Malmö stadsarkiv på Instagram och berättelser om Malmö : En studie om arkivet och dess användare i formandet av lokal identitet

Sammanfattning: In my master’s thesis, I examine the relationship between local archival institutions and the formation of local identities. To fulfill that purpose I investigate how local archives view their role regarding the formation of local identity. I explore how local identity and images of locality are created within the encounter between the archives and their users. The focus of my study is Malmö City Archives. I examine the City Archives' Instagram account and do so by gathering information from a selected amount of Instagram posts posted in the year 2022. Further, I interview an archivist working with the archives’ public activities at Malmö City Archives. The theoretical frameworks I use to analyze the results are; archives’ power, archives and identity, and memory theory. The results show that Malmö City Archives lack articulated goals and strategies regarding what they choose to post on Instagram and which stories about Malmö they share with the public. The examination of Instagram shows that the Instagram posts of the City Archives mainly contain history from the 20th century, with emphasis on the 1930s and 1950s. Common themes are such as urban environment, business history, and biographies. The comments from the posts show that people appreciate the information shared in the posts and that they tend to share personal memories and stories connected to the subject presented in the post. Local identity and stories about Malmö are formed through communicative memory, which is articulated in the meeting between the City Archives and its users in the context of Instagram posts and comments.