Chair of Nordic History

Nordic History in Greifswald as part of a comprehensive, long-established academic tradition in the study of the Baltic Sea region is unique to Germany. The professorial chair specialises in research and teaching on the history and culture of Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland) and Finland. Research and teaching cover the epochs from the Viking Age to the present. The long tradition of Northern European studies in Greifswald in political history is complemented by current research questions approaching cultural history, the history of interreligious relations and gender history.

Since April 2021, the chair has contributed towards the International Research Training Group 2560 “Baltic Peripeties" [Baltic Peripeties. Reformations, Revolutions, Catastrophes], a joint research programme of three universities in the Baltic Sea region - Greifswald, Tartu and Trondheim. Staff members at the professorial chair work on a cross-disciplinary basis, collaborating with the various subject areas of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, theology and medicine as part of IFZO’s joint research project "Fragmented Transformations. Perceptions, Constructions, Constitutions of a Region in Transition".

Other ongoing DFG projects at the professorial chair are "Saints and Heroes from Christianisation to Nationalism: Symbol, Image, Memory (North-West Russia, Baltic and Nordic countries)” and “Mission Before Colonisation: A Reassessment of Religious Contact in Greenland and Sápmi, 1000-1550]”.