The uses and abuses of the past: cultural rhetoric and the unmaking of a moral universe

It is well established ethnographically that history is a particularly important and celebrated aspect of Icelandic identity. Paraphrasing Hastrup, it could be argued that Icelandic culture is a culture of the past. The collapse in Iceland in 2008 problematised this valorisation of history. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica
Main Authors: Hafsteinsson, Sigurjón Baldur, Grétarsdóttir, Tinna, Árnason, Arnar
Other Authors: Félags- og mannvísindadeild (HÍ), Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (UI), Félagsvísindasvið (HÍ), School of Social Sciences (UI), Háskóli Íslands, University of Iceland
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Index Copernicus 2014
Subjects:
History
Culture
Rhetoric
Nation-form
Identification
Saga
Menning
Mælskufræði
Bankahrunið 2008
Þjóðareinkenni
Iceland
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/406
https://doi.org/10.5604/20842937.1131971
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Summary:It is well established ethnographically that history is a particularly important and celebrated aspect of Icelandic identity. Paraphrasing Hastrup, it could be argued that Icelandic culture is a culture of the past. The collapse in Iceland in 2008 problematised this valorisation of history. In this paper we draw on Carrithers’ ideas of cultural rhetoric to analyse how Icelanders made sense of the collapse particularly in relation to their understanding of their own history. Following Johnson, we look at the play of agency, intention and responsibility evident in the accounts offered for the collapse. Through that we seek to highlight how these accounts, even when highly critical of Icelandic political and cultural practices, tend to allow for and even encourage the on-going identification with the nation-form. Peer Reviewed

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