Reading Instructions: Buckle In! First, look over the Mid-Term: Viking Warrior Woman Debate Assignment Sheet for full details.  Once you know what you need to do follow the reading steps outlined below:

1. First read the initial journal article by Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 

• Consider: What is the argument for this initial piece? How does it go about making it? What do you think the goals of the authors are based on their decision to publish open access? Why might this article be "controversial"?

2. Then read Viking Warrior Women: An Archaeodeath Response Part 1 and make sure to read at least two or three of the Media Stories to which he links.

• Consider: How did the media react to and make use of Hedenstierna-Jonson et al.?  Having read the actual article, what are your thoughts on the interplay?

3. Read Jesch, Let's Debate Female Vikings Again

• Consider: What are Jesch's criticisms of Hedenstierna-Jonson et al?  Do you agree, disagree (a bit of both?)?

4. Read Androschuk, "Female Viking Revisited"

• Consider: What are Androshchuk's criticisms? How do they compare with Jesch's and what might that tell us about cross-disciplinary issues in Viking Studies? Are they compelling? What can we glean about how science and humanities influence and impact each other?

5. Then read Viking Warrior Women: An Archaeodeath Response Part 2 

• Consider:  What is the "argument" of the blog post?  What trends or takeaways do you notice based on how imagery is used in conjunction with Hedenstierna-Jonson and media responses to it?  How does this impact your assessment of the scholarly article (and the debate surrounding it)?

6. Then read Viking Warrior Women: An Archaeodeath Response Part 3 and read this post from the blog Norskk

• Consider: What is happening in these various non-expert opinions? What does this tell us about how Vikings are seen and used (and how academics are seen and used) by non-academics?

7. Then read Viking Warrior Women: An Archaeodeath Response Part 4. Again, make sure to click through to at least a few of the referenced articles but especially be sure to read the NY Times post and Judith Jesch's second response.

• Consider: How does the entry into the debate of the "News Media" change (or not) the nature of that debate?  How does this second round of coverage compare to the initial media coverage?  How does this venue compare to the other's we've encountered (journals, social media etc.)?  What sorts of tactics and points do the various debaters use to make their case?

8. Now read Viking Warrior Women: An Archaeodeath Response Part 5

• Consider: How does William's go about unpacking the original article and what are his final conclusions after this lengthy process of examining both the article and the responses to it?  Where are we left at the end of this whole process in 2017?

9. Finally, read the second article by Price et. al. which expands upon the original article by Hedenstierna-Jonson et al.  If you would like you can also review the supplementary materialsthough this is not required.

• Consider: How does this second article seek to address the criticisms, questions, and furor surrounding the first?  What has changed?  What hasn't?  Is this article "better"?  Are you convinced (of what?)?

10. Last but not least read these two public responses to the second article by Dr. Matthew Gabrielle, "Yes, There Were Viking Warrior Women" and Dr. Judith Jesch, "Viking 'Warrior Women'"

• Consider: How do these two responses by academic but in a public rather than academic forum, engage with this "reassessment"?  Where do we stand at the "end" of all this?

As you translate all of this reading into your story map, positions page, and essay consider the following questions which we will discuss together in class:

• what does this entire debate tell us about science and its potential impact on the humanities and how we think about the past?
• what does it tell us about science journalism and its potential impact on the humanities and how we think about the past?
• what does it tell us about the internet/social media and its potential impact on academia more broadly?
• What can this tell us about our relationship to Vikings?
• What can we say about the intersection between historical fact and public perception based on this debate?
• What does this debate tell us about how modern ideologies, identites, and agendas intersect with the medieval past?