ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has taken a long time to write, and I am immensely thankful for the many people who have helped it become what it is now. I have been very lucky to have joined a virtual Nordic studies writing group (SSAWA) in 2020. Benjamin Bigelow, Amanda Doxtater, Benjamin Mier-Cruz, and Arne Lunde have provided incredibly helpful feedback, accountability for writing, and friendship that I will always cherish. I am also deeply grateful for my colleagues at the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic+ at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who have encouraged me throughout the process of writing this book, read the drafts, asked good questions, and provided another space of collegiality and friendship that can be rare in academia. Special thanks to Dean Krouk, Thomas A. DuBois, Ida Moen Johnson, Kirsten Wolf, and Claus Elholm Andersen for taking time for conversations, walks, and coffee breaks.
My thinking around the figure of the child and this project got started at the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. I’m grateful for Andrew Nestingen’s mentorship, his thought-provoking questions as he read the drafts of my chapters, and the seminar he taught on Nordic childhood. I have always been inspired by the way he approaches cultural texts and his ability to provide advice and support, which helped me find my own independent scholarly voice. My work benefited greatly as well from Amanda Doxtater’s careful reading of my work. I continue to admire her elegant writing and generosity. Thank you also to Gordana Crncovic for showing me the beauty of close analyses and navigating complex theoretical frameworks and to Guntis Šmidchens for believing in my work from day one of graduate school, when the challenges of working in another language and on another continent sometimes made me doubt myself.
As I worked on reframing some of my original material and decided to narrow the focus of this book, Amber Rose Cedeström’s feedback was incredibly helpful. I’m also thankful for insightful conversations and support of Olivia Gunn, Pernille Ipsen, Maxine Savage, Karin Eriksson, Karin Nykvist, Ann Kristin Wallengren, Maarja Hollo, and Bradley Harmon during different stages of this project.
My work on this book has been supported by generous summer salary support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research Committee at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which made it possible for me to dedicate more uninterrupted time to writing in the summers. The semester-long fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW–Madison was invaluable for the final stages of editing this book and getting to engage with other scholars in a supportive intellectual community.
I’m also deeply grateful for the University of Washington Press and the editorial team. Huge thanks to Larin McLaughlin for taking interest in this project and for her enthusiasm about it at each stage of getting it published. Thank you also to the series editor, Andrew Nestingen, and his helpful advice on final revisions. It was also wonderfully enjoyable to read the reports of the anonymous reviewers. I’m so thankful for their kind words and smart suggestions for improvement.
I would not have been able to write this book without the unwavering support of my family and friends. Thank you, Dad, for always encouraging me with your humor and joyful resilience. Thank you, Mom, for sharing with me your passion and curiosity for literature and culture; I wish that you would have been able to see the publication of this book and I miss you a lot. Thank you, Jonelle, for always understanding me and saying the perfect words of encouragement. Thank you, Jo, for bringing so much love, light, and presence in the last few years. Finally, I am beyond-words grateful for Justin. Thank you for always believing in me, patiently listening to my rambled first ideas for these chapters and much more, and for continuously telling me that I can do it.