Henrik Williams

Professor at Department of Scandinavian Languages

Telephone:: +46 18 471 12 75
Mobile phone:: +46 70 167 94 62
E-mail:: henrik.williams@nordiska.uu.se
Visiting address:: Thunbergsvägen 3L, hus 16, plan 2
Institutionen för nordiska språk
Postal address:: Uppsala universitet
Institutionen för nordiska språk, Box 527
751 20 UPPSALA

Download contact information for Henrik Williams at Department of Scandinavian Languages

Short presentation

Professor of Runology at Uppsala University from 2021. Emeritus since 2024.

Biography

Professor of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, 2002–2021
Visiting scholar at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond 2017
Fellow at Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Oslo, 2013–2014
Visiting Professor at University College London, 2005
Visiting Professor at University of Kalmar, 2001
Professor of Swedish at Uppsala University, 2000–2002
Visiting Associate Professor at University of California at Berkeley 1998
Senior Lecturer (tenured) of Swedish at Uppsala university, 1996–2000
Junior research fellow at Dept. of Scandinavian Languages, 1993–97
Associate Professor (non-tenured) of Scandinavian languages at Uppsala University, from 1992
Various part-time research appointments (see past research projects below)
Various part-time positions as Senior Lecturer (non tenured) in Swedish at Uppsala University 1990–1996
Ph. D. Uppsala university 1990 Runrön 3

Teaching

Courses on basic, advanced and doctoral levels

Research interests

The first translation of the New Testament into Swedish, 1526
Communicative principles for decoding rune-stone texts
The Social dimension of runestones
Medieval accounts
Old Swedish literature
Old Icelandic mythological texts
The origin of the runes
Personal names
Archaisms in Modern Swedish
Runiform inscriptions in North America:
Lecture and fundraising tour in the United States, 2016
Lecture and fundraising tour in the United States, 2015
Lecture tour in the United States, 2010
Statement in response to Runestone Museum affidavit, 2011
Report on examination by Henrik Williams of the so-called Larsson-papers, 2011
Filmed inspection of Larsson papers, 2011
Dotted runes: what are they and what significance do they have for the dating of the Kensington runestone?, 2011
The Narragansett Stone, Rhode Island, 2014
The Bourne Stone, Massachussetts, 2014
Lecture tour in the United States, 2015
Mustang Mountain Cave Stone, 2015

Ongoing research projects

Leader: Scandinavian Runic-text Data base now together with Marco Bianchi, Magnus Källström, and Jan Owe. Financed 1993–1997 by Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson's Foundation. Still in operation.

Past research projects

Leader: Digitala Birgitta together with Roger Andersson, Olle Ferm, Oliver Blomqvist, and Ingela Hedström. Financed by Riksbankens jubileumsfond 2016–2019. Still in operation.

Leader: The original version of Edda Snorra Sturlusonar? Studies in Codex Upsaliensis together with Maja Bäckvall, Lasse Mårtensson, Heimir Pálsson, Jonatan Pettersson, and Daniel Sävborg. Financed 2008–2010(12) by The Swedish Research Council.

Co-Leader: Heliga Birgitta på fornsvenska together with Roger Andersson, Olle Ferm, and Zeth Alvered. Financed by Riksbankens jubileumsfond, Centre for Medieval Studies, and The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities 2011–2015.

Co-Leader: Medeltidens ekonomiska texter (Financial texts during the Middle Ages) together with Zeth Alvered, Göran Dahlbäck, Lennart Elmevik, Evert Melefors, and Janken Myrdal. Financed 1997–1999 by The Swedish Research Council.

Sveriges kristnande (The Christianization in Sweden) together with Stefan Brink, Anne-Sofie Gräslund, Carl Fredrik Hallencreutz, Jan Arvid Hellström, Håkan Möller, and Bertil Nilsson. Financed 1990–1995 by The Swedish Research Council.

De vikingatida runinskrifternas kronologi (The Chronology of Viking Age Runic Inscriptions) together with Jan Axelson, Lennart Elmevik, Svante Lagman, Lena Peterson, and Marit Åhlén. Financed 1987–1989 by The Swedish Research Council.

Doctoral student supervision

Advisor for completed dissertations by:

Miscellaneous:

Member of Svenska Bibelsällskapets huvudmannaråd, from 2021.
Member of the advisory board of Futhark, from 2021.
Co-editor of the Series Runrön: Runologiska bidrag utgivna av Institutionen för nordiska språk vid Uppsala universitet, from 2019.
President of Språkvetenskapliga sällskapet, Uppsala, 2015–2025.
Member of the editorial board of Scripta Islandica, from 2015.
Board Member of Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences 2014–2019.
Consultative committee for fundraising at Uppsala University, 2012.
Member of the electoral college of the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011-2014.
Co-editor of Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies, 2010–2021.
Director of Uppsala Runic Forum, from 2009.
President of Isländska sällskapet (The Icelandic Society) 2007–2011.
Member of the editorial board of Språktidningen 2007–2010.
Member of The Bank of Sweden’s Tercentenary Foundation’s sector committee for research on pre-modernity, 2006–2011.
Vice Dean, Faculty of languages, 2005–2007.
Member of the electoral college of the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2002-2008, and its electoral committee, and president of said committee, 2005–2008.
Editor of Scripta Islandica, 2003–2007.
Board member of Institute for Language and Folklore, 2003–2004.
Member of the faculty board, Faculty of languages, 2002–2008.
Secretary of Isländska sällskapet (The Icelandic Society), 2002–2007.
Member of faculty board equivalent at the University of Kalmar, 2002.
Director of doctoral studies at the Department of Scandinavian studies, Uppsala University, 2000–04, 2018.
Member of the Swedish Institute’s committee on the teaching of Swedish, 1996–2002.
Treasurer of Isländska sällskapet (The Icelandic Society), 1986–1992.

Invited guest lecturer or keynote speaker at universities/institutions abroad:

American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019)
Augustana College, Rock Island, IL (2010, 2015)
Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C (2010)
Concordia College, Moorhead, MN (2015)
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2010, 2015)
Helsingfors universitet (2006)
Københavns Universitet (2008)
Lancaster University (2005)
Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, MN (2010, 2016)
Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, WA (2016)
Nordic Museum, Seattle, WA (2019)
North Eastern State University, Tahlequah, OK (2010)
North Park University, Chicago, IL (2015)
The Ohio State University, Columbus (1997, 2010)
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C (2010, 2015, 2016)
Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN (2015)
Università Ca'Foscari, Venezia (2013)
Università degli Studi di Messina (2019)
Universitetet i Agder, Kristiansand (2014)
Universitet i Oslo (2010, 2020)
University College London (1996, 2005, 2011)
University of California, Berkeley (1997, 1998, 2010)
University of California, Los Angeles (2010)
University of Cambridge (2007, 2011)
University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond (2015, 2016)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1994)
University of Melbourne (1997)
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (2010, 2019)
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks (2015)
University of Nottingham (1996, 2017)
University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia (2016)
University of Sydney (1997)
University of Toronto (2019)
University of Wisconsin, Madison (1998)
Yale University, New Haven, CT (2015)

Membership in learned societies

Awards

The Rudbeck medal (2014)
Pris ur Torsten Janckes minnesfond (2017)

Publications

Recent publications

All publications

Articles in journal

Books

Chapters in book

Collections (editor)

Conference papers

Conference proceedings (editor)

Manuscripts (preprints)

Monograph doctoral thesis

Åsrunan. Användning och ljudvärde i runsvenska steninskrifter

Williams, Henrik

1990
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