Sorg och samhällsanalys

Abstract

Sadness and Societal Analysis

I have a habit of deconstructing identities and I think it is important also to understand the ethnological identity as something contingent. Research subjects are constructed through different transdisciplinary projects; through interdisciplinary forms of education. We are changing. So are the disciplines. New disciplines are constructed and other disciplines disappear. Should we mourn this? Should we struggle for separate disciplines? Maybe?

However, if we fight for ethnology it is important to be aware of what we are reproducing or challenging in this process. In this paper I am worried about liberal discourses that are part of the construction of universities in Europe and Sweden. It is a consensus project in which there is an idea that the university should be a tool for a liberal society based on economic growth. The university as a place for political struggle, for the production of challenging discourses is not facilitated. When we today are struggling for the survival of ethnology, it is important not to be a non-reflective part of this liberal project.

My suggestion is instead to underline the importance of ethnology as a critical voice that shows the political side of all knowledge production. This position opens for other alliances such as those with trade unions, queer, feminist and other political movements.