Methodology in Mythology
Where Does the Study of Old Norse Religion Stand, and Where Can We Go from Here?
The 2019 Aarhus Old Norse Mythology Conference
Bergen, 31 October – 1 November 2019
Welcome to the 2019 Aarhus Old Norse Mythology Conference in Bergen!
The topic this year is ‘Methodology in Mythology: Where Does the Study of Old Norse Religion Stand, and Where Can We Go from Here?’
The idea is to present a selection of important source types and approaches and discuss their potentials, pros and cons, based upon what the research history has shown. What can we gain by approaching Nordic pre-Christian myth and ritual from this angle? And what are the disadvantages or risks?
Musical entertainment by Einar Selvik, known from Wardruna.
Keynote lecture:
Margaret Clunies Ross: Prolonged Echoes 25 Years later.
Speakers and papers:
- Joonas Ahola (Helsinki): Original, indigenous or vernacular? Approaches to non-Christian elements of mythology and religion in Finland
- Laurine Albris (Bergen): Linking archaeology and sacral place names
- Anders Andrén (Stockholm): Reading ritual out of archaeological remains
- Stefan Brink (Cambridge / Uppsala): So, what do we do with toponymy?
- Sophie Bønding (Aarhus): Typologizing religion: Reflections on the utility of religious typologies for the study of religion in the Viking Age
- Frog (Helsinki): Orality behind the Source Texts
- Terry Gunnell (Reykjavík): Myth and ritual seen as performance rather than written text
- Amy Franks (London): How can queer theory contribute to the study of Old Norse mythology?
- Pernille Herman (Aarhus): Memory studies and their relevance for Old Norse mythology
- Jan Kozák (Bergen): The Pitfalls of Theory: The (dis)continuities among the paradigms interpreting Old Norse religion
- John Lindow (Berkeley): (The Concept of Old Norse) Mythology. A Critical Discussion (of Early Scholarship)
- Else Mundal (Bergen): Vǫluspá as a source for Old Norse religion in 2019
- Luke John Murphy (Leicester) / Giulia Mancini (Aarhus): Comparative Approaches to Old Norse Religion: Nordic Myth and Praxis in the Light of European «Ethnic» Religions.
- Andreas Nordberg (Stockholm): Folkloristic sources in Old Norse research? Some retrospective thoughts on the early debate on the last sheaf
- Simon Nygaard (Aarhus): Typological Comparisons or Why It is Important to Know Many Religions: Sacral Rulers in Pre-Christian Nordic Religion Revisited
- Jens Peter Schjødt (Aarhus): Argumenta ex silentio
- Pierre-Brice Stahl (Paris): Reception as an influence on how we look at our sources
- Michael Stausberg (Bergen) / Olof Sundqvist (Stockholm): Comparison: From prejudice to practice
- Haukur Þorgeirsson (Reykjavík): The Dating of Eddic Poetry
- Kendra Willson (Warsaw): Etymology in studies of Old Norse mythology: Possibilities and pitfalls