Paper #1

The common questions of this course are:

1. How does group membership affect identity? 
2. What are the causes and effects of inequality between and within groups? 
3. What does it mean to live in a diverse community?

In reading the Vinland Sagas, we are not witnessing a diverse community. But there are dividing lines in this society. Write a 3-page paper that examines how the society that we have witnessed in the sagas might help us answer these core questions. What are the groups and fissures in Viking society? How is power arranged within the groups? How do conflicts break out between cultures? What does it mean to live in an explicitly non-diverse community?

You will begin your paper with a thesis that articulates your argument. We will discuss this in class.