Scandinavian Studies

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.

This course is a cursory introduction to the recent socio-environmental history of Denmark that focuses on such issues as social cohesion, pollution, energy, biodiversity, climate change, knowledge production, governance, economy, technology and everyday environmentalism will form the common ground for transnational and transdisciplinary comparisons. In seminars and discussions, various analytical approaches and their reach and applicability for a truly sustainable development are examined.

The course offers students an introduction to modern Swedish society from an anthropological perspective. It is based on issues of politics, social norms, and social change in Sweden and on a number of ethnographical research studies. Anthropology is often based on an empirical understanding of people's experiences and can therefore provide insights into the everyday life of people and organizations. The course enables students to investigate and analyze case studies of social and political changes in Swedish society. Examples of this include the views of political governance, work and education, and focusing on the way they affect the people concerned.