Visual Typologies: A Nordic Type, Norwegian or Swede?
Racial theories idealizing the “Nordic type” were spread among many academic institutions in the North, and between the North and other parts of Europe in the years 1910 to 1935.
In her study, Hagerman focuses on how racial theories idealizing the “Nordic type” were spread among many academic institutions in the North, and between the North and other parts of Europe in the years 1910 to 1935. She examines the role of a Swedish race biologist Herman Lundborg, and compare him with two other Nordic scientists with whom he collaborated; Halfdan Bryn in Norway and Harry Federley in Finland. She also looks at how these three acted in the broader German speaking international network of racial hygiene; and in particular how they used photography as scientific evidence in combination with concepts for racial categorization. Her focus is to understand how photography was used in transnational relations, and what significance this had for the international development of race biology and the “Nordic type” as a visual icon.
Hagerman has previously written two monographs on racial research in Sweden in the 19th and 20 th century, published as independent research in archives and literary sources within the field of history of ideas.