Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
Of Boats and Men: intercultural objects and regional
identity in Western Norway and the Shetland Islands
Author:
Silke Reeploeg
Centre for Nordic Studies
University of the Highlands and Island, Scotland
& Volda University College, Norway.
silke.reeploeg@shetland.uhi.ac.uk
Correspondence details:
NAFC Marine Centre, Port Arthur,
Scalloway, Shetland, ZE2 9ES, Scotland, UK
Acknowledgements
Research for this paper was funded by the Yggdrasil researcher mobility grant from the
Norwegian Research Council. I would like to thank the international co-ordinators at
Høgskolen i Volda for all their support, as well as the various subject specialists that assisted
me during my research stay during autumn 2012: Prof Inger Okkenhaug, Prof Birger Løvlie,
Prof Arnljot Ljøset, Prof Michael Schulte and Prof Stephen J. Walton. I am also grateful to
local members of Forbundet Kysten, Bjørkedal Kystlag, Tysnes Historielag and Kjell Magnus
Økland for advising me in particular areas of my research.
Abstract
This paper will consider the role of the boat as a significant object and factor in the
construction of intercultural regional identities in the Nordic area, by comparing the
representation of boats and seafaring collections in local folk-museum exhibitions.
By linking the theory of cultural transfer and material culture studies, and using the
micro-historical approach of Alltagsgeschichte, the paper will compare how
Shetlanders and West Norwegians participate in the construction of and identification
with kystkultur by way of maritime objects and narratives. It will investigate the
similarities and differences in terms of how the coast is defined as a ‘seafaring place’
via objects, particularly the narratives and aspects of communal memory that
influence the formation of regional and national cultural traditions.
Keywords: cultural transfer, maritime heritage, regional identity, cultural memory.
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Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
Summary
This paper addresses the following questions: What can objects in maritime heritage
collections tell us about the cultural links between communities in the Nordic cultural
areas? How have maritime objects been appropriated, decontextualised and
resemanticised, but also been used as an assertion of regional (intercultural) identity
over time?
2013 marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) by the General Conference of
UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00482 ). Since
its inception in 2003, 143 countries have adopted both the term and consequent
approaches to all types of cultural heritage, the value of which is no longer seen as
solely residing in the conservation of material culture, but also the recognition,
documentation and transmission of intangible aspects of cultural landscapes, not
previously considered in this way. These new approaches have become particularly
visible in the way coastal heritage communities in Northern Europe have dealt with
the cultural landscapes and objects along the coast, and the way in which coastal
identities are constructed.
With a maritime history that stretches back to pre-history, the cultural heritage of
Scotland’s Northern islands and Western Norway has always been connected to a
dynamic perspective that sees the sea as an opportunity for intercultural exchange,
rather than a barrier. A chance for communication and development rather than
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Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
defence and insularity. One of the most important objects that has historically
enabled this intercultural dialogue between Scotland and Norway is the wooden boat,
which “represented an important part of the technological basis for a Europe and a
world in transition. The ships and their men brought with them not only goods but
also new technology and cultural impulses.” (Bjørklund, 1985:151). Both a tangible
and symbolic medium for cultural transfer, with Norwegian boat imports during the
18th and 19th century forming the basis for the ‘Shetland model’, “the story of these
small wooden boats and their builders is one of staunch island pragmatism and
ingenious practical innovation” (Munro, A., 2012).
This paper considers the role of the boat as a significant cultural mediator and factor
in the construction of intercultural regional identities in the Nordic area. By
comparing the representation of boats and seafaring collections in local folk-museum
exhibitions in Western Norway and the Shetland Islands, it links the theory of cultural
transfer and material culture studies. Using the micro-historical approach of
Alltagsgeschichte, the paper will compare how Shetlanders and West Norwegians
participate in the construction of and identification with coastal culture or kystkultur
by way of tangible maritime objects and intangible narratives. It will investigate the
similarities and differences in terms of how the coast is defined as a ‘seafaring place’
via the transfer of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage - concluding that both
boats are significant cultural mediators of both intangible and tangible culture within
Nordic regional and transnational cultural spaces.
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Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
Material culture s to be ideally suited to the study of cultural transfers in so far as it
offers an “objectification” of individual and collective identities. The decision to
choose or to refuse the appropriation of an object may thus be viewed as an assertion
of identity and as the expression of a sense of belonging to –or differing from –a
cultural norm or a social convention [Thomas, 1991: 25].
Cultural transfer studies have previously concentrate on the analysis, in written
sources, of the part played by the discourses and concepts borrowed from other
cultures in the “formation of national cultural traditions” [Espagne, 1999:6]. On the
other hand, works belonging to Material Culture Studies focus more and more on the
everyday history of a given culture, and often deal with the question of the role of the
other in the formation of collective identities through the prism of research on
colonized territories [Gustafsson Reinius, 2008]. As such, they are dependent on their
original bonds with scientific disciplines such as ethnology or anthropology. To build
a theory of cultural transfer through a “bottom up” approach, we need to start from
sources either of an essentially material nature, or in which the thematisation of
objects is of prime importance, and to apply the theories of Material Culture Studies
to a transnational european field.
How do the mechanisms of appropriation, decontextualization and resemanticization
which are specific to cultural transfers –and indeed to any form of cultural circulation
–work when applied to various objects?
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Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
Conclusion
Discourses reflect an era, but they are the product of concrete individuals
expressing themselves within the personal contexts of their lives. (Olwig,
2002, p. 3)
As these examples from Scotland and Norway illustrate, there is a very tangible
connection between the everyday object and the intercultural history of Western
Norway and the Shetland islands, that informs the formation of regional identities.
Through the boat, both regional and national memories are created and performed.
However, the dynamics of cultural transfer, which appropriate, decontextualize and
resemanticise the boat as a cultural narrative, also inform the creation of transnational
coastal identities. Here, the outlines of an intercultural history can be found, which
incorporate individual national discourses, but also express the concrete, and
everyday, “patrimonial consciousness” (Savoy, 2003:392) of both countries.
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Ding, ding, ting: Objects as cultural mediators. German, Dutch and Nordic language areas
International conference, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11.04-13.04.2013
Silke Reeploeg, DRAFT (not to be cited)
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Short bio:
Silke Reeploeg is a researcher and lecturer with the Centre for Nordic Studies,
University of the Highlands and Islands, where she teaches undergraduate and
postgraduate modules covering the History and Culture of the North Atlantic Rim,
Literature and Island Studies (www.nordic.uhi.ac.uk).
She has a BA (Hons) from Manchester Metropolitan University and an MA
(Distinction) from the University of the Highlands and Islands, with her current
research focus on intercultural area studies, in particular material and cultural links
between Norway and the Scottish Northern Isles. She has a particular interest in
using local museum and heritage collections and community narratives in
interdisciplinary research, and investigating the construction of place and memory.
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