Nordic Border Crossings: Coastal Communities and Connected Cultures in Norway and Scotland

This article discusses the connected cultures of Norway and Scotland’s coastal communities and the intercultural links that have historically crossed Nordic borders across the North Sea. It compares some of the cultural, economic and social dynamics that create this unique cultural landscape or kystkultur, particularly the creation of transient cross-cultural networks and regions stimulated by trade and related contacts across the North Sea. The shared, diverse, but similarly sea-focused cultural landscape that exists across the coastal communities of the North informs the way in which regional cultural identities are formed and maintained. As such, coastal cultures form a complex new area of research, offering opportunities to cross the borders of Nordic area studies by investigating cultural encounters and transnational ‘regions of culture’ across the Northern peripheries, including the coasts of the North Atlantic region.