Power from the Pagan Past: The Viking Warrior as Template for (toxic) Masculinity
Publication information:
Thykier_Makeeff, Tao. 2023. “Power from the Pagan Past: The Viking Warrior As Template for (toxic) Masculinity.” in Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract
Abstract: Modern reinventions of the Viking Warrior are currently being used to construct masculine identities in alternative spiritualities. Through examples drawn from fitness culture, self-help publications, and radical politics, I discuss how the power dynamics of a gendered and gendering reimagination of the North European Iron Age shapes contemporary spiritualities and historical reception. In an analysis of how male warriors are being reimagined as symbols of gendered power, I address how such cultural trends can be both empowering for the individuals and groups who participate in them, but may also promote misogyny and toxic calibrations of masculinity and male identity.
Presenter bio: Dr. Tao Thykier Makeeff is an independent researcher, externally affiliated with the University of Stavanger. He was recently employed as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stavanger, Norway (2020-22) and guest researcher at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. His research focuses on Contemporary Paganism, ritual innovation, historical reception, and nationalisms.
Presenter affiliation: Independent researcher
Presenter bio: Dr. Tao Thykier Makeeff is an independent researcher, externally affiliated with the University of Stavanger. He was recently employed as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stavanger, Norway (2020-22) and guest researcher at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. His research focuses on Contemporary Paganism, ritual innovation, historical reception, and nationalisms.
Presenter affiliation: Independent researcher