Høst 2012

HIS-1111 Arctic Norway - aspects of history - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for arkeologi, historie og religionsvitenskap

Type of course

The subject may be studied as a singular course.

Course overlap

HIS-1005 North Norway between Tradition and Modernization 1870-2000 2 stp

Course contents

Because of the students varied backgrounds, we assume no previous knowledge of the region. We also work on the assumption that students know very little about Norwegian history. We therefore begin by giving a brief overview of important themes in Norwegian history, to provide a framework for the more detailed presentation of North Norway?s history that follows. Increasing Norwegian activity in the polar regions, for purposes of hunting and scientific and economic research but also increasingly as a form of national expression and assertion, is an important theme. Tensions in this area during the Cold War period are considered, and the course comes up to the present in examining economic exploitation and co-operation in the Barents Region.

Objective of the course

The following are reckoned to be the result of success in the course:

Knowledge and understanding:

The students should have knowledge concerning central themes and problems in north-Norwegian history

Skills:

The students should be able to analyse secondary and selected primary sources and draw their own conclusions

Competence:

The students should be able to assemble information and synthesise it, both orally and in writing

Language of instruction

English

Teaching methods

The course consists of lectures, seminars and museum visits, with supervision in writing two home examinations. Total teaching time is at least 30 hours. The teaching given in the course is reckoned to constitute part of the knowledge that students can be tested on in the examinations. The course is given each autumn semester.

Every third year the subject is evaluated.

Assessment

Two essays, in all totally no more than 20 pages. Evaluated on a scale of A-E (pass) and F (fail).

The course is open for re-sit examination early in the following semester.

Recommended reading/syllabus

Einar-Arne Drivenes et al, "A Question of Identity", translated by Michael Drake, in Einar-Arne Drivenes, Marit Anne Hauan and Helge A. Wold, Nordnorsk kulturhistorie, Vol. I. Det gjenstridige landet (Oslo, Gyldendahl Norsk Forlag) pp. 8-17.

ed. Niels Lund, Two Voyagers at the Court of King Alfred (York, William Sessions Ltd., 1984), pp. 15-22, 30-33, 43-49, 51, 53, notes.

Extract from Heimskringla - King Olaf¿s fall (2 pages)

A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr, translated by Devra Kunin, edited by Carl Phelpstead (Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London, 2001), pp. 5-7, 70-71.

Thorstein Vilhjalmsson, "Old Norse Navigation: An Overview", in ed. Ingi Sigurðsson and Jón Skaptason, Aspects of Arctic and Sub-Arctic history: proceedings of the International Congress on the History of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region, Reykjavík, 18-21 June 1998 (Reykjavík, University of Iceland Press, 2000), pp. 362-372.

Przemysaw Urbaczyk, Medieval Arctic Norway (Warszawa, Semper, 1992), pp. 42-78.

Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 315-353, 375-386, 160-161.

Alf Ragnar Nielssen, "Farming Expansion North of the Arctic Circle c.1250-1700", in ed. Ingi Sigurðsson and Jón Skaptason, Aspects of Arctic and Sub-Arctic history : proceedings of the International Congress on the History of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region, Reykjavík, 18-21 June 1998 (Reykjavík, University of Iceland Press, 2000) [8 pp.]

Olaus Magnus (1555), Description of the Northern Peoples, translated by Peter Fisher and Humphrey Higgins (London, The Hakluyt Society, 1996). Introduction, pp. xxxvi-xxxix; Book I, Chapters 2 & 4; Book 2, Chapter 7; Book 21, Chapters 1, 2, 5, 20, 21 & 28. 17 pp.

Thor B. Arlov, "The Discovery and Early Exploitation of Svalbard. Some Historiographical Notes" in Acta Borealia 1-2005, pp. 1-19.

Susan Barr, Norway¿s Polar Territories (Oslo, Aschehoug, 1987), pp. 25-29, 48-51.

William Mills, Exploring Polar Frontiers: a historical encyclopedia (Oxford, ABC Clio, 2003), entries for Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; Willem Barents; Bear Island; Vitus Bering; North Pole; Northeast Passage; Northwest Passage; Norway; Spitsbergen; Surveying and Mapping; Svalbard.

ed. Mark Nuttall, Encyclopedia of the Arctic (New York, Routledge, 2005), entries for Barents Council; Barents Region; Barents Regional Council; Barents Sea; Bear Island; Jan Mayen; Svalbard; Svalbard Treaty.

eds. Einar-Arne Drivenes and Harald Dag Jølle, Into the Ice. The History of Norway and the Polar Regions (Oslo, Gyldendal akademisk, 2006), pp. 7-10, 281-316.

Rune Haugen, "The witch-hunt in early modern Finnmark" in Acta Borealia, 1-1999, vol. 16, pp. 43-60.

Tatjana A. Schrader, "Pomor trade with Norway" in Acta Borealia, 1/2 -1988, pp. 111-117.

Gösta H. Liljequist, High Latitudes: A History of Swedish Polar Travels and Research (Stockholm, The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat in collaboration with Streiffert, 1993) pp. 43-62.

Rolf Danielsen and Edgar Hovland, "Recovery and growth: the Norwegian economy, 1815-1875" and "Modern Norway takes shape, 1875-1920" in Rolf Danielsen et al, Norway: a history from the Vikings to our own times (Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, 1995), pp. 230-254, 271-296.

Steinar Aas, "North Norway - The Frontier of the North?" in Acta Borealia 1998 No. 1, pp. 27-40.

W. Martin Conway, The First Crossing of Spitsbergen (London, J. M. Dent, 1897), pp. 27-37, 62-72, 337-349.

Urban Wråkberg, "The Politics of Naming: Contested Observations and the Shaping of Geographical Knowledge" in ed. Michael Bravo and Sverker Sörlin, Narrating The Arctic: A Cultural History of Nordic Scientific Practices (Canton MA, Science History Publications/USA, 2002), pp. 155-185.

Willy Østreng, Politics in High Latitudes: The Svalbard Archipelago (London, C. Hurst & Company, 1977) pp. 26-28, 67-85.

Trygve Mathisen, Svalbard in International Politics 1871-1925 (Oslo, Norsk polarinstitutt, 1954), pp. 172-179 & Trygve Mathisen, Svalbard in the Changing Arctic (Oslo, Gyldendal norsk forlag, 1954), pp. 31-45.

Roald Berg, "A Norwegian Policy of the North before World War I?" in Acta Borealia 1994-95, pp. 5-18.

Harald Dag Jølle, "The tension between culture and nature: Fridtjof Nansen¿s understanding of Arctic minorities" in Acta Borealia, 1-2001, pp. 3-23.

Einar Niemi, "North Norwegian Rising! Regionalism and Nation Building in the North, 1900-1940" in ed. Richard Holt, Hilde Lange and Ulrike Spring, Internationalization in the History of Northern Europe (Tromsø, Universitetet i Tromsø, 2000), pp. 37-52

Henry Minde, "Assimilation of the Sami - Implementation and Consequences" in Acta Borealia, 2-2003, pp. 121-146.

Teemu Ryymin, "Creating Kvenness: identity building among the Arctic Finns in northern Norway" in Acta Borealia, 1-2001, vol 18, pp. 51-64.

Einar-Arne Drivenes, "Religion, Church and Ethnic Minorities in Norway, 1850-1940" in ed. Donal A. Kerr in collaboration with Mordechai Breuer, Sheridan Gilley and Ernst Christoph Suttner, Religion, state and ethnic groups (Dartmouth, New York University Press, 1992), pp. 205-229.

Randi Rønning Balsvik, "Women in North Norwegian Coastal Societies", translated from Historisk Tidsskrift 4/1991, pp. 636-653.

Andrei Repnevsky, "Norway and the Soviet Union 1917-1985: fear and cooperation"; Sven G. Holtsmark, "Norway and the Soviet Union 1917-1991: neighbours through conflict and cooperation"; Geir Hønneland, "Enthusiasm of the Barents Region and new stereotypes" in Supplement to the Exhibition Catalogue Norway-Russia: Neighbours for a thousand years. English translation of the six introduction articles (Oslo, 2004)

Jens Petter Nielsen, "The Barents Region in Historical Perspective" in eds. Olav Schram Stokke & Ola Tunander, The Barents Region Cooperation in Arctic Europe (London, Sage Publications, 1994), pp. 87-100.

Any additional literature will be distributed during the course.