Scandinavian Studies

This is a beginner’s course for international students. Students develop basic communicative skills in Norwegian. Students learn to make themselves understood both orally and in writing using basic vocabulary and basic grammatical structures. Examples of topics covered are talking about oneself and one’s family and hobbies. After completing the course, students are able to communicate about topics covered in the course. Students are able to express themselves coherently both orally and in writing. They are able to express thoughts and opinions about everyday topics. Their pronunciation is good enough to not disrupt communication. They are able to use and understand basic grammar covered in the course.

This course provides basic knowledge about gender, social change, and modernity in Sweden and Scandinavia, covering the period from the late 1800s up to the 1950s. It presents the development of some theoretical debates within this field. The course explores Scandinavian political, social, feminist, and literary texts about gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, and the development of women's rights in a historically changing society. Research regarding women's rights, Scandinavian cultural expressions, and the mechanisms of intolerance and xenophobia from the late 1800s to the 1950s are presented. Central issues about gender, ethnicity, sexuality, social change, and modernity in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia are compared with international development. The course is mainly intended for international students who wish to acquire knowledge of the Swedish and Scandinavian societies from a gender perspective but is also open to all other students at Lund University.

The course gives an introduction to gender equality in the Nordic context. It provides an overview of how the concept of gender equality has developed, and how it is implemented. The focus is on the period after the 1970s. Central themes in the course include: gender equality as a concept; work-life balance; Nordic masculinities; gender equality in an intersectional perspective; gender equality and the military; gender-based violence; gender equality as nation branding; gender and sustainability.

This course offers an introduction to Norwegian history, life, and society. Topics include: Norwegian history, geography, the political system, foreign politics, economics, the welfare state, religion, the judicial system, the role of the family in Norwegian society, Norwegian literature and language, Norwegian visual arts, culture, and identity. The course provides insight into Norwegian way of life and Norwegian identity seen in the light of historical, political, and cultural development.

This course provides international students with an overview of Danish architecture and urban planning over the last 100 years with an emphasis on the human perspective of architecture. Examples of architecture with a Nordic approach to the planning and design of the physical environment are demonstrated. The course discusses the key elements of culture, climate, and scale in relations to the way the profession and the Nordic welfare states have been dealing with the international trends and styles as they have been translated into the local settings. Field trips to explore examples of the architecture and planning are important elements of this lecture based course.

This course offers a wide-ranging survey of Scandinavian history and culture from the Mesolithic (c. 8000 BC) to the Enlightenment (c. AD 1750) and beyond. It begins by defining and distinguishing the key concepts "Nordic" and "Scandinavian," the linguistic heritage of the regions concerned, and the core terminology used to compartmentalize and describe their past. It then moves on to the evolution of Scandinavian culture from earliest antiquity to the Iron Age, as a longitudinal introduction to our study of the Viking Age. The survey of Viking culture provides an overview of social structure, worldview, and belief, and examines different aspects of the Viking Expansion overseas. Students explore the discovery, settlement, and early society of Iceland, and also chart the rise and fall of the Danish Empires, the deep-reaching influence of the Hanseatic League, the profound impact the Protestant Reformation of the mid-16th Century on Nordic society, and the role of Sweden as an "Imperial power" in the 17th Century. The course concludes with an overview of the origins and ideals of the Enlightenment as experienced in the North.