essay
Every Icelander a special case
images of contemporary iceland : everyday lives and global contexts • Iowa City • Published In 1996 • Pages: 171-190
By: Durrenberger, E. Paul.
Abstract
An ideology of egalitarianism and homogeneity developed in Iceland with the denial of class. This ideology developed in association with the independence movement that started in the mid-nineteenth century. This period also represented a shift away from farming and toward fishing as the mainstay of the economy, which undercut not only the experimental basis of the ideology but adherence to the laws based on it as well. With the coming of independence in 1944, public policy was used directly to foster the development of the fishing industry. Accordomg to Durrenberger contact with the outside world and its cultural products, plus urbanization and the regulation of the fishing industry through individual transferable quotas have led to the erosion of the cultural, political, rhetorical, and economic bases of Icelandic society. This document discusses in detail the social dynamics of the above, with suggestions by the author about how to conceptualize the process in terms of anthropological theory and with the indication of some questions that this inquiry poses for Icelandic historiography (p. 172).
- HRAF PubDate
- 2004
- Region
- Europe
- Sub Region
- Scandinavia
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 2002
- Field Date
- 1980s
- Coverage Date
- nineteenth-twentieth centuries
- Coverage Place
- Iceland
- Notes
- E. Paul Durrenberger
- For bibliographical references see document 20:[Gísli Pálsson and E. Paul Durrenberger]
- LCCN
- 9535078
- LCSH
- Icelanders