"Vår svenska stickning": En kulturhistorisk studie om stickningens representation i tryckt media

Sammanfattning

"Our Swedish knitting": A cultural historic study of the representation of knitting in print media. The subject of this thesis is to examine in what way knitting as a handicraft is presented as a social and cultural activity in Swedish print media. The study is based on a collection of 155 articles from daily newspapers, evening papers, weekly magazines and journals from the period of 1950-2020. In the analysis of the material it is discussed how knitting is portrayed as a female dominated activity throughout the studied time period and how it is used as an expression of gender roles. By the representation in print media of knitting as a good-natured activity it is also discussed how the handicraft is used as part of the creation of the Swedish national identity. As a base for these discussions lies theories of intersectionality and imagined communities. With the ideas of social constructivism it is also stated that the values surrounding knitting should be seen as fluid and changeable, depending on social and historical context.