This study aims to explore the emotional dimension through letters from three immigrants that left Sweden 1887, 1892 and 1901. The questions asked were the following: 1) which emotions are expressed in relation to the Swedish society, 2) which emotions are expressed to the American society and 3) what are the main differences between the emotions of Swedish and American society? With the use of Martha Nussbaum’s theory of emotion, Hugo Nordlands discontinuity perspective and Barbara Rosenwein’s emotional communities as theoretical framework, the results show that homesickness, nostalgia and concern are the prominent emotions in relation to Swedish society. They are related to the emotional objects of family, friends and the letter-writer’s place of origin. Hope and affinity are the prominent emotions in relation to American society, related to the emotional objects of friends, holiday seasons and language. The emotional differences between the Swedish society and the American society are individual, and constitutes from the letter-writers identification with, and adaption to, the American society in addition to their actions, future hopes and dreams.

This is a study of Samuel Pepys diary where the focal point is emotions in his professional life, emotions are understood through Barbara H. Rosenweins theory of Emotional Communities. The main part is made up of two chronological chapters following through the ten years Pepys kept a diary. The point is to illuminate Pepys professional life in the British Royal Navy through the perspective of emotions. We follow Pepys’s professional development, where emotions is discussed in relation to concepts such as personal interest and social status. From the first years of the diary to latter perspectives of him turning into the great naval administrator he became known as. Pepys in his professional sphere strictly controlled his emotions and soared above his competitors. He was a man who was puritan raised, highly emotional, educated and curious - on the fringes of the power epicentre in restoration-era England.

This study contributes to the particular field of emotional history by exploring collective social attitudes towards affective expression. Here, the passionate behaviour of Swedish Prince Frederick Adolph is witnessed and evaluated by the country’s royal court during the eighteenth-century. The perspective on contemporary elite ideals is influenced by Barbara H. Rosenwein’s theory of “emotional communities”. By methodologically discerning the moral values in aristocratic and royal diaries, one can fruitfully analyse the group’s normative emotional ideas. Resulting from this thesis is an understanding of the royal court’s approval of the prince’s apparent sincere sensitivity and the disapproval of his passionate ways. Also, the importance of the culture of sensibility is understood to have an opponent in the society’s traditional structures. This is a revelation of an early modern emotional group’s formation based on shared European ideals in addition to social communal and individual belonging.KEY WORDS: history of emotions, sensibility, Sweden, royal court, Prince Frederick Adolph, diaries

Myths are intimately connected with emotions, but what the nature of the relationship really means, what it is, and how it functions are in many ways vague and unspecified. This is an examination of how, when and where emotions are referenced in theories of myth. The purpose is to point in a direction of possible new questions for future research on emotions and myth. Three major themes, centered around three major theorists of myth, are examined. The first treats perspectives of, and inspired by, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl. It is a theme based around views of myth as creating collective emotions. The second theme, centered around Bronislaw Malinowski, examines theories understanding myth as handling difficult emotions. The third theme deals with perspectives from Claude Lévi-Strauss’s structuralist theory of myth, where myth is seen as mediating contradictions, and thereby also mediating emotions of the contradictions. The three themes are then examined in relation to theories from the burgeoning history of emotions. New theoretical positions, such as the bodily and moral aspects of emotions, are examined and the result suggests that the central connection between myth and emotions could be found in humankind’s ever present concern to regulate, to discipline, and to form expressions of emotions.

Denna uppsats syftar till att utforska den emotionella dimensionen av att resa genom fyra kvinnors ögon över hela världen under mitten av 1800-talet. De utvalda svenska kvinnorna var från medel- och överklassen. De frågor som ställdes var följande: Vilken känslomässig laddning har reseberättelserna om platser / kultur / människor? Med användning av William Reddy's Emotive och Barbra Rosenweins Emotional communities som en teoretisk ramverk visade resultaten att platser relaterade till naturen var extremt positiva. Stadsort var däremot inte lika positivt skildrade i Europa. Detta relaterade till den pågående industrialiseringen i Europa, vilket skapade tätbefolkade och orena miljöer som sågs med starkt missnöje och laddade med negativa känslor. Kultur var en kategori av emotionell konflikt för alla fyra resenärer. Det visade att den svenska och protestantiska bakgrunden var stark när det gällede värden och normer för dessa kvinnor och gjorde det möjligt för starka, negativa känslomässiga upplevelser av kultur. Kombinerat fanns en pågående utveckling av tankar med nationalistiska och eurocentriska element. Människor fick positiva attribut och känslor kopplade till dem på individuell basis och separerades från sin kultur i de fallen. Istället kopplades negativa känslor till grupper av människor som stred mot dessa kvinnors bakgrund och intressen. Sammantaget var den emotionella dimensionen en blandning av starka positiva och några starka negativa upplevelser. En avgörande faktor var bakgrunden och en övergripande komplexitet i den emotionella dimensionen var avgörande. / This essay aims to explore the emotional dimension of travelling through the eyes of four women across the world during the middle of the 1800s. The chosen Swedish women were collectively of middle- and upper-class status. The questions asked were the following: What emotional charge do the travelogues have regarding locations/culture/people? With the use of William Reddy’s Emotive and Barbra Rosenwein’s Emotional communities as a theoretical framework, the results showed that locations related to nature were extremely positive. Urban locations, on the other hand, were not as positive to see in Europe. This related to the ongoing industrialization of Europe, creating densely populated and unclean environments that became was seen with strong displeasure and charged with negative emotions. Culture was a category of emotional conflict for all four travellers. It showed that the Swedish and protestant background was strong in determining values and norms for these women and made it possible for strong, negative emotional experiences. Combined there was an ongoing evolution of thoughts with nationalistic and Eurocentric elements. People had positive attributes and emotions connected to them on an individual basis and were separated from their culture. Instead, negative emotions were connected to groups of people that conflicted with these women’s ideas and interests. Overall, the emotional dimension was a mix of strong positives and some strong negatives. A determining factor was the background, and an overall complexity to the emotional dimension was conclusive.

This thesis explores the representation of emotion and feeling in the 1910’s and 1920’s fictional works of Swedish working class writer Karl Östman, against the historical background of the working class movement and its social communities. The material consists mainly of three collections of short stories (Pilgrims, A Fiddle and a Woman and Hunger) and one novel (The Broad Road). The author analyses how emotions arise and are represented, the relationship between emotion and action, the individual and collective practices of feeling, as well as the emotional reactions following suffering. Dreams of love and compassion are also addressed to investigate whether the texts point to the possibility of a new emotional community for the working class. The theoretical basis of the thesis is Barbara H. Rosenwein’s concept of ”emotional communities”, along with Sara Ahmed’s theories of emotions as patterns of action. The thesis argues that all actions in Östman’s fiction are, fundamentally, emotional reactions. To gain an understanding of capitalism and class society as the causes of oppression, Östman’s characters must first understand their own emotions from the perspective of a socialist emotional community, rather than the prevailing emotional community of working class men. Only then can their emotional response to suffering become anger and action rather than hopelessness. Östman identifies the great shame of the worker not as his vulnerable position under capitalism but as the culture of non-feeling that workers impose on one another – a change of perspective that becomes a call for action. If read attentive to the role of emotions in the text, the thesis argues, Östman’s fiction possesses an urgency and a complexity previously not accredited to him.