Research groups
Research
I am professor of Nordic literature with a research focus on ecocriticism and interdisciplinary environmental humanities. Together with Sissel Furuseth, I have written Økokritisk håndbok (2023), the first Norwegian-language introduction to ecocriticism. Together with Anna-Karin Jonasson and Peter Degerman, I have edited the volume Nordic Narratives of Nature and the Environment. Ecocritical Approaches to Northern European Literatures and Cultures (2018), and together with Emily Lethbridge and Michael Schulte the volume Ecocriticism and Old Norse Studies. Nature and the Environment in Old Norse Literature and Culture (2023). My research and other publications focus on how literary texts address environmental change, the Anthropocene, education for sustainable development, children's and young adult literature, contemporary literature from Northern Europe, and Old Norse literature and culture. I am co-founder and coordinator of the Ecocritical Network for Scandinavian Studies (ENSCAN), and president of the European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and Environment (EASLCE). I am also a member of the steering committee of Norwegian Researcher School in Environmental Humanities (NoRS-EH) and of the Advisory Board of Ecozon@. European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment and of the book series Nature, Culture and Literature (Brill) and Ecocriticism Unbound (DeGruyter).
More information on my research, my publications and other academic activities is available at www.reinhardhennig.net.
Selected publications
“Anthropocene Aesthetics: Norwegian Literature in a New Geological Epoch.” NORDEUROPAforum. Journal for the Study of Culture 2021, 105–130.
“Memory of Environmental and Climatic Change in the Sagas of Icelanders.” Scandinavian Studies 91 (3), 2019, 323-344.
“Knowing the Right Thing, but Not Doing It. Knut Hamsun’s Markens grøde in the Anthropocene.” NORDEUROPAforum. Journal for the Study of Culture 2018, 16-43.
General outreach
March 2024: Video presentasjon on Growth of the Soil and sustainability as a part of the Hamsun Centre's exhibition "The controversial Hamsun".
15.12.2023: "Sagaforfattarane skreiv om miljøproblem allereie for 800 år sidan". Article on forskning.no
Short biography
Since March 2021: Professor of Nordic literature at the Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder, Norway
2018-2021: Associate Professor of Nordic literature at the Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder, Norway
2017: Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Norway
2014-16: Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Humanities, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
2014: PhD in Scandinavian Studies; University of Bonn, Germany
2013: Research stay at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway
2012: Research stay at EDDA - Center of Excellence, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
2009-2011: Lecturer at the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Münster, Germany
2008-2012: Research assistant at the Department for Scandinavian Studies, University of Bonn, Germany
2008: M.A. in Scandinavian Studies, medieval and modern history; University of Bonn, Germany
2003-2008: Studies in Scandinavian Studies, medieval and modern history; University of Freiburg, Germany; University of Gothenburg, Sweden; University of Bonn, Germany