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Om relationer på sanatorier

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate interpersonal relationships in a sanatorium environment as they are expressed in personal memories, and to some extent contextualised in fictive representations. The specific questions discussed in the article concern how relationships emerging within and between different groups at the sanatorium are described as well as the extent to which one detects aspects of class and gender positions in the material. In addition, the article discusses which strategies were used by patients and staff to achieve different types of goals. The main material consists of notes written by a male patient from Bollnäs’ sanatorium and Kolmårdssanatoriet outside of Norrköping, as well as notes from a female patient at Orup’s sanatorium in Skåne. Supplementary sources include a short interview with a doctor. The period dealt with is the time during and shortly after the Second World War. The results show that the sanatorium operated as a micro-community, which in several ways reflected surrounding society at large. Power relations and hierarchies crystallised both among staff, and to some extent patients, as did friendship, love and antagonism.