The Department of Scandinavian Studies is proud to have a visiting Fulbright Scholar on campus this year.
Professor Kirsten Thisted specializes in Greenlandic literature and her work includes several books and articles about the oral tradition and the modern written literature.
Thisted – who taught at Ilisimatusarfik, the University of Greenland in Nuuk – is an associate professor at the Minority Studies Section in Institute of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen.
Expertise in Greenland has been a priority of the UW Scandinavian Department – topics like global warming in the arctic has recently become a “hot” topic in international politics and research with many researchers, politicians and journalists flocking to Greenland.
Greenland also has a history of colonialism and centuries of co-existence and inter-marriage with the Danes. The country is firmly established within the co-operation between the Nordic countries while sharing origins with the Inuit of Alaska and Canada – another close connection between the U.S. and Scandinavia.
The department is deeply grateful for the opportunity to welcome such an outstanding scholar and would like to thank the generous Fulbright Scholar Program in Denmark, the UW Folklore Program and the Center for European Studies.