NORDEUROPAforum - Zeitschrift für Kulturstudien (Dec 2010)
The Vikings are coming! A modern Icelandic self-image in the light of the economic crisis
Abstract
This article analyzes the connection between the economic crisis in Iceland in 2008 and the role of Viking imagery in the collective self-image of Iceland. This connection is informed by Iceland’s status as a Danish dependency for centuries – a condition that deeply affected the development of Icelandic self-perception and its cultural life. In recent years, the Viking has appeared as an image of central cultural significance in Iceland’s international relations with both Denmark and Great Britain in recent years. This article explores the connection between the sensational rise and fall of the so-called útrásarvíkingar (ex-pansion Vikings), or Icelandic businessmen, and the effect of Iceland being a former dependency of Denmark on the general function of the Viking image in Iceland’s collective identity. Thus, a postcolonial approach sheds light on how imagological representations of Vikings have affected modern Icelandic identity conceptualizations.
