Outcry as Swedish ‘cultural canon’ snubs Abba and anything since 1975

Mamma mia! Contested Swedish cultural heritage list includes IKEA — but not ABBA

Pippi Longstocking, IKEA and the Nobel Prize are among 100 works, brands and ideas deemed to define what it means to be Swedish, according to a cultural heritage list presented to the government on Tuesday. But one of the country's most notable exports was snubbed — the legendary pop group ABBA.

Outcry as Swedish ‘cultural canon’ snubs Abba and anything since 1975

Critics argue ‘shared map’ of Swedish culture is ‘very exclusionary’ and a ‘nationalist education project’The Gustav Vasa 1541 bible, Pippi Longstocking, Ikea, the right to roam, paternity leave, Sámi joiks, the Nobel prize and works by Ingmar Bergman and August Strindberg all made it into Sweden’s long-awaited, much-criticised proposal for a “cultural canon”.However, notable omissions from the list of 100 works and references that have formed S…