Aarhus University Press – förlag

Short introduction to the amazing finds of garments from the Norse settlement of Herjolfnes in Greenland by Else Østergård. Chapters on technique: production of the tread, dyeing, weaving techniques, cutting and sewing by Anna Nørgaard. Measurements and drawing of garments, hoods, and stockings with sewing instructions by Lilli Frandsen. A practical guide to making your own Norse Medieval garment!

The Viking Age was a period of great economic complexity and experimentation in Scandinavia. By the end of the period, an ancient 'display' economy, based on ornaments of precious metal, had been largely replaced by counted money and national coinages. But this development was neither simple nor linear: for much of the Viking Age, several silver economies co-existed and interacted. The role of silver in Viking-age society and economy has recently developed into an exciting interdisciplinary topic for research. New evidence raises debates on the nature of valuables, bullion, monetisation, commodity money, and early urban trade. This book brings together an international group of archaeologists, historians and numismatists to draw a balance sheet of current research. Based on a symposium held in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2008, it provides a structured basis for comparison, combining regional overviews with case-studies of significant sites or hoards. The book is dedicated to Dr Mark Blackburn (1953-2011) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Viking-age numismatics and monetary history.

What does having a career mean, and should we always follow our dreams? In this critical and thought-provoking book, Rie Thomsen and Tristram Hooley challenge the myths and ideals surrounding careers. With wit, wisdom, and a sharp eye on societal expectations, they invite readers to rethink the meaning of careers. This is not a guidebook but a conversation starter—a reflection on life's twists, turns, and detours. What shapes the choices we make? And how do we find direction in a world of constant change? In Reflections, scholars deliver engaging reflections on key concepts. These pocket-sized books present unique insights on a wide range of topics that entertain and enlighten readers with exciting discoveries and new perspectives.

"Elephants are not picked from trees" are the words of Swedish taxidermist and conservator David Sjölander, spoken while he was in Angola looking for a fine bull elephant specimen in the autumn of 1948. At the age of 62 Sjölander was to satisfy his life's dream of shooting the elephant he for so long had wished to prepare and exhibit. The African elephant was to be the main attraction in the Mammal Room of the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History. Liv Emma Thorsen, professor of cultural history, has reconstructed the collection history of four mammals exhibited in the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History that attracted much attention when they were displayed to the public for the first time: The elephant, gorilla, Tonkean macaque and walrus. The book examines how the museum acquired animals for its exhibits from 1906 to 1948, and how living animal bodies became museum exhibits. Using photographs and documents from the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History, the book shows that these museums are in possession of valuable material for writing the cultural history of animals, and that the museums of natural history display a nature that is historically, socially and culturally construed.

One of the century's most spectacular archaeological finds occurred in 1921 -- a year before Howard Carter stumbled upon Tutankhamun's tomb -- when Poul Norlund recovered dozens of garments from a graveyard in the Norse settlement of Herjolfsnaes, Greenland. Preserved intact for centuries by the permafrost, these mediaeval garments display remarkable similarities to western European costumes of the time. Previously, such costumes were known only from contemporary illustrations, and the Greenland finds provided the world with a close look at how ordinary Europeans dressed in the Middle Ages. Fortunately for Norlund's team, wood has always been extremely scarce in Greenland, and instead of caskets, many of the bodies were found swaddled in multiple layers of cast-off clothing. Eighty years of technical advances and subsequent excavations have greatly added to our understanding of the Herjolfsnaes discoveries. In Woven into the Earth Else Ostergard recounts the dramatic story of Norlund's excavation in the context of other Norse textile finds in Greenland. She describes what the finds tell us about the materials and methods used in making the clothes. The weaving and sewing techniques detailed here are surprisingly sophisticated, and one can only admire the talent of the women who employed them, especially considering the harsh conditions they worked under. While Woven into the Earth will be invaluable to students of medieval archaeology, Norse society and textile history, both lay readers and scholars are sure to find the book's dig narratives and glimpses of life among "the last Vikings" fascinating.

It has become a commonplace in Per Kirkeby exhibition catalogues to note that he earned a Master's in geology and participated in five research expeditions to Greenland, and to declare that he therefore paints in layers -- as obviously only a sedimentary geologist can. Not only do curators and critics rarely delve any deeper into the relation between the work of this prolific experimental artist and his background in Arctic Quaternary geology, but they also entirely ignore the many other academic interests that inform his art, both conceptually and visually. Yet Kirkeby himself has proclaimed, "A picture without intellectual superstructure is nothing." In "The Artist as Polyhistor", Lars Morell provides the superstructure missing from other critical accounts by examining intellectual content and allusions in the Kirkeby oeuvre from eleven disciplinary perspectives -- everything from theology to genetics and eros to crystallography. In addition, he has drawn on personal conversations with the artist, whose comments on the manuscript have also been incorporated into the final text. Morell maintains that art that is genuinely about something is necessarily full of conflict and unexpected juxtapositions. As a result, the works he has sought out here are rarely beautiful in formal terms, but instead tend to be dissonant and dynamic, featuring breaks and breaches and irreconcilable elements. With 150 handsome illustrations, chiefly in colour, and a wide-ranging but clearly written text, this volume will appeal equally to the general reader and the specialist in contemporary art.

During the last five decades we have witnessed an increase in activity among artists identifying themselves as Sámi, the only recognised indigenous people of Scandinavia. At the same time, art and duodji (traditional Sámi art and craft) have been organized and institutionalized, not least by the Sámi artists themselves. Sámi Art and Aesthetics discusses and highlights these developments and places them in historical and contemporary contexts for an international audience. At stake are complex, changing terms regarding the creative and the political agencies. The question is not how indigeneity, identity, people, art, duodji, and aesthetics correspond to conventional Western ideas, rather it is how they interact with the Sámi and their neighbouring cultures and societies. The volume is written by some of the foremost art historians and literary scholars in Sámi art, craft, architecture, culture, and indigenous studies. Artists presented include Johan Turi, Iver Jåks, Outi Pieski, Folke Fjellström, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Geir Tore Holm, and Silje Figenschou Thoresen.

During the last decade, many social scientists have sought to show that nature is not an eternal constant but an intrinsically unstable concept - a historical, cultural and social construct with powerful emotional, moral and political connotations. Imagining Nature sets out to explore some of the implications of and lacunae in this recent push to "denaturalise nature". But rather than asking, What is nature? as many academic writers have been doing, the contributors here ask, How is nature established as an entity? Through what processes and practices does nature achieve reality? The first section of the book, "Cosmologies", focuses on ways the practices of nature are embedded in overarching conceptual worldviews. Chapters in the second section illustrate some of the means by which identity unfolds and becomes established in interacting with and imagining nature. The chapters examine nature and identity in the national mythologies of Scandinavia and Germany; two Fulani status groups in Burkina Faso; the confrontational Sami community of Manndalen, Norway; the spatial world of the Tsaatang nomads in Mongolia; and two neoclassic houses by Le Corbusier and Wright. While the individual contributions here will certainly interest specialists in the particular fields they represent, Imagining Nature is broadly interdisciplinary in appeal, and it is especially recommended to anyone intrigued by recent constructivist debate and the multiplying conceptions of nature in the social sciences.

This book has two main objectives – to provide an overview of Danish research in the Afghan province of Nuristan, as well as to understand the scholar, collector, and man, Lennart Edelberg, who was crucial to its shaping. Ethnography as an academic discipline in Denmark was still in its embryonic stages, when Edelberg visited Nuristan for the first time in 1948 as a member of the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia (1947-52). Parallel to his work as an upper-secondary schoolteacher in Ribe, Edelberg developed his work in Nuristan throughout the following decades. Through different perspectives from people who worked with him, or shared his research interests, the contributions to this book constitute a mosaic. This mosaic represents Lennart Edelberg, his research interests as well as their legacy for contemporary scholarship.

The Core of Learning presents the philosophical framework of N.F.S. Grundtvig's educational, poetic, theological, and political writings. In each of these fields he made a major contribution to the formation of modern Denmark. He situates humanity in the wider background of creation and nature, and in his alternative programme of enlightenment he focuses on the core and advance of Learning in the history of human civilization, and the role of emotions for all philosophical reflection. As part of its agenda to digitalise and translate Grundtvig's vast output, the Grundtvig Study Centre at Aarhus University is pleased to publish this fifth volume in the series, 'N.F.S. Grundtvig: Works in English'. Volume 1, The School for Life (2011), contains Grundtvig's major writings on education, while Volume 2, Living Wellsprings (2015) contains a selection of his hymns, songs, and poems. Volume 3, Human Comes First (2018) contains articles and sermons relating to Grundtvig's Christian theology, and Volume 4, The Common Good (2019) deals with his historical and political ideas.

The Artemis Laphria Sanctuary at Kalydon in Aitolia. The finds from the 192030s DanishGreek excavations – Vol. 1. The Pottery and Terracotta Lamps is the first comprehensive study of previously unpublished ceramic finds from the Artemis Laphria sanctuary in Kalydon, Aitolia, excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by Frederik Poulsen, Konstantinos Rhomaios, and Ejnar Dyggve. While the sanctuary’s architecture and topography were published in 1948, the extensive ceramic assemblages dating from the Prehistoric to Late Antique periods remained unpublished until now. This volume is an invaluable resource for scholars interested in the history of Aitolia, ancient Greek religion, and ancient ceramics. The book presents an assemblage of prominent Mycenaean pottery as well as unique locally produced pottery, such as a rhyton with an exceptional figure scene, and imported ceramics from Corinth, Attica, and Elis, demonstrating the city's long history of external contacts. Furthermore, the book provides extensive analyses of pottery types and shape distributions, as well as a detailed account of the excavation history and contextualisation of the pottery assemblage.

The Christian theology of N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) is based on the principle that humankind, created in God's image, has retained a divine spark og that image, which can welcome God's gift of grace and salvation. Human Comes First illustrates this principle through a selction of Grundtvig's articles, teachings, sermons, letters and speeches from half a century of his theological activity.As part of its agenda to digitalise and translate Grundtvig's vast output, the Grundtvig Study Centre at Aarhus University is pleased to publish this third volume in the series 'N.F.S. Grundtvig: Works in English'. Volume 1. The School for Life (2011), contains Grundtvig's major writings on education, and Volume 2. Living Wellsprings (2015) contains a selction of his hymns, songs, and poems. Future volumes will deal with his politics and his philosophy.

Of the five books in the series 'N.F.S. Grundtvig. Works in English', this fourth volume on Grundtvig as a politician and contemporary historian is perhaps the most surprising. Grundtvig is best known globally as the founding father of the 'People's High School', with his emphasis on lifelong learning and the living word in interactive conversation. In Denmark his next greatest achievement is his hymn-writing and song-writing. Few think of Grundtvig as a politician. In public discourse he is linked to Nordic mythology and church matters, rather than to parliamentary democracy or contemporary history. However, Grundtvig was a historian and a politician. His historical interests were the driving force of his entry into public politics, as is demonstrated by the texts in this volume. The present volume also presents his opposition to slavery and his support for women's amancipation.

Denmark’s Catalyst: The Life and Letters of N.F.S. Grundtvig is the last book in the 6-volume series ‘N.F.S. Grundtvig. Works in English.’ Translator Edward Broadbridge joins forces with Grundtvig scholar Hans Raun Iversen in this new biography of the most influential Dane in modern Denmark. Grundtvig (1783-1872) was a pastor, pedagogue, poet, politician, and philosopher all rolled into one. Best known internationally for his concepts of a people’s (folk) high school, of ‘learning for life’ and of ‘lifelong learning’, in Denmark he is equally famous as the nation-builder and champion of ‘the common good’ – Denmark’s modern watchword.    This comprehensive, illustrated biography is supplemented by 70 letters tracing Grundtvig’s personal experiences first-hand in surprisingly honest terms, including his love life, his depressions, and his four trips to England.

The two volumes of 'The Archaeology of Medieval Europe' will together comprise the first complete account of medieval archaeology across Europe. Archaeologists from academic institutions in fifteen countries are collaborating to produce these two books of sixteen thematic chapters each. In addition, every chapter will feature a number of 'box-texts', by specialist contributors, highlighting sites or themes of particular importance. The books will be comprehensively illustrated throughout, in both colour and b/w, including line drawings and specially commissioned maps. This ground-breaking set, which is divided chronologically into two (Volume 1 extending from the 8th-12th centuries AD, and Volume 2 from the 12th-16th centuries -- available 2008), will enable readers to track the development of different cultures, and of regional characteristics, throughout the full extent of medieval Catholic Europe. In addition to revealing shared contexts and technological developments, the complete work will also provide the opportunity for demonstrating the differences that were inevitably present across the Continent -- from Iceland to Italy, and from Portugal to Finland -- and to study why such existed.

The two volumes of "The Archaeology of Medieval Europe" together comprise the first complete account of Medieval Archaeology across the continent. This ground-breaking set will enable readers to track the development of different cultures and regions over the 800 years that formed the Europe we have today. In addition to revealing the process of Europeanisation, within its shared intellectual and technical inheritance, the complete work provides an opportunity for demonstrating the differences that were inevitably present across the continent -- from Iceland to Sicily and Portugal to Finland.

Rising inequality is one of the most prominent characteristics of the modern age of globalized economies. To some observers, inequality is a natural consequence of economic growth that ought to be accepted to ensure a prosperous future. To others, rising inequality is a cause for alarm—not just because it is unfair, but also because, as Pope Francis has said, “inequality is the root of social evil.”By most measures, the Nordic countries consistently rank among the best not only when it comes to equality, but also when it comes to business friendliness. Political scientist Carsten Jensen delves into what is exceptional about equality in the region, and outlines “the four equalities” that set it apart: economic (the distance between the poor and rich is relatively low), inter-generational (success in life is not dependent on the status of one’s parents), gender (women are highly integrated into the labor market and independent from the family), and health (the poor have access to the same medical treatments as the well-off).All four types of equalities have their origins in unique political settlements made in the 20th century. The resulting special social market economies of these countries affect their growth and levels of equality even today.

Questions: Between Identity and Difference is in many ways a curious book. It is a scholarly book, but tests the boundaries of traditional academic methods. It is a philosophical book, but bases its arguments on observational studies in classrooms where Danish, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese schoolchildren are taught in their native languages. It is a demanding book, one that assumes its readers think for themselves. Yes it is also a generous book, which draws on the author's own experience in researching and exploring what it means to be human across a variety of thoughts and behavioural patterns.

An exploration of the world of Arne Jacobsen, one of the twentieth century’s most influential architects and designers​  The Danish architect Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971) is renowned both within and outside Denmark’s borders. Celebrated for his iconic chairs, Jacobsen was also an avid photographer and painter who was involved in the art world, where he found inspiration and new methods for developing architecture. This is the most comprehensive account of Jacobsen to date, diving into previously unknown aspects of his life and work. It uncovers how art played a seminal role in both his professional and personal life, placing him in the midst of the European postwar avant-garde art scene. Shedding new light on aspects of his creative life, the book challenges previous ideas about Jacobsen as a modernist iconoclast, positioning him instead as a creative innovator who worked closely with materials in transforming existing aesthetics. It also investigates how Jacobsen played a crucial role in defining Danish and Nordic welfare aesthetics. Beautifully designed, the book features famous and lesser-known works by Jacobsen, including chairs, textile designs, watercolour drawings, light fixtures, and architecture models, along with hundreds of previously unseen private photographs of Jacobsen and his many designs.

Human beings are inherently cultural beings -- growing up in an environment that is steeped in culture and developing our self-construal accordingly. The new psychology book series "Self in Culture in Mind" gathers current research per-spectives on this issue. This first volume sets the stage by examining the unfolding of self from a broad range of de-velopmental perspectives. Each chapter suggests a specific theoretical approach and provides original research within it. Together they document culturally mediated development at different stages of life and in different cultural settings, as ob-served by appropriate scientific methods.

The rise of China has had a transformative impact on almost all areas of global political, economic and social life, and raises some very important questions: Will the rise of China lead to the sinicisation of the international regime and the liberal order through the process of its historical transformation from being in a semi-periphery position to becoming part of the core of the capitalist world system? Will China be a cooperative actor or a disruptive one? A force for continuity or a force for change? Is China displaying an alternative development model to all other developing countries? Does China's ascent represent a new "beginning of history" rather than "end of history"? Will the rise of China lead to the peripherisation of existing semi-periphery countries, and to the altering of the traditional pattern of relationships between the exiting West-based world order and the developing world? This book provides a framework to understand China's re-emergence in the nexus of historical, economic, political and world-systems perspectives. It examines the multifaceted facts and explores the triple impact of China's rise to core, semi-periphery and periphery countries, with a focus on developing nations. China's rise has brought developing countries opportunities and challenges, as well as constraints. If developing countries can respond adequately, China's ascent represents new promises and new prospects.

This book is based on a unique and novel technique, C5, which can improve your quality of life. C5 offers five basic key parameters for strengthening your body and mind: "Concentration", "Calmness", "Confidence", "Contentment" and "Creativity", to which the book gives a detailed introduction. The book presents life's five stages, namely "Innocence", "Intelligence", "Innovativeness", "Involvement", and "Infinity". Life is short, and its limits are given. Living should bring happiness and pleasure, but most people have to cope with enormous problems stemming from heavy workloads, stress and anxiety. In our post-modern, technoscience world, every effort is being made to achieve a high standard of living. Still, few people find an effective solution for relieving stress and achieving their objectives in life. This book promotes an innovative and novel approach to achieving a good quality of life through unlocking your personalisation. The C5 concept looks on creativity as the foundation on which to build a successful life with no stress or tension, allowing you to enjoy nights of deep, peaceful sleep. This is what a good quality of life is really all about. Practising C5 is the simplest way toward steering and controlling your mind in order to unlock your hidden mental potential. The C5 method has been very successful in helping many people, most recently Leo, who is the scientific director of a university institute in the Netherlands, and Inga, a retired teacher from Denmark. Both have practised the C5 concept in their daily lives and they have found that life can indeed be free of stress and tension and that they can enjoy nights of good sleep. The book gives an insight into how Leo and Inga feel about C5 and their views on its value for human life. The book also describes plans for disseminating the C5 concept even further afield. A mind and body centre to educate and train people will be launched for the benefit of humankind. The vision, on which the centre's activities will be driven, will be to serve society by stimulating the growth of Quality of Life.

Culture is an all-pervasive concept and phenomenon that exerts influence on our social lives in many different ways, not least in business and working life. Taking a discursive and practice-related - approach to culture and intercultural collaboration, this book offers insight into a number of situations and incidents from the world of business and public organisations in which ways of talking about culture play a salient role in the development of collaboration and the shaping of identities and social roles. Thus, through the highlighting and discussion of cases from various professional contexts, the book aims at providing an understanding of the mechanisms at play when we meet, talk and work with people from other cultures, while suggesting how opportunities may be seized and challenges met. The book is comprised of ten case studies, which provide theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives on the interplay between discourse, culture and collaboration, and the effect of this on identity formation and the construction of social roles. This involves the presentation and discussion of these concepts in various organisational settings such as large cross-border and multinational businesses, the public health sector, education and the European Union. The authors are scholars from Danish universities and business schools who have contributed substantially to the development of the field through the publication and dissemination of research in international journals and with international publishers. The book is for readers(scholars, students and professionals alike) who take an interest in cultural issues and the way they are constructed in professional settings.

Our century is the urban century -- a century in which the balance between urban and rural has been tipped with more than half of the world's population now living in cities. It is also a century characterised by an unprecedented urbanisation that has affected both urban form and urban life, and a century where the role of Urban Design has never been so intensified - and so urgent. It is our endeavour with this book to explore emergent theories and practices relating to urban design in order to better understand current processes of urbanisation and to intervene in our built environments with a focus on the quality of life in them. Through a series of articles and projects, Musings -- an urban design anthology brings together researchers, practitioners and students from the Urban Design Programme at the Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University with the aim of providing a multilayered and nuanced perspective on the discipline of urban design -- one that explores a number of optics through which urban design can be reflected upon, and ways in which the contemporary built environment can be intervened with. In this way the book navigates new frontiers in search of a better understanding of emerging urban culture. This journey presents a varied account of the urban design field through four chapters that reveal core themes framing both the theoretical and practical challenges of contemporary urbanity: Performativity, Mobility, Transformation, and Design & Method. Illustrating the direct relationship between research and teaching in the Urban Design Programme, the book investigates the themes through research and through project work of students at the Bachelor and Masters level. It is also the aim of this book to encourage continued discussion in the field of urban design through this - a contribution of our musings - manifested here in the theory, practice and production generated in the Urban Design Programme at Aalborg University.

Latin American responses to neoliberalism and globalization have been varied and development strategies have changed over the past decades. The responses to policies have often been social and political struggles. This volume seeks to present diverse perspectives on these issues from a variety of perspectives both theoretically and methodologically. The volume is divided into two sections each treating different topics under a common headline. In the first section the analyses have their point of departure in Development Strategies, State and Civil Society Actors. The second section deals with rights, identity formation and social movements' struggles as responses to the consequences of neo-liberal policies. The authors contributing to this volume come from different academic backgrounds and from both Denmark and Latin America. The chapters deal with examples from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Practice, praxis, traineeship, internship, or practicum, are all names for the specific arrangements where students from universities engage in real life experiences; in arrangements where they leave the secure tranquillity of the university and enter into the chaotic world of work. Practicum is a very good way of learning, and it can be very interesting for all parties involved. The students like it, even if it is cumbersome, frustrating and requires a lot of work -- work that is different from what they know from their previous encounters with the education system. In this book we ask a simple question in relation to practicum, paraphrasing Tom Paxton's song: "What did you learn in the real world today?" The question is asked without the irony of Paxton's original one. Neither are we indicating that the university is not real, but the question is simply asked in order to find out what is learned in the practicum. Students learn and they learn a lot. But the question is what is learned. In the chapters in this book we try to shed some light on this simple question. And it turns out that there is no simple answer. In this book we have confronted the question from philosophical and pedagogical perspectives and in addition to this we also investigated a number of cases of students learning in the real world.

This book presents discussions of how information and communication technology (ICT) can play a vital role in developing education and thereby developing communities, countries and regions. Through examples of current research in developing countries, a number of highly relevant questions and topics are dealt with, such as: Approaches to user involvement and participation in development; Knowledge and its role in development, particularly in higher education; Digital literacy and ways of developing it; Pedagogic approaches; Learning cultures in globalised education; Teacher training and education. The chapters in this volume are written by members of the international research group on ICT for Development (ICT4D) at Aalborg University together with researchers from around the world. This book is the first of its kind to concentrate fully on the relationship between ICT for development in the context of education. The book is essential reading for researchers, educational planners, policy advisers, students and educators.

In a metaphorical sense a thing is complex if it comprehends a magnitude of homogeneous or different things. However, it depends on the kind of comprehension, if we conceive something that consists of many things as complex or not. It is perhaps most distinctive for complex phenomena that their properties and behaviour are not reducible to the properties and behaviour of their elements. This poses some challenging metaphysical problems. The articles in this anthology do not follow a leitmotif -- aside from that all of them have a look at complexity problems in different areas of scientific research and show in which ways the challenges of complexity can be answered.

Human beings are inherently cultural beings -- growing up in an environment that is steeped in culture and developing our self-construal accordingly. The psychology book series "Self in Culture in Mind (SICIM)" gathers current research perspectives on this issue. This second volume in the series offers new theoretical and methodological frameworks for a deeper understanding of how self-construal is enabled, influenced and lived in culture. The book comprises four approaches to basic research, four applied perspectives, and a meta-theoretical integration. The basic research approaches highlight the roles of early memories, cultural artefacts, parents and peers in developing a cultured self, and examine the relationship between well-being and self-serving bias across culture; and the applications concern psychopathology's variation with culture, identity reconstruction after immigration and gendered violence, and family therapy across cultures. The integrative chapter identifies different kinds of self-knowledge captured by the preceding approaches and argues for a dynamic understanding of self-in-culture.