Old wine in new bottles: The recent revival of Germanic culture on Instagram

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Abstract

Over the past few decades scholars researching the Germanic tribes have noted a surge in interest in the world of the Germanic tribes – their culture, customs and beliefs. This interest is fuelled partly by popular television series such as Vikings and Barbarians and a surge in the use of Germanic and/or Norse mythology in music, especially in black metal and in folk music. At the same time, over the past decade and a half, social media platforms have evolved into conversation platforms where people can share their interests and thoughts and also find other people who share their interests. One of the most popular social media platforms is Instagram, which is the platform explored in the current study.

The aim of the present study is to determine the extent to which an interest in the Germanic world manifests itself on the social media platform Instagram, whether an increase in interest can be found, and what concepts are associated with the Germanic world. To this end, all posts with the hashtag #germanic are analysed, from the first post in 2012 to the end of 2020, with a total of 39 219 posts. The 68 3571 hashtags used in conjunction with these posts, of which 56 343 are unique hashtags, are also extracted and the most common hashtags are categorised against the background of the literature on the Germanic tribes.

Hashtags are classified into nine categories: language and culture, place names, periods, heritage, warrior culture, texts, religion and culture, nature and popular culture. It is shown, among other things, that there is a clear connection between the Germanic language and culture and that of Scandinavia on Instagram, that Instagram users associate the Germanic tribes with Northern Europe in particular, that the Germanic tribes are mentioned especially in the context of the Dark Ages, that texts such as Beowulf, the Eddas and the Nibelungenlied play an important role in this discourse, and that Odin is the god most often mentioned, followed by Thor and Frey. Furthermore, Mjolnir is the symbol most often mentioned, followed by the vegvísir; animals most commonly associated with the Germanic tribes are the wolf and the raven; and forests and winter are the nature scenes most often mentioned. In terms of popular culture, the groups Wardruna and Faun are mentioned the most, followed by Heilung, but the connection with black metal is also shown. However, film does not play an important role in this discourse, while the role of television series such as Vikings and Barbarians is difficult to determine with certainty, as these series’ titles are terms that can also be used more commonly.

Furthermore, it is shown that posts with the hashtag #germanic have increased almost every year since 2012, especially since 2018. This increase in posts indicates a significant increase in interest in the Germanic tribes’ world. By identifying the language of captions, we also show that although the discourse takes place mainly in English and German, Portuguese and Icelandic are also used in a large number of posts.

Keywords: black metal; Europe; folk music; Germanic tribes; Germanic religions; Germanic culture; Germanic mythology; hashtags; Heilung; heritage; Instagram; migration period; Norwegian mythology; social media; Vikings; Wardruna

 

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Ou wyn in nuwe sakke: Die onlangse herlewing van die Germaanse kultuur op Instagram

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