To Stockholm, with Love: The Critical Reception of Josephine Baker, 1927-35

This essay takes the instance of Frantz Fanon's idea of "overpresence" as the point of departure for a discussion of white fascination with blackness as epitomized by revue star Josephine Baker who was celebrated by Swedish audiences in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Baker's presence in Stockholm brought an added dynamic to the context of Stockholm's late urbanization and the migration of workers to the city. The fact that Stockholm was a comparatively small capital makes it interesting as a site of reception. Large-scale events had a disproportionately large impact in the media. When Baker first came to Stockholm in July of 1928, her visit was so widely covered by the press that it was almost impossible to ignore the event.