Birkakrigarens normutmaning

: Låter vi våra nutida uppfattningar av genus och normer färga dåtida sanningar?

Abstract

During an excavation of ancient Viking graves in Birka, a grave with several weapons and other belongings was found.This grave was long believed to contain a male Viking warrior, but later DNA examinations of the skeleton showed thatthe individual in the grave was a woman. After this revelation, a discourse broke out around this article and its findings,with many criticizing the find and suggesting that the individual in the grave was a warrior and a man, and could nothave been a woman. An analysis of this discourse has taken place through a critical discourse analysis. The analysisshowed that modality of high affinity has been used in a large part of discourses that focus on gender norms and genderperceptions. Thus, the authors have largely expressed their personal perceptions of sex and gender as the absolute truth.The biggest problem that has existed in this discourse is that this type of criticism is never directed at the supposed malegraves. "Man as the norm" and the questioning of women's influence and role in society permeate the discussions.Major criticism is also directed at the reference management of all analyzed articles, many of which statements are notsupported by sufficiently good citations.

Date of Award	2023-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Jonas Ringström (Supervisor) & Sari Pekkola (Examiner)