“Jag ser edra själar ofta lysa mig till mötes i varma, djupa kvinnoögon” : En tematisk analys av Fem år i Kina av Ingeborg Wikander

Sammanfattning: In this essay, Ingeborg Wikander's book Fem år i Kina has been examined through a thematic analysis method. The result showed three distinct categories, each with their own subcategories, which are: Wikander and the women, Wikander’s piety and Wikander, homesickness and national romanticism. When the theoretical framework was applicated onto the study it showed that Wikander generalised and grouped all Chinese women into one category. A category Chandra Talpade Mohanty refers to as “third world woman”, which was a way for Western women to distance themselves from women of another ethnicity, which also can be referred as “othering” a group, creating an Us and Them. Drawing on Malin Gregersen’s reasoning about paternalism and social motherhood, one can see how Wikander took on a nurturing role in the relationships she engaged in while in China. Shirley S. Garrett’s liberation ideology in relation to missionary work is also visible in the letters and works from Wikander.