The Iron-Professor : Rethinking the historical narrative of Tuija Lindström’s professorship at Fotohögskolan and the school’s relation to the Swedish photographic field in the 1990s

Abstract: In revolving around the construction of history, this study rethinks the historical narrative of Tuija Lindström’s professorship at Fotohögskolan in the 1990s. Through this, the aim is to widen the understanding of the role of both the school and the professor’s position within the Swedish photographic field in the postmodern era. The main material consists of archival documents from Fotohögskolan, such as syllabuses, schedules, and staff records. Other important sources include interviews with people connected to the school and articles from newspapers and photographic journals. In order to examine power structures, the theoretical framework is built upon Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the cultural field. To further understand this, critical discourse analysis is also used both as a method and theory. The study shows that the development of Fotohögskolan grew out of many events and endeavours traceable to broader structural struggles within the Swedish field of photography in the 1990s. The changes are shown to be connected to postmodern tendencies which influenced the whole field in a certain direction, and how the school became an important institution to manifest this. Further, the study shows that the professorship played an important role as a central figure for Swedish photography.