Crossing Disciplinary Borders in Viking Age Studies

Problems, Challenges and Solutions

The 7th Austmarr Symposium

Tartu 1–3 December 2017

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What happens when scholars cross the disciplinary borders? What problems are there when a scholar uses the material from one discipline to interpret the material from an entirely different one, and how should the problems be solved? Interdisciplinarity is a prestige word in the academic world. In practice, it has turned out to be more problematic. Material, methods and research issues are often of very different kinds in different disciplines. The 7th Austmarr symposium is devoted to the problems of interdisciplinarity and the combination of different kinds of material from Northern Europe in pre-Hanseatic time. A main aim of the symposium is to promote a better understanding and more fruitful communication between disciplines which share common interests and concerns.

There will be 28 papers presented at the symposium as well as two special sessions:

• Female Viking Warriors – Archaeological Evidence and Written Sources
• The Salme Boat Burials

Keynote lectures:

Anne-Sofie Gräslund: Interdisciplinarity - the hardships of an archaelogist, from the 1970s and onwards.
Henrik Janson, University of Gothenburg: Old Norse Religion and the Troublesome Quest for an Interdisciplinary Approach.
Jens Peter Schjødt, University of Aarhus: Óðinn – the pervert?

The programme is found here. Abstracts for all the papers are found here.

Note that the symposium starts with a reception on November 30th at 20.00 and that December 1st, 2nd and 3rd are full conference days. We thus recommend you to that you arrive in Tartu on November 30th and depart on December 4th.

Please contact the organizer or the department secretary if you have any questions.

Welcome to Tartu in December!

Daniel Sävborg, Professor of Scandinavian Studies
University of Tartu