Vikings are more popular than ever before. "Back to Blood: Pursuing a Future from the Norse Past" (BTB) seeks to understand why. Our hypothesis is that the manufacturing of cultural and spiritual products related to Vikings and the Norse past is connected to concerns for sustainability, identity, and citizenship. For some, it represents a spiritual longing for a sustainable future, where new models of spiritual interaction inspire eco-citizenship – new, green ways of living and relating. For others, masculinized and white power aspects of heathenry, bloodlines and national identities are central. These pose threats to peaceful and egalitarian solutions to global challenges of resource scarcity and inequality. We will explore which products and motivations occur where, and why. That is, we will map how and explain why current concerns of sustainability, identity and citizenship lead to increasing cultural and spiritual demand for Vikings and the Norse past, and the consequences of various cultural actors supplying that demand.
Our research group is interdisciplinary, and investigates the Norse past popularity through five case studies. We employ digital, archival and ethnographic material. We research festivals and soundscapes, digital media and spiritual movements, museum and educational use of archaeology, history and reenactment, and martial arts. We investigate these fields’ relations to spirituality, eco-citizenship, gender, identity, and far-right groups, and thus we cover both breadth and depth in this expanding, global phenomenon. Our findings will enable stakeholders and end-user to engage in informed and constructive ways with the popular craving for a Norse past, possibly opening up to new solutions for sustainable living.
