Report of the President of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study

It was an honor and a pleasure to complete my 2-year term as president of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in 2022 at the outstanding Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (SASS) annual conference at the University of Texas, Austin. The new president of SASS is Scott Mellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and I look forward with you to supporting President Mellor in his new role.

The meeting in Austin was a success thanks to the efforts of chief organizer Professor Lynn Wilkinson, as well as her colleagues Marc Pierce and Thais Rutledge at the University of Texas, Austin. The conference was opened by Professor Stephen Mitchell of Harvard University with a keynote lecture titled "Notes from Strindberg's Camera: The Quotidian in Nordic Cultural History." The conference sessions took place at the Glickman Center, where Society members presented 115 papers over 2 days. Colleagues' exchange of ideas and conversations during breaks on the Center's patio under the Texas sun were memorable, as was the final banquet at the Otis Hotel Ballroom. Deepest thanks to everyone who participated in the meeting. It is a pleasure to thank Professor Lynn Wilkinson for all her organizational work as well as Professor Marc Pierce and SASS Executive Director Kimberly La Palm for their contributions as well. Let me express my gratitude to Lynn and her collaborators on behalf of the Society for the successful meeting at the University of Texas.

The meeting also provided the occasion to announce the winners of the Society's competitions. The Birgit Baldwin Fellowship for PhD dissertation research was awarded to Jacob Malone (UC Berkeley) for his project "Strange Topologies: The Virtual Imagination in Medieval Literature of the North." The Einar and Eva Lind Haugen Award for PhD Dissertation Research was awarded to Jay Lalonde (U. New Brunswick) for his project "Model Settlers, Dirty Foreigners, and Colonial Agents: Icelandic Settlers in Nova Scotia & Atlantic Canada's Immigration Policy, 1850–1900." The Aurora Borealis Award for the outstanding paper presented by a graduate student in History at the 2022 meeting was awarded to Rue Taylor (UC Berkeley) for the paper "Press Y to Flyt: The Viking Legacy in Video Games." The Aurora Borealis Award for the outstanding paper presented by a graduate student in Scandinavian Area Studies at the 2022 meeting was awarded to Jens Emil Elg (U. Copenhagen) for the paper "In the Background Is a Serving Moor"—Virtual Violence at Frederiksborg Castle." The Aurora Borealis Award for the outstanding paper presented by a graduate student in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at the 2022 meeting was awarded to Maxine Savage (U. Washington) for the paper "Black Borealisms: Blackness, Indigeneity, and the Spatiotemporality of the North." The 2023–2024 Birgit Baldwin Language Study Scholarship was awarded to two winners, Michael Faucette and Amy King. Congratulations to all award winners!

Our annual 2023 meeting's change in leadership furnishes a moment to reflect on the state of our field. It is no discovery to say that Scandinavian Studies is a small field in the United States, yet we continue to see steady hiring at the different types of institutions that make up the field. During the last couple of years, we have seen assistant professors as well as assistant-teaching professors or other long-term teaching line faculty hired at research institutions. So, too, 4-year undergraduate institutions continue to hire Scandinavianists. Faculty in all such positions have also been promoted, helping ensure the future of the field. Yet even as hiring continues, it is also evident that the field also faces the danger of contraction. Some Scandinavianist positions in humanities departments have not been filled on the departure or retirement of one of our colleagues. Other departments have opted to use the hiring process to replace a departed Scandinavianist with a new colleague who does not have interest or expertise in Scandinavian Studies. Still, if hiring is a key metric, hiring in Scandinavian Studies shows positive signs and maintains our vitality.

Membership is another metric: the pandemic has impacted SASS membership. Our membership...