Publicat abstract ej belagt 230208
What happens when counter memories are mobilized to create inclusive memory cultures? What are the repercussions when alternative historiographies or activist memory cultures become included in national heritage? National heritage institutions are currently increasingly uploading digitized films and videos to online viewing platforms. Setting out to “reflect the transformation of Swedish society over the last century”, the streaming platform Filmarkivet.se contributes to the self-fashioning of the nation, the self-understanding of its citizens and their sense of belonging. In their attempt to curate a more diverse audiovisual heritage, Filmarkivet.se has been including archival content from minor archives, such as Filmform, Filmverkstan and Filmcentrum. Their archival records could be conceptualised as ‘counter memories’ (a term I have contested, though, see Brunow 2015). In this paper, however, my interest is in the complex processes of signification when ‘counter memories’ are mobilized by national stakeholders. Drawing on the notion of ‘agonistic memory’, put forward by Anne Cento Bull and Hans Lauge Hansen (2016), I look at the way archival platforms such as Filmarkivet.se deal with difficult heritage and conflicting versions of the past. How does the curation of minor cinema in Sweden tie in with welfare state nostalgia and retromania? In this paper I look specifically at archival footage dealing with social conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s.