Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ACTiME (ACTiME-Approaching Cultural Trauma in Medieval Europe)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-09-01 do 2025-08-31
ACTiME’s key research objectives:
Objective 1: Tie together the debate of autobiographical memory and individual trauma with the theories of collective memory and cultural trauma. Work Package 1 will be dedicated to this objective.
Objective 2: Develop a close-reading methodology that will allow to discuss and analyse collective memory and trauma in non-narrative sources. Work Package 2 will be dedicated to this objective.
Work Package 1 laid out the theoretical groundwork for the project. Its focus was on the historical author Sturla Þórðarson, whose writing constitutes much of the knowledge that we possess about 13th century Iceland. This helped me understand the complexities of trauma in a much deeper way than before ACTiME began. There were many elements that I have not taken as fully into consideration as I should have initially, namely the importance of an "event" for trauma narratives, and the euro-centric bias accompanying these discussions. Working on Sturla Þórðarson furthered my awareness to the complexities of medieval authorship, and issues of authorial agency. Work Package 2's goal was to investigate trauma in 15th century Iceland, especially in the context of the aftermath of the plague pandemic that hit Iceland between 1402-1404. It remains a work in progress and will require me to return to it. I am excited about any continued engagement with 15th century Icelandic material. Still, it seems evident to me that there is a "there" there, and that trauma can be detected in the diplomatic and annal texts that are extant from that time period. Work Package 3 focused on the training aspect of my MSCA fellowship. The main focus was on teaching, as well as editorial publishing work. As a part of this, I graduated from a level 2 in the Danish framework for advancing university pedagogy. The pedagogical studies made me legible for an associate professorship in the Danish academic system. In addition, the webcomic workshop that I developed as a part of these studies had become a great tool for guest teaching and networking. Work Package 4 focused on the dissemination of ACTiME's research. Beyond conference attendance and presentation, I organized a trauma and grief workshop and a traumatic memory roundtable, both with the participation of international scholars. The workshop and roundtable were successful, and will result in a book project co-edited alongside Pernille Hermann, which is already underway. Work Package 5 focused on the outreach goals of ACTiME, namely in the form of webcomics, popular writing, and public speaking engagements. The draft of a comic about trauma in the medieval Icelandic sagas has been completed, and work on the final form is underway. Public lectures were avoided due to issues of personal safety and mental well-being, and a book review was written for the public website lingoblog.dk (with another forthcoming).
Objective 1: Tie together the debate of autobiographical memory and individual trauma with the theories of collective memory and cultural trauma. Work Package 1 will be dedicated to this objective.
Objective 2: Develop a close-reading methodology that will allow to discuss and analyse collective memory and trauma in non-narrative sources. Work Package 2 will be dedicated to this objective.
Work Package 1 laid out the theoretical groundwork for the project. Its focus was on the historical author Sturla Þórðarson, whose writing constitutes much of the knowledge that we possess about 13th century Iceland. This helped me understand the complexities of trauma in a much deeper way than before ACTiME began. There were many elements that I have not taken as fully into consideration as I should have initially, namely the importance of an "event" for trauma narratives, and the euro-centric bias accompanying these discussions. Working on Sturla Þórðarson furthered my awareness to the complexities of medieval authorship, and issues of authorial agency. Work Package 2's goal was to investigate trauma in 15th century Iceland, especially in the context of the aftermath of the plague pandemic that hit Iceland between 1402-1404. It remains a work in progress and will require me to return to it. I am excited about any continued engagement with 15th century Icelandic material. Still, it seems evident to me that there is a "there" there, and that trauma can be detected in the diplomatic and annal texts that are extant from that time period. Work Package 3 focused on the training aspect of my MSCA fellowship. The main focus was on teaching, as well as editorial publishing work. As a part of this, I graduated from a level 2 in the Danish framework for advancing university pedagogy. The pedagogical studies made me legible for an associate professorship in the Danish academic system. In addition, the webcomic workshop that I developed as a part of these studies had become a great tool for guest teaching and networking. Work Package 4 focused on the dissemination of ACTiME's research. Beyond conference attendance and presentation, I organized a trauma and grief workshop and a traumatic memory roundtable, both with the participation of international scholars. The workshop and roundtable were successful, and will result in a book project co-edited alongside Pernille Hermann, which is already underway. Work Package 5 focused on the outreach goals of ACTiME, namely in the form of webcomics, popular writing, and public speaking engagements. The draft of a comic about trauma in the medieval Icelandic sagas has been completed, and work on the final form is underway. Public lectures were avoided due to issues of personal safety and mental well-being, and a book review was written for the public website lingoblog.dk (with another forthcoming).
Following the research that I have conducted for ACTiME, I published a book chapter titled "Fire Walk with Me: Sturla Þórðarson's Individual, Cultural, and Collective Trauma" as a part of Liv, rejse og erindring, edited by Pernille Hermann, Nina Javette Koefoed, Rósa Magnúsdóttir and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir for Nordacademic (2025). As a result of the theoretical work and research, I have also added much discussion of trauma into two forthcoming volumes to which I am contributing: "Madness Embodied" in the Bloomsbury A Cultural History of Madness: The Middle Ages, and "Disability and Trauma in Battle in the Medieval Icelandic Sagas" in ARC Humanities Disability and War in the Late Middle Ages: Becoming, Surviving, Managing. I also decided to expand my theoretical scope on trauma into discussion of the paranormal, and am now in the reviewing process of an article for the interdisciplinary open access journal Limina (https://www.societyforuapstudies.org/limina(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) which is also a result of my travel to San Francisco for the Sol Foundation event in 2023. I have also given 5 academic papers surrounding trauma in general and Sturla Þórðarson specifically, most notably in an invited lecture at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland (2025), as well as the 2024 International Medieval Congress at Leeds University, UK, and the 2025 International Saga Conference. The work on late medieval Icelandic developed into my 2024 co-written article with Ryder Patzuk-Russell, "Icelandic Hospitals, Clergy, and Disability in the Saga of Bishop Lárentíus" in the journal Mirator. It also led to observations shared at a presentation at the 2025 Pre-Modern Nordic Memory Studies: Momentum and New Avenues symposium at Aarhus University.
Since there was no possibilities of teaching complete courses at the department for Scandinavian Studies, I took my MSCA fellowship and the pedagogical training as an opportunity to develop a personal toolkit for guest teaching. I called this the Webcomic Workshop, and it was a teaching module that focuses on reception. While it was targeted towards Viking and Old Norse studies students, the principals are transferable to any other fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and can also be used in, for example, introductory STEM courses. I taught courses using this module at Aarhus University, and Humboldt University of Berlin, as well as other guest lectures in those universities and the University of Silesia in Katowice, and the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Since there was no possibilities of teaching complete courses at the department for Scandinavian Studies, I took my MSCA fellowship and the pedagogical training as an opportunity to develop a personal toolkit for guest teaching. I called this the Webcomic Workshop, and it was a teaching module that focuses on reception. While it was targeted towards Viking and Old Norse studies students, the principals are transferable to any other fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and can also be used in, for example, introductory STEM courses. I taught courses using this module at Aarhus University, and Humboldt University of Berlin, as well as other guest lectures in those universities and the University of Silesia in Katowice, and the University of Zurich, Switzerland.