A century in the Racial Biology Institute’s shadow

The purpose of the deliberately abstract picture is to help us remember our ancestors in sorrow, joy and anger, and inspire us to take responsibility for making a difference.

“As an Uppsala University student in the 1990s, and having been a researcher here since 2008, I felt a responsibility to ensure that the University itself should draw attention to, elucidate and take responsibility for the physical legacy of ‘racial biology’ and ‘scientific racism’ and their repercussions. Because this concerns us all, whether our ancestors were included in the collections or not,” says May-Britt Öhman, researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Racism (CEMFOR) and initiator of the Memorial Day.

The event on 17 February will build on four seminars that were held in spring 2021. Individuals and organisations representing the five national minorities – Tornedalians, Swedish Finns, Roma, Jews and the indigenous Sami, all of whom were subjected to racial biology research – and Afro-Swedes have been involved in planning the day.

The focus will be on looking at racial biology research as a part of Sweden’s history that must not be forgotten or hidden. The many speakers on the day will include Kerstin Andersson, author of the book “Unna Saiva: A Desecrated Sami Sacrificial Site” (Unna Saiva: En skändad samisk offerplats); cartoonist Mats Jonsson, who will discuss the topic of “A cultural genocide”; the Roma Information and Knowledge Centre (RIKC) in Malmö; and researcher Curt Persson, who works with the Truth Commission that is surveying the Swedish state’s abuse of Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset.

Talks and cultural items

Jewish perspectives will be provided by Christina Gamstorp, Director of the Jewish Museum, and Tommy Ringart, President of the Swedish Association of Holocaust Survivors. Britt-Inger Hedström Lundqvist, publisher of Magasin DIKKO, is organising a session in which several speakers will address the impact of racial biology on Travellers, past and present. The talks will be interspersed with cultural items.

“It’s extremely important that we don’t forget history. We must talk about how racial biology took hold and how it affected vulnerable groups and individuals. The seminars arranged by CEMFOR also shed light on the racism that persists to this day. The equal value of all people is utterly crucial for a democratic society, and it’s paramount that we keep discussing these issues,” says Uppsala University’s Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt.

The Memorial Day is being arranged with support from the Forum for Jewish Studies (FJS) and the Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics (CRB) at Uppsala University.

Date and time: 17 February, 09:00–17:30.