The infection among islets and skerries: : A study of how Gothenburg’s newspapers reported on the Spanish flu in Bohuslän 1918–1920.

This essay examines how the newspapers of Gothenburg reported on the Spanish flu in the Bohuslän region from 1918 to 1920. The purpose is to investigate and analyze how the relationship between Gothenburg as a major city and Bohuslän with its small towns and rural areas was depicted in the newspapers, as well as how the newspapers covered Bohuslän’s rural areas and population. The study is theoretically grounded in the center-periphery theory and focuses on the perspectives, headings, geographical focus, and representations employed in the reporting. The material used in the thesis consists of articles from two major Gothenburg newspapers, Göteborgsposten and Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, from the years 1918, 1919, and 1920. Statistics from the Central Bureau of Statistics are also used to confirm Gothenburg's position as a center and to present the mortality and population statistics in the county during the period. The study employs a combined quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The analysis shows that in the reporting, Gothenburg is positioned as the center and Bohuslän as the periphery and secondary. Despite almost half of the county's population living in rural areas, these received limited coverage in the reporting and were often presented through anonymized statistics rather than individual stories. The coastal towns of Bohuslän were often generalized based on their function for the people of Gothenburg. The coastal towns were described as seaside resorts, and the rest of Bohuslän's countryside was described as primitive and neglected. The view of Bohuslän's countryside was shaped by evaluative descriptions. The descriptions used by the Gothenburg newspapers primarily reflected the center's perspective on the periphery and lacked the voices of the local population. The study shows that the reporting by Gothenburg newspapers on the Spanish flu in Bohuslän was largely influenced by a center-periphery perspective. Bohuslän, with its population, small towns, and rural areas, was portrayed in the reporting as neglected and dependent on the periphery, while Gothenburg constituted the norm and the starting point for the reporting. Through this, the newspapers contributed to maintaining and reinforcing the prevailing social and geographical hierarchy between Gothenburg and Bohuslän.