Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.10.1993, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 22. október 1993 • 3
lcelandic Studies are flourishing
by Roger Newman
The Icelandic language and cul-
ture is alive and well at the
University of Manitoba.
In an era when almost everything
is being cut back or cut out, the U of
M’s Department of Icelandic
Language and Literature continues to
offer a variety of courses to under-
graduate and graduate students.
“I think we are stronger now than
we were 20 years ago,” Dr. Kirsten
Wolf, the head of the department,
said during a recent interview in her
third floor office in the University
College building. “We have 35 stu-
dents this fall, as compared to regis-
trations of perhaps five to 10 in the
1970s.”
Wolf is maintaining and expanding
a department that has been in exis-
tence for 42 years. It dates back to
1951 when the Icelandic community
in North America raised more than
$200,000 to establish a chair of
Icelandic studies at a major universi-
ty. They picked the University of
Manitoba as the site because this
province is home to more descen-
dants of Icelanders than any other
place on the continent.
“The Icelandic community raised
the money out of a desire to foster
continuing interest in Icelandic and
North American-Icelandic history,”
said Wolf. “Its members wanted to
ensure that there would be a North
American university where the
Icelandic language and culture could
be studied.”
Surprisingly, the U of M’s
Icelandic chair has been held by only
three people in four decades. Dr.
Finnbogi Guðmundsson, currently
the head of the National Library in
Iceland, launched the Icelandic stud-
ies program in 1951 and stayed until
1956. He was succeeded by Haraldur
Bessason who remained at the Fort
Garry campus for 31 years before he
returned home in 1987 to become
rector of the University of Akureyri.
That set the stage for the 1988 arrival
of Wolf whose appointment raised a
few eyebrows because she is Danish
rather than Icelandic.
There has been traditional enmity
. between Danes and Icelanders dating
back to the days when Denmark con-
trolled the mid-Atlantic island. Wolf
admits that the historic conflict creat-
ed a few problems for her when she
first came to Manitoba. But it didn’t
take long for her to prove that she is
just as enthusiastic about Iceland as
the country’s native bom residents.
“I have loved Iceland ever since I
first saw it as a teenager,” Wolf said.
“My parents took me with them
is proud to sponsor a
Violin Concert
featuring
Sigrún Eðvaldsdóttir
and Pianist
Thorsteinn Sigurdsson
at
the Gniversity of Winnipeg
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Photograph by Woolf Ltd.
November 5, 1993 7:30 p.m
This concert is part of a tour Ms. Eðvaldsdóttir is making of
North America. Don’t miss your opportunity to see one of
lceland’s fambús musicians perform in Canada.
Tickets available at:
Lögberg-Heimskringla
699 Carter Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Phone: 284-5686
Heimsknngla
Dr. Kirsten Wolf has directed an expansion of the
University of Manitoba’s lcelandlc studies pro-
gram while Neil Bardal of Husavik is in charge of
the fund raising that helps to keep it going.
when they went to visit friends. Later,
I was an undergraduate at the
University of Iceland before I com-
pleted my Icelahdic studies at the
University of London in England.”
Wolf, who has B.A., M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees, began her teaching
career as a lecturer in Icelandic and
Danish at the University of
Wisconsin. Next, she accepted a
research post in Copenhagen,
Denmark, but a yen to return to
teaching brought her to Manitoba.
“I was keen on the idea of coming
back to North America,” she
explained. “The academic climate is
more lively and stimulating than you
find in Europe.”
That led her to accept the U of M
chair which is usually the name for a
man or woman who heads a one-per-
son department. But under her lead-
ership, the department was expanded
to two people in 1992 when Viðar
Hreinsson arrived from Iceland to
take up the post of assistant profes-
sor.
‘*We received a $300,000 grant
from the federal multiculturalism
department so that an assistant pro-
fessor can be with us for two years,”
said Wolf. “Hreinsson is now starting
his second year but I would like to
make the position full-time. That is
my priority for the department.”
While things have been going well
for the Icelandic studies program, its
long-term survival is by no means
assured. The annual interest generat-
ed by the original $200,000 endow-
ment from the Icelandic community
currently covers less than half the
program’s cost. This has shifted .the
funding burden to the university
which has already eliminated Hebrew
studies as part of its response to the
most severe education cutbacks in
memory.
“I think we are through the worst
of it,” said Wolf. “But we are now
into the fifth generation of Icelandic-
Canadians and you sometimes won-
der how long our program can con-
tinue to attract the interest of stu-
dents.”
Fortunately, Wolf is not aloné in
her battle to preserve the sagas, the
poetry, the literature arid language of
Iceland. A five-person citizen group -
the Heritage Image Pride (HIP) com-
mittee - is working to raise private
funds to assure the future of both the
Icelandic studies program and the
K
Viöar Hreinsson, from lceland, is serving a
two year term as assistant professor in the
University of Manitoba's lcelandic studies
department.
Icelandic Library at the Fort Garry
campus.
“We have a goal of raising $1.5
million over the next few years,” says
committee chairman Neil Bardal of
Husavik. “Otherwise the timé may
come when the U of M’s Icelandic
chair is in jeopardy. ”
Donations may be sent to the uni-
versity’s office of private funding or
to the HIP committee at 3030 Notre
Dame Ave., Winnipeg, R3H IB9.
While the money rolls in, Wolf will
be doing everything possible to
ensure that the Icelandic program
remains vital and necessary in today’s
educational environment.
“Our students have been primarily
of Icelandic descent and come from
as far as Alberta and Ontario,” she
said. “But I see us reaching out and
becoming an integral part of multicul-
tural and ethnic studies programs.
We have already set up an arrange-
ment where we can exchange stu-
dents and credits. with the
Scandinavian studies department at
the University of Alberta.”
olf promotes her program
through public speaking
and by sending letters to the
principals of Interlake high schools.
She can offer opportunities such
as scholarships that annually allow
two students to spend a year in
Iceland.
She also advances the cause of
Icelandic studies through writing and
reseárch. Two years ago, she and
graduate student Árný Hjaltadóttir
translated 21 stories by Icelandic-
Canadian pioneers and incorporated
them into a book called Western
Icelandic Short Stories. The volume -
published by the University of
Manitoba Press - enjoyed enough
success that Wolf will soon follow it
with a second book called Western
Icelandic Women.
“Because of the heavy teaching
load in our department, most of my
writing and research gets done
between 1Q p.m. and 2 am.,” laughs
Wolf.
But most of this work is a labour
of love for-the department head.
“Iceland has a tradition of producing
fine writing and poetry,” she says.
“Possibly this stems from its social
environment. It has always been a
classless society where every pérson
had the right to learn to read and
write.”