Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Mapping Nordic Exceptionalism with GIS : The Odin Migration Theory and the Search for a Northern Heritage

Joiner, Jorunn LU orcid and Komnæs, Mari LU (2025) p.229-250
Abstract
Jorunn Joiner and Mari Komnæs also employ digital tools, albeit other ones, to shed light on the interaction between narratives of exceptionalism, travel, and place. In ‘Mapping Nordic Exceptionalism with GIS: The Odin Migration Theory and the Search for a Northern Heritage’, they use digital mapping tools to visualise the journeys of two travellers from different centuries in their search for a Nordic origin in southern Russia. The authors map the eighteenth-century journey of the British naturalist Edward Daniel Clarke to Azov, on the Don River. Clarke sought evidence that the Norse god Odin had been a historical figure with origins in the region. Two hundred years later, in 1980, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl found himself in... (More)
Jorunn Joiner and Mari Komnæs also employ digital tools, albeit other ones, to shed light on the interaction between narratives of exceptionalism, travel, and place. In ‘Mapping Nordic Exceptionalism with GIS: The Odin Migration Theory and the Search for a Northern Heritage’, they use digital mapping tools to visualise the journeys of two travellers from different centuries in their search for a Nordic origin in southern Russia. The authors map the eighteenth-century journey of the British naturalist Edward Daniel Clarke to Azov, on the Don River. Clarke sought evidence that the Norse god Odin had been a historical figure with origins in the region. Two hundred years later, in 1980, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl found himself in the same place, participating in an archaeological excavation. Joiner and Komnæs’s digital map thus highlights how digital GIS technology can make visible geographical movements, focusing on the Azov region. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
travel literature, digital humanities, geographical information systems (GIS), nordic geography, heritage, data visualisation
host publication
The Exceptional North : Past and Present Perspectives on Nordicness - Past and Present Perspectives on Nordicness
editor
Rix, Robert W. ; Bergström, Eva-Lena ; Duffy, Cian and Roos, Merethe
pages
22 pages
publisher
De Gruyter Oldenbourg
external identifiers
  • scopus:105024022689
ISBN
9783112205266
9783119147804
DOI
10.1515/9783112205266-013
project
OMI - Odin's Migration Interactive
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8db855ff-70fb-4b77-b7b5-6bedc174656d
date added to LUP
2025-12-30 11:14:38
date last changed
2026-02-06 04:01:12
@inbook{8db855ff-70fb-4b77-b7b5-6bedc174656d,
  abstract     = {{Jorunn Joiner and Mari Komnæs also employ digital tools, albeit other ones, to shed light on the interaction between narratives of exceptionalism, travel, and place. In ‘Mapping Nordic Exceptionalism with GIS: The Odin Migration Theory and the Search for a Northern Heritage’, they use digital mapping tools to visualise the journeys of two travellers from different centuries in their search for a Nordic origin in southern Russia. The authors map the eighteenth-century journey of the British naturalist Edward Daniel Clarke to Azov, on the Don River. Clarke sought evidence that the Norse god Odin had been a historical figure with origins in the region. Two hundred years later, in 1980, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl found himself in the same place, participating in an archaeological excavation. Joiner and Komnæs’s digital map thus highlights how digital GIS technology can make visible geographical movements, focusing on the Azov region.}},
  author       = {{Joiner, Jorunn and Komnæs, Mari}},
  booktitle    = {{The Exceptional North : Past and Present Perspectives on Nordicness}},
  editor       = {{Rix, Robert W. and Bergström, Eva-Lena and Duffy, Cian and Roos, Merethe}},
  isbn         = {{9783112205266}},
  keywords     = {{travel literature; digital humanities; geographical information systems (GIS); nordic geography; heritage; data visualisation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{229--250}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter Oldenbourg}},
  title        = {{Mapping Nordic Exceptionalism with GIS : The Odin Migration Theory and the Search for a Northern Heritage}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783112205266-013}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/9783112205266-013}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}