By Johanna Weissing University of Wisconsin–Madison Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness, as a Chinese jar still Moves perpetually in its stillness.1 In any attempt to study and understand a culture, one must take into account the material and artistic products …
By Linnea Rock University of Wisconsin–Madison From before the days of written history, women have endured societal hardships, as in most situations they were deemed subordinate. Thankfully there have been many examples of great women who have found ways to assert themselves in a male-dominated world, a contingency of which had taken root in medieval Scandinavia. …
By Linnea Rock University of Wisconsin–Madison Amidst the entirety of entertainment available and loved today, it is relieving to discover thought-provoking content occasionally exists. Using modern forms of entertainment is a great way to criticize social norms and to inform others about different ideas. This makes it possible for one’s ideas to reach a wide …
By Thomas Malcolm University of Wisconsin–Madison Iceland has an incredibly spotty history in regard to its economy. After Iceland’s latest economic crash of 2008, its name actually began to be associated with crisis and economic disaster.1 This notion, however, is more appropriate than one may come to believe from the crash of 2008 alone. For …
By Benjamin Groth University of Wisconsin–Madison The mid-nineteenth century was, in many ways, a period of pronounced transition in Sweden’s history and bore multifarious paradigm shifts in almost every facet of Swedish society. Of particular note are demographic and infrastructural development; Sweden, like much of Europe at this time, underwent industrialization and institutional reform, though …
By Cori Garrett University of Wisconsin–Madison Scandinavian countries have been global leaders in the race for social equality during the past two and half centuries, through the establishment of universal suffrage for women and the beginning of wage equality in Scandinavia prior to World War II. The granting of equality for women, the largest minority …
By Emmon Rogers University of Wisconsin–Madison “Who peyntede the leon, tel me who?”(Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue,” in The Canterbury Tales Complete, ed. Larry D. Benson (Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2000), I.692), [“Who painted the lion, tell me, who?” translated from Middle English by the author] runs Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous allusion to Marie …
By Linnea Rock University of Wisconsin–Madison A story of adventure and development with sorrows, triumphs, and love, along with magical qualities, dire situations, and complex characters is perhaps one of the most entertaining types of tales. “Inchelina,” by Hans Christian Andersen, was published in 1835, a time in which women did not have the same …
By Ryan Gesme University of Wisconsin–Madison During the Viking Age, the Norsemen traveled from their northern dwellings to trade, plunder, and control much of Northern Europe. While the documentation of the Viking raids in Western Europe, especially in the British Isles, has been well researched for many years, there is still a lack of scholarship …
By Ben Pflughoeft University of Wisconsin–Madison The early sixteenth century heralded transformations to the organization of Sweden’s state formation, which elevated the poor and sparsely populated country to the status of a powerful and influential Scandinavian empire. Imperial Sweden, a dynamic government, proved itself to be an eclectic state of military, centralist, and localist influences …