Here be Vikings: Ethno-National Narratives in Late Nineteenth Century Norwegian Textbooks

Abstract

The late nineteenth was a time of national awakening in Europe, and Norway was no exception. The young nation sought to define itself and consider its identity and political narratives in the face of changes on the continent. A crucial component was the transmission of ideas of community and historical continuity to the people, and through that, the building of a new world. Accordingly, the transfer of national narratives and political mythology is evident in textbooks in history in Norway. Due to the state dominance of the education systems in the Nordic region, textbooks and learning materials are excellent avenues for exploring the transmission of official narratives and mythologies. This chapter explores the stories of Norse migration and settlement included in Norwegian textbooks. To achieve this, the chapter explores a corpus of textbooks from the period 1870–1900. Accordingly, this chapter seeks to examine how the retelling of the narratives of the Viking migration and Norgesveldet contributed to the development of an imagined community as the modern nation constructed its cultural memory.