About the project
MEMORY will apply a spatial perspective for analysing and interpreting the specific character of Nordic Protestant tradition. The concentration on three Nordic countries - Denmark, Sweden, and Norway - will supply a sufficient basis for an overall typological description of the case of Nordic Protestantism.
MEMORY will also give a contribution to the understanding of the specific profile of Nordic secularity. In this region of Europe, the extension of the secular sphere through deconstruction of Catholic sanctity prepared the ground for a new construction of secularity.
Compared to other European Protestant cultures, the secular sites in Scandinavia are not defined in sharp contrast to religious sanctity. Rather, Nordic secularity tends to be more open to including aspects of sanctity in itself. The ambition of this project is to contribute with new answers to a newly started discussion on this topic.
Objectives
Theories from Cultural studies on lieux de mémoire (Erinnerungsorte) will serve as a point of departure for analysing:
- the reformation of religious topography in the 16th and 17th centuries, and
- elite and popular uses of Medieval and Reformation holy places especially in the 19th and 20th centuries within a Nordic context.
Financing
The Project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council (FRIPRO) for the period 2014-2018.