Working across two universities and between Denmark and China, it is sometimes necessary to carve out time to get away and focus – together but apart – on project questions. In Februrary 2022, we had a project retreat in Hobro, Jutland, with Hailing Zhao joinig us from Shenzhen.

During the two days, we gave one another feedback on project design and early ethnography, discussed paper drafts and literature to which we hoped the project findings might contribute. We wrestled with Zotero working to establish a functional shared library, and took long walks in the Mariager Fjord, Jutland’s longest fjord. The retreat venue was next to fields full of burial mounds, as this part of Jutland is home to Fyrkat, one of Denmark’s five Viking Ring Forts built during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (958-987), currently under consideration for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage lists.

With a project member’s birthday to celebrate, there was also tea and special Danish flødekage, and plenty of good food. Some excellent “possible papers” emerged!