Make No Bones About It

The Invention of Homo islandicus

Bibliographic Data

ID12113573
AuthorsGísli Pálsson (0000-0003-3545-0522, University of Iceland, corresponding author), Sigurður Örn Guðbjörnsson (University of Iceland)
Year2011
Volume28
Issue2
Pages119-141
Publication date2011-11-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Borealia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0800-3831 • E-ISSN: 1503-111X
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08003831.2011.626933
OpenAlexW2061539740
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Emphasizing the shift from textual studies to physical and biological anthropology and the relevant contexts of academic production during the twentieth century, this article explores anthropological discussions of the history and characteristics of Icelanders, Homo islandicus. Our discussion is largely based on the works of several Icelandic scholars and the social memory they represent, the ways in which the past is collectively established and preserved. Drawing upon different takes on nationalist and academic agendas, we argue that the “thought styles” involved differ significantly on method and sources, the relative merits of texts, bones, and DNA material. With each shift in style, the spokespersons in question triumphantly claim they have privileged access to the past: “Make no bones about it!” Thought styles, however, do not develop from thin air; rather, they are intimately connected to the contexts in which they are embedded, both constituting and being constituted by the imagined communities of nations, cultures, and disciplines and their traditions of remembrance and authority

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Icelandic · Linguistics · Nationalism · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Anthropology · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Philosophy