Scandinavian Studies

The course explores different aspects of Danish culture such as literature, mythology, history, film, music, architecture, painting, the welfare state, and national identity. The course is a unique combination of lectures and excursions, which includes trips to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Frederiksborg Castle. This version of the course (50 Q) is worth 12 quarter units and requires a 15-20 page individual research paper.

Through lectures and excursions, this course offers a portrait of Denmark through its output of popular entertainment and high art within film, television, and streaming. It places internationally famous auteurs such as Carl Theodor Dreyer, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, and Susanne Bier in their cultural context and presents important genres such as youth film, realism, drama, comedy, pornography, and documentary. The course interrogates the role of screen sexuality, gender and racial representations, and cultural identity, and it explores the role of film, television, and streaming policy. 

Students analyze and discuss works and texts that reflect different trends in Norwegian literature in the period from approximately 1850 to about 1980. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between literature and the social and cultural context. Students orientate themselves in literary history and literary debate. The teaching is adapted for students with a foreign language background. That is, emphasis is placed on clarifying the linguistic and cultural aspects of the syllabus literature. The student also receives written and oral feedback on their Norwegian language skills. Students give presentations in the seminar group on literary works or texts and write a compulsory assignment on a literary topic.

This is a higher intermediate level language course for international students. The course builds on skills and knowledge acquired in NORINT0120 or the equivalent. A passing mark in NORINT0130 meets the Norwegian language requirements for Faculty admission at Norwegian universities and university colleges. For some professional authorizations (eg. dentists, medical doctors) other requirements may be in place. In class, oral activities are focused on as well as a further development of the students' writing skills. The students work with a selection of freestanding oral and/or written literature and articles on subjects like the multicultural society, environment, and climate. This to develop a higher degree of language proficiency as well as to prepare the students for further studies or a professional career where Norwegian is the working language. After completing the course, students are at the CEFR B2 or C1 level.

This is a Norwegian language course on the intermediate level for international students. The subject builds on skills and knowledge acquired in NORINT0110 or the equivalent. The classes strongly emphasize the students’ oral activity, both when understanding and speaking are concerned. The students build on basic grammar and, in addition, acquire knowledge about language variations, idiomatic expressions, and logical relations. Students demonstrate they are able to use this knowledge when writing. Topics and vocabulary are from texts related to Norwegian culture, topics of current interest in Norwegian society, and from students' study situation. After having completed the course, students are able to understand oral and written presentations on topics covered in the course. The students are able to talk about these topics and take the initiative and express their own opinions in conversations. Students are able to write coherent texts about topics covered in the course, and they are able to explain and justify opinions tied to these topics.

This is a practical course in Norwegian pronunciation. It focuses on improving pronunciation both on the segmental level (vowels and consonants) and on the prosodic level (quantity, stress, accent, and tone), as well as some other phonetic areas. The course also distinguishes between phonetic differences that are relevant to Norwegian phonology, thereby improving comprehension of spoken Norwegian. To some degree, Norwegian is compared to other languages that the students speak.

The course explores different aspects of Danish culture such as literature, mythology, history, film, music, architecture, painting, the welfare state, and national identity. The course is a unique combination of lectures and excursions, which includes trips to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Frederiksborg Castle. NOTE: This version of the course (50 B) is worth 6 quarter units and requires a 10-page paper.

This course provides a survey of Danish design, focusing foremost on the post-war era (1945-1960s). It concentrates on a design tradition world renowned for, amongst other things, high-quality craftsmanship, functionality, humanism, contextualism, simplicity, comprehensiveness, and creative continuity between tradition and renewal. Design is never merely a question of beautiful forms and surfaces, and therefore this course purposefully explores below the surface. It examines wider issues of ethics and aesthetics as exemplified in designs for the Welfare State. The course presents in-depth examinations into a diversity of design fields and design culture movements in order to reveal the essential considerations and contexts shaping some of Denmark’s most successful post-war designs. Material designs ranging in scale “from the spoon to the city,” as well as immaterial designs, are probed and discussed in relation to their socio-cultural, political, economic, and technical contexts. It critically questions the given topics through such lenses as design as common good, shattering the familiar, women in Danish design, and decolonizing design history. Furthermore, field studies to significant local sites afford opportunities to challenge experiential blindness and deepen place-based learning. Zooming in on Danish design of the past, including its roles in shaping the Welfare State, this course explores the meanings and purposes of design, and the ways design can enrich everyday life. Focusing on Danish design of the past is also significant to shed new light on understandings of contemporary societal issues and design’s roles in relation to these, and help transform comprehensions of how sustainable and equitable futures may be envisioned and constituted.