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Around 8200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the west coast of South Norway. The physical extent of the tsunami has been well documented but the consequences of the event for contemporary societies have received little attention beyond broad generalizations and, more recently, demographic studies based on statistical modeling of radiocarbon dates. In this paper, we explore whether the different physical impacts of the Storrega tsunami could have initiated observed regional developments in lithic technology. We have analyzed lithic assemblages from 30 carefully selected Middle and Late Mesolithic sites (dated between c. 7500 and 5000 cal BC) spread across six designated “focus areas” along the coast of western South-Norway. We identified five blade production concepts in use during the Late Mesolithic and highlight potentially significant differences in their spatial and temporal distribution. Although neither the tsunami nor the environmental stresses experienced by Mesolithic communities appear to have prompted large breaks in traditional practices, we suggest that the event marks a point in time from where specific differences and modifications in lithic technology start developing at a local scale. We argue that sudden, yet transitory events such as the Storegga tsunami, may rupture the historical contingency of social networks and communication lines resulting in changing social contexts influencing material change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, there has been an increased emphasis on enabling students to recognise the real-world significance of mathematics. Mathematical literacy is a notion used to define the competencies required to meet the demands of life in modern society. In this article, students' encounters with mathematical literacy are investigated. The data comprises interviews with 22 students and observations of 16 mathematics lessons in three grade 9 classes in Norway. The analysis shows that students' encounters with mathematical literacy concern specific mathematical topics and contexts from personal and work life. Students' encounters with ML in school is characterised by an emphasis on developing mathematical knowledge within the school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses how history was used in efforts to portray Norway in the postwar period. The main narratives of Norwegian history played a dominating role in the construction of national images during this period. These narratives had been constructed as part of the nation-building processes of the 19th century. In several aspects, the historical narratives used in portrayals of Norway mirrored developments in Norwegian historiography in the period. In the 1960s, however, the use of these narratives to portray Norway became problematic, owing to the priority given to a new rationale of information and demands that Norway should be portrayed as a modern society. The article takes a use-of-history approach as a point of departure and argues that such an approach is fruitful in studies of how national images are constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary European societies, which for decades have been going through a process of redefinition as a result of migratory phenomena, Islamophobia is certainly one of the conflicts that must be discussed and tackled. The Norwegian postmigration literature, which portrays the life of the "second generation", provides interesting insights into this problem. If on the one hand there are many cases showing that Islamophobia negatively affects the lives of young Muslims, on the other they express the desire to talk about themselves and to be recognized as full-fledged Norwegian citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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