HIS389Y0 Iceland and the World: Histories from the Viking Age to the Modern Era
Could a society that has adapted to some of the most difficult conditions on earth help us learn to navigate the challenges of our own time? Journey to the edge of the Arctic Circle for a special new summer course, Iceland and the World: Histories from the Viking Age to the Modern Era.
The goal of this course is to offer students an introduction to Icelandic history and its relationship to the global Far North. Beginning with early histories of human habitation and international trade in the Viking Age to the rise of migration, equity, cultural regeneration, and sovereignty movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, students in this class will gain new, deeper insight into the evolution of a dynamic, distinct, and geopolitically important country. Lectures, readings, and research labs focus on the ideas, material culture, and everyday lives of Icelanders themselves, from histories of food, fashion, and architecture to how they preserved the Icelandic language and Viking-Age sagas, despite centuries of rule by the Danish Empire.
Bringing the lessons of the past into the challenges of the present, students also explore how Icelanders today use historical concepts, language, and collective memory to debate and address modern issues, including human rights, climate instability, and digital governance in the AI Age. Classes alternate between a traditional classroom format and regular immersive, hands-on field trips that bring Iceland’s surreal and storied landscape to life.
Prerequisites: None
Breath Requirement = 3
2026 Tentative Course Outline
Field Trips (TBC)
- Visit World in Words: Manuscript Exhibition, Edda
- Visit Icelandic Settlement Centre, Borgarnes
- Visit National Museum of Iceland
- Visit Reykjavík Maritime Museum
- Visit Modern Icelandic Parliament
- Day trip to Thingvellir National Park and Árbær open air museum
- Day trip to Bjarteyjarsandur
- Day trip to Hveradalir geothermal area and geothermal pools in Selfoss
Instructor
Dr. L.K. Bertram is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto and a specialist in 19th-century Icelandic migration history. In addition to multiple publications, including The Viking Immigrants: Icelandic North Americans (UTP 2020), Bertram also brings Icelandic family roots and years of work and research on Icelandic history to help students gain access to hidden chapters in the country’s history. Through an award-winning approach to hands-on, immersive historical learning, Bertram’s courses focus on maximizing student engagement and learning through a range of media, including material culture, food history, and the creation of public history social media campaigns.