From Iceland to the Americas Conference Information

I came across this on the Medieval Academy of America blog (http://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/conferences-from-iceland-to-the-americas/). The organizers offer limited information on the conference, but it seems this could have been so much more. Details to date follow.


From Iceland to the Americas
September 24-26, 2018
https://notredame-web.ungerboeck.com/coe/coe_p2_details.aspx?eventid=20156&sessionid=ff8fblfa6fg5ff2fan

The medieval Icelandic sagas claim that around the year 1000 Leif Eriksson and other Nordic explorers sailed westwards from Iceland to a place they called Vinland. Although archeological evidence has verified only one small, short-lived Norse settlement in Newfoundland, the contact initiated by Leif has had an outsized impact on cultural imagination in and of the Americas. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, indeed, novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, and now films and video games have all reflected a rising interest in the medieval Norse presence. In this three-day conference, 14 international authorities on archeology, mythology, literature, language, and cultural studies will gather to discuss this Nordic dynamic, not only exploring the connections among medieval Iceland and the modern Americas, but also probing why medieval contact has become a modern cultural touchstone.



Speakers: Christopher Abram, Adolf Friðriksson, Dustin Geeraert, Simon Halink, Kevin J. Harty, Jón Karl Helgason, Verena Höfig, Seth Lerer, Emily Lethbridge, T. W. Machan, Amy Mulligan, Heather O’Donoghue, Matthew Scribner, Angela Sorby, Bergur Þorgeirsson.


Short version:

A three-day international conference exploring the impact that brief medieval Norse settlements have had on cultural imagination in and of the Americas – in novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, films, and video games.

For additional information, contact Tim Machan (tmachan@nd.edu)


Promotional flier available for view at https://medieval.nd.edu/news-events/events/2018/09/26/from-iceland-to-the-americas/.


REGISTRATION: (link)

Registration includes meeting materials, refreshments, reception, Monday 24th, and lunch on Tuesday 25th.
Faculty Registration $50
Graduate Students/Post Doc $20
ND/St Mary’s Faculty/Student/Staff $0



REGISTRATION deadline September 17, 2018