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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 545: Social Boundaries in Scandinavia and Iceland, I: Spatial Boundaries

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Alexander Wilson, Department of English Studies, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:Alexander Wilson, Department of English Studies, Durham University
Paper 545-aDrawing the Line: Defining Social Boundaries in Viking and Old Norse Studies
(Language: English)
Keith Ruiter, Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen
Alexander Wilson, Department of English Studies, Durham University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Mentalities
Paper 545-bBeyond the Alfred-Guðrum Treaty: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Viking Borders in the East and West
(Language: English)
William Pidzamecky, School of English, University of Nottingham
Joshua Neal, Institute for Name-Studies (INS), University of Nottingham
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Onomastics, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 545-cThe Stave Church as Border Control: An Art-Historical Examination of Norse Church Portals and their Role in Legitimising Christian Norms
(Language: English)
Ryan Stone, Independent Scholar Vancouver
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Religious, Art History - Sculpture, Pagan Religions
Abstract

This panel introduces both the approach of the overall strand and current research into spatial boundaries. Keith Ruiter and Alexander Wilson establish the conceptual foundations of the sessions, which explore 'social boundaries' and their transgression in Viking and medieval Old Norse cultural productions through multiple lenses. Using the Alfred-Guðrum Treaty as a point of departure, Joshua Neal and William Pidzamecky demonstrate how combining different disciplinary approaches more fully illustrates the lived boundaries of the Viking diaspora. Ryan Stone explores through the architectural fabric of the stave-church how physical structures and geographical spaces were used to mediate diverging religious identities.