Syllabus and weekly plan (Spring 2010)

Download the syllabus here.

WEEKLY PLAN with links to readings, media, etc.
This outline may be subject to change according to instructor's announcements. If you return to this page to view the most recently uploaded files, you probably need to clear your browser's cache first.

Week 1: Jan 25-29 Intro to Scandinavia & Early Migration: Viking Journeys

Monday, January 25
Lecture: Introduction to Scandinavia

Homework for next class: Opinion survey & press about the Vinland Map controversy
• Complete: Survey on your perceptions about Sweden (open pm on 1/25 to am on 1/27)
• Download and read: syllabus
• Read: "Is the Vinland Map a fake?" NPR, August 2, 2002.
• Read: "Fresh doubt over America map". BBC News World Edition, July 30, 2002.
(• Optional: "Top ten Viking hoaxes". [scroll down page first])

Wednesday, January 27
Lecture: Travels and Migratory Diasporas of the 'Vikings'
Video clip: Interview on Vikings with Gunnar Andersson [Compressed to .mp4 for Quicktime view in a small window. The first seconds are dark; this should improve as you get further into the clip. If you have downloaded the clip to your local computer (by rightclicking on the link and choosing this opton), you can adjust color, contrast, light to your display with the audio and video playback control in QT under Window. The clip can be downloaded from Blackboard in enhanced .mov format, which is viewable in a large window. ]

Homework for next class: A collection of short texts for the guest lecture (in Blackboard)
• Read: When it says either (a) or (b), you choose which text to read. (1) selected excerpts from Alcuin poem, (2) Montgomery, James E. “Ibn Fadlan and the Russiyyah”, (3) either (a) Lönnroth, Lars “The Nordic Sublime: The Romantic Rediscovery of Icelandic Myth and Poetry” or (b) Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (poem) “The Skelton of Armor”, (4) either (a) Bathery lyrics or (b) Enslaved lyrics, (5) “Remarks by NMHN [National Museum of Natural History] Director Robert Fi”, (6) either (a) “Remarks by First Lady Hillary Clinton” or (b) “Remarks by Hans-Olov Olsson” (President and CEO, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc.).

Friday, January 29
In-class quick write 1
Guest lecture by Danielle Cudmore: Terrorists, Romantics and Supermen: The Image of the Viking
YouTube clip: 'Ride of the Valkyries' from Wagner's Ring Cycle
YouTube clip: The 13th Warrior
YouTube clip: Steven Colbert's Viking Economics
(For anyone interested, an optional short article was added in Blackboard on 31/1: Frank, Roberta. “The Invention of the Viking Horned Helmet,” in International Scandinavian and Medieval Studies in Memory of Gerd Wolfgang Weber: Ein runder Knäuel, so rollt’ es uns leicht aus den Händen, ed. Michael Dallapiazza, Olaf Hansen, Preben Meulengracht-Sørensen, and Yvonne S. Bonnetain (Trieste: Edizioni Parnaso, 2000). Pp. 199-208.)

Homework for next class: About the Great Migration to the United States
• Read: McKnight, Roger. “Andrew Peterson's Emigrant Voyage of 1850” Swedish-American Historical Quarterly. Vol 31, No 1. January 1980. Pp3-11. [Click on "Access this item" in blue at the top of the page.]

Week 2: February 1-5 Migration: Great Migration to North America

Monday, February 1
Lecture: The Great Migration: From Sweden to the United States
Discussion of McKnight reading

Homework:
• Read: Hovde, B.J. “Notes on the Effects of Emigration upon Scandinavia.” The Journal of Modern History. Vol.6, No 3. (Sept 1934). Pp 253-279 [via JSTOR; paste the article name in the search function].
• Read either (a) or (b) or (c). You choose one text to read (the other two are just optional):
(a) Barton, H. Arnold. “Prologue: Before The Great Migration” and “High Tide/The Homeland Faces its Emigration Crisis.” A folk divided: homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840-1940. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 1994. Pp 5-12, 130-146. (In Blackboard.)
(b) Schnell, Steven M. "Creating narrative of place and identity in 'Little Sweden, U.S.A.'". The Geographical Review. Vol. 93, No. 1. (2003), 29pp. [Concept of ethnicity and Lindsborg, KA. Acessible via the correct issue of the linked e-journal.]
(c) Hatton, T. J. "A model of Scandinavian emigration, 1870-1913". European Economic Review, Vol. 39, No. 3-4 (1995). Pp. 557-564. [If you choose this reading, be warned that it is a econometrics study that involves a quantitative modeling discussion. Accessible via the third link; ScienceDirect Freedom Collection.]

Wednesday, February 3
Discussion of readings
Short lecture: Vilhelm Moberg
Read in class: Introduction (pp. xxvii-xxxii) of The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg.

Homework:
• Read: Excerpt from Moberg, Vilhelm The Emigrants. Trans. Gustaf Mannestock. Minnesota Historical Society Press: Minneapolis, 1995. pp. 91-94, 153-163 (optional: 197-198, 364-366)
• Watch: YouTube Hemma (English subtitles) - Helen Sjöholm (Kristina från Duvemåla)

Friday, February 5
In-class quick write 2
Discussion of The Emigrants
Lecture: Kristina, the Musical (Kristina från Duvemåla)
Music and discussion in class: Kristina från Duvemåla
YouTube: Du måste finnas (English subtitles) - Helen Sjöholm
YouTube: Guldet blev till sand (English subtitles) - Peter Jöback

Homework:
• Read: Gustafson, Per. “International Migration and National Belonging in the Swedish Debate on Dual Citizenship”. Acta Sociologica. Vol 48, No 8. (March 2005). Pp.5-19 [via JSTOR; paste the article name in the search function; also in Blackboard.].
• Read: Sandberg, H. (2009) "Blatte United-a Swedish team shines on and off the soccer field." Currents, 2009, Fall. Pp. 24-27. [In Blackboard.]

Week 3: February 8-12, 2010 Migration Today: Multiculturalism

Monday, February 8
Lecture: Immigration Today
Discussion of Gustafson and Currents readings

Homework:
• Read: Hedetoft, Ulf. Danish Institute for International Studies Brief, “Multiculturalism in Denmark and Sweden," December 2006.
• Read: NY Times article 1
• Read: NY Times article 2
• Optional: http://www.financialexpress.com/old/latest_full_story.php?content_id=121167
• Optional: http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Work/Life-in-Sweden/A-multicultural-society/Reading/Sodertalje/

Wednesday, February 10
Guest appearance by Lance Heidig, Reference and Instruction Librarian, on resources about Scandinavia
Discussion of Hedetoft and NYT readings
Short Lecture and v. excerpt: Writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri & Ett öga rött

Homework:
• Read: Chapter 3 (chapter 4 is optional, but recommended) from the Cornell University Senior Honor’s Thesis by Ramalingam, Vidhya. National Values and the Roots of Xenophobia: A Comparative Analysis of Nationalism and Anti-Immigration Politics in Denmark and Sweden (2009).

Friday, February 12
In-class quick write 3
Discussion of chapter(s) from Ramalingam’s thesis.

Homework:
• Read: Þrymskviða until verse 23. (Focus on the presentation of Freyja and Thor; concluding the poem's 10 additional verses is optional, but recommended.)
• Skim one of the following options (paste article name into the search function):
(a) Speed, Greg, et al. "A Burial of a Viking Woman at Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire." Medieval Archaeology, 48, 2004, 51-90.
(b) Borovsky, Zoe “Never in Public: Women and Performance in Old Norse Literature.” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 112, No. 443 (Winter, 1999). Pp. 6-39 [via JSTOR].
(c) Rundkvist, Martin & Williams, Howard. "A Viking Boat Grave with Amber Gaming
Pieces Excavated at Skamby, Östergötland, Sweden." Medieval Archaeology, 52, 2008, 69-101. (If you choose this option, please focus on the discussion of found objects and the female/male determination of the dig.)

Week 4, February 15-19 Gender & Sexuality: Images of the Sexes in Scandinavia

Monday, February 15
Lecture: Women (and Men) in Old Norse Mythology and Society (with a brief look at Old Norse myth in Japanese anime)
Discussion: Þrymskviða excerpt and article options

Homework
• Read: Hedda Gabler Act First & A Doll's House Act I –or- Miss Julie (until BALLET) and Creditors (until Tekla enters) (each course participant reads one excerpt, given four groups)

Wednesday, February 17
Short lecture: Ibsen vs. Strindberg (and the sexes)
Video clip: Strindberg museum interview
Discussion of Ibsen vs. Strindberg between mixed groups of students who read Strindberg excerpts and those who read Ibsen excerpts– focus on the representation of the sexes

Homework
• Browse: The official Ingmar Bergman website. Read the section about Monika and a few other sections that interest you.
• Read: Hübner, Laura. "Her defiant stare: Dreams of another world in Summer with Monika". Studies in European Cinema, vol. 2 (2), 2005. Pp. 103-113. [Accessible via the library database Communications and mass media complete.]

Friday, February 19
In-class quick write
Film excerpt: Monika, Story of a Bad Girl (Summer with Monika) (Dir. Ingmar Bergman)
Clips: The Stockholm Syndrome (part 1 and 2)

Homework
• Read: Brown, Joe David. "Sin and Sweden". Time Magazine. April 25, 1955.
• Read: Entry on "Prostitution in Sweden" from Wikipedia
• View: English-language trailer for "One summer of happines"(1951).

Week 5, Febr. 22-26 Gender & Sexuality: 'Sin', Sexuality Rights, View on Prostitution

Monday, February 22
Short lecture: Swedish "Sin"
Discussion on visual excerpts and articles
Quick in-class read and discussion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7978495.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2028938.stm

Homework
• Read: http://www.rfsl.se/?p=3300
• Read: http://www.rfsl.se/?p=3377
• Find: Sexuality rights in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland (student groups by nation).

Wednesday, February 24
Discussion with comparisons on findings of searches
Short lecture and discussion: The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights

Friday, February 26
In class quick write 5
V. excerpt: Patrik 1.5

Homework
• View: Complete Patrik 1.5 in Uris Library or at the LRC
• Read: Entry on “History of Scandinavia” in Wikipedia.
• Read: “The Secular Soul of the North”. Nordic Reach Vol. XXII, No. 28, 2009. Pp. 39-41.

Week 6, March 1-5 Society, Health, & Family: Welfare state, Globalization, Healthcare

Monday, March 1
*First response paper due*
Lecture: History of the Swedish State
Video clip: Beredskapsmuseet (WWII preparedness period museum) interview
Short discussion: role of religion in Scandinavia

Homework:
• Find: 5 students each research a welfare policy of their choice in Scandinavia (i.e. childcare, retirement, maternity/paternity leave, higher education, healthcare) and prepare a 3-4 min minipresentation
• Listen: 2-part podcast: 1: The Awesomest Economy? and 2: Tax Me Please. Suggestion: take a critical look at the comments posted by listeners as well.
• Read: Daemmrich, Arthur & Benjamin Kramarz. “Denmark: Globalization and the Welfare State”, Harvard Business Online, 2009. (Student access from course site at HBR.)

Wednesday, March 3
Wrap-up discussion: Patrik 1,5
Minipresentations on welfare policies by 5 students in class
Short lecture: The Welfare State in Sweden and Scandinavia: A Story of Change
DIscussion of the Daemmerich & Kramarz article and the podcast
Video clip: Interview on EduCare

Homework
• Read: Einhorn, Eric & John Logue. “Can the Scandinavian Model Adapt to Globalization?” Scandinavian Studies Vol. 76, 2004. Pp. 501-535. (Read article via the library's e-journal database.)

Friday, March 5
Special session on the Fiske Icelandic Collection with the collection's Curator Patrick Stevens. Note that you will meet in the Kroch Library, room 2B48. Enter through Olin Library. Following standard procedure, belongings and writing utensils should not be brought into the room but be left outside in the coat area. Also note that it is prohibited to bring any food or drink into the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. (See the library guide in Links.)

Homework
• Read: Swedish Health Care System (optional: Swedish Social Policy Model & Swedish Disability Policy)
• Read: Precht, Elisabeth. “Sweden’s Socialist Healthcare—To Die For, or To Die From?”
• Read: Pontusson, Jonas. "Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World." Forthcoming in James Cronin, George Ross and James Shoch, eds., Futures of the Left (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press)

Week 7, March 8-12 Environment & Sustainability: Nature, Government, Energy

Monday, March 8
In-class quick write 6
Discussion on Pontusson, Einhorn, and the healthcare readings
Short lecture: The Green Party
Homework:
• Read: "Copenhagen Takes to a New Breed of Mini-Windmill". NYT, Dec. 6, 2009.
• Read: "Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society". Swedish Commission on Oil Independence. Swedish Government.
• Optional: Sigfusson, Thorsteinn. "Hydrogen island: the story and motivations behind the
Icelandic hydrogen society experiment." Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. Vol 12(3), 2007. Pp. 407–418.
• Find: 6-8 students prepare for a debate on Allemansrätten/The Right to Public Access.

Wednesday, March 10
Discussion on Burchett and Spencer articles
Debate: 6-8 students debate pros and cons of Allemansrätten (with a short introduction)
Lecture: Environmental Sustainability Strategies

Homework
• Read: Burchett, Jon. “‘Small Steps’ or ‘Great Leaps’: How the Swedish Greens Are Learning the Lessons of Government Participation.” Scandinavian Political Studies. Sep 2001, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p239.
• Read: Sergel, Erik. “Upcycling for the future”. Nordic Reach Vol. XXII, No. 28, 2009. Pp. 23-27.

Friday, March 12
In-class quick write 7
Video clip: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation interview
Discussion on articles and brainstorm other ideas for environmental change/awareness in the same model as the Nature Conservancy and those institutions profiled in the articles.

Homework
• Read: Nordic Reach Vol. XXI, No. 25, 2008 pp. 45-55 (“Living Sustainable in Scandinavia,” “Hammarby Sjöstad: From eyesore to waterfront utopia,” Optional: “Ambassador Michael Wood: Going for the Green”).
• Read: Spencer, Miranda. “Building Sustainable Cities: Scandinavia’s “Eco-Municipalities” Show the Way”. The Environmental Magazine.

Week 8, March 15-19 Environment & Sustainability: Construction, Tourism, Products

Monday, March 15
Viewing of DVD with discussion on Hammarby Sjöstad and Spencer reading
Photopanorama of Hammary Sjöstad
Submit topics for media group project

Homework
• Read: Puhakka, Riikka et al. “Local discourses and international initiatives: Sociocultural sustainability of tourism in Oulanka National Park, Finland” Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol. 17, No. 5, September 2009, Pp. 529–549.
• Find: 9 students each research and prepare a 3-4 min minipresentation on Scandinavian green/sustainable design or eco-business.

Wednesday, March 17
Minipresentations on green design or eco-business by 9 students [PPT1, PPT2]

Friday, March 19
In-class quick write 8
Lecture: Ecotourism in Scandinavia
Video clip: Moose farm tourism
Discussion on ecotourism in Finland article by Puhakka et al.

Week 9, March 22-26 Spring Break :-)

Week 10, March 29-April 2, Science, Business and Technology: Impact, Superbrands

Monday, March 29
Short overview: Great Scandinavian scientific minds across the ages: from 16th C. Brahe via 18th C. Linnaeus to 21st C. Carlsson.
Lecture: Alfred Nobel & The Nobel Prize
• Read and discuss in class: "Safe to do business with Swedes" and Corruption Perceptions Index.

Wednesday, March 31
In-class midterm exam (covering material up to and including week 8)

Homework
• Read: Wästberg, Olle. “The Symbiosis of Sweden & IKEA” and Tuomi-Nikula Petri & René Söderman "Finland: Paying back its debt and conducting public diplomacy". Public Diplomacy Magazine. June 2009, pp. 58-63.
• Read: Bartlett, Christopher A., Dessain, Vincent & Anders Sjöman. IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)”. Harvard Business Review, 2006. (Purchase student access from course site at HBR.)
• Read: Leland, John. “How the Disposable Sofa Conquered America”. New York Times, December 2002.

Friday, April 2
In-class quick write week 10
Short lecture: IKEA —Nordic superbrand
Discussion on IKEA and Nokia/Finland readings

Homework
• Read: Narayandas, Das et al. “Ericsson: Leading in Times of Change”. Harvard Business Review, 2008. (Purchase student access from course site at HBR).
• Begin reading: Anders Loves Maria

Week 11, April 5-9, Business & Technology: Successes and Crises/Lindgren

Monday, April 5
*Second response paper due*
Short Lecture: Ericsson
Video clip: Company interview
Discussion of lecture and video clip

Homework
• Continue reading: Anders Loves Maria
• Short read: Arngrimsson, Krist. "Iceland, under a financial cloud, drifts towards the European zone". Currents, Winter 2008. (In Blackboard)

Wednesday, April 7
Discussion/short lecture: Scandinavia and banking crises
Discussion: Rene Engström interview transcript (provided in class)

Homework
• Read: "Q & A: Pirate Bay Verdict". BBC. April 2009. (Optional: "Four Convicted in Sweden in Internet Piracy Case". NYT, April 2009.)
• Read: “Sweden's Free-Web Pirate Party Captures Euro Seat”. Reuters. June 2009.
• Read: Excerpt from Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking (1945, 1950 trans.), 11-18, 116-143.
• Read: Lindgren, A. “Pippi can lift a horse: The importance of children’s books”. Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, Vol. 40 (Summer), Pp. 188-201.

Friday, April 9
Discussion on Pirate Bay and on the Pirate Party and its political context
Discussion on the Lindgren readings and the Scandinavian tradition of children's literature with a short lecture focusing on Astrid Lindgren.

Week 12, April 12-16 Language, Linguistic Rights, Text & Society

Monday, April 12
In-class short presentations and submission of Media Group Project

Homework
• Read: Delsing, Lars-Olof. "Scandinavian Intercomphrension Today". Chapter 10 in Thije, Jan de ten & Zeevaert, Ludwig (Eds). Receptive Multilingualism: Linguistic Analysis, Language Policies and Didactic Concepts. 2007. John Benjamins: Amsterdam, Philadelphia. Pp. 231–246. (in Blackboard)
• Read: Hult, Francis. "Planning for Multilingualism and Minority Language Rights in Sweden." Language Policy, Vol. 3 (2), 2004. Pp. 181-201.

Wednesday, April 14
Continuation: previous topics/media presentations

Homework
•Start reading (for Monday discussion): Excerpts from Faceless Killers, a crime novel by Henning Mankell. 1991/1997 (trans.). New York: Vintage Books. Pp. prematter, 7-44, 101-121. (In Blackboard.)
• Optional reading (for Monday discussion): Excerpts from Jar City: A Reykjavik Thriller, a crime novel by Arnaldur Indriðason. 2004, New York: Picador. Pp. prematter, 30-35, 223-245, 254-257. (In Blackboard.)

Friday, April 16
In-class quick write week 12
Video clip: Interview with Professor Lars-Gunnar Andersson (GU) on Language Topics
Short lecture/discussion: A Language Perspective on the Scandinavian Context

Homework
• Continue reading: excerpts from Faceless Killers (and from Jar City) [in Blackboard]
• Read: Stenport, Anna. 2007. “Bodies Under Assault: Nation and Immigration in Henning Mankell’s Faceless Killers”. Journal of Scandinavian Studies. Vol. 79 (1). Pp 1-24.
• (Optional reading: Stenport, Anna and Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm. 2009. "Corporations, crime, and gender construction in Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: exploring twenty-first century neoliberalism in Swedish culture." Journal of Scandinavian Studies. Vol. 81 (3).)

Week 13, April 19-23 Creative Expression: Literature, Drama and Image

Monday, April 19
Discussion of crime novel excerpts
Lecture: Literature and Arts across the Ages: From Kirkegaard via Munch to Hamsun
Video clip: The Swedish Academy

Homework
• Find: 7 students each research and prepare 3-4 min minipresentations about a Scandinavian contemporary author
• Read: Marker, Frederik J. “Tradition and experiment since 1945.” A History of Scandinavian Theatre. (In Blackboard.)

Wednesday, April 21
Guest instructor: Joel Anderson
Minipresentations on contemporary Scandinavian authors by 7 students in class
Discussion of Marker article

Homework
(TBA on 4/21 in class)

Friday, April 23
In-class quick write week 13
Guest instructor: Joel Anderson
Lecture: Authors, Scribes, and Literature in Medieval Scandinavia

Homework
• Read: Nestingen, Andrew K. “Introduction.” Transnational cinema in a global north: Nordic cinema in transition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005. pp. 1-29. (In Blackboard.)
• Read: Swedish Institute fact sheets on Swedish film and Swedish film starts rolling again

Week 14, April 26-30 Creative Expression: Film, Art, and Music

Monday, April 26
Lecture: Swedish Film Institute with a discussion of Scandinavian film
Discussion of Nestingen reading, fact sheets and lecture
Video clip: Munch museum interview

Wednesday, April 28
*Third response paper due*
Special session on Scandinavian Art in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art with Associate Curator/Master Teacher Andrew Weislogel. (Students divide into two rotating groups.)

Homework
• Find: 8 students research a Scandinavian band/artist or film director and prepare a 3-4 min minipresentation (including a 1 min YouTube video or IMDB trailer).

Friday, April 30
In-class quick write week 14
Minipresentations on Scandinavian artists/directors by 8-9 students in class

Homework
• Read: Morgan, James. “The World’s Best Designed Country.” National Geographic Traveller. Vol. 23, No. 5, (July/August 2006). S.74-83. (In Blackboard.)
• Optional: Zaunders, Bo. “Oslo’s New Opera Strikes a High Note”. Nordic Reach Vol XXII, No 27 2009. (In Blackboard.)
• Optional: Stenskär, Eva. “It’s a stripey, stripey world”. Nordic Reach Vol. XXII, No. 28, 2009. (In Blackboard.)
• Find: 6 students each research and prepare a 3-4 min minipresentation on a Scandinavian architect or designer (clothing, furniture, household items, etc.), including pictures of the professional’s work

Week 15, May 3-7 Creative Expression: Aesthetics and Design

Monday, May 3
Minipresentations on architects/designers by 8 students in class (and 2 on music)

Homework
• Read: Wolff, Susanne S. “Design is more than just an old chair". Danish Design Center, 2007
• Read: Øllgaard, Gertrud. “A Super-elliptical Moment in the Cultural Form of the Table: A Case Study of a Danish Table.” Journal of Design History 12(2), 1999. Pp. 143-157 via JSTOR].
• Read: Wolff, Susanne S. “Danish design: past and present". Danish Design Center, 2009.
• Complete by Thursday at 6pm: Second opinion survey

Wednesday, May 5
Video clips: KostaBoda glass art and Danish Design Center interview
Short visual image lectures with discussion: DDC and “Second Nature” Exhibit
Course evaluations

Friday, May 7
Review for final exam in class
Demo: Viking sword mastery

 

 

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