Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.05.2008, Page 178

STEINUNN KRISTJÁNSDÓTTIR
Þórir Stephensen (2008). „Próventa í miðaldaklaustrmn á íslandi". í Hrafnkell
Lárusson og Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir (ritstj.), Skriðuklaustur, evrópskt tnið-
aldaklaustur í Fljótsdal. Rit Gunnarsstofnunar I. Skriðuklaustur: Gunn-
arsstoihun, bls. 93-100.
ABSTRACT
The social landscape of Skriðuklaustur monastery
In recent archaeological research growing attention has been directed
at exploring the immaterial components that the tangible and material
remains contain, that is, their materiality. In this respect, materiality is
understood as the symbolic function and meaning of material culture. This
includes the notion of interplay between individuals, material remains and
social landscape as the basis for the functioning of cultures and societies.
Without this constant interplay, materiality has no meaning. The primary
subject of the article is the materiality of the medieval Catholic Church
as it manifests itself in the archaeological remains of Skriðuklaustur mon-
astery in Eastern Iceland. The monastery is here regarded as a social and
cultural entity constituted of humans and things that were intertwined by
their immaterial components while replicating, as a whole, a larger cos-
mology of international activity. In this manner, medieval cloisters may
through their materiality have compounded a picture of a monastic world
that is loaded with social meaning and memory, independent of their
temporal and geographical location. This view does, however, not involve
a general denial of cultural changes caused by domestic or individual
choices, as the management of the monastery was performed within this
specified frame of social landscape. Instead, the Catholic religion is here
regarded as having fabricated phenomena, upholding a certain pervasive
monastic cosmology without geographical borders, which steadity went
through constant hybridization, negotiation and reconstructing depend-
ing on its diverse contexts in time and space.
Keywords: Skriðuklaustur monastery, medieval Iceland, post-colonialism,
phenomenology, mimicry, social landscape
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