New book examines Swedish-U.S. relations, history

Dag Blanck, director of the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana, will join contributors to a new study of Swedish-American relations at a virtual book launch Sept. 9.

The panel discussion will begin at 8:15 a.m. Central Time. (Registration is not required; join the session on Zoom.)

The group will discuss "Swedish-American Borderlands: New Histories of Transatlantic Relations," edited by Blanck and Uppsala University historian Adam Hjorthén. The book reflects the new approaches in the field, reframing Swedish-American relations by focusing on contacts, crossings, and convergences beyond migration.

Several of the authors included in the book will be present to talk about new interpretations of Swedish-American relations. The book's writers study connections and contacts between Sweden and the U.S. from the 17th century to today.

The book brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to investigate cultural exchanges between the two countries, featuring topics like music, architecture, design and genealogy.

"By placing interactions, entanglements, and cross-border relations at the center of the analysis, "Swedish-American Borderlands" seeks to bridge disciplinary divides, joining a diverse set of scholars and scholarship in writing an innovative history of Swedish–American relations to produce new understandings of what we perceive as Swedish, American, and Swedish American." (University of Minnesota Press)

Dag Blanck is professor of North American studies and director of the Swedish Institute for North American Studies at Uppsala University. 

Adam Hjorthén is senior lecturer at Uppsala University. He received the Loubat Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters in 2018 and is author of "Cross-Border Commemorations: Celebrating Swedish Settlement in America."