SUSANNA ERLANDSSON
Historian
To remember the human predilection for coherent stories and to realize that every story exists by virtue of simplifying and selecting facts from an infinitely complex reality belongs to a historian's most basic tasks.
S. Erlandsson, Window of Opportunity (2015), p. 221
"an eye for detail, careful, and respectful writing about highly personal matters, and a reflexive and rich analysis"
Emma Rosengren, Journal of Contemporary History 59:1
(On Personal Politics in the Postwar World)
"Susanna Erlandsson has written an elegant and important book, which is equal parts empirical candy and conceptual meditation."
Haakon A. Ikonomou, Historisk tidskrift 2023:4
Small states
My comparative research on Dutch and Swedish security strategies in the 1940s won me three awards and taught me a lot about neutrality, NATO, and the United Nations. Looking for patterns in how small states act, I cooperated with others to investigate the margins for manoeuvre of small states in Cold War Europe.
Diplomatic practices
Through a micro study of a mid-twentieth-century Dutch diplomatic couple, I scrutinised diplomacy as a gendered institution, also pinpointing racialised and classed practices of Western diplomacy. My research showed how everyday diplomatic culture and so-called big politics were deeply intertwined.
Global hierarchies
My current research project takes a closer look at embassy domestic staff. I examine how gendered and racialised household hierarchies (like having male butlers and female parlour maids, who were often lighter-skinned than laundresses and cleaners) relate to shifting global diplomatic hierarchies.
Click on the books for more information or fulltext Open Access when available.
You can find a full list of all my publications, including articles and book chapters in Swedish, English and Dutch, by scrolling down to Publications on my
For other book recommendations:
I combine a preference for micro history and detailed empirical analysis with a keen interest in how conceptual frameworks influence the study of past international relations. My own research is all on the twentieth century and the western world, with most of my archive work done in Sweden, The Netherlands, and the UK, but I often cooperate with others to catch sight of longer and wider perspectives.
Chairing a plenary on Trust and Diplomacy 1600–2000 with Sari Nauman at the New Diplomatic History conference in Middelburg 2018
Talks & media appearances
Discussing publishing scientific history in Nordic languages at the Congress of Nordic Historians 2022
Photo: Auður Magnúsdóttir
I love to share my knowledge and to discuss with colleagues, practitioners, and the general public.
Most of my media appearances are in Swedish, but here is an interview in English by Haakon Ikonomou about my research (2022):
and a blogpost (2018):
I do talks in Swedish, English, and Dutch.
Photo: Rimko van der Maar.
Talking about the gendered history of diplomacy at the Dutch foreign office in The Hague, 2018
På svenska/In Swedish
Bildningspodden
2020
2022
Vetenskapsradion på djupet
2023
Photo: Gabriela Predosanu
Presenting my research on the historical collaboration of diplomatic couples to the international diplomats in Stockholm and their spouses, 2020
My own international history
Born in 1970 and raised in Sweden. PhD at Uppsala University in 2015
1987–1988: High School exchange student in Wisconsin
2018–2019 Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
1997–1998: American Studies Diploma Program at Smith College, MA
Countries where I have studied or worked
Countries I have visited
1991-1992: Work at hotel Schloss Elmau in Germany
1992–2006: Dutch at the University of Limburg, master’s degree in history cum laude at the University of Amsterdam (1998), work a.o. as an editor
2017–2019 Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam
My personal experiences have influenced my research choices and expertise. I am most familiar with Western Europe and the United States. My Dutch is as good as my mother tongue Swedish and my English is fluent. I also speak German, French, and some Italian. I can read Latin and Greek.