A new anthology in press: the post-colonial North Atlantic

German researchers Lill-Ann Körber and Ebbe Volquardsen are the editors of a brand new anthology with contributions from a number of European researchers approaching post-colonial questions connected to the history of the North Atlantic societies: Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

Among the contributors are a number of people from our project Denmark and the New North Atlantic who are posing questions on whether post-colonial issues are such a big deal after all, the fight over natural resources, whether Iceland is a post-colonial or rather a crypto-colonial society, and what countries are perceived as being inside and outside of Europe?

The cover of the anthology shows a still from Icelandic singer and activist Björk’s video “Declare Independence” from the album Volta (2007). The fact that Björk is wearing the Faroese and Greenlandic flags on her sleeve underlines the clear political message of the lyrics: “Declare independence / Don’t let them do that to you / Damned colonists.” This unmistakable attitude towards the Danish realm, its history and the current relations between the North Atlantic countries and Denmark is not always perceived to be quite as straightforward in today’s scholarly field. As soon as the relevance of post-colonial theory was suggested in the study of these relations and societies doubt as to its relevance and adequacy was also introduced. Some of the leading scholars in the field (Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Kirsten Thisted, Birgit Kleist Pedersen, Kristín Loftsdóttir and many more) take on this discussion, provide answers and pose new questions that help unveil some of the most pressing and interesting issues in the region.

My own article also deals with the above question and discusses ideas about Iceland as centre and periphery and thus post-colonial as well as crypto-colonial aspects.

 

 

Private photo from the theater performance Fantastar 2014.

 

The table of contents:

 

Pre-order until September 10th 2014 (email with shipping address to: bbzs@rz.hu-berlin.de) and receive the book for the discounted price of 37,50€ including postage (later: 49,50€).