Becoming the perfect swede: Modernity, body politics, and national processes in twentieth‐century Sweden*

Abstract

Compared with the rather dull subtitle of this article, the main title—"Becoming the Perfect Swede"—is catchy and certainly gets more to the heart of what the discussion will touch upon. The word “becoming” denotes that cultural identity is a process, in a constant flux, something always in the making. And the word “perfect” indicates the utopian direction of that process. The empirical field I will investigate is nevertheless body politics—and bodily practice.