have been attached to national issues during the past century. A religious, female point of view, but still politicially anchored, is represented by the historian, PhD, Lydia Wahlström, who discussed Birgitta in 1905 and later issues on Protestantism and Catholicism. Wahlström emphasizes that in Birgitta's revelations one could sense both religious ideas and love for her homeland. Wahlström, was rightwinged all her life and active in the women's liberation movement in Sweden. Wahlström also criticized the earlier scholars, mainly m


7. Lorraine Ryan
University of Limerick, Ireland

A uniquely female, historical perspective: women's writing in Spain with reference to the novels of Almudena Grandes, Dulce Chacóm amd Angeles Caso.

Almudena Grandes, one of the most successful Spanish women's writers of her generation, has always been resolute in her desire to create characters which embody the forgotten history of Spain. This forgotten history, refers primarily but not exclusively to the victims of the Spanish Civil War, knowledge of whom was severely repressed during the Francoist Regime.

Although Grandes has unequivocally stated her aversion to the classification of her books as feminine literature, I believe her interpretation of Spanish history is gendered. Her characters incarnate Spanish history within the private sphere, and the issues which confront them there. Be it abortion, infidelity or social stratification, her characters offer a uniquely feminine perspective on Spanish history. Uniquely feminine and by extension, novel, as women were for so long consigned to a subordinate position in Spain, and consequently were marginalised from official historical discourse. Only archetypes such as Isabela la Católica and Santa Teresa de Avila, who served the Regime's propagandistic purposes, were included in the canon. I intend to analyse the historical representation of women in Spain, and to argue that the paucity of literary potrayals of real women during the Regime has generated a huge level of interest in women's history during the Francoist era. This, in turn,
would aspire to historical realism, therefore, would have to take into account the issue of gender.

Finally, I will analyse the rationale underlying this literary phenomenon. Is this recuperation of women's history through the medium of literature simply a viable commercial venture or a by-product of the recent drive to counteract the collective amnesia about the past which is so pervasive in Spanish society? In answering this question, I will analyse the current trends in Spanish histography.


8. Tuomaala Saara
University of Helsinki, Dept. of History

"Own Table" and women as writers of history in Finland: An introduction of the historiographic project

This presentation is linked to the book project, Women as the writers of history in Finland (2002-2005), being put together by Finnish historians (Elina Katainen, Tiina Kinnunen, Eva Packalén, Saara Tuomaala). The anthology will be published in Spring 2005. The writers involved in this collection of articles hope to discuss the role of women in national history, and the Finnish women are examined as writers of history from the nineteenth century to the present. At the same time, we will also examine Finnish women´s history and the stages of its development more generally. The pioneering anthology´s eleven authors include researchers, university teachers, postgraduate students, museum and archive professional, who all share an interest in women as historical narrators and researchers.

The project has a connection to the wave of interest for historiographies of women historians and gender-bound genres of historical research worldwide, as "lost and forgotten histories" in the field. The people studied in the anthology are not all "academic" in the traditional sense. Many of these women were intellectual and social generalists: politicians, active members of civic organizations, teachers, collectors of information, journalists, translators, or writers, and in some cases even all of those. The texts examined cover a broad range of genres from essays to biographies and novels to dissertations.


9. Charlotte Hansen
University of Aarhus, Faculty of Theology, Institute of Church History

Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843-1917): A forgotten (Roman Catholic) Historian

Charlotte Julie von Leyden was born on the 19 February 1843 in Munich into the lower and by no means affluent Catholic aristocracy. As a young girl she was sent to the Netherlands in 1854 to be taught languages. And after spending three years there, she returned to Munich where her parents now considered her suitable for marriage with an eligible gentleman. But, she was not excactly besiged by suitors and she wrote herself that -"man sagte mir ganz leise ins Ohr, dass die Männer mich fürchteten und man fasste meine Verurteilung in einem einzigen Namen zusammen: "bas blu".

In 1868, after a broken engagement she escaped the malicious gossip of the Munich society and the restraining rules of her parents (that only allowed her to study for a few hours per day) and travelled to Belgium and France. She was already in written contact with the Bishop of Orleáns, Felix-Antoine Dupanloup and also made the acquaintance of one of the leading liberal Catholics of his day, Charles de Montalembert.

The greatest intellectual influence on her life, however, was Ignaz von Döllinger who was an internationally renowned scholar, writer, priest and public figure; for more than four decades he held the Chair of Church History at the University of Munich. He encouraged her reading of historical materials and was instrumental in ensureing that she was first published. Through him, and his fomer student, John Acton - later Regius Professor of History at Cambridge, she met the Irish journalist and politician Rowland Blennerhasseet, whom she married in 1870.

The growing Blennerhassett family shuffled forwards and backwards between London and Munich, encountering financial hardship. Charlotte Blennerhassett contributed articles to various international journals in order to make some money, and encouraged by her husband, she published a work on Dupanloup in the Nineteenth Century Review in 1876. Then followed biographical and historical works on Madame de Stäel (1887-1889), Chateuabriand (1903) and Marie Antoinette (1903) as well as various essays that were published in Deutscher Runsdchau, Spectator, Hochland and in Cambridge Modern History. In 1904 follwed her biography on the English Roman Catholic convert and later Cardinal, John Henry Newman, which was actually the first biography on him to be written in German and so served as his introduction to a German-speaking audience.

In 1898, she was the first women to receive a honoray doctorate from the University of Munich, and she kept publishing right until her death on the 10 February 1917.

This paper looks at Charlotte Blennerhassett's contributions to the historical and biographical genre within a traditionally male dominated Roman Catholic historiographical environment. It wishes to assess the quality, the characteristics and the relevance of her writings, and attempts to answer, whether she has largely been forgotten today as a historian. If this question is answered in the affirmative, is it because of her gender? Was she destined to always merely being mentioned in connexion with the men above, rather than considered a force in her own right?


10. Jytte Larsen
KVINFO

Den danske kvindebevægelses historiografi

Der er to hovedlinier i 1900-tallets kvindehistorieskrivning: Kvindeorganisationernes organisations- og professionshistorie, der grundlagdes med Dansk Kvindesamfunds første jubilæumsskrift i 1912, og akademisk kvindehistorie, udviklet i 1970'erne af forskere med rødder i den nye kvindebevægelse.

I festskriftslitteraturen er moderne kvindehistorie identisk med kvindebevægelsens historie. Periodiseringen fulgte organisationernes med stiftelse, organisatoriske ændringer og politiske sejre som milepæle. Hovedaktørerne var ledende medlemmer og ligestillingsdiskursen den, der konstrueredes i de styrende organer og offentliggjordes i egne publikationer.

Kvindeorganisationerne forblev et centralt forskningsfelt for den tidlige kvindeforskning, der videreførte periodiseringsprincippet med den første og anden feministiske bølge, hovedsageligt udvidede aktørbegrebet ved inddragelse af kvindesagens venstreopposition og nuancerede ligestillingsdiskursen efter vægtningen af retfærdighed, nytte eller interesser i argumentationen.

Begge traditioner peger på modstand fra mænd som hovedårsagen til, at kvindebevægelsens vej fra margin til mainstream har været meget længere end bonde- og arbejderbevægelsens.

Under arbejdet med Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon dukkede der nye svar på spørgsmål om periodisering, aktører og strategier. Her trådte aktører uden tilknytning til kvindeorganisationerne klart frem. Det blev også tydeligt, at den dominerende ligestillingsdiskurs konstrueredes af nøglepersoner i kvindebevægelsen af begge køn og med adgang til offentligheden, der overtog diskursen uden synderlig modstand og modspil. Marginaliseringen forklares også af begrænsende teorier.