<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article* will look at how domestic and sexual violence against women is presented in the Icelandic folk legend collections from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Gender-based violence is a subject relatively absent in Icelandic legend collections which were mostly told, collected and published by men (the exception being the collection of Torfhildur Þorsteinssdóttir Hólm). Violence plays a role in the subordination of women, and there is good reason to consider how violence against women is portrayed in the oral legends of the past. I will among other things consider the effect these particular legends might have had on those who heard them and examine the roles of the legends in maintaining and shaping a discourse which in many cases may well have attempted to normalise this violence.</p></abstract>

This article* will look at how domestic and sexual violence against women is presented in the Icelandic folk legend collections from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Gender-based violence is a subject relatively absent in Icelandic legend collections which were mostly told, collected and published by men (the exception being the collection of Torfhildur Þorsteinssdóttir Hólm). Violence plays a role in the subordination of women, and there is good reason to consider how violence against women is portrayed in the oral legends of the past. I will among other things consider the effect these particular legends might have had on those who heard them and examine the roles of the legends in maintaining and shaping a discourse which in many cases may well have attempted to normalise this violence.

“Obey My Will Or Suffer”:<sup>1</sup> Violence Against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Obey My Will Or Suffer”: Violence Against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends

This article* will look at how domestic and sexual violence against women is presented in the Icelandic folk legend collections from the 19th and early 20th...

“Obey My Will Or Suffer”:¹ Violence Against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends

Publié en ligne: 21 déc. 2020

Pages: 17 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2020-0014

Mots clés
folk legends, gender studies, women, violence, Iceland

© 2020 Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Obey My Will Or Suffer”:1 Violence Against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends

Publié en ligne: 21 déc. 2020

Pages: 17 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2020-0014

Mots clésfolk legends, gender studies, women, violence, Iceland

© 2020 Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Obey My Will Or Suffer”:¹ Violence Against Women in Icelandic Folk Legends

Mots clés
folk legends, gender studies, women, violence, Iceland