On the View of 'the Other' - Abroad and At Home: The Geography and Peoples of the Far North, According to Historia Norwegie

Abstract

In this discussion I want to focus the spotlight on what Historia Norwegiae (hereafter H.N.) reports on relations in the Far North, on the Sámi and on the interaction between Norwegians and Sámi, as well as additional peoples further to the east in the North Calotte.2 I shall concentrate on a summary of the peoples who were perceived, to a greater or lesser extent, as standing outside the Norse, Christian cultural complex. In this context I shall not, therefore, occupy myself with the populations of Iceland or the islands of the North Sea, which in H.N. are summarized using the term “tributary islands” (tributariae insulae). <p>

<p>I shall seek to present the depiction of these peoples in the light of research results within the social sciences and humanities that relate to ethnic affiliation and ethnic demarcation. This includes how various groups of people relate to one another, use various aspects of their cultural property to mark their own identity and distinctiveness from others, and how they place different ethnic “labels” and other “characteristics” on one another in the course of these processes. Finally, I want to focus on the conclusions we can draw from this analysis regarding the work’s provenance and the author behind the text. Before I embark on my main subject, however, I want to make some comments on the work itself, and try to place and characterize it as a textual source.