This study is a multivalent investigation of Scandinavian identity formation and cultural structures within the north Atlantic that looks specifically at the construction and maintenance of island identities circa AD800-1250. This not only includes consideration of the Norse settlers but also the effects of contact between the emerging island cultural identities and continental Europe. In order to do this zones of settlement have been defined to better compare the expansion of medieval Scandinavian populations in terms of microscale practices and interactions within family groups and the macroscale vectors of social, economic and political change. It employs a wide variety of material that makes use of aspects of both prehistoric and historic sources. The variety of enabling conditions ultimately provided for a time the circumstances necessary for the long-term success of a number of the settlements established during this period. The evidence is considered in as subjective manner as possible with the sources available also reflecting the conditions of initial region excavation and publication.

The subject matter of this thesis - Islamic nurture of Pakistani children in Oslo - provides a new departure for studies of ethnic minorities in Norway. The study distinguishes itself from related research by focusing on Islam as part of general enculturisation and socialisation processes, with special regard to the social arenas of home, school and mosque. The main research questions of the thesis are: 1. How is religious and cultural tradition transmitted from parents and other 'significant others' to children among Pakistanis in Oslo? 2. What role does Islam have in the lives of children, with regard to meaning and social belonging? The first research question contains two complex theoretical fields: a) The relationship between culture and religion seen both as aspects within Islam and in terms of the relationship between Islam and Pakistani cultural elements, and b) the transmission process, focusing on both formal educational elements and informal socialisation. Based on one year's field work, theories of Islamic nurture in a non-Islamic, secular late-modem society, especially related to the establishment, maintenance and negotiation of identity, have been generated. The thesis contests the view that regards Islam or Pakistani or Norwegian culture as coherent static systems. It also contests views that regard children exclusively as objects or victims of external processes or pressure or present children of immigrant background or children belonging to religious minorities, as doomed to fall `between cultures'. Norwegian Pakistani children's cultural identity does not only change over time, but it is a contextual identity. The children develop what in this thesis is called integrated plural identities; i. e. they convey a broad cultural competence and a capability of cultural code switching without necessarily experiencing personal conflicts of values.

This thesis discusses whether berserkir really went berserk. It proposes revised paradigms for berserkir as they existed in the Viking Age and as depicted in Old Norse literature. It clarifies the Viking Age berserkr as an elite warrior whose practices have a function in warfare and ritual life rather than as an example of aberrant behaviour, and considers how usage of PDE ‘berserk’ may affect the framing of research questions about berserkir through analysis of depictions in modern popular culture. The analysis shows how berserksgangr has received greater attention than it warrants with the emphasis being on how berserkir went berserk. A critical review of Old Norse literature shows that berserkir do not go berserk, and suggests that berserksgangr was a calculated form of posturing and a ritual activity designed to bolster the courage of the berserkr. It shows how the medieval concept of berserkir was more nuanced and less negative than is usually believed, as demonstrated by the contemporaneous existence in narratives of berserkir as king’s men, hall challengers, hólmg†ngumenn, Viking raiders and Christian champions, and by the presence of men with the byname berserkr in fourteenth-century documents. Old Norse literature is related to pre-Viking Age evidence to show that warriors wearing wolfskins existed and can be related to berserkir, thus making it possible to produce models for Viking Age and medieval concepts of berserkir. The modern view of berserkir is analysed and shows that frenzy is the dominant attribute, despite going berserk not being a useful attribute in Viking Age warfare which relied upon men holding a line steady rather than charging individually. The thesis concludes that ON berserkr may be best translated as PDE ‘champion’, while PDE ‘berserker’ describes the type of uncontrollable warrior most commonly envisaged when discussing berserkir. Most illustrations have been removed from the digital version of this thesis for copyright reasons. The references in the captions guide the reader to the original source for those illustrations.

This thesis re-evaluates farming practices in Iceland up to c.l600. Advancing Þorvaldur Thoroddsen's early twentieth century work, Lýsing Íslands, this study incorporates modem archaeological investigations, documentary evidence and recent scholarship to advance the discussions of lceland's livestock economy. The study examines farms and their land to give a holistic understanding of pastoral farming and fodder acquisition. An evaluation of the textual sources demonstrates long-term stability in the relative livestock values, though the kúgildi fluctuated in value. Herd sizes and the composition of these herds are also examined to show the purpose of these animals. The vast corpus of máldagar are analysed to show the economies of church-farms (staðir and bændakirkjur), including the changing nature of livestock farming between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, on local, regional and countrywide scales. Livestock products and consumption beyond the much discussed milk, meat and wool economies are critiqued. It is here argued that Icelandic farming generally moved towards a wool-producing economy, however, masked by this wool economy generalisation were a diversity of farming practices. It is only by examining the complexities of these practices that we discover that Icelandic farming was not declining, but adapting to the challenges of this period.

No description available.

Archaeology involves creating meaningful narratives of prehistoric societies, using only the remains of their material culture. This study focuses on Neolithic rock-art in two very different regions – Jämtland (Northern Sweden) and Cumbria (North West England) – seeking to explore, directly, the ‘meaningfulness’ of this art. During the Neolithic period in Britain (c. 4000-2400 BC) and Northern Sweden (c. 4000-1800 BC), rocky outcrops were elaborated either by pecking abstract designs (Britain) or by carving and painting animal and human representations (Northern Sweden). Prehistoric rock-art in Britain and Scandinavia is usually understood and made ‘meaningful’ in relation to one, or a combination of, methodological approaches: it may be understood as part of the landscape (experienced through the human body (phenomenology)), or given meaning in light of ethnographic evidence. All of these approaches, however, ignore the subtle ways in which the rock-art itself was structured. The study, presented here, employed three methodological approaches in order to attempt to understand rock-art in a new and, arguably, more meaningful way. Firstly, a structure- based approach involved establishing the primary methods that the carvers used to create meaningful rock-art narratives. Secondly, a discourse- based approach was used to uncover how these basic design forms were articulated, to allow communication and dialogue of Neolithic ideas into the sphere of social practice (discourse being an attempt to identify themes within the rock-art narratives, which act as intermediaries between structure and agency). Finally, the third agency- based approach blends structure with discourse (agency allowed meaningful social action to occur during the Neolithic). The structure-based approach in Cumbria revealed that the art of the central fells region was based on the manipulation of natural and cultural cups or circles into linear patterns. This is in contrast with the approach in eastern Cumbria, where the reverse was found- with lines being manipulated into circular shapes. In Jämtland, the fundamental structure of the art was based on the division of elk into both male/female and moving/stationary categories. The results of the discourse methodology revealed that three themes dictated the style of rock-art carvings during the Neolithic, in both Cumbria and Jämtland; naturalistic, stylised and abstract. The agency approach concluded that the visual statements made using the rock-art were examples of agents’ changing relationship with the natural world and the resources it contained- especially the quarrying of stone for axes. Metaphorically, it is argued that the three changing discourses of rock-art were a reflection of the changing relationship people had with the quarrying of stone and its exchange. One of the main implications of this research is the finding that there is still a place for investigating rock-art and material/visual culture. Furthermore, using the methodological approach of this research, we are in a position to explore some of the deeper dimensions of visual culture, and its relationship to social structure and agency, in the Neolithic.

My research explores the interrelationship between Norwegian folk music and Norwegian jazz from 1945 to 1995 (with updates to 2002) and assesses the extent to which the results can now be considered as constituting an indigenous art form. A short historical overview of Norwegian geography and history contextualises the development of Norwegian folk music and, in particular, its musical characteristics. It is argued that the geographical remoteness of many Norwegian communities isolated the local culture from the rest of the land's population, a situation which continued until collectors such as Lindeman and Sandvik began their tours of the landlying districts from about 1830 and 1900 respectively, collecting material and comparing it with what was discovered elsewhere. The end of World War II heralded the start of an important phase of development in Swedish jazz, which began to cultivate a Scandinavian style of performance and a Scandinavian repertoire. In Norway, some years later, jazz musicians were influenced by indigenous folk music and the principal folk music types that provided inspiration are scrutinised. I then concentrate on defining a Scandinavian jazz style and a recognisable Norwegian variant. The importance of the Lydian mode in Norwegian music is discussed, and the theories of Geirr Tveitt and George Russell receive critical evaluation in relation to Norwegian jazz. Jan Garbarek's composition Molde Canticle is analysed, as is one of its successors, the album Uncharted Land. The contributions of ECM and Manfred Eicher are evaluated, and I conclude with a survey of the contributions of other central figures in the combined field of Norwegian folk music and jazz.

This dissertation aims to explore the extent to which what has been termed „the civilising mission‟ has been a central rationale behind Norwegian cultural policy. In order to contextualise the research the German term Bildung, which refers to human growth processes, is used as a conceptual framework. Bildung can be achieved in two different, albeit related, ways: firstly, through an object approach, which takes great works of arts as its point of departure and where personal growth can be achieved through exposure to these and which endorses clear cultural hierarchies, and secondly, through a subject approach, which emphasises each individual‟s own preferences and desires and where a much greater range of cultural activities can facilitate personal growth. In addition to an historical analysis of the ideas that have informed Norwegian cultural policies dating back to 1814, this project draws upon „green papers‟ published by the Norwegian government through its Ministry of Culture. This is supplemented by a more detailed analysis of a key cultural policy initiative of the 2000s: den kulturelle skolesekken (DKS)1, which is a major programme initiated to enable children in primary school to be exposed to art-works produced by professional artists. The project concludes that although a subject and an object approach to Bildung have co-existed throughout the period charted here there has since the 90s been an increased focus on the object oriented approach. This appears evident both in the general cultural policy discourse but articularly through the disciplining aspect of DKS and its strong focus on, what is being referred to as, the „professional arts‟ as a vehicle for Bildung.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

It is a well-established fact that all human societies have coexisted with and are dependent upon animals and it is increasingly recognized that the study of human-animal relationships provides vital insights into past human societies. Still this is yet to be widely embraced in archaeology. This thesis has examined human-animal interdependencies to explore the social identities and structure of society in the Norse North Atlantic. Benefitting from recent research advances in animal studies and the ever increasing volume of archaeological reports from Norse period archaeological excavations the North Atlantic this thesis was able to develop previous scholarship and define directions for future research. The thesis explored the role of animals in human society in the North Atlantic to reveal the complex Norse societies that existed. It revealed through human interdependencies with animals that these societies were far from homogeneous and had their own distinct identities with the individual islands as well as across the North Atlantic. The thesis achieved this by examining several important discrete but interlinked themes. These themes were divided into four chapters that focused on the individual aspects. This included an examination of previous North Atlantic Viking Age scholarship, consideration of human construction and perception of landscape through archaeological excavations, investigation of the role of domestic animals in human social activities, and an exploration of the role of domesticated animals in beliefs. Although these are all connected the structure of the thesis was deliberately chosen to restrict repetition, although given the interconnected nature of human social identities, society and worldview this was not entirely possible. This thesis addressed some of the most fundamental questions in Norse archaeology. Notably, through examination of human-animal interdependencies, it provided a detailed insight into how Norse society understood and perceived the world, and consequently the structure of Norse society and social identities.