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I
have a PhD degree in the field of history of ideas, and
earlier academic degree in history of art, history of literature
and French. Besides "family research and development"
which resulted in three children and so far eight grandchildren,
I worked previously as publishing editor, language editor
at the Swedish parliament, and as teacher of French. Later,
in parallel with my research, I have taught early design
history at the university's School of Design and contributed
with lectures at e.g. the Nordic Forum for Design Studies
in Oslo (symposium on France - Nordic Countries).
My
doctoral dissertation deals with the idea of "better
things for everyday life", that is, the idea of universal
"democratic" design which is affordable by "everybody".
Its initial emphasis is on the history of the Swedish Society
of Arts and Crafts during the years 1915-1925 and the role
of its manager, later professor at Uppsala university, Gregor
Paulsson.
NEW!:
Statistics from Umeå University
indicates that the dissertation was the most downloaded
of all available dissertations at the university,
i.e. about 11.000 downloadings up to the shift February-March
2009. (See latest
statistics.) Considering that the main text (except
an extensive summary) is written in Swedish this means
that the international interest for the subject is comparable
with that for the most diffused Swedish dissertations
in English language and in the field of humanities, in
all
Swedish
universities. See, for instance, statistics from Uppsala
university.
Because of these reasons the dissertation was also noted
in the press (Västerbottens Kuriren 2008-09-12).
I
am interested in matters of aesthetics, lifestyle och
taste,
as well as in the idea of "national" as contrasted
to "international" design ideals. What does
the present "cult of design" stand for? I am,
further, interested in the
ceramic center in Gustavsberg, nearby Stockholm, the site
of a historically important porcelain/china factory.
For the future I feel committed to
questions of relations between aesthetics, economics, politics
and ethics at the interface with theology in the field
of
theological aesthetics.
Further
details on my work can be extracted from the following extended
bibliographic data of the dissertation. Its list of referenced
literature (in Swedish, English, French and German) includes
a selected set of my publications:
Ivanov,
Gunnela (2004). Vackrare vardagsvara - design för
alla? Gregor Paulsson och Svenska Slöjdföreningen
1915-1925 [Better things for everyday life – Design
for everybody? Gregor Paulsson and the Swedish Society
of
Arts and Crafts 1915-1925]. Umeå: Umeå
university, Dept. of Historical Studies. (PhD doctoral
dissertation, ISBN 91-7305-648-0, ISSN 1651-0046, 336
pages and list of
literature of 303 items. See abstract
in English at
with a link to the integral text
in pdf-format, 1,8 MB,
which includes an abstract in Swedish on p. 21, a summary
in English (pdf) on pp. 307-314,
and the literature-bibliography of 300 items on pp. 318-330.
See the original Swedish press
release by the university.
Accessed on May 29th 2004.
Orders for printed copies: Ulla-Stina
From,
tel +46 90 7865579.
KEYWORDS
in various languages which describe the area of my work
and my future interests:
design,
formgivning, hantverk, konstindustri, handicraft, craftsmanship,
arts and crafts, art and technology, industrial art, arts
décoratifs, industrial design, history of design,
household wares, architecture and engineering, housing problem,
home furniture, romanticism, Deutscher Werkbund, Bauhaus,
Slöjdföreningen, Svensk Form, Swedish grace, IKEA,
taste, social aesthetics, Sozial Ästhetik, theological
aesthetics, functionalism, reformation of museums, exhibitions,
fairs, departement stores, supermarkets, adult education.
PHOTOS
Photos
from the public defence/disputation of the PhD thesis, 28
May 2004 (Photographer: K Ivanov)
Photos from the post-disputation
social event (Photographers:
W & O Schedin)
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