Stavnsbåndsløsningen i 1788 er kendt for sit frihedsbudskab, men var primært en militærreform, der indførte værnepligt for unge mænd af bondestanden.

Fædrelandskærlighed og borgerdyd indsætter de militære problemstillinger i en bredere, kulturhistorisk analyse, der først og fremmest handler om den patriotiske begrebsverden, hvorfra ideen om værnepligt som borgerdyd udsprang. Den patriotiske tale om borgernes ansvar for fædrelandet, kropslig disciplinering i militæret og iscenesættelse af patriotiske ritualer ses som elementer i en subjektiveringsproces, hvor en ny selvbevidsthed kunne udvikles hos dele af befolkningen.

Her kom en række af de forestillinger til debat, der også spiller en fremtrædende rolle i vore dage: om indfødtes fortrin, nationalitet, statsborgerskab og fædrelandskærlighed.

Tine Damsholt, ph.d. i etnologi, er lektor på Institut for Arkæologi og Etnologi, Københavns Universitet. Hun har tidligere leveret bidrag til bl.a. Kulturens Nationalisering , 1999.

English
The Abolition of Adscription in 1788 is known for its message of liberty, but it was primarily a military reform which imposed compulsory military service on young men of the peasantry.

Fædrelandskærlighed og borgerdyd (Patriotism and Civic Virtue) places the military issues in a broader cultural-historical analysis which primarily deals with the patriotic world scheme from which the idea of compulsory military service as a civic virtue originated. The patriotic speech on the responsibility of the citizens towards their native country, bodily discipline in the military and the staging of patriotic rituals are seen as elements in a subjectification process in which a new self-assurance could be developed in parts of the population.

At the time, a number of issues that also play an important part in today's society were debated: the preference of natives, nationality, citizenship and patriotism.

Tine Damsholt, PhD in Ethnology, is a senior lecturer in the Department of Archeology and Ethnology at the University of Copenhagen. She has previously contributed to, among other things, Kulturens Nationalisering (The Nationalization of Culture), 1999.