HISTORY

The idea to run academic courses at the border between human habitation and wilderness was conceived after a visit to the farm Svartárkot in 2005 by Viðar Hreinsson who at that time had been appointed Director of the Reykjavík Academy (RA), an institution for independent scholars within humanities and social sciences. He discussed the idea with the sisters Guðrún Tryggvadóttir and Sigurlína Tryggvadóttir, farmers in Svartárkot. The idea was then developed by those three and a number of RA scholars. As a result, a demo-course for scholars and professors was held in Kiðagil in June 2007. Since then 5 signature academic courses have been held and the project has organized a number of other courses for student groups from individual universities in the USA and the UK. The SCN project enjoyed some government support in the first years, but very little in the last few years. On the other hand, it has enjoyed support from diverse research networks such as NABO and NIES led by Tom McGovern and Steven Hartman.