Abstract
The history and culture of Scotland has been shaped by its relationships with other cultures across Northern Europe, in particular with continental Europe and Scandinavia. This thesis examines intercultural encounters evident in the historical, material and literary cultures of coastal communities in Scotland and Norway, demonstrating the existence of a shared, transnational Nordic/Northern cultural region after 1700.The main aim of the research contained in this thesis was to establish how transnational cultural regions are created and maintained between Scotland and Norway after 1700. Using micro-historical case studies, the research aims to capture intercultural histories and diffuse socio-cultural dynamics, and set them in the context of nation- and region-building during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The analysis has therefore focused both on historical and socio-political conditions, but also the everyday experience of people living in regional communities, and how they participate in the construction of connected transnational memory spaces.
Using an interdisciplinary methodology in order to investigate the relationship between culture and history, intercultural links are related to wider perspectives of how regions of culture and memory are constructed within Northern Europe.
By examining how intercultural narratives are created and adapted in order to renegotiate national and regional identities over time, the research points to the important role played by transnational frameworks and entangled histories. As such, this thesis makes a significant contribution to the fields of cultural transfer studies, cultural and social history, but also human geography and literature, and other areas of cultural production that create intercultural affinities, identification and belonging in Northern Europe.
| Date of Award | 20 Mar 2017 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Donna Heddle (Supervisor) & Stefan Brink (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- Scotland
- Norway
- History
- cultural studies