Sagas and Space - Thinking Space in Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia
Explore with us the fascinating ways of thinking about space in Viking Age and Old Norse culture. Together we will discuss how space is conceptualised and depicted in diverse Old Norse genres and traditions.
Sessions
Course at a Glance
About the Course
Space is a basic category of human thought. Over the last decades it became a very productive scientific category, too. Thinking about spaces, places, locations, or landscapes covers a spectrum of meanings from the concrete and material through to the abstract and metaphorical.
In this course we explore various categories of space in the field of Old Norse culture. Together with international guest scholars from different fields we want to find out how mythological, heroic, historical, geographical spaces or landscapes look like in written and oral narratives, but also on picture-stones, runic inscriptions, paintings, woodcarvings and manuscripts. Another promising question could be to ask about the relationship between texts, images and maps and the process of mapping itself.
Course Syllabus
Week 1
Introduction and course overview: space as a key element of narration and representation
Week 2
Constructing mythological space: Eddic cosmography
Sources: Prose-Edda, Poetic Edda
Week 3
Discovering new spaces: geographical and social aspects; memory and space
Sources: Sagas (Grænlendinga saga, Eiríks saga rauða)
Week 4
Cosmography: descriptions of the world in texts
Sources: Leiðarvísir (Itinerary of Nikulas)
Week 5
Mapping the World: Cartography
Sources: Carta Marina
Week 6
Spatiality in visual media
Sources: picture-stones, runic inscriptions, paintings, woodcarvings, manuscripts
Week 7
Archaeology:
Sources:
Week 8 Language and space: spatial thinking in language; place names
Sources:
Conclusion and outlook
Recommended Background
No background is required; all are welcome!
Course Format
On one side the course will consist of lecture videos from invited guest scholars. On the other side, there will be supporting material (e.g. texts, pictures, maps) for individual study. Each weekly topic contains integrated quiz questions, where you can test your understandig of the material. There will also be standalone homeworks that are not part of video lectures, those eventually will form the basis of the final peer assessement.
FAQ
None. All resources will be provided throughout the course.
What background is expected for learners in this class?
No background is expected. Everybody who is interested in thinking about space in Old Norse culture is welcome. If you are an expert in one of the topics we're very happy to have you with us and let the others benefit from your knowledge.
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