Scandinavian Studies

This course provides an introduction to Ibsen’s dramatic production, emphasizing its historical context. It analyzes the plays as part of and influenced by social, political, and cultural forces, and as part of changing aesthetic and artistic norms. The course examines selected works against the background of changing literary, theatrical, and cultural paradigms in Ibsen’s own time and pays special attention to Ibsen’s renewal of the dramatic tradition. It investigates his plays not only as dramatic texts but also through historical performances from Ibsen’s time.

This course gives an introduction to the Nordic social and welfare state models focusing on work, family, immigration, labor relations, economic policies, pensions, schooling, and gender equality. Theoretically, the course is informed by comparative welfare state research and political economy. It focuses on contemporary debates on the sustainability of Nordic welfare state models in the context of challenges such as the ongoing pandemic, ageing, flows of immigrants and asylum seekers, financial internationalization, climate crisis, and relations to the EU single market. The course covers the historical roots of the Nordic states and the development of their political and welfare systems in the twentieth century. Also discussed are the social conflict lines, alliances, and compromises that created the post-war context of highly organized civil societies (centralized labor unions and employers associations, strong organizations of farmers and fishermen), and how they are linked to the state in patterns of democratic corporatism. Other topics covered are: the reconciliation of work and family life in the setting of the Nordic welfare state; the policy reforms that have been agreed on in order to respond to present challenges; and the sustainability of the ambitions of gender equality and universalist welfare provisions. Reflecting on both the history and the contemporary challenges of the region, the course critically assesses various idealized accounts of Nordic peculiarities and discusses the similarities and differences between the Nordic countries with that of other European countries.

This course is to help students evaluate, both politically and aesthetically, the way Nordic films convey their social and cultural values and commitments. Given the belief in film's historical and social significance, it is the particular purpose of this course to look at Nordic films from 1945 to the present and analyze how they perceived and conjured up the social and cultural landscape. In addition, we will also look at some of the major political events and social and cultural trends that dominated a decade and left a mark on its films. In order to achieve these goals, we will examine three different areas more closely: a) state control and support of film production; b) film cultural characteristics, both those which seem to point in the direction of a unity in Nordic contexts and those that define each country respectively; c) Nordic cinema in transition in times of transnationalism and globalization.

This course provides a theoretical overview of the key historical developments and on-going contemporary debates in Norwegian architecture and design. The interplay between architecture, city planning and design, and the specific Norwegian cultural, economic, and political environment in which they are practiced as applied design disciplines, is a central focus for exploration and discussion in the course. Norway’s role within overlapping Scandinavian, European, and increasingly global, contexts is also explored through the study of key international developments and the impact of these upon Norwegian architectural, city planning, and design discourse. The City of Oslo especially (considered in terms of its key historic and contemporary buildings, cultural institutions, public space and contrasting urban environments) is actively used as a "living classroom" for exploration of these issues and the wider questions that the issues subsequently raise. 

This course takes as a starting point the expansive understanding of feminism as a value system rather than a style or movement to elucidate and make meaning of contemporary Nordic art within a global context. The course underscores feminism’s historical, theoretical, and activist facets, focusing on a transnational, situated, and intersectional approach to understand feminist practices in and around contemporary Nordic art. Understood in the broadest sense to include other normative-critical approaches such as postcolonialism, in this course feminism is deployed as an emancipatory modality to deconstruct and contextualize the most important issues concerning contemporary art today, including migration, sexuality, race, ecology, and the move towards the digital—and how the Nordic cases interact with, correspond to, and challenge wider global patterns. The course nevertheless provides a solid historical overview of feminism within the realm of art from 1970 onwards and develops an understanding of foundational and more recent feminist theory, as well as the ability to recognize and apply an activist approach to contemporary art. Nordic examples make up the core of the course to provide a nuanced knowledge of the immediate art environment (including visits to local museums, art institutions, and practitioners). With its intersectional and reflexive approach, the course conveys the intergenerational, gender-fluid, heterogeneous, and transnational nature of feminist practices today by contextualizing them within a global framework. to convey the intergenerational, gender-fluid, heterogeneous, and transnational nature of feminist practices today by contextualizing them within a global framework.

This seminar covers Norwegian history, political system, welfare state, economy, environmental issues, gender issues and family, minority and immigration, media, education, literature, visual arts, music, religion, and identity. It provides an overview and understanding of Norwegian culture and society in a historical and contemporary perspective.

This course surveys the history and culture of Norway during the Viking Era (ca. 750-1030) and the Medieval Era (ca. 1030-1536), including mutual influences and interactions with neighboring regions and peoples. The course includes a focus on Norse mythology and covers the social and political contexts of Viking expeditions, national unification, and conversion to Christianity. It covers the medieval Kingdom of Norway’s period of relative peace and prosperity in the 1200s, and then the Black Death and Kalmar Union. Reading focuses on skaldic and saga literature (especially Icelandic and Norwegian) and other historical primary sources. Also included in this course is consideration of how the memory of the Vikings and Medieval Norway have influenced political and cultural trends in Norway over the past few centuries.

This course presents the historical background, development, and present-day challenges of the Norwegian welfare state. It examines the role of values and norms in shaping the services offered by the welfare state, as well as how the structure of the state in turn shapes societal norms and values. The course follows how political debates concerning the country's welfare programs have shifted in response to accelerated immigration, changing gender roles, and shifting employment patterns. It pays special attention to universal welfare services, work-family balance, and the Introduction Programme (Norway’s integration package), as these are some of the distinctive features of the Norwegian welfare state. Additional modules on education, healthcare, childcare, corrections, and labor market policy demonstrate values and norms in practice, as well as highlight the challenges that increased globalization presents to a state welfare system. The course puts emphasis on classroom discussion and student participation with the aim of enabling students to make a comparative analysis of social structures and institutions in their own and other countries.

Students work with texts and exercises relating to daily life (family, home, work, shopping, food). The course includes extensive practice in communicative speech functions, such as greetings, asking for and providing information, and expressing opinions and feelings. Work with the main features of Norwegian phonetics and grammar is also central to this course. By the end of the course students are able to understand clearly spoken Norwegian; read textbooks and similar texts; and talk about subjects relating to everyday life; pronounce Norwegian in a way that does not interfere with communication; write about topics dealt with in the course; express thoughts and opinions, albeit simply; and know the basic rules of Norwegian grammar.

The course gives an introduction to the Nordic context and an overview of how the concept and implementation of gender equality has developed and is currently practiced in the Nordic countries. The main focus is on the period after the 1970s, and themes that are taught relate gender equality to: gender equality as a concept; the women's movement and state feminism; work-life balance and gender equality ideals; access to work and politics; Nordic gender equality in an intersectional perspective; men and masculinities: change and continuity; gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights; gender-based violence; gender, climate, and indigenous rights. Moreover, dilemmas and paradoxes concerning gender equality in the Nordic countries are a central theme, as well as the attempt to answer questions as: How can we understand changing gender norms in the Nordic countries, and to what extent is it possible to identify a Nordic model of gender equality?