Field Stations 2023

Studies of Regeneration and Resilience

Field Stations was an immersive, place-based, interdisciplinary studies program designed to explore complex nature-culture interfaces. WII aimed to bring together diverse viewpoints from environmental researchers, social scientists, architects, planners, farmers, arts practitioners, ecologists, humanities scholars, and historians to examine socio-ecological relationships that are vital to confronting multiple 21st century crises. Our work builds on the proposition that we (humans) are fully a part of nature, and that understanding interconnectedness is critical to discovering new ways to tackle the wicked problems we face.

2023 Icelandic Field Stations

The course connected local studies to issues of global relevance, with a particular focus on the scenic Lake Mývatn area, the Bárðardalur valley on the banks of the glacial Skjálfandafljót River with its magnificent waterfalls, the Vatnajökull Glacier and the Jökulsárlón lagoon near Höfn, before concluding in Reykjavik. The course will provide a unique blend of lectures and field experiences that investigate how cultural and natural histories are embedded in landscapes. It also explores their entanglements with contemporary energy, food, ecology, economy, and policy concerns. Click here to read a brief overview of Iceland.

Objectives

The Wright-Ingraham Institute was proud to partner with the Svartárkot Culture-Nature (SCN) program to coproduce the 2023 Icelandic Field Stations (IFS) program. IFS is an international, interdisciplinary summer workshop devoted to building integrated environmental knowledge in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Its contributors include leading Icelandic scholars, fellows, community leaders and international guest contributors.

The aim of the IFS is to advance and share research concerning interactions between humans and nature, and to strengthen relevant connections between the environmental humanities and current political and scientific debates about the environment. A further goal is to generate discussions about the complex relationships between humans and nature in confronting contemporary environmental challenges.

The program seeks to showcase innovative research and provocative exchanges from experts in fields including history, environmental science, ecocriticism, visual studies, archaeology, anthropology, language studies, technology, energy, agriculture, and philosophy, with the aim to connect scholarship to public discourse of the Arctic region and build integrated knowledge that may contribute to deepening our understanding of local and global environmental challenges and how we might confront them.

The Wright-Ingraham has its roots in Colorado, and as such we are pleased that one of the core partners of the SCN program was affiliated with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), at the University of Colorado, Boulder. WII is proud to have provided INSTAAR with past support in the form of a small grant from WII’s Grantmaking Program to continue their important research.

Our hope is to broaden conversations through knowledge exchanges that strengthen the relationships between different research communities. By bridging or integrating disciplinary lines of thought through productive, generous interaction, we hope to build new ways of knowing and transmitting what we know, and by extension, build capacity to contribute to structural change.

IFS is not just about approaching topics in an integrated and multi-disciplinary way, it is about incorporating a new way of working together—listening, teaching, learning, and coalition-building with one another, and expanding research and practices in an emerging field that both values expertise and also recognizes the limitations that are always present in any one discipline—this is what IFS aims to deliver.

General Description

The course has been developed at the intersection of the environmental humanities, alongside the natural and social sciences. It connects with local communities and to issues of global importance. In particular, it focuses on the scenic Lake Mývatn area, the Bárðardalur valley on the banks of the glacial Skjálfandafljót River with its magnificent waterfalls, and the Vatnajökull Glacier near Höfn, and will conclude in Reykjavik. The course will provide a unique blend of lectures and experiences of cultural histories and contemporary issues embedded in landscapes.

Who Is the Course For?

The course is designed for those working across an array of disciplines who wish to supplement and broaden their interests in Arctic and Nordic studies with a unique site-specific curriculum in the environmental humanities and natural and social sciences. The course welcomes scholars, emerging professionals, researchers, post-graduates, master’s and doctoral students looking for new insights and inspirations in post-and transdisciplinary methods, as well as those wishing to stimulate and participate in a fresh exchange of ideas, methodological processes, and perspectives.

Course Description

In particular, the course foregrounds questions of long-term societal resilience and cultural responses in the face of climate change, competition and societal conflict over natural resources, effects of early globalization and anthropogenic transformation of landscapes and ecosystems at multiple times scales. The primary focus is the interplay between humans and nature at Lake Mývatn, and adjacent areas in northeastern Iceland, during the period 1700 to the present, with a particular emphasis on rivers and water systems. Through lectures and excursions, topics focusing on: climate history; environmental history; archaeology; ecology; and socioeconomic history and climate change evidence drawn from official records such as trade documents will be presented alongside a range of environmental humanities activities. Students will become acquainted with a variety of data and documents and will have “hands on” experiences of crucial areas/landscapes such as the Framengjar wetlands, as well as being able simply to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful and dramatic local landscapes, hiking in areas full of history many of which are exclusive and not frequently travelled by tourists.

The course will involve multiple excursions and lectures in the field and integrates perspectives, theories, case studies and methodologies from the following disciplines:

Environmental Humanities; Ecocriticism; Cultural Creativity; Environmental and Climate History; Environmental Archaeology and Anthropology; Historical Ecology; Ecosystem Ecology; Population Ecology, Limnology, Natural Resource Use Management, Tourism, Energy, Technology, and Visualization methods and techniques.

Course Design

The course consisted of a series of lectures on the topics and themes as described in the curriculum, reading list, and online supplementary materials, as well as field-study visits and excursions (hiking and site specific excursions) for 10-15 participants.

The course is based primarily on the ongoing work of a team investigating long-term human ecodynamics and environmental change in the Lake Mývatn area and draws on the US National Science Foundation-funded project, Investigations of the Long-term Sustainability of Human Ecodynamic Systems in Northern Iceland (MYSEAC), and RANNÍS (Research Council of Iceland). Senior researchers from these projects, along with a senior researcher at the University of Iceland’s Research Centre in Hornafjörður and interdisciplinary scholars from the US, will lecture in-person during intensive daily sessions, and be available to advise and mentor participants in specific areas.

Course Organizers and Affiliates

Co-organized by: Svartárkot Culture-Nature (SCN) Project, Wright-Ingraham Institute, and Hólar University, with co-operation with the Icelandic Museum of Natural History; the City University of New York; the Stefansson Arctic Institute; the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) Circumpolar Observatory; NABO (The North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation); NIES (The Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies); BifrostOnline, and the Circumpolar Networks case of IHOPE (the Integrated History and Future of People on Earth), a core project of Future Earth.

Our integrated studies approach aimed to enrich a transdisciplinary understanding of Icelandic culture-nature environments by engaging with conceptual, historical, and lived experiences of place. Through field studies and lectures by leading Icelandic and international scholars, place-based observations and site visits, exploring various visualization methods and literary research, examining historical records in relation to changes in landscape and climate, exchanging and building on environmental science and humanities knowledge, engaging with local communities, and discussing different multi-pillar perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of transformative issues at local, regional and global scales.

Foundational Topics

• Ecology and natural sciences (geology, biodiversity, glaciology, hydrology)
• Climate change (glacial recession, changing landscapes)
• Systems thinking (interconnection, complexity)
• Socio-cultural dynamics (politics, economics, ecotourism, energy resources, and industry, comprehension of core issues and stakeholders)
• Landscape dynamics (language of landscape, land-use history and planning, architecture and climate)
• Communication studies (understanding of environmental records, narratives, and digital visualization techniques)
• Environmental Arts and Humanities research (interpretation of historical records and literature, learning through creative practices)

Annotated Reading List

This reading list contains materials with a focus on various aspects of the course.

General Interest / Background

Gunnar Gunnarsson (1940). The Good Sheperd. Bobbs-Merrill Co. A gem of a novella that takes place in the Mývatn/Bárðardalur area. Recommended. Usually available cheap on amazon.com but there is a new edition with an Introduction by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, one of the best modern writers in Iceland. Not on amazon.com but here is a link to the Icelandic publisher: https://bjartur-verold.is/collections/2016/products/the-good-shepherd-adventa-a-ensku

Gunnar Karlsson (2000). The History of Iceland. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon (2010). Wasteland with Words: A Social History of Iceland. Reaktion Books, London. Interesting approach to Icelandic (cultural) history, relevant for the course: link

Daisy Neijman ed. (2007). A History of Icelandic Literature. University of Nebraska Press. Useful overview for those who might want to orient themselves in the literary history of Iceland.

Viðar Hreinsson (2012) Wakeful Nights. Stephan G. Stephansson: Icelandic-Canadian Poet. Benson Ranch Inc. Calgary, 2012. A biography of a poet who lived in Bárðardalur three years prior to his emigration to North America. The first c. 100 pages are informative about the literary culture as well as life and conditions in Iceland in the second half of the 19th century: link

Sverrir Jakobsson and Guðmundur Hálfdanarson (2016). Historical Dictionary of Iceland (3rd. ed). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham. Expensive but useful.

Nature, climate and ecology (Iceland and the Lake Mývatn area)

Arnþór Garðarsson 1979. Waterfowl populations of Lake Mývatn and recent changes in numbers and food habits. Oikos 32: 250-270. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3544231?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Árni Einarsson 2004. “Lake Myvatn and the River Laxá: an introduction”. Aquatic Ecology 38: 111-114. link

Árni Einarsson, Gerdur Stefánsdóttir, Helgi Jóhannesson, Jón S. Ólafsson, Gísli Már Gíslason, Isamu Wakana, Gudni Gudbergsson and Arnthor Gardarsson 2004. The ecology of Lake Myvatn and the River Laxá: variation in space and time. Aquatic Ecology 38: 317-348. link

Tobias Salathé 2013.Ramsar Advisory Mission No. 76 Mývatn-Laxá region, Iceland (2013) Ramsar Site N° 167: https://rsis.ramsar.org/RISapp/files/RAM/RAM_076_IS_en.pdf

Ives, A.R., Árni Einarsson, V.A.A. Jansen & A. Garðarsson 2008. “High-amplitude fluctuations and alternative dynamical states of midges in Lake Myvatn”. Nature 452: 84-87

Ogilvie, A.E.J. and Jónsson, Trausti. 2001. ‘“Little Ice Age” research: A perspective from Iceland’. Climatic Change 48, 9-52 .

Environmental history and relations between humans and nature.

Axel Kristinsson and Árni Daníel Júlíusson. „Adapting to Population Growth: The Evolutionary Alternative to Malthus“. Cliodynamics 7(1) 2016. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio7130171

Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Astrid Ogilvie, Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Megan Hicks, Viðar Hreinsson: “Two famines in 17th and 18th century Iceland: An introduction.” Paper presented at the COMPOT Workshop, Turku, Finland, January 2017 .

Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Anna Guðrún Þórhallsdóttir, Helga Ögmundardóttir. “The Sheep, the Soil and the Market.” Northscapes. Ed. Dolly Jørgensen and Sverker Sörlin. Vancouver 2013. link

Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Megan Hicks, Astrid Ogilvie, Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Viðar Hreinsson (2017): “Successions: The case of Mývatnssveit in Iceland 1801-1930.” Paper presented at the Succession Workshop, Rural History Conference, Leuven Belgium, 12. September 2017 .

Dugmore, Andrew J., Ian A. Simpson, Amanda Thomson, Orri Vésteinsson 2001: “Crossing the thresholds: human ecology and historical patterns of landscape degradation”. Catena, vol. 42, p. 175-192. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816200001375

Hartman, S., Ogilvie, A.E.J., Ingimundarson, J.H., Dugmore, A.J., Hambrecht, George, McGovern, T.H. 2017. “Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities”, Global and Planetary Change 156, 123-139 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.04.007

Hicks, Megan. 2014. “Losing Sleep Counting Sheep: early modern dynamics of hazardous husbandry in Mývatn, Iceland” in Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: a Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time. Harrison and Maher (Eds). Lexington Publishers, Lanham Maryland.

Hicks, Megan, Viðar Hreinsson, Árni Daniel Júlíusson, Astrid Ogilvie, and Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir. 2017. Grassroots Modernization: Pastoral Economies, Climate, and Political Change in Iceland’s Eighteenth through Twentieth Centuries. Presented for the 82nd Annual Society for American Archaeology Meeting, Vancouver, BC. Symposium: Historical Archaeology for Applied Archaeology: Climate Change, Resource Management, and Governance.

McGovern, Thomas H., Orri Vésteinsson , Adolf Fridriksson, Mike Church , Ian Lawson, Ian A. Simpson, Arni Einarsson , Andy Dugmore , Gordon Cook , Sophia Perdikaris , Kevin Edwards , Amanda M. Thomson, W. Paul Adderley ,Anthony Newton , Gavin Lucas , Oscar Aldred: “Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland: Historical Ecology of Human Impact & Climate Fluctuation on the Millennial Scale, invited paper in special issue on the archaeology of global change”, American Anthropologist, 2007,109(1):27-51. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1525/aa.2007.109.1.27

Ogilvie, A.E.J. and Pálsson, Gísli. 2003. “Mood, magic and metaphor: Allusions to weather and climate in the Sagas of Icelander”s. (In) Weather, Climate, Culture. (Ed. by S. Strauss and B. S. Orlove). Berg Publishers, 251-274.

Ogilvie, A.E.J., Woollett, J.M., Smiarowski, K., Arneborg, J., Troelstra, S., Pálsdóttir, A. and McGovern, T.H. 2009. “Seals and sea ice in medieval Greenland”, Journal of the North Atlantic 2, 60-80.

Ogilvie, A.E.J. 2010. Historical climatology, Climatic Change, and implications for climate science in the 21st century, Climatic Change 100, 33-47 . https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10584-010-9854-1.pdf

Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Ogilvie, A.E.J., Júlíusson, Árni Daníel, Hreinsson, Viðar, Hicks, Megan T. 2016. “Water and Sustainability in the Lake Mývatn Region of Iceland: Historical Perspectives and Current Concerns”. In (Shroder, J.F. and Greenwood, G.B., eds), Mountain Ice and Water: Investigations of the Hydrological Cycle in Alpine Environments, 155-192. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444637871000044 

Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Anthony Newton, Megan T. Hicks, A.J. Dugmore, Viðar Hreinsson, A.E.J. Ogilvie, Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Árni Einarsson, Steven Hartman, I.A. Simpson, Orri Vésteinsson, T.H. McGovern (Dec 2017, in Review) “Trolls, Water, Time, and Community: Resource Management in the Mývatn District of Northeast Iceland”, in: Ludomir Lozny & T.H. McGovern (ed.s). Managing the Commons: an Interdisciplinary Perspective, Springer Volumes in Historical Ecology, Springer Press, NY (DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL! pdf).

Simpson, I.A., Guðmundsson, G., Thomson, A.M. & Cluett, J. 2004. Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland. Geoarchaeology 19: 471-502. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gea.20006 

Cultural history and manuscript culture

Davíð Ólafsson (2008). “Wordmongers: Post-medieval scribal culture and the case of Sighvatur Grímsson.” PhD diss., St. Andrews University 2008. Online: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/770 

Davíð Ólafsson (2012). “Vernacular Literacy Practices in Nineteenth-Century Icelandic Scribal Culture” Att läsa och att skriva Två vågor av vardagligt skriftbruk i Norden 1800–2000, ed. by Ann-Catrine Edlund, Umeå Universitet og Kung. Skytteanske Samfundet, Umeå, pp. 65-85. Pdf online:  https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:534711/FULLTEXT01.pdf 

Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon and Davíð Ólafsson (2017) Minor Knowledge and Microhistory. Routledge, New York and London. Recommended, to a large extent about the manuscript culture. The book is very expensive, but the Introduction is available online: link

Viðar Hreinsson (2002) “The Poet in the Pigpen: Stephan G. Stephansson” Rustica Nova. The New Countryside and Transformations in Operating Environment, eds. Kalle Pihlainen og Erik Tirkkonen. Turku 2002: 179-194. (First 2-3 pages about manuscript culture .

Viðar Hreinsson (2008). “The Resurrection and Crucifixion of the Sheep” © The Provincialists. Ed. Eivind Reierstad. Torshavn (Faraoe Islands): 74-82 .

Viðar Hreinsson (2014). „Cultural Amnesia – and Sustainable Development.“ Култура/Culture 7.  http://cultcenter.net/journals/index.php/culture/article/view/26

Viðar Hreinsson (2018) „Viscious Cycle of Violence: The Afterlife of Hervör“. The legendary legacy: Transmission and reception of the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda, eds. Matthew Driscoll, Silvia Hufnagel, Philip Lavender and Beeke Stegmann, Viking Collection 24 (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark) . 

Viðar Hreinsson (2023) “Rough Seas in Tattered Manuscripts” in Paper Stories: Paper and Book History in Post-Medieval Europe. Ed: Silvia Hufnagel, Þórunn Sigurðardóttir and Davíð Ólafsson. De Gruyter: 359-390. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111162768-017/html  (Attempt to link cutting edge environmental humanities with manuscript culture)

Iceland Background

Iceland is a small, sparsely populated island in the North Atlantic Ocean that covers around 103,000 km2. The country has about 350,000 people, 40 percent of whom live in towns or on isolated farms in lowlands near the coast, with the other 60% living in the Reykjavik area and adjacent municipalities. About 75 percent of the island’s interior is made up of high elevation plateaus, known as Highlands. Most of the Highlands are undulating plains with glaciofluvial deposits. They are the only place where permafrost can be found. Heathlands and wetlands dominate these areas, just like in the tundra further north in the Arctic. In addition, the Highlands are home to extensive deserts with sparse vegetation. Some deserts are naturally formed by volcanic processes, others are the result of human activity. During the summer months, the Highlands are used primarily for sheep grazing.

Iceland’s maritime climate is mild despite its location just south of the Arctic Circle, thanks to the warm water that comes up from lower latitudes via the North Atlantic current. Even though there’s no midnight sun in summer, it’s effectively light throughout the entire 24 hour period. During the warmest month, temperatures range from 7.6 degrees to 12 degrees celsius. North to south, precipitation varies significantly (400-700mm to 700-1600mm). There is a nearly constant movement of air over Iceland because of its position within the polar cell of global circulation. Thus, Iceland experiences a high degree of wind. A large semi-permanent low-pressure center, called the Icelandic Low, also plays a significant role in determining the weather.

The country is situated on the mid-Atlantic Ocean ridge, on the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, which spread about 2.5cm each year. This volcanic hotspot, in an area known as the Icelandic plume, is fed by an anomalously hot mantle compared to the mantle that surrounds it. Eruptions are frequent and geothermal activity is high, especially on the part of the island known as the volcanic active zone. As a result, accessible geothermal energy is abundant. Geothermal heats 90 percent of homes, businesses, and greenhouses, and generates approximately 30% of Iceland’s electricity (the rest comes from hydropower).

Glaciers have shaped both landscapes and biodiversity, carving valleys and fjords, disrupting terrestrial ecosystems, and limiting where plants and animals can exist. Most biodiversity has been destroyed by glaciers, which still cover approximately 11% of the country today. Almost all of Iceland’s glaciers are receding in response to climate change, and scientists predict they will disappear entirely within 100-200 years.

A warming climate and retreating glaciers are transforming the landscape. Plants are now able to establish themselves in areas that were previously frozen. Volcanic andosol soils, however, are particularly vulnerable to erosion, and volcanic ash (tephra) is also damaging to vegetation in several ways. Sheep, introduced to Iceland in the 9th century by Norse settlers, also contribute to erosion and environmental degradation.

Iceland is home to only one native land mammal, the Arctic fox. It is a breeding ground for several bird species, however, and serves as a stopover for many species of migratory geese on their journey to breeding grounds in the Arctic.  The country is also home to more than 60% of the world’s entire Atlantic puffin population, with 8 to 10 million puffins inhabiting the island.

Iceland is parliamentary democracy that has historically protected political rights and civil liberties. Its economy depends on tourism, aluminum smelting, and fishing, which was its predominant industry in the early 20th Century. It also hosts the world’s largest bitcoin mining farm. Both its smelting and bitcoin industries are made possible by the low-cost renewable energy it generates. Its divestment in fossil fuels from the 1970s on, and a rapid transition to rely almost exclusively on renewable energy, has enabled it to shift from an extremely poor nation, to one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, over the course of several decades. It has a low rate of unemployment (around 2.7 percent) and a well-developed education system with a highly literacy rate (99 percent).

The nation is considered one of the most literary countries in the world. Since it was settled in the 9th century, literature has been the primary continual cultural activity undertaken by Icelanders. Because of such a high literacy rate, people across socio-economic strata wrote prose narratives in the Icelandic language almost since the time of first settlement. Historical translations of the Germanic epic poetry and European literature were activities that were carried out across socio-economic strata. Most notably, the Icelandic sagas were written in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The idea of a 19th century Icelandic literary revival has been espoused in connection with the romantic movement, many but literary scholars believe this to be a romantic-nationalistic idea. Though some centuries have produced more Icelandic literature than others, it can generally be said that the country’s relationship to producing literature has remained relatively unbroken since the writing of the sagas. This continued throughout the 20th century, which produced many notable writers, including the prolific writings of Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness. 21st century environmental humanities scholars, including Dr. M Jackson and Andri Snær Magnason, carry this tradition forward, writing about glacial retreat and climate change.

It is estimated that Iceland is losing approximately 40 km2 of ice each year. This is an extraordinary amount of land to become deglaciated annually, and its evidenced in the tremendous toll it is taking on the landscape. Glaciers exert significant downward force on underlying land, but now that force is weakening. As a result of this mass ice loss, Iceland’s interior and its coastlines are rising by about 1.4 inches a year. It is anticipated that this phenomenon will persist over time, resulting in distorted infrastructure and negative economic consequences. Underground sewerage pipes have already warped and twisted in Höfn. Receding glaciers are also bad for tourism, which is crucial to the country. In 2018, tourism generated USD $3.73 billion – equivalent to 39% of Iceland’s total exports. Some 30,000 people were employed in the sector in 2017, representing more than 15 percent of the total workforce, and contributing 8.6% of the GDP.

Iceland’s age-old fishing industry is also being affected by climate change. Large fishing trawlers are finding it more and more difficult to enter and exit ports due to land rise near important harbors. Large-scale natural disasters are also a threat. Land and mudslides happen as glaciers retreat, damaging steep slopes once supported by ice. These slides can wreak havoc on their surrounds, flood glacial lakes, and even cause tsunamis. There hasn’t been a serious consideration of how to use this increase in land mass emerging from glaciers. Even though climate change is a priority issue, no policies have been set to keep new land in the public domain for purposes of afforestation and carbon sequestration.

Despite its problems, Iceland is one of the world’s most peaceful, sustainable places, embued with a rich history embedded in magnificent landscapes, and a culture that supports human rights, choice, tolerance, freedom, and affordable access to health care and higher education. Iceland is a great place to undertake place-based research, and can teach us a lot from a range of perspectives. Join us for the northern summer in Iceland in 2023!

Kiðagil

THE KIÐAGIL GUESTHOUSE takes its name from a tributary gully far to the south along Skjálfandafljót river, historically regarded as the border between wilderness and human habitation. Kiðagil is located at a mid-point in the Bárðardalur valley, which allows for easy excursions to many of our planned destinations, including to the Svartárkot farm, Lake Mývatn, the town of Húsavík and the Goðafoss waterfalls. Because of its history as a boarding school, it has a built-in classroom, a large kitchen/dining room and sleeps up to 35 people, making it highly suitable for lectures and gatherings.

Full room and board (including all meals) is provided exclusively by Kiðagil Guesthouse and is included in the price of accommodation. Participants will need to book their room and board directly with the Guesthouse. More information is available through this link. Prices vary depending on whether single rooms with private or shared rooms are selected. Single rooms are limited, and participants will likely need to room share. When contacting the Guesthouse, please let them know that they are taking part in the Svartárkot Culture-Nature/Wright-Ingraham Institute course in 2023.

Höfn

Accommodation in Höfn is already reserved by the Wright-Ingraham Institute. On this leg of the journey, participants will pay Wright-Ingraham Institute directly in addition to paying their tuition for the program. The estimated total cost for three days accommodation is $661 per participant (based on current exchange rates). This does not include food, and participants must purchase their own food over this leg of the course. Participants will be required to room share with shared bathroom for these three nights. Accommodation is provided by Hvammur Guesthouse.

13-DAY SUMMER PROGRAM ITINERARY

Breaking down dualisms between nature and culture: integrating environmental sciences, arts & humanities studies.

Through lectures, discussions and excursions, this co-produced workshop will engage a range of questions concerning the human dimensions of environmental change and the effects of such change on environments and societies. The course foregrounds questions of long-term societal resilience and cultural responses in the face of natural hazards, climate change, competition and societal conflict over resources, effects of early globalization, and anthropogenic transformation of landscapes and ecosystems at multiple time scales.

Our aim is that the diverse lectures and activities included in this course will spotlight the complex historical entanglement of society and environment, from the deep past into contemporary times. Our further goal is to inspire interdisciplinary scholarship and collaborations, whether focused on Iceland or elsewhere.

Themes/Keywords

Climate change / Icelandic Literature / Energy / Agriculture / Glacial Recession / Water / Arctic / Cultural Heritage / Environmental Humanities / Iceland / Ecology / Landscape studies / Sea Ice / Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK)

The Region

The rural regions of Mývatn and Bárðardalur in Þingeyjarsveit, northern Iceland, are unique environments—sometimes perceived as remote—but they are also entangled in the wider social and environmental histories of Iceland and the North Atlantic. Bárðardalur is a farming community in a deep valley and the neighboring Mývatn area is an elevated, inland lakeside community with a rare biodiversity and a history of rebellious social movements. The region is at the center of a range of long-standing collaborative research undertaken by the interdisciplinary team of scholars leading this course, and their colleagues. After Northern Iceland, we head to the Höfn area, to undertake a guided tour of the Vatnajökull Glacier before terminating the course in Reykjavik.

Saturday, July 29 

9.00: Pickup Reykjavik, location TBA. Drive to Kidagil in Bárðardalur Valley. Arrive 

Mid-afternoon Arrival at Kiðagil guesthouse. Snack.

19.00-20.00: Dinner Kiðagil guesthouse

20.00-20.10: Welcoming Remarks, Icelandic Field Stations (Viðar Hreinsson and Dylan Gauthier)

20.10-20.20: Brief Participant Introductions 

20.20-20.40: Viðar Hreinsson, Introductory presentation of the Svartárkot Project

20.40-21.30: Viðar Hreinsson, Setting the Tone: Humans in Nature

Sunday, July 30 

8.00-9.00: Breakfast Kiðagil guesthouse

9.00-11.00: A joint lecture by Icelandic research-team (Viðar Hreinsson, Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Astrid Ogilvie, Árni Daníel Júlíusson): “Perceptions of Nature and Natural Resources by Lake Mývatn.”

11.05-12.00: Astrid Ogilvie (via Zoom), Climate History of Iceland and the Lake Mývatn area

12.00-12.45: Lunch Kiðagil guesthouse

13.00-13.45: Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Arctic Farming, A contradiction in terms?

14.00-17.45: Afternoon hike to Aldey (slow hike over rough terrain)
Guides: Guðrún Tryggvadóttir and Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir.

18.00-19.00: Dinner Kidagil Guesthouse

19.00-19:30: Group check in and reflection on the first 2 days of the trip.

Evening Watch – Icelandic Movie Hrútar (en: Rams), an award-winning film about two brothers who haven’t spoken in 40 years, coming together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep. Hrútar is filmed in the Bárðardalur valley.

Monday, July 31

8.00-8.45: Breakfast Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.00-10.00: Viðar Hreinsson, Heath Settlements, the Local Historian Helgi Jónsson, and emigration to North America. Glimpses of Environmental and Literary History.

10.00-13.00: Hike up to the heath for a view over the heath settlement (might be wet).

13.00-13.55: Lunch Kiðagil Guesthouse

14.00-15.55: Frank Miller: History of the Wright-Ingraham Institute Field Stations Program

16.00-17.00: Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Ecology and Local Documents. How to integrate Natural Sciences with Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Cultural Artifacts.

18.00-19.00: Dinner at Kiðagil Guesthouse

19.30-21.30: Participant presentations / research discussion (10 minutes per person, voluntary)

Tuesday, August 1

8.00-9.00: Breakfast at Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.00-19.00: All Day Excursion to Highlands from Svartárkot to Mývatn. Guided by Guðrún Tryggvadóttir, Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir, Viðar Hreinsson and Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir.

Emphasis on archaeology, climatological, geological and ecological change at the frontier of human habitation in Iceland, both present day and historically. Short lectures along the way focus on rangeland management, deserted farms from the medieval period, shielings from the early modern era and on myths about the present landscape. Packed lunch.

19:00 – Dinner and discussions at Þórólfshvoll (Mývatn)

Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir: Drivers of change: Sustainability and Environmental Change in the Lake Mývatn District of Iceland AD 1700 – present.

Wednesday August 2

8.00-9.00: Breakfast at Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.15-11.30: Excursion to Húsavík to examine manuscripts at the Archives, guided by Viðar Hreinsson – who will lecture on the bus about the environmental contents of the manuscripts.

11.30-14.00: Visits to turf house museum at Grenjaðarstaður and Hydropower station at Laxá river. Half an hour packed lunch at either place.

14.30-15.00: Stop at Godafoss on return journey.

18.00: Dinner at Kiðagil

19.30.00-21.00: Evening Watch: The Icelandic Documentary film Hvellur, which tells the story of more than a hundred farmers from Lake Mývatn and adjacent communities protesting a hydro project in the outflowing river Laxá by blowing up a dam by the Lake, resulting in the lake and the river being listed as a nature conservation area and subsequently listed on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance.

Thursday, August 3

8.00-9.00: Breakfast Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.00-9.45: Auður Viðarsdóttir – Sustainable Eating

9.45:  Coffee break I

10-10.10: Schedule update

10.10-10.55: Sigurður Torfi Sigurðsson – Traditional Ecological Knowledge; Opportunities and Applications for Modern Agriculture and Rural Social Development

10.55-11.05: Coffee Break II

11.05-13.00: Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Enlarged environmental perspective

13.00-13.45: Lunch Kiðagil Guesthouse

13.45-15.30: Sigríður Sigurðardóttir – People in Turf Buildings

16.00: Storytelling by Viðar Hreinsson, with stories of outlaws and legendary landscapes. Followed by Hike to Sexhólagil and the rock “Karlinn.” led by Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir and Auður Viðarsdóttir.

18.30-19.30: Dinner Kiðagil Guesthouse

19.30-21.30: Dylan Gauthier, Frida Foberg, Auður Viðarsdóttir. Presentations, music, printing workshop.

Friday, August 4

8.00-9.00: Breakfast at Kiðagil

9.00: Leave Kiðagil Guesthouse

10.00: Naturebaths (optional) cost is approx $32/person / or “Raga adventure” if you choose

13.00:  Viðar Hreinsson and Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir – Packed lunch and archaeology tour/lecture at Hofstaðir.

14.00: Drive across the Fljótsheiði heath (with a short stop at the farm ruins of Stórás)

15.00-16.30: Svartárkot farmstead

16.30-19.00: Aldeyjarfoss/Hrafnabjargafossar waterfalls guided by Guðrún Tryggvadóttir and Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir. Short lecture on the bus about abandoned plans of a hydropower plant and a reservoir affecting these waterfalls.

19.00: Dinner at Kiðagil Guesthouse

20.30: Participant presentations and research checkpoint  (10 minutes per person 2/2, voluntary)

Saturday, August 5

8.00-9.00: Breakfast at Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.00: All day Excursion to Lake Mývatn guided by Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir. Tour around Lake Mývatn, visiting sites of ecological, geological, historic and cultural interest.

10.00 – 12.00: Lectures by Skúli Skúlason: Lake Mývatn´s Biodiversity and Biodice, and Ásta Kristín Benediktsdóttir (natural humanities by Lake Mývatn), taking a closer look at the natural resource management of Mývatn, focusing on the biodiversity and productivity of the lake itself and the extensive Framengjar wetlands in the past and present. Visit to the Innovation Center Gígur where the lectures will take place.

12.00: Lunch at Myvatn.

Excursion continues to Myvatn and Laxa Nature Reserve, Hverarond/Hverir geysers, Stóragjá Lava Cave. Visit the geothermal power station at Krafla.

18.00: Dinner at Þórólfshvoll, Myvatn.

19.30: Back in Kiðagil. Free time!

Sunday August 6

8.00-9.00: Breakfast at Kiðagil Guesthouse

9.30-10.25: Catherine Ingraham, Nothing Will Come from Nothing

10.25-11.00: Coffee break

11.00-11.55: Andri Snær Magnason, On Time and Water

12.15-13.15: Lunch at Kidagil Guesthouse

13.15-14.15: Gísli Pálsson, The Discovery of Extinction

14.30-15.30: Participant presentations

17.00-19.00: Hike or excursion

19.00: Last Supper at Kiðagil Guesthouse

20.00-21.30: Closing remarks/farewell concert: Vidar Hreinsson and Audur Vidarsdottir

Monday August 7

8.00: Breakfast at Kidagil guesthouse. Make our own lunch packs for the trip.

9.00: Check out of Kiðagil. Drive East, with stops on the way:

10.00 – Quick stop at supermarket in Mývatn if needed

11.20 – Beitarhúsið Möðrudalsleið, 20 min rest stop

13.30 – Kárahnjúkar dam, an hour stop, eat packed lunch, guided tours every half hour

15.30 – quick rest stop somewhere on the way

17.30 – Dinner* in Djúpivogur, restaurant Við voginn

20.00: Check into Guesthouse Hvammur (hotel) in Höfn

Tuesday August 8

7.00: Breakfast at Berjaya across street from Hvammur 

7:45: Leave on bus

8.40: Morning Excursion: Kayak on Glacial Lagoon (Heinabergsjökull Lagoon) accompanied by Þorvarður Arnason 

13.00-14.00: Lunch* in downtown Höfn

14.00-15:00: Lecture in Nýheimar with Þorvarður Árnason,  Introduction, environmental issues in Southeast Iceland

15.00-16.00: Lecture in Nýheimar with  Soffía Auður Birgisdóttir, Dimmumót, poems by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir 

(“Dusk” in English) “Dusk is a stirring book, rich with powerful and unexpected nature imagery. From the bright perspective of the child delighted by the white of a timeless mountain we are taken to the uncertainties and transitions of our time. A magnificent and gripping love letter to the land and glacier.”

16.00-19.00: Swimming pool / Hot tubs / Museum visit

19.30: Dinner by harbor – at Heppa Restaurant and microbrewerie with Þorvarður Arnason.

Wednesday August 9

7.00: Breakfast at Berjaya across street from Hvammur 

7.45-13.00  Glacier walk and climb, focusing on glacial recession and the impacts of climate change, led by Þorvarður (Thorri) Arnason. 

13.00-14.00: Lunch* in Þórbergur Museum

14.00-15.00: Visit to Þórbergur Museum, meeting with director Þorbjörg Arnórsdóttir

15.15-16.15: Discussion of participant research directions at the Barn.

16.30-18.30: Lecture in the Barn at Hali by Þorvarður Árnason, The multiple roles of Vatnajökull National Park and Solander´s Eye – virtual field station in the wilderness of Breiðamerkursandur.  After Ice (Kieran Baxter, Þorvarður Árnason & M Jackson) – short documentary 

18.30-19.30 Dinner: BBQ at the Barn in Hali 

20.30  Return to Höfn

Thursday August 10

7.30: Breakfast at Berjaya across street from Hvammur check out before breakfast 

8.00: Leave Höfn

9.15-10.00: Stop at Diamond Beach / Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Possible stop to view Dyrholaey Arch (depending on time)

15.00: Tour/Lecture & Dinner at Flight Song Farm

18.00: Arrive Reykjavik. The Icelandic Field Stations is now officially over, and we will be dropping off at the Þingholt by Center Hotels where some of you will be staying, and discharging our bus.

Participants are free to make their own arrangements for their journey home.