Memory studies is one of the most promising new approaches in the international fields of Old Norse and medieval studies, and a series of meetings and seminars in Europe and North America have documented that memory construction was as widespread in the pre-modern world as it is in modern societies, even if the memory cultures of this period are much less investigated than those of modern times. Only the first minor steps have been taken to grasp the implications of this perspective on our understanding of the ancient past. It is the purpose of this workshop to move the discussion of acts of memorialization, memory formation, and identity construction in new directions. The focus will be on the rich and many-sided narrative and poetic culture of ancient Scandinavia and their function in various memory cultures in the Middle Ages and beyond. Based on medieval texts, it will be discussed how notions of the environment, gender, and trauma impacted ideas of past and present and self-images among groups of people.

See the program.