Kön och nation i vardag och vetenskap

Abstract

Understanding gender and nation in everyday practises and social science. The nation is often portrayed as a natural political unit, a bearer of common values facilitating democracy and equality. However, the construction and reproduction of nations is also intimately tied to hierarchies and mechanisms of power, not least gender power. This article shows how nation and gender are construed simultaneously in ideas and symbols, as well as in every-day practises. The article argues that memory work is a possible way to gain insight into the every-day construction of gender and nation, and to develop new theoretical understandings. An overview of central themes of the discussion on gender and nation is presented. Memory work makes explicit the ambivalent processes by which women as acting subjects are denied agency and turned into objects of the nation.