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To comprehend better the meaning of a runic monument as a complex phenomenon it is necessary to have knowledge of its original location in relation to the surrounding environment. Our knowledge of such initial locations varies. Some runestones still stand in the place where they were first erected. In other cases, the first placement is well documented even if the runestone has been moved or indeed lost; sometimes, however, the documentation indicates only a general placement. In several instances the original location is wholly unknown. There are eighty-two known runic monuments from the late Viking Age in an area called Tiohärad in southern Sweden. For twenty-nine of these only a secondary location, mostly in or near a church, is known. Some mention bridges and eleven are known to have been located near a passage of water (which presumably also indicates the presence of a road). At least sixteen more are found near a later road, and two of these mention a crossroad. Thirteen seem to have been found near farms or villages. In many cases, the monuments could have marked ancient boundaries. Of particular interest in these instances are the examples located at boundaries that not only border two farms, but also larger administrative areas. Of the fifty-two monuments with a known location, only eighteen have any connection to grave-fields.

”A new form of musical upbringing”: Pretenses of reform pedagogy content in the Siljan schoolIn this article, I describe the Siljan school in Tällberg as a Swedish example of alternative pedagogy. The overall questions relate to the reform pedagogy content of the school and its ability to give Swedish music teaching a new form of musical upbringing. An important issue is how the Siljan school as a model for Swedish reform has been inspired by the reform pedagogy movements in USA and Germany. The analysis is thus based on the Alm couple’s ability to give the school an international character which shines light on Swedish reforms in the greater context of reform pedagogy. With its basis in discursive education of the 1930s, two main questions are discussed: what perspective on musical education can be identified in the personal development ethos of the Siljan school? How can the school’s relation to the reform pedagogy music movement during the start of the 1900s be understood? From a hermeneutic perspective, the article contributes by investigating how the Siljan school can have affected decisions in education politics, Swedish schooling, and Swedish musical life. In summary, the article contributes with new knowledge on a chapter in the history of Swedish music pedagogy.

Principal C.J.L. Almqvist and the principle of personalityThe Swedish author and visionary Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1793–1866) was the principal for twelve years (1829–1841) of the government-initiated pilot school ”Nya Elementarskolan” (New Elementary School) in Stockholm. In this position, he argued that both the school and the state should be built on the same basic idea: the right of individual freedom. This argument is often referred to as ”personlighetsprincipen” (the principle of personality), a concept launched by another prominent figure of the liberal culture of the time, Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847). This article explores how the principle of personality is expressed in the texts of Almqvist and is mainly built upon the concept’s allegorical resources. It examines the thesis that Almqvist’s use of the term is best understood if one distinguishes between the political, pedagogical, and existential dimension of the concept. The article ends with some thoughts about the context of the concept and a discussion on whether Almqvist had a greater interest in personalities than in principles.

Review of Owe Ronström, “Kulturarvspolitik. Visby från sliten småstad till medeltidsikon” (Stockholm 2008).

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Swedish gymnastics won a large following across the world. Employing the concepts of educationalisation and gender, I will explore how the physical education of girls was conceptualised and justified in the Swedish system during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the publications of Anton Santesson (1825–1892), who was one of the main authors on girls’ gymnastics in Sweden, I will show how girls’ gymnastics was conceptualised as a response to a social, cultural and physical crisis, which was perceived as partly stemming from the detrimental effects of education on girls’ bodies and minds. Girls’ gymnastics was thus construed as vital to the future of the Swedish nation. While men and manliness remained fundamental to the strength of the nation, girls’ gymnastics was vital to women’s rearing of boys and thus instrumental to the development of masculinity in men.

The study of the economics of education has a history that can be regarded as long, or short, depending on the perspective. As early as the eighteenth and nineteenth century, physiocrats and classical economists dealt with education as an economic phenomenon.1 However, it was first in the middle of the twentieth century that education became a fundamental issue in the science of economics, due in large part to human capital theory which, among many other things, highlighted the impact of educational attainment on economic growth.2 One of the key areas of research within the field of education economics is the study of educational finance. In the OECD countries, the expected length of five-year old child’s education in the year 2000 was 16.8 years, representing more than onefifth of a child’s life expectancy. In addition, an increasing number of these individuals are internationally mobile during their education. The funding of this lengthy and geographically diverse education entails enormous costs. In 2004, it was reported that the OECD countries spent an average of 5.8 percent of their GDP on education alone.3 Issues regarding the funding of such immense costs have generated research on topics such as the effects of the marketisation of education, and the balance between national, regional and local funding of education.4 Some of this research is, as will be discussed below, historical in nature. The articles in this special issue discuss the

The Swedish author Sven Wernstrom (b. 1925), mostly known for his political children’s and young adult fiction, is also one of the most prolific and widely read Swedish writers of science fiction (sf). His first attempts in the genre consisted of stray sf elements in some of his aviation novels on ‘‘Flygkamraterna’’ (‘‘The Flight Comrades’’, 1947-1957), and the fullblown sf novel Flygkamraterna korsar rymden (‘‘The Flight Comrades Cross Space’’, 1949), which depicts a trip to Mars and an encounter with an alien civilisation literally divided into different strata in their underground society. This study examines the transition from Wernstrom’s first aviation novels to his first sf novel, and studies the extent to which Wernstrom’s early science fiction makes use of the specific conventions of the genre. After a very brief survey of the history of sf in Sweden up until the 1950s, this study deals with the two novels Flygkamraterna (‘‘The Flight Comrades’’, 1947) and Flygkamraterna korsar rymden when it comes to their view on science and technology, their uses of technological speculation and futurological extrapolation, estrangement, and evocation of the sublime. It is commonly believed that Wernstrom’s writing didn’t really become political until the 1960s. One of the main conclusions of this study, however, is that already in his earliest science fiction from the late 1940s, Wernstrom makes ample use of the genre’s potential to conduct indirect social commentary. Keywords: Sven Wernstrom ; Science Fiction ; Aviation Novels ; Interplanetary Travel ; Mars ; Alien Life Forms (Published: 28 November 2012) Citation: Barnboken - tidskrift for barnlitteraturforskning/Journal of Children’s Literature Research, Vol. 35 , 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/clr.v35i0.19966