History Of Norway Research Articles

From Nationalism to Cosmopolitan Classicism: Harry Fett's Concept of Cultural Capital

Art historian Harry Fett (1875-1962) was one of the most prolific figures in the Norwegian public scene during the first part of the twentieth century. Trained as a medievalist at German universities and influenced by Alois Riegl and Georg Dehio, Fett became national antiquarian in Norway in 1913, a position he occupied until 1946. He laid the foundations for the academic discipline of art history in Norway, as well as for the professional safeguarding of heritage, where his contribution can hardly be overstated—though he was also a controversial figure with many opponents throughout his long career. In the public sphere, through his numerous books and articles, Fett voiced a conservative and critical position often in conflict with the dominant emerging ideology of social democracy. This article aims to shed light on Harry Fett's theoretical approach to historic preservation and his ideological conflicts with his contemporary antagonists. The concepts age value and cultural capital—the latter coined by Fett himself, antedating Bourdieu's version by half a century—are central to the discussion.

Introduction. The linguistic consequences of globalization: the Nordic laboratory

As is well-known from the literature on language contact (e.g. Weinreich 1953; Thomason and Kaufman 1988) the factors and forces that are in play in close and longstanding contact between (speakers of ) two languages are both linguistic and social in nature, and involve both quantitative and qualitative relationships. Indeed, the outcome of language contact is a question of numbers and frequencies in terms of use and users, of sameness vs. difference in terms of linguistic structure, of dominance vs. subordination in terms of socio-historical contexts, etc. The history of the Nordic communities is rich in illustrative examples of such relationships, with Denmark and Sweden as the stronger communities, opposing each other “in the middle” of the Nordic area, all while dominating “the periphery” — westwards in the case of Denmark and Danish with a long history in Norway, the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland — eastwards in the case of Sweden and Swedish with a long history in Finland. And we may add the linguistic and socio-historical complexities that relate the Sami people in the far north to the southern majority populations of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Superposed on these intra-Nordic relationships, so to speak, “foreign” cultures and languages — most importantly Latin, German and French — have reached the Nordic area as a whole throughout its history, leaving a similar imprint, with variations, on its languages. The complex linguistic and socio-historical relationships hinted at here are among the most thoroughly studied and documented in the world (Bandle et al. 2002–2005). Against this background, it seems to us that the Nordic area makes up a well-suited “laboratory” for research into the contexts and consequences of today’s globalization and the general advance of English. This is a main consideration behind a large contrastive project which has been running since 2001 in seven Nordic communities, including (from west to east): Iceland, The Faroe Islands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Swedish-speaking Finland, and Finnish-speaking Finland. (The Greenlandic and Sami AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR

Prelude to Extreme Protectionism? Norwegian Agricultural Protectionism in a West-European Context, 1850–1940

The topic of the article is to offer a new interpretation of the history of Norway's agricultural protectionism in a West-European context. Agricultural protectionism was not deeply rooted economically, politically or institutionally prior to the Second World War. Before the First World War the most commercially oriented part of Norwegian agriculture – milk production and the dairy industry – was export-oriented. Norway was the last country to join the protectionist wave in the late nineteenth century and in practice it followed the most liberal trade policies in agricultural products next to Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands. It is argued that the 1920s were generally relatively more important and the 1930s relatively less important for later developments than assumed in the most of the literature on agricultural protectionism.

Review ofInto the ice: the history of Norway and the polar regions, by Einar-Arne Drivenes & Harald Dag Jølle

How timely for a deep and engaging analysis of Norway’s polar history to be available in English, as climate change, global warming and competition for scarce resources are pressing issues among academics, in global society and in the far north.

Into the ice: the history of Norway and the polar regions

How timely for a deep and engaging analysis of Norway’s polar history to be available in English, as climate change, global warming and competition for scarce resources are pressing issues among academics, in global society and in the far north.

Natural and money economy in medieval Norway

The aim of this paper is to challenge some of the established views on monetary and economic aspects of medieval Norwegian history. This challenge is not only based on a different understanding of the evidence, but also on new interpretations of documentary and numismatic evidence. Contrary to what has been the general understanding I argue that money was available, and it was, in longer periods of time, available within a framework of a well organized monetary system with large coinages. In the second half of the 12th century, coins became distributed and used among a larger group of people in rural areas than ever before. In market places and towns, money economy was emerging in the 11th and 12th, and probably seen partly in effect in the 13th and 14th century. If we accept the evidence for coinage and the use of money as being widely distributed, or even accept it partly, it opens up a range of new perspectives to use as starting points for understanding medieval monetary and economic history in Norway.

A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr. Devra Kunin , Carl Phelpstead

<i>A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr</i>. Devra Kunin , Carl Phelpstead

Forest fire history in Norway: from fire‐disturbed pine forests to fire‐free spruce forests

I have used occurrence of macroscopic charcoal particles, pollen analyses and radiocarbon datings to examine local forest fire abundance in southern and central Norway. Peat cores, covering the last 1000 to 6000 yr, were sampled from 20 bog margin and swamp forest sites, and the charcoal records documented local fire occurrence in 10 of the sites. Forest fires have not occurred in the sites located in central Norway, whereas the fire occurrence in southern Norway showed large variation among the sites. However, forest fires ceased prior to the establishment of Norway spruce Picea abies in seven of the sites, whereas the establishment of spruce preceded the fire decline in three of the sites. Odds ratio calculations indicated that it is several hundred times more likely that fires occurred prior to, than after, the spruce establishment. Although time spans between fire decline and spruce establishment showed some variation, they did not increase along a gradient from east to west in Norway, suggesting that the establishment of spruce might have initiated a change from fire‐prone to fire‐free ecosystems.

Rapid and rhythmic ice sheet fluctuations in western Scandinavia 15-40 Kya–a review

The onshore record of Middle to Late Weichselian sediments and glacial history in Norway indicates a succession of four major ice advances alternating with rapid, considerable ice recessions and interstadial conditions. During all the glacial advances the ice sheet expanded from onshore/inland positions to the shelf areas. The basis for visualizing these variations in glaciation curves constructed along nine transects from inland to shelf, and for interpretation of the palaeoclimatic history, is the regional Quaternary stratigraphy, more than 300 datings, fossil content and some palaeomagnetic data. The methods applied in recent years for AMS radiocarbon dating of glacial sediments with low organic carbon content have given promising results with respect to accuracy and precision, and the results of such datings were an important tool for our reconstructions and for timing of the ice oscillations. The rapid and rhythmic ice fluctuations, as reconstructed in our new model, have been fairly synchronous in most parts of Norway. Ice advances commenced and culminated at 40, 30-28, 24-21 and 18-15 (14C) Kya. We describe three intervening interstadials from inland sites: Hattfjelldal I, Hattfjelldal II and Trofors. Our stratigraphical record also includes many indications of high, pre-Holocene, relative sea levels, suggesting a considerable glacioisostatic depression of western Scandinavia during the interstadials. In our glaciation model we suggest that, in addition to precipitation, the mountainous fjord and valley topography, glacial isostasy and relative sea level changes were probably more important for the size of the glacial fluctuations than were air temperature changes.

The Anchin manuscript of Passio Olavi (Douai 295), William of Jumièges, and Theodoricus Monachus: New evidence for intellectual relations between Norway and France in the 12th century

The ms. Douai, Bibl. mun., 295 (end of the 12th century) is not only one of the two earliest textual witnesses to the official legend of the Norwegian royal saint, Olav (? 1030), Passio Olaui, it is also a remarkable edition in its own right because it offers a long quotation from a unique source, almost contemporary with Olav: William of Jumièges's Gesta Normannorum ducum V.11-12(ca. 1050-1070). It is shown that the ms., copied in northern France (Anchin), must derive from a Norwegian source and thus offers valuable new evidence of intellectual connections between Norway and northern France in the late 12th century. A difficult passage from Theodoricus Monachus' brief History of Norway (ca. 1180) - which draws on exactly the same paragraphs of William of Jumièges - is also analysed. It is suggested that Theodoricus, together with archbishop Øystein (1161-1188) and other high-ranking Norwegians, played an important role in the formation of a Norwegian corpus of official texts around 1160-1180, including the Passio Olaui.

From The History of Society to Social History? The Development of Social History in Norway

Article From The History of Society to Social History? The Development of Social History in Norway was published on June 1, 1996 in the journal Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook (volume 37, issue 1).

Far out: International history in Norway*

(1995). Far out: International history in Norway. Scandinavian Journal of History: Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 167-183.

Exploration of the Brent Province

Abstract The Brent Province is situated in the central part of the northern North Sea between 60°30′ and 62° North. A few licences were issued in 1965 (Round 2) and again in 1969 (Round 3). Seismic exploration from the mid-1960s onwards showed a thick Tertiary/Cretaceous sequence draped unconformably over tilted fault blocks of unknown age. In 1971, coincident with the opening of the 4th Round, Shell’s 211/29–1 pioneered drilling in the area with a major oil discovery, the Brent Field in Middle Jurassic deltaic sandstones. The 4th Round resulted in allocation of almost all the remaining blocks. Between 1972 and 1978, 32 discoveries were made in the UK sector of which 17 are currently in production and a further 7 in the pre-development stage; thereafter only minor reserves have been added, the area now being relatively mature. The exploration history in Norway has been similar although delayed by a few years; it is also less mature as several blocks have still to be explored. Total reserves for the province now approximate to 15 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

The development of economic history in Norway

Abstract It might be a matter of dispute whether economic history is today a subject in its own right in Norway, that is whether there is a significant body of historians who identify with one another and with the problems, techniques and assumptions of economic history. Economic history is not really formally established. In contrast to Denmark and Sweden, there are no departments of economic history in the universities. An important exception is the economic history department at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen. At Oslo University there has also been for some time a chair in “economic and social history” in the history department. At the new Norwegian School of Management in Oslo there is also about to be established a “Business History Unit”. Those working with economic history outside these institutions will normally be attached in some way to the history departments of other universities or to the university colleges (distrikts-hogskoler).

Den unge Grundtvig og Norge

Den unge Grundtvig og Norge

A symposium: arctic and alpine karst

The Norwegian soluble carbonates are well karstified, both with respect to surface and subsurface landforms. Caves are formed by the corrosive action of groundwater on marbles and limestone and provide evidence of changing environmental conditions through time. They contain fossils, sediments and speleothems which are dateable backwards in time to 350,000 years and in some cases 1,500,000 years before the present. As the surface bedrock in Norway is glacially polished with few sites of preserved pre-glacial sediments (Roaldset et al. 1982), the study of caves provides a unique tool for establishing the geomorphic, climatic and faunistic history of Norway during the Pleistocene. The Uranium series dating of speleothems satisfies the need for dating methods that go back in time beyond the radiocarbon method (Mangerud 1981).

The environmental impact assessment process for offshore oil and gas exploration and development in Norway

The appl ica t ion of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reflects the economic and political system of each country that uses it. Before present ing and discussing how EIAs are carried out in Norway, it is appropria te to first out l ine the Norwegian oil and gas s i tuat ion and the nai tonal policies regarding it. The history of Norway's pe t ro leum industry is brief. It started in 1962 when a mul t ina t iona l oil company approached the Norwegian Government with a request for sole rights to explore for and produce oil and gas on the Norwegian cont inental shelf. In 1963, Norway procla imed sovereignty over the cont inental shelf, and commenced seismic surveys of the North Sea basin. The first round of l icensing took place in 1965, when 278 blocks were pu t on bid. Of these, 70 were allocated to 22 licenses. The first field (Cod) was discovered in 1968, but it was not unt i l the Ekofisk Field was discovered in 1969 that the area was found to be commercial ly viable (Figures 1 and 2). T h e Frigg Field was discovered in 1971 in a block awarded in the second round. The Stat[jord Field blocks conta in ing both oil and gas were awarded i n 1973 after a discovery had been made in adjacent blocks on the British side of the North Sea. M o r e t h a n 400 wells have been drilled on the Norwegian Cont inental Shelf. Approximately three-quarters of these have been wildcat wells, the rest appraisal wells. The area currently under license to oil companies is about 2.7 mi l l ion ha (hectares) (January 1983). The current product ion of oil and gas in Norway is approximate ly 50 MTOE per year. Half of the produc t ion is oil, the other half gas. The ul t imately recoverable reserves of the Norwegian North Sea are estimated to be 4,700 MTOE, of which about 2,700 M T O E have already

American Press Opinion and Norwegian Independence, 1905

by TERJE I. LEIREN il American Press Opinion and Norwegian Independence, 1905* The portentous year 1905 events lacked either nothing for contemporaries in surprises and or portentous events either for contemporaries or for subsequent generations. The Russo-Japanese War and the resulting Russian Revolution which dominated the press served as the first acts of an even greater sequence of events in the next decade. Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, brought the warring nations to the peace table; for his role in concluding the Treaty of Portsmouth the wielder of the big stick was dubbed "Angel of Peace" by the press and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. While the eyes of the world anxiously viewed events in Asia and eastern Europe, there occurred in the northwestern corner of the European continent an event with its own logic as the small country of Norway dissolved its union with Sweden and entered the family of nations as a fully independent country.1 *This article is an expanded version of a paper read at the Southwestern Social Science Convention in San Antonio, Texas, on March 27, 1975. The author wishes to thank Professors Irby C. Nichols, Jr., and Gordon D. Healey of North Texas State University for their helpful criticism and constant support . 1 Contemporary accounts carried a vast amount of information for any 224 NORWEGIAN INDEPENDENCE On June 7 the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) passed a resolution declaring the throne of Norway vacant. By this action Oscar II, King of Sweden-Norway and grandson of Napoleon's former Marshall Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, was deposed. It had been Bernadotte who had forced the union ninety-one years earlier. The dissolution , hailed by Norwegians with overwhelming enthusiasm , appeared as a leading story in newspapers across the United States.2 Fascination with events in Norway, however, was not limited to reporting the dissolution ; the American press also analyzed the significance American reader who wished to be informed about the disunion. See, for example, the following: Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen II, "The Crisis in Scandinavia : Benefits Coming from the Split between Norway and Sweden," in Cosmopolitan Magazine , 39:629-630 (October, 1905); "Norway and Sweden ," in th e Outlook, 80:413-415 (June 17, 1905); "Why Norway and Sweden Are at Odds," in Review of Reviews , 3:208-209 (August, 1904); Harry Seaton Karr, "The Rupture between Norway and Sweden," in Nineteenth Century and After , 58:539-544 (October, 1905); H. L. Braekstad, "Norway's Right to Independence," in North American Review , 181:281-288 (August, 1905); "The Secession of Norway," in Everybody's Magazine , 13:420-421 (September , 1905); "The Case of Norway," in the Nation , 81:92-93 (August 3, 1905); Julius Moritzen, "The Rupture between Norway and Sweden," in the Forum , 37:141-152 (July, 1905); the New York Tribune , June 8, 1905; the Chicago Tribune , June 8, July 15, 1905. Fridtjof Nansen's Norway and the Union with Sweden (New York, 1905), a book published just prior to the dissolution, provides an invaluable source for understanding the Norwegian point of view. Several general histories help to place the events of 1905 in their historical perspective. See, for example: Karen Larsen, A History of Norway (Princeton, 1948); Raymond E. Lindgren, Norway-Sweden: Union , Disunion and Scandinavian Integration (Princeton, 1959); Folke Lindberg, Scandinavia in Great Power Politics 1905-1908 (Stockholm, 1957); John Midgaard, A Brief History of Norway (Oslo, 1963); and T. K. Derry, A History of Modern Norway 1814-1972 (New York, 1973). 2 New York Times , June 8, 1905; St. Louis Post-Dispatch , June 8, 1905; Chicago Tribune , June 8, 1905; San Francisco Examiner , June 8, 1905; Washington Post , June 8, 1905; New York Tribune , June 8, 1905; and Atlanta Constitution , June 8, 1905. 1 have examined these newspapers as representative of the regional distribution of opinion in the United States. However, I have avoided the inclusion of ethnic newspapers because their views can be taken for granted as supportive of Norway. The interested reader can consult Skandinaven (Chicago), Decorah-Posten (Decorah, Iowa), and Nordisk Tidende (Brooklyn). An excellent survey of the Norwegian- American press may be found in Leola Bergmann's Americans from Norway , 171-184 (Philadelphia, 1950...

The ecology of socialism

Abstract The virtues of unity and solidarity are generally esteemed as the labour movement's foremost contribution to political culture in the twentieth century. Equally striking for the social scientist is the fundamental despair underlying the claims of solidarity: the urgent need to unify and keep together the heterogeneous mass of social groups which makes up a modern proletariat. Any student of the labour movement will be familiar with the centrifugal forces constantly threatening the movement from within. ‘The working class’ in pursuit of ‘socialism’ are approximate labels only, as the complexity of industrial society is reflected in a wide diversity of workers and faced by numerous kinds of socialism. The problem of who prefers which is the theme of this book, the author's second important contribution to labour history in Norway. 1 W. M. Lafferty, Economic Development and the Response of Labor in Scandinavia: A Multi-Level Analysis, (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1971). Reviewed in SEHR, XXI (1973).

Hvorledes kom Grundtvig til at oversætte Saxo og Snorre?

How did Grundtvig Become a Translator of Saxo and Snorri?By Steen Johansen.The treatise is occasioned by the appearance, one hundred and fifty years ago, of the first part of Saxo’s History of Denmark and Snorri Sturlason’s History of Norway (Heimskringla) in Grundtvig’s translation.In 1809 Paul Amesen, senior schoolmaster in Christiania, suggested to Selskabet for Norges Vel the idea of publishing a translation of Heimskringla done by himself; but against the wishes of the society the plan did not include the poems of the work. Finally Grundtvig was agreed upon as the most suitable translator and he took the task upon him. The period in question lay at the centre of his Bible Christian phase; for a while he contemplated Christianizing his version of “Håkonarmål”, but gave up the idea.When Amesen withdrew, Grundtvig became sole translator, and about New Year’s day 1815 , under the impression of the separation of Norway from Denmark, it occurred to him that he might publish the work of Saxo as well as of Snorri as a confirmation of the spiritual connection between the two countries. The idea was stimulated also by the belief of the Romantic poet that “through a devoted study of antiquity its glory could be and should be born again”.