Hæ! Hállo! Velkomin!
I’m fjörn! That’s a pen name, though. My real name is Steven T. Dunn. It’s not really supposed to be a secret, but I think we can both agree which one vibes better with this whole history thing. Gotta keep the vibes.
In true academic fashion, I want to start with my credentials. I graduated from the University of South Florida in 2019 with a Master’s degree in History. My thesis was “Weaponizing Ordinary Objects: Women, Masculine Performance, and the Anxieties of Men in Medieval Iceland.” I studied under the tutelage of Dr. Jennifer Knight, Dr. Anne Koenig, and Dr. Giovanna Benadusi. I’ve presented at several conferences, including the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies in 2019 (my paper was “The Significance of Cheese in Njáls saga: Ordinary Objects, Women, and the Anxieties of Men in Medieval Iceland”). I also studied abroad in Iceland (at Háskólasetur Vestfjarða in Ísafjörður) for a mere 3 weeks (July-August, 2018), but I still think that’s worth mentioning. So yeah…I’m not just an armchair, wannabe historian. I’m the real deal (minus the PhD).
Aside from that stuff, I’ve been making educational content online since September 29th, 2015–beginning with this post on Tumblr. Since then, I’ve made over 2,000 snack-sized educational posts, informal crash courses, informational graphics, memes, podcasts, videos, interactive maps, and more. You’ve probably seen some of it already. I should mention, though, that I used to call this project Fjorn’s Hall; but I ended that era on January 11th, 2022 after succumbing to burnout. The old website domain has since been plundered, so, upon deciding to return to academia on September 29th, 2024 (my 9th anniversary as fjörn), I “rebranded” as Fjorn the Skald, a meandering medievalist who lost his old dwelling. It’s all just semantics, though. This website is really just a revival of what it once was.
And that’s my story so far. I hope you enjoy what this rambling skáld has to offer! May we wander together for many moons to come.
— fjörn
Academic Work (as Steven T. Dunn)
- “Weaponizing Ordinary Objects: Women, Masculine Performance, and the Anxieties of Men in Medieval Iceland.” (2019 – Master’s Thesis)
- “Ordinary Clothes in Unordinary Places: Gender, Cross-dressing, and Performing Masculinity in Medieval Iceland”(2019)
- “A Hilt in Violent Hands: Swords, Bonds, and the Monstrous in Beowulf” (2018)
- “Rewriting Romance: Honor and Reputation in Ívens saga” (2018)
- “Cheese, Women, and Social Anxieties in Thirteenth-Century Iceland” (2018)
- “Social Commentary in Njal’s Saga: Law in the Presence of Feud” (2017)
- “‘Governour and of Oure Tales Juge’: Storytelling, Meditation, and the Behavior of the Host in The Canterbury Tales” (2017)
- “Seeking Salvation: Christianity and Conflict in Thirteenth-Century Iceland” (2017)
Media Appearances
- Vikings & Valkyries – Riddles in the Dark (January 27th, 2025)
- Scholar’s Flask: The Podcast – Steven “Fjorn the Skald” Dunn (January 27th, 2025)
- History, Eh? Podcast – Material Objects of the Viking Age with Steven T. Dunn (November 25th, 2020)
- Going Viking Podcast – March Madness: Vikings (March 28th, 2019)
- Northern Myths Podcast – Interview with Fjörn the Skald of the Fjörn’s Hall Podcast and Blog (September 22nd, 2018)
- The History of Vikings Podcast – The Saga of the Volsungs w/ Fjörn the Skald (July 9th, 2018)
Contributions & Interviews
- “Cloak and Dapper: Ordinary Objects in the Sagas” for Spells & Spaceships’ Norsevember (November 9th, 2021)
- “A Chat with Fjorn the Skald (Otherwise Known as Steven T. Dunn)” with A Little Romance (August 24th, 2021)
- “An Interview with Fjorn the Skald!” with Spells & Spaceships for Norsevember (November 8th, 2020)
Academic Conferences
- “The Significance of Cheese in Njáls saga: Ordinary Objects, Women, and the Anxieties of Men in Medieval Iceland” at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May, 2019)
- “Social Commentary in Njáls saga: Law in the Presence of Feud” at the Undergraduate Research and Arts Colloquium (April 2017)
- “Social Commentary in Njáls saga: Law in the Presence of Feud” at the 57th Florida Conference of Historians (April 2017)
Guest Lectures
- “Harald Fairhair: Unification and Cultural Migration,” presented to the New York Ancient Cultures MeetUp with Joshua Gillingham (September 2020)
- “‘Viking’ Love Stories,” presented to the Phi Alpha Theta Nu Rho chapter at the University of South Florida (February 2019)
- “Njal’s Saga: A Medieval Best-Seller Most People Haven’t Heard Of,” presented to Dr. Jennifer Knight’s Viking History class (January 2019)
Academic Adventures (in Pictures)
