Dr. Elizabeth M. Swedo
Western Oregon University
Brief Biography:
Dr. Swedo joined the Western Oregon University History Department in 2013. She completed her MA (2006) and PhD (2012) in History at the University of Minnesota. She studies medieval and early modern Europe, with a focus on cultural and religious history of the late Middle Ages (1300-1550) and a regional interest in Scandinavia, particularly Iceland. Her current book manuscript project, “Faith Forged in Fire and Ice: Icelandic Church and Society, 1300-1550,” addresses how religious doctrine and practice were transmitted and adapted within and among medieval European societies, concentrating on the negotiated roles of the laity and the clergy in this process. Her broader research interests also include the intersection of religious beliefs, social practices, and gender roles; environmental adaptation; literary and cultural production; and intercultural contacts in late medieval Europe. Her current projects explore questions about regional religious practices and the natural environment, specifically local responses to natural disasters.
Curriculum Vitae (c.v.)
Awards:
WOU Foundation Competitive Grant, awarded Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 (deferred) to support Phi Alpha Theta’s student travel to the annual regional conferences
WOU Faculty Development Grant, awarded for manuscript studies workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, Summer 2014.
Andrew Mellon Foundation Early Modern World History Dissertation Seminar, UMN, Summer 2010.
Fulbright Grant for research in Iceland from January 2008 through September 2008.
American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship for research in Iceland 2007-2008 (declined).
Leifur Eiríksson Foundation Scholarship for research in Iceland in Fall 2007.
Union Pacific Research Grant, Center for Early Modern History, UMN, 2006, 2009.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for study in Iceland, UMN, Summer 2004.
Department of German, Scandinavian, Dutch Scholarship for study in Iceland in Summer 2004.
Phi Beta Kappa Graduate School Scholarship, 2003.
Publication Highlights:
“Introduction: Forum on Vikings in World History.” World History Connected Vol. 17, no. 1 (February 2020) https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/17.1/forum_swedo_intro.html.
“Hornless Northmen: Teaching Vikings as People in the World History Context.” World History Connected Vol. 17, no. 1 (February 2020) https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/17.1/forum_swedo.html.
“‘Unfolding Identities’: The Intertextual Roles of Clothing in the Nibelungenlied and Völsunga Saga,” Medieval Clothing and Textiles Vol.15 (May 2019).
Conference & Presentation Highlights
Papers:
“Familial Ties, Clerical Identity, and Episcopal Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Iceland,” 2019 Joint Conference of the Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP) and Arizona Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona (02/2019).
“The Dead Remembering the Living: Testamentary Charity in Late Medieval Iceland” 2018 Joint Conference of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association (RMMRA) and the Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP), University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada (04/2018)
“Brother’s Keeper?: Clerical Identity, Familial Ties, and Episcopal Patronage in Late Medieval Iceland,” 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan (05/2018).
“A Strongly Worded Letter: Collective Lay Resistance to Ecclesiastical Abuses in Leiðarhólmsskrá (1513),” 30th Annual Medieval Studies Symposium, Indian University, Bloomington, Indiana (04/2018)
“Mundane Disasters: Icelandic Society and Environment in the Late Middle Ages,” 3rd Annual Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS) Conference, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado (10/2016).
“‘Insula maris in finibus mundi’: Including Iceland in Medieval Christendom,” 22nd Annual Arizona Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona (04/2016).
The Miklibær Church Caper: Church Sanctity, Property, and Community in Late Medieval Iceland,” 105th Annual Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (SASS), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (05/2015).
“Resistance to Clerical Reforms in Late Medieval Iceland: The Case of Síra Þórðr Einarsson Oathbreaker, Slanderer, and Feller of Trees,” 2015 Annual Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP) Conference, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada (04/2015).
“How Not to End in Fire or Ice: Devotional Responses to Natural Disasters in Fourteenth-Century Iceland,” 20th Annual Arizona Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona (02/2014).
“Tradition, Integration, and Murder: Icelandic Resistance to Bishops in the Late Middle Ages,” International Medieval Conference, Leeds, England (07/2011).
“Chastisements in the Vestry after Mass: Reform and Resistance in Lárentíus saga biskups,” 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan (05/2010).
“Unfolding Identities: The Roles of Clothing in the Nibelungenlied and Volsunga Saga,” 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan (05/2007).
“St. Thorlákur Thorhallson: Vanguard of Icelandic Reform,” 41st Northern Great Plains History Conference, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (10/2006).
Conference Panels:
Panelist, “Dominican on the Edge: Bishop Jón Halldórsson in Early Fourteenth-Century Iceland,” Lightning Panel at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan (05/2021)
Panelist, “Collaborating with the Competition: Professional Support for the Job Market,” for “Women, Writing, and Work: Women, Collaboration, and Community inside the Academy” Lightning Panel at the 17th Triennial Conference Berkshire Conference of Women Historians (“the Berks”) at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York (06/2017).
Panelist, “No More the Lone Woman: The Importance of Women’s Social Networks in Graduate School and Beyond,” Social Sciences History Association (SSHA), Vancouver, Canada (11/2012).
Professional Affiliations:
American Historical Association (AHA)
Medieval Academy of America (MAA)
Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAPS)
Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (SASS)
EPISCOPUS (Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages)