I had the pleasure of interviewing Gísli Pálsson for this episode of the podcast in his office at the University of Iceland. He recently retired, but he has served as a professor and Director of Institute of Anthropology at the university. He has written several books, including “The Man Who Stole Himself”, the story about Hans Jónatan, who was the first black citizen of Iceland.

To get a good overview of that story you can check out the video below that I recently published about Hans Jónatan on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40chlDBLKwU&t=1s

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During our chat, we talk about many different topics. It was fascinating to talk with him and below are some of the topics we discussed.

The Questions I Asked Gísli Pálsson During The Interview

1. You were born in the Westman Islands. Were you there

during the eruption of Eldfell in 1973?

2. What made you interested in studying anthropology?

3. When did you find out about he story of Hans Jonatan and

why did you decided to write a book about him?

4. When you were researching for the book, did you find

anything surprising or unusual?

5. Another one of

your books, “Writing on Ice: The 

Ethnographic Notebooks of Vilhjalmur Stefansson – an arctic explorer and

pioneering anthropologist, is quite fascinating and a bit heartbreaking. How

did you uncover  the story of about his

secret family?

6. After the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, you started a project called the

Volcanologues. Can you explain a little bit about that project and why you did

it?

7. Through you

research and/collaboration with others, have you discovered other fascinating

stories or information about Icelanders?

8. How do you choose what you want to research and write

about?

9. What is your favorite Icelandic word or phrase?

Some of the Books Mentioned During the Episode

* The Man Who Stole Himself* Travelling Passions: Stefansson, the Arctic Explorer * Writing on Ice*