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I am just catching up with this statement released concerning "Leif Erikson Day".
There are a few things I would like to say about this. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-leif-erikson-day-2020/
There are a few things I would like to say about this. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-leif-erikson-day-2020/
As I study the Viking Age & I am a Newfoundlander, I am often asked about how special it is that the "Vikings" “discovered” North America.
This is a very colonial, Eurocentric view of origins, highly problematic, hinging upon the word “discovery”, erasing Indigenous voices.
This is a very colonial, Eurocentric view of origins, highly problematic, hinging upon the word “discovery”, erasing Indigenous voices.
Leifr Eiríksson discovered nothing. There are 10,000 years of human habitation in Newfoundland & Labrador in that area. This is but one small part of that history. The map shows hearths of Maritime Archaic, pre-Inuit, Innu, Cow Head & Little Passage peoples. A good place to live.
During landscaping in 2011, @ParksCanada archaeologists found a hearth directly under the plaque honouring explorer Helge Ingstad and archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad. If this isn’t a visual metaphor of the challenges of erasure of interpretations, I don’t know what is.
Recent work by @ForbesVero & @Paul_m_Ledger continues to help us understand #LAnseauxMeadows. The site is remarkable for what it can tell us about how many peoples lived in the same region. The word “discovery” needs to be abolished. Totally. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/31/15341
We have to remember that our interpretations of archaeological #LanseauxMeadows are heavily influenced by #OldNorse saga accounts, which have in turn been interpreted, translated, & promoted through the 19th century lens of systemic colonialism. Read: http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
The dual concepts of terra nullius and doctrine of discovery are so ingrained in our archaeological and historical studies that it is impossible for this academic discourse not to be politicized as it is framed as one of discovery in the saga text and popular imagination.
I want to return to the official statement. For too long has there been a conflation between the archaeological evidence of #LAnseauxMeadows and elsewhere & the entertainment provided by the #OldNorse sagas, stories, literature. These overlap, but are not the same. At all.
This statement that Leif Erikson's journey was "accomplished in the face of daunting danger and carried out in service of Judeo-Christian values" on "a mission to evangelize Greenland" is a selective reading of the sources at best, & an exclusive romanticizing at worst.
Óláfsdrápa, anon.11c skaldic praise poem, refers to the Christianisation of Greenland by Leifr Eiríksson, by order of King Óláfr, & credits the king for converting Shetland, Norway & Orkney. The poet OTT praises Óláfr, just like people on twitter do with other egotistical rulers.
The skaldic reference to Greenland may have been an embellishment to raise up the profile of Óláfr Tryggvason as a good Christian king. The 13thc Eiriks saga rauða does refer to Leifr bringing a priest across the Atlantic.....
...but Saga Leifr probably couldn't have cared less about religion. Saga Leifr needed a way to increase his luck and his power. Shipping a priest to Greenland on behalf of a king was a great way to get luck, as was rescuing shipwrecked people en route. He set himself up well.
What needs to be acknowledged by all who would mark this day is that these #OldNorse accounts do not constitute a singular narrative of exploration and discovery, but a narrative of the land, of murder, of exchange, rejection of technology, kidnapping, and forced conversion.
If those in the WH & others who mark this day understood all of what the saga world & archaeological evidence tells us, they should see it is not possible to celebrate on this day. We need to pause and reflect on how we interpret the past, & how stories today are told to exclude.
Anyone who seriously studies the Viking Age knows that this exclusion, this mythmaking leading to a Nordic ideal, misreads the past. That is not honourable, not lucky, not smart. The strength of Viking-Age peoples was #diversity. It is high time we understand & respect that.
Using a mythologized Viking-Age culture to elevate yourself above others is stupid. Plain stupid.
This is an excellent paper which discusses how the myth of Leifr Eirikson was worked into American identity to exclude Italians, Irish, anyone not WASP.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/341238?mobileUi=0&
This is an excellent paper which discusses how the myth of Leifr Eirikson was worked into American identity to exclude Italians, Irish, anyone not WASP.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/341238?mobileUi=0&
This is another excellent project by Christopher Crocker concerning how the concept of "Norse discovery" is used to erase and exclude Indigenous voices. https://cwecrocker.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-vinland/
I've a paper in this volume about "Revisiting Vinland, Again", discussing the imbalanced fixation on finding the Norse in North America, veneration of Norse by racists, and how we move forward in ways that are true to the past & the peoples of the present. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/viking-encounters.html
I will end this thread by saying this: it is perfectly ok to be proud of who your ancestors were. But if you make up shit, and use racist lies to justify harm or your superiority over others, or systemic racism, or violence, you can get in the sea. Leifr won't save you this time.
