Center

Sverrir Jakobsson has been doing really interesting work on the intellectual history of Iceland, and was one of the presenters at the conference I just went to.* He uses the concept of center and periphery, which, as other members of the INOR group believe, has been incredibly influential on Icelandic culture in particular, because it has more continually existed on the periphery. Other places have at some point in time been in a position to believe they were the center of something, but Icelanders have never done that. Having a center, finding the thing against which one can measure one's own goals, ideas, and aspirations, should in fact be a very healthy thing, a thing which helps a nation, like a person, stop floundering around aimlessly. But there is also some sense in which that is a sign of insecurity, that the center should not be so far off from oneself. 

Now, Iceland can see itself as the epicenter of the banking crisis, which is not a causal center but still at least something. 

*Unfortunately, he bugged out of the conference the minute after giving his talk.  

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