Conclusion
The case of Ulfhednar shows how reenactment can become a means of conveying representations of life worlds to a wider audience that are not grounded in modern research. Objects and symbols are used with a questionable basisin archaeological or historical sources or no basis at all.
Instead, the history conceptions stem from other visual repertoires, including from political and ideological spheres. In this way, non-verified and sometimes decidedly politically charged symbols and historical images reach and influence the public, be it in museums, on TV programs, or even on the stages of rock and heavy metal festivals. As different as their individual motivations may be, references to supposed “ancestors” from a positively imagined pre-modern period or even a self-image as pagan or neopagan often unite the actors of these overlapping fields. As demonstrated in the examples above, they derive from this a personal legitimation and reliable competence to gain insights and formulate statements about the ways of life or secular and religious convictions of their “forefathers,” yet they reproduce—even if partly unconsciously—themes propagated by volkisch-religious groups at the turn of the 20th century.Starting with the conflict between claims to historical authenticity and personal, unscholarly views in which ideas and depictions of early historical societies operate through reenactment groups, the case of Ulfhednar shows how part of the reenactment scene, in close association with subcultures and networks that include right-wing extremists, reproduces neopagan- oriented, Germanomanic and ultimately volkisch ideologies. The brief insights into the Polish reenactment scene confirm that this is not an isolated case. For many participants, the sense of belonging and identification with idealized early historical ethnic groups paves the way to the construction of a national past, from which it may be just a small step to ethnonationalism.
Apart from that, escaping from everyday life is seen as a supposed return to the allegedly simple, natural lifestyle of ancestors with clear social roles and hierarchies. This may well reflect something the participants yearn for in today’s world rather than plausible conclusions of academic archaeological research. Yet this escapism, too, encounters models and anti-modernist conceptions propagated by far-right politics and could potentially be susceptible to political exploitation.At this point, museums and academic archaeology need to further enlighten the public that former conceptions of history have become obsolete in current research discourse and are being replaced by much more sophisticated attempts to understand prehistoric and early medieval societies. Moreover, we need to ask how open-air museums and similar public-law institutions should act (even more) carefully and responsibly while developing and mediating certain historical narratives. If they provide their facilities as a stage for reenactment events, they should also supervise such performances and offer dialogue with performers and the audience in order to prevent the perpetuation of narrow-minded conceptions of history that invite comparisons with extreme right-wing views. Otherwise, they run the risk of reenacting the ideological thought patterns of the Volkisch movement of the 19th∕20th centuries instead of images of ancient life.
More on the topic Conclusion:
- Conclusions
- Western and Central Eurasia
- Industrious revolutions in early modern world history
- Early polities of the Western Sudan
- Tiwanaku urban origins: distributed centers and animate landscapes