"Migh gifwen af Min Kera Mormor" : En etnologisk studie av kunskapsöverföring i svenska adliga receptmanuskript 1675-1750

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how knowledge in the form of recipes circulated and was given meaning in the social networks of Swedish noble women, ca 1675-1750. Drawing on nine manuscript recipe books from the Rålamb family archives at The Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet) and The National Library of Sweden (Kungliga Biblioteket), the study analyzes the knowledge practices that were part of noblewomen's domestic education and their later role as mistresses of the household. Through close reading, manuscript comparisons, and thematization, the recipe collections are identified as layered objects accumulated over time through both concentrated transcription and incremental additions. The near-absence of use annotations together with systematic name attributions suggests that the recipes' value was partly determined by social standing, not just their practical content. Applying Lave and Wenger's theories on communities of practice together with Bourdieu's concepts on cultural, social and symbolic capital, the analysis shows how the participants exchanged recipes across generational and peer networks, were united through a shared repertoire, and used name attributions to legitimize knowledge through social authority. The study contributes to the knowledge of noble women's domestic practices, demonstrating how the women used the recipe collections not just as repositories of household knowledge, but also negotiated the practice to build social capital and authority. Name attributions can be read as a systematic legitimization mechanism within an informal education system that paralleled the formal scientific culture of the period.