This article irked me, it seems like the author gathered cheap observations and tried to give it an air of scholarly analysis."Icelanders like outdoor activities. Must be because of their Viking roots!". "Icelanders have a strong sense of community, must be because of their Viking roots!".
Looking over from europe, the first tl;dr impression I got was "Icelanders aren't anglosaxon!" which is odd because I'd guess the current inhabitants of former Angle, Saxon, and Jute lands behave much more like icelanders than like BoJo's chums.
Could westward overseas migration have done something to the cultures?
To expand on my point (noting difference, not ascribing valence![1]), of these claims from TFA:
- word for keeping on trucking through life's challenges
- love of hot pools and hiking
- toponyms lasting over 1'000 years
- importance of hospitality
- importance of society
- wide kinship networks
- seasonal livestock drives
- longstanding democratic traditions
- attested body of folklore
- register of official names
all fit my local culture, and I'd claim most elements can be found (not only in low germany and denmark, but) all over eurasia[2]. If they seem odd to the author, I claim that says more about the uniqueness of her own culture than the uniqueness of Íslensk menning.
[1] To be perfectly explicit: that was an observation that these differences exist, not a claim that either side of the channel were better than the other.
[2] Most european cultures, for instance, have a native phrase for wishing one's companions a good meal.
Just throwing in that genetic make-up of icelanders is surprisingly diverse, it's not as "Norse" as one could believe from just the language and culture.
Not trying to make any particular point with that tidbit.
