Scandinavian Studies Courses – Spring 2027

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 9:55 – 10:45 am
• Lecture 002: MTWR 1:20 – 2:10 pm

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: This course continues to build basic skills in Norwegian language through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as cultural knowledge and awareness. Homework centers on reinforcing vocabulary, reading, grammar exercises, and writing. Thematic units covered in Norwegian 102 include climate and weather, family and celebrations, and hometowns and housing. We end the semester with a project on travel in Norway.

Prerequisites: First semester Norwegian or placement test with instructor

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am

Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Course Description: Continuation of SCAND ST 111.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 111 or appropriate score on placement exam. Open to first-year students.

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWRF 12:00 – 12:55 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst

Course Description: For beginning learners of Danish; emphasis on proficiency through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and on communication in cultural context.

Prerequisites: Scand St 121 (or approval) 

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: SCAND ST 202 is an intermediate fourth semester language course that requires the completion of Norwegian 201 or equivalent. The course explores various aspects of Norwegian culture through texts, video, internet sources, and classroom discussion. Topics include Norwegian history, Norwegian language and dialects, the modern welfare state, and diversity in contemporary Norwegian society. We will also study advanced vocabulary and grammar.

Prerequisites: Three semesters of Norwegian or placement test with instructor

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 9:55 – 10:45 am

Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Course Description: Continuation of SCAND ST 111.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 111 or appropriate score on placement exam. Open to first-year students.

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 9:30 – 10:45 am

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: In Henrik Ibsen’s famous play, The Wild Duck (1884), the animal is often understood as a symbol for the drama’s damaged characters. But is the duck just a metaphor, or is the duck a duck, too? As for the humans in the story: are they people, animals, or both? In this course, we will study Nordic texts that center the animal, from ugly ducklings and charismatic reindeer to Moomintrolls and hobbyhorses. We will also learn from the fields of animal studies and posthumanism, whose lessons are critical at a time when human-made climate change threatens all forms of life on Earth. Through fiction, film, and theory, this course tackles questions such as: Can art created by humans ever be “true to the animal?” How might literature and film help us challenge humanist hierarchies? And, what can Nordic texts teach us about the possibilities and limits of being an animal—including the human kind?

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing

(Counts as LAS credit (L&S))

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Scott Mellor

Course Description: Nordic Mythology explores the fascinating world of Norse gods, giants, heroes, monsters, and supernatural beings. What do stories about Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja, the World Tree, and Ragnarök tell us about the people who told and preserved them? And how have these medieval stories become some of the most recognizable myths in contemporary culture?

In this course, you will read and discuss important sources for Nordic mythology, particularly the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, alongside other literary, historical, and cultural materials. You will learn how to analyze myths critically and place them within the cultures of medieval Scandinavia. Topics include creation and destruction, fate, magic, gender, heroism, violence, the supernatural, and relationships among gods, humans, giants, and other beings.

Rather than treating mythology as a fixed collection of stories, the course asks how myths change as they are told, written down, interpreted, and reused. We will therefore also consider the continuing influence of Nordic mythology and the ways the medieval past has been imagined and reinvented in later periods. Through readings, discussions, assignments, and other course activities, you will strengthen your skills in critical reading, analysis, interpretation, and communication while developing a deeper understanding of Nordic culture and its legacies.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst

Description: This course is about autobiography. We will investigate the genre of autobiography in a historical, cultural, and literary context, and discuss between form and content, between life and story, and between aesthetic and ethic. We will analyze autobiographical writing in the context of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, while problematizing concepts such as “fiction,” “truth” and self”.  

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: MWF 12:05 – 12:55 pm

Instructors: Claus Andersen, Dean Krouk, Scott Mellor

Course Description: How much of Scandinavia can you access when you already know one Scandinavian language? Contemporary Scandinavian Languages gives advanced students of Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish the opportunity to strengthen their skills in their primary language while developing a working knowledge of all three Scandinavian languages.

In this course, you will explore the similarities and differences among Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish and learn strategies for communicating across Scandinavian linguistic boundaries. At the same time, you will continue to develop your speaking and writing skills in your primary Scandinavian language through discussion, written work, and engagement with contemporary materials.

Language and culture are studied together. Through literature, film, music, television, and other contemporary media, you will encounter different perspectives on life and culture in Scandinavia and discuss issues shaping the region today. These materials provide opportunities not only to expand your vocabulary and linguistic awareness, but also to think critically about how language reflects culture, identity, and relationships among the Scandinavian countries.

By the end of the course, you will have strengthened your ability to communicate in your primary Scandinavian language while developing greater comprehension of the other two languages. You will also develop your critical and creative thinking, intercultural competence, and confidence engaging with Scandinavian languages and cultures across national boundaries.

The course is intended for undergraduate and graduate students who already have a basic command of Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish and is required of graduate students in the program.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 251, 261, 271, or graduate/professional standing

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 9:55 – 10:45 am
• Lecture 002: MTWR 1:20 -2:10 pm

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: This course introduces students to the Norwegian language through the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The course covers fundamental grammar concepts and topics including language and identity, education, food, and daily life. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as the intersections between language and culture.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

(4 credits)

• Lecture 003: MTWR 12:05 – 12:55 pm
• Lecture 004: MTWR 2:25 – 3:15 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst

Course Description: This is an introductory course in basic Danish, so we will be working with the foundational skills of language acquisition, i.e. speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The most important aspect of learning a new language is using it, and we will base our strategy on the communicative language approach.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

(1 credit)

• Lecture 001: W 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst

Course Description: Concentrated study of topics within Scandinavian literature.

Prerequisites: 5 semesters or equivalent of Scandinavian language.

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Instructor: Dean Krouk

Course Description: Often considered “the father of modern drama,” the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is a major figure of world literature whose dramatic works remain fascinating and globally influential, both as texts and through performance and adaptation. Students read and discuss Ibsen in English translation, with a focus on Ibsen’s historical contexts, dramatic techniques, social and political thought, and the reception and adaptation of his work in modern culture.

Prerequisites: None

Cross-Listed with Scand 422 / LitTrans 335 / Theatre 335.

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Instructor: Claus Andersen

Description: This class is a critical introduction to the works of  Søren Kierkegaard and authors inspired by his writings. We will read some of  most influential works, including Either/Or and Fear and Trembling and  examine his influence on a number of  writers from the 19^th century to the 21^st, and discuss how these writers offer a critique of Kierkegaard’s work through a gender, race, and socio-economic lens.

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Instructor: Liina-Ly Roos

Course Description: This course offers a survey of the modern history of Scandinavia and the Nordic region, from 1815 to the present. Our focus will be on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Important issues and concepts will include political and cultural nationalism; modernization and modernity; war experiences and neutrality; social democracy and the Nordic model; gender equality; the European Union; multiculturalism, immigration, and globalization.

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Liina-Ly Roos

Course Description: The Nordic countries are known for being some of the most egalitarian and sexually open countries in the world. In this course we will explore how they have achieved this reputation, focusing on a variety of sources since the Moral Debates of the 1880s. We will discuss literary works, films, art, television, and critical articles to explore the ways in which Nordic societies and cultures perceive and understand gender and sexuality. We will also complicate some of myths regarding sexuality in the Nordic countries and explore how gender and sexuality are intersected with race, ethnicity, social class, and the rhetoric of the welfare state.

Prerequisites: Sophomore status or higher.

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: MW 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cruz

There are many well-known and fascinating filmmakers from the Nordic region. Through unique styles and approaches to filmmaking, these directors depict and explore universal topics, such as love, authenticity, identity, guilt, and anxiety. In this course, we will watch and discuss a variety of films by Nordic film directors, such as Aki Kaurismäki, Mai Zetterling, Ingmar Bergman, Lars von Trier, Liselotte Wajstedt, Susani Mahadura, and Anna Hints. By discussing the work of these filmmakers, we will also talk about the changing meaning of and different approaches to film authorship in Nordic cinema. You will learn about the specific cultural and historical contexts of Nordic cinema, broader discussions in film studies, and develop basic skills of film analysis.