Saga - 2020, Page 66

shines a spotlight on the arrival of gender history and its development since the
year 2000.
Gender history was first introduced to Icelandic audiences through the works
of medieval historians. In a 1991 article in Ný saga, Agnes S. Arnórsdóttir introduced
the concept of gender as a feasible category for historical analysis. Four years later,
she published the monograph Konur og vígamenn (Women and Warriors), where she
analysed gender roles in twelfth and thirteenth century Iceland. Up until the early
2000s, research on gendered aspects of modernisation in Iceland was rare, but from
2004 onwards research centred around nineteenth and twentieth century history
has flourished. That year, Sigríður Matthíasdóttir published her monograph Hinn
sanni Íslendingur. Þjóðerni, kyngervi og vald á Íslandi 1900‒1930 (The True Icelander.
Nationality, Gender and Power in Iceland 1900‒1930), where she scrutinised the
intersection of nationalism and gender during Iceland’s struggle for independence.
Political milestones such as the women’s movement and the suffrage movement
were a direct or indirect topic of many historians concerned with nineteenth and
twentieth century gender history. Topics such as the history of sexualities, queer his-
tory and migration history have also surfaced, which shows the rich and varied
applicability of gender theories in historical analysis.
The article also examines discussions about the role and legitimacy of gender
history. Such discussions have mainly surfaced around political anniversaries and
publications meant to celebrate such anniversaries. The article analyses
discussions about two publications that came out in the year 2000. One is Saga
Íslands á 20. öld (Iceland in the 20th Century) by Helgi Skúli Kjartansson, which
was criticized for failing to integrate women’s history into the general narrative,
choosing instead to present a separate chapter on women. The second publication,
a massive four-volume book on the one thousand year history of Christianity in
Iceland, received mixed reviews. While some critics celebrated the publication for
its objective point of view, others saw it as a missed chance for analysing the
church as a major pillar of patriarchal hegemony in Iceland.
Anniversaries are also a good opportunity for reflection. In the article, the
200th birthday of Jón Sigurðsson, Iceland’s independence hero, serves as an obser-
vation point. In 2011, several biographies were published to mark his 200th birth-
day. While historians used this opportunity to reflect critically upon Jón’s image
and legacy, laypeople and politicians stuck to the traditional imagery of Jón and
even expressed vehement criticism of historians who pointed out how the image
of Jón is glorified through masculine hegemony.
Such debates and discussions show how the aims and premises of women’s
history—to establish women as active participants in mainstream history—
remain a legitimate concern. Debates about gender history as a backlash to the
political aims of women’s history did not take place in Iceland. Most Icelandic his-
torians who have applied the category of gender as an analytical tool do so
because they believe it to be a crucial means of dismantling the historical margin-
alization of women.
Lykilhugtök: Kynjasaga; Kvennasaga; Sagnaritun
Keywords: Gender history; Women’s history; Historiography
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