Islands on the Edge. Medieval and Early Modern National Images of Iceland and Greenland

• Main Author: Isleifsson, Sumarlidi R.
• Other Authors: Chartier, Daniel
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Presses de l'Université du Québec 2011
• Subjects: Iceland; National images; Greenland; Images of the North; Arctic; Middle Ages; 18th century; Islands; Imagology; Postcolonial studies; Representations of the North; Far North; Grand Nord; Islande; Groenland; Moyen âge; Arctique; Arctique*
• Online Access: http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/10411/1/222023427.pdf

In this article accounts of Iceland and Greenland from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century will be examined with consideration given to the type of national images appearing there. The aim of the article is to explain these images and discuss their development and origin, not least how ideas about islands and the North in general have influenced the descriptions of these two countries. The research is based on two connected research traditions: the field of imagology and postcolonial studies, which means that the sources are studied as representations, as a discourse on islands in the periphery in the far North.