Coordinators: Judith Meurer-Bongardt (University of Bonn / Åbo Akademi University) | Philipp Wagner (University of Vienna) | Anton Matejicka (University of Vienna)

Contact: philipp.wagnerunivie.acat

Our present is increasingly described as an era marked by polycrisis. Crisis-ridden developments in the fields of ecology, economics, politics and society are becoming more frequent and occurring simultaneously. In this working group, we aim to explore the concept of polycrisis, which appears in various discourses, from a literary studies perspective. Our discussions thus form part of the growing body of literature on the intertwining of polycrisis and literature (Kuznetski et al. 2025). In our assessment, the literary potential of the concept stems from the fact that, due to their discursive nature, literary texts can narrate multiple crises simultaneously, both structurally and in terms of content. We must therefore focus on the narration of the accumulation and temporal overlap of different crises. Accordingly, we also wish to explore how polycrisis narratives and the associated concept of tipping points relate to the concept of the turning point typical of crisis narratives (Schiedermair 2025). To narrow down the historical scope, we intend to limit ourselves to contemporary literature since the 1970s, as this ‘decade of uncertainty’ (Sarasin 2021) in particular can be regarded as the beginning of the contemporary era.

In this working group, we discuss the following questions: What narrative and aesthetic devices are used to depict the nature of multiple crises? How are ecological, economic, political and social crises interwoven with personal crises in literary narratives? To what extent are literary and artistic practices modified in the face of polycrisis, particularly that of the Anthropocene? Does the interdependence of the constituent crises within a polycrisis give rise to new narrative modes?

Coordinators: Elizabeth Blicher (EUF) | Markus Christensen (EUF) | Anders Dam (EUF)

Contact: anders.damuni-flensburgde

Over the centuries, the dream has served as a central motif and space of insight in Nordic literature – from the mythical and prophetic dreams of medieval sagas and the profound dream visions of folk ballads, through Romanticism and Symbolism, in which the dream is celebrated as a gateway to poetry and metaphysics, right through to the Surrealist explorations of the ‘lowest realm’ of the unconscious, the psychological and existential dream imagery of modern literature, and the dreamlike texts of speculative fiction. Over the last hundred years, Nordic film directors have also explored the dream in original ways as an essential element of cinematic expression. In the working group ‘Dreams in Nordic Literature and Film’, the dream is examined in both literary and cinematic works. Here, the dream is not merely a motif in poetry and film, but also has formal consequences: a specific aesthetic of writing and imagery emerges when attempting to depict the dream in its fluid, shimmering transience.   In this seminar, we aim to discuss texts and films in which dreams open up an interstitial space between reality and imagination and transcend the boundaries between the conscious and the unconscious. The analysis of literary and cinematic works will be combined with theoretical perspectives in order to shed light on the role of the dream as a literary device and as a form of insight. The contributions to the working group ‘Dreams in Nordic Literature and Film’ explore the unique way in which dreams transcend reality, crossing the boundaries of historical periods, genres and theoretical frameworks.

Languages: German, English or any of the Nordic languages.

Coordinators: Burkhard Bärner (University of Vienna) | Birgit Ortmayer (University of Vienna)
Contact: burkhard.baernerunivie.acat

As in previous years, the linguistics working group is open to anyone interested in linguistic phenomena. As a specific working group on historical linguistics is also being offered this time, this working group will focus on topics in modern and general linguistics.

In addition to presentations on the Scandinavian languages, contributions relating to other languages of the Baltic region are also welcome. Presentations may be delivered in German, English or the Scandinavian languages.

The seminar aims to provide an opportunity not only for researchers to present their projects, but also for students. Therefore, in addition to research and doctoral projects, Master’s and Bachelor’s thesis projects may also be presented, for which a shorter presentation format may be used where appropriate.

Presentation formats:

1. Presentations of 20 minutes each, followed by a 10-minute discussion
2. Short presentations of 10 minutes each, followed by a 5-minute discussion

Coordinators: Gudrun Samberger (JMU Würzburg) | Ramón Boldt (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Contact: ramon.boldtfaude

In recent years, the history of the early North Germanic languages has emerged as a vibrant field of research, receiving fresh impetus from various directions. We invite researchers from three sub-fields of early North Germanic linguistic history to present their current research.

Firstly, runology has proven to be enormously productive in recent years, thanks in part to spectacular new finds (Rakkestad; Svingerud / Hole 3) and important publications of a consolidating nature (such as Düwel, Klaus† & Robert Nedoma. 2023: Runenkunde. Stuttgart) that has been enormously productive. Traditionally, however, the research strands of runology and Old Germanic historical linguistics often lead separate lives, even though the importance of new runic finds for the writing of linguistic history can hardly be overestimated.

Secondly, the resurgence that runology has experienced in recent years is accompanied by new methodological approaches to the study of Old North Germanic drawn from the digital humanities. Whilst such approaches have been under discussion for some years in other areas of Germanic and general linguistic history, the field of Old North Germanic linguistic history has so far been scarcely affected by this development. The working group aims to provide an opportunity to address this.

Finally, classical linguistic-historical and etymological research remains indispensable. It is instructive to note that the last comprehensive etymological dictionary of Old Norse (de Vries, Jan. 1977: Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Leiden) is almost 50 years old and must be regarded as outdated. This outdated state of knowledge is also reflected in the Old Norse grammar that remains the standard reference, Adolf Noreen’s Old Icelandic Grammar (1923), which, at 100 years old, is even older.

Coordinators: Felix Bidder (LMU Munich) | Daniela Hahn (LMU Munich) | Joachim Schiedermair (LMU Munich)

Contact: felix.biddercampus.lmude

Household goods, trousseau, junk, estate, photo album, birthmark, family portrait gallery, family tree, chronicle, grave goods, will, coat of arms, adoption certificate, genetic defect, library, funeral reception, jewellery, silverware, child’s drawing, cargo bike, board game, wedding cake, minivan, safe deposit box, treasure chest:

Based on an understanding of the family as a social institution that is not a given, but must continually reaffirm its internal cohesion and cultural self-evidence, the working group is interested in the role that the handling of objects and material things plays in this ‘doing family’. At the heart of this lies, on the one hand, the documentation of the material inventory that surrounds families in literary texts and in which kinship materialises, as well as the tracing of the paths this inventory takes within familial spheres. Closely linked to this are questions regarding the mechanisms that govern the acquisition, distribution and passing on of family objects (e.g. gifts, bequests, inheritance), as well as the narrative strategies these objects trigger: are there connections between objects and specific modes of family narrative (e.g. genealogies, memory)? To what extent is the structuring of family spaces (e.g. inside/outside, private/public) and times (e.g. weddings, visits)

The working group is specifically aimed at researchers in both Modern and Medieval Scandinavian Studies.

Coordinators: Lill-Ann Körber (University of Göttingen), Maria Looks (University of Göttingen) | Swantje Opitz (University of Göttingen) | Hanna Rinderle University of Göttingen / HU Berlin)

Kontakt: hanna.rinderlehu-berlinde

In recent years, interest in Sámi topics has grown across German-speaking countries. This is evident in translations of contemporary Sámi literature, such as works by Ann-Helén Laestadius (2022; 2024) and Elin Anna Labba (2025), as well as in popular media and discussions on Europe’s Indigenous perspectives. This interest is linked to a longer history of “collecting” materials, objects, bodies and narratives from Sápmi. It ranges from early travel accounts and Sámi drums in cabinets of curiosities to ethnographic and anthropometrical collecting practices and to contemporary museological and literary representations. Today, such collections and practices are increasingly re-examined and reimagined, as seen in projects like Dávvirat Duiskkas in Norway (Sámi Objects in German Museums) or The Sámi Collection at MEK at the Berlin Museum of European Cultures.

This AK seeks to explore these developments from a diachronic perspective while engaging with decolonial readings and methodological approaches. How has knowledge about the Sámi been constructed, transmitted, and archived within German-speaking contexts, past and present? What roles do colonial epistemologies play in literary, scholarly, and museological practices? And how might decolonial frameworks – such as theories of the archive, translation, or knowledge circulation – be made productive for studying these materials?

Contributions may address travel writing, tourism, ethnological and museum collections, the reception of contemporary Sámi literature, forms of cultural mediation, or theoretical reflections on decolonial research perspectives. The AK aims to critically examine historical and contemporary forms of “collecting” Sápmi and to outline pathways towards a responsible, decolonial informed research practice. We welcome abstracts in German, English and the Scandinavian languages. Depending on the response, the AK will be held in one or a mix of the languages.

Coordinators: Jasper Bothe (University of Kiel) | Simon Hauke (University of Münster) | Paul Theissen (Humboldt University of Berlin)

Contact: simon.haukeuni-muensterde

This working group examines the identity-forming role of historiography in pre-modern Scandinavia. It has long been recognised that historiography constructs its content in response to contemporary questions, rather than – as Leopold von Ranke put it – simply describing ‘how things actually were’. These constructions serve to situate collectives within history and thus to establish group identities. As this applies even more strongly to pre-modern than to modern historiography, the working group examines historiography in the period from the emergence of the first written sources in the 12th century to the increasing integration of Scandinavian history into a European scholarly discourse in the 18th century, which led to the development of the modern sciences. This framework enables an in-depth examination of the pre-modern Nordic construction of historically grounded identities, taking into account the conditions of their constitution within their own internal logics and their specific historical context.

Possible questions relate to the pre-modern understanding of history and the means by which history is constructed (“How are identities created through historiography?”), the definition of the collectives addressed by such identity-forming processes (“Which groups are included or excluded?”), intertextual references (“How do new texts refer to existing historical constructions?”) or the manuscript tradition (“Why and in what contexts are certain texts and their historical narratives transmitted?”). By bringing together various complementary perspectives from cultural studies, the aim is to facilitate a better understanding of pre-modern Scandinavian historiography with regard to the negotiation of identities.

Coordinators: Frederike Felcht (University of Frankfurt) | Sotirios Mouzakis (University of Münster)

Kontakt: sotirios.mouzakisuni-muensterde

Democracy is more than just a form of government; it comprises diverse forms of coexistence that are also mediated through art, literature, film, etc. These forms and their mediations are used, amongst other things, to negotiate and debate who or what belongs to the demos and where and for what reasons freedom should end. Our workshop focuses on the aesthetics of these articulations. We pay particular attention to Scandinavia, a region that sometimes is attributed a special role, for example when it comes to the form of the welfare state, the political significance of compromise, equality, or happiness. Our understanding of aesthetics is broad, ranging from everyday cultural phenomena and spaces such as toys and playgrounds to media formats such as films and television series to literary texts in the narrower sense. We want to discuss the functions of such phenomena for democracy/democratic life and also reflect on the role that Scandinavian Studies could play in democratic coexistence.
 

We welcome contributions from researchers at all stages of their careers, and would in particular like to encourage early-career researchers to participate.

Working languages: German, English, Scandinavian (depending on the participants' preferences)

Coordinators: Benedikt Jager (University of Stavanger) | Marlene Hastenplug (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main)

Contact: benedikt.jageruisno

It was not only the West that shone in the GDR, but also the North – perhaps even more brightly. In Meine freie deutsche Jugend (2004), Claudia Rusch described the allure of the ferry to Sweden, whilst Lutz Seiler, in Kruso (2014), addressed the often life-threatening surfboard escapes to Denmark. Whilst for many GDR citizens the Scandinavian countries were capitalist societies with a human face, sections of the Northern European left sought precisely this socialism in the GDR.

A workshop at the University of Greifswald, home to the GDR’s most important Nordic institute, provides the ideal setting for re-examining the complex literary relations between the GDR and its northern neighbours. The focus here will be on the transfer from north to south. The deliberately broad term ‘literary relations’ is intended to open up a potentially wide field that could address the following topics:

• Publication of Scandinavian and Finnish literature in the GDR (continuities and breaks; censorship; struggles over texts and authors; unknown bestselling authors, etc.)
• Publication channels: (Leading publishers such as ‘Volk & Welt’ and ‘Hinstorff Verlag’; Romanzeitung; radio plays on GDR state radio)
• Translators and translations (key figures; an East German translation style? Censorship interventions)
• History of the discipline (the Scandinavian Studies Institutes of the GDR; academic partnerships with Northern Europe; the 1982 IASS conference in Greifswald)
• Scandinavian drama on the stages of the GDR (overview; scandals; performance studies)
   

The working group should therefore be characterised by a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches (translation theory; book studies; performativity theory; actor-network theory) and encourage productive exchange between them.

Coordinators: Eline Elmiger (University of Basel) | Lucia Santercole (University of Basel) | Amrei Stanzel (HU Berlin)

Contact: skandi.cronshgmailcom

Germanic antiquity, Snorri’s authorship, Ibsen as a feminist pioneer: certain narratives and concepts have found their way into Scandinavian studies and established themselves as academic paradigms that continue to shape scholarly discourse to this day. Some are recurring, such as the question of orality and literacy in debates on the origins of Old Norse philology and folklore studies. Other interpretative patterns or approaches, by contrast, find temporary resonance before disappearing from academic discourse, such as purely biographical approaches to modern Scandinavian literature.

The working group “Concepts, Paradigms, Research Networks” is dedicated to questions of the history of Scandinavian studies that go beyond the history of individual institutions. The focus is on research content and practices: Which enduring concepts shape the discipline and how did they emerge? Which academic shifts have taken place in Scandinavian studies and which have not? What subsequently finds its way into handbooks, and what is left out? What role do academic networks play in these processes? Above all: what insights can be gained from the history of the discipline when one looks beyond narratives of genius and similar tropes? Can a look at the history of Scandinavian studies

We invite contributions that explore critical or innovative perspectives on the history of the discipline. This may involve tracing a particular paradigm or concept that incorporates the contexts and discourses of scholarly production, or analysing a single example, such as a letter, an archive or another node within a broader research network.

Coordinators: Rebecca Merkelbach (University of Tübingen) | Daniela Hahn (LMU Munich)

Contact: rebecca.merkelbachuni-tuebingende

Although there has been considerable public interest in Old Norse topics for years, many German-speaking departments report low student numbers, particularly at advanced stages of study. Everywhere, similar questions arise regarding the recruitment and retention of students, teaching in small groups, or teaching collaborations across disciplines and locations. At the same time, the discipline faces social and technological challenges in the context of the rise of the far right and the emergence of language models (so-called AI), which we must address actively and responsibly.

We face these challenges with an ever-decreasing number of lecturers and locations, which are also threatened by cuts and closures. The thematic and methodological diversity of Old Norse Studies can rarely be reflected at the local level. This makes it all the more important not to react primarily to crises in future, but to actively develop perspectives for our discipline and to test new ideas and collaborations in teaching.

This forum is designed as an open discussion forum. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange experiences, ideas and perspectives during three moderated round-table discussions featuring short introductory presentations.

• Teaching Projects & Collaborations in Old Norse Studies
  (Brief presentations of successful projects and teaching collaborations)
• Political and Technological Changes
  (Dealing with ideological appropriation; the use and impact of AI)
• Networks & Resource Pools
  (Ideas for the joint development and provision of teaching materials; formats for student involvement)