Meet Johan Söderman, defender of useless knowledge

We constantly learn from each other

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

– Nothing is as useful as useless knowledge, says Johan Söderman. He is a Professor of Child and Youth Studies and is responsible for the University of Gothenburg’s participation in the first graduate school for folk high school teachers.

In addition, he is a hip-hop researcher with a pathologically keen interest in music.

I want to make the folk high school great again, says Johan Söderman as he roots around in the kitchen cabinets in the Gegerfeltska Villa next to Pedagogen where he has his office. The coffee should be here somewhere, but as he, like his colleagues, has barely been in the house in the past year, he does not really know where things are.

He is enthusiastic about the new assignment he has been given, which involves a collaboration between Linköping University, Jönköping University and the University of Gothenburg. Twelve doctoral students will be admitted to the graduate school, which will commence in the autumn. They will conduct practical research part-time and at the same time work part-time at their folk high school. – A year ago, the journalist David Brooks wrote an article in the New York Times about how to understand the Nordic model. It has long been thought that it was about the welfare state or the successful export industry. But Brooks had another explanation: the educational tradition.

The Nordic folk high school is unique around the world, Johan Söderman points out.

– It gives those who were not successful in upper-secondary school a second or third chance, immigrants can learn Swedish and art lovers have the opportunity to study painting. You can study to be a journalist or jazz musician, but above all you can get to know yourself. The folk high school has a holistic liberating view of people, and is a form of adult education that can also inspire universities. Teacher education for instance is full of political squabbling with all sorts of goals to be achieved. Instead, let the teacher be human.

That the University of Gothenburg is involved in a graduate school for folk high school teachers is particularly fitting, says Johan Söderman. – The University of Gothenburg started as a free academy with popular, public science lectures, and was intended as a counterweight to the universities in Uppsala and Lund. But the folk high school is also close to other civic endeavours, such as the grassroots sports movement, educational associations and various music groups, not least in hip hop.

Johan Söderman has experienced the importance of music for a person’s educational journey. He grew up in Eksjö in the south of Sweden, and spent his teenage years rehearsing with his band, going to concerts and rummaging through the records in the music store. – I could be in a physics lesson and think that those 40 minutes were never going to end. Then I would rush off to the rehearsal venue – and suddenly it was 11 pm! I found my friends through music, but also my future dreams which of course were about becoming a rock star. But it was also music’s demands for discipline that helped me to get my act together. After upper-secondary school, I went to Lund University and trained as a teacher in Swedish and music.

It was Johan Söderman’s secondary school students in the late 1990s that got him interested in hip hop. – It was about the music itself, but also about the fact that even the most unmotivated students read the lyrics written by the hip-hop artists. I started using the students’ interest in music as a way to engage them in school.

Johan Söderman became even more aware that hip-hop is also about education when, a few years later during his doctoral studies, he spent six months in the capital of hip-hop, New York. – Everyone who has lived abroad for an extended period knows about that special state of exile, when you make an effort to understand another country, but really only become increasingly aware of your own culture. I felt lost and lonely. One day I was invited to a party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of hip-hop. It was mainly attended by African Americans and I felt a little out of place in that context. But then Africa Bambaataa appeared, one of the MAYor founders of hip hop. And he started talking about something completely different to music, about African Americans having to take char-

Johan Söderman wrote his dissertation on hip hop.

And right there and then, it was as if a switch had clicked inside me, I saw the light and was almost saved..

JOHAN SÖDERMAN

ge of their lives, educate themselves, take responsibility and stop doing destructive things like smoking, taking drugs, eating junk food and ignoring their future. And right there and then, it was as if a switch had clicked inside me, I saw the light and was almost saved. Because I realised that this is exactly what public education has always been about – even when the Swedish labour movement began with its courses and adult education associations in the 19th century – helping you deal with your situation and elevate yourself. And suddenly I began to see public education everywhere. Because we humans simply cannot help but learn from one another.

You learn from your parents, your big sister, your neighbour and your colleague. You learn by reading and studying, but also by playing football or playing the guitar. And you learn by painting or poking about in the soil, Johan Söderman points out. – Therefore, I think it is sad that knowledge that can be expressed in words is perceived as more important than knowledge that is expressed in other ways. The focus on words also seems to have increased in recent times; the very way you express yourself has become more important than what you want to convey. The debate that is going on in Malmö is one example: a teacher was accused of racism because of the expressions and images she used to talk about prejudice. Everyone understands that the teacher is of course not a racist, but still it is the words you get hung up on, not what the teacher wants to convey. This makes it difficult to talk about difficult issues and of course also restricts intellectual freedom.

Over the years, Johan Söderman has sat on the board of Folkbildningsrådet, collaborated with Västra Götalands Bildningsförbund and worked together with Riksidrottsförbundet. – The sports movement impresses me, particularly their apprentice system for education. There, a fourteen-year-old can be trusted to lead ten-year-olds, it is a fantastic way to help a young person develop.

In 2016, Johan Söderman was involved in starting a Swedish network for hip hop studies. Together with his colleague Ove Sernhede, he also wrote the book När betongen rätar sin rygg. Ortenrörelsen och folkbildningens renässans. – Many people say that local associations are dying out, but that is not true. Young people in, for example, the Million Programme areas start associations themselves and mobilize. Often, however, the enthusiasm wanes. One solution might be for people with more experience of running associations to give the new groups some help with practical things, such as bookkeeping and annual accounts, so that they have time to get established.

Johan Söderman mainly lectures at Pedagogen. – But I am also at the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, this jewel that the University of Gothenburg should be proud of and which safeguards people’s great need for aesthetics.

Johan Söderman’s outlet for his own artistic interests is as a singer and guitarist in the band Peking Punk, which he started together with some academic friends seven years ago. Among, other things, they released the album Långt ner i avgrunden.

He also develops more down-to-earth skills at his summer cottage, which is situated south of Norrköping. – Together with my wife, I spend my time growing things. It is extremely satisfying for us who, on the whole, live an urban life. We dig and plant seeds in the ground and take a break from everyday life by learning to do purely practical things.

Johan Söderman

Currently: Responsible for the University of Gothenburg’s participation in Sweden’s first graduate school for adult folk high school teachers. Lives in: Nordostpassagen in Linnéstaden. Family: Wife Alexandra and children Johanna, Sigvard, Tora and Hjalmar. Most recent book: Åsa Lindeborg’s Året med tretton månader. Favourite music: There are only two kinds of music: good and bad. I like good music. Favourite dish: As a resident of Gothenburg, I am still impressed by the local delicacies from the sea.