Introduction to the Special Issue Forum Back to Blood: Pursuing a Future from the Norse Past

Fördermittel

This issue of the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture provides a forum with three articles written by scholars involved in the research project Back to Blood: Pursuing a Future from the Norse Past. The project started in August 2020 and is funded by the Research Council of Norway. It consists of researchers from the University of Stavanger, Norway and Linköping University, Sweden. The aim of the project is to study how cultural and spiritual products related to the Norse past are connected to people’s concerns about sustainability, identity, and citizenship. Areas of research include television series, films, advertising, digital games, music, festivals, and Viking markets, as well as new ways of disseminating and using the Norse past in the museum, school and tourism sectors. Furthermore, the project focuses on the use of old and new symbols and mythology associated with Old Norse culture in New Religious Movements such as contemporary Heathenism, and in adjacent cultural milieus. Fundamental to the project is the observation that the reception and reimagination of Old Norse culture has more to do with contemporary issues and needs than with the life of people in the Iron Age.