Sångskatten som socialt minne : en pedagogisk studie av en samling skolsånger

Sammanfattning: This thesis is an attempt to study a treasury of songs compiled by the students of the Swedish teacher training colleges in 1941. The students answered a questionnaire from a primary school teacher in southernmost Sweden, sent out to all the teacher training colleges. The question was: which (school) songs did they remember from the time before they entered their colleges. Their answers, lists of song titles written by hand, are the main focus of my work. Among the 90,000 songs there are around 240 that most of the students had in common. A special study of these songs and, in particular, the songs written by the students of the teacher training college in Stockholm make up the principal part of the thesis. In the analysis of the material I have categorized the songs, first into 17 categories and later into four main ones: Nature, Relationships, Time and Territory. These four concepts represented powerful metaphors to the students. The core songs are most often short, written in a major key and in four-fourths time.Theories on collective memory and social memory, used by Maurice Halbwachs, and theories of cultural reproduction constitute the main theoretical frames of reference of how a treasury of songs is created and preserved for the future. The role of social memory in the interpretation and reconstruction of the past is investigated.The first part of my study is concentrated on which song titles the students had on their lists and how their memories had functioned as a form of social memory. In the second part my principal interest is the songs themselves: what did they look like, how could they be categorized, and what symbols were used? The third part of my work is taken up by the analysis of which factors had influenced the students' choice of songs. What seemed to have a special effect on them was the fact that they were studying to become school teachers. Social memory in the form of strong traditions were active in the teacher training college.