Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada is the official publication of the Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada (AASSC). Volume 32 is a regular journal volume, containing five articles on diverse topics related to the Nordic region, five book reviews on recent publications, and a parallel translation. It includes all contributions published online during the 2025 calendar year.

Volume 32 features three peer-reviewed articles. “Pulmonic Ingressive Speech in Icelandic” by Emily Beyer (University of Wisconsin) and Kirsten Wolf (University of Wisconsin) is an investigation of reported use of ingressive speech in Icelandic. Their survey-based study extends to speakers of North- American Icelandic as well as Icelandic speakers in Iceland. They conclude that while pulmonic ingressive speech does seem to be somewhat on the wane in North-American Icelandic, Icelandic speakers in Iceland perceive no such decline.

“Two Sagas from New Iceland: Reference and Allusion in Gimli Saga and Icelandic River Saga” by Andrew McGillivray (University of Winnipeg) and Ella Brown-Terry (University of Cambridge) examines the often-overlooked genre of local history. Focusing on local histories on Icelandic settlers in the Interlake region of Manitoba, they highlight the prominent presence of direct reference and indirect literary allusion to the medieval Icelandic Vínland sagas, particularly in their depiction of intercultural contact with Indigenous peoples. This narrative strategy, they argue, serves to position Icelandic immigration to Manitoba in the 1870s as the continuation of a much earlier process of westward expansion by Norse settlers.

Finally, “Mythological Allusion in the Late Verse of Egill Skallagrímsson” by William Sayers (Cornell University) turns to the poetry of Egill Skallagrímsson and the warrior-poet’s renunciation of his veneration of Óðinn in the elegiac poem Sonatorrek. Sayers demonstrates how the composition of Sonatorrek marks a turning point in Egill’s once-reciprocal relationship to Óðinn, whereby he lastingly distances himself from his artistic patron. After Sonatorrek, mythological allusion all but vanishes from Egill’s verse.

Our journal is proud to showcase outstanding work by students at Canadian universities. The Gurli Aagaard Woods Undergraduate Publication Award is granted to the best essay written for an undergraduate course relating to Scandinavia. This year the award goes to two winners, whose articles are both published in Volume 32: Emilia Nowaczewski (University of Manitoba) for “Völur and Seiðr: How Pre-Christian Shamanistic Practices Gave Viking-Age Women Agency” and Charlie Sutherland (University of British Columbia) for “(Re)constructing Indigenous Linguistic Refusal Beyond the Settler Gaze: Rebecca Belmore and Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg.” Nowaczewski, looking into the narratives of various women in the Icelandic sagas, discusses the relationship between seiðr, textile art, and agency and examines the power of seiðr to upend societal norms. Sutherland’s essay, focusing on the artworks of Belmore and Holmberg, explores the ways in which the interplays of the presence and absence of language act as a mode of aesthetic refusal and an establishment of agency against colonial assimilation. We warmly congratulate the winners of the 2025 award and encourage instructors who teach Scandinavian-content courses to continue to nominate undergraduate and graduate essays for consideration.

Rounding out Volume 32 is a parallel translation of the Icelandic romance Ambrósíus saga og Rósamunda by Sheryl McDonald (University of Copenhagen). The summary version of the saga, preserved in the manuscript AM 576 b 4to, is edited here for the first time by McDonald. The Saga of Ambrosius and Rosamunda is likewise the first English translation of any version of the saga.

This year has brought major changes for our journal. In September 2025, Natalie Van Deusen passed the editorship of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada to co-editors Brynjarr (Perry) Mendoza and Katelin Marit Parsons. We are enormously grateful for her excellent work on the journal for the past four years, as well as for the invaluable assistance and guidance she continues to provide us during the transitional period. Malou Brouwer remains our journal’s French translator, and her fine work deserves special thanks. Ryan Eric Johnson joined Scandinavian-Canadian Studies in the summer of 2025 in the role of layout and production editor, and his technical expertise and ability to move mountains of code have been indispensable for the journal.

The work of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies would not be possible without the support of our editorial board and peer-reviewers, whose efforts help to ensure the high quality of our publications. We are likewise indebted to our book reviewers for contributing their thoughtful discussion of five recent publications. The University of Alberta Library continues to host the journal, and we are greatly appreciative of their commitment to support open-access academic publishing in Canada.

Last, but not least, we are deeply thankful to CINS for a grant received at the end of 2025 to support the publication of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada. Work on Volume 33 is already underway, and we look forward to publishing a themed volume on disability in medieval Iceland that has been co-edited by Alice Bower and Yoav Tirosh.