Rethinking a Danish information state: information in the trading zone

Abstract

In this article, I will discuss how the information state provides a new way of understanding the absolute Danish-Norwegian state (1660–1814). Following recent research about the role of communication in the Danish-Norwegian state, I will argue for an understanding of the information state that stresses the population as a formative part of state building. The studies favour a communicative approach, which includes circulation of information as an integral part. My contribution to the discussion of the information state emphasises that exchange of information between state and population implies negotiations and the use of genre systems in a trading zone. The meeting between ideology and everyday practices and cultures is a negotiation that shows how ideologies, purposes, and ideas are sifted and negotiated through concrete practices that are formed by but also shape technologies and materialities.