Politics aside, the basis of Western culture’s understanding of the Vikings is predicated on a male-dominated focus on the Viking’s Western expansion, and less of a glance East. This is perhaps surprising, given some of our key reflections of the Vikings come from Middle Eastern historical sources, and the increasing number of Islamic artefacts which are being found across Scandinavia and indeed Britain. For example, Ahmad ibn Fadlan was a 10th-Century chronicler from the Abbasid Caliphate, who encountered a group of Rus’. Fascinated, he noted that while “they are the filthiest of God’s creatures… I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blonde and ruddy… Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times.” In just a handful of clauses, Fadlan painted an indelible image of the Vikings.
I remember reading Julian D. Richards’ The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction. He explained that our idea of the Vikings as a unified group of people is actual a modern invention used to capture a particular point in time.
The concept of the Vikings is relatively new. Originally, it referred to pirate activity. It came to mean a whole people, and then a chronological label: the Viking Age. Who were the Vikings? Where did they come from? Ethnic groups used to be seen as cultural and biological isolates, but now we understand that cultures only exist in relation to other culture.
I would like to say that it was a strange month, but every month feels strange at the moment.
At work, the end of year process has continued even if it is no longer the end of the year. The process of cleaning up data would be enough to keep me busy, but alas the return of schools also meant the return of support requests. With over 300 schools to support now, I am amazed that I still manage to stumble upon novel issues, but I do. I guess that is the joy of an ever growing project where there is always some new addition to stretch things that bit further.
On the family front, the return to school has brought its own anxieties. The government supply of rapid antigen tests has alleviated that to a degree, but the threat is still there. In addition to school, the children have returned to their extracurricular activities. The youngest is even trying out tennis. It almost feels like some kind of normality, except when you read the number of cases and they are just the ones we are aware of.
Personally, I finally got around to writing a post about my one word for 2022, memories. I think that I have added to my stress levels during the pandemic by setting unrealistic expectations on myself. Therefore, I am going to dedicate to letting my mind just wonder. I am hoping that will be more forgiving. Other than that, I listened to a lot of Methyl Ethel, in between reading David Malouf’s Johnno and Alice Pung’s Unpolished Gem. I also watched Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary on the Vietnam War, the Daredevil series before it was taken off Netflix and Suits.
Other than that, here are some of the posts that have had me thinking:
Education
Using Thinking Routines: 10 Ways You Can Die
Ron Ritchhart provides a list of ways to help thinking routines to succeed. This includes using thinking routines in your own learning, respecting that thinking leads to learning, and appreciating that they are a part of a larger agenda.
Who should read aloud in class?
Alex Quigley questions the practice of popcorn reading and instead focus on more fluent reading strategies.
How to explain an idea: a mega post
Mark Pollard unpacks the idea of an idea by demonstrating how to unpack an idea.
66 Event Design Questions
Melissa Emler provides a series of questions to consider when planning an educational event.
Learn with We Are Open Co-op
The We Are Open Co-op have collected together their various resources in one place, whether it be templates, online courses or episodes of the podcast.
Technology
How to avoid sharing bad information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
In light of the Invasion of Ukraine, Abby Ohlheiser shares strategies for how to avoid sharing bad information.
Lessons in Self-Hosting Your Own Personal Cloud
Ernie Smith discusses the challenges associated with hosting your own cloud.
What It’s Like To Stop Using Google Search
Clive Thompson reflects upon his move away from using Google as his primary search engine.
How Spotify may have just quietly changed podcasts forever
Alex Hern explains the significance of Spotify’s acquisition of Chartable and Podsights on their goal to become the YouTube for podcasts.
General
In Praising of “Listening Through” (Every Album By Your Favorite Artist)
Kevin Smokler discusses his process for returning to a favourite artists full catalogue like returning to a long lost friend.
Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla – why we’ve got the Vikings wrong
With the release of Vikings: Valhalla, Luke Walpole reflects upon our understanding of Vikings.
AFLW’s Kirsten McLeod wants to raise awareness about the ongoing symptoms of concussion
Kate O’Halloran reports on Kirsten McLeod’s challenges with concussion, explaining how it serves as yet another point of inequity associated with AFLW.
What gambling firms don’t want you to know – and how they keep you hooked
Rob Davies discusses the dark nudges used by betting companies tempt and manipulate users.
Read Write Respond #073
So that was February for me, how about you? As always, hope you are safe and well.
Image by Bryan Mathers
Also on:
I recently watched all six seasons of Vikings. I found it an entertaining series, the exploration of people and a particular period of time. The story line seems to include so many threads, the invasion of England, Francia, expeditions to the Mediterranean, Iceland and North America, engagement with the Rus all tided together into a few lifetimes. This departure from history is something that Shane Cubis explains:
What is most ironic is the argument that ‘Vikings‘ themselves are a fictious invention. As Alex Woolf suggests, “There was no such thing as a ‘Viking’ in the medieval period”.
It could be argued that this is really an issue with how we talk about the whole medieval period:
The problem is that boxing things and putting labels can help provide a sense of understanding and control, no matter how false that might be.