18th Viking Congress - Denmark August 5-12, 2017
Program July 2017
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Book of Abstracts 2017
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Themes of the Congress:
1. Catalysts and change in the Viking Age
As a historical period, the Viking Age is marked out as a watershed for profound cultural and social changes in northern societies: from the spread of Christianity to urbanization and political centralization. Exploring the proximate and ultimate causes for these changes is a core theme of Viking Studies. For this theme papers are sought, which debate grand cultural transformation as well as localized and/or particular changes, and look beyond the specific cases and materials to debate the general causes and catalysts, which brought them about.
2. The power of social networks
– interactive dynamics in the Viking Age
Interaction across boundaries or within communities constitutes the substance of the dynamic events of the Viking Age, and is prominently reflected in the legacy of the period. The investigation of social networks has formed a particular active focus of Viking Studies in recent years, from the mapping of geographical interaction attested by the archaeological and scientific evidence to the analysis of social relations in written records and literature. This theme invites studies, which develop a relational perspective on Viking Age developments and discuss the cultural and historical implications in an inter-disciplinary outlook.
3. Viking impact
– pride and prejudice
The memory and heritage of the Viking Age has been a matter of profound fascination for later generations, from medieval historians and saga writers to contemporary novelists, artists and popular media. The legacy of the Viking Age maintains a strong impact in the present as a matter of pride, but also prejudice. This theme calls for papers which research the presentation of the Viking Age as a cultural heritage from either historic or contemporary contexts.
4. Denmark and the Viking Age
The host country of the XVIII Viking Congress was at the threshold between worlds from the eighth to the eleventh century, when cultural developments clashed or connected at the confluence of the northern seas of Europe. Recent research has challenged many accepted beliefs about Denmark’s place in the Viking world, and new findings have greatly expanded the archaeological knowledge base in particular. This theme invites contributions, which present or take stock of significant new findings, and discuss them in comparative perspective.
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