The aim of this study is to analyze the botanist Elias Magnus Fries legacy between 1970 until today. The focus is on the Swedish medias interest in Fries, as well as how he and his name has been utilized during this period. Departing from theories on history culture and uses of history, the Swedish national newspapers Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Svenska Dagbladet are analyzed. The study shows when and how the memory of Elias Magnus Fries has been activated and portrayed in Swedish media, as well as if they used Fries as a kind of national symbol. During the 1970’s the interest was at its peak but dwindled after the 90’s probable due to the lack of jubilee celebration. Indeed, the interest of Fries peaked during the 70’s and 90’s because of celebrating the 100-year celebration of his death in 1878 and the 200 anniversary of his birth in 1794. Although, the general view of Fries persona always has been positive, rather scant attention har been devoted to Fries during the entire period and he was often only mentioned briefly. The interest was in general primarily on mushrooms rather than Fries, and it was always the mushrooms that spurred an interest in Fries rather than the other way around. This might indicate a rather weak position in the history of science within Swedish media. Nevertheless, the newspapers also depicted Fries as a kind of national educator, scientist and a person with a great an evolutionistic mind for his great interest in mushrooms and its introduction in the Swedish cuisine.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-48211 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Knutsson, Sebastian |
| Publisher | Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation, Jönköping University, HLK, Ämnesforskning |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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