Oral Tradition and Oral History in Iceland from Settlement to Present Day

Abstract

The paper gives a short look at the development of the oral tradition in Iceland, where passing the laws and knowledge about the past events verbally from one generation to the other was a crucial way to preserve tradition and identity of the nation since the beginnings. The Author also presents how the approach to the oral history method in Iceland changed in the past few decades. It becomes more and more popular among scholars and society in general, especially since the Center for Oral History was established in Reykjavík in 2007. In the article one can read about the latest oral history projects, concerning among others ethnic and sexual minorities in Iceland, and the specificity of Icelandic approach to oral history method.