Social approaches to Viking studies
By: edited by Ross Samson.
Contributors: Samson, Ross.
Publisher: Cruithne Press; Brand: Boydell n Brewer Inc; Boydell & Brewer Inc
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Glasgow
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: Vikings -- Congresses.; Social history -- Medieval, 500-1500 -- Congresses.
Description: Social Approaches to Viking Studies deals with various themes drawn from social history and social theory, particularly from anthropology. Historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists from Scandinavia and North America discuss early medieval Scandinavian societies, deriving their inspiration and analytical approaches from structuralism, cosmology, feminism, economic anthropology, and Marxism, among others.

The effects of nationalism and Victorian gender ideologies on past historical writings are explored and new directions for future work are suggested. Whether discussing Icelandic Family Sagas or Westland bronze cauldrons, all the contributors explore social meanings in, and organisation of, Viking societies in new and stimulating ways.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-234) and index.
Includes papers presented at a seminar "New perspectives on Viking studies" held in Glasgow in September 1988.