The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums by Whitehead, Guðrún D.;

Short description:

The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums explores the representations and uses of Vikings in museums across Iceland, British Isles and Norway.

Long description:

The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums explores the representations and uses of Vikings in museums across Iceland, British Isles and Norway.

Drawing on theories from history, philosophy, museology, and sociology, the book analyses how the Viking myth is used by visitors to make sense of present-day society, culture, and politics and the role of museums in this meaning-making process. Demonstrating that the Viking myth is present in collective memory and plays an important role in the construction and modification of collective, national, and personal identities, the book analyses this process through the framework of museums and their visitors. Identifying museums as places where heritage, identity and social norms are affirmed and reflected upon, Whitehead demonstrates that all  countries use their Viking heritage to define their identity on a local and international level - through tourist attractions such as museums and other Viking-related monuments and merchandise.

Providing readers with an insight into Vikings and their social relevance today, The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums will be of great interest to academics and researchers across the social and human sciences. It should also be essential reading for museum professionals working in museums around the world.

“In her important study, Guðrún D. Whitehead demonstrates that museum visitors use the Viking image to make sense of their place in society, and outlines the role of museums in this process of meaning-making. Her profound fieldwork shows that this process is only possible through a partnership between visitors and museums, and suggests that museums need to actively approach their visitors’ preconceived ideas of the Viking Age to allow for further learning. She also demonstrates convincingly that the Viking image is a contradictory one in visitors’ minds, and that the image of the violent barbarian is used in both Yorkshire, Manx, Icelandic, and Norwegian museums to create a positive view on the national or local past and identity. Her study is the first one to offer a systematic, comparative analysis of contemporary museum displays on the Viking Age and their effect on visitors’ constructions of personal and collective identities. It is therefore an important contribution to museum studies, and especially to visitor studies, and can serve as a template for similar research on other historical phenomena. To this end, samples of the questionnaires applied could have been a useful complement to the book and might be a valuable asset to future publications on the topic. Guðrún D. Whitehead’s work contributes further to the field of heritage and cultural identity studies. Last but not least, it is a highly valuable reading for museum professionals working in one of the numerous museums presenting the Viking Age in and outside Scandinavia, who would like to learn more about how their communication of the Viking Age impacts the constructions of personal, local and national identities of their visitors.”

Charlotte Wenke, PhD researcher, University of Greifswald, Germany

Rezension zu: G. D. Whitehead: The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums | H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation für die Geschichtswissenschaften | Geschichte im Netz | History in the web

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Introducing the Vikings
Part 1. Guide us through storms that whip: Methodology and case study analysis
Chapter 1. Case studies analysed
Chapter 2. Visitor and staff interpretations of the exhibitions
Part 2: Fara á brott með víkingum: Historical Vikings and images of the past
Chapter 3. The Viking Age and the Viking image: A brief overview
Chapter 4. Are You a Viking? The current image of Vikings
Chapter 5. Collective Memory and the Viking image
Chapter 6. Creating Meaning: Representation of Vikings in Museums
Part 3. This Viking sure is striking: Present day influences and uses of Vikings
Chapter 7. Historical distancing
Chapter 8. Identity creation in museums
Chapter 9. Nationalism
Chapter 10. Otherness of past and present