The Formation of White Swedes: A Relational Analysis

The Nordic identity is undoubtedly categorized as White in the 21^st century, as evident by for example the ‘othering’ of non-White Nordics and the aesthetic use of the Vikings as markers of Whiteness within global right-wing movements. While there is a wealth of studies on the Whiteness formation of other groups such as the Irish, and Italians, little research has explored the historical formation of Nordic’s White racial identity. Through a relational approach (Molina, HoSang, & Gutiérrez, 2019) I will explore how the racial formation (Omi & Winant, 2014) of White Swedes in North America and Sweden synchronously developed. Emerging research highlights the importance of the Swedish institutionalization of scientific racism to the formation of Whiteness in North America, making Sweden a useful case study.

In both contexts, I will explore the formation process of White Swedes by conducting a narrative analysis of materials describing Swedish racial identities to the public, produced between the years 1840 and 1915. This allows for an exploration of the trajectory of the racial formation of the group from when they first started to mass-emigrate to when their racial identity was established. In the North American context, I will analyze how Swedes were depicted in regard to race in ten major North American newspapers. Additionally, I will analyze official immigration and church records containing ascribed racial categories. In the Swedish context, I will analyze ten major newspapers and newspaper clippings and publications accessed from the State Institute for Racial Biology Archive in Sweden.

This project is important from a social justice perspective as racial identity formation processes directly relate to the (re-)production of racism. Further, through merging racial formation theory with a relational approach, I am able to provide a nuanced analysis of how White racial formation processes historically operated across borders.