The icelandic farm : An archaeologogy of turf architecture's narrations

• Main Author: Coullenot, Sandra
• Other Authors: Centre Max Weber (CMW), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Lyon, Michel Rautenberg, Gavin Lucas
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: Icelandic architecture; Archeology; Knowing how to build; Heritage built in peat; Islandicity; Narratives and imaginations; Cultural intimacy; Architecture islandaise; Archéologie; Savoir-construire; Patrimoine bâti en tourbe; Islandicité; Narrations et imaginaires; Intimité culturelle; [SHS.SOCIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Sociology; [SHS.ANTHRO-SE]Humanities and Social Sciences/Social Anthropology and ethnology; Iceland
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-04532587; https://theses.hal.science/tel-04532587/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-04532587/file/These-Coullenot-Sandra-2022.pdf

The peat habitat is a self-construction which adapted to the Icelandic island territory during its colonization in the 9th century and continued to undergo transformations until its gradual disappearance in the middle of the 20th century. On the island, the few houses still visible take the form of archaeological remains, late historical buildings and physical or virtual reconstructions. All require regular maintenance, requiring specific construction know-how for which there are very few guarantors today. This doctoral research offers an ethnography of this vernacular architecture and an archeology of its narratives which make it a constitutive element of the Icelandic national narrative. An excellent pretext for observing what we call Icelandicness, the turf house raises the following question: do those involved in its heritage contribute to the renewal of Icelandic cultural identity ? If so, what speeches do they make and what measures are they implemented? In the introduction, the problem of this research is developed followed by the methodology and the presentation of the informants. The first part, LIVING IN ICELAND, is a cultural history of the island presented in eight major periods in order to provide historical contextualization essential to understanding this heritage. The second part, ÞJOÐVERÐUR TIL, seeks to decipher the making of modern Iceland. A third part entitled TORFHÚS, offers an ethnographic description of the turf house in six stages: the surroundings, the envelope, the interior, the skeleton, the trace and the ruin. This part defines the plural nature of this land heritage and its current status. This description also makes it possible to provide a snapshot of the actors involved. Finally the fourth and final part, SIÐASTI BÆRINN ÍDALNUM: TELLING THE PEAT HOUSE, focuses on several areas such as: - the authenticity of the buildings, their conservation and exhibition; - the link between the peat house, the Icelandic national novel and cultural intimacy of the actors and informants of this ...