Ane Ohrvik - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Journal articles by Ane Ohrvik

Approaches to textual sources in cultural history

Rethinking History, 2024

How do we approach textual sources within cultural history? Do we ‘think’ about sources and ‘work... more How do we approach textual sources within cultural history? Do we ‘think’ about sources and ‘work’ with them in similar ways? Is it possible to identify a specific methodology among cultural historians? Cultural history is both a subfield and a discipline in its own right. In this domain, scholars often equate methodology with the application of theories to a text. However, it is crucial to explore the gap between reading a textual source and applying theories to understand and interpret it. This need to address methodology in a didactic manner motivates this special issue. Rather than taking our interpretive methods for granted, the authors in this special issue advocate for a self-reflective consciousness, explaining what we do and why. Through investigations and discussions on how we define and categorize textual sources within cultural history, the reading strategies we apply when approaching texts, and the interpretive strategies we may employ, the articles in this issue illustrate the relationship between application and result: how our methodology impacts our findings.

What is close reading? An exploration of a methodology (open access)

Rethinking History, 2024

What is close reading and what are the steps we take in close reading as a methodological approac... more What is close reading and what are the steps we take in close reading as a methodological approach? This article explores reading strategies and advocates for a more conscious close reading. Starting by tracing the hermeneutic heritage of close reading, and examining its development from the New Criticism movement onwards, it then describes the fundamental physical and cognitive aspects of reading as a distinct form of analytic attentiveness. Three methodological steps are delineated, discussed, and exemplified through the author’s close reading practices. By employing a paratextual lens to the close reading of manuscripts from the Early Modern period, the article demonstrates how theoretically informed readings, such as the paratextual perspective, enhance the reading process and deepen our understanding of historical conditions.

Den moderne skattejakten: app-teknologi som facilitator for kulturarvliggjøring ved St. Olavskilder i Norge (open access)

Laboratorium för folk och kultur, 2020

Skattejakter har vært populære siden tidenes morgen og har opp igjennom historien vært viktig for... more Skattejakter har vært populære siden tidenes morgen og har opp igjennom historien vært viktig for så vel akademisk fagutvikling som populærkultur. Skattejakter er imidlertid ikke mindre populære i dag – de foregår bare på litt andre måter. Skattekartet står fremdeles sentralt i skattejakten, men i dag er det først og fremst digitale GPS-signaler som veileder skattejegerne, og det er heller ikke gull det letes etter. Med utgangspunkt i app-spillet Geocaching og måten dette spillet integrerer St. Olavskilder som konkrete mål stiller jeg spørsmålet om hva et slikt digitalt spill konkret gjør med praksis knyttet til St. Olavskildene. På hvilken måte retter spillet brukernes oppmerksomhet mot Olavkildene, hvordan fortelles det om kildene og hvilken praksis legges det til rette for ved kildene?

Numen, 2020

Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently ... more Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently being rediscovered and re-presented even in areas where it was long discredited and discontinued for both theological and political reasons. This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, local and regional administrations and associations, minority groups and spiritual movements, the churches, and national initiatives create traditions and address contemporary concerns, adapt imported practices to local material culture, negotiate physical and metaphorical borders, and translate the past into heritage.

How to Be a Pilgrim: Guidebooks on the Norwegian St. Olav Ways and the Heritagization of Religion (open access)

Numen, 2020

The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionali... more The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionalizing pilgrimage as cultural heritage, providing a new framework for vernacular religious practices to a wide audience. In this article we approach the current pilgrimage revival in Northern Europe as part of a trend toward a heritagization of religion that allows new religious self-understandings to emerge. We analyze pilgrim guidebooks to the St. Olav Ways with regard to their narrative scripts, detailing how they can create expectations, inform the pilgrims’ conduct, and direct their attention toward a history that translates into a heritage. Based on a corpus of published pilgrim journals and diaries, we argue that the guidebooks instruct a process of interpretive drift, which influence the pilgrims toward embracing and embodying a new role within the religious field. The guidebooks invite the pilgrims to take on the role of heirs to a medieval European tradition.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore, 2016

A basic assumption underlying this study is that medical ideas and practices form meaning through... more A basic assumption underlying this study is that medical ideas and practices form meaning through mediation. It is precisely in these mediation processes, whether as face-to-face dialogue or as written text, we can try to grasp an understanding of how the mediation is constructed and what meaning is communicated. My primary object of study is a Norwegian manuscript entitled Medical Book concerning Humans, Horses and Cows (Læge-Bog vedkommende Mennisker, Hæster og Kiör) written in 1794. Through eighty-two pages of text, the writer named Hotvet offers a variety of protective advice and medical cures against different ailments. In doing so, he relies heavily on other medical, pharmaceutical, and philosophical sources, which he presents throughout his writings by citing authors and giving detailed references to their works. My initial questions concern how Hotvet introduces these works in his manuscript. How are the different ‘medicines’ or ‘knowledges’ voiced in his text? Answering these questions will enable the final question of what kind of epistemological ideology Hotvet represents.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2014. Ane Ohrvik and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (eds.). Volume 70. Pp. 101-124., 2014

This article explores how the concept of secrecy is applied and understood in a selection of Norw... more This article explores how the concept of secrecy is applied and understood in a selection of Norwegian Black Books and, specifically, how secret writings are used in two Norwegian Black Books from the eighteenth century. In this reading, I apply Eamon’s concepts of epistemological and social secrecy and posit that both notions of secrecy are at play in the Black Books. The main goal of this study is to explore the methods behind the encryptions and the motivations that possibly created them. My initial question is why specific words and text stanzas are subject to the active use of encryption. First, the question requires an investigation of the semantic meaning of the encrypted text, and secondly, it invites a cultural and social study of what might have been the writers’ motivation for encrypting specific parts of the text. Magical beliefs and practices are explicitly or implicitly expressed in the texts. By a close reading of both encrypted and unencrypted texts in these books, I suggest a possible answer to the question: does the encrypted text reveal a hidden magical universe?

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2014. Ane Ohrvik and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (eds.) 2015. Volume 70. Pp. 7-14.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore. 2012, Volum 68. pp. 7-26.

Book chapters by Ane Ohrvik

Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, 2021

The article explores the relationship between the fictional reality of legends about magical book... more The article explores the relationship between the fictional reality of legends about magical books (Black Books) and the historical magical manuscripts in Norway during the long eighteenth century. Drawing on a rich collection of Norwegian legends and magical manuscripts from that period, the study suggests that the connection between magical practices and the narratives describing, interpreting, and reporting such practices was characterized by reciprocity in various ways. The physical Black Books incorporated fictional elements, while the fictional narratives incorporated historical elements, creating an ongoing cycle of mutual influences, adoptions, and responses. As a result, magical practices and narratives helped bridge the "gap" between the real and the unreal, the factual and the fictional, the diverse and the stereotypical. Additionally, the reciprocity between the written and the oral tradition appears to rely on a certain interdependence, with both genres relying on each other to maintain their stability.

"en vild endevending av al virkelighet" - Norsk Folkeminnesamling i hundre år. Esborg og Johannesen (red.) 2014. Oslo: Novus Forlag. S. 207-218.

Ritualer. Kulturhistoriske studier. Amundsen, Hodne og Ohrvik (red.) 2006. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. S. 139-159.

Masks and Mumming in the Nordic Area. Terry Gunnell (ed.) 2007. Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi XCVIII: Uppsala. Pp. 583-602.

Monographs by Ane Ohrvik

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway. Conceptualising Knowledge. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan 2018., 2018

This book addresses magical ideas and practices in early modern Norway. It examines a large corpu... more This book addresses magical ideas and practices in early modern Norway. It examines a large corpus of Norwegian manuscripts from 1650-1850 commonly called Black Books which contained a mixture of recipes on medicine, magic and art.

Ane Ohrvik assesses the Black Books from the vantage point of those who wrote the manuscripts and thus offers an original study of how early modern magical practitioners presented their ideas and saw their practices. The book show how the writers viewed magic and medicine both as practical and sacred art and as knowledge worth protecting through encoding the text. The study of the Black Books illuminates how ordinary people in Norway conceptualized magic as valuable and useful knowledge worth of collecting and saving despite the ongoing witchcraft prosecutions targeting the very same ideas and practices as the books promoted.

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway is essential for those looking to advance their studies in magical beliefs and practices in early modern Europe as well as those interested in witchcraft studies, book history, and the history of knowledge.

Nisser! Fra helgen til sinnatagg

Nissen finnes over alt! I dag møter vi rødkledde julenisser som kommer med cola og julegaver til ... more Nissen finnes over alt! I dag møter vi rødkledde julenisser som kommer med cola og julegaver til barna, miljøbevisste blånisser som rydder søppel, og mange steder settes det fremdeles ut grøt til nissen på låven. I middelalderen møter vi en godhjertet helgenfigur som redder mennesker i nød, mens nissen i pietismens mørkealder er en skrekkinngytende skikkelse som straffer slemme barn. På 1800-tallet får nissen reinsdyrslede og sklir ned skorsteinen med gavesekken, mens vi i Norge har vårt kortvokste sinnatagg av en fjøsnisse. Nissen er alltid med på lasset i en eller annen form! Her er fortellingen om dem.

Edited books and issues by Ane Ohrvik

Special Issue: Reframing Pilgrimage in Northern Europe, edited by Marion Bowman, Dirk Johannsen, and Ane Ohrvik

Numen Volume 67 (2020): Issue 5-6 (Sep 2020), 2020

Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently ... more Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently being rediscovered and re-presented even in areas where it was long discredited and discontinued for both theological and political reasons. This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, local and regional administrations and associations, minority groups and spiritual movements, the churches, and national initiatives create traditions and address contemporary concerns, adapt imported practices to local material culture, negotiate physical and metaphorical borders, and translate the past into heritage.

What was the everyday context of magic and witchcraft in the medieval, early modern and modern pe... more What was the everyday context of magic and witchcraft in the medieval, early modern and modern period in the Nordic countries? How did people pass on their magical knowledge? What was the dialectics between magical knowledge as beneficial on one hand and dangerous on the other within the different communities? In what way and by whom were traditional methods of folk healing practices considered to be a crime? And how does this relate to general ideas on magicin the communities? By asking these questions the intention of this volume is to provide studies communicating and discussing with as well as challenging the long line of research on magic.

Another intention of this volume is to explore and problematize texts as a source: How do we read texts? Whose voices do we interpret? What is the relationship between the magical beliefs and practices we are studying
- and the texts? In the study of magical beliefs and practices in Nordic cultural history, a great variety of textual sources are available. In this volume, Fredrik Skott studies magic by making use of juridical laws and trials documents, Stephen Mitchell and Ane Ohrvik investigate individual manuscript writings, Catharina Raudvere uses ethnographic fieldwork notes and Laura Stark reads personal memoirs, while Clive Tolley and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir study Old Norse literature. This diversity of textual sources represents official, “private”, academic, and artistic texts written by individuals and groups from different social and cultural backgrounds. By highlighting texts as a source we thereby give attention to how we use texts in our investigating process and thus explore and explain our methodological apparatus and the potential ideological and material properties in texts.

Ritualer. Kulturhistoriske studier

Denne boken reiser grunnleggende spørsmål: Hvordan vet vi at noe er et ritual? Når blir ritualer ... more Denne boken reiser grunnleggende spørsmål: Hvordan vet vi at noe er et ritual? Når blir ritualer ritualer? Hvordan forandrer ritualer seg over tid? Når og hvorfor er ritualer viktige og meningsfulle? Hvem deltar i ritualer? Hvordan "virker" ritualer? Boken diskuterer tradisjonelle ritualer som bryllup, fødselsdager og påskefeiring. Den analyserer også fenomener vi kanskje ikke er så vant til å betegne som ritualer: halloween, reiser og holocaust-markeringer. I tillegg presenteres ulike teoretiske perspektiver på ritualer - fra 1500-tallet og frem til i dag.

Sagnomsust. Fortelling og virkelighet

Boka presenterer nye innfallsvinkler til emnet sagn og fortellinger. Den viser hvordan historiske... more Boka presenterer nye innfallsvinkler til emnet sagn og fortellinger. Den viser hvordan historiske personer, steder og hendelser har vært og er gjenstand for et mangfold av fortellinger.

Papers by Ane Ohrvik

Numen, 2020

The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionali... more The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionalizing pilgrimage as cultural heritage, providing a new framework for vernacular religious practices to a wide audience. In this article we approach the current pilgrimage revival in Northern Europe as part of a trend toward a heritagization of religion that allows new religious self-understandings to emerge. We analyze pilgrim guidebooks to the St. Olav Ways with regard to their narrative scripts, detailing how they can create expectations, inform the pilgrims’ conduct, and direct their attention toward a history that translates into a heritage. Based on a corpus of published pilgrim journals and diaries, we argue that the guidebooks instruct a process of interpretive drift, which influence the pilgrims toward embracing and embodying a new role within the religious field. The guidebooks invite the pilgrims to take on the role of heirs to a medieval European tradition.

Approaches to textual sources in cultural history

Rethinking History, 2024

How do we approach textual sources within cultural history? Do we ‘think’ about sources and ‘work... more How do we approach textual sources within cultural history? Do we ‘think’ about sources and ‘work’ with them in similar ways? Is it possible to identify a specific methodology among cultural historians? Cultural history is both a subfield and a discipline in its own right. In this domain, scholars often equate methodology with the application of theories to a text. However, it is crucial to explore the gap between reading a textual source and applying theories to understand and interpret it. This need to address methodology in a didactic manner motivates this special issue. Rather than taking our interpretive methods for granted, the authors in this special issue advocate for a self-reflective consciousness, explaining what we do and why. Through investigations and discussions on how we define and categorize textual sources within cultural history, the reading strategies we apply when approaching texts, and the interpretive strategies we may employ, the articles in this issue illustrate the relationship between application and result: how our methodology impacts our findings.

What is close reading? An exploration of a methodology (open access)

Rethinking History, 2024

What is close reading and what are the steps we take in close reading as a methodological approac... more What is close reading and what are the steps we take in close reading as a methodological approach? This article explores reading strategies and advocates for a more conscious close reading. Starting by tracing the hermeneutic heritage of close reading, and examining its development from the New Criticism movement onwards, it then describes the fundamental physical and cognitive aspects of reading as a distinct form of analytic attentiveness. Three methodological steps are delineated, discussed, and exemplified through the author’s close reading practices. By employing a paratextual lens to the close reading of manuscripts from the Early Modern period, the article demonstrates how theoretically informed readings, such as the paratextual perspective, enhance the reading process and deepen our understanding of historical conditions.

Den moderne skattejakten: app-teknologi som facilitator for kulturarvliggjøring ved St. Olavskilder i Norge (open access)

Laboratorium för folk och kultur, 2020

Skattejakter har vært populære siden tidenes morgen og har opp igjennom historien vært viktig for... more Skattejakter har vært populære siden tidenes morgen og har opp igjennom historien vært viktig for så vel akademisk fagutvikling som populærkultur. Skattejakter er imidlertid ikke mindre populære i dag – de foregår bare på litt andre måter. Skattekartet står fremdeles sentralt i skattejakten, men i dag er det først og fremst digitale GPS-signaler som veileder skattejegerne, og det er heller ikke gull det letes etter. Med utgangspunkt i app-spillet Geocaching og måten dette spillet integrerer St. Olavskilder som konkrete mål stiller jeg spørsmålet om hva et slikt digitalt spill konkret gjør med praksis knyttet til St. Olavskildene. På hvilken måte retter spillet brukernes oppmerksomhet mot Olavkildene, hvordan fortelles det om kildene og hvilken praksis legges det til rette for ved kildene?

Numen, 2020

Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently ... more Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently being rediscovered and re-presented even in areas where it was long discredited and discontinued for both theological and political reasons. This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, local and regional administrations and associations, minority groups and spiritual movements, the churches, and national initiatives create traditions and address contemporary concerns, adapt imported practices to local material culture, negotiate physical and metaphorical borders, and translate the past into heritage.

How to Be a Pilgrim: Guidebooks on the Norwegian St. Olav Ways and the Heritagization of Religion (open access)

Numen, 2020

The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionali... more The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionalizing pilgrimage as cultural heritage, providing a new framework for vernacular religious practices to a wide audience. In this article we approach the current pilgrimage revival in Northern Europe as part of a trend toward a heritagization of religion that allows new religious self-understandings to emerge. We analyze pilgrim guidebooks to the St. Olav Ways with regard to their narrative scripts, detailing how they can create expectations, inform the pilgrims’ conduct, and direct their attention toward a history that translates into a heritage. Based on a corpus of published pilgrim journals and diaries, we argue that the guidebooks instruct a process of interpretive drift, which influence the pilgrims toward embracing and embodying a new role within the religious field. The guidebooks invite the pilgrims to take on the role of heirs to a medieval European tradition.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore, 2016

A basic assumption underlying this study is that medical ideas and practices form meaning through... more A basic assumption underlying this study is that medical ideas and practices form meaning through mediation. It is precisely in these mediation processes, whether as face-to-face dialogue or as written text, we can try to grasp an understanding of how the mediation is constructed and what meaning is communicated. My primary object of study is a Norwegian manuscript entitled Medical Book concerning Humans, Horses and Cows (Læge-Bog vedkommende Mennisker, Hæster og Kiör) written in 1794. Through eighty-two pages of text, the writer named Hotvet offers a variety of protective advice and medical cures against different ailments. In doing so, he relies heavily on other medical, pharmaceutical, and philosophical sources, which he presents throughout his writings by citing authors and giving detailed references to their works. My initial questions concern how Hotvet introduces these works in his manuscript. How are the different ‘medicines’ or ‘knowledges’ voiced in his text? Answering these questions will enable the final question of what kind of epistemological ideology Hotvet represents.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2014. Ane Ohrvik and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (eds.). Volume 70. Pp. 101-124., 2014

This article explores how the concept of secrecy is applied and understood in a selection of Norw... more This article explores how the concept of secrecy is applied and understood in a selection of Norwegian Black Books and, specifically, how secret writings are used in two Norwegian Black Books from the eighteenth century. In this reading, I apply Eamon’s concepts of epistemological and social secrecy and posit that both notions of secrecy are at play in the Black Books. The main goal of this study is to explore the methods behind the encryptions and the motivations that possibly created them. My initial question is why specific words and text stanzas are subject to the active use of encryption. First, the question requires an investigation of the semantic meaning of the encrypted text, and secondly, it invites a cultural and social study of what might have been the writers’ motivation for encrypting specific parts of the text. Magical beliefs and practices are explicitly or implicitly expressed in the texts. By a close reading of both encrypted and unencrypted texts in these books, I suggest a possible answer to the question: does the encrypted text reveal a hidden magical universe?

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2014. Ane Ohrvik and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (eds.) 2015. Volume 70. Pp. 7-14.

ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore. 2012, Volum 68. pp. 7-26.

Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, 2021

The article explores the relationship between the fictional reality of legends about magical book... more The article explores the relationship between the fictional reality of legends about magical books (Black Books) and the historical magical manuscripts in Norway during the long eighteenth century. Drawing on a rich collection of Norwegian legends and magical manuscripts from that period, the study suggests that the connection between magical practices and the narratives describing, interpreting, and reporting such practices was characterized by reciprocity in various ways. The physical Black Books incorporated fictional elements, while the fictional narratives incorporated historical elements, creating an ongoing cycle of mutual influences, adoptions, and responses. As a result, magical practices and narratives helped bridge the "gap" between the real and the unreal, the factual and the fictional, the diverse and the stereotypical. Additionally, the reciprocity between the written and the oral tradition appears to rely on a certain interdependence, with both genres relying on each other to maintain their stability.

"en vild endevending av al virkelighet" - Norsk Folkeminnesamling i hundre år. Esborg og Johannesen (red.) 2014. Oslo: Novus Forlag. S. 207-218.

Ritualer. Kulturhistoriske studier. Amundsen, Hodne og Ohrvik (red.) 2006. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. S. 139-159.

Masks and Mumming in the Nordic Area. Terry Gunnell (ed.) 2007. Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi XCVIII: Uppsala. Pp. 583-602.

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway. Conceptualising Knowledge. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan 2018., 2018

This book addresses magical ideas and practices in early modern Norway. It examines a large corpu... more This book addresses magical ideas and practices in early modern Norway. It examines a large corpus of Norwegian manuscripts from 1650-1850 commonly called Black Books which contained a mixture of recipes on medicine, magic and art.

Ane Ohrvik assesses the Black Books from the vantage point of those who wrote the manuscripts and thus offers an original study of how early modern magical practitioners presented their ideas and saw their practices. The book show how the writers viewed magic and medicine both as practical and sacred art and as knowledge worth protecting through encoding the text. The study of the Black Books illuminates how ordinary people in Norway conceptualized magic as valuable and useful knowledge worth of collecting and saving despite the ongoing witchcraft prosecutions targeting the very same ideas and practices as the books promoted.

Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway is essential for those looking to advance their studies in magical beliefs and practices in early modern Europe as well as those interested in witchcraft studies, book history, and the history of knowledge.

Nisser! Fra helgen til sinnatagg

Nissen finnes over alt! I dag møter vi rødkledde julenisser som kommer med cola og julegaver til ... more Nissen finnes over alt! I dag møter vi rødkledde julenisser som kommer med cola og julegaver til barna, miljøbevisste blånisser som rydder søppel, og mange steder settes det fremdeles ut grøt til nissen på låven. I middelalderen møter vi en godhjertet helgenfigur som redder mennesker i nød, mens nissen i pietismens mørkealder er en skrekkinngytende skikkelse som straffer slemme barn. På 1800-tallet får nissen reinsdyrslede og sklir ned skorsteinen med gavesekken, mens vi i Norge har vårt kortvokste sinnatagg av en fjøsnisse. Nissen er alltid med på lasset i en eller annen form! Her er fortellingen om dem.

Special Issue: Reframing Pilgrimage in Northern Europe, edited by Marion Bowman, Dirk Johannsen, and Ane Ohrvik

Numen Volume 67 (2020): Issue 5-6 (Sep 2020), 2020

Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently ... more Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently being rediscovered and re-presented even in areas where it was long discredited and discontinued for both theological and political reasons. This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, local and regional administrations and associations, minority groups and spiritual movements, the churches, and national initiatives create traditions and address contemporary concerns, adapt imported practices to local material culture, negotiate physical and metaphorical borders, and translate the past into heritage.

What was the everyday context of magic and witchcraft in the medieval, early modern and modern pe... more What was the everyday context of magic and witchcraft in the medieval, early modern and modern period in the Nordic countries? How did people pass on their magical knowledge? What was the dialectics between magical knowledge as beneficial on one hand and dangerous on the other within the different communities? In what way and by whom were traditional methods of folk healing practices considered to be a crime? And how does this relate to general ideas on magicin the communities? By asking these questions the intention of this volume is to provide studies communicating and discussing with as well as challenging the long line of research on magic.

Another intention of this volume is to explore and problematize texts as a source: How do we read texts? Whose voices do we interpret? What is the relationship between the magical beliefs and practices we are studying
- and the texts? In the study of magical beliefs and practices in Nordic cultural history, a great variety of textual sources are available. In this volume, Fredrik Skott studies magic by making use of juridical laws and trials documents, Stephen Mitchell and Ane Ohrvik investigate individual manuscript writings, Catharina Raudvere uses ethnographic fieldwork notes and Laura Stark reads personal memoirs, while Clive Tolley and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir study Old Norse literature. This diversity of textual sources represents official, “private”, academic, and artistic texts written by individuals and groups from different social and cultural backgrounds. By highlighting texts as a source we thereby give attention to how we use texts in our investigating process and thus explore and explain our methodological apparatus and the potential ideological and material properties in texts.

Ritualer. Kulturhistoriske studier

Denne boken reiser grunnleggende spørsmål: Hvordan vet vi at noe er et ritual? Når blir ritualer ... more Denne boken reiser grunnleggende spørsmål: Hvordan vet vi at noe er et ritual? Når blir ritualer ritualer? Hvordan forandrer ritualer seg over tid? Når og hvorfor er ritualer viktige og meningsfulle? Hvem deltar i ritualer? Hvordan "virker" ritualer? Boken diskuterer tradisjonelle ritualer som bryllup, fødselsdager og påskefeiring. Den analyserer også fenomener vi kanskje ikke er så vant til å betegne som ritualer: halloween, reiser og holocaust-markeringer. I tillegg presenteres ulike teoretiske perspektiver på ritualer - fra 1500-tallet og frem til i dag.

Sagnomsust. Fortelling og virkelighet

Boka presenterer nye innfallsvinkler til emnet sagn og fortellinger. Den viser hvordan historiske... more Boka presenterer nye innfallsvinkler til emnet sagn og fortellinger. Den viser hvordan historiske personer, steder og hendelser har vært og er gjenstand for et mangfold av fortellinger.

Numen, 2020

The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionali... more The Norwegian St. Olav Ways are currently the largest Northern European project re-institutionalizing pilgrimage as cultural heritage, providing a new framework for vernacular religious practices to a wide audience. In this article we approach the current pilgrimage revival in Northern Europe as part of a trend toward a heritagization of religion that allows new religious self-understandings to emerge. We analyze pilgrim guidebooks to the St. Olav Ways with regard to their narrative scripts, detailing how they can create expectations, inform the pilgrims’ conduct, and direct their attention toward a history that translates into a heritage. Based on a corpus of published pilgrim journals and diaries, we argue that the guidebooks instruct a process of interpretive drift, which influence the pilgrims toward embracing and embodying a new role within the religious field. The guidebooks invite the pilgrims to take on the role of heirs to a medieval European tradition.

The history of European witchcraft and magic continues to fascinate and challenge students and sc... more The history of European witchcraft and magic continues to fascinate and challenge students and scholars. There is certainly no shortage of books on the subject. Several general surveys of the witch trials and numerous regional and micro studies have been published for an English-speaking readership. While the quality of publications on witchcraft has been high, some regions and topics have received less attention over the years. The aim of this series is to help illuminate these lesser known or little studied aspects of the history of witchcraft and magic. It will also encourage the development of a broader corpus of work in other related areas of magic and the supernatural, such as angels, devils, spirits, ghosts, folk healing and divination. To help further our understanding and interest in this wider history of beliefs and practices, the series will include research that looks beyond the usual focus on Western Europe and that also explores their relevance and influence from the medieval to the modern period. 'A valuable series.'-Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft

Numen, 2020

Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently ... more Largely inspired by the success of the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage is currently being rediscovered and re-presented even in areas where it was long discredited and discontinued for both theological and political reasons. This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, loca...