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The Nordic Spirit and Race Psychology: Racial Conceptions of the North in Interwar Swedish National Socialism
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology, Church History and Mission History.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6699-3904
2023 (English)In: Religiographies, ISSN 2974-6469, Vol. 2, no 2, p. 90-104Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article aims to analyse how national socialists in interwar Sweden construedand utilised ideas of a “Nordic spirit” and “race psychology” in relation totheir racial conceptions of the north. After briefly depicting the emergenceof various race theories with a particular emphasis on Nordicism, I highlighthow the Manhem Society (Samfundet Manhem) construed ideas of a Nordicspirit, and then display how the National Socialist Workers’ Party (Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarepartiet) elaborated on issues relating to race psychology. Iargue that racial conceptions of the north were part of how interwar Swedishnational socialists navigated the contested terrain of what was then modernrace thinking in order to determine the alleged racial foundations of a Nordicsense of being. The Manhem Society’s racial conceptions of the north werelargely based on ideas of a Nordic spirit comprising an alternative trinitarianbelief that was considered hidden but present in the Swedish people’s bloodand soil, whereas the NSAP elaborated on how the internal (soul) related tothe external (body). I conclude that a premise for studying relations betweenesoteric ideas and fascist/national socialist thought in an interwar Scandinaviancontext is to focus on careful historical contextualisation and avoid popularoversimplification.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Giorgio Cini Foundation , 2023. Vol. 2, no 2, p. 90-104
Keywords [en]
interwar Sweden, national socialism, race, nationalism, esotericism
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-518919OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-518919DiVA, id: diva2:1823095
Available from: 2023-12-29 Created: 2023-12-29 Last updated: 2024-01-02Bibliographically approved

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Religiographies, vol.2, no.2, 2023

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
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More styles
Language
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  • fi-FI
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  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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  • asciidoc
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