THE NAAS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE NORDIC ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES

Editor: David MaukEditorial Board: The Board of the NAAS

Editorial Address: The NAAS Newsletter, c/o David Mauk, English Department,

NTNU, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. david.mauk@hf.ntnu.no

The editor uses Word 97 on IBM compatible computers. Contributions of more than one or two short paragraphs can only in previously agreed on circumstances be accepted without an accompanying diskette.

Deadline for contributions to Spring and Fall Issues: March 1 and October 1

The NAAS Newsletter is sent to all registered members of the NAAS, a Nordic association with chapters in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. There is a national chapter in each country, and the national chairpersons together constitute the Board of the Nordic Association for American Studies. The national chairpersons arrange to have the NAAS Newsletter sent to members of the national organizations by e-mail or regular post. To read the newsletter on the internet, visit the ASANOR website: at www.asanor.com.

The NAAS is a member of the European Association for American Studies (EAAS), a federation of regional and national American Studies associations. You may become a member of the NAAS by joining one of its national chapters and paying national dues and may then subscribe to the NAAS journal, American Studies in Scandinavia.  The annual subscription fee for the journal is 200 Danish crowns ($35.00). Outside Scandinavia the fee is DKK 250 or $50.00. American Studies in Scandinavia, Odense University Pres, Campusvej 55. DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark, Fax: int+45 66 15 81 26

The Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS)

President, Dag Blanck, Center for Mult6iethnic Research, Uppsala University, Box 514, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden, Tel: +46-8 471 71 99Fax +46-8 471 23 63dag.blanck@multietn.uu.se

For Denmark, Jody Pennington, University of Aarhus, Rom 428, Bldg. 465, Nobel Park, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 7, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. Fax: +45 8942 6540engjwp@hum.au.dk

For Finland, Jopi Nyman, University of Joensuu, P. O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu Tel: +358-13-251-431 Fax. +358-251-4211 jopi-nyman@joensuu.fi

For Iceland, Julian d’Arcy, Department of English, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland. Fax: +354 525 4410jaydarcy@hi.is

For Norway, Per Winther, Department of British and American Studies (IBAS), University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1003, Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22 85 69 73 Fax: +47 22 85 68 04 per.winther@iba.uio.no Website: http://hf.uio.no/iba/asanor (after December 10, 2004 asanor.com)

For Sweden,Gunlög Fur, Växjö University, S-351 95 Växjö, Sweden Tel: +46 0470-7084 99 Fax: +46 0470-75 18 88 Website: www.sh.se/saas

For American Studies in Scandinavia,

Per Winther, Editor, Department of British and American Studies (IBAS), University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1003, Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22 85 69 73 Fax: +47 22 85 68 04 per.winther@iba.uio.no

Arnet Neset, ASinS Book Review Editor, Stavanger University College, P. O. Box 8002 N-4068 Stavanger, Norway Tel: +47 51 83 15 24 Fax: +47 51 83 13 50 arne.neset@hum.his.no

From the NAAS President

I am writing this as the fall colors are changing in Stockholm and Uppsala, and a year has passed since I first contributed my comments to the NAAS Newsletter. Looking back, I am struck with the many American studies activities that are going on in the Nordic countries. My e-mail inbox can testify to all the conferences, symposia, seminars, and lectures dealing with a variety of American studies topics that have taken place throughout the Nordic countries, many of which you have been able to read about here in the NAAS Newsletter. Moreover, a wide selection of courses in American studies subjects are taught at universities and colleges throughout the Nordic countries.

This relatively happy state of affairs can probably to a large degree be explained with the fact that we now have four active national American studies organizations in the Nordic countries-- ASANOR, DAAS, FASA, and SAAS. Some have been on the scene for a longer time, others are more recent, but they all show a remarkable degree of vitality and play a key role for the advancement of American studies in the Nordic countries. I salute all the work that is done by the officers, boards, and members of the national associations!

As Americanists in the Nordic countries, we do have many things in common. Our journal American Studies in Scandinavia and the NAAS Newsletter continue to provide stimulating and thought-provoking readings, and our connection with the larger European American studies community through EAAS remains another important factor. Finally we have the biennial NAAS conferences where we can meet and exchange ideas. These commonalties are important, and I think that the Nordic dimension in particular adds something significant to our work as American studies scholars. The next opportunity to meet fellow Nordic Americanists (as well as others) will be at the NAAS conference in May 2005 in Växjö, Sweden.

With best wishes for a continued productive year

Dag Blanck, President

(Dag.Blanck@multietn.uu.se)

Ethnic Leadership and Midwestern Politics: The Scandinavian Americans and the Progressive Movement of Wisconsin, 1890-1914 by Jørn Brøndal

Norwegian-American Historical Association in cooperation with the University of Illinois Press, mid-November 2004 (forthcoming), 392 pp., $40.

Jørn Brøndal is Associate Professor at the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Wisconsin under the charismatic leadership of “Fighting Bob” La Follette, Sr. (1855-1925), gained national renown as America’s “laboratory of reform.” As it turns out, substantial numbers of first- and second-generation Scandinavian Americans were involved in this reform movement, both at a leadership and grassroots level. Focusing on the Scandinavian Americans in Wisconsin ca. 1890-1910, the aim of my book—which is based on a thorough revision and dramatic abbreviation of my Ph.D. dissertation (University of Copenhagen, 1998)—is to investigate how during those years a rough and constructed type of ethnic identity based on Old-World national attachments played an important role in the quintessentially “American” sphere of life in the United States, the political arena.

Twofold Identities: Norwegian-American Contributions to Midwestern Fiction by Oyvind T. Gulliksen

Peter Lang Publishing USA April 2004, 252 pp., $69.95

Oyvind Gulliksen is Associate professor of American Literature and Culture at Telemark University College in Bø, Norway, and was recently a Visiting Professor at Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa.

Twofold Identities is a study of Midwestern American literature as well as of Norwegian-American immigrant texts. Many readers have judged the latter to be a mere reflection of immigrant experience, a judgment that is neither fair nor correct. These American writers were forced to confront an essentially modern experience complicated by the contextual duality of bilingualism. For early Midwestern immigrant writers and their readers, the task ofhomemaking in a new setting was a philosophically challenging and highly problematic endeavor. These Midwestern writers were not lost, divided, nor rootless. They had the unique privileged ability to draw on the resources of two worlds. As writers they enjoyed—and helped to strengthen—twofold identities.

The News from Sweden

The Swedish Association for American Studies (SAAS) is currently devoting its attention to the upcoming NAAS conference in Växjö in May, 2005, and extends a warm welcome to all Nordic Americanists to attend.

American Studies is expanding at Uppsala University. Since 1996/97, an introductory (A level) one semester course in American studies has been offered, focusing on American history, literature, and politics. Last year, a second semester-long B-level course was added, making it possible for students to continue their studies. This course included segments on history,politics, mass media, and American relations to the outside world.

Last year also saw the introduction of a Master´s program in American studies at Uppsala University. The program runs over two semesters of full-time study, and currently includes the following segments: 20^th-century American history, American literature during the 20th century, the development and role of modern American mass media, race and ethnicity in American society, and American society in a comparative perspective.

The American presidential election is, of course, attracting a great deal of attention in Sweden. Panel discussions and seminars focusing on the topic have been and will be held at several universities and colleges in the country during the fall, and several Swedish members of NAAS are seen and heard in the media, commenting on the course of the campaign.

From the DAAS e-newsletter, fall 2004

Events

Copenhagen Business School, Center for the Study of the Americas

Monday September 20th, 12.35: Professor Philip Davies (De Montfort University and the British Library, UK): Vietnam and US election campaigns www.krak.dk

Friday October 1st, 10.00: Professor John Milton Cooper (University of Wisconsin): As good as it gets - 1912, not 2004.

Monday November 8^th, 12.35: Dr Andrew Wroe (University of Kent, UK): Working harder, trusting less: Americans, government and the post-modern economy. Place: TBA

Research seminars - Organised in conjunction with the Department of English

Wednesday September 15th 2004 – 15.00 – Martyn Bone (University of Copenhagen) The transnational turn in the south and the new southern studies

Wednesday October 20th 2004 – 15.00 – Morten Vest Hansen (Copenhagen Business School), The geography of post-war US publishing: Lippincott's Magazine and the south

Wednesday November 17th 2004 – 15.00 - Place: Dalgas Have, room 2Ø.071

Jesper Lohmann (Copenhagen Business School), US immigration policy: defining insiders and outsidersCenter for the Study of the Americas ´ CBS Department of English ´ Dalgas Have 15 ´ 2000 Frederiksberg csa.eng@cbs.dk ´

http://frontpage.cbs.dk/americas´ http://web2.cbs.dk/americas/other_news.shtml

The University of Copenhagen

The Niels Thorsen Lecture 2004: Professor John Milton Cooper, University of Wisconsin: “Making the Case for Woodrow Wilson” University of Copenhagen, 1 October, 2 p.m.

The University of Southern Denmark

The Fifth Honora Rankine-Galloway Address, Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark, Odense: Professor John Milton Cooper, Jr., University of Wisconsin: “As Good As It Gets: The 1912 Presidential Campaign and Election” Thursday, September 30, 14:15-16:00

Professor John Milton Cooper, Jr., Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, is one of America’s leading experts on US political and diplomatic history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among his works may be mentioned the widely acclaimed The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983, as well as the prize-winning Pivotal Decades: The United States 1900-1920, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1990. Professor Cooper is presently working on what promises to become an authoritative biography of Woodrow Wilson.

The Fifth Honora Rankine-Galloway Address is sponsored by the United States Embassy, Copenhagen. For more information from University of Southern Demark, consult The Center for American Studies web site: http://www.sdu.dk/Hum/amstud/index.html

Aarhus University

There are a number of events scheduled at Aarhus University through the American Studies Center Aarhus (ASCA). For information about Fall Semester events, visit the ASCA web site at

http://www.hum.au.dk/engelsk/asca/events/current.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

United States Election 2004 Web Sites

If you are teaching about the United States election this semester, or simply attempting to follow it, these links should prove useful. I have grouped as media sites, non-partisan sites, and partisan sites.

Media sites

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp

Once on the C-Span web site, click on “2004 Vote“ for a variety of videos, radio broadcasts, and texts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.latimes.com/

Non-partisan sites

http://www.campaignfinanceguide.org/index.html

The Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works in the areas of campaign finance, communications and government ethics. We represent the public interest in administrative and legal proceedings where the nation’s campaign finance and related media laws are enforced: at the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and in the courts.

http://electionline.org/index.jsp

electionline.org, produced by the Election Reform Information Project, is the nation’s only non-partisan, non-advocacy website providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform. Whether it’s hanging chads or HAVA, absentee ballots or touchscreen machines, legislation or commission reports, electionline.org is ready to be your first stop on the Internet for any election reform information you’re seeking

http://www.vote-smart.org/

http://www.opensecrets.org/index.asp

The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy. The Center conducts computer-based research on campaign finance issues for the news media, academics, activists, and the public at large. The Center’s work is aimed at creating a more educated voter, an involved citizenry, and a more responsive government.

http://www.pollingreport.com/

This site contains numerous poll results from various polling sources. Updated regularly.

Partisan sites

Right

http://www.georgewbush.com/

http://www.rnc.org/

http://www.conservatism.com/

Left

http://www.johnkerry.com/front/splash.html

http://www.democrats.org/splash/splash02.html

http://www.moveon.org/front/

                                         THE NEWS FROM ASANOR

The US Today – ASANOR’s 29th Annual Conference in Oslo September 24 – 26, 2004

The Impressions of a Novice - by Ida Marie Jahr

ASANOR’s website editor, Robert Baehr, seems quite right in remarking on the Association’s website (www.asanor.com) that this year’s edition of the conference had the biggest attendance ever. The list of participants counted 85 people. Now I haven’t been to any of the previous conferences, but through the comments I overheard during this one – “So many!”; “All these people!”; “So many young people!”; “Where do they all come from?” – I gathered that the number of attendants was out of the ordinary. During his welcoming remarks Friday afternoon Chair of the Department of British and American studies at the University of Oslo, Einar Bjorvand, hit the nail on the head. In this world of interdependence and cross-cultural influence “the need to know more” feels greater than ever.           

However, the extraordinary attendance was not what primarily made this conference such a success. The speakers did. This conference – “The US Today” – with its, in the words of ASANOR president Per Winther, “insanely broad topic” still managed to keep focus on two main areas; politics, and contemporary literature. Within the area of politics we heard talks on presidential debates, on foreign policy, and the American legal landscape, and a panel debate on this year’s election specifically. On literature we heard talks on multicultural poetry and literature in many different versions, on postmodernism, the outcast and the possibility of Frank Zappa as a science fiction writer. In between these two areas there are links that might not be so obvious. I am not thinking of political implications of literary work, although these might be great, but on the impact of politics on writing, and on the author: the changing world of American publishing, and the position of copyright law on an international cultural scene.

Politics started the whole thing off on Friday afternoon. David Iverson, TV Producer and Executive Director of a foundation called The Best Practices in Journalism, gave us a highly informative keynote speech on the importance of the TV debates and political advertising in American presidential elections in general, and the elections of November 2004 in particular. He also gave us fascinating insights into the discussions that take place to get these debates on the air. With this new and interesting conversation topic the participants were bussed to the KNA Scandic Hotel for dinner (and wine). Although Winther had banned speeches from the program, as the night progressed, he actually didn’t stick to his own rule.

The remainder of the conference was held at the stately venue of Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in downtown Oslo. Early Saturday morning came with a change of topics to the world of publishing, and an engaging, scary and ultimately depressing account of the commercialization of this world from Professor Matthew Bruccoli of the University of South Carolina (who has already promised to come back in 21006). Bruccoli yielded the floor to Postdoctoral Fellow Lene Johannessen of the University of Bergen (UofB), who told us about the rising Latino cultural influence in the US today, and the rising fear of certain segments of the Anglo-American majority of losing their cultural hegemony. Next was Associate Professor Erik Kielland-Lund of the University of Oslo (UofO), helping us define postmodernism, and also discussing Don DeLillo, and especially his masterpiece Underworld, in this context. Postmodernism may have run its course, but the critical discussion of it certainly has not.

After lunch it was time to give the floor to another of our returning foreign guests. Associate Professor Albena Bakratcheva of the New Bulgarian University helped the participants assemble the puzzles that are Susan Howe’s poems, and gave a convincing argument about her ties to both her Irish-American and her New England past and the impossibility of divorcing poetry from history. The pendulum then swung back to the political end of the scale in an instructive talk by Associate Professor Brigit Wetzel-Sahm (University of Göttingen) on the changing constitutional limits of individuals’ sphere of privacy as seen in recent Supreme Court decisions in abortion and gay rights controversies. Next, Associate Professor Helle Porsdam of the University of Southern Denmark gave us a thorough account of the American attitude to law in general, and copyright law in particular, and the influence of this on the trade imbalance in the exchange of cultural products between the US and its trade partners. The academic part of the day was brought to an end with an absorbing, and ultimately far too short, panel discussion on the coming election moderated by Mark Luccarelli of UofO. Associate Professor David Mauk of NTNU, Helle Porsdam, Birgit Wetzel-Sahm, and former ASANOR president Robert Mikkelsen all gave insightful 10-minute presentations before giving the floor to a flood of questions from the crowded auditorium.

The more dutiful ASANOR members then attended this year’s business meeting, while this youngster jumped at the chance to relax for an hour before the night’s banquet dinner. The dinner itself, held in the banquet hall of the Academy, was absolutely delicious; the fact that the American Embassy courteously provided the guests with genuine American wine did not exactly detract from the good cheer of the evening. Neither did Robert Baehr’s wit as master of Ceremonies, as he had most of the audience twisting in their seats with laughter. We were also treated to a fascinating account of the house’s history by Per Winther, and some lively insights into the proceedings of the Academy by Hans H. Skei, a member of both ASANOR and NASL.

The next morning started off with politics, as Fulbright scholar and Professor Patrick Regan of Binghamton University took the podium. His argument for the immediate American withdrawal from the Iraqi war was extremely well founded, and this made his equally well-founded argument for why this will never happen all the more depressing. The pendulum then swung back to more literary pursuits as Postdoctoral Fellow Asbjørn Grønstad of UofB gave us an insightful discussion of why the issues of religion and masculinity in Denis Johnson’s novels should get a more thorough critical examination that it has received to date. Keeping the focus on contemporary American literature, Marlene Broemer of the PhD Program at the University of Helsinki then gave us some valuable insights into the multiple identities possible in the Asian/Indian-American community as seen through the eyes of the Indian-American author Chitra Divakaruni. Senior Lecturer Michael J. Prince of the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy gave the end-of-the-day (and end-of-the-conference) paper an upbeat tone with his scrutiny of the satiric science fiction conventions of Frank Zappa’s concept album Joe’s Garage.

In closing, this novice would like to thank the organizing committee and the sponsors for giving me the opportunity to come and hear such great talks and eat such great food and defend my own research to such great people. Thank you.

Ida Marie Jahr,

Masters Student, North American Studies, University of Oslo
ASANOR novice

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon.

- E.M. Forster. Howards End

Thanks to the seminal and hardworking Americanists like Dorothy Skårdal, Ole Moen, Erik Kielland-Lund, Mark Luccarelli, and Deborah Kitchen-Døderlein, students of North American studies at the University of Oslo today can indulge in a host of fascinating and vigorous courses on American politics, history, literature, and society. But while they are fortunate enough to be students of North American Studies with such an exceptional group of professors at our disposal, a comprehensible education is not complete without students getting involved from their end. The emphasis must of course be on what goes on in the classroom and the continued discourse between a professor and his or her students. But it is, however, the obligation of every student to conduct his or her own explorations, both outside the classroom and the syllabus’s perimeters, and to challenge the curriculum and our professors’ assertions because that is part of what any good instructor tries to teach us.

The point of this outburst of (perhaps typical student) idealism, is to introduce one such example of students getting involved, the first student association and journal of North American studies – The Americanist.

Based at the University of Oslo, The Americanist aims to encourage students to take an active role within their field of study early on, and to provide them with an opportunity to do so. We organize debates and video sessions, and were recently involved in organizing the Annual Expanding Horizons Conference 2004 which, with up to 100 students attending, was a huge success,

It should come as no surprise that the importance of a social scene is never lost on students, and we are certainly not against throwing a party every now and then. Too much of serious studies are not necessarily constructive, and constructive studies don’t necessarily have to be so damn serious…

In addition to these activities, which for practical reasons are usually held at the University of Oslo campus, we publish a quarterly journal – also called The Americanist – on our Web site www.theamericanist.com. Although the journal will feature articles by scholars, we want our contributors to first and foremost be students of North American studies and those studying related subjects. We hope The Americanist will not only provide students with a “training ground” for further academic work, but also present them with a unique opportunity to explore subjects of both personal and academic interest.

It is important to note that by students we mean students outside as well as inside Norway. A major benefit of an online-based publication is that distances don’t matter, and we want the journal to be a centripetal force in bringing future Americanists in Scandinavia together in the study of the United States and Canada. Establishing relations with students in Europe is important to us, and so we hereby extend an open invitation to all students to send in your articles and commentaries.

The first issue of The Americanist features articles and commentaries on a variety of topics, including the 2004 US presidential election, religion and exceptionalism in American foreign policy, the re-use of artistic material in American film, and the role of literature in the North American Area Studies Program. The Board of Editors and I would like to thank the writers for providing the journal with a fine collection of articles. You have demonstrated a sincere dedication to our growing student community. What more can we ask for from our fellow students and scholars?

Feedback on both form and content are invaluable to us, and we hope you will take your time to send us comments, criticism, and suggestions. The writers would certainly also appreciate your remarks, and reader response letters may be published in the next issues.

So, with an open invitation to submit manuscripts to our journal and to get involved with The Americanist’s efforts to create a vibrant student community across borders, all that remains is for us to hope all of you will, if nothing else, connect!

Thomas Evangelin, Chairman and editor www.theamericanist.com

contact@theamericanist.com

                                                    THE ASANOR ENDOWMENT FUND

Founded May 8, 1993

2004 REPORT
by Bob Baehr

“Advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and you will be rewarded with success unexpected in common hours.”  Henry David Thoreau

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.  Winston Churchill

“I make more money than Calvin Coolidge  –  put together.”  Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain
                                                        ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The figures shown are correct as of Sept.1. 2004.

Conversion rate: One U.S. dollar equals NOK 6.8

HIGHLIGHTS (quite high, really)

In the twelve months since the Fund’s last fiscal year report, the Fund’s assets have increased from kr. 513,808 to kr.714,399, an increase of kr. 39%.This follows a 31% increase in our previous fiscal year.  Two years ago, the Fund’s assets were kr. 391,785, so we have achieved an increase of 82% in 24 months.

In the seven years that the Fund has awarded grants, 62 applications for kr. 86,523 were approved and paid through 2004.

Grants awarded exceed by many thousand kroner the total amount contributed by ASANOR members to the Sigmund Skard Fund.

The Fine Print:  These gains reflect the Fund’s decision in February 2004 to value dollar assets at the current exchange rate instead of the traditional 7.8 to a dollar which has been used for several years.  This devaluation has reduced the Fund’s assets (on paper).  The implications are (1) that the Fund’s real return was even greater than stated above; (2) that there is potential for the Fund’s assets to increase (on paper, but perhaps not in real terms) when the dollar rises.

COMMENTARY

The recently concluded U.S. political conventions remind us of FDR’s 1932 theme song:

Happy Days are here again
The skies above are clear again.
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again.

These lyrics perfectly suit our Fund’s recent experience.  During the drastic market decline of the first few years of this century, the Fund retained its value and was well positioned to capitalize on the upswing.  In addition, in the last 12 months,  two new personal funds were initiated under the Endowment Fund investment umbrella:

(1) In October, 2003, the Dorothy Burton Skårdal Fund for the Study of Immigration and Ethnicity set a goal of kr. 50,000 to be reached in one year.  Today the tribute to Dorothy stands at kr. 51,103.  The Fund once again thanks every contributor, and continues to welcome new donations.  No one deserves this recognition more.

(2) The Kristoffer Dannevig Fund stands at kr. 32,000.  Since he is donating all his U.S. social security payments, a fresh kr. 1,400 arrives every month.  Because the sum is officially mandated to correspond with the current exchange rate, future returns might be even greater.  Kris, your fellow members of ASANOR thank you with enduring gratitude.

THE TOP LINE

The Fund can hum more than one melody.  We love “The skies above are clear again” but we also remember:

Don’t know why, there’s no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather

And so the Fund strategy continues to be a bit defensive. In equities (through mutual funds) we hold kr. 288,000 in U.S. dollars (40%) plus kr. 59,000 for a total of kr. 347,000 or 48% of our assets, 12% less than the 60% maximum.In cash and bonds our assets total kr. 367,000 or 52%, 12% more than the minimum we must own.

The Fund has made three significant investments in this fiscal year, each adding to holdings that have already been successful. In March, $10,000 was added to Vanguard’s 500 Index fund, our theory being that it is better to invest in the haystack rather than trying to find the needle. $10,000 was added to a rather defensive but most rewarding holding, Vanguard Health.  These are our largest equity holdings, and total kr. 110,000 and kr. 119,000 respectively.  Together they are less than the kr. 249,000 we hold in Norwegian money market accounts.  In March, an additional kr. 15,000 was added to Nordea Asia, which until then has yielded a 46% gain in our first eight months aboard .  ASANOR’s enthusiasm prompted Beijing to increase its interest rate to dampen inflation, resulting in a 16% loss for this top-up, dragging down our total profit in the holding to 11%.  A $10,000investment in a new equity fund is being prepared and will be introduced in our March 2004 report (or see asanor.com for current information).

THE BOTTOM LINE

Read this for the first of many times, since it will take some years to accomplish: The ASANOR Endowment Fund will reach one million kroner.  Obviously this is nearly a Sisyphean effort, since the greater our assets, the more we award, but did you ever really believe the Fund would have raised over kr. 800,000 (including grants and current assets)?  Be prepared for stormy weather ahead, since it is impossible to come close to duplicating the results of the past two years, but also be ready for that time we can sing together:

Altogether shout it now! 
There's no one who can doubt it now
So let's tell the world about it now
ASANOR has reached a mil!

On behalf of the ASANOR Endowment Fund’s Board,

Robert Baehr, Arne Neset, and Per Winther
_________________________________________________________________________

                         AN INVITATION TO WWW.ASANOR.COM

And a red-white-and blue goat…by Bob Baehr

ASANOR has refurbished its website with a new format, and changed its address from the previous complicated one.   The webster promises that the site will be kept updated, fresh, useful, and, occasionally, perhaps even amusing.  This can be best accomplished if members send contributions.  This invitation is extended with hope to NAAS as well as ASANOR members.  We want your news: organizational, professional, personal.   Kindly use the “Contact Us” option found on the website under “About ASANOR” or write rbaehr@online.no.

New information is being added almost daily as www.asanor.com is upgraded, so please check into the site regularly to see what’s new,and the best way to do that is to bookmark us so you don’t forget.  The next additions will be photos from the September conference in Oslo, plus useful links.  Websters from other NAAS sites: please be good enough to add our link to your pages.

When you order from Amazon, please enter their site through asanor.com.  You’ll find Amazon easily on our homepage.  If you use just ten extra seconds to access Amazon this way, our Endowment Fund will benefit.  Many thanks for remembering to do this.

And what’s with a red-white-and-blue goat?Go to www.asanor.com and find out.

ASANOR Membership Report

by Jill FarleighWolfe

ASANOR membership has grown steadily since the annual meeting in Hamar in 2003. At that conference, the Board agreed to focus attention on recruitment by publicizing the organization within student and high school teaching communities. A committee under the leadership of Deborah Kitchen was organized with this mandate. At the recent Expanding Horizons Conference held at the University of Oslo quite a few newstudent members were recruited for ASANOR.

Additionally, the Pre Conference Day Course offered at ASANOR´s 29^th Annual meeting attracted many teachers from the Oslo area and once again, several new members were recruited.

In 2003 the total membership in ASANOR /NAAS was 99 members. Today as a result of conserted efforts by the organization ASANOR now has a membership of 119. Of these 54 have subscribed to the Journal of Scandinavian Studies and are full members in ASANOR/NAAS.

A breakdown of Numbers as of October 5, 2004: Senior ASANOR/NAAS – 8; Regular ASANOR/NAAS – 21; Regular ASANOR – 9; Student ASANOR - 22 (10 additional forms filled out but no monies paid to date); Full membership – 54; Honorary Members – 5.

Minutes of the ASANOR Business Meeting

convened at 5 p.m., 25 September 2004 Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, Oslo

The meeting was chaired by ASANOR’s President, Per Winther.

1)  Call to order. Agenda approved. No extra business.

2)  Minutes of 2003 ASANOR Business Meeting at The Norwegian Emigrant Museum and Research Center in Hamar approved.

3)  Reports:

a)  State of ASANOR report (Per Winther):

i.  The Americanist student association (www.theamericanist.com) has started an electronic journal by the same name. Though not formally a part of ASANOR, there is close co-operation between the leader of The Americanist, Thomas Evangelin, and the ASANOR Board. Together with Deborah Kitchen-Døderlein, Thomas helped recruit and organize the 12 student volunteers for ASANOR’s Oslo meeting.

ii.  The Expanding Horizons initiative held its 5^th annual conference at the University of Oslo this spring with record-breaking attendance of some 100 students. Deborah Kitchen-Døderlein’s initiative and work deserve praise, as does the work of the student committee, chaired by Thomas Evangelin. ASANOR funds student participation from other Norwegian universities in the form of travel grants from the Endowment Fund.

iii.  The North American Studies Program, initiated by Erik Kielland-Lund more than a decade ago, continues to provide excellent recruitment possibilities for ASANOR. Students participating in the program make up the leadership and committees behind The Americanist and the Expanding Horizons Conferences.

b)  ASANOR Endowment Fund: Annual Financial Report (Robert Baehr)

i.  The fund’s growth was celebrated with that richly suggestive song, “Happy Days Are Here Again”. The Endowment Fund Report submitted to members shows that during the twelve months since the Fund’s last fiscal year report in 2003, the Fund’s assets have increased from NOK 513,808 to NOK 714,399, an increase of 39%.

ii.  Report on grants: Grants are primarily awarded as travel subsidy for people attending annual ASANOR conferences, but it is also possible to apply for grants supporting other American Studies activities.

iii.  The Dorothy Skårdal Fund has reached 51,109 kroner.

iv.  The Kristoffer Dannevig Fund: Kristoffer Dannevig has graciously donated his monthly US pension to establish his fund, which now contains 33,900 kroner.Further, a new 1,400 kroner arrives every month

v.  Summary: ASANOR’s Endowment Fund is estimated to be the largest fund of its kind in Europe, and may well exceed all comparable European funds combined in terms of holdings.

ASANOR’s President expressed the association’s deep-felt thanks to the Fund’s originator and chair, Robert Baehr.

c)  ASANOR website (Robert Baehr)

i.  Address: www.asanor.com

ii.  The website carries all news and relevant information with regard to ASANOR activities, a list of Endowment Fund founders and contributors, and NAAS news (upcoming conferences, the NAAS Newsletter, etc.)

iii.  Members are strongly encouraged to contribute items to keep the website fresh and useful.

d)  ASANOR membership drive (Deborah Kitchen-Døderlein)

i.  The Expanding Horizons Conferences provide an important event in terms of recruiting new ASANOR members.

ii.Aim: 25 new members per year (accomplished for 2004). Congratulations!

iii.A double-paged brochure has been designed to promote ASANOR, and Deborah proposes that the brochure be posted around and distributed at teachers’ gatherings (such as Lærerstevner andFagkritisk-dag gatherings that the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim organize each year). One should also consider having ASANOR booths at these gatherings.

e)  Membership report (Jill FarleighWolfe)

i.  Per 9/22 and before the recent membership drive there are 104 ASANOR members, 81 fully paid and 5 honorary. 54 of our members subscribe to the NAAS journal, American Studies in Scandinavia.

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