Amanda
Doxtater, doxtater@berkeley.edu
Amanda Doxtater is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in
Scandinavian Literature with a designated emphasis in
film. She received her B.A.and M.A. degrees in Swedish
Language and Literature from the University of Washington.
Before coming to UC Berkeley, she spent a Fulbright
year in Stockholm researching representations of ethnicity
in contemporary Swedish film. Her current academic interests
have been informed, however, by an early friendship
with an elegant young circus performer named Esmeralda
(commonly held to be the most beautiful woman in the
world) who seduced her into the circus at a formative
age. Traces of her years in Sweden as a tightrope dancer
and snake charmer with Circus Schumann appear everywhere
in her work. She is fascinated by representations of
falling bodies, works with theories of seduction (circus
and otherwise), and confesses to an infatuation with
early, spectacle-packed Danish film. As part of her
dissertation research next year she hopes to explore
narrative formulations of fantasy, seduction, lying
and "the historical document" in Scandinavian
literature and film. She also enjoys teaching Swedish
language courses at Berkeley and coordinates a weekly
film screening in conjunction with these courses.
Christian
Gullette, cmgullette@berkeley.edu
Monica
Hidalgo, mhidalgo@berkeley.edu
Verena
Hoefig, verena@berkeley.edu
Verena came to Berkeley in 2008 with a Magister Degree
from Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich,
Germany. She holds a major degree in Old Norse / Icelandic
and minor degrees in History and Political Science.
Verena spent two terms at the University of Iceland
studying Archaeology, Icelandic, and Swedish. From 2004-2007,
she taught Icelandic at a Munich evening school, as
well as tutorials in Old Norse and German History at
LMU. Since fall 2010 she teaches Swedish at UC Berkeley.
Her main research interests comprise Norse mythology,
law and history as represented in poetry and sagas,
runic inscriptions and iconography. She is also interested
in the representation and utilization of Old Norse textual
and material culture in modern times.
In 2007 and while still at LMU, Verena assisted in preparing
Jón Ólafssons "Runologia" for
publication in the Bibliotheca Arnamagnaeana series.
She has published articles about the Icelandic goðar
and theories of their origin and about ravens and crows
in Old Norse art and literature.
Sabina
Ivenäs Dyverfeldt, sabinaivenas@berkeley.edu
Molly
Jacobs, mollyjacobs@berkeley.edu
Molly
Jacobs entered the Department of Scandinavian in the
fall of 2007. After receiving her B.A. in French and
History from Xavier University in 2005, she spent a
year teaching English in Chalon-sur-Saône, France.
She received her M.A. in Medieval Studies from the University
of Toronto in 2007, where her focus of interest shifted
from continental to Scandinavian literature. She explores
the links and influences between continental and Old
Norse literature, with additional interests in Old French
literature, manuscript studies, and historical linguistics.
Molly has jointly published a codicological article
on Toronto Fisher MS 1269 and is currently working on
another joint project, an edition of the life of St.
Petronilla from the South English Legendary.
Benjamin
Mier Cruz, bmier@berkeley.edu
Benjamin Mier-Cruz entered the Department
of Scandinavian in 2004. He completed his B.A. in German
Language and Literature at Arizona State University
in 2004 and received his M.A. in 2006 with a focus on
Swedish and Finland-Swedish literature. He has presented
lectures on Edith Södergran at Arizona State University
as well as papers on Södergran, Friedrich Nietzsche,
and Pär Lagerkvist at SASS conferences. Benjamin
studies 19th- and early 20th-century Swedish literature
with a particular interest in Carl Jonas Love Almqvist,
August Strindberg, Finland-Swedish modernism, and German
and Swedish poetry. Other interests include German expressionism
and modernism, Ingmar Bergman, narrative theory, and
gender theory. Benjamin has taught several Reading and
Composition courses for the department. He also teaches
Swedish language courses, holds Swedish film screenings
and Swedish reading and discussion groups. Benjamin’s
dissertation concerns androgyny and deifying the body
in the works of Södergran, Nietzsche, and Almqvist.
Ian
Thompson, ijthompson@berkeley.edu
Elisabeth
Ward, lissi@berkeley.edu
After
formative visits to her mother's family in Iceland as
a child, Elisabeth decided to major in Scandinavian
as an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, focusing primarily
on the language and history of Iceland (B.A., 1994).
She then studied anthropology at George Washington University,
which introduced her to the myriad theoretical and methodological
issues involved in studying culture. Upon completion
of her M.A. in Anthropology with a Concentration in
Museum Studies, she obtained a position at the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of Natural History, where
she was the assistant curator for an exhibition entitled
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga from 1998
to 2003, and co-editor of the exhibition catalogue,
which surveys the current status of our understanding
of the Vikings westward migration across the North Atlantic
and exploration of North America 1000 years ago. That
experience convinced her to undertake Ph.D. studies
that analyze the relationship between the past and the
present, especially as it relates to Iceland's settlement
period, saga accounts, archeological digs, nationalistic
movements, and how the past is represented in museum
exhibitions.
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