When the #MeToo movement emerged in 2017, it enhanced the equality debate. In Denmark, the
primary focus was, among other things, on consent laws, gender quotas and sexism in the workplace.
In addition, recent years have offered debate regarding our history, which escalated in the wake of
the police killing of George Floyd. Gry Jexen’s book published in 2021 Kvinde Kend Din Historie -
Spejl Dig i fortiden is an example of how the equality debate and history writing are combined.
Jexen’s presents 50 female portraits, and the purpose of the book is to write more women into history
and create historical awareness about women in history. This thesis therefore aims to investigate how
Jexen uses history to construct communities of memory and how these creates identities. The thesis’s
theoretical starting point of the thesis is based on theory primarily from the subject of history, but
theory from the field of psychology is also included. The first part of the study is an analysis based
on James Wertsch’s theory of specific and schematic narratives. The second part of the study analyses
the results from the narrative analysis combined with the selected theory about historical
consciousness, history use and identity formation. Furthermore, part two of the analysis investigates
the construction of community of memory is treated and how this is identity-creating.
The study finds that Jexen's work with the portraits of women is an example of the history use, in
which a contemporary agenda is supported through concrete use of history. The women presented in
the work have no direct connection to each other, but through the use of history, Jexen constructs a
connection with these women as a starting point.
The analysis found that through the specific narratives (the portraits of women) pervasive patterns
and character functions can be seen, and these have a connection to a schematic narrative. The main
character function in each specific narrative is 'the strong woman' who emerges because she stands
in opposition to the character function 'the patriarchal society'. Through the portraits, some general
character traits and value sets are attached to the women. These have the character of being modern
(contemporary), from which parallels can be drawn to individualism and the autonomous and active
human being. Through the conveyed character traits, a pretended community of memories is
constructed, linked to the woman, which can be said to be identity-creating by virtue of its reality creating and formative function.