Abstract
For some time, scholars have stressed the centrality of colonialism and imperialism for European identity formations, in addition calling for increased destabilisation of the boundaries between colonised and colonisers, thus looking at colonialism in more nuanced ways. This chapter explores some of the complications and contradictions of Danish colonialism during the nineteenth century, using Iceland and the Caribbean as case examples. The discussion is twofold: On the one hand, it emphasises Icelandic representations of skin colour, and their special relationship to the colonial metropole. On the other hand, it explores the case of Hans Jonatan, who was born into slavery on a sugar plantation in St. Croix, later transferred to Copenhagen as part of a white household, then, after the abolition of slavery in Denmark, sentenced to go back to St. Croix, eventually escaping to Iceland, where he settled and raised a family. We suggest that this case highlights contradictory notions of colonial relationships.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Agnarsdóttir, A. (2006). Iceland in the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries: Cast adrift by the Oldenburg and saved by the Hanoverians? An interpretation. In E. Heinzelmann, S. Robl, & T. Riis (Eds.), Der dänische Gesamtstaat: Ein unterschätztes Weltreich? (pp. 11–14). Kiel: Ludwig.
Agnarsdóttir, A. (2008). The Danish empire: The special case of Iceland. In M. N. Harris & C. Lévai (Eds.), Europe and its empires (pp. 59–84). Pisa: Pisa University Press.
Benediktsson, J. (1971). Formáli. Íslandslýsing: Qualiscunque descriptio Islandiae. (S. Pálsson, & O. Einarsson, Editors, Trans.). Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs.
Benson, S. (2006). Injurious names: Naming, disavowal, and recuperation in contexts of slavery and emancipation. In G. vom Bruck & B. Bodenhorn (Eds.), The anthropology of names and naming (pp. 178–199). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davis, D. B. (2006). Inhuman bondage: The rise and fall of slavery in the new world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dirks, N. B. (1992). Introduction: Colonialism and culture. In N. B. Dirks (Ed.), Colonialism and culture (pp. 1–26). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Durrenberger, P., & Pálsson, G. (1989). Introduction. In P. Durrenberger & G. Pálsson (Eds.), The anthropology of Iceland (ix–xxvii). Iowa: University of Iowa Press.
Finnbogason, G. (1925). Eðlisfar Íslendinga [The nature of Icelanders]. Skírnir, 99, 150–160.
Finch, J. (2008). Naming names: Kinship, individuality and personal names. Sociology, 42(4), 709–725.
Friedman, J. B. (2000). The monstrous races in medieval art and thought. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Gikandi, S. (2011). Slavery and the culture of taste. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hall, N. A. T. (1992). Slave society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. Jamaica: The University of the West Indies Press.
Highfield, A. R., & Tyson, G. F. (Eds.). (2009). Negotiating enslavement: Perspectives on slavery in the Danish West Indies. St. Croix: Antilles.
Holsoe, S. E. (2009). Coping with enslavement: A women’s network in Christiansted. In A. R. Highfield & G. F. Tyson (Eds.), Negotiating enslavement: Perspectives on slavery in the Danish West Indies (pp. 59–75). St. Croix: Antilles.
Horning, A. (2011). Subduing tendencies? Colonialism, capitalism, and comparative Atlantic archaeologies. In S. K. Croucher & L. Weiss (Eds.), Archaeology of capitalism in colonial context: Postcolonial historical archaeologies (pp. 65–84). New York: Springer.
Jakobsson, S. (2001). Útlendingar á Íslandi á miðöldum. Andvari, nýr flokkur XLIII, 126, 36–51.
Jochens, J. (1999). Þjóðir og kynþættir á fyrstu öldum Íslandsbyggðar (pp. 179–217). Tímarit Sögufélagsins: Saga.
Jónsson, S. (1987). Að breyta fjalli. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
Jørgensen, T. C. (1957). Anders Sandøe Ørsted: Juristen og Politikeren. Copenhagen: Arne Frost-Hansens Forlag.
Karlsdóttir, U. B. (1998). Mannkynsbætur: Hugmyndir um bætta kynstofna herlendis og erlendis á 19. og 20.öld. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan.
Karlsson, G. (1995). The Emerge of Nationalism in Iceland. In S. Tägil (Ed.), Ethnicity and nation building in the Nordic world (pp. 33–62). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Kristjánsdóttir, B. S., Halldórsson, B., Torfason, J., & Thorson, Ö. (Eds.). (1991). Heimskringla III: Lykilbók. Reykjavík Hið íslenska Bókmenntafélag.
Larsen, A. F. (2008). Slavernes slægt. Copenhagen: Danmarks Radio.
Laxness, H. (1999). Independent people (J. A. Thompson, Trans.). London: Harvill.
Loftsdóttir, K. (2008). Shades of Otherness: Representations of Africa in 19th-century Iceland. Social Anthropology, 16(2), 172–186.
Loftsdóttir, K. (2009). Pure manliness: The colonial project and Africa’s image in 19th century Iceland. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 16, 271–293.
Loftsdóttir, K. (2010). Encountering others in the Icelandic schoolbooks: Images of imperialism and racial diversity in the 19th century. In Þ. Helgason & S. Lässig (Eds.), Opening the mind or drawing boundaries? History texts in Nordic schools (pp. 81–105). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht University Press.
Loftsdóttir, K., & Hipfl, B. (2012). Introduction. In B. Hipfl & K. Loftsdóttir (Eds.), Teaching ‘race’ with a gendered edge. Budapest: ATGENDER, Central European Press.
Miller, C. L. (1985). Blank darkness: Africanist discourse in French. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mullings, L. (2005). Interrogating racism: Toward an antiracist anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34, 667–693.
Nordal, G., Tómasson, S., & Ólason, V. (1992). Íslensk bókmenntasaga. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan.
Obeyesekere, G. (2006). Karma and rebirth: A cross cultural study. Delhi: Motilab Banarsidass.
Oslund, K. (2011). Iceland imagined: Nature, culture and storytelling in the North Atlantic. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Oddsson, G. (1821). Almenn Landskipunarfræði. Copenhagen: Hið Íslenska bókmenntafélag.
Pálsson, G. (1995). The textual life of savants: Ethnography, Iceland, and the linguistic turn. Chur: Harwood Academic.
Pálsson, G. (2005). Travelling passions: The hidden life of Vilhjalmur Stefansson. (K. Kunz, Trans.) Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.
Pálsson, G. (n.d.). Hans Jónatan: Ævisaga. (Hans Jonatan: A Biography). Reykjavik.
Pálsson, G., & Guðbjörnsson, S. Ö. (2011). Make no bones about it: The invention of Homo Islandicus. Acta Borealia, 28(2), 119–141.
Pálsson, H. (1978). Straumar og stefnur í íslenskum bókmenntum frá 1550. Reykjavík: Iðunn.
Parker, M. (2011). The Sugar Barons: Family, corruption, empire, and war in the West Indies. New York: Walker.
Rediker, M. (2007). The Slave Ship. London: Viking.
Scott, J. C., Tehranian, J., & Mathias, J. (2002). The production of legal identities proper to states: The case of the permanent family surname. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 44(1), 4–44.
Skírnir: Tíðindi hins íslenska bókmenntafélags (1832) Copenhagen and Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag.
Smedley, A. (1998). “Race” and the construction of human identity. American Anthropologist, 100(3), 690–702.
Steiner, C. B. (1995). Travel engravings and the construction of the primitive. In E. Barkan & R. Bush (Eds.), Prehistories of the future (pp. 202–225). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Stephensen, M. (1797) Skémtileg vina gleði í fróðlegum samræðum og ljóðmælum leidd í ljós af Magnúsi Stephensen, lögmanni yfir Norður og Austur lögdæmi Íslands. Volume 1. Leirárgörðum við Leirá.
Stoler, A. L. (2002). Carnal knowledge and imperial power: Race and the intimate in colonial rule. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Waaben, K. (1964). A. S. Ørsted og negerslaverne i København. Juristen, 321–343.
Acknowledgements
We thank Svend Holsoe, Helgi Már Reynisson, George Tyson, and the editors for stimulating discussions, important advice on sources of evidence, and excellent comments on the text and arguments we develop.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Loftsdóttir, K., Pálsson, G. (2013). Black on White: Danish Colonialism, Iceland and the Caribbean. In: Naum, M., Nordin, J. (eds) Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, vol 37. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6202-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6202-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6201-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6202-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)