Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Qupperneq 48

46
ONCE WERE MEN
year 1800, but tripled to 15.000 year 1900,
a growth primarily related to the introduc-
tion of industrial fisheries in the end of the
19th century (Joensen, 1985). Many small
villages were very isolated, surrounded by
wild waters and dangerous mountain slopes,
and almost self-sufficient in food and all ne-
cessities of life. Faroese society, says the
American anthropologist Dennis Gaffin
(1996: ix), illustrates “how Westemers can
adapt to a difficult environment and inte-
grate their culture with it’’. Gaffin, a cul-
tural ecologist, studied the link between
physical and cultural space in the village
Sumba. Faroese men and fathers of times
past influence to some degree masculinities
of today; men were characterized by strong
emotional self-control, strong local (and kin-
ship) sense of belonging and identity, as well
as the indispensable mastering of (practical)
skills related to all kinds of activities in daily
life - on sea, in the mountains, at home, in
the village - that according to Levi-Strauss
(1962) is part of the ‘concrete science’ of
premodem people.
“Once were men, Faroese men, proud de-
scendants of brave Norse Vikings”, old peo-
ple may orate to their grand-sons and grand-
daughters nowadays, “who had everything
they needed and lived happily under simple
conditions”. There was no youth in our un-
derstanding of the concept as boys worked
with their fathers, uncles and other men from
the village already aged twelve or thirteen.
Physical strength and maturity formed men.
Boys and men were always invoived in in-
formal individual orgroup competition, but
at the same time they worked collectively
and depended heavily on strong alliances
and structured teamwork. Hence this com-
petition never represented serious threats to
the strong collective unity, as egocentrism
and opportunism were heavily sanctioned
by the surrounding community if they
reached a critical level. Friendly competi-
tion was a game demonstrating qualities and
skills, as men always wanted to test their
strength, quickness, endurance, etcetera, like
in play, but also their verbal sophistication,
as storytelling and joking traditions are very
strong in traditional Faroese culture. Verbal
facility is highly valued (Gaffin, 1996).
Making people laugh without provoking
anyone personally and without boasting
openly is an art that not everyone can claim
to master.
Man was meant to be balanced, resist
temptations and offences, still not accepting
humiliating or insulting behaviour. He
should not fight physically (except when
boys fight for fun in play), never be aggres-
sive and threatening, and never overreact
shamefully and childishly when under any
kind of psychological or physical pressure.
This quite mild and soft character of men
does not fit to modern stereotypes of hard-
boiled macho fishermen (Minervudóttir,
2003). The ideal of stoic and calm men, sel-
dom stressing over ‘trivial’ matters, details
of daily life, belong to the ancient society
of past centuries. Faroe Islanders were
adapted to the brutal unfriendly nature, al-
ways confronting the storm and swimming
against currents. Man was a hunter using his
‘untamed’ mind (Levi-Strauss, 1962). What
might seem contradictory at first glance is
that Faroese men, according to some ethno-
graphers, were soft and harmless, easy and