Fatherhood Images and Ideals : Transforming, Circulating, and Responding to the Swedish Dads Photo Exhibition

Sammanfattning: Between 2016 and 2019, the Swedish state – via the Swedish Institute and Swedish embassies – circulated the ‘Swedish Dads’ photo exhibition to 54 countries. The exhibition was based on a photobook by the same name and featured photographs of Swedish fathers on parental leave with their children. Many Swedish embassies hosting the exhibition combined it with photographs of local fathers and children – as was the case in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the case of ‘Zambian Dads’, this exhibition was also circulated in Sweden. This thesis problematizes the transnational circulation of the Swedish ideal of progressive, gender-equal fatherhood across a range of local and national contexts where the availability of parental leave – as well as material conditions and family ideals – might be very different from the Swedish context. The aim of this thesis is to contribute critical, interdisciplinary knowledge by examining the transformation, circulation, and negotiation of images and ideals of fatherhood across contexts. Taking a social constructivist approach, the thesis draws theoretical inspiration from parenthood studies, visual culture studies and nation branding studies. Empirical material was collected through a visual ethnography and analysed using visual discourse analysis and thematic analysis. The analysis highlights firstly, that while Swedish dads on parental leave were constructed as ‘ordinary’ in the photobook, they were constructed as ‘exceptional’ in the exhibition circulated by the Swedish Institute. Secondly, photographs of local fathers and children were used to ‘bridge’ the contextual divides between Sweden and countries hosting the exhibition. Finally, representations of progressive fatherhood in Zimbabwe were found to challenge and extend the Swedish ideal beyond the context of the middle-class, nuclear family.