Urban Diaspora 2.39

Urban Diaspora – Diaspora Communities and Materiality in Early Modern Urban Centers

Urban Diaspora is a research projekt on Early Modern diaspora communities in Denmark and Sweden, funded by the National Research Foundation of the Humanities/FKK.

The multicultural nature of Danish cities is debated every day, but that is nothing new. This research project aims to redress the balance by providing an insight into the relationship between Danes and the foreigners who came to our cities in the Early Modern period, c. 1450-1650. Written sources tell us that up to one third of the inhabitants of Danish cities were of foreign descent at this time. However, these diaspora communities have not as yet been the subject of systematic archaeological research. Our aim is to shed light on how immigrant groups interacted with each other, with their new society and with the societies they left behind. The project takes as its starting point a study of diaspora communities in Aalborg, Aarhus, Elsinore and Nya Lödöse near Gothenburg. It encompasses studies of the materiality of diaspora communities, conflicts between them and their new host societies, their local and international networks and their links with their homelands: Ground-breaking research that aims to address the roles of diaspora communities in the formation of Early Modern Denmark.

Participants in the project:

Dr Jette Linaa, Curator of Historical Archaeology, Antiquarian Department, Moesgaard Museum (Head of Project)

Christian Vrængmose Jensen, MA, archaeologist, Nordjyllands Historiske Museum

Dr. Christina Rosén, archaeologist, Swedish National Heritage Board Contract
Archaeological Service West

Dr. Daniel Larsson, researcher, Department of History, University of Gothenburg

Emma Maltin, MA, archaeozoologist Bohusläns Museum

Dr. phil. Inge Enghoff, archaeozoologist, research associate professor, Zoological Museum National History Museum of
Denmark University of Copenhagen

Dr. Jakob Ørnsbjerg, post.doc in Urban Diaspora, The Danish Centre for Urban History/I Department of Culture and Society, University of Aarhus

Dr. Jens Heimdahl, kvartærgeolog, Swedish National Heritage Board Contract
Archaeological Service West

Dr. Kristina Carlsson, archaeologist, Contract Archaeological Service West

Liv Appel, MA, Souchef, Museum Nordsjælland

Nanna Holm Gade, MA, Curator, Museum Sydøstdanmark

Peter Mose Jensen, MA, archaeobotanist, Department of Conservation and Science, Moesgaard Museum

Fil. dr. Rainer Atzbach, Associale Professor, University of Aarhus