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Video Surveillance and Social Control in a Comparative Perspective (Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society #19)
by Fredrika Björklund Ola SvenoniusThis edited collection reports the results of a comparative study of video surveillance/CCTV in Germany, Poland, and Sweden. It investigates how video surveillance as technologically mediated social control is affected by national characteristics, with a specific concern for recent political history. The book is motivated by asking what makes video surveillance "tick" in three very different cultural settings, two of which (Poland and Sweden) are virtually unexplored in the literature on surveillance. The selection of countries is motivated by an interest in societies with recent experiences of authoritarianism, and how they respond to the global trend towards intensified technical means of control. With thorough empirical studies, the book constitutes an important contribution to security studies, surveillance studies, and post-communist area studies.
Videobasierte Kompetenzmessung in der universitären Lehrkräfteausbildung: Evidenz aus Literaturreviews und empirischen Untersuchungen (Perspektiven der Mathematikdidaktik)
by Jonas WeyersInnerhalb der Forschung zur professionellen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften kommen vermehrt videobasierte Kompetenzmessungen zum Einsatz. Durch die Kombination von Videomaterial unterrichtlicher Praxis mit spezifischen Testfragen sollen Rückschlüsse auf handlungsnahe Kompetenzen bzw. sogenannte situationsspezifische Fähigkeiten von Lehrkräften ermöglicht werden. Auf Basis von zwei Literaturreviews untersucht die vorliegende Arbeit die Konzeption und Erfassung situationsspezifischer Fähigkeiten am Beispiel des Konstrukts "Teacher Noticing", welches in der mathematikdidaktischen Forschung besonders verbreitet ist, und gibt einen umfassenden Überblick zu vorliegenden Testinstrumenten, die auf dieses Konstrukt abzielen. Insbesondere wird diskutiert, inwieweit unterschiedliche Messansätze zu vergleichbaren Ergebnissen führen und welche Konsequenzen sich aus der Heterogenität der Messansätze für den wissenschaftlichen Diskurs ergeben. Anhand zweier empirischer Arbeiten wird weiterführend geprüft, inwieweit anspruchsvolle videobasierte Kompetenzmessungen bereits mit Lehramtsstudierenden einsetzbar sind und Rückschlüsse auf deren Kompetenzentwicklung zulassen. Die Ergebnisse stützen dabei grundsätzlich die Einsetzbarkeit in der universitären Phase der Lehrkräfteausbildung, wobei sich nur geringe Zusammenhänge zu den Lerngelegenheiten innerhalb dieses Ausbildungsabschnitts zeigen.
Videogame Sciences and Arts: 14th International Conference, VJ 2024, Leiria, Portugal, December 5–6, 2024, Proceedings (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2324)
by Anabela Marto Rui Prada Patrícia Gouveia Ruth Contreras-Espinosa Alexandrino Gonçalves Eduarda Abrantes Roberto RibeiroThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts, VJ 2024, held in Leiria, Portugal, during December 5–6, 2024. The 15 full papers and 3 short papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 30 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Player Experience and Accessibility; Serious Games; Edutainment; Game Design and Development; and Games and Artificial Intelligence.
Videolised Society
by Jian Meng Hui ZhaoThis book traces the development of video (especially short video, duan shipin) in China over the past few years, exploring how these videos engaged with China’s rapidly changing society, how they enriched existed theories of society, media and communication, and new theories to be extracted. The book offers a new, critical model for understanding the relationship between video, video theory, video industry and the State. This book sheds light on the overall description and explanation of the current socio-political, economic and cultural environment concerning the development of video (especially short video). It interprets the emergence of the “Social Videolization” through the subjects of media psychology, communication studies and cultural criticism, media industrial studies, sociology and anthropology.
Viele Wege führen zum Glück: Experten stellen vor
by Andrea Fischer Christin PrizeliusVerschiedene Wege führen zum Glück – finden Sie Ihren!Dieses Buch richtet sich an alle Menschen, die sich mit dem Thema Glück für sich und andere beschäftigen, und zeigt, dass das Glück oft näher und greifbarer ist als gedacht. Für jeden bedeutet Glück etwas anderes und jeder Mensch darf dabei selbst herausfinden, was ihn glücklich macht. Wissenschaftlich fundiert und praxisnah bieten die Autoren vielseitige Inspirationen zum Thema. Sowohl aktuelle Forschungsfelder als auch individuelle Projekte werden verständlich und konkret dargestellt. Dabei wird der Leser eingeladen zu reflektieren und eigene Impulse zu setzen. Ziel ist mehr Lebensfreude, eine ganzheitliche positive Ausrichtung und Einstellung, sowohl für den Einzelnen als auch die Gesellschaft und damit eine bessere Gesundheit und mehr Wohlbefinden. Entdecken Sie Ihren Weg zum Glück und gestalten Sie ihn selbst aktiv mit!
Viele Welten des Alterns
by Andreas Motel-Klingebiel Peter Schimany Helen Baykara-KrummeIn der Alternsforschung wurden Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund bisher weitgehend ausgeblendet und in der Migrationsforschung fanden ältere Menschen kaum Beachtung. Angesichts des zunehmenden Anteils Älterer in der Migrantenbevölkerung wird eine Verknüpfung der beiden Forschungszweige aber immer wichtiger. Das vorliegende Buch widmet sich der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Altern unter Migrationsbedingungen und der Lebensqualität älterer Migrantinnen und Migranten. Auf der Basis theoretischer Reflexionen, empirischer Befunde und politischer Überlegungen bietet der vorliegende Band erstmals einen fundierten Überblick über den aktuellen Kenntnis- und Diskussionsstand im Schnittfeld der beiden Forschungsgebiete.
Vielfalt und Einheit der Kritischen Theorie – Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven
by Oliver KozlarekDie in diesem Buch versammelten Arbeiten gehen der Frage nach, ob die Tradition der Kritischen Theorie mit ihrer multifokalen und vor allem interdisziplinären kritischen Sozialforschung dem Anspruch einer übergreifenden politischen wie wissenschaftlichen Praxis der Kritik für unsere aktuellen Gesellschaften gerecht wird. Es geht somit auch um eine „Aktualisierung“ der Kritischen Theorie. Diese soll aber gerade nicht durch das Herausarbeiten eines neuen Begriffsinstrumentariums diagnostischer und/oder normativer Art geschehen, sondern dadurch, dass ganz im Sinne des interdisziplinären Forschungsansatzes der Kritischen Theorie unsere hochkomplexen spätmodernen Gesellschaften als Räume transparent werden, in denen sich unterschiedliche Erfahrungslinien kreuzen.
Vienna: Still a Just City? (Built Environment City Studies)
by Yuri KazepovThis book explores and debates the urban transformations that have taken place in Vienna over the past 30 years and their consequences in policy fields such as labour and housing, political and social participation and the environment. Historically, European cities have been characterised by a strong association between social cohesion, quality of life, economic ambition and a robust State. Vienna is an excellent example for that. In more recent years, however, cities were pressured to change policy principles and mechanisms in the context of demographic shifts, post-industrial transformations and welfare recalibration which have led to worsened social conditions in many cities. Each chapter in this volume discusses Vienna’s responses to these pressures in key policy arenas, looking at outcomes from the context-specific local arrangements. Against a theoretical framework debating the European city as a model of inclusion and social justice, authors explore the local capacity to innovate urban policies and to address new social risks, while paying attention to potential trade-offs. The book questions and assesses the city’s resilience using time series and an institutional analysis of four key dimensions that characterise the European city model within the context of post-industrial transition: redistribution, recognition, representation and sustainability. It offers a multiscalar perspective of urban governance through labour, housing, participatory and environmental policies, bringing together different levels and public policy types. Vienna: Still a Just City? is aimed at academics, researchers and policy-makers in urban studies, including urban sociology, ecology, geography and welfare.
Vietnam at the Vanguard: New Perspectives Across Time, Space, and Community (Asia in Transition #15)
by Le Ha Phan Jamie Gillen Liam C. KelleyThis transdisciplinary edited book explores new developments and perspectives on global Vietnam, touching on aspects of history, identity, transnational mobilities, heritage, belonging, civil society, linguistics, education, ethnicity, and worship practices. Derived from the Engaging With Vietnam: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue conference series, this cutting-edge collection presents new scholarship and also represents new ways of knowing global Vietnam. Over the past 10 years, knowledge production about Vietnam has diversified in various ways as globalization, the internationalization of higher education, and the digital revolution have transformed the world, as well as Vietnam. Whereas as late as a decade ago, knowledge about Vietnam was still largely the preserve of scholars in Vietnam and a coterie of related experts outside of the country at a select few universities, today we find scholars working on Vietnam in myriad contexts. This transformation has introduced new voices and new perspectives, which this book champions. A critical text engaging a range of historical and contemporary debates about Vietnam, this book is an indispensable volume for the Southeast Asian Studies student and scholar in the humanities and social sciences.
Vietnamese Americans: Patterns Of Resettlement And Socioeconomic Adaptation In The United States
by Darrel MonteroAs of November 1978, more than 170,000 Indochinese refugees had come to the United States after a traumatic flight from their native land, arriving with little preparation for the changes they would face. This book documents and analyzes this unique migration and, employing data from a national sample, reports on the changing socioeconomic status of the Vietnamese refugees. Dr. Montero presents and analyzes data on the refugees' employment, education, income, receipt of federal assistance, and proficiency in the English language; his model of Spontaneous International Migration (SIM) places the Vietnamese immigration experience in a broader sociohistorical context. He has found that, despite the myriad of problems the newcomers have faced, they have been adapting successfully to life in the United States, and in only three years have made remarkable social and economic progress.
Vietnam’s Creativity Agenda: Reforming and Transforming Higher Education Practice (Global Vietnam: Across Time, Space and Community)
by Catherine EarlThis book gathers a diverse set of empirical research chapters from practitioners in the higher education sector in Vietnam to explore the effects of higher education reform on university learning and teaching from the point of view of the classroom educators. Through action research, reflective practice, and other qualitative methods, the book investigates the transformations of learning and teaching practice from top-down to bottom-up, teacher-centred to student-centred, curriculum-oriented to skills-based, institutionally directed to partner integrated, and co-designed approaches. In doing so, the book challenges a rethinking of Vietnamese higher education. It reveals the ingredients for transformative education and calls for educators to be empowered with support, resources, and trust. Drawing on a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds about Vietnam’s university reforms, it is highly relevant to social anthropologists, educational specialists, and policymakers working in higher education reform, not only in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian contexts, but globally.
The View From the Corner Shop: The Diary of a Yorkshire Shop Assistant in Wartime
by Kathleen HeyKathleen Hey spent the war years helping her sister and brother-in-law run a grocery shop in the Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. From July 1941 to July 1946 she kept a diary for the Mass-Observation project, recording the thoughts and concerns of the people who used the shop. What makes Kathleen's account such a vivid and compelling read is the immediacy of her writing. People were pulling together on the surface ('Bert has painted the V-sign on the shop door…', she writes) but there are plenty of tensions underneath. The shortage of food and the extreme difficulty of obtaining it is a constant thread, which dominates conversation in the town, more so even than the danger of bombardment and the war itself. Sometimes events take a comic turn. A lack of onions provokes outrage among her customers, and Kathleen writes, 'I believe they think we have secret onion orgies at night and use them all up. ' The Brooke Bond tea rep complains that tea need not be rationed at all if supply ships were not filled with 'useless goods' such as Corn Flakes, and there is a long-running saga about the non-arrival of Smedley's peas. Among the chorus of voices she brings us, Kathleen herself shines through as a strong and engaging woman who refuses to give in to doubts or misery and who maintains her keen sense of humour even under the most trying conditions. A vibrant addition to our records of the Second World War, the power of her diary lies in its juxtaposition of the everyday and the extraordinary, the homely and the universal, small town life and the wartime upheavals of a nation.
The View From The Studio Door
by Ted OrlandIn the perennial best-seller Art & Fear, Ted Orland (with David Bayles) examined the obstacles that artists encounter each time they enter their studio and stand before a new blank canvas. Now, in The View From The Studio Door, Orland turns his attention to broader issues that stand to either side of that artistic moment of truth.In a text marked by grace, brevity and humor, Orland argues that when it comes to art making, theory and practice are always intertwined. There are timeless philosophical questions (How do we make sense of the world?) that address the very nature of art making, as well as gritty real-world questions (Is there art after graduation?) that artists encounter the moment they're off the starting blocks and producing work on a regular basis.Simply put, this is a book of practical philosophy. As a teacher and working artist himself, Orland brings authentic insight and encouragement to all those who face the challenge of making art in an uncertain world. The breadth of material covered is reflected in chapters that include Making Sense of the World, Art & Society, The Education of the Artist, Surviving Graduation, Making Art That Matters, The Artistic Community, and more.The View From The Studio Door is the perfect companion piece to Art & Fear, and will appeal to a similar (and already-established) audience of students, working artists, teachers and professionals. For students' benefit, The View is also modestly priced, with wide page margins for easy note-taking and annotation.
The View From The Train
by Patrick Keiller"Robinson believed that, if he looked at it hard enough, he could cause the surface of the city to reveal to him the molecular basis of historical events, and in this way he hoped to see into the future." In his sequence of films, Patrick Keiller retraces the hidden story of the places where we live, the cities and landscapes of our everyday lives. Now, in this brilliant collection of essays, he offers a new perspective on how Britain works and sees itself. He discusses the background to his work and its development - from surrealism to post-2008 economic catastrophe - and expands on what the films reveal. Referencing writers including Benjamin and Lefebvre, the essays follow his career since the late 1970s, exploring themes including the surrealist perception of the city; the relationship of architecture and film; how cities change over time, and how films represent this; as well as accounts of cross-country journeys involving historical figures, unexpected ideas and an urgent portrait of post-crash Britain.From the Hardcover edition.
The View from the Vysotka
by Anne Nivat Frances E. ForteCompleted shortly before Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, the vysotkii, or "sky houses," still dominate the Moscow skyline today. Seven in all, they were the Soviet answer to the American skyscraper, transforming the Soviet capital from a feudal backwater into the city of the future. With their soaring towers and gothic architectural details, the vysotkas were intended to be enduring monuments to the workers state and to the glories of Communism--though they were built on the backs of slave laborers and, initially, the prerogative only of the Soviet elite. Now these imposing giants lie on the fault line between a world that has vanished and one still emerging from its ruins.When she moved to Moscow several years ago, journalist and Russia expert Anne Nivat settled into one of the vysotkas, the one that happens to overlook the Kremlin. She became fascinated by the building and learned everything she could about its history. As she got to know her neighbors and fellow tenants, Nivat discovered that they included some of the building's original inhabitants or their descendants, hand-chosen by Stalin and his henchman Lavrenti Beria (arrested and executed for high treason shortly after Stalin's death)--KGB operatives, Bolshoi ballerinas, and artists of Soviet agitprop. Living side by side with them were representatives of the "new Russia"--entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and oligarchs; as any Moscow real estate agent will tell you, Stalin-era buildings in today's market are some of the most coveted addresses in the city.By means of this decaying but still elegant Soviet icon, Nivat gives us a way of grasping the complexities of a country struggling to come to terms with its past and define its future. She allows the tenants of her vysotka to speak for themselves, to offer their perspectives on where Russia has been and where it is going. Some are keenly nostalgic for the days when the State dictated life. Others have prospered in the confusion that has reigned since the Evil Empire's fall and look to a market-driven economy to guide Russia to the Promised Land. Still others fall some place between the two, anxious but hopeful, longing for yet also fearful of change. Taken together, the portraits of the vysotka's inhabitants provide a panorama of Russia today. The View from the Vysotka shows us life from the inside, evoking both the forces that have swept through this vast and fascinating nation over the course of the last half-century, as well as a building that has managed to endure them.
Viewing Pleasure and Being a Showgirl: How Do I Look? (Sexualities in Society)
by Alison J. CarrDrawing on interviews with a breadth of different showgirls, from shows in Paris, Las Vegas, Berlin, and Los Angeles, as well as her own artworks and those by other contemporary and historical artists, this book examines the experiences of showgirls and those who watch them, to challenge the narrowness of representations and discussions around what has been termed ‘sexualisation’ and ‘the gaze’. An account of the experience of being ‘looked at’, the book raises questions of how the showgirl is represented, the nature of the pleasure that she elicits and the suspicion that surrounds it, and what this means for feminism and the act of looking. An embodied articulation of a new politics of looking, Viewing Pleasure and Being a Showgirl engages with the idea (reinforced by feminist critique) that images of women are linked to selling and that women’s bodies have been commodified in capitalist culture, raising the question of whether this enables particular bodies – those of glamorous women on display – to become scapegoats for our deeper anxieties about consumerism.
Viewing The World Ecologically
by Marvin E. OlsenDuring the last 20 years, the American public has become increasingly aware of environmental problems and resource scarcities. This study focuses on the rapid emergence of an ecological social paradigm, which appears to be replacing the technological social paradigm that has dominated American culture throughout most of the 20th century.
Views from the Streets: The Transformation of Gangs and Violence on Chicago's South Side (Studies in Transgression)
by Roberto AspholmChicago has long served as a symbol of urban pathology in the public imagination. The city’s staggering levels of violence and entrenched gang culture occupy a central place in the national discourse, yet remain poorly understood and are often stereotyped. Views from the Streets explains the dramatic transformation of black street gangs on Chicago’s South Side during the early twenty-first century, shedding new light on why gang violence persists and what might be done to address it.Drawing on years of community work and in-depth interviews with gang members, Roberto R. Aspholm describes in vivid detail the internal rebellions that shattered the city’s infamous corporate-style African American street gangs. He explores how, in the wake of these uprisings, young gang members have radically refashioned gang culture and organization on Chicago’s South Side, rejecting traditional hierarchies and ideologies and instead embracing a fierce ethos of personal autonomy that has made contemporary gang violence increasingly spontaneous and unregulated. In calling attention to the historical context of these issues and to the elements of resistance embedded in Chicago’s contemporary gang culture, Aspholm challenges conventional views of gang members as inherently pathological. He critically analyzes highly touted “universal” violence prevention strategies, depicting street-level realities to illuminate why they have ultimately failed to reduce levels of bloodshed. An unprecedented analysis of the nature and meaning of gang violence, Views from the Streets proposes an alternative framework for addressing the seemingly intractable issues of inequality, despair, and violence in Chicago.
La vigencia de la filosofía
by Emilio LledóUna defensa acérrima de la utilidad de la filosofía en nuestros días de la mano del gran pensador Emilio Lledó. «[...] la filosofía se nos aparece como una ocupación de algunos hombres, tan real e importante como esas otras ocupaciones que han modificado, técnica o artísticamente, la faz del mundo y las relaciones humanas.» ¿Está la filosofía en crisis o sigue siendo una ocupación necesaria para entender y analizar el mundo? ¿Puede considerarse la filosofía un oficio? ¿Cómo debe dialogar la filosofía con la historia precedente o con la ciencia y la tecnología de nuestro siglo? Bajo estos interrogantes, el gran pensador Emilio Lledó atiende la urgencia de recuperar la filosofía como una materia indispensable para ejercer un pensamiento crítico y teje un texto que ensalza las virtudes inexcusables y atemporales del saber filosófico en la modernidad y la era del consumismo. Galardonado con el Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas 2014 y el Premio Princesa de Asturias 2015, Emilio Lledó ha colocado la filosofía en el centro de todas sus obras y la ha defendido como base de toda educación. El texto aquí presentado pertenece a su obra Sobre la educación (Taurus, 2018). Sobre el autor:«Si hubiera muchos intelectuales como Lledó el nuestro sería un país bien distinto.»Elvira Lindo «Pocos intelectuales se ciñen con tanta justeza al concepto de sabio. Desde la atalaya de sus 94 años, Lledó sigue mirando al futuro».Guillermo Altares, El País «Un diccionario de alertas con el destello de los grandes filósofos detrás para advertir de la gran herencia de la cultura como herramienta de civilización, de progreso, de justicia y de verdad.»Antonio Lucas, El Mundo «Un gran ensayista y divulgador de alto nivel, entre los temas que trata destacan la defensa de la lectura, la felicidad, el silencio, la bellezay la verdad.»Winston Manrique, El País
The Vigilant Citizen: Everyday Policing and Insecurity in Miami
by Thijs JeursenHow the problematic behavior of private citizens—and not just the police force itself—contributes to the perpetuation of police brutality and institutional racism“Warning: Neighborhood Watch Program in Force. If I don’t call the police, my neighbor will!”Signs like this can be found affixed to telephone poles on streets throughout the US, warning trespassers that the community is an active participant in its own policing efforts. Thijs Jeursen calls this phenomenon, in which individuals take on the responsibility of defending themselves and share with the police the duty to mitigate everyday insecurity, “vigilant citizenship.”Drawing on eleven months of fieldwork in Miami and sharing the stories and experiences of police officers, private security guards, neighborhood watch groups, civil society organizations, and a broad range of residents and activists, Jeursen uses the lens of vigilant citizenship to extend the analysis of police brutality beyond police encounters, focusing on the often blurred boundaries between policing actors and policed citizens and highlighting the many ways in which policing produces and perpetuates inequality and injustice. As a central premise in everyday policing, vigilant citizenship frames racist and violent policing as matters of personal blame and individual guilt, ultimately downplaying the realities of how systemically race operates in policing and US society more broadly. The Vigilant Citizen illustrates how a focus on individualized responsibility for security exacerbates and legitimizes existing inequalities, a situation that must be addressed to end institutionalized racism in politics and the justice system.
Vigilante Gender Violence: Social Class, the Gender Bargain, and Mob Attacks on Women Worldwide
by Rebecca ÁlvarezIn recent years, mob attacks on women by men have drawn public attention to an emerging social phenomenon. This book draws upon concepts from critical race theory and sociocultural evolutionary theory to examine this specific form of gender violence, which takes place outside the law and is a vigilante form of enforcing traditional gender norms. The author positions vigilante gender violence as a global issue produced during specific periods of sociocultural change in conditions marked by intensified social stratification. The catalyst for vigilante gender violence is the formal state’s breaching of the "gender bargain," the tacit psychological wage even non-elite men earn by at least not being female. When the state threatens to end the gender bargain by promoting women’s rights, the die is cast for low-status men to enforce this bargain themselves in mob attacks against women who are perceived to be violating the patriarchal order. Seen through independent case studies in different national settings, this book provides empirical evidence that demonstrates the existence of vigilante gender violence in times when societies are shifting from one phase to another and the social hierarchies present within are disrupted. With greater understanding of when and how to predict the occurrence of this phenomenon, the author posits notable ways to prevent it from happening altogether.
Viking-Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia (Culture, Environment and Adaptation in the North)
by Zanette T. Glørstad Kjetil LoftsgardenThe Viking Age was a period of profound change in Scandinavia. As kingdoms were established, Christianity became the encompassing ideological and cosmological framework and towns were formed. This book examines a central backdrop to these changes: the economic transformation of West Scandinavia. With a focus on the development of intensive and organized use of woodlands and alpine regions and domestic raw materials, together with the increasing standardization of products intended for long-distance trade, the volume sheds light on the emergence of a strong interconnectedness between remote rural areas and central markets. Viking-Age Transformations explores the connection between legal and economic practice, as the rural economy and monetary system developed in conjunction with nascent state power and the legal system. Thematically, the book is organized into sections addressing the nature and extent of trade in both marginal and centralized areas; production and the social, legal and economic aspects of exploiting natural resources and distributing products; and the various markets and sites of trade and consumption. A theoretically informed and empirically grounded collection that reveals the manner in which relationships of production and consumption transformed Scandinavian society with their influence on the legal and fiscal division of the landscape, this volume will appeal to scholars of archaeology, the history of trade and Viking studies.
Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right-and How We Can, Too
by George LakeyLiberals worldwide invoke Scandinavia as a promised land of equality, while most conservatives fear it as a hotbed of liberty-threatening socialism. But the left and right can usually agree on one thing: that the Nordic system is impossible to replicate elsewhere. The US and UK are too big, or too individualistic, or too . . . something. In Viking Economics--perhaps the most fun economics book you've ever read--George Lakey dispels these myths. He explores the inner-workings of the Nordic economies that boast the world's happiest, most productive workers, and explains how, if we can enact some of the changes the Scandinavians fought for surprisingly recently, we, too, can embrace equality in our economic policy.
Viking Friendship: The Social Bond in Iceland and Norway, c. 900-1300
by Jon Vidar Sigurdsson"To a faithful friend, straight are the roads and short."—Odin, from the Hávamál (c. 1000) Friendship was the most important social bond in Iceland and Norway during the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. Far more significantly than kinship ties, it defined relations between chieftains, and between chieftains and householders. In Viking Friendship, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson explores the various ways in which friendship tied Icelandic and Norwegian societies together, its role in power struggles and ending conflicts, and how it shaped religious beliefs and practices both before and after the introduction of Christianity.Drawing on a wide range of Icelandic sagas and other sources, Sigurðsson details how loyalties between friends were established and maintained. The key elements of Viking friendship, he shows, were protection and generosity, which was most often expressed through gift giving and feasting. In a society without institutions that could guarantee support and security, these were crucial means of structuring mutual assistance. As a political force, friendship was essential in the decentralized Free State period in Iceland’s history (from its settlement about 800 until it came under Norwegian control in the years 1262–1264) as local chieftains vied for power and peace. In Norway, where authority was more centralized, kings attempted to use friendship to secure the loyalty of their subjects. The strong reciprocal demands of Viking friendship also informed the relationship that individuals had both with the Old Norse gods and, after 1000, with Christianity’s God and saints. Addressing such other aspects as the possibility of friendship between women and the relationship between friendship and kinship, Sigurðsson concludes by tracing the decline of friendship as the fundamental social bond in Iceland as a consequence of Norwegian rule.
Vikings Across Boundaries: Viking-Age Transformations – Volume II (Culture, Environment and Adaptation in the North)
by Hanne Lovise AannestadThis volume explores the changes that occurred during the Viking Age, as Scandinavian societies fell in line with the larger forces that dominated the Insular world and Continental Europe, absorbing the powerful symbiosis of Christianity and monarchy, adapting to the idea of royal lineage and supremacy, and developing a buzzing urbanism coupled with large-scale trade networks. Presenting research on the grand context of the Viking Age alongside localised studies, it contributes to the furthering of collaborations between local and ‘outsider’ research on the Viking Age. Through a diversity of approaches on the Viking homelands and the wider world of the Vikings, it offers studies of a range of phenomena, including urban and rural settlements; continuity in the use of places as well as new types of places specific to the Viking Age; the social significance of change; the construction and maintenance of social identity both within the ‘homelands’ and across large territories; ethnicity; and ideas of identity and the creation and recreation of identity both at home and abroad. As such, it will appeal to historians and archaeologists with interests in Viking-Age studies, as well as scholars of Scandinavian studies.