Gudrun D. Whitehead

Dr Gudrun D. Whitehead is an Assistant Professor in Museum Studies at the University of Iceland. She has worked there in various roles, since being awarded a Ph.D. in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. She has taught a variety of courses, including Trash Cultures, Museum Education, Museum Studies Theories and Professional Occupations in Museums. Dr. Whitehead's research interests have focused on subculture, the uncanny and disruptive elements of society, such as Vikings, horror, punk and unconventional museum displays. She is particularly interested in cultural stereotypes, such as Vikings and their uses in the heritage industry and society in general.

Along with Dr Julia Petrov, Whitehead is the co-editor of a volume, Fashioning Horror. Dressing to Kill on Screen and in Literature (Bloomsbury 2017). She has also been involved in several other editing projects, including being a member of the board of editors and a contributor to Safnablaðið Kvistur (2014–2016), the Icelandic museums magazine. In 2015, she co-edited (with Sólrún Traustadóttir) a special issue of Ólafía, the Icelandic archaeological society’s official journal. She is the leading editor of a forthcoming special edition of Museum and Society, A Child’s Eye View of Museums. Remembering Elee Kirk, which will be published in 2018.

Other publications include

“We come from the land of the ice and snow. Icelandic heritage and its usage in present day society”, a book chapter included in A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage (Leicester Readers in Museum Studies) - published in 2018.

"Uncanny Encounters with Iceland's Vikings at the Saga Museum, a chapter included in Viking Heritage and History in Europe: Practices and Re-creations. Published in 2024.

Forthcoming in 2024: The Performance of Viking Identity in Museums: Useful Heritage in the British Isles, Iceland, and Norway (Routledge Research in Museum