Uppsats om den vikingatida Hårbyfigurinen

500 f.Kr. - 1066
Jerrark
Inlägg: 491
Blev medlem: 7 oktober 2015, 15:20

Uppsats om den vikingatida Hårbyfigurinen

Inlägg av Jerrark » 9 december 2020, 17:18

Hårbyfigurinen från Danmark har oftast tolkats som en avbildning av en valkyria. Här problematiseras den tolkningen i en universitetsuppsats från 2017.

Valkyriornas identitetskris: Hårbyfigurinen och
(om)tolkandet av genusambivalenta föremål
Julia Wihlborg

Abstract:

In the year of 2012 a unique three dimensional figurine was found in Hårby, Denmark depicting
what seems to be a woman holding a sword and a shield. Immediately it was defined as a
Valkyrie, a female servant of the Viking god Odin. However, this is most likely a simplified
interpretation since most female figurines from the Viking age is interpreted in this way. This
thesis questions this interpretation, creating an identity crisis for the Valkyries due to their
interpretation no longer being obvious and simple. Instead this thesis recognizes the gender
ambiguous features of the Hårbyfigurine and tries to determine what it can tell about the
perception of gender during the Viking Age. The purpose of this thesis is thus to present how
gender theory, queer theory and a comparative method can be used to interpret a gender
ambiguous object from the Viking Age. This is done based on the Hårbyfigurine and its
different attributes and concludes that the arguments against that female figurines from the
Viking Age depicts Valkyries are more numerous than the arguments that support this
identification. Alternative interpretations for the figurine is therefore suggested. The thesis also
shows that the interpretations gender theory, queer theory and comparative method can produce
differs in its complexity and in how they handle the gender ambiguous qualities of the
Hårbyfigurine. The conclusion drawn from this is that gender ambiguous objects cannot be
interpreted in one single way but must be tackled with a variety of theories and methods to be
able to tell something about the worldview of the people who lived in the Viking Age. The term
gender ambiguous is also re-evaluated throughout the thesis and turns out to be an interpretation
applied to objects based on a modern way of defining gender and sex and is not a trait of the
object itself. This means that gender is not defined in the same way today as it was in the Viking
Age. Gender is thus strongly connected to the ruling culture and not stable, but ever changing.
http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/div ... TEXT01.pdf

Starkodder
Inlägg: 1719
Blev medlem: 30 april 2015, 19:31
Ort: Lund

Re: Uppsats om den vikingatida Hårbyfigurinen

Inlägg av Starkodder » 9 december 2020, 20:53

Queerteori kryper in lite överallt nuförtiden. Även i Beowulfforskningen.

Skriv svar