Maja Hultman
About Maja Hultman
I am a cultural historian with a PhD in History from University of Southampton (U.K.). My research interests are European Jewish culture and modern urban history. I specifically focus on Jewish/non-Jewish dialectics, the relationship between European/global networks and local culture, as well as the Holocaust. In my research, I use spatial, digital, transnational, architectural and emotional methods to explore internal hierarchies, majority/minority intersections, the migration of knowledge, cultural-economic networks and cultural borders. I also employ Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map and analyse patterns of urban settlement and movements.
My postdoctoral position is jointly placed at the Department of Historical Studies and CERGU (Centre for European Research). I am also a research fellow at Centre for Business History in Stockholm.
I teach courses related to the BA degree in History and the European Programme at University of Gothenburg. My courses and lectures focus on cultural heritage and cultural elements in urban history, Jewish studies and minority studies, as well as Digital Humanities.
Go to my website for more information on research, teaching, publications and upcoming events.
My current research projects are:
The Effects of the Shoah on European Jewish Business Networks and Cultural Mobility
My postdoc-project explores transnational cultural-economic networks before and after the Holocaust through the prism of two Swedish-Jewish business families. It illuminates the cultural effects of ethnic genocide in one European nation by exploring the minority's cultural development in other parts of Europe.
Jewish Economic Activity and Stockholm's Development into a modern Capital
The project explores Jewish donations towards the construction of public cultural institutions in Stockholm 1870-1930, and how these economic-cultural activities served as Jewish manifestations of Swedishness and contributed to Stockholm's modern development. This is a joint project with Dr Mia Kuritzén Löwengart at Uppsala University and it is funded by Torsten Söderbergs stiftelse.
Jewish Feelings in the City: Emotional Topography and Power Relations in modern Stockholm
The doctoral thesis from 2019 emphasises the city's fundamental role in influencing the Jewish community's settlement patterns, internal cultural infrastructure, and construction of public buildings when making themselves at home after emancipation. I use emotional analysis in the coming book to further explore the social dynamics that shaped the relationship between the city's physical form and Jewish internal hierarchies.