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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 851: Medieval Icelandic Farming, II: Remember the Workers!

Tuesday 3 July 2018, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:University of Iceland / National Museum of Iceland
Organiser:Bernadette McCooey, Independent Scholar, Birmingham
Moderator/Chair:Árni Daníel Júlíusson, National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavík
Paper 851-aI Can't Believe It's Not Battle!: Skyr-Making and Memory in Medieval Iceland
(Language: English)
Bethany Rogers, School of Humanities, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Daily Life, Social History, Women's Studies
Paper 851-bRemembering the Work of Animals in Old Norse-Icelandic Textual Sources
(Language: English)
Harriet Jean Evans, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Index terms: Economics - Rural, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Social History, Technology
Paper 851-cBúalög: The Lesser Remembered Icelandic Legal Text
(Language: English)
Bernadette McCooey, Independent Scholar, Birmingham
Index terms: Daily Life, Economics - Rural, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Social History
Abstract

The transformation of raw products into useable goods requires knowledge and energy, yet scholarly discussion frequently skips over these vital processes. This session, one of two inter-connecting sessions on Icelandic farming at this year's Congress, demonstrates the significance of women and animals in on-farm production activities. These papers take an inter-disciplinary approach to consider women as transmitters of cultural memory about skyr production, a re-evaluation of livestock as working animals in the famous Íslendingasögur, The Sagas of Icelanders, and a socio-economic examination of farm labour in Búalög, a less-remembered later medieval legal text.