Opening Reception - September 22nd at 2:30 PM

2:30 pm Peter John Buchan, Opening Remarks
2:35 pm Christopher Crocker, Cultural Legacies of Old Norse Literature
2:40 pm Adam Hansson, Scorn Pole (Níðstang)
3:00 pm Katrín Nielsdóttir, The Icelandic Collection
3:05 pm Ryan E. Johnson, The Icelandic Collection Archives
3:10 pm Katelin Parsons, Icelandic Manuscripts
3:15 pm Break (Refreshments from Daily Bread Café)
3:30 pm Karla King, Old Icelandic Weaving (Pre-Recorded Video)
3:45 pm Mackenzie Stewart, Old Norse-Inspired Sculptures and Paintings
4:05 pm Dustin Geeraert, Old Norse-Inspired Game Design in Quake: Mjölnir
4:30 pm Reception (Refreshments from Daily Bread Café)

All are welcome to attend this conference, which considers northern topics in history, geology, environmental sciences, linguistics and literature, and in institutions, trade networks, settlements and supply chains. The event will be held on Zoom and each panel’s presentations will be followed by question time, in which audience members are encouraged to ask or submit questions. Email um_icelandic@umanitoba.ca to register to attend.

Friday, February 25

10:15 am Winnipeg Time (4:15 pm Iceland Time): Opening Remarks (Chair: Peter John Buchan)

• Michael Benarroch, President, University of Manitoba
• Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector, University of Iceland
• Jeff Taylor, Dean of Arts, University of Manitoba

11:00 am (5:00 pm): Coffee Break

11:15 am (5:15 pm): Keynote Address (Chair: Christopher Crocker)

• Race and the Icelanders in North America, Ryan Eyford

12:15 pm (6:15 pm): Coffee Break

12:30 pm (6:30 pm): The Icelandic Heritage Project: The Myth of the Linguistically Isolated North (Chair: Katrín Níelsdóttir)

• Language Ideology and Literacy Practices in Icelandic Heritage Communities in North America, Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir
• The (In)stability of Elements of Heritage Icelandic, Kristín M. Jóhannsdóttir
• Word Meanings in North American Icelandic: More North American or More Icelandic?, Matthew Whelpton

2:00 pm (8:00 pm): Meal Break

3:00 pm (9:00 pm): The Icelandic Heritage Project: The Myth of the Culturally Isolated North (Chair: Ryan E. Johnson)

• Icelandic-Canadian Oral Lore: New Life in a New Land and How the Women's Tales May Shed Light on the Classification of the Edda Poems, Gísli Sigurðsson
• Raven Tracks Across the Prairies: Icelandic Immigration and Manuscript Culture in the Canadian West, Katelin Parsons
• Another Emigrant Ship Crossing the Atlantic: The Poetics of Migration in the Poetry of Undína and Stephan G. Stephansson, Birna Bjarnadóttir

Saturday, February 26

9:00 am Winnipeg Time (3:00 pm Iceland Time) Opening Remarks (Chair: Peter John Buchan)

• Jeannette Menzies, Ambassador of Canada to Iceland

9:15 am (3:15 pm): Coffee Break

9:30 am (3:30 pm): The Natural Environment of the North (Chair: Gary Stern)

• There and Back Again: The Double Environmental Transformation of Skeiðarársandur Glacial Outwash Plain, SE Iceland, Þóra Ellen Þórhallsdóttir
• The Impact of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Glaciers in Iceland, Guðfinna Aðalsteinsdóttir

10:30 am (4:30 pm): Institutions and Cultural Connections (Chair: Pam Perkins)

• Interwoven: Cane Work and Resistance at the Ontario Institute for the Blind, Vanessa Warne
• The Use of Special Collections to Connect People and Culture, Katrín Níelsdóttir
• "Ég þakka þér fyrir litla blaðið": North American-Icelandic Community, Cultural Identity, and the Children's Newspaper Sólskin, Christopher Crocker
• The Hudson Bay Railway Saga, Paul D. Larson

12:30 pm (6:30 pm): Meal Break

1:15 pm (7:15 pm): Travel, Literature, and Geography (Chair: Vanessa Warne)

• A "singular anomaly": Henry Holland's Writing on Iceland, Pam Perkins
• Ida Pfeiffer and Travels in Iceland in the 19th Century, Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson
• "Queen of Lands": Iceland in the Writings of Mary Gordon and Isobel Wylie Hutchison, Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir
• Building Bridges in His Name: Icelandic and Western Icelandic Missionaries in Early 20th-Century Asia, Kristín Ingvarsdóttir

3:15 pm (9:15 pm): Coffee Break

3:30 pm (9:30 pm): Aesthetics and Representation (Chair: Brynjarr Þór Eyjólfsson)

• Twilight of the Idols: A Virtual Journey Through a Winter Hall, Dustin Geeraert
• From Sketch to Screen: Creating Norse Mythological Landscapes, Mackenzie Stewart
• Alone, Together: Music as Refuge & Transcendence, Thomas Ellison
• In Between (S)P(L)ACES: Scenes from North Iceland, Liv Valmestad