Hurtiga Vasagossar och lata pojkar : En studie av manlighet och patriotism inom Vasa Skyddskår i samband med det finska inbördeskriget 1918

Sammanfattning: Title: Jaunty Vaasa-lads and lazy boys – a study of masculinity and patriotism in the Civil Guard in Vaasa in relation to the Finnish Civil War of 1918. This paper deals with the subject of expressions of masculinity in relation to patriotism and nationalism as a part of the mobilisation of the so called white side in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. With regards to how this was expressed in the local Civil Guard in the town of Vaasa. The focus   lies on the construction of an ideal masculinity within this specific Civil Guard as expressed            in the Guards own documents of different varieties, during the events in the spring of 1918 and at the one year anniversary of its outbreak. The study is first and foremost based on Joan W. Scott's theory of gender and it's constitutive and interrelated elements, particularly that of culturally available symbols and subjective identities. It also takes into consideration views on masculinity, nationalism, and patriotism as described by George L. Mosse and others. This paper argues that the whites presented a desirable masculine ideal of the ultimate warrior that resonated in different ways in the examined material. This ideal may have been one way to keep mobilising the white forces against the real but also at times exaggerated threat posed by the red forces. There has also been a discussion in earlier research regarding this mobilisation and whether or not the whites mislead the Ostrobothnian volunteers and soldiers into believing that they were fighting russians instead of their own compatriots. This paper has found some evidence of the exaggerated demonization of the reds, and therefore also some tendensies of presenting them as Russians and Bolsheviks. This study has also shown that to be willing to sacrifice oneself for the nation and stand strong against its enemies, both internal and external, seems to have been what the ideal man was perceived to be by the whites in the examined Civil Guard. As well as it was also how he should act if he had the nations best interest in mind and fought for the continued Finnish independence. Keywords: Finnish Civil War, Civil Guard, Finland, masculinity, patriotism, 20th century, nationalism, gender