AU kursuskatalog arkiv

Valgfag: History and Cultural memory ( forår 2011 - 10 ECTS )

Rammer for udbud

• Uddannelsessprog: engelsk
• Niveau: Master and 3rd year BA
• Semester/kvarter: Spring term
• Timer per uge: 3 timer
• Deltagerbegrænsning: Max. 30
• Undervisningssted: Århus
• Hovedområde: Det Humanistiske Fakultet
• Udbud ID: 26538

Formål

Upon completion of the programme, the student will have knowledge, understanding and skills in the following areas:

• through knowledge of selected historical subjects;
• an advanced understanding of historical contexts;
• skills in independently collecting relevant material;
• skills in formulating and analysing historical problems;
• skills in presenting analyses of historical problems to others;
• awareness of the choice of perspective, theory and methodology in the study of historical subjects;
• skills in mapping out historiographical fields and discussing differing aspects of various academic historical positions;
• skills in applying empirical methods in systematic investigations.

Through his/her academic course work, the student develops the following abilities:

• the ability to place specific issues into bigger contexts;
• the ability to independently analyse complex issues;
• the ability to present knowledge to others;
• the ability to work systematically on the basis of several perspectives, theories and methods;

the ability to produce new, independent knowledge

Indhold

This course discusses various ways in which medieval Icelandic sources as well as literature, can be studied as cultural memories of the Viking Age. Attention will be paid to the constructed memory of the past and to the problems of representation. It will be discussed how the literature can be seen as interpretations of history and cultural memory, rather than a recording of facts. Topics that will be addressed are the medieval uses of pagan myths, place and narration, the sagas' status as history or fiction, and cultural memory.

Guest lectures will be given by PhD student Anders Gade Jensen about stories of  Icelandic origin and identity in The Book of Settlements, as well as in the  Saga literature.

As a general background A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (ed) Rory McTurk, will be recommended and Vésteinn Ólason book, Dialogues with the Viking Age, narration and representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders, will be studied during the first weeks of the course, where both the historical and literary background of the saga genre will be discussed, as well as the narrative form and the world view which is expressed in the sagas. The rest of the course will be focused on questions as how we can study the Old Norse literature as a form of memory (social, cultural or even a performance of memory), the interaction between oral and written culture, and how the different form of narration, even factual, can be used as historical evidence.

Faglige forudsætninger

Ingen

Underviser

Agnes Arnorsdottir

Undervisnings- og arbejdsform

Seminar

engelsk

Litteratur

As a general background A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (ed) Rory McTurk, will be recommended and Vésteinn Ólason book, Dialogues with the Viking Age, narration and representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders

Studieordning og bedømmelse

Kandidatuddannelsen i historie

• Fri.hj.opg.ind., bedømt efter 7-skala med intern censur

The students are supposed to write a short essay (10-15 page) at the end of the term, which aim at training them in using the theoretical approach of the course on some self choose subject from the Old Norse Literature