Programme

Monday, 27 November 2017

08:40–09:00  Coffee and registration
09:00–09:15  Opening words

09:15–10:45  Session I

• Old Norse Mythology and Legend Tradition,John Lindow, University of California, Berkeley
• Gotland Picture Stones and Narration,Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt, Swedish National Heritage Board
• Old Norse Mythology, Heroic Legends, Religion and Folklore,Else Mundal, University of Oslo,

10:45–11:00  Coffee

11:00–12:30  Session II

• Pre-Cristian Religion of the North as Folklore: The Example of Freyr,Jens Peter Schjødt, Aarhus University
• Myth and Character-Building in the Icelandic Family Sagas,Joonas Ahola, University of Helsinki
• Fifth-Column Mother: Týr’s Negotiation of Kinship (and jötunheimar) According to Hymiskviða,Judy Quinn, University of Cambridge

12:30–13:45 Lunch

13:45–15:15  Session III

• Basic Instincts?,Rudy Simek, University of Bonn
• A Brief History of Giants,Tommy Kuusela, Institute for Language and Folklore, Uppsala
• Size Matters – Dwarfs in Old Norse Myths and Folklore,Henning Kure, mythologist, independent scholar, Copenhagen

15:15–15:30 Coffee

15:30–17:00  Session IV

• Traces of Pre-Christian Religion in British Ballads and Popular Poetry,John McKinnell, Durham University
• Transforming, Transgressing, and Terrorizing: Shape-Shifters in Swedish Medieval Ballads,Catharina Raudvere, University of Copenhagen
• The Configurations of Old Norse Religion and its Relevance for the Study of Late Scandinavian Folklore,Andreas Nordberg, University of Stockholm

Tour of the archive of folklore of the Finnish Literature Society

Evening reception hosted by the Finnish Literature Society

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

08:45–09:00  Coffee

09:00–10:30  Session V

• George Marwick’s Account of ‘The Muckle Tree or Igasill’: Folklore or Literature?,Terry Gunnell, University of Iceland
• Medieval Irish Folklore and the Construction of Place in Eyrbyggja saga,Matthias Egeler, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, and Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin; DAAD-P.R.I.M.E.-Fellow
• Magical Fishing in Historia Norwegie – Incomprehensible without Late Folklore,Eldar Heide, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

10:30–10:45  Coffee

10:45–12:15  Session VI

• Mythology of the Prose Edda Interacting with the Sky,Gísli Sigurðsson, Árni Magnússon Institute, Reykjavík
• Brynhildr, the Suicidal Valkyrie: Views of Suicide in Medieval Iceland,Kirsi Kanerva, University of Turku
• Women and Axes in the North: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Viking Archaeology, Old Norse Literature and Folklore,Leszek Gardeła, University of Rzeszów

12:15–13:30 Lunch

13:30–15:00  Session VII

• Myths, Historiolas, and Magic,Stephen Mitchell, Harvard University
• In Search of the tietäjä with a Little Help from Old Norse Material,Karolina Kouvola, University of Helsinki
• Approaching seiðr from Later Traditions – Possibilities and Pitfalls,Kendra Willson, University of Turku

15:00–15:15 Coffee

15:15–16:45  Session VIII

• Exclusivity in Old Norse Ritual and the Christianization of Ritual Space,Maths Bertell, Mid-Sweden University
• Skalds as Ritual Specialists? Looking for Religious Ritual Frameworks in the Oral, Performance of Haraldskvæði, Eiríksmál and Hákonarmál,Simon Nygaard, Aarhus University
• ‘My God Can Beat up Your God!’ –Asserting Specialists’ Power and Authority through Mythic Discourse,Frog, University of Helsinki

16:45–17:00  Closing discussion