Paper short abstract:

Shores are spaces of periphery and domesticity; a local as well as transcultural arena. To track that which drifts upon it brings one on a journey through its connecting seas and shifting borderlines and, in this presentation, to case studies of Iceland's shores and transnational media images.

Paper long abstract:

Shores and beaches are spaces of both periphery and domesticity; a local as well as transcultural and transnational arena. To track that which drifts upon this liminal "borderland" brings one on a journey through its connecting seas and various shifting borderlines. The North Atlantic and Arctic seas present us with dynamic cases and representations of peace and conflict. They are a source of curious, yet crucial, transarctic resources but also narratives of hazardous journeys and encounters with "the other". Narratives and material objects on northern shores offer cultural and gendered perspectives on these spaces as gateways to a remote, and sometimes masculine north. Ranging from Old-Norse poetry and prose to contemporary legends, narratives of the shore express both worldviews and local knowledge of beaches as crucial to transnational networks. They express also how traditional and familial life stretches into this liminal territory and how it is affected by climate change and human conflict. Whether it be driftwood, polar bears, warships, or people, whatever washes ashore has particular local significance and, ultimately, global implications in the representation of the north and its people. Narratives in both traditional folk narrative and in new media also reveal imaginaries of the "foreign" and "foreigner", and of human and non-human in-betweenness. They present images of movement, displacement, bounty, escape and crises, and the moral dilemmas of encountering refugees. This presentation explores vernacular aspects of these dynamics through case studies of Iceland's shores and transnational media images.