Mid Sweden University

This thesis is an analysis of the use of early-modern history in two popular history magazines in Sweden. The aims of the study is to examine the representation of early-modern history and to see what type of ‘history use’ (Swedish: historiebruk) said period is characterized by. ‘History use’ is a concept utilized to highlight in what ways history is used and to what effect, while being part of a broader theoretical framework of history-didactics. The magazines in question are Populär Historia (popular history) and Världens Historia (the history of the world). The implemented methods used is firstly a quantitative analysis followed by a qualitative textual ‘history use’ analysis tied to the theoretical framework, which is based on a typology of different forms of ‘history uses’. The goal of the quantitative analysis is to see the share of articles containing early-modern content, to see geographical locations, type of article (events, societal phenomena, historical figures etc) and type of content, as well as to see the most typical form of article based on these mentioned parameters. These articles then become the subject of the qualitative analysis in which ‘history use’ is examined.

The result of the study is that Populär Historia is the magazine that focuses more on the period, with about 25 percent of the magazines content, compared to around 10 percent in Världens Historia. Regarding content, the result is quite similar where both magazines focus mostly on European history. Sweden is the most popular country in Populär Historia, while ‘unspecified’ followed by England and Great Britain are the most popular in Världens Historia. Both magazines write mostly character-portraits and the most popular category of subject is war and conflict. Five articles from each magazine align with these parameters and are subject to the qualitative analysis which shows that both magazines are characterized by several ‘history uses’. Populär Historia primarily feature scientific and commercial ‘history uses’, while Världens Historia mainly has commercial ‘history uses’. This result is mainly in line with and supports previous research, despite there seeming to be minor research in the field in the past 8 years.