Welcome

SASS Conference 2009

Welcome to the website of the 99th meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study. The conference will be hosted by the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 30 through May 2, 2009 at the Monona Terrace.

SASS

SASS is an association of scholars and others interested in the cultures of the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Founded in 1911, the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study has as its objectives the promotion of Scandinavian study and instruction in America; the encouragement of original research in this country in the fields of Scandinavian languages, literatures, history, culture, and society and the publication of the results of such research in the quarterly journal Scandinavian Studies; and the fostering of closer relations between persons interested in Scandinavian studies in North America and elsewhere.

The Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the oldest such department in the country. Scandinavian settlers began to arrive in Wisconsin in the early 1840's, and already in 1853 one of their pioneer newspapers suggested the possibility of establishing a chair in Scandinavian Studies at the State University in Madison. It was n ot until 1869, however, that the University appointed its first instructor in Scandinavian languages, Rasmus B. Anderson, who in 1875 went on to become the department's first Professor. The University had not originally thought of setting up a permanent chair; but when Anderson left in 1883, he was replaced by one of his students, and the Department of Scandinavian Studies has had an uninterrupted history ever since.

Conference Sponsors

The Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study

The Evjue Foundation

and

The Center for European Studies through

U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center funds