Fourth Year Hon. Mention: Misjöfn Verks: Gendered division of labour and social/instrumental power in the Viking Age

HIST 4990, History of Technology. CD: Margaret Schotte.

Abstract

“Misjöfn Verks” provides a fascinating investigation of the intersection of poetry, technology, gender studies, and old Norse (i.e. Viking) culture. The author analyzes work songs found in the Icelandic Laxdaela saga, thoroughly deconstructing both the technology extant in Nordic cultures at the end of the first millennium and the divisions of labour that formed the basis for Nordic gender roles. Men dealt with the immediate: a sword blow, holding a tiller in place, or planting a furrow. Women, on the other hand, were responsible for “setting up mechanisms to automatically produce desired outputs” such as mills, looms, and even smithies. These produced results not only in the present, but also in the future, and, as a result, in Viking culture, women’s work became imbued with a “strong association between women, machines, and magic.” The mysteriousness of technology was left to women, while men favoured more direct methods. Thus, as the author notes in their conclusion, if anyone needed a mechanic in the Middle Ages, it was likely a woman who they would turn to for help.

The author includes many citations as well as illustrations, so their technical explanations are easy to follow. Further, they are able to deconstruct an Icelandic saga by making reference to the original Norse, carefully exposing the nuanced cultural meanings that a pure translation would leave out. The result is a superior paper that cannot fail to teach the reader something new, and in an interdisciplinary fashion that adds to the academic conversation in several fields.