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Other Research Projects in the Field.
Several research groups and institutes are currently operating which have representations and images of the North as topics of research.
Imaginatio borealis: Perzeption,
Rezeption
und Konstruktion des Nordens
The University of Kiel, Germany, hosts a
research project entitled Imaginatio
borealis: Perzeption, Rezeption und Konstruktion des Nordens, launched in
1999. This project is funded by the
German Research Foundation and by the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The project is generally concerned with the
study of images of the North that have proved to be
effective in everyday culture, history, language, literature and in the realm
of the fine arts. The research project
centers on doctoral studies by students in this field. The project has recently been awarded a grant
for a third grant period. (See www.uni-kiel.de/imaginatio.) Formal cooperation has been undertaken between
INOR and this German project.
Den europæiske konstruktion af Norden
1700-1820:
Fra dystopi til utopi
Since 2001, a research group
composed mainly of Scandinavian scholars has been investigating conceptions of
the North under the rubric Den europæiske
konstruktion af Norden 1700-1820: Fra dystopi til utopi. This research
project is coordinated by Karen Klitgaard Poulsen, Professor at the University
of Aarhus, Denmark. The group consists
of sixteen scholars from the Nordic countries, Germany and the United States
and focuses primarily on the changing images of the North during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
One of the two project directors of INOR,
Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson, is among these sixteen scholars.
Laboratoire
international d'étude multidisciplinaire
comparée des représentations du Nord
Since 2003, Laboratoire international d'étude multidisciplinaire comparée des représentations du Nord (International Laboratory for the Comparative Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North) at the University of Québec in Montréal, Canada, has conducted research on the diverse forms which the image of the North assumes. This research center is to a large extent funded by the prestigious Canadian Innovation Fund. The center's web site is www.imaginairedunord.uqam.ca.
Arctic Discourses
In the year 2005, a research project was initiated in
Tromsø, Norway, under the title Arctic Discourses. This research project is restricted to
scholars in the field of literature at the University of Tromsø, but also
involves collaboration with foreign scholars.
The research tradition based on Edward Said’s approach is a guiding
principle for this project. A similar
project is also underway at the University of Umeå in Sweden. Iceland is not the specific focus of any of
these research projects mentioned above, but there are a few instances in which
individual participants undertake projects which relate to Iceland. The INOR
group thus regards it as imperative to connect the research which has been
conducted in Iceland to similar studies in neighboring countries. Such ties are currently being forged among
research groups in Reykjavík (INOR),
Tromsø in Norway, Umeå in Sweden, Tampere in Finland, Valencienne in France and
Montréal in Canada. The first step in
preparation for such collaboration was an application to the Canadian Research
Council for a grant to establish an International Network Team involving the
directors of different research projects on images of the North.
Individual Scholars
Several scholars
have conducted research on images of Iceland and related issues; a few of these
will be mentioned here. Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson has discussed images of Iceland as the
Other in articles and in the book Ísland,
framandi land (1996). Gary Aho has
also discussed images of Iceland in the article “Með Ísland á heilanum. Íslandsbækur breskra ferðalanga 1772-1897”
(“Obsessed with Iceland. The Iceland books of British travelers,
1772-1897”) (Skírnir, spring
1993). Karen Oslund has discussed
changes in the image of Iceland
in the late eighteenth century in the article “Umbreyting og framfarir:
samanburðarrannsókn á byggðunum við Norður-Atlantshaf á tímum upplýsingarinnar”
(“Transformation and progress: a comparative study of settlements on the North Atlantic during the Age of Enlightenment”) (Saga 2003). Andrew Wawn has discussed the reception of
Icelandic and Norse cultural heritage in Britain, cf. The Vikings and the Victorians (2000). Sigrún Pálsdóttir has also discussed the
reception of Icelandic culture in Britain, e.g. in her article,
“Bresk stjórnmál í ljósi íslenskrar menningar: sjálfstæðisbarátta Íslendinga og
umræðan um heimastjórn á Írlandi á síðari hluta 19. aldar” (“British politics
in the light of Icelandic culture: the Icelandic independence movement and
discussion of home rule in Ireland
in the late nineteenth century”) (Saga 2002). Óskar Bjarnason has
addressed similar topics in relation to Germany: “Þegar Íslendingar urðu
forfeður Þjóðverja. Eddur,
Íslendingasögur og þjóðmenntastefna Diedrichsforlagsins 1911-1930” (“When the
Icelanders became the ancestors of the Germans.
Eddas, Sagas of Icelanders and the national culture policy of the
Diedrich publishing house, 1911-1930”) (Skírnir,
spring 1999). The German scholar Julia Zernack studied the
reception of Sagas of Icelanders in Germany in her dissertation, Geschichten aus Thule: Íslendingasögur in
Übersetzungen deutscher Germanisten (1994).
Numerous studies of Icelanders’ self-images have
also been conducted in recent years.
Prominent among these are studies by Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, e.g. Íslenska þjóðríkið, uppruni og endimörk
(The Icelandic nation: origin and limits) (Reykjavík 2001); by Sigríður
Matthíasdóttir, e.g. Hinn sanni
Íslendingur (The true Icelander) (Reykjavík 2004); and by Úlfhildur
Dagsdóttir, e.g. “Myndanir og myndbreytingar: um myndbönd Bjarkar” (“Formations
and changing images: on Björk's videos”) (Skírnir,
spring 2001).
