Saga - 2009, Síða 101

Vel má halda því fram að þessi gagnstæða þróun, minni réttur
til að hata og meiri réttur til að elska, sé mesta framfaraspor mann-
kynsins síðan á miðöldum.
Abstract
gunnar karl s son
e M o T I o N A L R I G H T S
Proposal for a new historical concept
This article explores ways to augment the history of emotions within general
social history and in historical surveys and textbooks. Treating general emotion-
al history as social or psychological history would involve a considerable under-
taking and extensive research, so the article proposes that the first step be to
adopt a concept of emotional­rights, concentrating initially on the differing right
people have fully to utilise and find outlets for their emotions. Since the question
arises of whether the same concept, or another equally suited for use in history,
may have already been adopted in the field of law, numerous legal reference
books, both Icelandic and foreign, were examined and revealed that this is not
the case. emotional rights per se do not appear to have been treated as a special
category of human rights.
The article then gives an overview of studies on the history of emotions in
european culture. Firstly, a review article by the American medieval historian
Barbara Rosenwein is considered, in which the history of anger commands atten-
tion. Secondly, scholarly studies are summarised on the history of love since the
Middle Ages. In both areas, scholarly approaches to emotion seem to follow two
main currents. one is essentialism, which assumes people’s emotions have
always remained similar, with society suppressing them to different degrees at
different times. The other is social constructionism, which assumes that varying
emotions come into being in people’s minds depending on their type of society.
The article presents examples of the most readily available sources for in -
vestigating love and anger in Icelandic history, in particular the right to outlets
for these emotions. The majority of the discussion is devoted to the oldest
sources, i.e. the sagas, the poetic edda and medieval law books. These are con-
cluded to be interesting sources on emotional rights. examining them makes
clear that the right to an outlet for hatred, i.e. the right of revenge, has been
restricted ever since Iceland’s first centuries of settlement, whereas the right to
enjoy love, for example by choosing a mate freely, has expanded.
tilfinningaréttur 101
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