Identities in the Viking Worlds

In the past decade a number of projects have brought the concept of identities to the forefront of Viking Age research. Projects have focused on how identities are created, maintained, and manipulated in both the Scandinavian homelands and the wider world of the Viking diaspora. Closely related is a better developed understanding of relationships between the various nodes connected as part of networks created by trade, migration, settlement and conquest. These relationships allowed for a flow of people, resources, objects, and ideas both out of and back into homelands new and old. With the increased use of scientific techniques the nature of Viking research is becoming increasingly multidisciplinary; genetics, isotopic analyses and network theory have been added to the existing repertoires of archaeology, history, linguistics and toponymics and more. The aim of this session is to take stock of current research, and to evaluate how new evidence may challenge, confirm or corroborate both former research into Viking identities and the different approaches.