2006/2007 AN ASF UPDATE FROM THE PRESIDENT In less than three years, the American- ents were involved in projects as diverse as Scandinvian Foundation will celebrate the mapping Amazonian jungle regions, arts con- 100th anniversary of its founding. When the servation in Norway, underwater photography ASF began, organizations dedicated to multi- in Iceland and contemporary Swedish poetry. national cultural cooperation were virtually Scandinavian Fellows earned degrees at non-existent. The idea of creating a private American institutions in fields as varied as organization to promote educational exchange space technology, minority studies, internation- between the United States and a group of for- al relations and filmmaking. The ASF is eager Charting eign counties was completely new and untried. to connect with its Former Fellows whenever possible and we would like to encourage each Thus the founding of the ASF might be viewed of you to visit us at Scandinavia House any as a new departure in international relations. time that you are in the New York Area. the Course As the earliest of international, non-govern- mental societies to have as its sole purpose Many changes have taken place at The the furtherance of goodwill through education- American-Scandinavian Foundation since the of Fellows al and cultural exchange, the ASF established last publication of The Longboat. At the end of a model that has inspired countless other 2006, Ellen McKey stepped down after serving organizations in the United States and abroad. for 12 years as the Director of Fellowships and Grants to take on new challenges at the of The As we close the 2008 fiscal year, I am pleased Institute of International Education (IIE) as to report that the Fellowship and Grant Director of the Foreign Fulbright student pro- Program of the American-Scandinavian gram. Ellen is missed, but before she left she American- Foundation is flourishing. During the past year, introduced us to our new Director of $1,074,977 was awarded to 86 Fellows and 53 Fellowships and Grants, Valerie Hymas. public projects. 51 of these Fellows were Valerie joined the ASF in September 2007 Scandinavians and 35 were Americans. The after spending 10 years with the Institute of Scandinavian preceding fiscal year, $939,361 was awarded International Education. Valerie was responsi- to 28 American Fellows, 47 Scandinavian ble for the management of the U.S. Student Fellows and 62 public projects. The Fulbright program to Europe, Eurasia and Foundation Fellowship and Grant Program is the corner- Central Asia. In December 2007, Carl stone of the Foundation. It is with great pride Fritscher joined Valerie in the Fellowship that we can point to the accomplishments of Office as Fellowships & Grants Associate. our former Fellows and congratulate the cur- Carl has a BA and MA in Scandinavian rent awardees. The Longboat is intended to Languages and Literature from the University serve both these purposes. of Washington. -Edward P. Gallagher During the past year American award recipi- ASF President “As we move into this new century, the work of the American-Scandinavian Foundation takes on additional importance. Our world is growing smaller. There can be more respect, understanding, and cooperation among peoples, but there can also be more global misunder- standings, tension and even hatred. The need for plat- forms to span cultural divides is increased. ASF has pro- vided for me and so many others a rich and valuable opportunity to see, to learn, and to grow. Our work is to THE ensure that this opportunity continues for future genera- AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN tions.” FOUNDATION 58 PARK AVENUE -Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the United Nations NEW YORK NY 10016 Secretary-General for Conflict Prevention and TEL: 212 879 9779 Resolution; 1982 Fellow from Norway. WWW.AMSCAN.ORG Jan Egeland in Uganda RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS BY ASF FELLOWS Robert Dell (1999 Fellow to Iceland) Jason Lavery (1992 Fellow to Derek Yaple-Schobert (1996 Fellow was awarded the 2006 Lindbergh Finland) authored a book, The to Denmark) released his solo debut Foundation Grant for his project, History of Finland, in the series: CD titled Nordic Passion, featuring "Harvesting and Re-circulating Surplus Histories of the Modern Nations, his piano performance of works by Heat to Warm the Soil of Small Urban 2006, Greenwood Press. composers J.P.E.Hartmann, Gade, Gardens in New York to Accelerate von Koch and Sæverud plus Haydn Plant Growth and Extend the Growing Terry McDonald (1997 Fellow to & Schubert. Season". His project will re-direct waste Norway) became the executive steam heat that is currently cooled by Director of Roberson Museum and Kathleen Stokker (1971 Fellow to the municipal water supply, wasting Science Center in Binghamton, Norway) received Norway's St. Olaf both energy and potable water. New York. Medal, for her work in strengthening the bond between Norway and Gardar Eide Einarsson (2000 Fellow America. from Norway) participated in the 73rd Whitney Biennial. Ingrid Emanuelsson (2000 Fellow from Sweden), a classical pianist, per- formed a solo concert at Carnegie Hall, performing works by Mozart, Stenhammar, Beethoven and Chopin. William Joseph Jacobs (1989 Fellow Josiah McElheny’s award winning glass sculpture Kristin Tollefston accepting the 2008 Island to Denmark) is responsible for the lay- Treasure Award. out and display of aircraft and space- Josiah McElheny (1989 and 1997 craft at the Udvar-Hazy Center near Fellow to Sweden) was awarded a Kristin Tollefson (2002 Fellow to Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. 2006 MacArthur Foundation 'genius Iceland) was awarded the 2008 grant' for his glassblowing and con- Island Treasure Award by the David King (1998 Fellow to temporary sculpture installation proj- Bainbridge Island Arts and Sweden) published a book, Finding ects. Humanities Council for her ongoing Atlantis: ATrue Story of Genius, committment as a scuptor, art educa- Madness and Extraordinary Quest Tiina Nunnally (1978 Fellow from tor and curator. for a Lost World, 2005, Three Rivers, Denmark) published a translation of that tells the story of Olof Rudbeck Per Olov Enquist's The Book about Alexander Vaindorf (1998 Fellow and his thirty year quest to find the Blanche and Marie, 2006, Overlook. from Sweden) exhibited fabled civilization of Atlantis. his video work at Künstlerhaus Jayce Ogren (2005 Fellow to Büchenhausen. The exhibit was enti- Sweden) was appointed assistant tled "Fallen Out of the Cold." conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of the Cleveland Youth Orchestra. Brian Palmer (1992 Fellow to Sweden) coedited and contributed to the book Global Values 101, Beacon Press, 2006. Torbjørn Rødland (2003 Fellow One of Ólafur Elíasson’s contributions to the Icelandic from Norway) had a show of his exhibition at Scandinavia House. video work entitled “132 BPM” at A recent exhibition at Scandinavia House New York City's P.S. 1 art space, an featured works by former ASF-funded affiliate of Museum of Modern Art. artists from Iceland - Hulda Hákon, Jón Tiina Nunnally’s translation of Per Olov Óskar, Hildur Bjarnadóttir, Katrín Enquist’s The Book About Blanche and Sigurdardóttir, and Ólafur Elíasson. Marie. 2 FORMER FELLOWS FUND AT WORK Johanna Gisladottir Bissat spent the 2005 summer in Iceland to study Icelandic-Thai cultural assimilation with an ASF grant, while also learning more about her own heritage. She was awarded a 2006 ASF fellowship and returned to Iceland in the spring to gather research for her dissertation. lessons, traditional Icelandic food, and were isolated from locals and did not Icelandic holidays, I wondered how the have enough time or money to learn Thai women had felt during their first Icelandic. I wanted to understand what years in the country. With their dark hair affected the women's different experi- and tan skin, the Thais couldn't help but ences. I developed a PhD research stand out among the homogeneous hypothesis stating that the "marriage Icelanders. One source has quoted the migrants" were better integrated than Thais' population as being at least 800 those who came only to work in Iceland. I strong, a sizeable number in a national predicted that the Thais who came for population of only 300,000. I was baffled marriage would, in comparison to the at the phenomenon: how were the Thais labor migrants, speak better Icelandic, adapting to such a foreign place? What have more diverse social networks, have were their opportunities for learning higher-quality jobs and feel more comfort- Icelandic? How were they being treated, able in Icelandic society. I tested this in general? These questions eventually hypothesis with empirical data gathered Johanna Gisladottir Bissat in Iceland led me to Penn State University in 2002 on a second ASF fellowship beginning in to pursue a PhD in cultural anthropology February 2007. During my research I My Icelandic father, a commercial fisher- and demography. gave formal surveys to over two hundred man, died at sea in Alaska just before I I returned to Iceland in August Thai migrants in order to obtain quantita- was born, and so my exposure to Iceland 2005 on an ASF grant for a month long tive information, but I also spent time with was limited as I grew up. I visited Iceland pilot study to prepare for my dissertation the Thais to understand qualitatively what in 2001 to study the language and culture proposal. While interviewing a group of their daily lives are like. A major part of of my father's family for nine months. migrants, I noticed that some of the my anthropological fieldwork involves Within a few days of my arrival, I women had come to Iceland to marry experiencing daily life as the Thai women was shopping at Kolaportið flea market in Icelandic men. Others, often the wives' would. During any given week I may find downtown Reykjavík and was struck by siblings, had come for work rather than myself cleaning fish, attending the the language being spoken by a group of marriage.