Negotiating Pasts in the Nordic Countries Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Memory

by Eriksen, Anne; Sigurðsson, Jón Viðar

• ISBN13: 9789185509331
• ISBN10: 9185509337
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: Nordic Academic Press

Summary

A contribution to the popular international and interdisciplinary field of collective memory within a Scandinavian context, this reference presents a number of case studiesfrom the Middle Age to the present timethat discuss how people look to the past for identity and meaning. Acknowledging that many pasts existsometimes harmoniously and other times in conflictthis resource attempts to negotiate the past by analyzing the tensions that occur when individuals with different interests, understandings, and points of view study history and by exploring the inherent desire to develop a consensus between the past and the present. Examining subject areas such as social and cultural history, literature, cultural studies, archeology, mythology, and anthropology, this study expresses how crucial it is to understand the processes of dealing with the past when trying to chart how and why societies and communities change and evolve.

Author Biography

Anne Eriksen is a professor of culture studies and oriental languages at the University of Oslo. Jón Viðar Sigurðsson is a professor of archaeology, conservation, and history at the University of Oslo.