Födslar, blöjor och barnamord

Abstract

The topic of this article is different singers' negotiation of certain narrative motifs in Scandinavian traditional ballads, motifs depicting feminine life experiences such as pregnancy and childbirth. These narrative motifs are abundant in the songs but more or less invisible in the ballad titles and categories created by collectors and scholars since the early 19th century. Such feminine experiences, connected to hierarchy, patriarchy, sexuality and violence, are examples of elements of content that become visible when we focus on narrative motifs across the constructed ballad types. In a wider perspective, this discussion problematizes, from a gender power perspective, the categorization of cultural heritage, the formation of canon and the stubbornness of paradigms.