Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now
Here's a key paragraph: "This chapter will be an exploration of the heritage function of Vikings in America. It will look at their presumptive whiteness, from the early nineteenth century, through the real mania for all things Viking in the mid to late nineteenth century, and on to present...
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fthcommons:oai:hcommons.org/mla:821 2024-09-15T18:20:01+00:00 Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now Karl Steel 2014 https://doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z English eng http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z 885086:Culture--Study and teaching:topical 1000151:Literature Medieval:topical 2014 fthcommons https://doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z 2024-09-03T00:41:39Z Here's a key paragraph: "This chapter will be an exploration of the heritage function of Vikings in America. It will look at their presumptive whiteness, from the early nineteenth century, through the real mania for all things Viking in the mid to late nineteenth century, and on to present day fascinations with the Norse in popular music, neo-Norse religion, and white supremacy. As I will demonstrate, a fantasized whiteness is at the core of much of the American Viking fantasy: Historic Newfoundland is no anomaly. Witness, for example, a recent Newfoundland and Labrador Tourist board television commercial, featuring a set of light-skinned children frolicking amid the reconstructions of turf houses, whose voiceover concludes with “their journey ended [here]…the place your journey will begin” (L’anse Aux Meadows). The Vikings provide a break, starting (Canadian) history, but also ending it, by establishing a bond that collapses the distinction between past to present. My central concern will be with how this fantasized historical bond of whiteness works as heritage both of freedom and as an obligation, a burden, or a duty, as, in short, anything but a freedom. My ultimate goal will be to complicate claims of authenticity and straightforward cultural transmission to make them useless for white supremacist heritage claims, while preserving the possibility for a culturally heterogeneous Viking heritage that might operate outside the strictures of purity. " Other/Unknown Material Newfoundland Humanities Commons CORE Deposits |
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English |
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885086:Culture--Study and teaching:topical 1000151:Literature Medieval:topical |
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885086:Culture--Study and teaching:topical 1000151:Literature Medieval:topical Karl Steel Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
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885086:Culture--Study and teaching:topical 1000151:Literature Medieval:topical |
description |
Here's a key paragraph: "This chapter will be an exploration of the heritage function of Vikings in America. It will look at their presumptive whiteness, from the early nineteenth century, through the real mania for all things Viking in the mid to late nineteenth century, and on to present day fascinations with the Norse in popular music, neo-Norse religion, and white supremacy. As I will demonstrate, a fantasized whiteness is at the core of much of the American Viking fantasy: Historic Newfoundland is no anomaly. Witness, for example, a recent Newfoundland and Labrador Tourist board television commercial, featuring a set of light-skinned children frolicking amid the reconstructions of turf houses, whose voiceover concludes with “their journey ended [here]…the place your journey will begin” (L’anse Aux Meadows). The Vikings provide a break, starting (Canadian) history, but also ending it, by establishing a bond that collapses the distinction between past to present. My central concern will be with how this fantasized historical bond of whiteness works as heritage both of freedom and as an obligation, a burden, or a duty, as, in short, anything but a freedom. My ultimate goal will be to complicate claims of authenticity and straightforward cultural transmission to make them useless for white supremacist heritage claims, while preserving the possibility for a culturally heterogeneous Viking heritage that might operate outside the strictures of purity. " |
author |
Karl Steel |
author_facet |
Karl Steel |
author_sort |
Karl Steel |
title |
Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
title_short |
Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
title_full |
Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
title_fullStr |
Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bad Heritage: The American Viking Fantasy, from the Nineteenth Century to Now |
title_sort |
bad heritage: the american viking fantasy, from the nineteenth century to now |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17613/M6X61Z |
_version_ |
1810458380416843776 |