Norway and the Lofoten Archipelago

presented by Dr Mindy MacLeod

Many of you will know of Audhumla, the primeval cow who licked the frozen Norse world into shape. But what about the frankly bonkers battle cows of the Viking armies or the bewitched zombie bulls of the sagas? And while you may have seen depictions of the Norse goddess Freyja in her chariot drawn by cats, chances are you haven’t heard of the demonic black cats of the Viking wizard Thorolf Sledgehammer. You might be familiar with the role of the wolf Fenrir in the Norse Apocalypse, but what about the doomed dogs who protect the family farms or the slavering hounds who guard the gates to hell?

Join Mindy as she describes some monstrous Viking beasts best avoided as well as some more appealing ones you may encounter on her upcoming Norwegian tour.

Recorded during a live-streamed Zoom presentation, this video has been carefully edited to deliver the experience of being part of an audience and having the best seat in the house.

Dr Mindy MacLeod

Currently employed in the Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne, Dr Mindy MacLeod has also taught at Deakin University and Linnaeus University in southern Sweden. Since the closure of the Swedish department where she lectured in Swedish language, Scandinavian Culture and Society, and Old Norse Language and Literature, she has diversified to teach Runology, Language History, Sociolinguistics, Intercultural Communication, English as a Global Language, Translation Studies, Youth and Popular Culture, Diversity Studies and Research Writing. She also works as a translator and editor for Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic journals.

Mindy has published academic and popular works dealing with aspects of Scandinavian epigraphy: her first book Bindrunes was awarded a literary prize by Kunglinga Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur; Runic Amulets and Magic, published by Boydell Press, was written in collaboration with her colleague Bernard Mees and she is currently in the process of writing her third book.

Find out more about Mindy here.

Tune in to Zoom on Tuesday 25 July 2023 to hear Dr Christopher A. Tuttle’s talk, ‘The Turquoise Coast’. Look out for the access code to arrive in your email.