Suchergebnisse

Gotland is considered in many works as an important geographical point in the context of the "Varangian legend" of the Tale of Bygone Years. The obscurity of the general ethnic and geographical attribution of the Varangians, with the more obvious linking of the corresponding chronicle plots to an island in the Baltic Sea, the concentration on this island of evidence of its important role in the international trade of the Viking Age, the finds of Gotlandic artifacts in Eastern Europe make one see in Gotland, if not home, then significant stronghold of the Varangians. However, the origin of the most enigmatic ethnic group, perhaps, is connected with other regions and is rooted in the history of the late Roman Empire and the nomadic states of the Danube that arose on its ruins. Finds of coins, other artifacts, traditions in art and fortification, toponymy data show that the groups that migrated to the island largely adopted the cultural symbols of the Roman Empire. This fact is compared with genetic and other data showing that the migrants could differ from the indigenous Gutnish population of the island.

The End of Drum‐Time. Håkan Rydving.The Varanger Saami: Habitation and Economy A.D. 1200–1900. Knut Odner.

This study presents an analysis of population trends in rural Norway, with a specific focus on the potential implications for rural populations in a long-term perspective. We highlight the significant outward migration of young people from rural areas, which has led to a demographic shift happening at a faster pace and on a larger scale in rural areas compared to central areas. Using North-Varanger, the most north-eastern part of the country, as an example, the article shows that the region has experienced net outward migration for the past 50 years, and if current trends persist, the population in the region could decrease by up to 80 percent by 2100. North-Varanger is an area of strategic importance to Norway. It is also an area of vital importance for the Sami people. This study shows that there is a risk that the population in one of the most strategically important regions will see a dramatic reduction. The only way to reverse this trend is to change the migration patterns and encourage more young families to settle in North-Varanger. This stresses the urgent need for policymakers to re-evaluate current public measures aimed at attracting migrants to rural areas in order to make the measures more effective and to ensure sustainable settlement in the region.

Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht der Kriegsalltag deutscher und österreichischer Soldaten in der norwegisch-russischen Grenzregion um Kirkenes. Nachdem zunächst der militärische Hintergrund dargestellt wird, folgt ein Kapitel zum gemeinsamen Erinnerungshorizont der im Zusammenhanhg der Arbeit befragten ehemaligen Soldaten. Darauf basierend wird mit Hilfe schriftlicher wie mündlicher Quellen die Frage nach soldatischem Alltag unter verschiedenen inhaltlichen wie theoretischen Aspekten interpretiert.

An old tractor serves as an ethnographic entry point to shifting articulations of resources in coastal Finnmark, North Norway. Idle since the 1970s, the tractor is a relic of agricultural dreams, turned to rubble as novel layers of the Varanger landscape are conjured as resourceful. Farming in Finnmark was a geopolitical strategy to secure national borders and to expand a post-war welfare state, it was also a colonial effort to cultivate farmers in the far north. This article details the back-breaking practices required to make thin Arctic topsoil collaborate in realizing modernist dreams of agricultural growth, while state interventions sought to ensure national borders and national identity. The author highlights dialectic relations between mapping and forgetting, crucial in the making of resources and colonizing practices.

Résumé « Le ski de minuit entre femmes » est un événement qui a lieu chaque année début mai sur la péninsule de Varanger dans le nord de la Norvège. Il commence à minuit et se déroule avec la participation de la chorale masculine de Båtsfjord, qui, tout au long du parcours, apporte aux skieuses du feu, des chants et des encouragements. Cet événement est ainsi devenu un rituel carnavalesque qui transcende les frontières liées au genre, à la saison et à l'imprévisibilité du climat arctique. Les auteures considèrent l'événement – qu'elles abordent en se centrant sur le mouvement – comme une façon de « créer du lieu » (« making locality ») dans une région où l'habitat est fragile et espacé. Elles montrent également que le paysage se compose de toute une gamme d'éléments fugaces et transparents qui ont leur dynamique propre, et qui sont le vent, la neige et l'obscurité douce d'une nuit de printemps arctique, lorsque le soleil de minuit fait sa toute première apparition au-dessus de l'horizon.

This dissertation is a contribution to the ethnography of contemporary indigenous reindeer pastoralism in Norway: specifically, to the study of the neglected fields of reindeer killing and slaughtering practice. Its central contention is that in recent decades, the proliferation of human powers vested in the conduct of reindeer slaughter has created new conditions for practice, placing the identities of reindeer and herders at stake in new and still only dimly conceptualized ways. By exploring these, the dissertation aims to broaden existing debates concerning the so-called modernization of pastoral practice in Norway, drawing attention to some of its neglected aspects and inscribing them in a new register. Two principal strands inform the theoretical framework: one, approaches to the social study of knowledge that emphasise its practical, non-verbal and material aspects; and two, Foucauldian concepts of biopower as these may or may not be applicable to the human management of animal life.Individual chapters examine, in turn: the local politics of space on the Varanger peninsula, focusing particularly on links between the spatial management and the killing of reindeer; the practices and social relations of slaughter as it is conducted at the round-up corral; the social effects of the introduction of slaughterhouses, and of the regime of which they form a part; controversies surrounding specific slaughtering techniques and instruments, particularly the curved knife; and the politics of animal welfare discourse and practices in their application to reindeer herding. Finally, using the figure of animal sacrifice as a guiding trope, the concluding chapter attempts to situate some key aspects of the modernization of reindeer slaughter in relation to the operation of broader sacrificial economies that regulate the destruction of life at aggregate or populational levels. ; Research Council of Norway

Avaldsnes on Karmøy in Rogaland, which according to Snorre was King Harald Fairhair's royal estate, has been the center of a major research effort since 2007. Extensive excavations have, among other things, uncovered the remains of a lordly settlement from the AD 200s–400s and the ruins of a royal masonry complex from around AD 1300. Important insights have been gained about the place, the region, and the history of the Norwegian kingdom, and the results are also of significance for international scholarly debates.

The papers in this book are based on lectures from the Karmøy Seminar 2022, and have a joint spotlight on the nature of lordship and kingship. The themes range from tribal societies in Roman times via the first kings of the Viking Age to the Norwegian kingdom's collapse at Håkon 6. Magnusson's death in 1380. Prominent professionals from Norway, Sweden and England discuss, among other things, the migrations of Ryger, Goths, and other tribes in the continent in the first centuries AD, the queens and queen mothers of the Viking Age, Harald Fairhair's overseas contacts, and the Norwegian kingship's roots in Nordvegen, the sailing route along the western coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The papers are written to be readable by scholars as well as the interested public. - Avaldsnes på Karmøy i Rogaland, som ifølge Snorre var Harald Hårfagres kongsgård, har siden 2007 vært sentrum for en stor forskningsinnsats. Omfattende utgravninger har blant annet avdekket restene av en høvdinggård fra 200–400-tallet og ruinen av en kongsgård i stein fra omkring 1300. Viktige innsikter er vunnet om stedets, regionens, og det norske kongerikets historie, og resultatene har stor betydning også for internasjonale forskningsspørsmål.

Artiklene i denne boken baserer seg på foredrag fra Karmøyseminaret 2022, og har et felles søkelys på høvding- og kongemaktens vesen. Temaene spenner fra romertidens stammesamfunn via vikingtidens første rikskonger til det norske kongedømmets fall ved Håkon 6. Magnussons død i 1380. Fremstående fagfolk fra Norge, Sverige og England diskuterer blant annet rygers, goteres, og andre stammers vandringer på kontinentet i de første århundrer e.Kr., vikingtidens dronninger og kongsmødre, Harald Hårfagres oversjøiske kontakter og det norske kongedømmets utgangspunkt i Nordvegen, seilingsleden langs kysten fra Rogaland til Hålogaland. Artiklene er skrevet for å kunne leses av både leg og lærd.

Dagfinn Skre (f. 1954) er professor i arkeologi ved Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo, og leder Kongsgårdprosjektet Avaldsnes. Han har tidligere blant annet ledet utgravninger av vikingbyen Kaupang i Vestfold. Frans-Arne Stylegar (f. 1969) er arkeolog, tidligere fylkeskonservator i Vest-Agder og direktør for Varanger museum IKS, og arbeider nå som kulturminneekspert i Multiconsult.