Steilneset Memorial and Feminicide

This book brings together contributions from female authors on feminicide and violence against women. Steilneset Memorial in Finnmark, Norway was built by Norwegian Scenic Routes to commemorate the victims of the Finnmark witchcraft trials in the seventeenth century. The memorial was opened in 2011, and is based on three components: art, architecture, and history. The artist is Louise Bourgeois, who created an art installation. The architect is Peter Zumthor, who designed the memorial's two buildings. The historian is Liv Helene Willumsen, who wrote one commemoratory text for each of the victims. The majority were women: of the 91 persons who were executed, 77 were women and only 14 were men. This book therefore uses Steilneset Memorial as a starting point to explore contemporary feminicide and violence against women, as the misogyny which was fundamental to the persecution of alleged witches in the 1600s is still seen today throughout the world.

Brings together research essays and reflective pieces from historians, literary scholars, and artists Explores the role of misogyny in the seventeenth-century Finnmark witchcraft trials Spotlights the art, architecture and history of the contemporary Steilneset Memorial

Autorentext

• Liv Helene Willumsen **is Professor Emerita of History at the Department of History, University of Tromsø, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

• Reidun Laura Andreassen is an Archeologist, formerly Director of Cultural Heritage by Finnmark County Authority. She was one of the initiators of the building of Steilneset Memorial in Finnmark, Norway.

  Inhalt

Introduction: Reidun Laura Andreassen and Liv Helene Willumsen.- Part I.- Steilneset Memorial: The Process and the Result; Reidun Laura Andreassen.- Steilneset Memorial: Perhaps our Most Important Scenic Route Project: Trine Kanter Zerwekh.-Part II.- Louise Bourgeois: The Damned, the Possessed, and the Beloved; Siri Hustvedt.- Louise Bourgeois's Installation in the High North; Alison Karasyk Hines.- Part III.- Burning Skies; Synnøve Persen.- Raising their Voices with Tenderness; Noelle Harrison.- Part IV.- Steilneset and the Flocks of Birds; Nora Joung.- The Trial of Maren Olsdatter; Amelia Hawk.- Part V.- Violence Against Women: Across Cultures and Structures; Randi Rønning Balsvik.- Feminicide, 'War on Women', and Steilneset Memorial; Christelle Taraud.- The Witches Gynecide, the Ancestor of Today's Feminicides; Armelle Les Bras-Chopard.- Witch-Hunting and the Fear of the Power of Women; Silvia Federici.- Female Desire in Witchcraft Tales; Marina Montesano.- Gender and Ethnicity: The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark, 1600-1692; Liv Helene Willumsen.- The Trial of Karen Edisdatter and its Consequences, Finnmark 1620; Marion Gibson.- Steilneset Memorial Between Witchcraft Trials, Historical Experience and Experience of History; Raisa Maria Toivo.- Part VI.- Museums and Ethical Dissemination of Traumatic History: Steilneset Memorial; Synnøve Fotland Eikevik.- From Magic to Witchcraft Trials: Guiding Visitors at Steilneset Memorial; Anne Maren K. Nilsen.