Friday, October 14, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm
Director 5
This live event will not be recorded.
Sponsored by the Nordic-Baltic Folklore Section
Chair: James P. Leary (University of Wisconsin, Madison, emeritus)
2:30 pm
Coffee Drinking, Lectures, Communal Singing: Grundtvigian Danish Americans Celebrate Heritage at the Danebod Folk Meeting: 1980s-2022.
Catherine Hiebert Kerst (American Folklife Center, emerita)
3:00 pm
Beth Hoven Rotto, Musician-In-Residence: Scandinavian-American Old-Time Music and University-based Artist Residencies
Nathan D. Gibson (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
3:30 pm
Whitewater Ole: Legends, Log Drives, Dead Immigrants, and Intersectionality
James P. Leary (University of Wisconsin, Madison, emeritus)
4:00 pm
optional discussion time
Nordic immigrants to America’s Upper Midwest in the 19th and early 20th centuries established and modified elements of their Old World folk cultures which have undergone selective revitalizations fostered by creative innovators, community organizations, and the documentary efforts of ethnomusicologists and folklorists. Upper Midwesterners of Nordic descent likewise joined diverse neighbors in co-creating emergent regional subcultures with ongoing implications. This panel presents distinct yet interrelated case studies of Nordic American folklore, its revitalizations and implications, past and present.