Modern Vikings: The Scandinavian Initiative for Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, is a three-year project to promote study of Scandinavian culture in the US and Canada, strengthen and facilitate collaboration between the faculties and students of the cooperating universities; and publish a book of selected papers from the project. Generous support is provided by the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Scandinavian Visions of Landscapes: Identity, Culture, and Environment

Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen
(Scandinavian Studies, UW)

Eugene, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Alberta, Edmonton

Landscape Heritage, Nature, and the Nordic Body Politic

Kenneth Olwig (Landscape Planning, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

Olwig works within the area of environmental studies with a focus on landscape and planning, the history and theory of geography, and humanities oriented approaches to historical geography. He spent a week in residence at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, giving lectures and interacting with university and the community, before travelling to Seattle for a week.
Landscape Painting by

Rebecca Dvorin Strong

Portland, OR


"I make paintings of landscapes defined by an ever-shifting atmosphere and light. The scenes are places I have seen around my home, on a rural island in Puget Sound, or in my travels—most recently to Scandinavia, which I represent as spiritual images of universal significance."

Artistic Interpretations of Nordic Nature
Nordic Heritage Museum

Pete Hunner + MaiBritt Jonsson


Karl Erik Harr