Sweden Unveils Controversial cultural Canon, Excluding โขABBA Butโ Including Pippi longstocking
STOCKHOLM – Sweden has launched a national โขcultural canon intendedโค to foster โคeducation, community, and inclusion, butโ the project โis โขalready facing significant criticism. โขCommissioned by the Swedish government and prepared by a team led by a historian, the canon focuses onโค elements deemed representative of โขSwedish โฃhistory โand โฃidentityโข – with a key stipulation: inclusion requires being at least fifty years โคold.
This age limit means globally recognized pop group ABBA is excluded, while figures โคlike Pippi longstocking are included. Other entries โencompass furniture giant Ikea, Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal, and theโค nobel Prizes. The cutoff date of 1975 reflects a belief thatโ Sweden has undergone substantial internationalization in the past five decades.
Theโ initiative, championed โby coalition parties including the Sweden Democrats, has drawn โfire from the Swedish Academy – the body โขawarding the Nobel Prize for Literature, wich refused to cooperate, deeming the โproject “spreading.” โMarlen Eskander, chairman of a reading promotion โคorganization and former Canon Committee member, described the โฃcanon as “very exclusive,” arguing the 50-year limit deliberately excludes contemporary experiences.โค Concerns โขhave also been raised by Sami representatives, noting a completeโ lack of involvement from โthe indigenous community.
Critics further characterize the canon as “messy and arduous to understand,” lamenting the omission of less favorable aspects of Swedish history. Despite the backlash, the canon’s authors and Culture Minister Parisa liljestand โฃinsist it is intended asโ a “livingโ monument” open to future additions, โฃand have refuted accusations of hidden agendas. โฃ
The Netherlands maintains a similar cultural canon, last updated in 2020, featuring fifty themes and individuals summarizing Dutch history.
