President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson embarked on a lecture tour to the US yesterday. Guðni will be lecturing at Dartmouth, Williams College, and Cornell University.
A lecture on independence at Dartmouth
Yesterday, November 7, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson embarked on a three-day lecture tour of the northeastern US. The president’s first lecture will be held at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire as sponsored by the Stefansson Arctic Institute of Akureyri and the Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth.
Vilhjálmur Stefánsson – who was a Manitoba-born Arctic explorer and ethnologist born – spent the final years of his professional career at Dartmouth, which also houses his private library. The president’s lecture will focus on independence and international cooperation from the vantage point of Iceland’s experience, nationalism, and globalisation.
Read More: The Mixed Legacy of Arctic Explorer Vilhjálmur Stefánsson
“As the Arctic has increasingly become the centre of political, economic, environmental, and strategic discourse,” a notice for the lecture reads, “the nations and peoples have had to contend with rapidly changing times. The President offers his reflections on this subject, and how Iceland continues to manoeuvre through the challenging political waters of a transforming world.”
Williams College and Cornell
On Wednesday, Guðni will visit Williams College in Massachusetts where he will engage in a public discussion with Dr. Magnús Bernharðsson, Brown Professor of History and Global Studies Chair, on Iceland’s image and international status. The Williams College Chamber Choir will also perform a selection of Icelandic songs in the President’s honour.
Finally, Guðni will visit Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, on Thursday, November 10. Cornell has a longstanding relationship with Iceland, which began with Daniel Willard Fiske, Cornell’s first university librarian. Fiske, who was an avid collector of Icelandic books, bequeathed almost 9,000 volumes to Cornell upon his death in 1904.
Cornell has also collaborated with the Resource Park in Iceland on the utilisation of geothermal heat. The President will be accompanied to Cornell by representatives from the Resource Park and the Icelandic government. Guðni’s lecture is entitled “Can Small States Make a Difference? The Case of Iceland on the International Scene.”
The President will return to Iceland on Friday.
