Ashley Castelino

Thesis title: Extraordinary Dogs and their Function in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature

Supervisor: Dr Siân Grønlie

Research Interests: Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature; other medieval literature (including Old English, Middle English, Old Spanish); medieval Scandinavian history and archaeology; human-animal studies; critical food studies

Research and Teaching

Supported by an OOC AHRC DTP and Lincoln College Kingsgate Scholarship, my doctoral thesis is a study of the dogs that populate Old Norse-Icelandic literature and the functions they play in specific genres of texts. Focusing in turn on mythological sources, legendary sagas, and hagiographies, it demonstrates that dogs are deeply embedded within Old Norse-Icelandic literature, both as ordinary animals directly and closely interacting with humans and, at the same time, as extraordinary beings bearing several layers of signification. In doing so, it answers two key interrelated research questions: how are representations of dogs used to construct narratives and how are these narratives used to construct the figure of Canis familiaris, the domestic dog?

At Oxford, I have taught a range of tutorials and seminars on Old and Middle English literature, fairytales, folklore, and fantasy, Andalusian lyric, Shakespeare, and medieval animals, and regularly assist with the delivery of access and outreach programmes at the English Faculty and numerous Colleges.

I am currently Editor of Ceræ, an open-access Australasian journal of medieval and early modern studies. I have also served as President of English Graduates at Oxford (2023-24), Secretary of the Lincoln College Middle Common Room (2023-25), co-founder of the TORCH Oxford Critical Food Studies Network (2024-25), Chair of the Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference (2021-23), Social Media Officer for Oxford Medieval Studies (2022-25), and Graduate Observer on the board of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature (Medium Ævum) (2023-25).

Publications

• ‘Hundheiðinn and Heathen Hounds: Dogs and the Authority of Saints in Old Norse Literature’, in Companion Species: Saints, Animals and Ordinary Humans in the Middle Ages, ed. by Mathilde van Dijk (Routledge, 2024), pp. 49–69
• ‘Women with Dogs in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature’, Saga-Book, 48 (2024), pp. 5–32
• ‘‘The gentil kind of the lioun’: Testing the Human-Animal Boundary in Middle English Literature’, in Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries: Proceedings of the 2020 14th MEMSA Annual Conference, ed. by Irini Picolou (MEMSA, 2021), pp. 2–16
• ‘Baugrýgjar: Old Norse ‘Ring Ladies’ and Legal Husband-Killing in Ynglinga saga’, Kyngervi, 2 (2020), pp. 40–55