En plats - En identitet

Sammanfattning: We live in a society where we are not bound to one place. We are encouraged to be mobile and constantly moving between different locations. The life in a convent is a contrast to this; nuns live at a specific place they are bounded to by vows and can not leave. The sisters in the convent of St. Birgitta, Pax Mariae have promised to stay at the same place and live by the rules of the convent. They live within the walls of the convent, an area with clear boarders. In this essay I analyse the meaning of a place, how the convent affects the nuns and their identity. The wall and the restricted area, inner- and outer attributes show where the nuns belong and characterize their life in the convent. The surrounding wall is a symbolic boarder to the nuns, but it also protects from impulses from the society and the outer world. The most evident influence the place has on the identities of the nuns is that they through vows become members of a camaraderie where they call each other sisters, changes their names and wear the same clothes. They become nuns, a ubiquitous identity. Regardless of whom they meet or of where they go, they will be seen as nuns.